Archive for Toyota

This looks very similiar to a Toyota Alphard with the latest in a series of Toyota grill designs slapped on, but it is actually the Toyota FT-MV concept that will make its appearance at the Tokyo Motor Show, opening for the press beginning tomorrow and for the general public later.

It is designed to fit 6 luxuriously, and the middle two seats have fully automatic ottomans, a kind of foot stool. It’s first class travel for those who need more space than what an E-segment luxury sedan can provide, similiar to the direction the Mercedes Benz R-Class took, which is also a 6-seater luxury MPV.

This info is from a pre-motorshow preview release so more details will be available tomorrow when the motorshow starts.

Click here to read the rest of Toyota FT-MV Concept

UMW Toyota Motor has prices for the new second generation Toyota Vios up on its website. There has been a small drop in prices from the estimated values announced earlier at the media preview.

The top of the line Toyota Vios 1.5S is going for RM88,100 - down from the estimated RM88,600 announced earlier. The mid range Toyota Vios 1.5G goes for RM84,800, down from RM85,300 and finally the baseline Toyota Vios 1.5E now retails at RM78,700 - a RM200 drop to the previous RM78,900 price.

These prices are for Peninsular Malaysia and are on the road inclusive of insurance.

Related Posts:
2007 Toyota Vios details and photos
New Toyota Vios line-up teaser with prices

The production version of the Toyota iQ will use a 2-cylinder 1.0 liter motorcycle-based engine, according to two Toyota executives in an interview with Automotive News Europe under the condition of anonymity. The engine will be designed in collaboration with Yamaha, which might also manufacture the engine for Toyota.

Toyota and Yamaha have worked together before on many engine projects. The high revving VVTL-i 2ZZ-GE was designed together with Yamaha, and was Toyota’s first all-aluminium engine. It is used in the Toyota Celica and the Lotus Elise. The 3S-GE and the 3S-GTE (but not the 3S-FE) also used Yamaha-tuned heads. Yamaha also contributed to the legendary 4A-GE. These modern days, Toyota still gets car engines such as the 4GR-FSE 2.5 liter V6 from Yamaha, and it is used in cars like the Toyota Mark X and the Lexus IS250.

The inline-2 engine will help reduce the iQ’s engine bay length, with the transmission being able to be located within the engine block and other usual engine bay space hogging culprits like air conditioning module being able to be bolted on the side of the engine. The whole engine module with ancillaries bolted on will be a single tall compact unit, installed in the front of the car.

Related Posts:
Toyota iQ Concept unveiled at Frankfurt 2007

Source

Nothing much is known about the new Toyota Crown Hybrid Concept that will be displayed at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show other than a list of new features to be showcased - so we will have to wait until the motorshow rolls by to find out exactly what these new technologies are.

Anyway onto the features - the Toyota Crown Hybrid Concept will features Toyota Hybrid System II, an evolution of the current system being used in production hybrid vehicles - this uses a two-stage motor speed reduction device which helps achieve smoother acceleration, better fuel efficiency, low emissions and lower noise.

A new Finegraphic Meter TFT LCD display will be employed in the interior to provide information to the driver in an easy to see and understand manner - this could finally make its way into Toyota vehicles the same way Optitron started being used in Lexus cars first, so I think we should pay attention to this particular technology.

Vehicle stability will be enhanced with VDIM and active steering control, which I think has already made its debut on cars like the Toyota Mark X ZiO - using an optimal balance between drive power, steering and braking to help regain control of the vehicle in emergency cases. For passive safety, the car has 10 SRS airbags.

Like the Toyota Crowns before it, this new concept will likely be a front engine, rear wheel drive car. It is Toyota’s largest sedan and is about the same size as a Lexus LS.

An interesting fact to share: many Toyota sedans have been named after variations of the word Crown. There’s the Toyota Corona, where Corona is latin for crown, and there’s also the Corolla, which means small crown and usually refers to the small center “crown” of a flower. The Toyota Camry gets its name from kan-muri, meaning small crown.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of TOKYO PREVIEW: Toyota Crown Hybrid Concept

UMW Toyota Motor had a press preview for the new Toyota Vios earlier today, so here is the latest full details on the variants of the Toyota Vios that will be available in Malaysia.

The new Toyota Vios is bigger than the previous version although it looks somewhat smaller because of it’s Toyota Yaris hatchback connections. Read more on the new Toyota Vios which is in its second generation here in Malaysia, after the jump.

UPDATE: Updated with more photos today, as my DVD drive was abit wonky yesterday.

UPDATE #2: The official launch prices for the 2007 Toyota Vios has been released by UMW Toyota Motor. The 1.5S costs RM88,100, the 1.5G costs RM84,800 and finally the baseline 1.5E costs RM78,700. Click here for more details.

