Toyota head says low-cost car needs work

You can't have it all, and Toyota is learning this lesson first hand as it struggles to develop an inexpensive, safe and well built car to sell in markets like China, Russia and Brazil. Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe has already driven prototypes of the low-cost car, and told Automotive News Europe that he found the "level of the new car not bad." Toyota doesn't have a reputation for building cars that are "not bad", and Watanabe thinks there's a way to go in improving the car's quality. Unfortunately, that means the low cost car, the design of which may be based on the iQ Concept shown this past week in Frankfurt, will not be as inexpensive as first thought. While admitting his company could sell the car for less than €5,000, Watanabe doesn't think they'd be able to offer the safety and quality he says Toyota is known for at that price.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]