Toyota Motor Corp is “confident that by 2020 we’ll have hybrid models in each of our product lines”, said Justin Ward, advanced powertrain programme manager at the Toyota Technical Centre.
Toyota estimates its sales of more than one million hybrid vehicles have saved about 7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, Ward told a seminar in Traverse City, Michigan. “You can have a positive impact today through hybrids,” he said.
Toyota today announced a $1,000,000 contribution directed to disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Ike.
The donations are being made to two organizations:
* The American Red Cross will receive $500,000 from four Toyota
companies: California-based Toyota Motor Sales USA and Toyota
Financial Services; New York-based Toyota Motor North America; and
Kentucky-based Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North
America.
Toyota Motor Corp. said plans announced last month by Honda Motor Co. for an inexpensive gasoline-electric vehicle aren’t a threat because U.S. demand for Toyota’s fuel-saving Prius hybrid exceeds supply.
“There’s plenty of room for both of us to sell probably whatever we can produce,” Jim Lentz, president of Toyota’s U.S. sales unit, said in an interview in Detroit yesterday.
Camry drivers Tony Stewart (eighth) and Denny Hamlin (ninth) had top-10 finishes in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Other Camry drivers in the field included David Reutimann (15th), Michael Waltrip (25th), Michael McDowell (27th), Joey Logano (32nd), Dave Blaney (33rd), Kyle Busch (33rd) Brian Vickers (35th) and AJ Allmendinger (38th).
Rain washed out NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying for the second straight week. This time, though, Joey Logano gets to race.
A week ago at Richmond the rainout left the 18-year-old phenom out of the lineup and frustrated because he was entered in a fourth Joe Gibbs Racing car that had no owner points. This week, Logano is entered in the No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing entry, 39th in the owners points.
TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announces that together with EDF Energy, the British subsidiary of the French energy company EDF, it began testing TMC-produced plug-in hybrid vehicles on public roads in the United Kingdom on September 10.
To officially kick off the tests, TMC and EDF held a joint press conference in Hyde Park, London, on the same day, which was attended by, among others, UK Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform John Hutton, other members of the UK Parliament, London municipal government officials and the Japanese Ambassador to the United Kingdom Shin Ebihara. EDF Energy Chief Executive Vincent de Rivas, TMC Managing Officer Koei Saga, Toyota Motor Europe Senior Vice President Graham Smith and others were also present.
Five races highlight Saturday’s (September 13) Law Enforcement Appreciation Night and Family Night at TOYOTA Speedway at Irwindale. A full lineup of NASCAR Whelen short track races are scheduled including Auto Club Late Models, ACDelco Super Late Models, Vista Paint Super Stocks, Pure Stocks and a trailer race.
Any sworn and civilian law enforcement personnel associated with a Southern California area law enforcement organization will be admitted for free with employment identification or special promotion code. Also, youngsters 15 years of age and under will be admitted for free as part of a Family Night promotion.
Spy photographers have caught the next-generation Toyota Prius hybrid car undergoing testing ahead of its official unveiling at the 2009 Detroit Motor Show.
Although the new car is heavily disguised, the photos show that Toyota designers haven’t made major changes to the petrol-electric hybrid vehicle’s distinctive look. That’s backed up with our exclusive computer generated images (see images).
Utahns are increasingly losing jobs, forking over more money at the grocery store, struggling to pay mortgages — and buying new Nissans.
At a time when overall auto sales are down nationwide, Utah auto dealers have taken a hit, and they’ve had to make changes. Mark Miller of Mark Miller Auto Group in Salt Lake City says vehicle sales overall were down about 10 to 15 percent in August from a year ago. And dealers say Chrysler’s and Ford’s U.S. sales were down further because they make so many trucks and SUVs — vehicles some drivers traded for more fuel-efficient models when gasoline exceeded $4 a gallon earlier this summer.
Despite signs of steadier U.S. auto sales in August, it remains uncertain whether industrywide sales in the largest vehicle market have hit bottom, and conditions next year are unlikely to improve, senior Toyota Motor Corp executives said on Friday.
“It’s hard to say whether the U.S. market has hit bottom,” Toyota (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(TM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Vice Chairman Kazuo Okamoto said at an event hosted by the Japanese automaker for financial analysts in New York.
