2009 Lexus IS F
The Lexus IS F is the sole Japanese contender in a crowd of compact high-performance sport sedans. Boasting a full complement of performance upgrades, including a 5.0-liter V8 mated to a quick-shifting eight-speed automatic transmission, the 416-horsepower sedan blasts to 60 mph in well under five seconds. But the stats only tell part of the tale. Do the sum of the IS F's parts make it a contender against the best from Germany and America? Let's find out.
It was reported yesterday that Toyota is looking to continue its NUMMI partnership with GM at the California plant where both produce the Pontiac Vibe, Toyota Tacoma and Corolla. However, since GM is killing the Pontiac brand by the end of the year, it sees no need to continue its NUMMI partnership with Toyota.
“The Vibe will go down with the phase out of Pontiac so there would be no need for NUMMI,” CEO Fritz Henderson told reporters.
Toyota is now saying that it may consider buying out GM’s stake since its products already account for nearly 80 percent of NUMMI’s output, reports Automotive News.
Toyota’s spokesman Hideaki Homma said that Toyota hasn’t received a proposal from GM. He said that Watanabe would consider aiding GM in its restructuring efforts; although, Homma didn’t provide any specifics.
Here's a little problem to solve: Although budgets are shrinking, it still costs million to run a Formula One team. On the other hand, the teams go through spare parts like a rib joint does napkins. Meanwhile, collectors and enthusiasts have proven willing to shell out big bucks for authentic memorabilia. Found the magic solution yet? Several F1 teams have, opting to sell off parts of last year's cars for big bucks. And the latest to join the fold is Toyota.
Now available for purchase from the Toyota F1 team's online merchandise shop is a wide variety of spare parts and bodywork at various price points, ranging from a 200-euro alloy wheel (around $280 USD), brake disc or suspension wishbone all the way up to a full engine cover bodywork assembly pictured above, complete with underfloor and rear wing aerodynamic elements, for 5,000 euros (nearly $7,100). If that seems pricey, consider that's just a fraction of what you'd have to shell out for parts from a race-winning Ferrari, for example. In sports memorabilia, pedigree is worth its weight in gold, but when you consider that Toyota is ahead of Ferrari in the standings this season, now may be the best time to get that F1 nose-cone up on your wall. Think of it as an investment.
[Source: Toyota F1 via Inside Line]
It may have taken a year to make it happen, but the locally-built Toyota Camry Hybrid is finally ready to go on sale in Thailand. This new version of the Camry Hybrid is the first of its kind (not assembled in Japan) and features unique new front and rear fascias that are derived from the Australian Aurion. Our take? The front grille is vaguely reminiscent of the three-bar chrome schnoz used by Ford in America, although it also reminds somewhat of the Venza, as well.
Although final pricing has not yet been announced, Toyota expects to sell the new Camry Hybrid in Thailand with just a small premium over the standard model due to a reduced 10% excise tax on locally-built hybrid vehicles. Thanks to this favorable pricing situation, Toyota expects the Hybrid to make up 60-70% of all Camry sales in the region. Soon, the Japanese automaker will begin exporting the Thai-built Camry Hybrid to other countries in Southeast Asia.
The Lexus LF-A has been long considered a competitor to the company’s Japanese-rival - the Nissan GT-R. Well, if AutoExpress is to be believed, the LF-A will leave the Nissan GT-R in the dust in terms of speed and price.
Sources close to Lexus say that the engineers were not at all happy about the LF-A’s top speed of 199 mph. After some revisions, tuning and testing, the 550-hp 4.8L V10 engine is reportedly allowing the LF-A to achieve a top speed of over 218 mph. Yes, that’s faster than the Nissan GT-R, putting the LF-A in the Ferrari Enzo and Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 category.
Sources say that the actual production model will look very different from the prototypes seen at the Nurburgring. Basically we’re in for a surprise.
Production will be limited to 500 units with some units getting a sports package version with a wider bodykit similar to the one on the race version that raced in the 24-Hour Nurburgring. Pricing is expected to come in around £140,000 ($223,820 USD) to £190,000 ($303,756 USD). The production model will debut at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show in Oct.
Toyota said today that it is considering revving up production of its 2010 Prius to meet better-than-expected demand, a move similar to the one Honda made when it launched its 2010 Insight hybrid in February.
“We are considering steps to increase production to meet demand,” Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said.
While this is good news for treehuggers or those that hate the Honda Insight, the news is a sigh of relief for workers involved with manufacturing Toyota vehicles. Toyota was among the first Japanese automakers to halt production earlier this year as demand was hit by the global financial crisis.
Toyota has confirmed that it has received over 80,000 orders for the 2010 Prius, which it rolled out earlier this month. The Japanese automaker declined to comment on reports that the number had jumped to 110,000.
