Archive for the ‘Toyota’ Category
Thursday, January 10th, 2008
New models, new engines, a wider choice of hybrid power models and record-breaking feats helped power Toyota to a fifteenth successive year of sales growth in the UK in 2007.
Combined UK sales of Toyota and Lexus passenger cars and Toyota LCVs totalled 143,436 units in 2007, an increase of 3.2 per cent on 2006. These results outperformed the new vehicle (passenger car and LCV) market as a whole, which grew by 2.6 per cent year on year.
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Sunday, January 6th, 2008
Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., returns to its compact pickup truck roots with its latest concept vehicle A-BAT. The environmentally advanced A-BAT provides modern versatility, roominess and style in a compact pickup architecture. The A-BAT will be on display at the Toyota exhibit in Detroit at the 2008 North American International Auto Show beginning Monday, Jan. 14.
“Driving from beyond the suburbs to the city is a way of life for many people,” said Kevin Hunter, president, Calty Design Research, Inc. “We’ve taken Toyota’s truck heritage to a different level by envisioning a vehicle capable of manoeuvring the suburbs as well as dirt roads. This compact truck is as comfortable for long commutes as it is for road trips. It can accommodate outdoor toys and home improvement supplies. Plus, customers benefit from the hybrid powertrain’s low emissions and fuel economy.”
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Friday, December 21st, 2007
A new flagship Toyota Auris hits the streets early next year, giving the range a new sporting edge. The SR180 does not stint on eye-appeal, with Toyota Motorsport lowered suspension springs giving it a ground-hugging stance and a neat new rear spoiler positioned atop the tailgate. Dark-tinted rear privacy glass and five-spoke 17-inch alloys add further to the style factor, while the choice of body colours includes an über-cool Pure White.
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Monday, December 17th, 2007
Prius celebrates its 10th anniversary this month and a decade during which it has pushed the boundaries of automotive innovation and set benchmarks in low emissions and fuel economy that Toyota’s rivals are still struggling to match.
Even though Prius has pioneered many new technologies, most notably its Toyota Hybrid System (THS) powertrain, it has proved enormously popular with motorists, thanks to its environmental credentials, versatility, ease of use and low running costs. It remains the world’s cleanest family car, with carbon dioxide emissions of 104g/km, and has an official combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 65.7mpg.
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Friday, December 14th, 2007
New RAV4 and Yaris models are lined up for 2008, ensuring Toyota customers can enjoy some true New Year bargains. With high equipment specifications, competitive on-the-road prices and the benefit of Toyota’s hallmark quality, durability and driving pleasure, they are perfectly positioned and priced to succeed.
RAV4 XT-R
The new RAV4 XT-R is set to become the most popular version of Europe’s best-selling SUV, offering customers an upgraded specification that covers all bases in terms of style, comfort and convenience.
Even though it goes beyond the equipment level provided in the XT4 model, the XT-R costs the customer less: taking the full specification into the equation, the total added value is worth £1,565.
On the outside the XT-R is distinguished by its dark-tinted rear privacy glass, new-design six-spoke 17-inch alloy wheels, chrome-finished grille, front under-bumper protection plate and bespoke XT-R badging. In place of a spare wheel there is an easy-to-use tyre repair kit. Deleting the rear-mounted spare means the XT-R gains a wide-opening tailgate.
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Friday, December 14th, 2007
There is no more exclusive Aygo than the new Platinum, a version of Toyota’s award-winning city car that is brimful of premium quality features. But while the specification is high, the price tag marks the model down as an ideal New Year bargain.
On sale from January, Aygo Platinum benefits from £1,555-worth of additional equipment beyond the range-topping Aygo+, yet the price premium is just an extra £550. No maths degree is required to work out that that’s a deal worth more than £1,000 for every customer.
Luxurious features provided as standard include Alcantara and leather upholstery, leather trim for the steering wheel and gear knob and 14-inch Turbine alloy wheels with locking nuts. There is also Crystal Silver metallic paint – now exclusive to the Platinum model.
