Toyota Blames Video Games for Collapse in Car Sales
- Categories: Japan, News
- Date: Oct 22, 2009 15:07 JST
- Tags: Cars, Marketing, Mass Media, Public Transport, Statistics, Toyota
Japanese car manufacturers are becoming increasingly distressed at the lack of interest in their cars displayed by young Japanese, and Toyota has made what many consider the risible suggestion that this is due to the pernicious influence of video games…
Toyota’s management is quoted grumbling about their collapsing Japanese sales:
“Video game consoles are the problem. With such realistic play available they don’t need cars or anything anymore.”
The mass media has previously tied this “kurumabanare” to changing tastes (including the supposed “herbivorousness” of young males when confronted with what the car industry has always insisted is the very manly prospect of car ownership) and Japan’s ongoing demographic collapse.
More sensible reasons typically given for the disconnect between the youth of Japan and the nation’s car culture include a reduction in their incomes, a lack of access to credit, the extremely high cost of car ownership in Japan, and of course the ubiquity of trains in the nation’s metropolitan areas.
Market surveys have concluded that economic factors are the most significant, along with urban life and a “diversification” of interests amongst the younger generations.
Car manufacturers on the other hand appear convinced they can win over young consumers with shiny new models and more relevant marketing campaigns… It seems it may be they who are asleep at the wheel.
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stop producing cars and start researching mobile suit development
Τhat reminds me some senseless people at my country (Greece) which will blame the goverment even for the bad weather.
If I were Japanese, I would never buy a car.
1. Ownership costs: obligatory shaken (technical examination of the car) every 2 years costs about $2000. Plus obligatory ownership of a place for parking the car - in cities like Tokyo or Osaka, prices of land are tremendously high. Plus taxes on cars...
2. Gas prices: for an American they are tremendously high, for a European - the same as in Europe, but in Europe we really have expensive gas...
3. Traffic jams: Japan is permanently jammed. Nothing strange - so many people on such a small area MUST result in traffic jams. So, posession of a car in Japan is pointless, unless one lives in a real village, far from cities and public transportation.
4. Public transport in Japan: VERY convenient, reaches almost every place in a country and very seldom is late. The drawback is, that it is quite expensive, but comparing to costs of a car, public transport is faster, less troublesome and cheaper. Plus you don't need a significant amount of money at the beginning to buy a vehicle on your own.
Owning a car in Japan is quite troublesome and costly.
If Toyota starts making bikes, they'll be set.
Somehow innovated bikes, I mean. Maybe ones that can't fall over....
Like tricycles? I'd pay to see that as mass transport.
That made me LOL so hard XD
As far as my knowledge goes, 'car games' are about speed and race...
So call me a scardy cat but I rather have those hormone controlled 16 yrs old boys rage in virtual cars...
At least I've never seen a game about holding the speed limit and giving way to passengers...
I were going to say most people have common sense... but then I realized my group is just an island in a vast ocean.
They sound just like the MAFIAA!
its the toybaru coming up, they'ved dropped the power, bitches.
lolwut.
As an asian, I have to say....FUCK TOYOTA, HONDA BITCHES!!
Rofl. Honda can't hold a candle to Nissan. Period.
Ford is the best. Period.
No other automaker has ever done as much as Ford. Except arguably GM. Who's now on goverment life support.
You know who loves Ford? People who have stocks in Ford (all other American companies are bankrupt).
you guys are all fags, sorry.
Ah, I recall my first car with fondness - it was a used 1970 Chevy Nova, 350 cubic inch engine, manual transmission, broken heater/defrost, no stereo, broken AM-only radio, big-meat tires on the back, glas-pac muffler, and a forest green paint job with dots and streaks of white on the front end which made it look like someone had driven it through a sheet of gypsum board (maybe they had). No dings or dents, though.
It was a bomber, and cost me $400.00; it was all I could afford at the time.
wtf seriously? then why only now? o.0
Just paint some moe on those cars and they'll sell in a jiffy, duh.
Anyway who need cars? It's fucking sick to think that every man should own his own set of wheels to be manly. Shit, as if my muscles werent enough.
They should blame public transportation while at it.
Gran Turismo? It's only one of the best selling video games of all time, and it has turned countless kids into car fans. It's Toyota's problem if they cannot turn car fans into car owners.
