Monday 12 August 2013

Japanese Automobile Dealers

Small cars are next on the new-product agenda for Toyota, Honda and Nissan.

Toyota's redesigned Corolla and the new Nissan Versa Note arrive in showrooms this year and Honda's Fit successor is due next summer.

But plenty more is in the works over the next four years for the Japanese import brands and another California-based carmaker, Tesla.

Take technology advances, for instance. Honda extends its Earth Dreams engine family next year to the Fit. The engines, with direct injection and double-overhead cams, debuted last year on the Accord.

Honda and Toyota join Nissan in shifting heavily into continuously variable transmissions. Toyota will adopt CVTs starting this fall with the redesigned Corolla.

Among Japan's luxury brands, Infiniti and Acura are aiming to close the gap with Lexus by extending their lineups. Lexus will try to make inroads against Mercedes-Benz and BMW by launching what it promises will be sportier and more exciting vehicles.

Infiniti plans a high-end flagship sedan that would put the brand into the BMW 7-series category. A premium sedan and coupe are planned for later in the decade.

Lexus will add the RC 350 compact coupe next year and its hybrid-powered LF-LC flagship coupe is expected in 2015. Acura's high-tech NSX sports car will debut in the first half of 2015.

Meanwhile, the future product strategy of Toyota's Scion is up in the air, while Tesla is laying out plans to extend its lineup of electric vehicles.

Here are the product plans for Toyota, Lexus, Scion, Honda, Acura, Nissan, Infiniti and Tesla through 2017.

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