President of Toyota Motor North America:19 New products may come this year under Toyota, Lexus and Scion

After the memories of his days in Chicago as a graduate student at Northwestern University, Toyota said Yoshi Inaba why 2012 is such a great year for Japanese OEMs.

President of Toyota Motor North America and chief operating officer, said recently in a meeting at the Economic Club of Chicago, which the automaker will launch 19 new or updated products this year under the Toyota, Lexus and Scion.

And Inaba said that many of these vehicles either fuel or hybrids.

"As anyone here can remember, gasoline was the fuel for cars and trucks in the U.S., and will continue in the foreseeable future," Inaba admitted.
"But fossil fuels are difficult in the environment and supplies do not meet the growing global demand from countries like China, India and Brazil are growing in industrialized countries," he said. "And as you know, when demand is high and supplies are low prices soar.

"We see at the pump today and the U.S. Energy Department warned that gas supplies can retighten the spring and summer, resulting in even higher prices. Therefore, it is prudent to explore other alternative fuels and that's what Toyota does not "even said Inaba.

To reinforce how Toyota's strategy and fuel efficient hybrid is successful, the impact of the Prius high Inaba, the unit that was on American roads and distributors franchise since 2000.

Compared to the average of the vehicles since 2000, Inaba has calculated that the Prius has saved about:

-1.1 Billion gallons of gasoline
-16 Million tons of CO2
- $ 2.9 billion in fuel costs.

"And a recent study, if everyone in the U.S. led to a Prius, we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil in 70" Inaba said.

"That's why we've created a whole family of Prius to meet the diverse needs of American consumers, including a plug-in Prius and the new Prius this spring c is" shared.

Beyond the Prius, Inaba also used his appearance in Chicago to reach many more fuel-efficient technologies is Toyota business:

-Set up of internal combustion engines and reduce vehicle weight for better mileage and lower emissions.

-Creation of advanced solid state batteries and metal-air, which could double the performance of lithium ion cells today.

-The use of more carbon neutral, eco-based plastic plants to develop the components inside our vehicles.

Fuel sales fuel cell hydrogen zero emissions of the vehicle 2015.

"Therefore, based on available fuels, we are ready to meet the needs of customers, wherever they live," he said Inaba.

In addition, Inaba praised the leadership of president, Akio Toyoda World has come to a wide range of businesses to ensure that the products of Toyota will meet the changing needs of customers and society.

In the past 21 months, Inaba said Toyota:

-Forging an alliance with Tesla to bring to market an electric RAV4 quicker than expected.

-Team with Ford to develop hybrid systems for trucks and large SUVs.

-In collaboration with Microsoft to ensure the latest technology to connect vehicles in the future clouds anywhere on earth.

2013 Scion White FR-S - News and review photo

The U.S.-market sister ship to the Subaru BRZ, the Scion FR-S, will go on sale this spring. It is an unusual car for parent company Toyota, or at least the Toyota of late. Before the creation of the FR-S, Akio Toyoda (president of Toyota and grandson of the company’s founder) asked himself, “Where is the passion in our lineup? I want to build a sports car.”

The Scion FR-S is that sports car. (It also will be sold across the globe as theToyota GT 86 or simply 86.) Much has been made about the collaboration with Subaru. Toyota claims credit for the car’s existence and the idea itself, which is in direct opposition to what Subaru told us. Fight! Fight! Toyota says chief engineer Tetsuya Tada’s original concept called for a front-engined sports car with rear-wheel drive. Inspired by the rear-drive Corolla of the ’80s that became the darling of drifters, the new sports car would be light, agile, and affordable. After some internal resistance within Toyota and Subaru, a prototype was built in late 2007 using a Subaru flat-four and rear-wheel drive. The prototype changed minds; by early 2008, a sports-car program was born.

Toyota readily admits the lion’s share of the development was done by Subaru. However, according to Toyota, plans and objectives came from its engineers and were merely executed by Subaru’s team. (There’s that contradiction again.) For example, the all-new platform and chassis are from Subaru. Toyota made contributions along the way, such as adding its eight-injector direct and port fuel injection to Subaru’s 2.0-liter flat-four. Making the car attractive fell to Toyota. The greenhouse is a homage to the Toyota 2000GT of the 1960s; the nose hints at the Lexus LFA supercar. Squint a little while eyeing the FR-S, and cars like the Supra and Celica come to mind, too. Assembly of the FR-S and BRZ is Subaru’s responsibility. A peek under the Scion’s hood reveals the “Subaru” name atop the intake manifold alongside Toyota’s.

