Miguel Sánchez
Let's talk about Japanese vehicles. And for centuries Japan was a country jealously closed to the rest of the world. Engrossed in its own traditions and structures, it did not experience true industrialization until the dawn of the XNUMXth century. Furthermore, its difficult access to depending on which raw materials, as well as its own geography - mountainous, complex and with few lands suitable for extensive crops - did not make things easy for the arrival of mechanized industry and mass consumption.
However, once the doors to the Western world are opened, the truth is that Japan advanced along the technological path like few countries have done. What's more, in a very few years its first metallurgical companies took giant steps in design and engineering, producing sophisticated ships and combat aircraft.
Those same people who, during the Second World War, contributed decisively to a fierce spiral of violence ended with the detonation of the nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
After this, the Japanese postwar unleashed episodes of great poverty exactly like what happened in European countries like Spain. However, that was not an obstacle to the start of an unprecedented social change under which cities grew at an accelerated pace as industry transformed; first under the tutelage of the American occupation and, later, under the Japanese's own skill and ingenuity.
FROM RUINS TO SUCCESS
Thus, during the XNUMXs, many local brands added quality and efficiency to their creations. So much so that, entering the following decade, they rightly believed in their possibilities to the point of going out to foreign markets. Likewise, beyond the vehicles themselves, the local industry learned - with the support of ambitious government-funded programs - to produce in large series under quality and speed standards never seen in the West.
A process confirmed by Honda; which opened its first production center in Europe in 1962 to, very shortly after, become the largest manufacturer in the world. Furthermore, all that efficiency in reliability, consumption and mass sales was confirmed with a wide range of sports designs in the mid-sixties. In short, the Japanese industry had not only learned how to make excellent vehicles wholesale, but also to fill them with a passion for racing and a taste for design.
With all this, it is not surprising how, first in motorcycles and then in automobiles, one by one each and every one of the Western markets fell to the charms of vehicles from the Far East. Those same ones who, with their Great value for the price, were displacing local ranges to carve out a commercial role that, in some cases, was and continues to be hegemonic. Something that we can understand very well thanks to the following five examples.
TOYOTA 2000 GT, THE CONFIRMATION OF THE JAPANESE BRANDS
Already in the sixties, Japan presented an interesting range of urban cars. What's more, passenger cars were also beginning to gain an important niche thanks to the first mass creations of manufacturers such as Toyota or Mazda. Nevertheless, The jump from the local market to the export market still seemed complex due to the way and manner with which Westerners ignored everything that happened in Japan.
Under this context, the need to create a symbolic car, an iconic machine, with which to focus the foreign public on the possibilities offered by Japanese vehicles was obvious. Something that motorcycle manufacturers were doing very well thanks to their incredible progression in the World Speed Championship but, in the case of four wheels, it seemed to go much more slowly and hesitantly.
In this way, during the 1965 Tokyo Motor Show the lines of the future Toyota 2000 GT were revealed. A truly spectacular sports car, developed with the participation of Yamaha to create this model equipped with an inline six-cylinder engine.
Seductive in its appearance and energetic in its performance, it arrived in Western markets with a price higher than that of a Jaguar E-type. turned into an exotic object of desire. Thanks to this means such as Road & Track At last they were paying fair attention to what was happening in Japan; place where Mazda was already experimenting with rotary engines while Datsun was preparing its excellent landing in the United States through great successes on the circuits.
MAZDA MIATA, THE BEST ENGLISH IS A JAPANESE
One of the best examples to confirm the success of Japanese manufacturers in the West is the Mazda MX-5. And, even though it is a vehicle designed on the other side of the world, today it is one of the most common sports cars on the streets of the United Kingdom, if not the most.
And wow, it is not surprising because, after all, the best and most genuine qualities of sports motorsport with an English flavor are cited on this two-seater.
Those that were defined by the roadsters of brands such as MG or Sunbeam and that, in 1962, Lotus condensed like no one else under the design of its Elan S2.
