Another source reported that the four-banger powered Crosstour will probably come in front-drive form only (at least initially) and restricted to more basic trim levels (possibly DX, LX and EX) as well as a corresponding lower MSRP to help bolster sales.
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Fulfilling a promise from a year ago Toyota has expanded the Prius badge into a brand, unveiling a family of vehicles at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Along with the third-gen Prius and Prius Plug-in Hybrid, is the Prius v (a mid-size hatchback/wagon) as well as the Prius c Concept, which takes...
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Although a common architecture will likely included a shared chassis and roof structure, challenges remain in how to adapt a variety of different powertrains.
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The damages awarded to Toyota include $2.5 million for unauthorized disclosures of confidential information as well as $100,000 in punitive damages. Taylor also issued Biller instructions to return the confidential documents he obtained while employed by Toyota.
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From recalls to unintended acceleration to lawsuits, 2010 was not a good year for Toyota. The seemingly infallible automaker had its reputation for quality and reliability shattered forever – but that didn’t stop the brand from coming out as the sales leader in a few categories. Yet again, the Camry was America’s best selling passenger...
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Ford‘s F-Series truck is America’s best selling vehicle for the 34th straight year, moving an astounding 528, 349 units, up nearly 28 percent from 2009. In second place was the Chevrolet Silverado, which moved a relatively paltry 370,135 trucks, but saw a 17 percent jump in sales. The Toyota Camry and Honda Accord duked it...
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Toronto Motorsports Park, a former airfield that was converted into a 2 mile road course featuring 14 turns, is a great track for novices to dabble in motorsports. The speeds aren’t high enough to obliterate you in a crash, and the 14 turns will challenge a beginner, despite the lack of elevation changes. TMP’s biggest...
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Toyota will release a new in-car telematics system, dubbed Entune, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. Taking a page from Ford’s SYNC and MyFordTouch systems, Entune will oversee navigation, entertainment and smartphone connectivity services. Entune will also support apps like Bing, Movietickets.com, Pandora. Toyota will only approve apps if they are...
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Previewed in concept form, the upcoming Toyota FT-86 was introduced as a budget sports car inspired by the Corolla AE86 and using a low-powered Subaru boxer engine capable of around 200-hp. Now, reports suggest that with increased development costs Toyota has decided to take the project further up-market, opting instead to run the WRX STI’s...
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With recently announced plans to unveil a Prius family of vehicles at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show, Toyota believes the vehicle that’s synonymous with hybrid technology will be the most popular car in America by 2020. “We will end the decade with Prius being the number one nameplate in the industry,” said Toyota’s U.S. VP...
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Tesla‘s Model S Sedan will be profitable for the company, even at lower volumes thanks to its cheaper batteries. While Tesla says it only needs 20,000 vehicles a year to make money, whereas competitors like Nissan need to move 500,000 units annually to amortize the R&D costs of their EV systems. Tesla’s battery systems are...
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Towing a vehicle, with another vehicle using a rope is never really a good idea. It’s an even worse idea on public roads, and things really get out of hand when your buddy in his Land Rover decides to show you what sort of grip his AWD system delivers and you, well, you forgot to...
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Sales of both the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf electric cars were insignificant in the month of December. Due to the slow ramp-up of production volumes, it’s still unclear how much long-term demand for EVs there is. In December GM sold less than 350 Chevy Volts, while Nissan moved just 10 Leaf models in the...
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Few people pay attention to minivans, but an interesting sales war is heating up, with what could be Chrysler’s first major sales victory in their post-bailout era. Chrysler‘s Town & Country minivan, which just underwent a pretty substantial refresh, is the leading minivan according to sales data, moving 102,495 units through November. The perennial leader,...
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The importance of the Chinese market for car companies is growing at an astounding rate. Hoping to capitalize on this growth, Honda has launched a new sub-compact car at the 2010 China International Automobile Exhibition. The new model is called the S1 and is launched under the Chinese market only brand of Li Nian, a...
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While the Honda CR-Z has had only a tepid reception in North America, its home market of Japan seems to be taking well to the controversial hybrid sports car. Hybrids have always been a hit in Japan, and the nation’s automotive journalists recently awarded the CR-Z the title of “Car of the Year”. To celebrate...
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With the Tokyo Auto Salon around the corner, Japanese tuners are working and wrenching around the clock for their 2011 debuts. One of these tuners is Axell Auto, which is currently working on a widebody conversion kit for the infamous Nissan R35 GT-R. And it looks like Axell Auto is looking to claim the title...
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In recent years the big three have lost market share, particularly in the mid-size and compact car segments, however, that might be set to change.
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Now here’s something you don’t see every day. And be thankful you don’t. One of Vivid Racing’s customers, Shawn, out in Singapore, sent them over these shots of his Mazda RX-8 sporting a custom widebody conversion and a lot of design cues taken from Lamborghini. In particular there’s a lot of Reventon in the kit,...
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Toyota is projecting sales of 8 million units in 2012, according to parts suppliers who have been briefed by the auto maker. The projections do not include units sold by Toyota subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino. The last time Toyota sold such a volume was in 2007, when the company moved 8.42 million vehicles. Toyota expects...
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Baker maintains the evidence from the accident investigation was flawed and that the real problem was caused by faulty electronics in the vehicle.
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A design sketch of what is rumored to be the logo for the upcoming Toyota FT-86 has surfaced online, clearly highlighting the Japanese sports car will be powered by a boxer engine. The design sketch shows two horizontally opposed pistons; an engine design that has earned the ‘boxer’ title because of its visual similarity to...
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The problem is being blamed on faulty calibrations on machinery used to torque the bolts at the factory. In total 10, 823 Accords and Pilots are affected by the recall and notified owners are urged to contact their local Honda dealer
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To say Suzuki is struggling a bit in North America is an under statement. After posting record sales of 101,884 units in 2007, their sales took a drastic turn for the worse in 2009 when they shifted just 38,689 vehicles. 2010 is not looking good either as sales are again down by a lethal 42%....
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