During a meeting of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, president Akio Toyoda offered a “Chapeau!” to his fellow CEOs by listing his favorite cars from other makers. He listed just one vehicle from five makers represented on the board, in alphabetical order: the , Isuzu Bellett, Cosmo, Pajero (our ) and Skyline.
Toyoda didn’t give his reasons for choosing these car beyond each being “memorable.” Even so, going through the list any car enthusiast knows the Honda ( in the States) NSX needs no introduction nor explanation. The is probably as well known for it’s off-road excellence as it is for its name change in Spanish-speaking lands due to the word “pajero” – all the more intriguing when it’s apparently named after an Argentine cat, Leopardus pajeros. And although the “Skyline” moniker was made famous overseas by the , the Nissan Skyline that Toyoda references has a long history and is our .
The (pictured) was an Italian-esque little coupe produced from 1967 to 1995, the first series production vehicle with a two-rotor rotary engine. The was that firm’s in-house replacement for the English Hillmans it was rebranding, the first Japanese car to get GT badging (it would also get a GT-R version), and it would cover just about every segment with sedan, coupe, station wagon and pickup truck variants.
Motor Trend reports may have plans to resurrect the Supra name, or at least a new sports coupe to fill the role of the long-dead two door. Hot on the heels of sports cars like the and , designers are reportedly working on dusting off the 2007 FT-HS Concept for another go at life. Paired with the company’s GRMN MRS prototype chassis, the vehicle will likely deliver up to 400 horsepower from a 3.5-liter V6 engine and an electric motor.
If the notion of a hybrid Supra is enough to ruffle your feathers, you may want to stop reading right now. Unlike the previous sports coupe, the new model will make use of an all-wheel-drive system. Still reading? MT reports the machine will put power to all four wheels via a CVT pulled from the .
That noise? It’s the sound of a lonely sad trombone echoing down the halls of the internet.
Of course, all of this seems to be little more than a few educated guesses stuck together. Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda has voiced his support for a Supra successor in the past, and if green-lit, the model could see production by 2015. Early guesses say the car would bow with a $60,000 price tag, which would make for a perfect argument against sticking a new NSX in your garage.
It’s not the most pronounceable model name, but that’s not our problem, is it?
debuted its sharply styled Yundong Shuangqing hybridconcept at the today, announcing that a production version will be sold in China at some point in the future. The Yundong Shuangqing was joined on stage by the Dear Qin compact and the GT 86 rear-wheel-drive sports car.
Toyota developed the Yundong Shuangqing’s hybrid powertrain mainly at the automaker’s research and development plant in Changshu, China. “We would like to put smiles on the faces of our Chinese customers with hybrid technology,” Toyota President Akio Toyoda said in prepared remarks at the show. “I want the people of China to be able to experience the beauty of hybrid technology through a hybrid car born in China.”
In 2005, China became the first place outside of Japan where the hybrid was built when Sichuan FAW Toyota Motor Co. Ltd. started making the third-generation model. And two years ago, GAC Toyota Motor Co., which is in China’s Guangdong Province, started making the Hybrid.
Earlier this month, Honda specifically for the Chinese market under either its moniker or the brand in order to capitalize on what’s likely to be surging car sales in that country. Honda will introduce the , and Hybrids in China later this year, and will likely sell its promised hybrid-powered Acura NSX sports car in China as well.
These days, most models are about as likely to get your pulse up as the latest hardware from Frigidaire. But it wasn’t always so. There was a time when Toyota counted itself among the world’s sports car manufacturers with vehicles like the Supra, Celica All Trac and MR-2. Those two-doors helped forge generations of enthusiasts before the company shuttered its go-fast ambitions, a door that is only now starting to open again thanks to the new GT 86/ codeveloped with . Now, according to Automotive News, the company has unveiled a new development and manufacturing framework designed to aid in producing more exciting vehicles. According to CEO Akio Toyoda, the revamped system will allow the company to design multiple models at the same time to reduce costs.
It will also cut the number of executives tied to the design review process to streamline decisionmaking. The company says that with too many people involved, vehicles have been built by “eliminating negatives” instead of focusing on their strengths. Added cooperation between the automaker’s planning and design units may foster more innovative styling, including models with lower centers of gravity and better aerodynamics. Think .
The Toyota New Global Architecture will first be applied to front-wheel drive models.
