• Toyota's vice chairman, Koji Sato, is also the head of Japan's major automaker association, and he is calling for more collaboration rather than competition.
• Specifically, that would involve more sharing of standardized parts, such as wiring harnesses.
• The move would benefit both struggling larger automakers like Nissan, and also the smaller companies like Mazda.

In the 1950s, Japan's industrial output was still something of a global punchline. So much so that, in Back to the Future, Doc Brown scoffs, "No wonder this circuit failed, it says 'Made in Japan.'" Products from across the Pacific were cheap, disposable, and not often well-made. However, between 1960 and 1970, the country went from producing the obscure and cartoonish Fairlady SPL213 to the world-class Datsun 240Z.

How? Consolidation and streamlining. Under pressure from the Japanese government, Japan's hodgepodge of various automakers coalesced into larger groups, capable of ramping up both production and quality. Now, with the looming threat of Chinese manufacturing, Toyota's former CEO is calling for a modern version of this cooperation to weather the coming storm, as reported by Automotive News.

Koji Sato wears at least a couple of hats, serving as vice chairman of Toyota after stepping back from the CEO role earlier this year, and also acting as chairman of the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association. JAMA covers all the major automakers, including smaller ones like Daihatsu, which sits under Toyota's corporate umbrella.

This week, Sato called for automakers like Nissan and Honda to pivot from competition to a more collaborative construction process, starting from the ground up. Specifically, he suggested that greater standardization of parts would simplify supply chains and reduce costs across the board.

To some extent, this already happens. Mitsubishi and Subaru were famous rallying rivals in the 1990s and early 2000s, but if you pop the hood on a WRX, you should be able to find at least one component featuring the diamond star logo, simply because Mitsubishi is such a large supplier of parts.

Further, what Sato is calling for is not Honda giving up VTEC and Subaru changing to inline-four engines, but the sharing of basic parts from wiring harnesses to cooling components and right on down to fasteners. With these simplified across multiple manufacturers, R&D dollars can be brought to bear on improving software, efficiency, and developing new technologies.

On the one hand, a greater homogeneity of Japanese-made cars is not great fun to think about. As enthusiasts, we want a wonky lineup of oddballs to obsess over, Nissan GT-Rs and hot hatchbacks and Pokemon-shaped kei cars.

On the other hand, the Chinese car industry was once as much of a joke as Japan in the 1950s was, but has long progressed far past that point. There, government regulation and control of the industry has a long reach, and has helped the industry evolve with incredible rapidity.

For Japan, surviving will require everyone pulling together, and there is a silver lining to this for enthusiasts. Consider how relatively tiny Mazda and Subaru are compared to giants like Nissan and Honda, who are already struggling. With greater cooperation on the small stuff, Hiroshima's engineers can keep pouring resources into ensuring the MX-5 Miata's replacement is a home run. Maybe Subaru could get around to building the WRX STI again. Just saying.

In the past, Toyota swallowed up Hino and we got the Toyota Hilux pickup truck. Nissan absorbed Prince and we got the Skyline GT-R. Consolidation has paid dividends for both corporate survival and automotive enthusiasm in the past. Perhaps it will again now.