Hans Greimel
Automotive News
November 27, 2014 - 12:01 am ET
TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. has struggled to fill the void at the secretive workshop in Japan where the Lexus LFA was assembled ever since the last $375,000 sports car rolled off a line in December 2012.
Now, it finally has landed a new product, one just as niche and high profile: Toyota’s new Mirai hydrogen fuel cell sedan.
The backlot LFA Works at Toyota’s Motomachi assembly plant in Toyota City has been tasked with hand building the limited-run car partly because of its craftsmanship and attention to detail.
And also because the Mirai, with its dedicated platform and hydrogen-powered drivetrain replete with mammoth fuel tanks, is better built by hand than in Toyota’s ultra-efficient factories.
In fact, production is so limited -- to just 700 vehicles in the first year -- that Toyota is already warning of delivery delays.
Toyota now has 200 orders for the car, and people ordering one today will have to wait until next summer to get theirs, said Masamoto Maekawa, executive vice president for domestic sales.
“Each unit is carefully built with utmost care. So therefore, the production volume might be limited,” Maekawa said. “During the initial stages, delivery time might be delayed. The 200 orders are mostly from government and corporate fleets.”
The LFA Works is a jewel of Japanese artisanal production expertise, where master craftsmen ply their trade with pride. The workshop is also loaded with extensive, and expensive, carbon-fiber spinning, molding and autoclaving equipment.
Even if production soars to 2,000 vehicles a year, Tanaka said, the workshop would still be churning out just 10 Mirais a day.
http://www.autonews.com/article/201...rkshop-now-makes-toyota-mirai-fuel-cell-sedan
At $57.5k, it looks like the Mirai will be profitable within a reasonable time frame.
Automotive News
November 27, 2014 - 12:01 am ET
TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. has struggled to fill the void at the secretive workshop in Japan where the Lexus LFA was assembled ever since the last $375,000 sports car rolled off a line in December 2012.
Now, it finally has landed a new product, one just as niche and high profile: Toyota’s new Mirai hydrogen fuel cell sedan.
The backlot LFA Works at Toyota’s Motomachi assembly plant in Toyota City has been tasked with hand building the limited-run car partly because of its craftsmanship and attention to detail.
And also because the Mirai, with its dedicated platform and hydrogen-powered drivetrain replete with mammoth fuel tanks, is better built by hand than in Toyota’s ultra-efficient factories.
In fact, production is so limited -- to just 700 vehicles in the first year -- that Toyota is already warning of delivery delays.
Toyota now has 200 orders for the car, and people ordering one today will have to wait until next summer to get theirs, said Masamoto Maekawa, executive vice president for domestic sales.
“Each unit is carefully built with utmost care. So therefore, the production volume might be limited,” Maekawa said. “During the initial stages, delivery time might be delayed. The 200 orders are mostly from government and corporate fleets.”
The LFA Works is a jewel of Japanese artisanal production expertise, where master craftsmen ply their trade with pride. The workshop is also loaded with extensive, and expensive, carbon-fiber spinning, molding and autoclaving equipment.
Even if production soars to 2,000 vehicles a year, Tanaka said, the workshop would still be churning out just 10 Mirais a day.
http://www.autonews.com/article/201...rkshop-now-makes-toyota-mirai-fuel-cell-sedan
At $57.5k, it looks like the Mirai will be profitable within a reasonable time frame.
