Welcome to the TOYOTA CAVALIER site!
This
site is a WORK IN PROGRESS. Some things are not yet
functional. You can thank the yahoo who stole my content
for his Ebay auction without asking me first. (PS. Up
yours, ya pommie bastard!!)
What is a Toyota Cavalier?
In a nutshell, the Toyota Cavalier is a right-hand drive Chevrolet Cavalier with some "nice" features added to it.Now the picture above is rather misleading... You're not likely to see many Toyota Cavaliers in California - they were made for Japan! The exported sibling of the third-generation Chevrolet Cavalier, the Toyota Cavalier was sold exclusively in Japan from 1996 through 2000. GM built the right-hand drive version of the popular American car for Toyota, but there are a few subtle differences.
This web site is my dedication to the Japanese sibling of the North American J-Body.
We'll start with a little history...
November 19, 1993: The Chevy Cavalier Becomes the Toyota Cavalier
Source: Defining the Barshefsky Legacy (link no longer active)On this day, Toyota and General Motors signed an historic agreement to sell the Chevy Cavalier in Japan as the Toyota Cavalier. In a sense, the U.S.-built but Japanese-inspired Cavalier was returning home. The popular Cavalier, which was first introduced in 1981, was Detroit's answer to Japan's fuel-efficient and well-made compacts. Japanese automakers had taken the U.S. automobile market by storm during the 1970s, largely due to consumer demand for fuel-efficiency and durability during a time of oil crises and recession. It took a decade for the Big Three to bounce back from the blow, finally gaining ground in the early 1980s with Japanese-inspired compacts like the Chevy Cavalier. The Cavalier was the best-selling Chevy model in modern history, and the top-selling U.S. car in 1984. By the late 1980s, Detroit's relationship with Japanese automakers had stabilized--major Japanese plants opened across the United States and the Japanese government relaxed its tariff laws to allow free competition from American automakers. During the 1990s, cooperation became the rule of thumb, and cars can no longer be considered strictly "Japanese" or "American," as most automobiles today are constructed in any number of countries from parts made all over the world.
A Mount Fuji among the anthills - Toyota Motor Corp.'s new Cavalier
Source: Ward's Auto WorldTokyo -- As a new car for Toyota Motor Corp.'s home-market dealers, it's a drop in the bucket, a flea on an elephant. But as a symbol, the Toyota Cavalier built by General Motors Corp. at Lordstown, OH, USA, is bigger than life, a Mount Fuji among the anthills.
Consider this: Toyota's home-market share is shrinking (down from 44% to 38% in six years), it has plenty of extremely good small cars of its own, and its quality is unsurpassed. Why take on another car from a foreign automaker whose quality, until quite recently, has been suspect? Why go to the great expense of bringing in a small American car when your annual import target is only 20,000 units?
And don't forget the heavy costs of establishing a new, unfamiliar brand in a market notoriously finicky about what its own automakers offer, let alone a newcomer from the U.S.
Yet, backed by a heavy marketing barrage that surprisingly includes commercials opening with a female vocalist singing the U.S. National Anthem (in English), the Toyota Cavalier goes on sale here next month priced between $18,000 and $20,500 in what the Japanese describe as "the mid market."
Call it a marriage of convenience.
"I don't think they really needed the car; that wasn't what this was all about," GM President John F. (Jack) Smith tells Ward's Auto World. "I think it was really about trade issues. When this was first discussed (in 1993), we had lunch with them one day (in Detroit) and we were into trade issues. Everyone was concerned about the things we could do -- sell (Toyota) more components, they could take a car from us. One thing led to another, and eventually we put together a joint program on the car."
It helped that GM is a good Toyota customer. Since 1984, GM has purchased more than 1.1 million Geo Prizms (nee Novas) from New United Motor Mfg. Inc. (NUMMI), the 50/50 Toyota/GM venture operated by Toyota in Fremont, CA.
It also doubtlessly helped that Mr. Smith was GM's point man in establishing NUMMI a decade ago, and that he and other GM executives have remained on close terms with top Toyota officials.
And it didn't hurt that Toyota would get one of GM's most advanced models, the all-new Cavalier J-car that moved haltingly into production at Lordstown a year ago but now is running at its rated 70-cars-per-hour rate with quality -- based on GM audits -- far above the model it replaced.
But before they begin their 30-day trip by rail and ship from Lordstown, the Toyota Cavalier parts company in numerous ways from its U.S. counterpart.
Besides being outfitted with right-hand-drive, steering column stalks are mounted to Japanese standards. The accelerator pedals are moved back to accommodate shorter Japanese drivers, exterior lights are changed to meet Japanese regulations, front fenders are altered a bit because Japanese drivers don't like to see tires sticking out, interior fabrics are used exclusively to meet Japanese tastes, and the black door handles are painted to match the body, also at Toyota's request, because that's what Japanese buyers want.
Also added: An emergency fire extinguisher and flares.
Unchanged, however, is Cavalier's 2.4L 4-cyl. engine, big by Japanese standards, and the GM-Delco radios, even though Toyota wanted radios using different specifications. "We felt our GM experience was very positive," says Hiroki Kunita, project general manager-Domestic Planning Div. "90% of the advice we gave was taken by GM."
Toyota has produced a slick advertising program for the launch aimed around the theme "Welcome Mr. Cavalier." And the car's heritage is hardly disguised: GM is played up in advertising and commercials, which include backdrops such as American football fields, basketball courts and familiar scenes.
Toyota Executive Vice President Toshimi Onishi observes that "We see Cavalier as another great result of GM/Toyota cooperation. We compete around the world, but team up in special markets."
It should be sobering to their competitors that the world's No. 1 and No.3 automakers can pull off deals like this. Just think what they could do if they got really serious.
