World of Automobile: Toyota

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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Toyota mulls slashing 2013 sales target in Japan by 19pc

Tokyo, Dec. 9 (ANI)

Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp. is considering slashing the annual target for Japanese sales next year to 1.36 million units that would be about 19 percent lower than this year, according to a report.

Sources close to the firm have said that while Toyota is planning to sell 1.67 million units in Japan this year, it is expecting the first annual drop in two years due to the end of government subsidies for buying environmentally safer cars, The Japan Times reports.

According to the paper, while Toyota's domestic target of about 1.36 million exceeds the 1.2 million units of 2011, when sales plunged following the earthquake and tsunami in March, it remains comparable to the 1.37 million units of 2009 when the global auto market shrank during the global financial crisis.

It was also further deepened by the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September 2008, the paper said.

Sources said that Toyota aims to stick to its plan of producing 3 million units domestically in 2013 to protect jobs and technology at home, with an eye to exporting half of them amid slowing demand in Japan, the paper said.

For the year through March, Toyota is expected to post a group operating profit of 1.05 trillion yen, driven by brisk sales in Southeast Asia and North America, up from an earlier projected 1 trillion yen, the paper added.

--ANI

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Toyota sales improve in China following waning 'island spat' with Japan

Washington, Dec. 4 (ANI)

Japanese automobile firm Toyota Motor Corp. has said that new car sales in China has dropped to a softer 22.1 percent to 63,800 units in November, indicating the fallout from the anti-Japanese protests in China this summer has begun to wane, according to a report.

In October, Toyota's sales sank 44.1 percent from the previous year, while separately, Mazda Motor Corp. reported new car sales in the country fell 29.7 percent in November on year to 12,187, improving from a 45.0 percent fall the previous month, The Japan Times reports.

According to the report, from January to November, Toyota's sales in China slid 3.3 percent from the same period last year to 749,600, making it unlikely the company will achieve its target of selling 1 million cars in China this year.

Sales plunged 48.9 percent in September after the Japanese government purchased some of the Senkaku Islands from a private Japanese owner the same month, sparking extensive demonstrations across China, the report said.

The islets in the East China Sea are administered by Japan but also claimed by China as Diaoyu and Taiwan as Tiayutai, it added.

However, Japanese automakers resumed sales campaigns in China, the world's largest auto market, around mid-October as the hostilities showed signs of subsiding, the report concluded.

--ANI

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Friday, August 12, 2011

Toyota Confirms Electric RAV4 Will Be Sold to General Public, Scion iQ EV to Fleets in 2012

July 19, 2011 at 3:42pm by Alexander Stoklosa

At last year’s Los Angeles auto show, Toyota showed off the electric RAV4 EV that it developed in collaboration with Tesla, and the company stated then that it planned to bring the electric crossover to market in 2012. Today Toyota confirmed that the RAV4 EV will definitely go on sale in 2012, and that it will definitely be sold to the general public. Note that Toyota explicitly says “sold,” which implies that getting your hands on one won’t be a lease-only affair, like, say, the Mini E. Toyota also will bring an electric Scion iQ to market in 2012, but the tiny runabout won’t be offered to private owners, instead being reserved for torture in vehicle fleets and via car-sharing operations. (The RAV4 EV also will be available to these clients.)

At the RAV4’s L.A. reveal, we described the rig’s 2012 on-sale target as “a bit nebulous” given the vagueness of Toyota’s business model for the battery-powered RAV4, but today’s confirmation means the automaker is apparently on track to meet its stated on-sale date.

Tags: Electric Vehicle, EV, Scion, Scion iQ, Scion iQ EV, Toyota, Toyota RAV4, Toyota RAV4 EV |

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Toyota Prices 2012 Yaris at $14,875, Confirms that “It’s a CAR!”