The 2010 Toyota Prius is on sale no with prices starting at $21,750.
When we first saw the Lexus' new luxury hybrid, it was being revealed at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. Recently we were given an opportunity to preview Lexus' new HS 250h, a vehicle that the automaker is calling the world's first luxury dedicated hybrid. It also calls the HS an economy luxury car, which to us seems a bit of an oxymoron.
As I approached the vehicle, my first thought was, "Oh my, they've Lexus-ified and hybridized a Corolla! This is going to be a disaster." I couldn't have been more wrong.
True, the HS 250h looks like your run of the mill boring Toyota/Lexus econobox, but under the rather plain skin is a rather exceptional vehicle, particularly when it comes to cabin tech.
The floating center console lifts the controls up to be easily reached.
(Credit: Lexus)
The HS 250h's dash is an ergonomic dream. Its floating center console lifts the climate and audio controls up to where they can be accessed without reaching. The flip up navigation screen is moved up to the top of the dash, where it can be viewed out of our periphery without taking our eyes off of the road.
At the bottom of the console, Lexus' new remote touch controller falls naturally into the drivers' hand. A sort of joystick-trackball hybrid, the remote touch controller uses a control stick that is moved with your fingertip to select options from the HS' icon-based interface. Movements are 1:1 with where the pointer is on screen, so there's never any issue with losing cursor. Haptic force feedback notifies the user through touch when an option has been selected, which assists in navigation without taking eyes off of the road for too long.
| | With the introduction of the world’s first hybrid-only luxury car, the 2010 HS 250h, Lexus brings the promise of sustainable luxury to the forefront of the auto industry. In the process, the brand also elevates luxury transportation with innovative engineering and intelligent, driver-inspired design that offers excellent roominess and nimble maneuverability. Each new generation of Lexus [...] |
| | When it comes to environmental performance, new Prius’s achievements are not just about the fuel economy and clean running offered by its Toyota Hybrid Drive full hybrid powertrain. Toyota’s determination to reduce emissions and promote sustainability prompted it to research and develop the world’s first injection moulded material to be derived from plant matter. This new [...] |
| | Toyota has launched a new special-edition Aurion to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary in Australia. The refreshed Aurion “Touring” Special Edition offers more than $2700 of added equipment at no extra cost compared with entry-level Aurion AT-X sedan. Quad Cam V6 Aurion delivers more power than any other normally aspirated Australian-made six-cylinder car with 9.9 litres/100km [...] |
| | A new chapter in the history of Prius opens at the Detroit motor show with the official unveiling of the all-new, third-generation of Toyota’s world-leading hybrid power car. With a heritage of more than one million sales worldwide since the original model was launched in 1997, new Prius takes the benefits of hybrid to a [...] |
The small crossover segment, where the neo-sorta-trucks live, is one of the hottest battlegrounds for consumer dollars. Small skirmishes go on in the border regions; confused vehicles don’t know whether to be mud-slingers with brash attitudes or optioned-up urban sophisticates. Toyota’s RAV4 certainly brings sophistication, and though it can venture off road a bit, it’s not a jumbled, mixed-up mess. The RAV’s classification-straddling lets it serve the whims of a broad array of potential buyers.
Wanting to cover all the bases, the RAV4 can be had in a variety of configurations, from a basic front-driver with four-cylinder power up to a leather-lined, four-wheel-drive Limited with a silly-powerful V6. A Sport version seeds right in between the base and Limited, carrying a satisfying level of equipment. There’s an allure to the big horsepower delivered by the six – especially when it costs as little on EPA ratings as the RAV’s 3.5-liter – but these days, “adequate” is riding a wave of newfound popularity as Americans struggle to pinch more pennies. In keeping with that spirit, when it came time to test a RAV4, we decided to try life with a four-cylinder 4WD Sport.
Toyota announced that it would further cut production at many North American plants over the next few months in a move where it will try to reduce its vehicle inventory by half.
“This is a tough environment, and it may continue for a while,” said Jim Wiseman, vice president of external affairs for Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America.
Wiseman said that in addition to the cuts, Toyota is also doubling efforts to cut costs at its facilities. According to Automotive News, Toyota’s U.S. marketing boss Jim Lentz said that the U.S. inventory of unsold cars and trucks should be in line with demand by May.
Toyota’s spokesman Yuta Kaga declined to state the actual number of vehicles involved in the cuts.
The redesigned 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid goes on sale in the US from late May with Toyota today announcing pricing will begin at US$22,750 - which in an ideal world would mean an Australian price tag of $32,560. 
A stripped-down base model version will join the line-up late this year for just US$21,750.
