Hi, and thanks for buying a Solara. I work at the plant!

[MCOjerry]

Welcome to SolaraGuy! Even though my car is TMMC, thanks for being a part of making great cars! Speaking of which, if you can custom-make cars, that'll be AWESOME!

I'm thinking of a 2007 SE Sport with an Option C, windscreen, and Charcoal Gray leather interior, Magnetic Gray Metallic paint... But with a 6-speed manual transmission..... OR BETTER YET... A 2JZ RWD version! If I can have it for $30,000 off the retail price, that'll be great.

Seriously though... The only reason it's probably not selling is that the 07 Camry has a more powerful engine (even the SE Sport Solara has the 3MZ NA while you'd expect it to have at least some form of FI, if not a bigger engine) and severely under-advertised; I rarely watch TV as it is, but every other ad is for the Camry or Tundra, while even sales specials don't have Solaras (a glimpse maybe, but no "Get $$$$ factory rebate for the sporty and stlylish Solara" or anything)... Just my $0.02.

Otherwise, it's an awesome car.

I agree with the advertising part.

oldkystude, any idea why they didn't REALLY market the Solara? That was a serious mistake in my mind. If it was EVER marketed, it would have sold much better. You very rarely see an ad for one, and when you do see it on a dealership commercial, it's just a glance, no spotlight or recognition.

Seriously, how did Toyota ever think a car could sell with NO advertising??

[/rant]

[Down2TheC]

Gen 1 have been made in Canada...Gen 2 in Kentucky

If I'm not misinformed, Gen1 ragtops were made in both as coupes and sent to CA to have their roofs chopped off.

Thanks! 2004 model? I am proud to say that I worked on the 5CR press line that made the brackets that holds your taillights on. Remove the trunk trim and check it out. I can describe the process in excruciating detail if you wish.

Thanks but I don't want to spoil the magic. But I'll certainly tag you if my tail light ever spontaneously jumps ship.

[MCOjerry]

Gen 1 have been made in Canada...Gen 2 in Kentucky

If I'm not misinformed, Gen1 ragtops were made in both as coupes and sent to CA to have their roofs chopped off.

Yeah, oldkystude mentioned that the Gen1 convertibles were sent elsewhere to be chopped. I'm glad that the Gen2 was designed and built to be a convertible. Makes it better.

[SolaraGuy22]

Welcome

I haven't had a chance to post on this thread since you made it but I'm glad you stopped by to let us know your involvement with the Lara. I'm anxious to see any pics posted.

[DoctorMark]

Welcome to SG!

[oldkystude]

Seriously though... The only reason it's probably not selling is that the 07 Camry has a more powerful engine (even the SE Sport Solara has the 3MZ NA while you'd expect it to have at least some form of FI, if not a bigger engine) and severely under-advertised; I rarely watch TV as it is, but every other ad is for the Camry or Tundra, while even sales specials don't have Solaras (a glimpse maybe, but no "Get $$$$ factory rebate for the sporty and stlylish Solara" or anything)... Just my $0.02.

Otherwise, it's an awesome car.

I agree on the engine. We have an 06 Avalon Limited and that engine is fantastic. I can chirp the tires on that thing by just flooring it at a light. Amazing for a heavy FWD car.

Tundra is considered the most important launch that Toyota has ever made. Hard to imagine, but the F150 is the best selling vehicle in the largest market on the planet, and they want that title badly. Don't buy any Ford stock...

I don't think much of our marketing people though. They have made some bone-headed decisions. My favorite was when the Sienna van was being planned they decided that hardly anyone would want a left rear door and set up production planss accordingly. Just try to find an old Sienna without a left rear door. I think I saw one or two. NOBODY wanted that thing. Idiots.

Imagine how much it cost to build 2 versions like that. Design engineering, extra stamping dies, robot tooling to move the panels, all the smaller parts that had to be made under the skin, storage pallets, vendor parts, welding jigs, special robot programming on the welding lines, special assembly processes. And now they have to keep all that stuff around for 10 years to supply service parts for the 12 vans out there on the street, that the owners hate anyway, because they don't have a left door. Idiots.

Here is the real reason IMHO. Every Solara displaces a Camry on the line, and we cannot build enough Camrys to supply the demand. (They are going to ramp up to build another 100,000 Camry's a year at the Subaru plant in Indiana beginning this year.) The Hybrid is hot. Every 4th car is a Hybrid on the line. It is cheaper to make a lot of Camry's.