What was Toyota expecting? It's expensive enough just to own a car in Japan with all the payments one has to make just to keep the car. Some even reaching twice the amount used to purchase the car in the first place.
btw wonder who think it's safer to not drive a car.
It's also unsafe to go from point a to b something can always happen.
But guess seing how many people get into car accidents at my work it's pretty normal to see some people being skeptic about driving a car.
If you get into an accident on a subway and manage to live, it's a lot cheaper then getting into an accident with your giant metal liability of a car and having your life completely fucked over.
Hm. I thought cars were for transport? Most people don't play the driving to work/school/grocery store/post office game.
isnt this kinda good for the enivorment? less car usage=less polution?
It's not the video games, its Toyota itself. They shot themselves in the foot when they stopped production of the Supra and Soarer. Bring them back at reasonable prices and people will buy.
Yes, I'm sure it's my video game's fault that I don't have a car. I use it to drive me to places everyday.....virtually.....
With a realistic driving sim on the PSP....that's how I roll baybeh!
Wait, my PSP is too small to ride on....
I blame bikes.
My interest in cars are as great as anime, manga and all them other good otaku stuff. I personally own a Jza70 and a Sw20. So I don't know what this guy is talking about.
i would rather have a real hachi roku then 1 from forza...
Because, of course, a Nintendo Wii will take me from home to work.
If video games are responsible for a collapse in car sales, so be it.
I mean, really, if someone buys a console instead of a car, this someone doesn't really need a car.
So it's better for the air we're breathing, one less car to provoke traffic jams, accidents, and a step in a good direction making the economy stop being so dependant on car manufacturers.
We need a major economy shift right now.
Or maybe it's their fault for making shitty, overpriced cars.
oh come on, cars are mainly for transportation.
or are they wishing that we should street race IRL?
the problem with Toyota sales is, they don't have anything "fast,friendly and fun" every Honda will beat a Toyota hands down on power/performance in the same class. I'd buy a 2dr civic before any of the 4dr fails toyota has on the new car market.
STUPID!
Why don't Toyota (or better yet, GM) make a hot new video game and give it away and make so you want a new car???
FUCK YOU to all the people that think Japan doesnt like cars, you guys are all idiots that only know about Japan from this website. Japan has deep love for cars. Their car culture is one of the best and most admired in the whole world. It doesnt matter if some Japanese people live in big cities they still have cars. The car is a status symbol over there but I bet most of you dont care because you guys dont even own a car.
the reason is simple, toyota don't make good looking car anymore, were are the successors to MR2, Supra & Celica 0f the 90s. they only make practical like yaris that sell buy look crap. thay should do a art comp & survey to see what car the people of japan like drive
Maybe if Toyota put more thought into their vehicle lineup, young people would be more interested. At present, they put an effort into the luxury line for pricks with a lot of cash at hand.
Everybody else gets wither a boringly styled juicebox or, painfully pedestrian family car or a pity fest touting eco friendliness.
And this trend of making cars look like the future according to 1972 is a goddamn boner killer.
lol who wants something that ant amined now a days
Yeah, who needs cars when you can drive around in a game.
So...a videogame can drive me to work then....right?
Don't blame video games for not releasing a new supra yet.....
Remember what a car is.
It can either be
1) An indication that you're making up for a lack of size
2) A time travel machine so 60 year old people can delude themselves into thinking they're young again.
3) A mobile middle finger to hippies.
You've never driven a 700hp car or carved up a road course on a sport bike have you? If you have you'd either be scare and quit, or understand what speed does to people and expand on your little list.
How's mommys mini van treating you?
Xbox 360 is just a slightly less lethal vehicle than a pinto.
Plus geting a Liecense takes a how many years to get in Japan?
If that doesn't work tell Toyata might as well use the Racist excuse for marketing that Foreigners think you Japanese can't even Drive fucking car so buy our cars bitches!
Build cars with game consoles inside!
This is stupid. No game can beat the feeling of driving the car in the night while listening to music and wondering about things.
Actually, if people gave up their cars and mostly used mass-transit, the environmental impact and energy waste would be far less. Most videogame systems use energy that could be stored by a day's charge from a small solar panel or generated by a treadmill/bicycle... A single gallon of gas put through a car's engine creates 100 man-hours of labor in work done.