Scion

Comparing Apples and Softer Apples

When asked how the two cars differ, the Scion folks tell us the BRZ is about stability and the FR-S is about agility. The word “understeer” has surfaced in initial reports on the Subaru BRZ. The Scion doesn’t understeer. Its cornering balance is neutral—bravely neutral for a car that will be sold to young buyers. Scion claims the only changes to its chassis are slightly softer springs and stiffer dampers.

Scion has certainly succeeded in making the FR-S agile. From the quick steering to the alert chassis, the FR-S responds to driver input in a way that reminds us of the Honda S2000. Holding the stability control button for three seconds removes the safety net. Although the chassis is neutral, it will slide should you turn the wheel abruptly or stomp on the gas mid-turn. Lift in the middle of a corner, and the rear end will step right out on you. It doesn’t do so in an “I’m going to ruin your life” sort of way; it seems more to say, “Hey, you sure you know what you’re doing?” In low-speed corners, power oversteer is easy to achieve. The tail swings predictably and delicately. The low weight—we estimate about 2800 pounds—means the FR-S regains its composure without any drama. Akio Toyoda says of the FR-S, “[It] responds to good driving skills.” If you don’t have them, you might want to get some training—or leave the stability control on. Young drivers whom Scion courts should know the FR-S is nothing like the front-drive, nearly error-proof tC. If you don’t know what you’re doing behind the wheel, the FR-S will make you look dumb.

Compared with modern sports cars, the FR-S’s 215/45-17 tires are skinny. There isn’t a huge amount of grip, but what’s there breaks away gradually. We asked Tada about the tires, and he told us, “They are Prius tires.” You might think he’s joking, but he’s not. The Michelin Primacy HP tires are identical to those in the Prius’soptional Plus Performance package, right down to the compound and construction. Although they don’t provide the stickiness we’ve come to expect from modern sport machinery, the relative slipperiness gives the FR-S a lively, playful feel. So, although it might not have incredibly high limits, its lower threshold is accessible and exploitable. If you want more grip, though, it’s easy to attain by swapping for more aggressive footwear.

Flat Engine, Low Center of Gravity

Scion makes it a point to brag about the FR-S’s low center of gravity, and a lot of the car’s liveliness is indeed likely due to the location of much of its mass. The flat-four sits low in the engine compartment, and even though Subaru stresses how far back the engine is compared with those in other Subies, it’s still surprisingly far forward. The transmission, a six-speed automatic or a six-speed manual, is right behind the engine, preventing it from being mounted farther back. A transaxle would allow for the engine to be placed more to the rear and would better balance weight distribution, but transaxles cost a lot of money, especially ones made specifically for one car. The transmissions in the FR-S are Aisin gearboxes that are similar to the six-speed units found in the Lexus IS. The manual shifts with a solid, no-nonsense feel. This is a great gearbox, one that should rally the “Save the Manuals” faithful. Although the manual suits the character of the FR-S better, the optional automatic with paddle shifters is a responsive and quick-shifting ally. On the track, the automatic proved clever enough to perform downshifts before entering a corner.

Subaru’s flat-four engine still gives off a bit of the characteristic boxer thrum at lower rpm. Above 6000 rpm and to the 7400-rpm redline, though, the four begins its chain-saw impersonation. It’s a bit uncouth, but it feels and sounds like a machine with purpose. On paper, and in the face of the ever-escalating pony-car horsepower war, the FR-S’s 200 hp might seem inadequate. It’s not. We’re guessing at a 0-to-60 time just a shade over six seconds. Clearly, this isn’t a car that should pull up to stoplights with much ambition. This is a car for playing on back roads, for track work; engaged in those pursuits, the engine feels perfectly strong and nicely matched to the chassis.