Finally. It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for ever since and jointly announced their compact rear-wheel-drive sports car: production is now underway.
With an official ceremony at Subaru’s Gunma Main Plant, attended by Toyota president Akio Toyoda, Subaru pushed the Big Red Button (quite literally, in case you were wondering) that sent and Toyota GT 86 coupes down the assembly line. And the event was captured in both still images and video for our viewing pleasure.
Check out our high-res image gallery above, and for the video and official press release. Oh, and if you’re one of the lucky ones with a deposit down for either the Subaru or the Toyota’s twin (America won’t get one with an interlocking rings badge), it’s officially time to consider making room in your garage.
Thanks to our friends over at Road & Track jumping the embargo gun, we received of the . Now the rest of the story has been published, with R&T taking a thorough look at how Toyota’s California-based Calty Design Research facility came up with the look of the racy hybrid 2+2 coupe.
“Only a few written attributes were given as criteria: avant-garde beauty, originality, driving joy and unequaled technology,” according to the story, which says CEO Akio Toyoda himself weighed in with a mandate that the car “have the ‘wow’ factor.”
has been working on the LF-LC Concept for a year and a half, so the concept is no mere auto show roller. That kind of attention-to-detail shows in the new photos, especially inside the car. A finely detailed interior with wave designs stitched into the leather door panels is a nice touch that reinforces the car’s exterior design language, which R&T says Lexus is calling “tumbling ribbon.” The car also has a multi-layered instrument panel that looks like it could have been inspired by any number of sci-fi video games.
One thing missing from the article is any further information about the hybrid drivetrain system in the car. Curiously, while the announcing that it would be unveiling the car mentions “Advanced Lexus Hybrid Drive,” that line was omitted from the release on the American site. Apparently we’ll have to wait until the car’s official reveal at the on January 9 to find out what (if anything) is under the hood of the LF-LC.
There’s plenty more to take in, including two new beauty shots from Autocar, so be sure to check out .
The chief executives of any two companies will inherently have something in common to share. All the more so for the CEOs of automakers, never mind how big or how small. But Akio Toyoda and Ulrich Bez share more than job descriptions. The heads of and also share a passion for motorsports and actively race themselves.
It’s a relationship helped broker the deal to turn the Toyota iQ into the Aston Martin Cygnet. It’s one that has seen not only their teams but they themselves compete against each other in sports car racing. It’s also one that only stands to intensify next season in endurance racing when both field LMP1 racers. But before that happens, the two pencil-pushers turned hot shoes swapped cars at the Nürburgring, Toyoda taking to the wheel of the Aston Martin V12 Zagato, and Bez piloting the . to watch the video footage.
For what seemed like an eternity, the title of World’s Largest Automaker belonged to . More recently, was able to from GM as the Japanese automaker in GM’s home country and abroad, and has been nipping at the two behemoth’s heels. According to Bloomberg, though, the top three are likely to see themselves reshuffled before 2011 officially draws to a close.
Volkswagen, with an estimated 2011 sales tally of around 8.1 million vehicles globally (up 13 percent over 2010), is likely to earn top billing as the largest automaker in the world. General Motors, which was , ought to move around 7.55 million machines (an eight-percent increase) to hold on to second place while Toyota’s estimated 7.27 million sales (a nine-percent falloff) would only be good enough for third in the global race for sales dominance.
There are a number of reasons Toyota has seen its sales flounder in 2011 – most notably the disastrous earthquake and tsunami in the first quarter of the year that halted production of many of its popular models, but also due in part to lingering aftereffects of its recall-ridden history over the past few years. Company CEO Akio Toyoda has vowed to address all of these concerns.
Analysts are split on predictions for 2012, with some suggesting VW will have enough momentum to hang on to its number one spot and others believing Toyota will rebound to reclaim first place in global sales. Success in emerging markets like China and India will likely be the deciding factor in sales supremacy, both in 2012 and in the years to follow.
has released a new image of the , which adds to the growing number of teaser images highlighting the updated sedan. We’ve seen a video of , along with a shot of the headlight. After that came . Now, we get to eyeball the backside with a photograph showing the taillamp and Camry badge courtesy of a new image posted to Twitter.
One of these days, we’ll get to see the whole thing… .
originally appeared on on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:58:00 EST. Please see our .