America could turn itself around by simply changing things so people walk to work instead of driving to work as the norm. Expand public transit and give tax and labor incentives/penalties to move the public back to cities or make suburbs/small townships independent. The country's coal supplies could then work at current rates for 1000 years, the domestic oil supply could easily feed the remaining cars.
And America pulling the plug on it's need for gas would do far more damage to OPEC and Saudi Arabia than any WWIII starting war. Not one from Afghanistan. Not one from Iraq. Fifteen from Saudi Arabia...
Wait, wait, wait...
The U.S. government has spent tons of taxpayer money BAILING OUT Chrysler.
And now, you want them to spend tons MORE taxpayer money driving them out of business?!
Joking aside, there are big-money interests (which buy 'access' to [i.e., 'bribe'] politicians) which do not want things to change from how they are with car manufacturing/use and consequent oil dependence.
That will have to be overcome before the more rational thing such as you suggest can be implemented.
We are going to enter the era of methane hydrates which will get rid of the need for oil/gas from foreign countries. There is enough methane hydrates around the world(including our own shorelines) to last for century's. The problem now is properly extracting it, plus making it is expensive and there is no profitability for it yet.
The obvious answer is to integrate a PS3 into the dashboard or better yet a Wii and tie it to the steering system. Imagine how much more fum commuting would be if you could steer by wiimote.
We can do it we have the technology!
how about the fact the cars get more expensive, gas goes up, car insurance goes up, parking rates go up, no parking spaces... can i go on? or do you get the picture?
stop pointing fingers away from yourselves
pricks
Yes, because we can drive our Playstations, XBoxes and Wiis to work. BRILLIANT stroke of genius, Toyota. Wanna try using that thing in your head next time? What was that thing called again? Riiight, your BRAIN.
If they have car, then it makes no different whether they play the game.
If they don't want to have a car, then they won't buy a car no matter whether they play the game.
The car industry needs to realize that cars are not stores of wealth they are money pits, that is the yare liabilities. The "younger" generation realizes this because they are paid shit and don't want to go bankrupt.
Videogames?! This is coming out of the most powerful car company in the world.
Two main reasons people in Japan are not bothering with cars: first massive congestion. Despite an insane amount of money being put to the roads, corruption in rewarding construction projects means perfectly fine roads are continually repaired instead of new ones being made.
The other reason is that the laws and taxes are trying to make vehicle ownership difficult. Years ago the car industry bought some politicians and had them pass laws making it punishingly expensive to own a car over a few years old, the purpose being to get rid of the second-hand market, encouraging the growth and profit of the car industries. Now it looks like these laws have come around and bitten them in the ass. Good job guys.
And of course it's Gran Turismo's fault.
In one of my uni classes the teacher, who happened to be from japan said it was common for a Japanese company man to replace his car every 5 years or less. I can see that there would be a decrease in purchases during recession, seeing as upgrading your car is a luxury. It was said that second hand car purchase was fairly unknown. I don't know how current any of this is seeing as he was immigrated for quite some time.
driving =/= driving games end of story
The drifting/racing culture is merely dying out in trade with a nerdier, cheaper culture.
Oh well, all the better chance for us guys with nice cars to pic up hot Japanese chicks.
If you think public transport is a reason for the replacement of cars you'd have to be ignorant and have never used both worlds.
Driving was such a pleasure getting from town to town compared to the train.
Yeah, it was when I lived in the country.
Now that I live in a major metropolitan area, it's not.
Here, there is no driving "between" towns. You're on a road, and the only way to know you've changed towns is that you pass a 'Welcome to the City of X' sign -- there's no countryside between them.
I can walk from my apartment to downtown in about 1/2 hour.
I can ride my bike from my apartment to downtown in about 15-20 minutes.
When traffic is bad, it can take 35-45 minutes to drive from my apartment to downtown; most of that time is spent stuck in traffic.
At least on a bus, I can relax and read, since someone else is driving for me.
True enough, I prefer video games, but you just don't get the same sensation running over people in GTA as you do in RL
you to prison and get raped :D
Exactly. It's just not the same sensation!
Yeh im sure the only point of getting a car is for me drive really fast and crash into corners and bump other cars. Just like in the video games.
