What is a Toyota Cavalier?
What is a Toyota Cavalier?
In short, a Toyota Cavalier is a merely right hand drive Chevrolet Cavalier.
On November 19, 1993, General Motors and Toyota signed an agreement to sell the Chevrolet Cavalier in Japan, badge-engineered as a Toyota Cavalier. The models first appeared on January 20, 1996 at Toyota dealerships throughout Japan.
Toyota Cavaliers 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 right hand drive.
There were four models produced:
Toyota Cavalier 2.4 sedan (cost about 1,810,000 yen)
Toyota Cavalier 2.4g sedan
Toyota Cavalier 2.4s coupe (98, 99, 00 model years)
Toyota Cavalier 2.4z coupe
GM said that the Toyota Cavalier sedans and coupes had been “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, (denoted with asterisks):
2.4L Twin Cam engine (identical to North American models)
4 speed automatic transmission (manual transmission not available)
Tachometer
Air conditioning
Tilt steering
Dual air bags
Anti-lock braking system
Body side molding
Power windows
Power door locks
Leather wrapped steering wheel*
Leather wrapped shift knob*
Leather wrapped emergency brake handle*
Carpeted trunk lid liner*
Power folding mirrors**
Integrated armrest in rear seat*
Toyota emblem on steering wheel airbag *
Separate amber indicators in taillights*
Side markers on front fenders*
Flared front fenders for additional wheel clearance*
Different center console*
Toyota Cavaliers were not available with manual transmissions, or cruise control. Fuel doors were flat, with release handles inside the trunk and beside the driver's seat. The radio antenna was embedded into the windshield.
** Folding mirrors were first added by Toyota’s Technocraft division in mid-1996. Power folding mirrors became standard in the 1997 model year. 1996 models may be found with regular Chevrolet non-folding mirrors, as well as non-powered folding mirrors on sedans.
Most Toyota Cavalier parts will fit on Chevrolet Cavaliers without modification. Some parts will also fit Pontiac Sunfire. Japanese Domestic Market (aka JDM) parts can be obtained using GM part numbers, from any GM parts department or GMPartsDirect.com. Keep in mind that brand new OEM parts are usually very, very expensive. Used Toyota Cavalier parts can be found regularly on Ebay and various other websites. Reproductions of both TRD and Bomex body kits are available from companies in North America.
In total, 37,800 Toyota Cavaliers were produced:
1996 10,929
1997 9,000
1998 8,843
1999 6,000
2000 3,028
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 (not to be confused with the TRD 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, including a body kit, eyelids, spoiler, and lowering springs. Bomex also offered aftermarket support for the Toyota Cavalier, developing body kits, a spoiler, and sleek side view mirrors.
Toyota Cavalier was available from 1996 through the 2000 model year, until discontinued due to poor sales.
