Archive for Toyota

The second car manufacturer to reveal their 2009 Formula One car is Toyota, and here is their new TF109. Like the Ferrari F60 that was revealed a few days ago, the TF109 features a huge front wing and a small and tall rear wing. It measures 4,636mm long, 950mm tall, 1,800mm wide and it weighs 605kg including driver and camera.

The racer’s 2.4 liter (2,398cc) V8 engine uses Esso lubes and fuel, and puts out approximately 740 horsepower and revs all the way up to 18,000rpm, as required by FIA rules. Apparently the KERS system will not be available at the start of the season.

The TF109 has a huge task ahead of it, as the team hopes for the car to give it it’s first ever win, something that the previous car (and drivers) unfortunately have not yet managed to do. The TF109 will be piloted by Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock, Kamui Kobayashi as the reserve driver.

While Honda has decided to opt out of F1 entirely for now, even though Toyota is going on with its participation, it is cutting down on costs here and there. For example, there was no launch ceremony for this new car, instead it was revealed on the internet in a virtual launch. Check out a photo gallery of the new car after the jump, as well as a video of the Toyota TF109 F1 car’s premiere.

Click here to read the rest of Toyota unveils TF109 Formula One racer car

The new third generation Toyota Prius is rated at 50mpg, but its sales may not be exceedingly spectacular during these (temporary) times of low oil prices. Prius sales dropped 45% in the end of 2008, and things are so bad across the product range that they’ve announced that they’re suspending all vehicle production in all 12 Japanese plants for 11 days over February and March.

Even if oil prices don’t rise in the near future, Toyota is hoping for the whole “greening” of America to boost Prius sales, fueled by demand from environmentally-conscious buyers, as long as they don’t find out how damaging to the environment the production of a Prius is, despite the Prius itself being a greener car than a regular sedan or hatchback.

Toyota says the new Prius is roomier, quieter, more advanced and has more equipment. It even has a moonroof equipped with a solar panel located over the rear seating area. As previously speculated, the solar panels only powers the air circulation fan for the air conditioning system, not even the whole air conditioning system! This fan can function while the car is unoccupied, which means it can keep the car’s interior cool while it is parked under the hot sun.

As for styling, the original shape has been retained since it has become iconic, defining what a hybrid should look like so much that even Honda was “inspired” by it for the new second generation Honda Insight. But it is larger, with the original shape stretched and moulded to its new proportions. The front headlamps have a unique shape to them, okay maybe not exactly unique, we recently saw the exact same thing on the new Nissan 370Z!

The Atkinson cycle engine under the hood is now larger and more powerful, clocking in at 1.8 liters on the displacement scale and putting out 98 horsepower at 5,200rpm and 142Nm of torque at 4,000rpm. The electric motor puts out 80hp and 208Nm of torque, but combined output of the two systems are 134 horsepower. Power from the two “engines” go through an electronically controlled CVT transmission. The hybrid battery pack is still a NiMH (no move to lithium ion yet). The Prius can run in 3 modes – EV, Eco and Power. EV is an electric-only mode (which can run for about 1.6km, good for short trips to the shop or mamak), while Eco and Power should be self explanatory.

There are a few engineering improvements in the new Prius over the old one, especially in teh area of the Hybrid Synergy Drive system. The transaxle is now lighter and reduces torque losses by as much as 20%. The inverter has a new direct cooling system which results in a smaller size and lighter weight. A new brake energy regeneration system has also been fitted. The system also uses exhaust gas heat to help warm up the engine during startup for improved emissions and performance. This exhaust gas heat is also used to heat up the passenger cabin more efficiently. The body uses aluminium in the hood, rear hatch, front suspension axle and brake caliper to reduce weight.

Look after the jump for a high-res gallery of the new 2010 Prius.

Click here to read the rest of 3rd Generation Toyota Prius with Hybrid Synergy Drive: Official Details and Photos

Click for enlarged image

The American’s 2010 model year cars are here and it’s time for the Toyota Camry to get a facelift. Both the Camry and Camry Hybrid facelifts made their debut at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show at the same time, so let’s look at the car’s features.