The third-generation Prius comes with a 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine producing 73kW which combined with the car’s electric motor can produce a total of 100kW.
The US Prius comes in five trim levels and includes standard safety equipment across the range such as ESP with Traction Control and ABS.
The second model in the range, priced at US$22,750, adds push-button start, a six-speaker stereo system, six-way adjustable driver’s seat and seven airbags, including a driver’s knee airbag.
The most expensive trim level, at US$28,020 includes Bluetooth, heated front seats, an eight-speaker JBL system and 17-inch alloy wheels.
© Source: caradvice
| | Toyota’s 2009 Avalon is the automaker’s entry into the full-sized sedan market. The 2009 model is very similar to that offered in 2008. Likes: Lexus-quiet interior Smooth, almost pillowy ride Strong, silent powertrain Backseat space Dislikes: A snooze to drive Conservative look and feel Price overlaps that of Lexus ES 350 TheCarConnection.com has looked to some of the best automotive resources to bring you this [...] |
By: Sam Abuelsamid
Sometime in early 2008, about the time when it became clear that Honda was planning to price its then-upcoming Insight hybrid very aggressively, rumors began to circulate that following the release of the redesigned third-gen Prius, Toyota was considering continuing sales of a de-contented second-generation version in order to compete. Ultimately, Toyota confirmed that plan, although the decision was made to offer the old Prius only in Japan. That model, now labeled as the Prius EX, is going on sale in its home market – mostly to fleet customers – starting June 8.
The EX is only available in black, silver or white with a grey interior (the car shown above is a 2009 U.S. model, as Toyota has not released images of the new model). Dual stage airbags and air-conditioning are standard, but luxury items like hub caps and foglights will now be dealer-installed options. The base price of the Prius EX is about $19,700 at current exchange rates (1,890,000 yen, the exact same base price as the Honda Insight in Japan) and Toyota hopes to sell about 2,000 a month.
Toyota vice-president of communications, Irv Miller, explained to Autoblog that the company opted not to offer this model in the U.S. because updated on-board diagnostics regulations for 2010 would require a significant amount of software development, an investment that would likely negate any savings in offering the older model.
Toyota has received 75,000 orders for the all-new Prius according to the Nikkei business daily, which means its going to be a fierce battle between the new Prius and the Honda Insight.
The Honda Insight was launched in Japan in February and in three months Honda has sold almost 20,000 units, which has surpassed Honda's initial goals. The Insight was also Japan's best-selling vehicle last month.
The new Prius will be on sale here later this month with a starting price of $21,750 including destination fees
Toyota has forecast its first operating loss in 71 years, citing falling demand and an appreciating yen as the key factors leading to its poor performance. Despite already cutting operating profit predictions by half last month to $6.6 billion, the carmaker now expects to post a ¥150 billion ($1.7 billion) loss in the year through March.
Currently, Toyota's profit for the period from April to September sits at $6.6 billion, however with massive losses expected for the 6-month period from October to March of next year this profit has a good chance of being significantly diminished or wiped out altogether. Global sales of Toyota vehicles for 2009 is expected to sit between 8 and 8.7 million units - almost 2 million units less than Toyota itself predicted recently.
“The environment we’re in is extremely tough,” President Katsuaki Watanabe told reporters today in Nagoya. “We’re facing an unprecedented emergency situation. Unfortunately, we can’t see the bottom.”
Toyota today also cut its global vehicle sales forecast 8.5% to 7.54 million for the year ending March 31. It also lowered its North America sales estimate by 10% to 2.17 million vehicles, reports Bloomberg.
In order to cut costs as much as possible, Toyota may have to delay launching new models, lashing research and development costs and extricating itself from non-essential activities, such as motorsports. Just last week we reported that Honda had cut its losses and left F1 in a bid to stay in the black this year.
Japanese rival Honda is also slashing costs as vehicle sales plummet, and the dire state of the world economy means that Detroit manufacturers are not the only ones feeling the pinch. In Europe, the story is different, with companies such as Porsche reporting record profits on the back of successful share trading of VW shares.
The last time Toyota posted an operating loss was in the year ended March 1938.
The vehicle itself is not a an IS-F, but rather an IS convertible with an IS-F body and twin-turbos. It's unclear at the time which of the IS family's line of engines this particular model will get, but we're holding out for a screaming V8 — otherwise that rollbar isn't going to get much work. Expect to see this vehicle at the next SEMA in non-rendered format. [via TRMTuned]
That's some pretty big news — especially considering GM dropped $6 billion during the first quarter. Jeez, if only Toyota were building some fuel-efficient, dependable appliance-type vehicles, right? [Reuters, WSJ]
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