Toyota News
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Historically, automakers haven’t been fond of small electric cars capable of carrying one or two people. Lately, everyone from General Motors to Renault has shown interest in low-speed city runabouts, leading some to even bring doorless, electric runabouts to market. Unlike most automakers, Toyota has been making low-speed single-seat vehicles for mobility and industrial use for years through its subsidiary Toyota Auto Body Co. Now it has unveiled its latest model, the 2012 Coms. With a top speed of 60 kph (37 mph), the Coms isn’t designed for highway use. Instead, its small size...
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2012 Toyota Prius Vs. 2012 Chevrolet Volt: Which Is Right For You?With gasoline prices on the increase, many consumers are looking to buy a hybrid or plug-in hybrid as their next car in order to save gas and money. If going whole hog and ditching gasoline entirely in favor of an all-electric car like the 2012 Nissan Leaf or 2012 Mitsubishi i isn’t an...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Abu Dhabi Sells Off 7-Percent Tesla Stake, Makes $133 MillionAbu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, might be working hard to ensure that the oil-producing nation becomes more environmentally friendly--but that hasn’t stopped its state-owned utility company from selling its 7 percent stake in Californian electric automaker Tesla Motors...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Toyota Raises 2012 Hybrid Prices From $90 To $175If you're currently in the market for a Toyota hybrid, you might like to close the deal soon if you don't want to spend a few hundred dollars more. Toyota has announced it will raise the manufacturer's suggested retail price on selected Toyota and Scion models, effective with May 2012 production...
Antony Ingram -
Blind Man Drives Prius, With A Little Help From Google (Video)Steve Mahan got into a Toyota Prius hybrid, drove to the dry cleaner's, picked up some clothes he'd left to be cleaned, and drove home. The trip was about a mile and a half. Steve Mahan is legally blind. He's lost 95 percent of his vision. He did it, though, with a little help from Google. The car...
John Voelcker -
BMW To Develop Future Lithium-Ion Batteries With ToyotaLithium-ion battery cells are expensive, challenging, and time-consuming to develop. And they can be hard to get right, as the current woes of A123 Systems show. Even the large car companies that develop their own cells--Toyota is the largest among a small number--want to spread their costs. Today...
John Voelcker -
The 2012 Toyota Prius C is probably the most anticipated hybrid of 2012, and offers subcompact style and hybrid gas mileage. It’s no surprise then that Toyota has already had to up production volumes in Japan, where the Prius C is currently made. But if the photograph we received this week from a reader who goes by the pseudonym of Miami4me2C is anything to go by, a high demand for the fun-packed hybrid has also given rise to the age-old problem of inflated sticker prices as dealers try to cash in on the new hybrid’s popularity. It shows the window sticker put on a Prius C Two by...
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As The 2012 Toyota Prius C Goes On Sale, We Spec Our OwnToyota has just this week started sales of its newest Prius family member, the 2012 Prius C. The smallest Prius hybrid yet, the Prius C is Toyota’s first subcompact Hybrid to go on sale in the U.S. At a starting price of $18,950, the Prius C is also Toyota’s cheapest hybrid yet...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In: Parsing The EPA Efficiency StickerWe all understand what miles-per-gallon means for a gasoline car. And we can readily grasp the range in miles of an electric car. But when a car has both a gasoline engine and an electric motor, things can get complicated. The standard 2012 Toyota Prius is rated at 50 miles per gallon, and at best...
John Voelcker -
Toyota To Sell FT-Bh Hybrid Subcompact, At 60 MPG-Plus, After 2015We like the extreme aerodynamic shape and exaggerated styling of the Toyota FT-Bh Concept unveiled at last week's Geneva Motor Show, though that's far from a common view. Now, it appears the subcompact FT-Bh will become a future Toyota model--one targeted for extremely high fuel economy. FT-Bh...
John Voelcker -
Toyota: “We’ll Make Tens Of Thousands Of Hydrogen Cars In The 2020s”Toyota might be expanding its Prius line of hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars, but it hasn’t forgotten about hydrogen fuel cell technology. In fact, at this week’s Geneva Motor Show, the automaker has reiterated its commitment to fuel cell technology by promising it will produce tens of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Toyota Prius Hybrid Demand Rises As Gas Heads Toward $5/GallonAs gas prices across the U.S. continue an upward march towards $5 per gallon, demand for Toyota Hybrids is now the highest it has been for nearly four years. On Thursday last week, Toyota reported that sales of all Prius brand hybrids -- including the new 2012 Toyota Prius V wagon -- were up 52...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Last month, Toyota said that it had 2,100 pre-orders for the 2012 Prius Plug-In Hybrid. Now, with first sales of that car being logged this week and dozens of them delivered to dealers, we have a third viable, high-volume plug-in car available to U.S. buyers. Consumers can now buy a pure battery electric vehicle (the Nissan Leaf), a range-extended electric (the Chevy Volt), or the first plug-in hybrid (the plug-in Prius). Their EPA electric ranges are 73 miles for the Leaf, 35 miles for the Volt, and 11 miles for the Prius Plug-In. Each is priced between $32,500 and $40,000 before incentives...
