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Toyota Introduces Production Version of RAV4 EV, Prices Start at $49,800

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Senin, 07 Mei 2012 | 13.12

Toyota chose the second day of the 26th annual Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles to present the world premiere of the production RAV4 EV featuring a pure-electric driveline developed by Tesla Motors.

While based on the current RAV4, the Japanese automaker is commanding almost twice the price of the popular SUV's top trim-level (Limited: $25,530) for the electric model that will begin arriving in select showrooms this summer with an MSRP of $49,800 before any state and federal incentives.

April turned out to be a very positive sales month in China for two of the world's largest automakers, General Motors and Toyota.

The Detroit firm and its joint ventures in China set a domestic sales record for April of 227,217 vehicles, up 11.7 percent from the same month last year. In the first four months of 2012, GM's sales totaled 972,369 units, an increase of 9.4 percent on an annual basis.

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Sabtu, 05 Mei 2012 | 09.18

After so many reports about Toyota resurrecting the Supra, one would be inclined to doubt the persistent rumors.

On the other hand, we have the example of the on-again, off-again, on-again Acura/Honda NSX, which came into fruition with the presentation of the pre-production concept at the Detroit Auto show in January.

Taking everything we have heard and seen over the past year into consideration, most importantly Toyota's newly found commitment to developing cars with more emotional styling and handling characteristics, there is a strong possibility that these rumors about a Supra replacement originate from facts.

Officially, the last time Toyota hinted at a direct successor to the Supra was in 2007 with the FT-HS Concept, a sharp looking two-seater model powered by a 400-horsepower hybrid powertrain linking a 3.5-liter V6 petrol engine to an electric motor. That project ended with the financial crisis that ensued the following year.

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Rabu, 02 Mei 2012 | 10.44

A man's car-hunting trip to the Herb Chambers of Boston Toyota and Scion dealership at 32 Brighton Ave on Wednesday morning led him straight into the hands of the police after he somehow crashed a brand new car into another vehicle inside the showroom.

According to a report from Boston's WCVBTV, eyewitnesses said that the unnamed man was seen sitting inside a black Toyota Venza and revving the engine before the crossover accelerated forward smashing into a silver Prius that was marked as "Sold". Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Senin, 30 April 2012 | 15.29

What started out as a war of words between a 47-year old taxi driver and a 23-year old passenger quickly escalated to a hit-and-run incident that took place in Montreal, Canada, around 4 am this past Sunday, April 29.

Canada's Ottawacitizen identified the cab driver as Guercy Edmond, 47, of Laval, and the young man as Benoit Kapelli, 23.

The police have yet to determine what caused the conflict though at least two separate eyewitnesses recorded the incident on film. According to the first person that videotaped the scene, it all started when for unknown reasons a passenger slammed the door of the Toyota Camry cab.

"It began with one of the passengers slamming the door to the cab too hard on exiting the cab," wrote YouTube user Ilaneloc.

"Cab driver jumped out and confronted him on the sidewalk while the other passengers remained inside to pay. I left the scene as the verbal conflict escalated, presuming it would run itself out... I returned home to hear the commotion outside, where the conflict had escalated and the cab driver was aiming his cab in the wrong direction down St-Laurent towards the former passengers," explained Ilaneloc.

The production version of the pure electric Toyota RAV4 that we first saw in prototype guise at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show will make its world premiere at the 26th edition of the International Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS26), which takes place on Monday, May 7 in the City of Angels, the Japanese automaker announced today.

The new RAV4 EV has been developed in cooperation with Tesla that provides the electric driveline including the battery, motor, transmission and power electronics. Tesla will build the e-powertrains at its production plant in Palo Alto, California and then ship them to Toyota's Canadian facility for final assembly into the RAV4.

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Kamis, 26 April 2012 | 12.33

"Finally, the style of Italy meets the dependability of Japan," reads the seller's description of this Ferrari 360 Modena Spider replica that is built on a Toyota MR2 donor car from the year 2000, and which we found up for grabs on eBay.

As is common in these type of builds, the replication of the Ferrari model is restricted to the exterior body panels with the interior left mostly intact (sans the Ferrari-badged seat covers).

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Rabu, 25 April 2012 | 15.06

It took Toyota a while to bring it onto the market, but the 2012 Tacoma TRD T|X Baja that was first shown at the 2011 Texas State Fair last September is now available for order with prices starting from $32,990 for the V6 Access Cab, not including an $810 (*) processing and handling fee.

The Tacoma TRD T|X Baja Series is offered as an optional limited edition package on both the Tacoma Access and Double Cab 4x4 models at an MSRP of $5,015 minus a $650 Factory Credit, which brings the price down to $4,365.

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Senin, 23 April 2012 | 13.08

In addition to the Dear Qin compact hatchback and sedan concepts that we told you about earlier today, Toyota also debuted a third study called the Yundong Shuangqing at the Auto China 2012 in Beijing.

The Japanese brand's concept is a sharply styled four-door sedan that features a newly developed hybrid system, which was primarily developed at Toyota's R&D facility in China.

