Apparently, acceleration is an issue with these new Toyotas, as drivers have been stepping on the gas a little too much. This is really a design issue, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Association is looking into shortening the gas pedal. This fix would be done at no cost to the customer, and would affect 4 million vehicles.

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Toyota is planning on launching a new version of its popular Land Cruiser to the European market. This model is a little different than the one in the States, but with 171 horsepower and 302 pound-feet of torque, who cares? it is available in three equipment grades: LC3, LC4, and LC5 with a £29,795 price tag.

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For 11 out of 12 years, the Camry has been the best selling car in the United States. Toyota’s president Jim Lentz is thinking green when it comes to the next best-seller. Apparently, he sees the Prius sales passing Camry sales in the not-so-near future. As it is, the Prius isn’t even Toyota’s second best-selling vehicle. I suppose time will tell if we really are the hybrid nation that we want to be.

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There is a rumor going on that Prius was working on some sort of sport wagon or even an SUV. Considering the Hybrid X (photo above) was shown off at the Geneva Motor Show way back 2007, then it would appear that Toyota has been working on this hybrid SUV or wagon for quite a while. Of course, Toyota is not commenting on this development.

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This car is enough to make any surfer say “whoa, dude”. Actually, it probably wouldn’t, because I know that most surfers don’t talk like we want them to.

This is a Toyota Venza designed for Billabong for the SEMA show. It has wet suit material on the seats themselves, and even a shower in the back for rinsing. It also has built-in WiFi and cool images topside on the inside.

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And the answer to the big question above?  Chrysler.

Ouch.

See, this is doubly unnerving after discovering that, yesterday, they were still trying to get a cohesive corporate strategy together and won’t actually have one until sometime later today.  Or at least not one they want to tell their franchisees about, who are probably all looking at this news with a kind of confused rage and just longing to scream various epithets at anyone who’s in charge over there.

Chrysler needs a comeback, plain and simple.  So what they’ve got to do is offer stuff you can’t get anywhere else.  Frankly, I have a hard time imagining just what it is they CAN do.  I drive a Chevy, myself, a wonderful if aging Monte Carlo, and my folks drive Ford Explorers.  There’s not a whole lot of taste issues as I’m considering switching to a pickup fairly soon anyway, and chances are I will go either Ford or Chevy.

Chrysler needs to get some new and interesting product, or it doesn’t matter how many bailouts it gets–it’s still done for.

Tags: Business, Chrysler, Ford, GM, improvement, lagging, Toyota

Here’s a little SEMA surprise: the Toyota Tundra Midnight Rider Tailgater. Inspired by Brooks and Dunn, it is the ultimate tailgate party vehicle.

It includes an infrared barbecue, Grill N Chill cooking space, slide-out cargo box, and a 42-inch flat-panel TV with complete sound system. It also has something that no pickup truck has: Belt Buckle door handles.

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We’ll be covering the SEMA car show in Las Vegas a lot this week, and here is one of the craziest. This is the Toyota Tacoma All-Terrain Gamer, aka the Taco ATG (as printed on the license plate).

The Taco ATG has huge gull-wing doors that are essentially the front and back doors welded together. It also has a six-foot bed, along with four X-box 360 elites hooked up to four foldable 24-inch Samsung LCDs.
Did I mention an energy drink dispenser? It has it.

Just riding this is enough to make the geekiest gamer cool.

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Toyota has finally decided that the Scion is worthy of the land of Canada. By September 2010, the Scion will be available in 45 dealerships in the country including Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.

Oh, that’s pretty good, eh? We finally got the Scion up here, eh? All right, enough with the Canadian jokes and let us hope the great lands up north will enjoy the Scion.

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In what has been tagged as the most expensive car ever to come out of, the Lexus LFA Supercar took the Tokyo Motor Show by storm and dwarfing other car manufacturers on hand. The Lexus LFA is a limited edition supercar that will retail for a whopping $375,000. It features a lightweight carbon-fiber reinforced polymer body as well as suspensions made of lightweight-aluminum alloy. It also has carbon-ceramic breaks which all comprise its even allocated weight distribution of 48:52.

Other highlights of the Lexus LFA include a 4.8 liter V-10 engine paired with a 6-speed transmission which be sufficient for its boasted top speed of 202 MPH. Production for the limited edition Lexus LFA supercar will start December 10, 2010. Orders are now being taken at the Lexus LFA website.

(Source) New York Times

Tags: aluminum alloy, car manufacturers, expensive car, fiber reinforced polymer, Lexus, lexus lfa, lightweight aluminum, lightweight carbon fiber, limited edition, liter, new york times, polymer body, speed transmission, Supercar, suspensions, tokyo motor show, top speed, website source, weight distribution

I don’t know if this comes as any surprise, but the Toyota Prius has won the car of the year at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show. Considering that this is the 30th anniversary of the show, the Prius was lined up with the winners from all previous years including last year’s winner, the Toyota IQ.

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The other day we reported on how Steering Wheels are a Dying Breed, and this particular FT-EV II concept car is proving that theory correct. As you can see, the wheel and pedal controls have been replaced by some sort of steampunk looking, gilded joystick doohickey.

Is this the look of steering wheels for the future? More like the ghost of steering wheels past.

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Toyota is planning on unveiling a new hybrid in Japan with the 2010 Toyota Sai Hybrid. It will have a DOHC 2.4 liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder engine with variable valve timing. Its engine can put out 147 horsepower, and 187 hp with the electric boost from the 245-volt battery pack. It is also good at going for 0-60 in 8.4 seconds, and at 54 miles per gallon. Too bad it will stay in Japan.

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What you see above is the Toyota FT-68 Concept, a concept vehicle expect to make its debut at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show next week. For those who don’t know, this is the concept that is the work of a collaboration between Toyota and Subaru.

Details are slim but we do know that it will be a rear wheel drive vehicle with a 2.0 liter Toyota-Subaru “D-4S” Boxer engine. As for a release date, well, it’s expected to hit dealerships by 2011 wearing a Toyota badge but that could change with further announcements.

Check back next week as we cover the Tokyo Motor Show.

via ft-86 club

Tags: collaboration, ft-86 concept, tokyo motor show

Yesterday we told you that Ford’s hybrid sales were up 73% over last year but we had no idea the Detroit automaker was going to see this kind of success. Recent reports have surfaced that suggest Ford is dangerously close to surpassing Honda as the second best hybrid seller in the United States.

Let’s take a look at some numbers: Honda has sold 29,958 hybrid vehicles so far this year which is a 8% increase over last year while Ford sold 26,016 vehicles, a 73% increase over last year like we already told you.

If these trends continue, by this time next year we may very well be seeing the U.S. hybrid seller top 3 looking like Toyota, Ford, Honda. But don’t pop the champagne yet, Ford, there’s still a lot of work to be done.

via autobloggreen

Tags: auto sales, Ford, Honda, hybrid, Toyota