Last's night "might be leaving" is now definite. Toyota issued a press release today announcing its departure from Formula One, effective with the 2010 season.
"TMC, which had viewed its participation in F1 as contributing to the prosperity of automotive culture, remained dedicated to competing at the pinnacle of motor sports, even in the face of the abrupt economic changes that started last year," the company said in a statement, which Toyota President Akio Toyoda read in a press conference in Tokyo. "However, when considering TMC's motorsports activities next year and beyond from a comprehensive midterm viewpoint reflecting the current severe economic realities, TMC decided to withdraw from F1."
The press release tries to put a positive spin on things, of course, noting that the company will continue to compete in other motorsports and that Toyota (and Toyoda) is committed to trying to inject a little more fun into its lineup: "TMC intends to move forward in developing exciting production vehicles, such as the Lexus LFA supercar and compact rear-wheel-drive sports cars."
This leaves Ferrari and Renault as the only manufacturer works teams in F1, along with the Mercedes-Benz/McLaren partnership.
IL News: Toyota Gives Up on Formula 1 Quest
Press Release: Toyota to Withdraw from F1
Photo Source: Toyota F1 Team
Categories: Motorsports,Toyota
Actually, the idea of a truck-turned-BBQ is nothing new to SEMA. The thought of it coming by way of Toyota is the hard-to-figure part.
Blame it on the Tundra's plant in San Antonio, or the desperate need to "connect" with full-size truck buyers. Either way, it's a bit disturbing.
Just look at that center console. And those door handles, yikes. The rest is almost prototypical SEMA show truck -- big-screen television, on board barbecue, giant chrome wheels with mud tires.
Categories: Concept Vehicles,SEMA Show,Toyota,Trucks,Tuners and Modifications
Photo source: Toyota F1 team
Reuters has picked up a report from the Japanese newspaper Mainichi that indicates Toyota will announce tomorrow that it's leaving Formula One ahead of the 2010 season. Fielding an F1 team is expensive, of course, and perhaps not the sort of luxury Akio Toyoda can indulge given the world's largest automaker's current state of affairs. And Toyota has been at it since 2002 and has nary a win to show for it.
Toyota's departure would presumably open up a spot on the 2010 grid for the reconstituted BMW Sauber team (now owned by the Swiss-based Qadbak Investments), which had been bumped by the new Lotus F1 team.
But of course this is all speculation until the official announcement comes in a few hours.
Reuters
James Allen on F1
Categories: Motorsports,Toyota
Last year, Toyota turned a Tundra regular cab, short bed into a badass street sleeper. It made sense given that the Tundra has a pretty mean 5.7-liter V8 and the body configuration would make it the lightest Tundra possible.
This year, they took a Tundra (quite possibly the same one) and dressed it up as a hot rod, complete with flames and moon wheel caps. There's also a tuck-and-rolled bench seat and a wood paneled cargo bed.
We liked the first one better, much better.
Categories: SEMA Show,Toyota,Trucks,Tuners and Modifications
The messy public relations situation stirred up by apparently ill-fitting floor mats in Toyota and Lexus vehicles and the potential for unintended acceleration isn't going to just go away. Certainly, not if ABC News has anything to say about it.
ABC has produced an investigative piece on the issue, wherein a few Toyota owners and an independent safety expert make the case that reports of unintended acceleration in Toyota/Lexus products cannot be written off to mere bunched-up floor mats.
Independent safety analyst Sean Kane, of the Vehicle Safety Information Resource Center, LLC (VSIRC), was interviewed for the story, and he says he has uncovered evidence of more than 200 accidents and a dozen deaths involving Toyota and Lexus vehicles that apparently accelerated out of control. His numbers come from another company, Safety Research & Strategies, Inc. (SRS), but neither Kane nor the SRS web site lays out those numbers in any kind of detail. Kane then speculates that electronic thottles may be the real culprit of unintended acceleration but offers nothing in support of that.
So, in the absence of hard evidence, we can't exactly describe ABC's report as a rigorous investigative piece. ABC does at least acknowledge that no engineers or automotive safety experts have been able to duplicate this condition in a Toyota or Lexus, and that NHTSA denied the latest petition for a defect investigation of the current-generation ES 350.
ABC says Toyota officials refused interview requests for this story. If that's true, Toyota may have lost an opportunity to state its side of the story and save face.
Video: ABC News -- Are Toyota's Accelerators Safe?
Categories: Auto Industry,Toyota
After asking owners of certain Toyota models to remove their floor mats in September, Toyota has begun sending out letters to Toyota/Lexus owners with affected VINs. This isn't yet the formal recall campaign; rather, this is an interim letter explaining the how/why of the floor mat situation and advising customers that a second letter detailing a specific dealer remedy is forthcoming.
Toyota also announced in a press release that the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) recently advised the company that the agency has denied a customer petition for a defect investigation into the 2007 Lexus ES 350. The petition was filed in March by Jeffrey Pepski, of Plymouth, Minnesota, owner of an '07 ES 350, who claimed his car experienced unintended acceleration. Note that this petition was unrelated to the fatal crash in California involving an ES 350 dealer loaner car with non-standard floormats.
This remains a messy public relations situation, so Bob Daly, senior vice president of Toyota Motor Sales, has made this video for the Toyota faithful.
