Japan was in a bit of limbo when it came to making exciting cars. In the 1990s the Subaru WRX, Mitsubishi Evo, Honda NSX, Honda S2000, Nissan Silvia, Nissan GTR and Mazda RX-8 were hot and extremely popular. Being very tuneable made them very desirable among the young. The Japanese car makers were enjoying great success with these sporty models. Then came the 2000s where the slump him them hard. There was no real excitement coming from the Japanese car makers, Nissan had the 350Z which was not particularly exciting, Toyota had a very poor performing Celica and Honda had the Civic Type R which was not very exciting.
Now there is a glimmer of hope with Honda introducing their new Civic Type R FK8 with a 320hp engine and being very tuneable is definitely something people will look forward to. Apart from Honda, Toyota is going to launch the new Supra in the Tokyo Motorshow. The Supra is heavily based on the BMW Z4, nevertheless it is still something new from Toyota. However there is still no news from Mazda or Nissan for a new sports model. Nissan's 370Z is getting old and the GT-R's replacement is expected to be launched in 2019. Mazda have been talking about the RX-8 replacement but this is all just rumours.
While the Japanese car makers were sleeping the Germans have been capitalising on making affordable sporty cars which was once dominated by the Japanese. Even in Japan turbo charged BMW's, VW and Audis are selling well since it is easy to tune and simple plug and play chips can easily boost the car's performance. The Japanese car makers need to wake up and play catch up. Despite being slow, Toyota and Honda are making some progress especially with Honda already launching several models with turbo engines. Toyota is planning to launch several Lexus models with turbo engines.
It is better late than never but they should be less conservative and be more proactive with their approach. They have the resources to build exciting cars but it is the old timers who are in the management team that is too conservative and have lost touch with the current development of the automotive market. Playing it too safe is not good and with more European competitors moving ahead playing catch up with be a bigger task the longer they delay it. Thing may start to change one day when the old management team retires and younger more dynamic people take over in the management team.
