Toyota A-BAT will remain a concept... for now
Toyota A-BAT Concept - Click above for a high-res image gallery
Bob Carter, Toyota Motor Sales USA's vice president and general manager, told our man Mike Levine from PickupTrucks.com that the Toyota A-BAT is on indefinite hold. According to Carter, "We have a lot of top priorities right now, and A-BAT isn't one of them."
Although news of the A-BAT's imminent arrival was circulating as early as February, Toyota's decision to put the project on hold doesn't come as a surprise. With auto sales down overall – and pick-ups being hit particularly hard in the last year – the business case for a compact, hybrid truck would be hard to justify.
Originally, it was assumed the A-BAT would be sold as a Scion, but with the "youth" brand's renewed focus on smaller vehicles (ala the Scion iQ concept that debuted at the New York Auto Show), a pick-up would be in stark contrast to the rest of the line-up.
"The market has changed dramatically over the last 12 months." Carter told Pickuptrucks.com, "We always keep reprioritizing – under good economic or recessionary times – what our planning is. [For now, the A-BAT is] on the shelf."
Gallery: Detroit 2008: Toyota A-BAT Concept
[Source: Pickuptrucks]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Level 2:05PM (4/13/2009)
Toyota is just as bad as making too many SUV's and /trucks as GM but they seem to get away with it...
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Level 2:06PM (4/13/2009)
You gotta love perception!
the_MVP_X 2:48PM (4/13/2009)
Yeah, but this one looks good.
jv2k 3:39PM (4/13/2009)
Looks good? What are you smoking? This thing is so cartoonishly ugly it makes the Aztec look like a sexy car.
zombyboy 4:23PM (4/13/2009)
Aztek ugly, indeed.
Horrible.
dukeisduke 9:20AM (4/14/2009)
It looks like somebody already took A-BAT to it. It makes me go after it with A-BAT.
Taglane 2:06PM (4/13/2009)
Whew! All thanks to a failing economy.
I'm so relieved.
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Sea Urchin 2:35PM (4/13/2009)
O don't believe that ANYONE would approve the production of such an ugly vehicle, but i guess we'll never know.
Taglane 2:38PM (4/13/2009)
Well they DID pass the xD....
Hank Fidel 2:51PM (4/13/2009)
I got confused waiting for you to finish the sentence then I realized that you were talking about the Scion xD...and that you weren't making the funny face: XD
Taglane 2:55PM (4/13/2009)
lol
cFoo 2:07PM (4/13/2009)
If it was just the picture alone, I would have thought it came from those crackheads at the new Acura design studio.
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Rich 2:07PM (4/13/2009)
We don't need another Honda Ridgeline!
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Mike 2:43PM (4/13/2009)
agreed, and marketing this as a Scion would hurt the Scion name more.
I'd rather them bring back the old xB as xB Classic or something lol
Sektor 2:08PM (4/13/2009)
If this was a Chinese car, it would be called a Ridgeline clone.
And damn is this thing ugly!
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Alex 2:08PM (4/13/2009)
Good.
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akboss302 2:13PM (4/13/2009)
"With auto sales down overall – and pick-ups being hit particularly hard in the last year – the business case for a compact, hybrid truck would be hard to justify."
If pick-ups are particularly hard hit by a slumping global economy, then that means before all this happened people were buying pick-ups, and lots of them. By no means am I a businessman, but it seems to me that if so many people are delaying a truck purchase due to market conditions or fuel cost, they are waiting for a breakthrough in order to buy the truck they waited out last year. Its a risk, but I think a compact, efficient truck might encourage the fence sitters to go out and buy a pick-up.
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The Other Bob 6:07PM (4/13/2009)
"...but I think a compact, efficient truck might encourage the fence sitters to go out and buy a pick-up."
Well if its anything like the Ridgeline, it is NOT anywhere near efficient.
Smegley 2:14PM (4/13/2009)
......... "Toyota A-BAT will remain a concept... for now"
Thank God. Now let's make it ..... "forever"
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Ben 2:20PM (4/13/2009)
It's as ugly as a bat.
..so aptly named.