Every part in the FR-S works harmoniously. Sure, we might switch to a grippier tire, but the lower-grip rubber allows for accessible explorations of the FR-S’s behavior at the limit. That is the sort of exploration that makes driving fun. Just remember to bring some skill. View Photo Gallery

2013 Scion White FR-S - News and review photo
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2012 Scion iQ - photo and info

Here’s what the new Scion iQ has going for it: It’s tiny outside, but not so small inside. Four people can wedge in when necessary. It’s good-looking, the interior design is about the best of any cheap car, and the seats are comfortable. The suspension is simple, but it works well, and the precise steering and its size make the iQ super easy to park. And although the front-mounted 1.3-liter engine makes 94 hp, the iQ weighs just a cheerleader more than a ton.

Here’s what’s wrong with the new Scion iQ: It’s stuck with a continuously variable transmission that drains the fun out of it. Every. Single. Drop.

The Price Is Certainly “Premium”

Toyota—okay, Scion—describes the iQ as a “premium micro-subcompact” and will sell it as such when it goes on sale in October as a $15,995 single-spec model backed by a dealer-installed accessory catalog. That’s a ton of cash when you consider the plethora of larger and more practical cars available for less money, among them the Honda Fit, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Accent, and Kia Soul. But, hey, at least the iQ costs less than the mechanically identical Aston Martin Cygnet.

The Scion does, however, look substantial and well detailed for a dink-class runabout. The bumper covers are painted and fit tightly, the headlights are complex units, there are turn-signal lights integrated into the bottom of the side mirrors, and the 175/60-16 tires fill out the wheel wells. Even the wheel covers on the steel wheels almost plausibly pass for metal. Besides its length—120.1 inches, 14.0 longer than a Smart Fortwo but a substantial 26.5 shorter than a Mini Cooper—and 78.7-inch wheelbase, little about the iQ screams “cheap.”

Inside, the driver faces a thick, flat-bottomed, three-spoke steering wheel covered in red-stitched leather and an instrument panel that nestles the tach in the lower right quadrant of the speedometer. And there’s an information screen to the left of those. It’s a compact, logical, and legible arrangement.

The center stack has three simple knobs for controlling the HVAC system and is capped by a pod that contains a double-DIN-size Pioneer audio head unit. If a buyer doesn’t like the standard stereo, Scion will have a dealer-swappable upgraded Pioneer unit and a navigation system available.

The thin-shelled, fabric-covered front seats sort of bend around any awkward body shape. The passenger-side front-seat rails are mounted slightly forward of the driver’s, and the dashboard on that side is slightly forward, too. The arrangement affords a bit more legroom for right-side passengers. A flotsam tray under the passenger seat is particularly useful if that seat’s occupant is a drooler.

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Even with the passenger seat thrown forward for ingress, it’s a chore to get to the rear seat. It’s not roomy back there, but that there’s any space at all is a miracle of packaging efficiency and owes something to the engine placement. So the kids feel claustrophobic looking through the pie-slice rear windows? At least there’s an innovative rear-window airbag to protect their heads in a collision.

Damn, Dirty CVT

The 1.3-liter four has a 16-valve DOHC head, variable valve timing, and an aggressive 11.5:1 compression ratio, but it doesn’t have much sporting character and has to be wrung to its 6000-rpm redline to whip up the full 94 horses. The modest 89 lb-ft of torque is available a bit lower peak, at 4400 rpm.

But those pattering pound-feet travel through that cursed CVT. Other markets in which the iQ is sold as a Toyota—or as the shameful Cygnet—are blessed with a manual transmission, but here in North America there’s no choice. So jam a brick on the accelerator, and the iQ’s little engine runs to about four grand and sticks there as the car slowly engineers forward progress with a drone.

Every time the iQ is about to do something entertaining, the CVT intrudes and spoils it. Dive into a corner, the tires bite and…the transmission induces its drone of defeat and the car practically falls on its nose. Scion says the iQ will run from 0 to 60 mph in 11.8 seconds, but a better estimate might be a week.

Scions always seem to promise more fun than they deliver. (We hope theupcoming FR-S–based coupe will prove different.) But tune the iQ’s front struts and rear torsion beam a bit, bolt on some righteous rubber, tweak the engine to about 130 hp, give it a decent transmission, and this car could be a point-and-squirt legend.