Toyota was busy introducing all flavors of the 2012 to the media earlier this week, but since all that stuff’s embargoed, there’s not much to tell. Yet. But what isn’t under embargo is this collection of spy photos showing the 2012 Camry Hybrid in its birthday suit while shooting a television commercial.
The new Camry’s familiar roofline communicates practicality overall, but the updated sheetmetal has more crisp lines, with new fascias fore and aft. The hybrid’s grille treatment apes that of the facelifted , and yes, those headlights are indeed the ones a few weeks ago.
In a nutshell, it’s still a conservative look, but decidedly less frumpy than before. Now, let’s see what changes Toyota’s made below the surface to bring the Camry in line with the current midsize family-sedan competition.
When does a mid-size sedan become a top-notch competitor to the ? The answer is apparently whenever said competitor begins stealing market share from America’s top-selling sedan.
Bloomberg reports that North America Chairman Yoshimi Inaba called the “a very honorable contender in the market” during an interview earlier this week. Inaba adds that Toyota has great respect for the strong-selling Hyundai, and we’re guessing they’re not the only automaker keeping an ever closer eye on Camp Hyundai. Sales of the Sonata soared by 35 percent in 2010 to 196,623 units. Meanwhile, 2010 Camry sales dropped by 31 percent to 327,804 units. To make matters worse for Toyota and the Camry, supply disruptions stemming from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami have further hurt Camry sales while the Sonata continues to attract new buyers. In fact, the Sonata outsold the Camry in May, in part because of Toyota’s production issues.
But while the Sonata has been gaining on the Camry, that trend could reverse itself with an set to arrive later this year. Toyota President Akio Toyoda already told U.S. dealers in June that the new model will feature a more contemporary design, and we’re hearing rumblings of a hugely improved interior, as well.
originally appeared on on Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:31:00 EST. Please see our .
On the heels of last week’s official starring Akio Toyoda comes a new image that appears to show the full vehicle. Judging by how closely the headlamps of the car you see here resemble the ones on the red car that Mr. Toyoda was standing by, this very well may be what the all-new will look like. The best-selling mid-size sedan is expected to make its official debut later this year.
Buyers shouldn’t be surprised to find the proven 2.5-liter four-cylinder and 3.5-liter V6 to provide motive force, backed by six-speed automatic transmissions. If the pictures are indeed accurate, the Camry’s looks are going to to evolve slightly and pick up some -like cues. Dimensions aren’t likely to change much from the current Camry, and the quality of the interior outfitting is going to be a key point of interest. We’ll have the full details later this year.
We worked this 640i Coupe on the autobahn and on the many squeaky clean and manicured twisting two-lanes southeast of Munich where the low hills start to rumple up toward the Bavarian and Austrian Alps.
In that grand tradition, the editors at Autoblog have dug in on which of our country’s convertible muscle cars is the most American – the 2011 Ford Mustang GT Convertible or the 2011Chevrolet Camaro SS Convertible.
America’s Big Three automakers continued to post impressive sales gains while gobbling up market share from their Asian competitors.
Also of interest:
Browse our archive of Daily U-Turn posts or subscribe to the RSS feed
is excited to brings its redesigned into the world. These type of vehicle launches take time though, and for the moment, Toyota can only show off so much of its new mid-size sedan. Akio Toyoda is the president of the company, so he can decide to reveal a little bit if he chooses. He’s taken to YouTube to provide glimpse of the new car, which he describes as the best Camry ever
The 2012 Toyota Camry is slated to arrive this fall. You can listen to Toyoda talk it up and catch a partial glimpse of it in the clip posted .
Carlos Ghosn has the honor of being the highest-paid foreign executive of any Japanese company. The CEO brought home a staggering $12 million for his efforts at the automaker last year alone, which marks a 10-percent increase over his take-home pay last year. For the sake of comparison, The Economic Times reports that Akio Toyoda, the president of , drew just $1.6 million in compensation and stock options last year.
It’s not as if Ghosn has been sitting on his hands, though. The executive helped lead Nissan to increase its net profit from $524.6 million from March 2008 to March 2009 to $3.95 billion the following year, and he doesn’t seem to be anxious to slow down anytime soon. Ghosn just unveiled a new business plan for Nissan called , which is supposed to help Nissan capture a total global market share of eight percent. Currently, the automaker holds onto around 5.8 percent of total market share.
