Kentucky: Team Penske race report
SPARTA, Ky. (September 4, 2010) — Team Penske’s gamble came up a winner Saturday as Helio Castroneves and his crew used a clever fuel strategy to win the Kentucky Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway.
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Toyota MR2 Sports Hybrid Concept – Click above for high-res image gallery
Akio Toyoda may want to bring driving excitement back to Toyota, but he and his team have two major hurdles to overcome: The brands’s limited enthusiast base and the fact that Japan’s youth have very little interest in cars.
To combat both fronts, Toyota plans to launch a new line of budget-oriented vehicles that offer a modicum of sport. But so far, things don’t look too promising.
Despite debuting an FT-86-based concept at this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon, Toyota’s G Sports line of products have mainly focused on the Voxy and Noah minivans, while a “sports” version of the Prius is apparently in the works.
More interestingly, the Mainichi Daily News reports that a version of the GRMN sports car concept has been given the greenlight, meaning a mid-engined hybrid successor to the MR2 is in the works.
All these developments come after Toyota established a sports vehicle management division in January, which now has a hand in the brand’s overall product planning. We should get a look at the fruits of their labors during next year’s auto show season and could see this new breed of budget sports vehicles on the market – at least in Japan – within the next few years.
Gallery: Toyota MR2 Sports Hybrid
[Source: Mainchi Daily News]
Report: Toyota plans budget sports car line originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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2011 Chevrolet Cruze – Click above for high-res image gallery
Even with the impending launch of the Volt later in the Fall, the Chevrolet Cruze may be the biggest vehicle General Motors will launch in the U.S. this year. The reason is money. The Cruze should make some of it, while the Volt and its pricey development and battery packs likely won’t for a long time.
The Cruze looks pretty good to us, but we know that the new sedan will only be successful if it is properly launched and marketed. So how do you best show off a refined interior, 10 standard airbags and more hip- and shoulder-room than the top sellers in the class? Automotive News reports that The General will ask its 3,000 dealers to purchase a Toyota Corolla and a Honda Civic so Bowtie shoppers can compare and contrast the newest Chevrolet against the C-Segment stalwarts from Japan.
Since the Cruze is all-new in the U.S. market and both the Civic and Corolla are a bit long-in-the-tooth, we’re thinking the Chevy will win more than its fair share of buyers, but we’d like to see Chevy stores step up to the challenge of the Mazda3, as well. Perhaps the bigger challenge, though, will be to get customers who would traditionally buy a Honda or Toyota to shop at a Chevy store in the first place. GM plans to officially launch the Cruze in late September.
Gallery: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze: First Drive
Photos by Zach Bowman / Copyright (C)2010 AOL
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req.]
Report: GM asks Chevy dealers to buy Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla for Cruze comparisons originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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If you want a job at Toyota’s still under construction Mississippi assembly plant, you’d better get in line. In fact, you’d best fill out an application post-haste, because the Japanese automaker reportedly received 9,600 applications in its first week. Anyone surprised? Americans want and need jobs, and they’re chomping at the bit for a chance to earn a steady income of $15 to $20 per hour.
According to Edmunds Auto Observer, applications came from 33 different states in the Union, with 8,000 of the applications originating from the state of Mississippi. David Copenhaver, vice president of administration at Toyota, reportedly told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger newspaper that the majority of the jobs will go to applicants who reside within 100 miles of the facility.
Nearly 10,000 applications in a week’s time is plenty impressive, but it’s not like they’re applying for a handful of jobs. Toyota is hiring approximately 1,350 hourly and 150 salary employees to build the Corolla, with the chance for an even larger workforce if the automaker decides to increase production down the road.
[Source: Edmunds Auto Observer]
Report: Toyota gets overwhelming response for new hires at Mississippi plant originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Daihatsu has announced plans to recalling over 500,000 vehicles in Japan due to taillight lenses that can fade over time. The lenses, originally orange, will bleach white with exposure to the sun, leading to a potential safety risk. As a result, Daihatsu is recalling a total of 435,423 Move hatchbacks built between 1995 and 2000, as well as 145,769 Mira models manufactured from 1998 to 2000. Both vehicles fall into Japans micro-car category and are powered by fuel-thrifty .66-liter engines.
The company plans to fix the issue by installing orange bulbs in the vehicles instead of the white ones that came from the factory.
Daihatsu is owned by Toyota, and the company produces a number of small vehicles for the manufacturing giant. While not as crippling as some of the other issues Toyota has had this year, the Daihatsu does add to the 11 million recalled Toyota and Lexus vehicles recalled since fall of last year.
[Source: Automotive News]
Report: Toyota’s Daihatsu recalls over 500,000 minicars over… fading taillamps? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Government/Legal, Toyota
Koua Fong Lee can’t seem to catch a break. Lee was convicted of killing three people in 2006 when his Toyota Camry struck a vehicle at a stoplight, but he was later freed after prosecutors discovered that Lee may have been a victim of unintended acceleration. He served two and a half years in prison while the justice system ground along, and now Toyota has subpoenaed his 1996 Camry. The manufacturer wants Lee to turn the car over for an examination on the quick. Unfortunately, Lee no longer has the car. It’s been locked up in the custody of the St. Paul Police Department since the 2006 accident.
With Lee’s name clear, a total of four federal lawsuits have been filed against Toyota by the family members of those killed in the accident. Each claims that Toyota knew of the unintended acceleration issue well before the Lee accident and failed to follow up on those reports in any substantial way. Meanwhile, Toyota claims that the accident wasn’t due to unintended acceleration. You can see the conundrum here. If Toyota proves that the accident wasn’t the result of unintended acceleration, then it may be the case that Lee was at fault.
Lee’s lawyer has expressed obvious concern over allowing Toyota to examine the vehicle unsupervised. So for now, it remains in St. Paul PD custody.
[Source: The Pioneer Press | Image: Ben Garvin, AP Photo/Pioneer Press]
Report: Toyota subpoenas Camry in Lee acquittal case originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Research and Markets: The Report Global Theft Statistics Provides a Global Overview of Vehicle Theft Statistics and …
DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Research and Markets(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/11c8f1/global_theft_stati) has announced the addition of the “Global Theft Statistics” report to their offering. SBD’s in-house team of experts constantly monitor theft trends and patterns on a global level and for the first time is offering these historical statistics as a …
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According to a report in The Washington Post, the event data recorders the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration used to investigate claims of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles have a history of problems. In one incident, a Toyota pickup that struck a tree in a single car accident was recorded as going 177 mph – far faster than any T100 we’ve ever seen. A separate reading from the same device put the truck’s speed at a more feasible 75 mph. The article even says that Toyota itself has warned about the reliability of data collected from the so-called black boxes by stressing that the recorders were not intended to be used as crash-reconstruction devices. In the recent past, Toyota has already been accused of being ’secretive’ about providing access to their black box data.
The EDRs in question apparently also have a history of being inaccurate about more than just speed. In another case, the device onboard recorded that both passengers had their seat belts unbuckled at the time of impact when in reality, one individual was safely buckled in.
Unfortunately, government researchers have little other recourse when it comes to substantiating or refuting claims of runaway Toyota products. NHTSA just recently released a preliminary report saying that over half of the instances in which the vehicles seemed out of control were actually attributable to the driver applying the wrong pedal at the wrong time. The Washington Post has indicated that the unreliability of the EDRs leaves some question as to the validity of those findings. They may have a point. Thanks for the tip, FYI!
[Source: The Washington Post | Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty]
Report: Toyota’s event data recorders have a history of problems originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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