First of all, I would like to wish all our loyal visitors a happy new year and thank you for your interest in our blog during 2007. I feel confident that Tamiya has a lot of interesting new items in store for us in 2008, and we will do our best to provide information about new items as soon as possible throughout the year. This site is dedicated to Tamiya items of all kinds, but we generally don’t present information about new items that are considered to be of very low interest to the majority of our visitors.

Anyway, this leads me to the topic of today; Tamiya’s recent announcement of the result of a customer survey conducted in Japan. Actual number of participants is unknown to us, but Tamiya has expressed their gratitude for the vast participation, and knowing that Japan is by far Tamiya’s largest market, there are good reasons to believe that the resulting ranking of new items is representative for their actual popularity in Japan. As many of you will know, Tamiya enthusiasts outside Japan have a tendency to criticise Tamiya for often making “bad and unpopular choices” when choosing new items to manufacture. Considering that Tamiya has marketed their products worldwide for decades and is one of the largest and most successful companies within the business, we (the Tamiyablog contributors) have felt confident for many years now that the market researchers at Tamiya know exactly what they are doing, and that Tamiya’s choices for new items reflect actual demand and popularity extremely well, especially in Japan. So, it’s not really a surprise to us to see the ranking of the most popular new items in 2007, although it surely to a large extent deviates from the typical preferences outside Japan. So, the next time you might be annoyed because Tamiya releases a new item that is unattractive to you personally, rest assured that the market demand more than justifies the release and that many of the releases that might seem a bit odd to enthusiasts outside Japan are what keeps Tamiya profitable and successful, which again ensures a continued flow of releases of new items that also suit your taste!

1. place: 58391 1/10 scale Hotshot 2007
2. place: 78019 1/350 scale Japanese Navy Submarine I-400

3. place: 61098 1/48 scale F-16CJ (Block 50) Fighting Falcon
4. place: 14109 1/12 scale Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR

5. place: 12036 1/12 scale Tyrrell P34 Six Wheeler w/Photo Etched Parts
6. place: 24305 1/24 scale Lamborghini Countach LP400
7. place: 49400 1/10 scale Porsche 934 Turbo RSR
8. place: 58397 1/10 scale Toyota Hilux High Lift
9. place: 61100 1/48 scale Fieseler Fi 156C Storch
10. place: 31617 1/700 scale British Battle Cruiser Repulse
Runner ups:

32550 1/48 scale German Sd.Kfz.250/3 Greif
57101 1/12 scale TamTech-Gear Porsche 934 Turbo RSR
89761 1/48 scale Japanese Fighters w/Maintenance Crew
35285 1/35 scale German Tank Destroyer Hetzer Mid Production
18621 1/32 scale Bison Magnum Mini 4WD PRO
20057 1/20 scale Lotus 99T Honda
31349 1/700 scale Light Cruiser Abukuma
42106 1/10 scale TRF416 Chassis Kit
43532 1/8 scale 4×4 Racing Truck Nitrage 5.2
35284 1/35 scale French Armored Carrier UE