By Bill Visnic, Edmunds.com

(May 2010) After a report from Japanese publication Best Car said Toyota Motor Corp. is delaying the launch of its FT-86 sport coupe by two years, to 2013, the internet was alive with speculation about Toyota's ultimate dedication to the coupe jointly developed with Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.'s Subaru.

First reports of the project emerged in 2008 and at last October's Tokyo motor show, Toyota let loose with a concept car to confirm the program indeed was underway.

But all along the way, there have been reports of various delays, conflicting development goals and other hiccups, including speculation about Toyota's acceptance of the Subaru-derived drivetrain - and even whether the car would be rear-wheel drive, one of the most attractive promised attributes.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda said last year that one reason the company was struggling to connect with customers was because it had ceased to develop exciting cars, having dropped both its time-honored Celica and Supra nameplates. His comments seemed to confirm a belief Toyota needed a new sports car - and soon.

But all that was before the company was pilloried (justly or not) in the U.S. for unintended acceleration, an issue that in turn uncovered Toyota's surprising drift from its quality- and engineering-driven values. In light of the resultant corporate and customer-relationship overhaul Toyota management sees ahead, some might speculate that if news of a two-year delay is correct, the company now deems the FT-86 project as low-priority.

Toyota still has its hands full in protecting its quality reputation. It paid a record fine to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for dallying in initiating a recall of vehicles with potentially sticky accelerator pedals. The company said this week it had to halt sales of the LS460, the flagship of its upscale Lexus division, to correct problems with the ECU that governs steering assist. This a week after its executives were subjected to another Congressional grilling, this time about how forthright the company was with Congress regarding how forthrightly and aggressively the company was investigating potential causes of unintended acceleration.

So for a company that was drifting away from niche cars anyway, the FT-86 suddenly may not be very important.

But another factor could be at play: sports car segments have been enduring an epically deep slump. As AutoObserver recently documented, sales for almost all sports cars - save American musclecars - are at historic lows.

Some nameplates are selling in the hundreds of units per month and even icons such as the Nissan Z, Chevrolet Corvette and Porsche 911 are struggling in an economic and market environment that certainly would give pause to any automaker considering the launch of a new sports car model. - Bill Visnic, senior editor