What's sure is that Toyota for one doesn't give a crap about light signature matching, or better said, doesn't even have a really consistent and unique light signature to begin with
Not that they need that in order to be a hugely successful global brand and a hugely successful racing powerhouse, but it's a shame because there wouldn't be any downside to having a unique visual identity,
on top of being a well-known brand with a well-known logo and a reputation for relatively cheap, popular, practical, reliable cars.
Of course there are people at Toyota, including head honchos, who are genuinely passionate about racing and automobiles in general (I recall seeing the CEO doing some perfectly executed doughnuts in what I think was a Yaris GR some time ago), but the way they usually make the brand come across is purely as a manufacturer of
mass-produced consumer goods, which are indeed practical and affordable but with very little identity and almost completely devoid of a passion-igniting factor (save the GR models obviously). Toyota may as well be selling vacuum cleaners or washing machines that it wouldn't seem the slightest bit shocking.
That's actually a constant criticism I have towards Japanese makes in general. We as Europeans are probably spoilt and have developed particularly refined tastes... but for real, Japanese car exteriors are very often boring, generic and look a lot like one another (or sometimes on the contrary look extremely weird), and their interiors are usually even worse: horribly austere, unwelcoming, and filled with esthetically questionable choices (e.g. those huge knobs mounted literally on the sides of the instrument cluster cowl on the latest Lexus LS). Again, practical, reliable, for sure, but utterly as
tasteless as it gets. It's a shame the Japanese are only applying their legendary culture of the job well done to the mechanical / reliability aspect alone here, and care so little about giving their cars more soul, personality, desirability -- which is why that's oftentimes how they come across to Europeans, as mere
products. I'm aware there are consumer culture differences between Japan and Europe, but I don't think they'd be losing home market shares at all if they were just more careful with what we in other areas of the world find unattractive or even repulsive, and if they came up with design solutions that are appreciated more universally; which could be summarized as looking less plasticky, less austere and less quirky. (Are, say, the BMW, Porsche, Peugeot, Volvo, sober and refined interior design languages disliked in Japan or elsewhere in the world? I don't think so.)
Again, Toyota is selling cars in huge numbers, good for them, but would it really be detrimental for them to develop a slightly more charming style, at least a more cohesive/consistent design language that immediately rings a bell, on top of their other qualities? I think they'd only gain more market shares globally. But for now, if I personally had to make a purely practical purchase, I'd much rather be drawn to
Škoda or
Dacia, although one would think these are positioned even lower than Toyota in terms of cheapness and pragmatic spirit, because Škoda and Dacia really did put an effort to create a
recognizable identity, a
unique brand universe where you can feel at home, even a certain charisma. And I'm being kind with Toyota compared to other Japanese brands.
Back to the endurance racing lighting tech: is it just me, or has anyone else who's been following the race through part of the night felt like headlights this year looked even more dazzling than usual on camera, to the point where you sometimes couldn't identify the various cars on screen?
I guess that makes my initial point about light signature matching slightly less relevant, but still, the DRLs were switched on and clearly visible for a large part of the race, so it remains a missed opportunity not to have a consistent brand signature across the board -- production and racing.
www.autocar.co.uk
