Archive for March, 2009
Posted on March 29, 2009 with No Comments
FT-HS Concept car of Toyota was revealed at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit two years back. The car was powered by a 3.5-litre V6 hybrid engine, and it pointed towards an environ-friendly sports car future. After this the car appeared in other auto shows. After that it was quiet till now.
Toyota is formulating FT-HS Concept into a production model which is going to represent all the good about sports cars and all the good for the environment utilizing a changed Prius powertrain. It will be aerodynamically brought forward to help dealing and maintain fuel bills at its lowest. The car will have a long list of technological innovations.
The car would be marked as an MR2 to restore the name of that funky little Toyota sports car. It will be a sports car with a rear-wheel-drive setup and a paddle shift gearbox. The price is being speculated at around £20,000 (about US$24,400) for the MR2.
In terms of performance it may be 0 – 60mph time in about 7 seconds while emitting less than 100g/km of C02.
Posted on March 22, 2009 with No Comments
The newest Toyota Matrix comes in 3 trim levels: base, S and XRS. Base models are convenient and safe. They have features as standard or optional, but the S has more of the standard equipment.
Posted on March 21, 2009 with No Comments
The Japanese car group Toyota which is in trouble declared on Wednesday 10 % cuts in output and pay at its 2 British factories for a year to safeguard thousands of jobs.
The cuts start in April at the sites in Burnaston, and Deeside.
The company has 3,900 employees at its main production site in Burnaston and 570 employees at its engine plant in Deeside. 200 temporary jobs were cut last week and a voluntary redundancy scheme was opened.
Toyota after following an extensive consultation with employee representatives and with input from all employees, it agreed that the best way to protect long-term employment is to reduce working hours and base pay by 10 percent for the time being.
The global auto sector is in distress because of the economic slowdown, with thousands of jobs cut amongst billion-dollar bailouts targeted at rescuing carmakers, particularly in the United States.
Posted on March 19, 2009 with No Comments
Toyota is not under pressure and it does not see Honda’s new 2010 Insight compact hybrid as its competitor. The bigger and costlier mid-size Prius no doubt has long been the world’s best-selling gas-electric car.
Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper states that there is serious talk inside Toyota Motor Corp. for releasing a base model of the forthcoming 2010 Prius that is 250,000 yen cheaper around $2,575 at today’s exchange rate than the least expensive 2009 model Prius which is now sold in Japan.
U.S. Plans
The restyled 2010 Prius is intended to go on sale in the U.S. in late May or early June and its price is yet to be announced.
Toyota has planned to hold up make public of the base, or “standard” trim level of the new Prius for 3 to 6 months. The new model is likely to have less standard equipment than the other models and a price that is closer to the Insight’s. The ‘09 Prius in the U.S. starts at $22,720 including the destination charge.
Posted on March 8, 2009 with No Comments
Toyota is gearing up itself for a most important showdown with fellow Japanese automaker Honda over the two companies’ hybrid vehicles. When the new 2010 Toyota Prius is set in motion to achieve 49 miles per gallon on the highway and 50 mpg in the city. That is a standard 50mpg according to Toyota officials cited by Detnews. These estimates grossly underrate the 65 mpg US that was accounted last month as being the figure achieved from original testing.
