Toyota tagged posts

Although the Toyota GT86 (sold as the Scion FR-S in US)/Subaru BRZ are constantly praised for its handling and fun factors, one major gripe within their owner circle is their slightly underpowered 4-cylinder engine (code name: 4U-GSE for Toyota and FA20 in Subaru), which “only” provides 200hp and 151 lb-ft of torque.

At this moment, there is no official confirmation from Toyota or Subaru that they will offer a higher output engine for the FR-S/BRZ (maybe they have planned to, but not officially admitted it yet)...

In a nutshell, a linear generator (full name: Free Piston Engine Linear Generator, FPEG) is an internal combustion engine that generates electric power directly.

Recently R&D engineers in Toyota has made breakthrough in this area, and presented the concept at the most recent SAE meeting in Detroit.

Below are three illustrations from Toyota R&D, that explained the idea briefly.

The 2015 K900 and Genesis is a big step forward for the Hyundai Motor Company. Not only because of its superb crash testing performance, but also some key components are all developed by Hyundai itself.

For example the AWD system (called “HTRAC”) are developed in-house, so does the 8-speed transmission. Especially for the 8AT, its design is totally different from the ZF, GM and Aisin units. The Hyundai 8AT uses 4 planetary gear sets and 7 shifting elements (5 clutches, including a one-way clutch and 2 brakes). It is more complicated than any of the other similar units...

Yesterday (04/28/2014), Chinese auto maker BYD delivered two electric buses, which are build in its Lancaster, CA factory.

The BYD electric bus can hold a charge for a full day (24 hrs) and go with a range of 155 miles. It will be charged in the night during the off-peak hours. These first two California-build buses are delivered to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Below is the BYD electric bus running in LAX airport.

BYD Auto setup its USA headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles. Currently its Lancaster factory has around 50 employees, and BYD plans to hire 50 more by the end of this year...

Tomorrow (Monday) Toyota USA will announce its plan of moving its US headquarters to a location near Dallas, Texas.

The current Torrence, CA headquarter has been in operation since 1957, it will be a serious setback for the California state. It is not hard for me to guess the reason behind Toyota’s decision is for excessive operation costs in California.

We all know Texas has advantages in multiple aspects. For example, it does not collect personal state income tax, while California charge you as high as a 12.3% marginal rate.