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2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid: Brief Drive ReportIn the world of plug-in cars, the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt may get all the attention, but a new arrival will make it very much a three-car race. The 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid is just now arriving at Toyota dealers in California plus a dozen or so other states. While it may look just like a...
John Voelcker -
2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In To Join Chevy Volt In CA HOV LanesCalifornia's high-occupancy vehicle lanes, which emptied out last July as 85,000 hybrids lost their access, are about to start admitting more cars. This week, Chevy dealers in California are receiving their first 2012 Chevrolet Volts fitted with the right emissions gear to give drivers access to...
John Voelcker -
More Toyota FT-Bh Concept Teasers Emerge Before GenevaToyota's last teaser image of the FT-Bh was, frankly, not that helpful. More a collection of geometric shapes than a car, the only clue it gave us was of a Prius-like roofline. The latest teaser images aren't much better, but at least they're evidence of an actual vehicle. Showing details from the...
Antony Ingram -
Toyota FCV-R Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Vehicle Concept: VideoOne of Toyota's more distinctive vehicles on display at last month's Detroit Auto Show was the FCV-R fuel-cell concept. Joining electric, plug-in hybrids and regular hybrids on Toyota's green car roster, the forward-thinking Japanese automaker is clearly keen to explore every avenue. Toyota has...
Antony Ingram -
Toyota Takes You On Safari To Prius Kingdom, Binoculars EssentialOver the past few years, Toyota has run some pretty unusual ad campaigns for its range of Prius Hybrids, from the cute Harmony TV spot through to the mildly disturbing People Person creation and the downright hilarious Cleaner Than-A-Sheep print ad. Now the Japanese automaker wants you to don...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Let's imagine for a second that you have a family, and you need a vehicle to transport them around in. However, you're also looking to get a good mix of practicality and gas mileage, as gas prices aren't making those long vacation trips any easier. Your eye may have been caught by the 2012 Toyota Prius V wagon - you know the Prius name stands for low emissions and high economy, but there's now a bit more space. But what could it save you over a typical wagon rival, like the 2012 Mazda5? We're comparing the Prius V and the Mazda5, the latter fitted with the automatic transmission. It's no less...
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2012 Toyota Prius C So Popular In Japan, Toyota Ups ProductionToyota’s all-new compact hybrid -- the 2012 Prius C -- isn’t due to go on sale for another few months, but that hasn’t stopped it from being an instant hit in its native Japan. Known as the 2012 Toyota Aqua in Japan, the gas-sipping hybrid has proved so popular that Toyota has...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Toyota Teases FT-Bh Minicar Concept Ahead Of Geneva ShowToyota is on a hybrid roll at the moment, fresh off the launch of both its 2012 Toyota Prius V wagon and 2012 Toyota Prius C subcompact. It's set to show even more hybrids at the upcoming 2012 Geneva Motor Show. As well as the sleek NS4 Plug-in Hybrid Concept, Toyota has teased the FT-Bh, a city...
Antony Ingram -
2014 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Will Be U.S. Made, Says ToyotaBuy a gasoline 2012 Toyota Highlander crossover in the U.S., and the chances are it will have been made at Toyota’s Princetown factory in Indiana. Opt for the more fuel efficient 2012 Toyota Highlander Hybrid model, and your car will have been made a third of the way around the world in...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Toyota Prius C: First Drive Report And Full DetailsThe 2012 Toyota Prius C may be the most surprising entry in the expanding Prius range. It's smaller, less unusually styled, and about $5,000 less expensive than the standard Prius liftback. And it's more fun to drive (relatively) than its larger siblings. It also gets real-world gas mileage of 50...
John Voelcker -
2012 Toyota Yaris LE Subcompact Hatchback: Drive ReportIt was quite small and very, very red. This weekend's test car, a 2012 Toyota Yaris LE three-door liftback, attracted far more attention than we expected. Pedestrians and other drivers turned their heads. Even our New York City garage attendant mumbled, unprompted, "Muy bonita, muy, muy bonita!" as...
John Voelcker