Study of 2015 Toyota Prius Design

Industrial designer Eric Leong has produced an interesting take on the third-generation Toyota Prius.

By acknowledging that wind resistance is one of the key factors in improving vehicle economy, Leong’s Prius III hybrid is extremely slippery.

Toyota Yaris plant to be closed another month

Production issues in Japan continues for the past 3 weeks after the earthquake and tsunami devastated the island nation. Major Japanese automakers have stopped plant start-up times and Toyota is no different. The automaker said that they were looking into supply issues, adding "depending on vehicle type, there may be a significant impact on our production capabilities."

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Toyota Prius price to drop soon

Toyota has already began to make sales predictions for the year 2020. The automaker is confident that Prius will continue its spot as Japan's best-selling model. However it seems that that the exceptional sales volume of Prius may drive Toyota to drop its price.

Japanese car buyers consider the mainstream Prius as a "friendly" model and not a "leading edge" vehicle. This "friendly" image pits the Prius in direct competition with vehicles such as the bargain-priced, subcompact Honda Fit. Kitagawa, who polled 1,972 Japanese car owners, tells this, "As the Prius becomes more of a mass-market car, it may be time to think about lowering the price."

Gas-electric Prius are not sought by tech-savvy Japanese buyers but now it's the mainstream model, Kitigawa argues, that the cutting-edge appeal, which commanded a premium price has faded away.

Toyota to fix over heating problems in 378,000 prius hybrids

Toyota's US division has issued a limited service campaign on approximately 378,000 U.S-spec Prius hybrids from the 2004 and 2007 model years to resolve the over heat problem caused with the water-pumps.

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Hyundai - The biggest asian car maker in Europe

Toyota is slowly becoming a shadow of the company that dethroned General Motors in 2009. It can't be a good news for the Japanese maker that it also lost its position among Asian car makers in Europe, to Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate KIA Motors Corp.

The two Korean companies had sold 521,369 vehicles in total during the first ten months of 2010, a 4% improvement over the last year which had earned them the title of the biggest Asian carmaker in Europe with a market share of 4.5%. Meanwhile, Toyota's figures dropped by 17% to 511,754 units, which accounts for 4.4% of the European market.

Source: carscoop

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Toyota to Build Prius Hybrid in Thailand

Toyota today revealed it will begin manufacturing its Prius hybrid in Thailand starting from November. The car will be built at the firm's Gateway Plant, near the Thai capital Bangkok, where it also makes the Corolla, Camry, Camry Hybrid and other models. Thailand will be the third country to make Toyota's popular hybrid after Japan and China.

Source: Toyota

Top 10 reliable cars of the last decade

Read on for a list of the top 10 most reliable cars over the last decade. Lets congratulate Honda Accord which ranked at number one and to Honda, Nissan and Toyota who all managed two cars in the top 10.

Honda Accord: Honda Accord is a series of mid-size automobiles manufactured by Honda and sold in automotive markets throughout the world since 1976. The name ‘Accord’ was chosen, reflecting “Honda’s desire for accord and harmony between society and the automobile.”

Subaru Forester: Subaru Forester is an all-wheel drive wagon manufactured by Subaru since 1997. Subaru Forester marketed as a Compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) was introduced at the Tokyo Motor Show in November 1995 and was made available for sale from February 1997 in Japan, and from 1998 in US.

Mazda MX-5: Mazda MX-5 is a two-seater sports roadster built by Mazda in Hiroshima. This model was introduced in 1989 and continues to be one of the best selling cars.The 2010 Mazda MX-5 Miata’s reliability score is 6.0 out of 10 which was the Predicted Reliability rating provided by J.D. Power and Associates.

Mitsubishi Carisma: Mitsubishi Carisma is a large family car produced by Mitsubishi Motors from 1995 to 2004. It’s name was derived from a combination of the English car and the Greek kharisma, meaning “divine gift”.

Toyota Yaris: Toyota Yaris is a subcompact car produced by Toyota. Between 1999 and 2005, some markets sold this car as ’Toyota Echo’.

Honda Civic: Honda Civic belongs to a series of subcompact and subsequently compact cars developed and manufactured by Honda. The 2010 Honda Civic’s reliability score is 8.0 out of 10.

Nissan Almera: Nissan Almera is a medium sized family car manufactured by Nissan from 1995 to 2006. The name ‘Almera’ was essentially the European export-market name for the Nissan Pulsar / Nissan Sentra / Nissan Bluebird Sylphy. The 2010 Honda CR-V reliability score is 9.0 out of 10.

Honda CR-V: Honda CR-V is a compact SUV manufactured by Honda since 1996. This model was derived from Honda Civic to satisfy a demand for a sport-utility vehicle from Honda.

Toyota RAV4: Toyota RAV4 is a compact crossover SUV manufactured by Toyota. It was the first compact crossover SUV, introduced in 1994 in Japan and Europe. The 2010 Toyota RAV4 reliability score is 7.0 out of 10.

Nissan Micra: Nissan Micra models are available one in diesel and three in petrol. All these models offer a good blend of performance and economy. The smallest 1.2-litre petrol would be a good choice for those looking to save a few pennies.

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Toyota iQ Disco

If you thought the recently green-lit Aston Martin Cygnet is little more than an over-glitzed version of the Toyota iQ, then you've got another thing coming. Well, to Germany, anyway. And it comes straight from Toyota. It's called the iQ Disco, and it's here to remind us that if you like the latter, the former needn't apply. Fortunately it's a promotional one-off. Aside from the disco-ball mirror finish, the show car features Lambo doors, multi-spoke 18-inch alloys and a full DJ booth, complete with a set of Numark NDX 800 turntables and a two-channel mixer pumping through 1000 watts and 130 dB worth of speakers and amplifiers. Suddenly that gilded Fiat 500 looks decidedly tasteful. The iQ Disco will be hitting the floor at a concert in Cologne and will then tour Toyota's dealerships across Germany as a promotional tour. For information related to car shipping, visit aaat.com.

Toyota plans budget sports car line

Akio Toyoda would like to bring the driving excitement back to Toyota, but they have two major hurdles to overcome: First is the brands's limited enthusiast base and another one is that Japan's youth have very little interest on cars.

To overcome both these hurdles, Toyota plans to launch budget-oriented vehicles that offer a modicum of sport. But so far, things don't look too promising.

Despite debuting an FT-86-based concept at this year's Tokyo Auto Salon, Toyota's G Sports line of products have mainly focused on the Voxy and Noah minivans, while a "sports" version of the Prius is apparently in the works.

More interestingly, the Mainichi Daily News reports that a version of the GRMN sports car concept has been given the greenlight, meaning a mid-engined hybrid successor to the MR2 is in the works.

All these developments came after the establishment of a sports vehicle management division which now has a hand in the brand's overall product planning.

Source: http://www.autoblog.com/