Writing has been on the wall for a while - some here chose not to see it. The world is changing and Toyota must too.
AWD / Direct4 / Hybrids / Electric will make FF products do 85% of what FR can do for 10% of R&D cost, and consumers don't know the difference or care enough about drive wheels anyway. It's a win-win for Toyota.
There are also several reasons FF cars have become almost indistinguishable from FR cars for regular people who don't drive their cars remotely close to the limit:
> Huge wheels and low-profile tires became fashionable. As a side-effect most modern cars are very responsive (compared to older cars). In fact an average FF sedan today has similar tire profile to a super car in the 90s.
> Most modern cars use electric power steering that are tuned to be very tight to give a false impression of quick steering response. Something you can't easily do with hydraulic power steering.
> ESPs have become very effect at controlling vehicle movement. FF cars are much less understeer and vice versa. People tend to forget how dangerous FR cars are before mid-2000s when good ESPs became available.
> Many ESP software have built-in selective braking to improve cornering (like Toyota's ACA). Helps FF cars a lot more than FR cars.
> Many FR cars now use staggered wheel setup to improve traction and handle powerful modern engines. The side effect is more rear-end grip which gives the false impression of more understeer. BMW is an exception still use square setup in many products which makes the rear easier to move around.
And these are even before fancier tech like eAWD comes into play.