Click here to read the rest of 2007 Toyota Vios details and photos

[ LATEST UPDATE: Click here to find out more details on the Toyota Vios that will be available here in Malaysia, straight from the Malaysian press preview launch! ]

UMW Toyota Motor will be having an exclusive public preview of the new Toyota Vios this Friday (5th of October 2007, 5pm to 10pm) at Hall 3 of the Mid Valley Megamall Exhibition Center (MVEC) - that’s the exhibition halls on the third floor, the same level as Golden Screen Cinemas.

You will be able to see the new Toyota Vios live in person, something many of us have not been able to do except for a few who have traveled north to Thailand or other countries where the Vios has already been introduced. I am very curious as to how it looks like in real life in terms of size, interior space, quality, ergonomics and etcetera as these things are hard to judge by photographs.

There will also be special performances at 8pm by Reshmonu, Danny One, as well as Akademi Fantasia 5 winners Mila, Ebi and Aswad. I will be there and will post photographs from the event, so be sure to go to the preview as well so we will be able to talk about the car together in the comments section when I post about it.

From what I heard, there will be some art exhibits from a Toyota Vios-related art competition being held in local art colleges currently: there is a blog reader called scooterist who talked about being a participant in the previous post.

There will also be live graffiti performances being held at local shopping malls (schedule below) where professional graffiti artists will be employed to create artwork on the Vios-shaped fibreglass model we saw earlier - should be interesting to see the results of these sessions.

• The Curve, 6 -7 Oct, 11am - 1pm, 2pm - 6pm, 8pm - 10pm
• 1 Utama, 13 - 14 Oct, 11am - 1pm, 2pm - 6pm, 8pm - 10pm
• City Square, 13 - 14 Oct, 11am - 1pm, 2pm - 6pm, 8pm - 10pm
• Garage, Penang, 13 - 14 Oct, 9pm - 11pm, 12am - 3am

Related Posts:
Toyota Vios pre-launch campaign
New Toyota Vios line-up teaser with features and prices
Toyota Vios launch on 4/5 October 2007?
New Toyota Vios launched in Thailand
Toyota Belta on test in Thailand as Toyota Vios
UMW Toyota plans to price new baseline Toyota Vios at under RM70,000
2006 Toyota Belta (JDM name for Toyota Vios)
Toyota Human Touch advertisement featuring Toyota Belta/Vios

7Tune has got a hold of the latest Best Car magazine and the Japanese magazine has some juicy details on the upcoming spiritual successor to the iconic Toyota AE86, set to be positioned as a very fun car on a budget and one of the few new “soulful” cars that come from the Japanese marque.

Best Car reports that test mules have been spotted being tested and sources have informed that these mules are built on a shortened Subaru Legacy chassis. This is only temporary apparently - subsequent test mules and the final product will use a shortened version of the latest Subaru Impreza chassis. This chassis is built for all-wheel drive so it should be easily adapted to rear wheel drive.

The test mule uses the normally aspirated 2.0 liter boxer engine from the Impreza and has had it’s all-wheel drive drivetrain’s front driveshafts removed to convert it to rear wheel drive. The final product is expected to use Subaru’s 1.5 liter boxer engine, a DOHC motor which puts out 110 horsepower at 6,400rpm and 143Nm of torque at 3,200rpm. This is supposed to push along a car that weighs 1,100kg. Won’t exactly be scorching but enough to feel zippy.

Source: 7Tune

Related Posts:
Possible revival of the Toyota AE86 in 2010

Toyota’s latest model in the Japanese market is the Toyota Mark X ZiO (pronounced geo). Some of you may find that the Mark X ZiO looks abit familiar - that’s because it is essentially the production version of the Toyota Flexible Saloon Concept that Toyota exhibited back in 2005.

The Toyota Mark X ZiO’s ZiO moniker refers to it’s multiple “Zones in One”, which is what Toyota calls the car’s flexible cabin arrangement which allows the car to be used as a sedan, a station wagon or a minivan.

The interior has a three row layout which can be specified as either a 6 seater or a 7 seater. The 6 seater model feature captain seats in the second row providing a 2-2-2 layout, while the 7 seater model uses a regular bench for the second row (2-3-2 seating) with a large foldable armrest in case the 7th seat is not needed. The third row seats can be folded into the floor to increase boot space into one equivalent to a station wagon.

There are two engine options for the Toyota Mark X ZiO: a 3.5 liter 2GR-FE V6 engine mated to a 6-speed Super ECT gearbox or a 2.4 liter 2AZ-FE inline-4 engine mated to a Super CVT-i stepless gearbox. The 2.4 liter model has optional four-wheel-drive, but front wheel drive is standard.

The 3.5 liter model comes with 18 inch wheels while the 2.4 liter model uses 16 inch wheels. Both models use large diameter disc brakes on all four wheels. Safety features include a pre-crash safety system which uses millimeter-wave radar to detect a high risk of collision: this activates pre-crash seatbelts and the pre-crash brake assist system.