There’s no question that needs to sell more cars if it is to survive in an industry rapidly centralizing into major groups. But when CEO Dany Bahar talks about looking for new buyers, he’s not talking about selling cars. He’s talking about selling the company itself.
Of course, Lotus is not Bahar’s to sell, strictly speaking. The company belongs to Proton. But the Malaysian state automaker may not have the necessary resources to provide Lotus with the synergies and shared development which Bahar identifies as crucial to Lotus’ future success.
A new report from Inside Line quotes Bahar as saying that Lotus may need to partner with a larger automaker in order to develop into a serious player in the sportscar business. All eyes are on , the Japanese automaker whose engines and other components Lotus currently uses.
The partnership could emerge as something akin to what is fostering with – that is to say, some sort of an alliance that does not involve selling the company – or could result in the brand being sold, lock stock and barrel, to the auto giant. One way or another, Lotus probably can’t go it alone.
With the exception of the facility that makes the plants in Japan have been closed following the earthquake disaster in Japan, but that is scheduled to change by April 18. The Associated Press is reporting that Toyota will resume production that day, though assembly lines will only work at half speed. The plants will run through April 27, when they will close again until May 9 to honor Japan’s Golden Week holiday. That’s a fairly short production window, but the move is likely welcome news to Toyota’s rank and file. The automaker has already lost 260,000 units since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Toyota’s plan to restart production comes as the automaker continues to struggle to procure parts needed for production. Toyota’s parts situation has improved, however, as the APreports that problem part counts have gone from 500 to under 150.
Toyota president Akio Toyoda acknowledges that parts supply issues are still hurting the automaker, but adds “we are doing our utmost to improve the conditions so that we can deliver cars to many customers.”
[Source: Associated Press via Image: Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty]
Javier Quirós takes his new Lexus LFA for a spin – Click above to watch the video
Lucky owners across the globe are eager to receive their new supercars. Javier Quirós of Costa Rica is one such person, and decided to celebrate the delivery of his red LFA in a manner befitting such a vehicle… by doing a few donuts.
Don’t worry about Javier losing control of the 552-horsepower, 10-cylinder two-door. Quirós is a race driver with Gazoo Racing and president of Purdy Motor, the Costa Rican distributor for Toyota products. Javier has competed around the globe at tracks like Daytona and the Nürburgring.
You can’t see it in the video but we imagine Mr. Quirós’ smile is wider than the grille on the front of his new LFA. This is LFA #0014, which Quirós specially requested from Akio Toyoda because 14 is his usual racing number. for the clip.
2011 Scion tC – Click above for high-res image gallery
came out swinging when it launched in 2003 and sales hit a peak of 173,024 units in 2006. Since that time, however, things have been spiraling downward. In 2010, Scion sold just 45,678 vehicles. That represents a 21 percent decline compared to 2009 sales. Despite this lull, President Akio Toyoda says the youth-oriented brand isn’t going anywhere.
According to Automotive News, Scion represents a way for Toyota to reach a young demographic, and it doesn’t plan to lose that gateway anytime soon. One of the problems has been that folks under 30 have been hit by the economic recession just like everyone else. Another is that recent models have failed to capture the imagination – and sales – that models like the original box-like xB did. but will that rise include Scion’s demographic? Toyota recently redesigned the brand’s most-popular model, , trying to make sure it does.
Gallery:
Photos copyright (C)2011 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL
If, like us, you’ve been racking your brain to figure out how is possibly going to be able to offer the FT-86 anywhere near its price target, Road & Track may have part of the answer for you. The magazine is reporting that the next-generation Lexus IS will ride on a stretched version of the low-dollar coupe’s platform, allowing Toyota to spread the development costs between the two models. With the production version of the FT-86 due in dealerships in 2012, the IS is expected to bow shortly thereafter in 2013.
Of course, this also helps explain some of the rumors we’ve been hearing recently, too.
An added nugget of goodness in this news is that the next-generation IS may be a sharper car in every way thanks to its shared bloodline with the sporty FT-86. Toyota head honcho Akio Toyoda has already made it clear that he would like to see his company’s products return to their sporty roots, and as a result, the new IS should be quite a bit more athletic than its predecessor. Don’t expect to see the -sourced flat four in the nose of the Lexus, though. Chances are the four-door will still get its power from derivatives of the four- and six-cylinder options currently available.