August 9, 2011 at 12:51pm by Alexander Stoklosa

Click to enlarge

Toyota has announced pricing and its social-media angle for the redesigned 2012 Yaris compact. Beyond that, though, Toyota declined to reveal little else about the car, although it did show it off at Chicago’s Lollapalooza music festival last weekend (see fuzzy inset photo; the car also has been revealed as the Japanese-market Vitz). Toyota’s social-media campaign is spearheaded by the catchphrase “It’s a CAR!”—we respect Toyota’s oneness with the Yaris’s appliance-like nature.

Prices for the 2012 Yaris will essentially hold firm relative to last year’s. Prices for the base L three- and five-door hatchback models start at $14,875, the same as 2011 models’ equipped with the optional Convenience package—the 2012 Ls get those bits as standard. The 2012 three-door LE hatchback will ring in at $16,385, and the five-door LE will set you back $16,860—increases of $145 and $140, respectively. Toyota did announce a new sporty SE model, which sits at the top of the Yaris range and will start at $17,160 with a manual transmission (a four-speed automatic is an $800 option). Toyota gave few specifics regarding the SE other than it will only be available in five-door guise and will feature an “enhanced tuned suspension.”

Toyota will release more information on the 2012 Yaris in the “near future,” which we assume will be before the car enters into production in three weeks. In the meantime, we will confirm that the Yaris is a car.

Tags: Toyota, Toyota Yaris |

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Sunday, June 19, 2011

2013 Toyota Prius C Hybrid Spied: Aww, Look, It’s a Baby Prius!

2012 Toyota Prius C Spy Photos - Future Cars - Auto Reviews - Car and Driver #pallet {margin:0;}#echoice li.category {margin:0;}Car and DriverIntelligence. Independence. Irreverence. VehiclesReviewsNewsFeaturesBuyer's GuideFollow UsSubscribeSearch Car and DriverHome › News › 2012 Toyota Prius C Spy Photos - Future Cars

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2012 Toyota Prius C Spy Photos - Future CarsNifty-looking concept gives way to drab-looking price-buster. BY STEVE SILER, PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRENDA PRIDDY & CO. AND THE MANUFACTURER
June 2011

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2012 Toyota Prius C Spy Photos

Photos (18)Visit Our Buyer's Guide »Toyota Prius› Overview› Specifications› Price with Options› Photos & 360° View› Get a Free QuoteNews & Reviews2012 Toyota Prius V Hybrid - First Drive ReviewToyota Prius c Concept - Auto Shows2012 Toyota Prius v Hybrid Official Photos and Info - Auto Shows2012 Toyota Prius MPV Spy Photos - Future Cars2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid - First Drive Review2010 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid Concept - Official Photos and Info2010 Toyota Prius Tested - Video2010 Toyota Prius Pricing Announced - Car News2010 Toyota Prius - First Drive Review

We’ve known for some time that Toyota’s Prius family would expand to include a smaller, lower-priced model, and this year’s Detroit auto show provided a vague idea of what it might look like in the form of the cool Prius C concept.

Based on these spy photos, it seems that the budget Prius is going to look less like the low-slung concept hatch and more like, well, a budget Prius. Gone are the high-set headlamps and razor-sharp front-end sculpting, replaced by conventional polygonal headlamps, a bland trapezoidal scheme for the air intakes, and the Prius’s trademark hood lump. The rear end is somewhat more interesting, chopping the Prius shape off behind the C-pillar to allow an overall length some 18 inches shorter than the standard model’s. Like the Prius C concept, the car sits rather squat between the flared rear fenders, although it is hard to tell if the rear window dips below the wiper and down toward the license plate, which would mimic the concept. In any case, most of the zest of the show car appears to be gone.

We expect that the Prius C will share at least a few—if not most—of its chassis components with the next-generation Yaris. That car’s 1.5-liter four could take over the internal-combustion role in its hybrid powertrain in place of the 1.8-liter currently installed in the Prius. As the price leader (and based on this prototype’s stark interior), we don’t expect many frills to accompany this fuel miser. We also don’t expect much in the way of fun behind the wheel, but we’d love to be proven wrong. Watch for the production Prius C to appear in showrooms within a year, likely priced about $5000 less than the Prius’s $24,280 base sticker. Such pricing would line it directly up with Honda’s equally boring Insight, which starts at $18,950.