The Toyota Camry 2.4 has been replaced by a Camry 2.5, using the same 2.5 liter inline-4 VVT-i engine that was introduced with the Toyota RAV4 facelift. This engine is available in two states of tune in the Camry – 169hp in the LE and XLE models while the Toyota Camry 2.5 SE gets a unit that produces 179 horsepower. This engine is mated to either a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed auto, which is another upgrade over the 2.4 liter engine which was matched to an automatic transmission that only had 5 gears.

The Camry Hybrid and the other engines/models of Camry stay largely the same, and the only other differences are a redesigned grille and front bumper with new fog lamps, new wheel cover and wheel designs, larger projector headlamps, and restyled tail lamps. The Camry Hybrid has additional differences on the inside, namely a new instrument cluster and a new material for the seat trim called Fraichir, which is said to be a combination of silk protein and synthetic fiber.

Look after the jump for more photos of the new Camry facelift. Please note this is not the same car as the Camry we get here. Our ASEAN Camry is actually the Australian Toyota Aurion, which has yet to be facelifted. Hopefully our facelift gets the new 2.5 liter and 6-speed auto too.

Click here to read the rest of 2010 Toyota Camry (US market) get a facelift and new 2.5 liter VVT-i engine

Toyota is apparently working on an electric vehicle that uses solar panels installed on the vehicle to recharge itself, according to Japanese business daily The Nikkei. It is of course just one way other than brake energy regeneration to recharge the car’s batteries. The car will also support plug-in charging, which could also be solar-sourced via solar panels installed on a home’s roof.

This piece of news seems to coincide with the fact that it’s battery partner Panasonic will be acquiring Sanyo, which is supposed to be a leader in solar energy technology. However, The Nikkei did not cite any sources when producing the report.

First talk of a Toyota powered by solar panels surfaced in July last year, also from The Nikkei. That report was followed by another one by Reuters which claimed the solar panels would be sourced from Kyocera, and would only produce enough power to run a car’s air conditioning, which kinda makes sense – a car’s air conditioning unit is probably run at full blast during a hot day, with plenty of sunlight!

The Reuters report also carried a quote which said it would be very difficult for solar energy to power anything more than that in real time, so it is more of a symbolic gesture, one that will be eating into the cost of the car, so it will truly be only for the rich and green-conscious for the time being,

There are actually solar cars around, heard of the World Solar Challenge? Participants race across the Australian continent in solar cars that weigh only about less than 200kg, have good aerodynamics, are quite large because of the many solar panels that need to be installed on the car, and can typically go up to a top speed of between 130km/h to 140km/h. Also, a company called Solar Electric Vehicles based in the US provides a service that retrofits the Toyota Prius and other Toyota hybrids with solar panels that can provide up to 1200 watt hours a day of energy.

Toyota’s latest compact 7-seater MPV has been unveiled in Japan on Christmas day, so let’s check out the full details of the new compact people carrier that will make its way onto Malaysian shores sometime in the second half of 2009 as the new Perodua MPV.

As with alot of other Toyota compact cars, the new MPV is available under both the Toyota and Daihatsu badges as compact cars like these are pretty much mainly Daihatsu-engineered as it is their speciality.

The Toyota version is called the Toyota Passo Sette, which essentially means Passo Seven, or a 7-seater version of the Toyota Passo. Sette means seven in Italian. The Daihatsu version is called the Daihatsu Boon Luminas, where Luminas is a combination of the words roomy and luminous.

All variants of the Passo Sette and the Boon Luminas are powered by the 1.5 liter 3SZ-VE engine putting out 109 PS at 6,000rpm and 141Nm of torque at 4,400rpm. Both front wheel drive and 4WD variants use a 4-speed auto, and the front wheel drive version is rated at 15.6km per liter under the 10-15 Japanese test cycle. There is an Eco-Drive indicator light on the dashboard to inform the driver when his driving style is economical.

