Car technology
Sir, —Motorists are advised to take advertising claims with a bag of salt. On TV, day after day, I heard: “I’m John Davidson; don’t buy a car today with yesterday’s technology; buy a Toyota with the technology of tomorrow.” I did, and what did I find? It had Stone Age ignition, with points in it like a 1930 Model A. My two previous cars had transistorised pointless ignition, with reliability and no maintenance. The advertising was the opposite of fact. Toyota had yesterday’s technology and the others had the modern system. I know the latest models have electronic ignition, but the claims were wrong at the time they were made. — Yours, etc., A. R. BATEY, Greymouth. December 8, 1986.
[Mr A. P. Cuming, Toyota New Zealand public affairs manager, replies: “We confirm that the model in question purchased by Mr Batey did have an ignition system with points, but emphasise that this is just one item of vehicle specification chosen for a particular engine series. The advertising claim regarding advanced technology is considered by us to be legitimately based on the complete range of technological innovation in Toyota product. This includes: (1) Suspension and handling — the product of extensive evaluation and testing. (2) Engine design — including features designed to enhance both performance and fuel economy such as 12 valve engines, twin-cam, fuel injection, etc. (3) Exterior and interior design with advanced aerodynamics and styling, and, in this case, liftback design providing greater over-all passenger-lug-gage capacity versus competitors’ hatchback models. The over-all advances made by Toyota in Japan in product development stem from the enormous commitment to research and development by this industry leader. Research and development expenditure in excess of S2B a year has put the company in the forefront of many areas of automotive technology.”]
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Press, 19 December 1986, Page 20
Word Count
298Car technology Press, 19 December 1986, Page 20
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