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Filed under: Economy , Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Toyota Toyota Yaris Liftback - Click above for high-res image gallery The speculation can finally end. After weeks of hearing rumors regarding an impending low-cost hybrid from Toyota, Automotive News is reporting that the Japanese automaker is working on getting a hybrid drivetrain installed in the Yaris platform. The new car will use the same Hybrid Synergy Drive technology as the Prius but will cost considerably less when it goes on sale, which could take place as early as 2011. This new development is a direct response to the new Honda Insight , a hybrid five-door that ostensibly competes with the Toyota Prius but costs thousands less due to its slightly smaller size, including a downsized engine and battery pack. When Toyota's Insight-fighter hits the market, we'd expect it to carry an engine that roughly matches the Insight's 1.3 liters, a full half-liter smaller than the powerplant in the 2010 Prius . Gallery: In The...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Hatchbacks , Toyota , First Drive 2010 Toyota Prius - Click above for high-res image gallery When you sit in the 2010 Toyota Prius, you notice all those little things that provide the "Prius experience" - the shift lever, information screen, center-mounted instrument panel - are all present, but they're slightly different and noticeably improved. The time it takes to adapt to the revised interior is emblematic of the new Prius experience. It's the same oddly shaped hybrid that almost two million buyers love, but it gets better mileage, looks sharper and is packing more technological whiz-bangery than any vehicle this simple to drive has the right to. We recently tested the 2010 Prius at its North American launch through the vineyard-covered fields and hills surrounding Napa, California. Through it all, the hybrid, officially rated at 50 mpg, performed well and delivered better-than-expected fuel economy. In fact, when we pushed...
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Filed under: Trends , Toyota , Earnings/Financials The Toyoda family has felt the pinch of the global automotive crash in the worst possible place: their wallets. Toyota share prices have plummeted by a very substantial 46% in the past nine months, costing the Toyoda family hundreds of millions of dollars. Soon-to-be company president Akio Toyoda's 4.6 million Toyota shares has dropped $145 million; a fantastic decline, but less than half of his father's loss. Former company president and honorary chairman Shoichiro Toyoda has lost $304 million during the past nine months - enough money to buy over 10,000 loaded Camrys. The Toyodas have a great deal of stock in the company Kiichiro Toyoda founded, yet the family only owns 0.8% off all shares. And while the Toyodas have lost quite a bit of stock value, the company scions aren't likely to sell off their shares. That means the family probably won't lose much real wealth in the long term, though a potential dividend cut could...
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Filed under: Concept Cars , Coupes , Hybrids/Alternative , Japan , Tokyo Motor Show , Supercars , Lexus , Toyota , Rumormill Lexus LF-A Concept - Click above for a high-res gallery With the D-3, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Lamborghini and other automakers, pulling out of this year's Tokyo Motor Show , Toyota is rumored to have a big showing to capitalize on the lack of reveals this October. According to InsideLine's correspondent in Japan, Toyota will unveil the production version of the Lexus LF-A , originally expected to debut in Frankfurt. The V10-powered, 600-hp supercar's future was in doubt late last year, but the on-again-off-again coupe won't be the only two-door gracing the Toyota stage. The collaboration between Toyota and Subaru on a new coupe is also rumored to make an appearance in Tokyo, although it's unclear if the Toyobaru will debut as a concept or a production model. Based on the current Impreza platform, the rear-wheel drive will coupe will be powered...
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Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs , Japan , Toyota , Earnings/Financials According to the Los Angeles Times , a town three hours southwest of Tokyo called Toyota City has gone from being the envy of Japan's economy to the city with the country's highest unemployment rate seemingly overnight. What happened? As its name implies, this town is comprised almost entirely of men and women who work for Toyota, the largest automaker in the world - the very same manufacturer that is facing its first year-long operating loss in company history. Because the city's well-being rises and falls right along with the automaker that it is so dependent on, Toyota City's finances are looking pretty dire for the upcoming year, with a projected drop in corporate tax collections of 96.3 percent. Interestingly, city officials have found an American analog with which to compare themselves: Detroit. Norio Seki, general director of the city's industrial labor division, says of Detroit, "I'd...
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Filed under: Coupes , Sports/GTs , Japan , Subaru , Toyota The last report about the on again/off again sports car being developed jointly by Toyota and Subaru was that it's on again . Today comes word from L'Automobile in France that not only is the rear-wheel-drive Toyubaru going to happen, but it will arrive bearing the Celica name sometime in 2010. If Wikipedia is to be believed, this would be the eighth generation of the Celica, which traces its roots all the way back to 1970 when it debuted in Japan as an inexpensive rear-wheel-drive sports car. Through the years it switched to front- and all-wheel drive, with the final seventh generation Celica sold from 2000 - 2005 being a strict cart puller. L'Automobile claims that Thierry Dombreval, Toyota's VP of sales and marketing in France, spilled the beans on reviving the Celica name, so we won't consider this news solid until a second source comes forward or Toyota officially confirms it, neither of which is likely...
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Filed under: In the Autoblog Garage , Crossovers/CUVs , Toyota 2009 Toyota Venza - Click above for high-res gallery The wagons we all know, love and grew up with gradually fell out of favor as the minivan took hold in the '80s. Led by Chrysler's practical little boxes, the van became the king of Mt. People Mover, only to be usurped by the SUV, which took the wagon formula and added a heaping dose of machismo. The wagons have all but vanished, and today, both SUVs and minivans resemble Hollywood stars whose salad days are clearly behind them. The so-called "crossover" is the new king, at least according to marketers who coined the maddeningly broad term, which now applies to everything from large, car-based pseudo-SUVs to what are - by all rights - traditional wagons, albeit with tall roofs and occasionally all-wheel drive. When Toyota elected to make the Highlander a substantially larger vehicle with three rows of seating, it left a void in its line-up for people seeking...
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Filed under: Coupes , Hybrids/Alternative , Sports/GTs , Green , Toyota , Rumormill Based on the automaker's current line of eminently reliable, practical and fuel efficient machinery, it's easy to forget that Toyota has a past full of exciting sports cars. A couple of years back, Toyota decided to highlight the fact that it knows how to built a sporty-looking vehicle with the FT-HS concept , which mated a performance-minded hybrid powertrain with edgy, low-slung bodywork. According to Auto Express in the U.K., Toyota is considering a production model based on the FT-HS concept that would revive the MR2 that was killed off in 2007. If indeed true, this new sporty hybrid would go up against Honda's expected CR-Z hybrid hatchback . Unlike its rival from Honda, though, the MR2 would feature rear-wheel drive, and that's something to get excited about. Other interesting tidbits include a rumored run to 60 in under seven seconds, with fuel economy in the 60's (50's in...
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