Cmon
Maybe if they made sports cars and not stupid tree hugging Prius'. Look at the sales of 370z, Camaro, Miata, Wrx, etc. C'mon Toyota, bring back the hachi-roku!
Yeah man, I'd get a Nissan any day, fairlady or GTR would beat anything Toyota has to offer.
Hell yeah! AE86, Supra, MR2, and Celica instant classics. All they need is to actually make the Toyota FT-HS. It saddens me to say this but, bringing back the "hachi-roku" would be a mistake. Toyota should just make a real sports car with a FR or RR.
they're actually bringing back the 86, FT86 that is hahaha
it looks pretty good probably going to be NA with a boxer engine
i own an Celica GT4
i saw that a few days ago, FT86 will be teh sex
FC3S here..
"The downhill braking and shifting, it's perfect! It's right behind the FD!"
This
+ ∞
ROFL, i see what you did there.
I only take my car out when I need to do something, fuck wasting gas.
This comment seems vaguely suggestive in a way I just can't place my finger on...
"I only take my cock out when I need to masturbate, fuck wasting energy"
epic comment ^^ lolz
I blame Equality Now.
WTF? #162
I blame you fuckwit.
Anyway this is to be expected and the contributing factors so obvious you wonder why that Toyota retard said that. With the increasing numbers of young adults becoming freeters, this is to be expected. Unless you work for some swanky firm, the ability to afford a new car will be pretty much nil.
If Christianity suddenly became popular in Japan, I bet they'd blame God.
WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?
I guess none of you own "cars" then. Toyota has been making shit economic/boring cars for the past decade. Where are their sportscars (actually good ones)? Lexus? Young men dont have #$ to buy a $40 K car. Honda? Boring sedans now. Face it, there arent enough sporty/sportscars in the Japanese market in the affordable price range. I lol that TOYOTA would be making this statement as their brand is now completely linked together with the notion of "the boring ass family brand" by most car enthusiasts.
Even better, give the buyers the choice between the two options for maximum impact :P
Hell, add MILF and shota options while you're at it. You may even want to add the possibility of getting two, for a reasonable extra charge, for the customers who are into MILFcake, straight shota, loli yuri and so on ^^
Haha funny story @ anon Above me.
Yes, there are a few roads (read highways) that you can illegally speed on. The common rumor in Japan is that if the Cop is at a standstill and his radar reads above (150 mph) then he doesnt give chase due to the police car's lack of acceleration. As in all countries, sports cars are heavily desired by Youth, Japan is no different.
@Kortaku:
If you DID have a sports car in Japan, is there actually anywhere you could drive it fast, legally, or with very low likelihood of being arrested/ticketed?
Australia and the U.S. has big stretches of desolate nowhere with roads running through them.
A guy I know was blasting through the desert in his Shelby. He slowed down for a stop sign (the road he was on came to a 90-degree left-or-right "T"), and was hit on his rear window by a bird.
Apparently, it had been drafting off him. . .
"Or here's an idea when you buy a toyota car it comes with a loli of your own, that'd boost sales in no time and solve the problem with Sony censoring shit."
makes sense
The only reason men get cars is to impress women. Since women are impossible to get there, men are over it. End of story.
its not like I can use my psp to drive myself to the mall or the bar areas. thing is with the economic problem still looming over our heads and the high costs of owning a car, more people opt to save more than splurge on vehicles when you got a good public transport system.
Or here's an idea when you buy a toyota car it comes with a bishoujo of your own, that'd boost sales in no time and solve the problem with japanese men having no partners.
Well they're right you know. My Xbox drives me to the store to get groceries and back. Full 360. Duh.
make the cars same price as ps3 then people will buy them all.
What's next? People blame video games for violence, sexual abuse among other things and now the collapse in car sales.
Before you know it game developers are going to blame gamers for not buying their games because they're busy playing their old ones.
"Or here's an idea when you buy a toyota car it comes with a loli of your own, that'd boost sales in no time and solve the problem with japanese men having no partners."
-fixed
Blame Kamichu
Japan is a mouse universe.
The males no longer behave as such and clump in groups on the floor hoping to be left alone while consuming all they really need to be happy; food, water, endless masturbation to lolis.
Blame cooler car designs from other manufacturer!