As previously reported, the compact Toyota Passo Sette measures 4,180mm long, 1,695mm wide and 1,620mm tall, with a long 2,750mm wheelbase to maximize the interior space which is 2,550mm long. The Boon Luminas CX with a bodykit is slightly longer at 4,195mm. Other dimensions that Toyota has provided include a 1,630mm space between the front and rear seat rows, a 150mm split seat slide for the middle row, a wide 935mm rear door opening to ease getting in and out, and a 630mm hip point for the driver to also aide ingress and egress.

Despite the car’s relatively long wheelbase its wheels are at the edges of the vehicle so it is compact and it has a 5.2m turning radius.

Toyota has provided the Toyota Passo Sette with some nice features in the interior including a rear seat entertainment system with a 7 inch widescreen monitor, a DVD player with headphone outputs, and the ability to play different media in the front and rear entertainment systems. There is an optional keyless entry and start with a key fob.

The Boon Luminas also comes standard with a “music server”, which essentially lets you rip 660 minutes of audio content from your audio CDs and store it onto the car’s on-board entertainment system so you don’t have to carry your CDs around in your car. This is also a specifiable option for the Toyota Passo Sette.

The Japanese specs offers some rather decent safety features, though in the interests of cost and maximizing profit I doubt all of them will make it onto the Perodua specifications. The Passo Sette and Boon Luminas has a total of 6 SRS airbags, vehicle stability control (VSC), traction control, Dynamic Support Headrests which reduce the risk of rear-end collision whiplash, and finally ABS brakes.

Now for the Japanese market prices. The Daihatsu Boon Luminas has higher specs so it is more expensive starting from 1,535,000 yen all the way up to 2,073,000 yen, while the lower spec Toyota Passo Sette starts from 1,490,000 yen but can be fully loaded up to a maximum price of 2,033,000 yen.

Please continue reading for a whole load of more photos and videos! It will give you a rough idea of the car to expect next year from Perodua.

Click here to read the rest of Toyota Passo Sette 7-seater MPV: full details!

The 2010 Toyota Prius will be making its first public appearance at the 2009 Detroit Motor Show, but it will be joined by another green sibling, one that the public has not seen yet. The other vehicle shown is a concept vehicle and Toyota’s first electric vehicle. Nothing much other than the logo for the new range of EV vehicles have been revealed, so we’ll have to wait until January to find out what this new electric vehicle is.

Lots of delays in the Toyota camp thanks to the industry’s sad outlook. Right after Toyota and Isuzu agreed to temporarily freeze their join diesel engine project, it appears that the rear wheel drive sports car developed with FHI’s Subaru that it was supposed to launch in end-2011 will be postponed to beyond 2012 or later. That’s like, over 4 years from now, which is close to an entire Japanese product 5 year cycle, though Toyota seems to be extending the shelf life of their products these days. Toyota began reviewing all its new projects beginning last month after slashing its profit estimates by more than half thanks to falling North American and European sales, and a stronger Japanese yen.

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Source

Here’s something to put the gravity of the current situation automotive industry into perspective. After 70 continuous years of profits, Toyota is predicted by some Japanese business media to likely post its first annual parent-only operating loss in 70 years thanks to low sales and the appreciating Japanese yen. It’s last operating loss was in the 1937-1938 financial year, which was also its first year of operation.

Toyota is a company that has remained resilient throughout various recessions in the past. It is a company that can quickly react to market conditions. You only have to look at the big difference between the Toyota Corolla SEG AE101, which some called a “mini-Lexus” and the Corolla AE111 “recession car”, which was a car built during a recession so ended up having many corners cut and designed to be cheap to build.

Some argue that the Toyota Corolla has just not been the same since that turning point but even despite that, it’s just not enough during this period of time which some call the “mother of all recessions”.

