Toyota
Toyota Corolla Power Steering Investigation Closed
The U.S National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has closed its investigation into the power steering system in the 2009-2010 Toyota Corolla with no defects found. Furthermore, the NHTSA also said Toyota’s electronic throttles were not to blame for the 2009-2010 recall fiasco. However, Toyota is still dealing with major setbacks with the parts shortage caused…
Toyota and Salesforce to Create ‘Toyota Friend’ Social Network
Toyota has a announced a bold new initiative, teaming up with Salesforce.com to create its own social network site for Toyota owners. Called ‘Toyota Friend’ the private social network will connect Toyota customers with their cars, their dealership and even the factory. Powered by Salesforce Chatter (a private social network used by businesses), it will…
Subaru FT-86 Variant Spied Testing in California
Call it whatever you like, but the upcoming Toyota FT-86/Scion FR-S/Toyotabaru/King Ghidorah sports car has been spotted in public, well ahead of its anticipated production-ready December unveiling. We know what the Toyota version looks like—time and time and time again. But the camoed-up version seen stuck in traffic on the 405 looks more like Subaru’s version—and…
Toyota, Subaru FT-86 Variants to Bow at Tokyo Auto Show in December
Toyota will never stop developing mutations of its FT-86 sports car, which will be released sometime between now and the real Rapture. Maybe. But news from Japan indicates, finally, when we can see the officially official ultimate final production version: the Tokyo Motor Show, in December. Both Toyota and Subaru will launch versions of their…
Toyota Unveils Street-Ready Scion FR-S… Soapbox Racer
After years of teasing us with concept car after tantalizing concept car, Toyota is finally set to unveil a street version of all those FR sports cars—but with one minor change: this one doesn’t have an engine. Yep, this is a custom downhill racer built for Red Bull’s Soapbox Derby, and unlike the cardboard-ramshackle boxes…
2012 Toyota Camry Coming This Fall, Expects Prius To Become Sales Leader
The current Camry was last redesigned in 2006 and Toyota is preparing for the next model due this fall, according to WardsAuto.com. Toyota faces fierce competition from the latest offerings out of Korea and the U.S, so the new model is of the utmost importance to the company. Toyota sold 327,084 Camrys in 2010 still leading midsize family…
Toyota Prius V Gets 25,000 Pre-Orders In Japan
Toyota has already racked up 25,000 pre-orders for its Prius V wagon, (sold as the Prius Alpha in Japan), a figure that works out to more than eight times its original sales target of 3,000 units per month. The Prius V is the first of many planned iterations of the Prius model range, with a…
Toyota FT-86 / Scion FR-S Spied Testing With Supra-Esque Spoiler [Video]
The highly anticipated Toyota FT86/ Scion FR-S rear-wheel drive sports coupe has been a hot item in the car world since the first concept debuted at the Toyko Auto Show two years ago. Information has been sparse and while Toyota has showcased several concepts, a realistic idea of what the small sports car will look…
Toyota Prius To Return to 70 Percent Normal Supply By Summer
The ever-popular Toyota Prius is on hold, due to supplier shortages from the Japan earthquake, but it could return to near-normal levels soon—as early as next month. Bob Carter, Toyota’s vice president for US sales, expects Prius supplies to return to 70 percent of its normal rate—i.e. before the earthquake. “If I had twice as many…
Toyota Could Slip to Third in Global Sales Race
Due to the fallout from the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Toyota execs have admitted the auto giant is likely to cede the title of the world’s largest automaker to General Motors. But according to a new Bloomberg report, things may be worse than that, with Toyota poised to slip to third in the…
Toyota FT-86 Technical Details Confirmed
By now at least some of these official details are foregone conclusions, but Toyota has decided to confirm some of the technical specs about the production car that will evolve from the FT-86 Concept. As expected, the details are identical to those provided for the Scion FR-S from its debut at the New York Auto…
Ford F-150, Toyota Tundra Earn IIHS Top Safety Pick Awards
During a test conducted by the institute, where a large plate of steel is pressed against the corner of the roof, the Tundra was able to support 4.5 times its own weight; the F-150 4.7 times.