The new Crossover (Ace?) will certainly sell for more than the Solara. It will probably use the same underbody as the current Camry, whereas the Solara uses the underbody of the previous Camry. That's a lot of old dies to keep around for a low volume car. They will need to upgrade the Solara design if they were to keep it, and they feel the future is this Crossover thing. I have not seen the numbers on the Solara sales, but it never sold like they hoped and is slowly dropping as all aging models do. They are probably correct this time, but I am really going to hate to see the only sporty car we ever built go away for good, especially the Convertible. Our management feels the same about that car, but was shot down by someone outside the plant. HP

[---CAMRAZY---]

Any pics of the inside of the plant?

[MCOjerry]

Any pics of the inside of the plant?

He already said no, not allowed.

[PhreakdOut]

Gen 1 have been made in Canada...Gen 2 in Kentucky

If I'm not misinformed, Gen1 ragtops were made in both as coupes and sent to CA to have their roofs chopped off.

Yeah, oldkystude mentioned that the Gen1 convertibles were sent elsewhere to be chopped. I'm glad that the Gen2 was designed and built to be a convertible. Makes it better.

The Gen1s were built at TMMC (Cambridge, Ontario Canada.) A company local to TMMC did the convertible modifications because the process was too slow for TMMC to handle.

Toyota moved production around in their plants for the 2004 model year. Here's how the plants shake out. (Before Model Year 2004 --> MY2004)

TMMC - Cambridge, Ontario Canada:
Corolla, Matrix, Solara --> Corolla, Matrix and Lexus RX330 / RX350

TMMC - Woodstock (TMMC-W?)
New plant 30 minutes west of TMMC. Will start production with the next generation RAV4. (2009 I believe)

TMMK (Georgetown, KY)
Avalon, Camry and Sienna --> Avalon, Camry and Solara (soon to be replaced by the Ace)

TMMI (Princeton, Indiana)
Tundra and Sequoia --> Tundra, Sequoia and Sienna

NUMMI (Fremont, CA)
Tacoma, Corolla and Pontiac Vibe and Volt (export only version of Vibe) --> No changes made except the Volt was discontinued due to low sales.

TMMTX (San Antonio, TX)
Started production 10/06 with Gen2 Tundra all wheelbases.

TMMBC (Baja California, Mexico)
Small production of the Tacoma. (Maybe around 35K units mostly for Mexican market)

Vehicles currently built in Japan and imported to the USA.
Yaris, Prius, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Highlander, Land Cruiser, RAV4, all Scion products and all Lexus products except for the RX-non hybrid.

I expect we will see an announcement by the end of the year for the Phase II of TMMTX. Most likely candidates are Highlander, Prius, a Scion product like the tC or the FJ Cruiser / 4Runner. (Or a new vehicle.) My gut reaction is to lean towards a truck of some sort. Despite the FJ / 4Runner's similarity to the Tacoma platform. Rumors a couple years ago had Highlander pegged there. (Again, despite the commonality to the RX platform.)

Sorry for the overdose of information, thought it may be useful.

[---CAMRAZY---]

Any pics of the inside of the plant?

He already said no, not allowed.

Really, wow, thanks. I didn't feel like reading through all these paragraphs.

[oldkystude]

TMMK also built the Pronard. I didn't even realize it until I saw one outside ready to be crushed and saw the name on the trunk lid (or as we call it the "Luggage, Outer").

Actually got to drive one around the test track once before it got crushed. Really weird driving from the wrong side. They were extremely well equiped, more like a Lexus than a Toyota. The one I drove was a gen 1 version, 1998 as I recall. Had a TV that extended from the top of the radio and then flipped down for viewing. It could only be activated when you were in PARK. It also had GPS before any of the American models offered it, but it was programed for the Japanese Islands. It was fun cursoring out to sea and getting trip info, (in Japanese of course. At least I think it was trip info.) Really cool dash guages also. Sort of like a projection down a magnified tunnel. Really impossible to describe, but nothing like the American cars.

We also made a version for the middle east, but I think it was just called Avalon. You could tell them apart by the crystal prizm hood ornaament. Thety would be illegal here, but I don't think the average Saudi pedestrian can bring a lot of civil law suits.

[oldkystude]

[PXLpainter]

^^Cool!

[DrakkkarDarkbladE]

Welcome to the forum, wow you work at a plant..

Unfortunately mine is a generation 1.5 so it was made in Canada.

[NeFaRiOuS_SLE]

How could that NOT sell? Just drive it about 20k miles, drop off the rest at a few specialty shops and say it's a gray market import!