Toyota Cavalier Debuts
The Toyota Cavalier first appeared in Toyota dealerships throughout Japan on January 20, 1996. They were built at the Lordstown Assembly Plant, in Lordstown, Ohio, on the same assembly line as the Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire. The most obvious difference, of course, being that they were all right-hand drive! The Toyota Cavaliers were shipped by rail and ship to Japan.Toyota Cavaliers were available in both coupe and sedan form. GM states that the Toyota Cavalier was “tailored specifically for the Japanese consumer” and sure enough, there were some features on the Toyota brand that were not even options on the Chevy models, including leather options, a carpeted trunk lid, folding side mirrors and more.
Toyota Cavaliers had a single standard drivetrain: the 2.4L "Twin Cam" (LD9) engine mated to a four-speed Hydramatic 4T40-E automatic transmission, with overdrive. The Isuzu (96-99) & Getrag (2000) 5-speed manual transmissions found in North America were not available on the Toyota Cavalier.
Many features were standard on the Toyota Cavalier:
Air conditioning
Tilt steering
Dual air bags
Anti-lock braking system
Power windows
Power door locks
Leather-wrapped steering wheel, shift knob and emergency brake handle
Rear seat with integrated centre armrest
Side markers
Wider-flared fenders to cover front tires
There were many other differences on the Toyota Cavalier, including:
Cruise control was not available
The fuel door was flat, with an inside release handle
The radio antenna was integrated into the front windshield
Manual folding mirrors were added mid-1996, and power folding mirrors were standard for 1997
Toyota had aimed to sell 20,000 of the vehicles annually, or about 1,700 per month. The cars were released on January 20, 1996 and by February 19 Toyota had received orders for about 950 sedans and 850 coupes. Unfortunately, strong initial interest died off and by July 1996 sales had totalled only 6,700 vehicles. In an effort to perk up sales, Toyota’s Technocraft subsidiary introduced upgraded models featuring automatic folding side mirrors, rear spoilers and emblems. The 2.4 TRD coupes, equipped with an 11-piece TRD designed body kit, retailed in Japan for 2.29 million yen, up 240,000 yen from the standard issue Cavalier coupe, which sold for 2.05 million yen.
TRD continued with additional aftermarket support, producing a set of lowering springs. Bomex also offered aftermarket support for the Toyota Cavalier, developing body kits, a spoiler, and sleek side view mirrors.
The Toyota Cavalier was available from 1996 through the 2000 model year, until finally discontinued due to poor sales.
Racing
Yes, Toyota Cavaliers even hit the professional racing circuit. In 1997 and 1998, the All Japan GT Championship (JGTC, GT-300 class) saw the #60 Kraft Toyota Cavalier driven by a variety of drivers: Kumi Satou, Minoru Tanaka, Masaoki Nagashima, Junko Mihara and Akira Watanabe. Unfortunately, this Toyota Cavalier's best finish was 18th place in two of it's races.How this site came to be...
I bought my first Chevy Cavalier in May 2000, and quickly began searching the internet for things I could modify on the car, to set it apart from all the other Cavaliers on the road. I discovered The J-Body Organization (www.j-body.org) and found many useful posts in the forums, and plenty of modified Cavaliers and Sunfires to get some ideas from.One day back in late 2000, I came across a girl named Nicole, who in her registry had listed a set of "Toyota Cavalier taillights". I'm sure my jaw hit the floor - what on earth is a TOYOTA Cavalier? I'd never heard of that one. Pictures of her car showed off a distinctly different set of taillights - equipped with orange turn indicators, per Japanese regulations. I was able to contact her and find out that her boyfriend had worked for GM, and he had found these Toyota Cavalier taillights. Immediately my mind raced... what if the Chevy Cavalier was actually made by Toyota? I set out to search for as much information as possible.
In my quest, I came across a fellow named Hiroyuki Ikoshi (Iko, for short), who lived in Japan and drove a Toyota Cavalier. Despite our trouble communicating back and forth, - Iko speaks Japanese, and I don't! - Iko told me more about the Toyota Cavalier, and he was even able to get me the part numbers for many of the parts that were different than the North American J-body cars. As it turned out, the Toyota Cavalier wasn't made by Toyota at all... they were built by General Motors in the USA, on the same assembly line in Lordstown, Ohio as the Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire.
With Toyota Cavalier part numbers in hand, I sought out the assistance of a very knowledgeable fellow named John at the parts counter at Carter Chev-Olds in North Vancouver. We converted the Toyota Cavalier part numbers into GM part numbers, and ordered my very first Toyota Cavalier parts. My test order was a set of 2000 Toyota Cavalier taillights, coming from the parts warehouse in Lansing, Michigan. When they arrived, John called me with the exciting news - they were definitely different than any parts he'd seen before, even marked with "Export" stickers. Different from stock lights in a subtle manner, but not the Altezza-style lights that everyone else had on their modified Cavaliers - I was in love with a set of taillights! Wiring them up was another story entirely...
My next biggest obstacle I encountered in getting Toyota Cavalier parts was the cost; being new OEM parts from GM meant they were quite expensive... but that's the price you pay for trying to be unique, at least in this part of the world! Many of the parts I wanted were far too expensive to justify - $1300 for a rear seat with integrated armrest? Ludicrous! Over time, I saved and saved until I could afford them, one by one.
At the same time, I continued to research and discovered subtle differences between the two that many had not yet discovered. I started a website to host pictures and information about the Toyota Cavalier, which over the years has evolved now four times to become what you are now reading. I believe it's the most comprehensive source of Toyota Cavalier information outside of Japan itself! Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, though ;)
Thanks for visiting my site - I hope it's of some use to you!
...j