Toyota tagged posts

Although the US pickup truck market is majorly dominated by American auto makers, Toyota are also playing an important role in it.

Currently Toyota is offering two pickup truck models in the US market: the full-size Tundra and the mid-size Tacoma.

Make Room For the 3rd Gen Tacoma

The current Tacoma we see on the road has been around for more than 10 years, which means it is time for a redesign. Today Toyota brings us the brand new third generation of Tacoma, which will be in dealership show rooms very soon later this year. One major change for the new Tacoma is the old 4.0L V6 engine is decomissioned and the 2GR-FSE 3...

If you want to create a new market, the best way to accelerate the process is inviting more players to join. Obviously Toyota is going to use the same trick as Tesla has done before.

Today at the 2015 Las Vegas CES, Toyota announced that it is going to open almost all of its patents internationally. According to the press conference, there are a total of approx. 5,680 related patents to be made free by Toyota, which the auto maker has used to build the Toyota Mirai.

Enjoy the below live photos we have taken at the scene, and get more details in the following press release.

RAV4: More Value

For some other brand’s vehicles, an “Edition S” sometimes means a sportier model, for example the 2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S (with a more powerful engine than the standard AMG GT). However this is not the case for the “just-announced” Toyota RAV4 Edition S, in the European Market.

According to Toyota, the RAV4 Edition S means it’s more value oriented: it includes more options with a discounted price. For example the below features are standard:

– All-wheel-drive
– Roof rail
– 2-zone automatic AC
– Smart key system (keyless entry, engine start/stop)
– Toyota Touch2 infotainment system with 6.1-in LCD screen

The Edition S version can be optioned with the 2...

US Auto Sales: Key Factors

For an automobile consumer, the key factors that affect the decision to purchase a new vehicle is:

1. How easy he/she can get access to the funding (auto loan)
2. How old is his/her current car
3. How good is the new car model

The below chart is sourced from WSJ.

For factor #1, it looks like financial institutions have lowered the bar for approving car loans. According to the credit-monitoring firm Experian, now 20.4% of all auto loans are sub-prime loans, which is granted to borrowers in the lowest credit score range. Banks are even providing longer term loans. Get this, the average long term loan now reaches 5.5 years...

Are you considering purchasing an electric car? Besides the “normal” selection such as the Chevy Volt, Tesla Model S etc., now you have one more choice: the Toyota Mirai, powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

Hydrogen Fuel Cells Have Benefits

The good thing about fuel cell cars are: they have all the advantages of electric cars (low noise, zero emission, maximum torque output at 0RPM), BUT you don’t need to wait several hours to charge it. Fuel cell vehicles are like normal gasoline cars – you just need to refuel it in a hydrogen station and it can be done in a couple minutes.

Today Toyota announced its pricing on the 2016 Mirai: MSRP $57,500...