Right now, it’s only frustratingly clever.

2012 Scion iQ - photo and info
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2012 Scion iQ - Car news and review photo

Manufacturers are so jittery about peddling micro subcompacts that they’ve resorted to intellectual flattery.  A thinking person would surely have purchased a TH!NK, at least before Ford lost faith in its Norwegian electric-car experiment and expelled it from class. If  you’re the brainy sort, you’d naturally opt for a Smart Fortwo, recently suspended by Roger Penske and sent off to see the stern principal, Mr. Daimler.  And now comes the Mensa bunch, whose IQs would surely route them to an iQ, at least if this latest Scion can find a class that will accept its grades. For the nonce, the iQ is standing in the A-segment hall, late for class, occasionally tapping timorously on the homeroom door.

“Can I come in, please?”

“I dunno. How come you’re so short?”

Short? Yes, indeed. The iQ is 10 feet long. If  you stood it on its tail, its nose would delicately scrape an NBA basketball rim, then, of course, the car would fall over and knock welts in the hardwood. Ten is a significant number. Bo Derek was a 10, and 10 is when many boomers go to bed. The iQ is exactly 12 inches longer than a pro billiard table, yet if you deployed four persons atop a billiard table—as you might array inside an iQ—you’d probably have the basis for an adult video. The iQ is 19.5 inches shorter than a Fiat 500. The iQ is three feet longer than the average casket, and you simply cannot fit four bodies into one casket, although if you did, the casket’s occupants presumably would not complain, yet the iQ’s probably would. If you stick your arm 21 inches out the iQ’s side window, you can touch the taillights, although it will make your shoulder hurt, and the Ann Arbor police don’t find it funny at all.

“Hey, dude, where’s the rest of  it?” shouted a pedestrian. Riotously ingenious, sir. First time we’ve heard that one.

“You  got, like, Shirley Temple in the trunk?” Ha-ha, immensely clever. Now move on, pissant.

“Who makes that car, Mattel?” Brilliant, pardner. Now toodle-oo.

The iQ’s electric power steering is light, accurate, and weights up predictably. It’s gratifying, actually. Combine that with a 6.6-foot wheelbase and you wind up with a turning diameter of less than 26 feet. During the first few days of iQ-dom, you will miss every single apex because turn-in isn’t just right damn now, it’s about four months premature. Onlookers will applaud your masterful hand-brake turns, even though you’ve never touched the hand brake. Of course, the midget wheelbase isn’t exactly an ally on interstates, where the iQ’s sense of straight ahead exhibits many of the symptoms of ADHD.

The ride is acceptably forgiving, although body motions—come on, what body?—could be better controlled. And the 16-inch Goodyears—which, as actual adult-size rubber, do much to mitigate the iQ’s acute cuteness—offer up a useful 0.81 g before succumbing to the sort of understeer known only  to captains of oil freighters. We conducted two zesty 14-mile laps around our handling loop—more fun than we expected, frankly—before conducting an interior lap of Chelsea, Michigan’s Ugly Dog vodka distillery, which included the sort of lapping that rendered us unfit for further testing.

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The iQ’s 1.3-liter inline-four produces 94 horsepower and is asked to serve little more than a ton of automobile, if that’s what this is. Which makes you wonder why 60 mph arrives in a lethargic 9.6 seconds. At least that’s quicker than the CVT-equipped Nissan Versa we tested last November. Oh, boy. Did someone mention the “c” word?

In America, the iQ is offered only with a CVT because, as a Scion rep puts it, “the intended buyer will use this car in tight urban areas with hills and tight parking, and we are predicting most buyers will want a simple transmission.” Fine, but “simple” has two meanings. When you nail the throttle, the iQ’s engine annoyingly screams to, then lingers at, 5500 rpm, where the trans has been programmed to impersonate a three-speed automatic, falling twice to 4800 rpm or so—see, I’m shifting now, don’t you believe me?—right when those 700 revs would have been awfully handy for forward progress. It’s as if the development engineers couldn’t stand the yowling, either, and thus concocted a pair of brief mechanical timeouts.  At idle and at a 70-mph cruise, the iQ is noisier than any of the one-size-larger B-segment econocars we tested last November.  At WOT, it’s as noisy as the Versa.