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Thursday, December 6th, 2007
Toyota has unveiled two new robots, a “Mobility Robot” and a “Violin-playing Robot”, which could become very useful at Christmas in years to come.
The Mobility Robot provides transport in places where conventional wheeled vehicles would fail, including steps, making it the ideal aid for all those hours of Christmas shopping.
The Mobility Robot can move at speeds of up to 4mph – human walking pace – and travel up to a distance of 13 miles on one hour of battery charge. In addition to being able to transport its owner, it can also follow people and avoid obstacles, allowing it to function as a porter, leaving the owner’s hands free at the New Year sales.
The Violin-playing Robot is capable of performing a variety of tasks with its hands and arms. Its delicacy of movement is best demonstrated by the fact it can play the violin. It can achieve vibrato on a violin similar to that created by humans, enabling it to play all the classic Christmas carols.
The 1.5-metre tall Violin-playing Robot, equipped with a total of 17 joints in each of its hands and arms, uses precise control and coordination to achieve human-like agility. It could also be used to assist with domestic duties or nursing and medical care.
These newest additions to the Toyota Partner Robot family are being developed to support people’s everyday life but unfortunately you won’t be able to purchase them for this Christmas. Toyota hopes to have these and other Toyota Partner Robots on sale in the early 2010s.
Toyota Partner Robots are envisioned to assist people in four main fields: domestic duties, nursing and healthcare, manufacturing and short-distance personal transport.
Toyota is primarily focussing on technology that works in harmony with people, such as assistance devices that can help move heavy instruments in a factory, on mobility technology for autonomous movement, on full-body coordination for walking and jumping, and on tool manipulation.
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Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
Toyota has unveiled a massive driving simulator, designed to safely analyse driving characteristics and so develop improved active safety technology.
The driving simulator, located at Toyota’s Higashifuji Technical Centre in Japan, provides one of the world’s most-realistic simulated driving environments, allowing driving habits and reactions to be accurately gauged.
Key to this virtual reality is the use of a real car placed on a platform housed inside a 7.1-metre-diameter dome, the inside of which serves as a giant 360-degree video screen.
As the driver operates the vehicle, a tilt mechanism, vibration apparatus and other devices manipulate the dome, which can be moved around an area the equivalent of four tennis courts, under precision computer control.
The result is a true simulation of the actual sensation of driving, including a sense of speed, acceleration and riding comfort through turns and other driving manoeuvres. Sound effects make the experience even more real.
The driving simulator is no toy. It will mainly be used to analyse driving characteristics under such conditions as falling asleep at the wheel and drowsiness, glancing from side to side and not checking that the road is safe, fatigue or illness, as well as developing active safety technology for effectively reducing the number of accidents.
Toyota’s stated long term aim is to produce cars that never crash and the company plans to put the driving simulator to full use in advancing R&D, not only for on-board vehicle safety systems, but also for systems that support safe driving practices and integrate cars with the road infrastructure.
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Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
The Toyota Supra HV-R hybrid race car which made history by being the first hybrid race car ever to win a competition (the Tokachi 24-Hour Race, 14/15 July), has gained further honours winning the award for Race Engine of The Year 2007.
The nominations were selected by the editors of Race Engine Technology magazine and the awards were determined through votes cast by practising race engine professionals across all forms of global motor sport. The four categories include: Grand Prix; Global Motorsport; North American Race Engine and Alternative Power Race Engine, with one winner for the overall title of Race Engine of the Year.
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Thursday, November 1st, 2007
The Toyota Supra takes on a new challenge this month: the ultimate Japanese GT car and icon of the Sony Playstation Gran Turismo game is swapping the racetrack and (virtual) mean streets for a fund-raising foray into rural France in the 2007 Hackett Beaujolais Run.
Team Toyota – driver Gareth Jex and navigator Phillip White – will be competing in Toyota GB’s classic Supra, finished in full Castrol racing livery. They will line up in a field of 59 distinctive, high-performance machines, departing from Goodwood race circuit on November 12. Speed is not the defining element in the challenge, however, with the ultimate winner being the team that records the lowest overall mileage.
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