"It's important to note that no defect exists in vehicles in which the driver-side floor mat is compatible with the vehicle and properly installed," Daly says. "The question of unintended acceleration involving Toyota or Lexus vehicles has been thoroughly investigated by the NHTSA's engineering experts without any finding of a defect other than an unsecure or incompatible driver's floor mat.
"In fact, the federal agency recently closed yet another study [the above petition] finding that the only cause of unintended acceleration in that case was an out-of-position or inappropriate floor mat."
Toyota's letter to owners
--> List of vehicles with potentially affected VINs after the jump.
Continue reading Toyota Sends Out Floor Mat Warning Letters, Reassures Customers on YouTube.
Categories: Auto Industry,Toyota
Photo Illustration by Nick Wilcox
Since rumors are already flying about the possibility of a Toyota FT-86 convertible, we thought we would give you an idea what such a vehicle might look like. Not bad eh?
Supposedly a Toyota official told someone at a Dutch website that the company would build such a vehicle "if there was sufficient demand." Well, given that the FT-86 was the unofficial star of the 2009 Tokyo auto show, we're guessing that an FT-86 convertible would create more than enough demand to justify its existence.
An FT-86 convertible would also do something that an FT-86 coupe probably would not -- that is, lure non-enthusiast buyers who simply want a stylish two-door that gets decent mileage. Makes for a much better business case, and the way Toyota's fortunes are going it could use a few hits.
Autotelegraaf via Autoblog
Categories: Convertibles,Coupes,Future Vehicles,Sports Cars,Tokyo Motor Show,Toyota
According to a report on 7Tune.com, Subaru's version of the FT-86 sportscar will get more than just new badges to differentiate it from its Toyota sibling. Instead of rear-wheel drive, Subaru's car will use an all-wheel drive setup along with a turbocharged version of the boxer four-cylinder engine. The Subaru sportscar will also get a slightly larger body and most likely a substantially higher price.
7Tune
Categories: Coupes,Future Vehicles,Sports Cars,Subaru,Toyota
You may have heard the term "automotive supplier" thrown around during all the bankruptcy chaos of the last year, but few actually know what role these companies play in the manufacture of modern automobiles.
Take this cutaway of the Lexus GS450h for instance. Many people would assume that Lexus, or its parent company Toyota, make most of the parts that go into constructing the hybrid SUV. Not quite.
Although Toyota may build core elements like the actual sheetmetal, it's the suppliers that build most of the parts that go into the finished product. This display in the Aisin booth at the Tokyo Auto Show reveals how many parts Aisin supplies for the GS450h. And this is just one of hundreds of suppliers used for this particular vehicle. Yes, building cars is hard.
Categories: Auto Industry,Lexus,Tokyo Motor Show,Toyota
A reader named Lars H. sent this shot of a demolished Tesla to Autotopia, which is part of Wired. The Tesla collided with a VW Touareg and ironically a Toyota Prius. According to Lars the accident happened in Denmark.
For a larger and more complete version of the image, click here.
Categories: Crossovers,Green Tech,Hybrids,SUVs,Sports Cars,Tesla Motors,Toyota,Volkswagen
It's small. It's red. And it's cool.
This little guy, a Toyota Sports 800, was lurking near the Mazda RX-500 in some kind of confluence of cool.
Not much information on it other than it was shown at the 1977 Tokyo Auto Show and packs a gas-turbine engine. Yeah, like that Chrysler from a decade or so earlier.
There's only 2,200 pounds to move around, but the gas turbine's 30 horsepower means you're timing this sucker to 60 with a sundial.
Jason Kavanagh, Engineering Editor
Categories: Tokyo Motor Show,Toyota
Yeah, the LFA is all over the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show. Like a rash, even. But this LFA is irresistible -- it's the one that raced in the 24 Hours of Nurburgring. And it still wears the grit and tire marbles to prove it.
This LFA was shown in Yamaha's booth. After all, that company was largely -- perhaps entirely -- responsible for developing the car's 4.8-liter V10 powerplant for Toyota.
Oh, they had one of those on display, too. Jump with me.
Driving the LFA Racecar on the Nurburgring
Continue reading Lexus LFA Racecar at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show.
Categories: Lexus,Tokyo Motor Show,Toyota
Just how small is the Toyota iQ? Shown here is a standard-size parking stall.
Jason Kavanagh, Engineering Editor
Categories: Tokyo Motor Show,Toyota
Akio Toyoda is the man. More specifically, he's the man now in charge of Toyota, which in Japan pretty much makes you the biggest of the big shots.
He introduced the Toyota FT-86 concept today and it was pretty clear that although he also introduced a plug-in Prius and an electric iQ, the new FT-86 sports car was his favorite.
In fact, Toyoda actually went out of his way at the press conference to note his fondness for the FT-86. He said, "Toyota used to build fun cars like this, cars like the Supra, and it makes me sad that we don't anymore."
How's that for a little show of enthusiasm from the man in charge?
More photos after the break.
Ed Hellwig, Lead Senior Editor, Inside Line
Continue reading Toyota FT-86 at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show.
Categories: Concept Vehicles,Coupes,Future Vehicles,Sports Cars,Tokyo Motor Show,Toyota