In short, lightness, excellent cornering and sensations close to the asphalt without having to install a large displacement mechanism. A concept very well understood by the Japanese, who had been making sports cars like the Honda S800 or, of course, the Toyota Sports 800 since the sixties.
Full examples of efficiency and more than interesting weight/power ratios, capable of laying a foundation on which Mazda worked to present the first MX-5 already in 1989. One of the most driver-friendly vehicles that can still be found today and that, in addition, has the pride of being, paradoxically, the most successful English roadster of all time being a Japanese car.
YAMAHA DT-1, A MOTORCYCLE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
If there is one area in which the Japanese industry has become dominant, it is motorcycling. Likewise, its conquest of Western markets occurred under the amazement of traditional manufacturers in the United Kingdom and the United States; perplexed as to how Honda, Yamaha or Suzuki They took control of the World Speed Championship at an exponential rate while in dealerships its popular everyday frames were selling more and more.
In addition, the commercial analysts paid by the Japanese brands demonstrated an excellent ability to sniff out the market. Thus, they realized how at the beginning of the sixties not only was the world of Off-Road gaining ground in all its specialties from California to the Alps; but also how all a generation of young people with certain access to consumption I longed for mixed motorcycles for daily and recreational use.
In short, a product had to be manufactured that was not only versatile and capable of being manufactured in large series, but also economical, easy to maintain, reliable and with a sales price that was as competitive as possible. Without a doubt, a specification that is not easy to square, which was satisfied thanks to the launch of the Yamaha DT- in 1968. Equipped with a 246 cubic centimeter two-stroke single-cylinder engine., this was a sensational success in the United States. What's more, it became the machine with which tens of thousands of young people were introduced to Motocross while announcing the imminent dominance of Japanese manufacturers in the promising field of Off-Road.
HONDA CB750, THE TOYOTA 2000 GT OF MOTORCYCLES
Reaching the end of the sixties, no one doubted the role of Japanese manufacturers in small and medium displacements. However, there were still doubts about what could happen in relation to the more performance-oriented and exclusive segments traditionally dominated by British and, in some cases, Italian or American brands.
Under this context, for Japanese designers it was necessary create a motorcycle capable of generating the same effect created years before by the Toyota 2000 GT in the field of motorsports. That is to say, not so much a vehicle designed to be sold wholesale but rather a sports icon capable of demonstrating in practice the prestige to which Far Eastern manufacturers could aspire.
In this way, in 1969 the Honda CB750 arrived on the market. A true superbike with an inline four-cylinder engine, 736 cubic centimeters and 67 HP at 8.000 revolutions per minute capable of generating furious derivatives for competition with evident successes in the American circuits. What's more, within a few years the Japanese brands also began to dominate the 500 World Championship, ousting MV Agusta from its hegemony.
With all this, it is impossible to doubt the historical importance of the Honda CB750; confirmation of how Japan not only manufactured excellent low and medium displacement urban, touring, sport tourism or Off-Road mounts, but also high-level machines capable of reaching the top in the world of two wheels.
TOYOTA CELICA WRC, TO SUCCESS ON DIRT ROADS
For those of us who are fans of motor sports, Japanese manufacturers have emerged as an undisputed reference in the World Speed Championship, F1 or even the WRC. And it is that, aware of the importance of competition As a form of propaganda, from Subaru to Mitsubishi to Toyota, almost all Japanese brands have stood out under the checkered flag.
Something also very visible in the rallies, where after the years starring Ford Europe, Lancia, Alpine, Audi or Peugeot, Japanese vehicles began to experience an excellent era that still lasts to this day. What's more, knowing that prestige is earned with effort, already at the beginning of the seventies They bet heavily on achieving good results in the Safari. At the time, one of the toughest tests on the calendar where, first Datsun and then Toyota, wrote excellent pages.
And wow, talking about Toyota it is impossible to forget the importance of the Celica. A model born in 1970 - as a bet against the American sports cars of the moment - that, throughout its multiple generations, He managed to enter the WRC to achieve up to four drivers' titles counting that of Carlos Sainz in 1992. Without a doubt, one of the sports cars most present in the particular Iberian imagination of competition.
