Tag Archives: toyota

WEC: Toyota Wins in Bahrain

“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all those who supported TOYOTA GAZOO Racing in the World Endurance Championship this season,” said Akio Toyoda, President, Toyota Motor Corporation. “Going to Le Mans to be together with our team in our fight there this June resulted in a personally and truly frustrating experience. And I am aware that our performance in that race brought frustration to our fans, as well. Other grueling races followed, and, amid it all, we learned of Porsche’s planned withdrawal from the WEC. After last year’s Le Mans, Porsche recognized us as a rival. By battling it out with such rivals as Porsche, I think we were able to heighten our technical prowess, making us faster and stronger. As we went up against Porsche, all our team members, including me, had the same thought in our hearts: we hate to lose.” Continue reading

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Connected Cars – Toyota and NTT Want Standardization

The companies want – not without substantial self-interest – a platform for data collection, accumulation, and analysis for building and administering the collection and accumulation of “huge amounts of vehicle information and other data received from large numbers of vehicles.” Continue reading

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Toyota, Shell to Bid on California Hydrogen Refueling Network

Shell with Toyota will be considered for the installation of hydrogen refueling equipment into seven retail stations in Northern California and a $16,362,500 taxpayer subsidies to develop those stations. Continue reading

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More Safety Recalls from BMW, Chrysler, Subaru, Toyota

BMW, Chrysler, Subaru and Toyota have issued safety recalls on more than 300,000 vehicles for fuel leaks, sudden stalling, fires, bad airbags, and defective parking brakes, according to documents made public by NHTSA. Continue reading

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Toyota Moves on Connected Cars, R&D JVs, Takeovers

The latest developments come as Toyota is once again battling what is now a beleaguered, wounded Volkswagen Group for the world’s biggest car company title. The moves reflect a growing problem at all automobile companies. How do you pay for the cost of moving forward in a world with increasingly stringent safety and emissions regulations, web enabled cars, as well as the entire future of automobility and autonomous vehicles? Continue reading

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Daihatsu Takes Lead from Toyota in Emerging Markets

Toyota under intense competitive pressure from global automakers (Honda comes to mind) is experimenting with a different organizational approach to getting cars to market. Continue reading

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Ten Carmakers to fit AEB – Auto Emergency Braking – on New Vehicles as Standard Equipment

FCA, aka, Chrysler, which has more than its share of problems with DOT over safety matters, is notably for its absence. FCA as well as other automakers will face increasing pressure to add AEB as more systems are added at competitors. Continue reading

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Test Drives – Scion iA and iM

Scion, the youth brand of Toyota, will start selling a new iA sedan and an iM 4-door hatchback this September at 1000 dealers. In a long overdue response to Korean marketing techniques – over-equip, then underprice – the Scion iA and iM are loaded with technology with few options. Continue reading

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Toyota Bests VW and GM as largest Automaker at 2014 Half

Toyota Motor Corporation retained its Number One global sales lead over a formidable and expanding Volkswagen Group by selling 5.1 million vehicles through the first two quarters of 2014. Continue reading

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Denso Exec Guilty for Obstructing Parts Price Fixing Probe

Kazuaki Fujitani, once a director of Denso in Japan will serve one year and one day in a U.S. prison instead of the maximum price fixing penalty of 20 years in prison and a criminal fine of $250,000 for individuals. Continue reading

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Panasonic Exec Indicted in Toyota Price Fixing Scam

A federal grand jury in Detroit has indicted a Panasonic Automotive Systems executive for his role in an international conspiracy to fix prices of switches and steering angle sensors sold to Toyota. Continue reading

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G.S. Electech Executive Indicted for Price Fixing

The criminal charge was the first to be filed in Kentucky where Toyota has extensive operations as part of an ongoing Department of Justice investigation into anti-competitive conduct in the automotive parts industry. Continue reading

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Chrysler, Ford, GM Post Double Digit August Sales Gains

Chrysler, Ford and GM all recorded double digit gains in U.S. August sales as the market went back to the pre-Great Recession levels of 2007. Robust pickup truck sales, a relatively trouble free changeover to the production of 2014 models, cheap credit and strong retail demand, all were factors in an overall industry that is now running at more than 16 million units annually. Continue reading

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Two Denso Executives Plead Guilty to Price Fixing

The plea bargain entered appears to be just that, a bargain for the criminals. Continue reading

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Global Sales of Toyota Motor Hybrid Vehicles Pass 5 Million

“We had to develop a hybrid system from scratch, making our task extremely difficult,” said TMC Vice Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada, who was responsible for development of the first-generation Prius, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid passenger vehicle. Toyota had been excluded from participating in a multi-billion dollar U.S. Government program that subsidized the national labs and GM, Ford and Chrysler to develop 80 mpg cars. The so-called partnerships for a New Generation of Vehicles ended in failure with no cars other than a few prototypes produced. Continue reading

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