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Sunday, June 12, 2011

2012 Toyota Prius V, an AW Flash Drive Car Review:

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Friday, June 10, 2011

2012 Toyota Prius V – First Drive Review

May 23, 2011 at 1:31pm by Don Sherman

2012 Toyota Prius v

Self-righteousness in a large economy size.

Since 1997, more than two million Toyota Prius hybrids have been sold in 70 countries. Loosely translated, the Latin word prius means “ahead of the curve,” not “creep along in the passing lane” as some owners seem to believe. The U.S. is the single largest Prius market with more than a million purchased here since 2001. The Prius currently outsells the 30 other U.S.-market hybrids combined.

Keep Reading: 2012 Toyota Prius V – First Drive Review

Tags: hybrid, Japanese, performance testing, Toyota, Toyota Prius, Toyota Prius v |

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Thursday, June 9, 2011

2012 Scion FR-S / Toyota FT-86 / Subaru RWD Sports Car Spy Photos – Future Cars

May 16, 2011 at 6:29pm by Jon Yanca

2012 Scion FR-S / Toyota FT-86 Spy Photos

The Scion/Subaru/Toyota rear-wheel-drive coupe gets caught testing in a camouflaged production-ready body.

Toyota is such a tease. Way back in the fall of 2009, it showed a swoopy yet angry-looking rear-drive, two-door sports-car concept called the FT-86. Although we weren’t big on its looks, we were excited by the thought of a north/south powertrain once again gracing a Toyota coupe—and surprised that Toyota was working on the car with Subaru, which will get its own version. Then, at Geneva this year, we saw a slightly redesigned version with a bigger maw accented by LEDs, appropriately called the FT-86 II concept. Our mouths watered, and at the New York show we learned that the car would arrive in the U.S. as a Scion, which was previewed by the FR-S concept. But, based on these shots from our spy photographers, it seems that the FT-86/FR-S will lose much of its visual snap in production.

Keep Reading: 2012 Scion FR-S / Toyota FT-86 / Subaru RWD Sports Car Spy Photos – Future Cars

Tags: coupe, Japanese, Scion, Scion FR-S, sports car, spy photos, Toyota, Toyota FT-86 |

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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Toyota Joins with Tech Company WiTricity To Develop Wireless Charging

April 27, 2011 at 4:33pm by Davey G. Johnson

WiTricity has not an iota to do with Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland, Washington. Nor is it the county-fair touring incarnation of Quad City DJs, formed after they failed to follow up “C’Mon N’ Ride It (The Train)” with another smash hit. Rather, the Massachusetts company is following up on Nikola Tesla’s promise of supplying electricity via thin air. Using magnetic fields to carry juice, WiTricity claims their technology is scalable from milliwatts (for say, a wireless mouse) to kilowatts (appropriate for, oh, you know, EVs.)

WiTricity has already done work for several automakers and suppliers, partnering recently with Delphi for a wireless charging system that the latter displayed at the SAE World Congress this past month. Now, WiTricity and Toyota have announced that they’ll be working together as well, collaborating on developing wireless charging systems. Aside from the gee-whiz factor for salesmen—“…And you never have to plug it in!” tech like WiTricity’s carries implications for wider charging infrastructure in public spaces. Buff the mind’s eyeball with a virtual third rail. Imagine life-size, virtual Scalectrix.

While we doubt the system will be ready to hit the market in time for the upcoming plug-in-electric Prius—which, perhaps, would need to be called the park-over-the-mat-electric Prius—we imagine that once wireless charging hits the EV scene, nobody will reminisce fondly about the days of plugging your electric car into an extension cord.

Tags: electric, Toyota, Toyota Prius, Witricity |

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Saturday, May 7, 2011

2011 Toyota Tundra Limited Double Cab, an AW Drivers Log:

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