Steering-assisted Vehicle Stability Control or S-VSC takes stability control systems to the next level by adding steering control to methods like engine power cutting and braking when the stability control system tries to stabilize a car that is out of control.

Other neat features include a radar-assisted cruise control system which maintains a fixed distance from a preceding vehicle if there is one, and there is also an Intelligent Parking Assist system which uses data from ultrasonic sensors to control steering wheel operations for you during parallel parking. There is also a 190 degree wide angle camera at the front for you to see the ground in front and at the front sides of the vehicle.

The Toyota Mark X ZiO looks like a JDM model for now, but you can always have one if you have enough money - just ask the grey importers.

More photos available after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Toyota Mark X ZiO launched in Japan

[ LATEST UPDATE: Click here to find out more details on the Toyota Vios that will be available here in Malaysia, straight from the Malaysian press preview launch! ]

Toyota definitely seems to be intent on making sure all of us know the new Toyota Vios is on it’s way to showrooms. If you check out the Toyota Vios teaser page this week, you should have noticed a link to a new microsite: My Design, My Pride.

Think of it as a way to let you see if an airbrush artist specialising in the Toyota Vios could be one of your possible career paths. You are free to use your own imagination and create your own design on a virtual blank outline of the Toyota Vios. Its mostly modifying the car’s paintjob to your liking, not more advanced stuff like bumper modification and adding spoilers and etc. Once you’re done, you can submit it and you can also download your design as a wallpaper. Then you can proceed to do more designs or vote on other people’s submitted designs.

The top 3 designs will win a Panasonic DVD camcorder each, and will be featured in ads taken up in local newspapers, so it’s a shot for you to get the whole nation to look at your designs. Art students: this should be a good chance to add to your portfolio. I’ll be sending in some of my own “attempts” at a design as well, we can share our creations in the Photoshop and Design section of the forum later perhaps?

The Vios outsells all of it’s same segment competitors here, so despite divided public opinion there is much reason for Toyota to be very proud of their B-segment compact sedan. In general, Toyota Vios (and Honda City) owners seem to be quite proud of their cars. For many, it is their first non-national car; a graduation from local makes and finally a step into the world of imports, even though now imported has taken a different meaning and the car comes into Malaysia as a CKD pack.

There are so many Toyota Vios owners who have customised their rides in so many ways - different wheels, different grilles, some with turbokits perhaps? One way of looking at it is that these are each individual owner’s own personal designs. It’s really built into all of us - why else are we so excited whenever Theophilus Chin or Chaku cooks up an artist impression of a newly launched car? I usually just keep it to personalised alloy wheels though.

My guess is that Toyota is trying to connect with that part of us through this whole My Design, My Pride campaign. A very subjective and emotional thing, but refreshing in the world of launch advertising where others usually just harp on features and/or price.

Click to enlarge

There is also something else that reader Ben has sent in: some trucks have been going around the Damansara Heights area carrying white Toyota Vios models. They’ve also been spotted in Kepong and Sri Hartamas. Another reader Richard has spotted them and uploaded some photos here.

Some kind of teaser campaign leading up to the launch (tentatively 4th or 5th of October?). There’s really nothing hidden - it’s obviously the new Vios, just that it’s not a real car, just a white fibreglass model of sorts. It should give you an idea of how the Vios looks like in metal (albeit being an albino version), instead of just photos.

Let’s wait and see what happens the end of next week.

More photos after the jump.

Related Posts:
New Toyota Vios line-up teaser with features and prices
Toyota Vios launch on 4/5 October 2007?
New Toyota Vios launched in Thailand
Toyota Belta on test in Thailand as Toyota Vios
UMW Toyota plans to price new baseline Toyota Vios at under RM70,000
2006 Toyota Belta (JDM name for Toyota Vios)
Toyota Human Touch advertisement featuring Toyota Belta/Vios

Click here to read the rest of Toyota Vios pre-launch campaign

[ LATEST UPDATE: Click here to find out more details on the Toyota Vios that will be available here in Malaysia, straight from the Malaysian press preview launch! ]

I was surfing Maxis’ new PacMee service and I spotted this small posting (cropped screenshot above) by jLinkModels advertising for 4 models for a Toyota launch on the night of 4th October 2007, 5 to 7pm. A night event could mean the car will be officially launched the next day, so the official launch could either be on the 4th or 5th of October 2007, about two weeks away. The product will most likely be the new Toyota Vios. Read more in the links below. The teaser I blogged about recently has information on specification levels for the E, G and S models as well as estimated pricing.

Related Posts:
New Toyota Vios line-up teaser with features and prices
New Toyota Vios launched in Thailand
Toyota Belta on test in Thailand as Toyota Vios
UMW Toyota plans to price new baseline Toyota Vios at under RM70,000
2006 Toyota Belta (JDM name for Toyota Vios)
Toyota Human Touch advertisement featuring Toyota Belta/Vios