There are three transmission modes: There’s the standard “D” (we think it stands for “defeated”). Then there’s “S” (maybe “sedentary”?), which tacks on a few-hundred bonus revs at all times and murders mpg. Then there’s “B” (“beleaguered”?), which simply allows the engine to hang at its 6300-rpm redline. We drove all the way through the quarter-mile in “beleaguered,” as painful as it was. Still, that mode remains useful for acquiring a little engine braking on, say, exit ramps, because engine braking is otherwise AWOL. We’d like to tell you that there are few cars that so perpetually feel as if they’re always in the wrong gear, but, given the CVT’s gearlessness, we can’t. Droning? Imagine you’re in an open bass boat powered by a tiny two-stroke and you’re halfway across Twenty Mile Lake, and now you’re eyeing the soggy newspaper wrapped around the bait box, wondering if it’s too wet to fashion into earplugs.

“You get the license of the truck that hit you?”  Too rich, sir. Too rich.

“What is that thing, half a Geo—a semi-Geo?”  You’re a cunning linguist, my friend.

“I didn’t know that Disney sold cars!” Hilarious, ma’am. And how’s your career as a stand-up comic?

And to the guy who insisted that the iQ’s rear drum brakes looked like “hockey pucks,” well, pal, you can just go stick your . . . wait a sec. They do look like hockey pucks. Did we mention that the iQ’s hood, at its deepest point, extends only 18 inches and that exactly none of it is visible to the driver?

The iQ’s front seats are amorphous chaise longues, perhaps purchased at Costco for a freshman dorm, and if they were intended to align the driver with any primary controls, it wasn’t immediately obvious. What’s startling is that the windshield and side windows are full-scale items, so that once the driver is in place, the iQ lends no particular perception of smallness. The Smart performs that same illusion, by  the way.

Opening the iQ’s little hatch is like opening a music box. You expect to hear a syrupy rendition of the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” on a glass armonica. Folded, the seatbacks allow a flat, 25-by-37-inch cargo ­galley—17 cubic feet, a clever feat o’ packaging—into which we managed to cram eight paper bags full of Kroger groceries, which, by  the way, is not enough for Thanksgiving. Two kids could tolerate the back seat for 30 minutes and two adults for 10 minutes, but then the grown-ups would have to get married. Behind the rear wheels are spats that flare out, looking like bloomers that have been inflated from below by a blast of  warm subway air. On the iQ, the only oversize item is each door, 51 inches long, scything open and into the flanks of anything parked adjacent.  An odd car, we tell you. Odd.

Inside, there are no coat hooks. No glove box, either.  If there were a glove box, it would contain one thing only: the intake plenum. For a while, one of us—me—had trouble activating the radio, because I did not realize I first had to push a button labeled “AV.” Several colleagues immediately suggested that a good story angle would be for the ­University of  Michigan psychology department to measure my IQ versus the iQ’s. As if I’m going to fall for that one again.

While in our merciless possession, this commuter/errand hopper served up a disappointing 31 mpg, which translates to a range of 264 miles. Do you recall the 1840-pound 1998 Chevrolet Metro—the Scion of its day—that we tested in 2009? It returned 42 mpg. Food for thought. Junk food.

You can buy an iQ—oh, wouldn’t we all buy a big one if we could?—for $15,995, although our test car fetched a somewhat cautionary $19,841. For that sum, what comes to mind is that line from Jaws: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” On the other hand, if Toyota’s goal was to toss the Smart like chum to the sharks, well, mission accomplished. Still, it’s ironic that both the iQ and the Smart are rendered so deaf and dumb by traitorous transmissions. Late to class, the iQ certainly had a chance to do its homework, but apparently Scion’s pet schnauzer ate it instead. Of  the dinkoid-­segment cars available in America, at least the iQ is the least toylike.

You might think a TH!NK would demonstrate your intelligence, or you might want to show your IQ by buying a Smart, but you’ll prove you’re smart by flaunting  your iQ. You might say that. We wouldn’t. But you might.

Scion salesmen, listen up. We’ve got three words of advice: Del Webb communities. View Photo Gallery:

2012 Scion iQ - Car news and review photo
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