Making their world premiere at the 12th Beijing International Automotive Exhibition are two new concept models from Toyota called Dear Qin. The design studies are for a compact size five-door hatchback and a four-door sedan.

What you should know about the Dear Qin project cars is that they preview a new global compact model series from Toyota that will be launched onto the market sometime next year.

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Sabtu, 21 April 2012 | 13.05

Some of you may remember the visible negative camber on the rear wheels of older BMW cars like the '02 series and even the first 3-Series models. Well, that's nothing compared to what the Japanese owner of a last generation Toyota Celica did to his car. Just look at the angle of those wheels!

The car was spotted as it was driving out of the Nagoya Exciting Car Showdown's hall. Head past the break to watch it on film.

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Jumat, 20 April 2012 | 05.15

Toyota will add a second shift at its vehicle production facility in St. Petersburg, Russia, starting from this September and for this reason, it has hired 600 new workers, which bring the total headcount to 1,750 employees.

The Japanese company began production of the Camry in Russia in November 2011 with sales of the mid-size sedan having surged 66 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, while overall, Toyota recorded a 22 per cent increase to 32,859 units during the same period.

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Kamis, 19 April 2012 | 17.35

Two cryptic pictures and the promise that we will learn more on Monday, April 23, is all we get from Toyota about its new concept model that will receive its world premiere at the Auto China 2012, or as it is more commonly known, the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition.

We can't say for sure what kind of model it is, but the front three-quarter picture points to a compact or small sized vehicle, while the second image with the blue LED accent lighting on the grille suggests that it's either a hybrid or a pure electric vehicle.

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Senin, 16 April 2012 | 07.05

More than 200 workers Toyota workers at the firm's Altona plant in Melbourne, Australia, were in for a nasty surprise on Monday as the company went ahead with its original plan to axe 350 employees. The remaining workers will be sacked on Tuesday.

The announcement was made in January but up until today, nobody knew who was going to be sacked, despite repeated pleas from workers to end their torment. The company said that it axed the worst performing workers.

Both the workers and their union said they were extremely upset with the way Toyota handled the situation as the company brought in security guards to escort the employees in min-vans across the road to a special reception center to sack them.

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Sabtu, 14 April 2012 | 08.59

We all know that the Toyota 86 (or GT86/Scion FR-S) was not made for outright power and top Nürburgring lap times but for having some fun behind the wheel of a nimble sports car. One of the things that the 86 is happy to oblige with is drifting thanks to its rear-wheel drive setup, limited-slip diff and a stability control system that can be fully deactivated.

It goes without saying that the modern-day hachiroku would participate in pro drifting series. But while the standard boxer may be satisfactory for road use, for racing, more power is needed.

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Kamis, 12 April 2012 | 17.04

A wraparound metal bull bar…check. A safari-style snorkel kit…check. Blacked out windows…check. So, what's missing from this rough n' tough 4x4, which if we're not hugely mistaken, is an older generation Toyota Land Cruiser?

Well, you may as well forget the 4x4 part, as the driver lost one of the SUV's wheels while cruising on a...paved road! Watch a video of the incident in all its glory right after the break.

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Rabu, 11 April 2012 | 10.01

Toyota today announced that it has commenced production of the new Yaris Hybrid at its Valenciennes plant with the first vehicle to roll off the production line going to a customer in northern France.

The hybrid version of the third generation Yaris uses a new, more compact version of Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive powertrain that is demonstrated in the video that follows. The company claims that the HSD system does not impede on passenger or boot capacity, which are identical to the non-hybrid versions.

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Selasa, 10 April 2012 | 11.17

The new plug-in hybrid version of the Toyota Prius will arrive in UK showrooms at a slightly higher price than what the Japanese automaker originally estimated.

Back in September of 2011, Toyota had said that the Prius Plug-in would cost less than £31,000 and under £26,000 if you include the £5,000 government subsidy. Today we learn that the final on-the-road price for the plug-in model is £32,895, which falls to £27,895 with the £5,000 Government grant available on new vehicle purchases through the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV).

Written By Ishimaru Kaito on Senin, 09 April 2012 | 12.36

As it seems, the majority of hybrid car owners in the States don't go for seconds, or at least that's what a new study released today by auto research firm Polk reveals.

According to the report, while the number of hybrid models in the U.S. has more than doubled since 2007, only 35 percent or a little over a third of hybrid vehicle owners choose to purchase a hybrid again when returning to market in 2011.

To make matters worse, Polk says that if you exclude the high volume audience of Toyota Prius owners from the equation, hybrid loyalty drops to under 25 percent!

It's time for a strategic change over at Toyota as the Japanese automaker today announced a new framework for vehicle development that will affect all brands within the group with the aim of lowering costs, reducing launch times as well as making its vehicles more appealing both in terms of styling and handling.

A core element of the firm's new strategy is the development of new global vehicle architectures that are to be shared across the world, a move that Toyota claims will ultimately help in the creation of better cars.

"Cooperation between planning and design divisions will result in a revised vehicle body structure with which new platforms will feature a lower center of gravity and bolder styling," said Toyota in a statement. "This will help to realize the development of cars with never-before-seen emotional designs and superb handling."

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