But not all Japanese media share these sentiments. Those that are predicting the loss are of the opinion that the second half results will wipe out the profit that Toyota made during the first half of the current financial year. Most of the others agree with the 2nd half losses, but think the profits gained in the 1st half would not be totally wiped out, which would mean a small annual profit.

Source 1, Source 2

The Perak government has purchased a fleet of Toyota Camry 2.4Vs, a total of 16 units worth RM2.7 million, or about RM167,000 each. Apparently they had to pay the full price for the cars because the Federal government allegedly refused to provide a tax exemption for the purchase.

Had they got an exemption, the purchase price would only have been RM97,000 per unit according to Senior State Executive Councillor (EXCO) Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham. The tax would have gone back to the government anyway, but the only difference is it’ll be channeled to the Federal government and not the state government.

I wonder if the Terengganu state government got a tax exemption for its Mercedes-Benz E200K purchase, since RM3.43 million for 14 cars is only RM245k each, well below the retail price of the E200K, though apparently such deals can even be gotten by people like you and me, though the cars will be pre-registered.

Reasons cited by the Perak government to justify the purchase are the usual ones – the high maintenance cost of the existing Proton Perdana V6 fleet. It seems the cost of maintaining the state’s fleet over a period of 4 years came up to more than RM1 million.

I don’t think Toyota Camrys are an excessive purchase but this move sends some wrong signals. Firstly, was the justification for the 2.4 liter model? If they had picked the cheaper Toyota Camry 2.0E model priced at RM141,109 instead, the total purchase cost would only be RM2.3 million for 16 units, a savings of RM 400,000, which is quite a substantial amount and can probably be used to fuel the fleet for an entire year!

Secondly, as I understand there is a policy to purchase locally assembled cars, probably for reasons of supporting the local manufacturing industry, why pick a CBU car when there are CKD alternatives such as the Honda Accord and the Peugeot 407?

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LATEST UPDATE: Toyota Passo Sette 7-seater MPV – full details!

Toyota and Daihatsu have called for a joint press conference in Japan on Christmas day to unveil their latest 7-seater compact MPV, strongly believed to be named the Toyota Passo Sette and the Daihatsu Boon Ruminous. After the car’s public unveiling this month, it will go on sale early next year about the same time as Proton is expected to launch its MPV, which could pose a problem for Proton as potential customers in Malaysia would be able to get a preview of this new MPV that will hit Malaysian roads as a Perodua in Q3 2009, just half a year after the Proton MPV is launched.

Still, the two vehicles are not exactly in the same segment. This new Toyota/Daihatsu/Perodua MPV is smaller than the Proton MPV. However because is primarily a Daihatsu product, it inherits the Japanese K-car’s expertise in squeezing the most space into the smallest package. The engine under the hood will be the 3SZ-VE 1.5 liter that’s found in the Toyota Avanza, but installed transversely instead of longitudinally and powering the front wheels instead of the rear wheels.

(dimension comparison table from my previous post)

Given how many Malaysians think long and hard between the Persona and the Myvi as if they were in the same segment when they are actually not because of similiar pricing, this new Perodua MPV could pose a real threat to the new Proton MPV for those who just must have a “Toyota”, whether with a Perodua badge or not.

An indicated price for the Japanese market car is between 1.45 million yen to 1.8 million yen, which is about RM57k to RM70k, so that should give you guys an idea how much a localised version would cost. Don’t expect things like the column shifter you see in the brochure above to make it into the Perodua version as the Passo also had that but it got switched to a traditional shifter between the seats for the Myvi.

Whether you want to call it the new Toyota Passo Sette, or the Daihatsu Boon Ruminous, or the 2009 Perodua MPV, you can check out interior photos and a side profile which have been revealed in the brochure above, which does not mention the vehicle’s name yet. Or for more details, check out the related links listed below.

Related Posts:
2009 Perodua MPV Artist’s Impression
New Toyota MPV: details of the new 3-row compact MPV that Perodua will also build
New Perodua MPV coming in September 2009