Toyota Prius V Delayed Up To A Year
The upcoming Toyota Prius V, a pseudo-minivan version of Toyota’s wildly popular Prius hybrid, may be delayed for up to a year because of battery shortages resulting from the March 11th earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Toyota initially planned to launch the vehicle in April, but the resulting supply chain issues have thrown their plans…
Automakers Petition White House To Reject 62-MPG CAFE Standard
A trade group representing Detroit’s three automakers as well as Toyota is currently urging the Obama administration to say no to a proposal that could mandate a 62-mpg CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) industry standard by 2025. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, in a letter addressed to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Environmental Protection Agency administrator…
Toyota To Donate Cars To 100 Non-Profit Groups Via Facebook Vote
Toyota is launching its “100 Cars for Good” program, where the company will donate 100 cars to various non-profit groups. Facebook users will choose which groups will receive the vehicles via a voting process. The winning organizations will get to choose from a selection of vehicles, including the Prius, Tacoma, Tundra, Highlander Hybrid, Sienna or Sienna Mobility. The…
Toyota Profit Down 77% in Q4 Due to Quake Disruptions
If there’s anything Toyota execs can be happy about for the most recent quarter, it’s that for them it’s Q4, marking an end to what has been a troubling 12 months for the Japanese auto giant. Just released data shows Toyota Q4 profit fell off a cliff, dropping 77 percent to “just” $314 million. The…
Toyota Denies Prius Going Plug-In Only
Toyota is denying a report that the automaker plans to switch all of its Prius models over to a plug-in hybrid setup by 2014. With the Plug-in Prius about to go on sale, a report from the Nikkei business daily indicated that the Japanese automaker is set to then make all future Prius models use…
Toyota Named World’s Most Valuable Automotive Brand
According to the BrandZ Top 100 annual ranking of the worl’s most valuable brands, Toyota’s brand value has jumped 11% to $24.2 billion. Toyota has surpassed BMW, which was number 1 last year in the automotive category. Despite Toyota’s massive recall campaign and the March 11 earthquake, the car maker has regained its position as the worlds…
Toyota Canada Warns Dealers Of Chaotic Summer Due To Tight Supplies
Toyota Canada has cut its sales projections by a third and warned dealers that the supply of new vehicles is starting to be choked off as the company feels the effects of the March 11th earthquake that rocked northern Japan. While Toyota sent two memos to dealers regarding the revised sales forecast, the company refused…
Incentive Spending At A Five Year Low
Overall, auto sales have been on an upward trajectory for several months, however cash incentives are not the reason for the success. Incentive spending was at a five- year low in April, according to Automotive News, down 14 percent to an average of $2,320 per vehicle. Toyota had the lowest incentives among the top six…
Compacts Selling Better Than Subcompacts
Even with skyrocketing fuel prices, subcompacts are selling less than their compact counterparts. The Ford Fiesta was the overall leader in the subcompact department, 9,147 sales but still trailed the larger Focus’ 17,265 total sales. Honda Civic sales rose 7% to 26,777 which is more than triple the Fit’s total of 8,116 units in April. Furthermore,…
Study: African-American Car Buyers Prefer Toyota
It’s interesting to see a demographic breakdown of what people are buying and a new study shows that Toyota was the top automotive brand for African-Americans in 2010. In the recent study conducted by Polk, the total new vehicle registrations among this demographic reached 641,090, an increase of 11.5 percent over 2009 (7.4 percent of…
Scion FR-S Lets us Hear Its Boxer Exhaust Note [Video]
The Scion FR-S, née Toyota FT-86 II Concept, Subaroyota, etc, finally gets a chance to open up its pipes for us in this exclusive video. The Scion evolution of the long-teased Toyota concept was shown at the New York Auto Show, but this is the first time it’s actually been turned on. Scion has said…
Toyota: At Least 6 Months Before Normal Production
Like other Japanese automakers, Toyota continues to be affected deeply by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Now the company is saying that it will be at least 6 months before they can resume production at levels before the disasters. By November, Toyota is hoping that production, both overseas and American, will return to normal—with…
