Toyota gears up to roll out two compact cars in Indian market

After serving the above Rs 7 lakh bracket with its vehicles in the country, Japanese car maker Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is all set to expand its reach in the Indian sub-continent with its compact car platform variants including a hatchback and a sedan. The two cars will be showcased at the forthcoming Auto Expo in New Delhi ( from January 5-11) with another 12 models from the company. Other models include the hybrid Prius that the company will be launching at the Auto Expo, along with display of a concept, CNG Innova and Corolla Altis, and two more hybrids from the stable.

Toyota has still not taken a call on which one of the two compact car variants will be launched first in 2011. The compact car platform is a brand new platform called the entry family car (EFC), keeping in focus the Indian market. The R&D for the said platform has been done in Japan, while the manufacturing will take place in India.

The hatchback and sedan will be powered by 1.2 and 1.5 petrol engines, respectively. The hatchback will be competing against the Maruti Swift and Hyundai i20 in the market.

The sedan will compete against Tata Manza and Maruti SwiftDzire category, said Sandeep Singh, marketing deputy managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM). While putting a price to the product is too pre-mature considering one long standing year yet to go, experts expect the hactchback to be around Rs 5.5 lakh and the sedan at Rs 6.5 lakh.

To put things into perspective, a Hyundai i20, a hatchback, in New Delhi with 1.2 litre engine costs approximately Rs 5.3 to 6.3 lakh on-road, while Tata Manza, a sedan, with Saffire (petrol) engine costs approximately Rs 4.8-Rs 5.9 lakh on-road in New Delhi.

Singh said that the feedback the company gets at the Auto Expo will be crucial in the decision of the launch. Further, on diesel variant of the two cars, Singh said that the company is not denying the possibility of having a diesel engine, which are being imported by the company.
Source:[financialexpress.com]

Toyota goes hybrid mad

While some car makers are putting all their efforts into extracting more efficiency from the turbodiesel engine, the Toyota empire is clearly devoted to the petrol-hybrid, as a host of new hybrid vehicles are set to be unveiled at the Frankfurt Show later this month.

On Toyota's stand, pride of place will be given to a full hybrid version of the Auris hatchback, the first mainstream model to be fitted with the Hybrid Synergy Drive for Europe. Although the show car is tagged a 'concept', a production model won't be far behind, as Toyota has committed to deploying its hybrid technology across the range.

Also on hand will be a plug-in concept version of the Prius hybrid. Although the new Prius can already operate on electricity alone, this variant will be optimised for running on battery power. It will suit drivers commuting short distances each day, as its batteries can be charged overnight by plugging it into the mains - or into an on-street charging point when they exist.

Next year, 150 prototype examples of the plug-in Prius will be leased to select fleet drivers in a bid to assess the car's real-world usefulness.

Over on the Lexus stand (the luxury arm of Toyota), a compact concept will be unveiled, previewing Lexus's answer to the BMW 1 Series and Audi A3. In show car guise at least it will be a full hybrid, complementing the revised Lexus GS 450h and LS 600h luxury hybrids also on display.

Toyota Will Make Hybrids in Britain

Toyota Motor Corp. said it will produce hybrid vehicles in Europe for the first time next year, as it pushes ahead with its leading gas-sipping hybrid cars across the globe.

Toyota, the world's largest hybrid maker, aims to gather momentum by enticing cost-conscious customers with its hybrids in the region, where it is struggling with a relatively small 5% share of the overall market.

The world's biggest car maker by sales volume said it will manufacture a hybrid version of the Auris subcompact hatchback in the U.K. from the middle of 2010. It will spend three billion yen ($32 million) to prepare for production.

The U.K. will be the fifth country outside Japan where Toyota makes hybrid cars or plans to do so. The company already builds hybrids in China and the U.S. and will begin production in Thailand later this month and in Australia in early 2010.

The latest decision on U.K. production follows a strategy that the company's newly appointed president, Akio Toyoda, outlined late last month. He aims to promote hybrid car sales in Europe where customers looking for more fuel-economic vehicles tend to buy diesel-powered cars.

Toyota is betting on its leading technology combining combustion engines with electric motors to spur demand in Europe for low-emission cars that are cheaper to run.

The auto giant also aims to offer hybrid versions of all of its vehicles by 2020.

Core components of the system such as the batteries and the motors will be shipped from Japan, a Toyota spokesman said.

Nissan Motor Co. said it is considering expanding its limited offerings of hybrid vehicles by installing its own gasoline-electric system technology in more models to catch up with rivals such as Toyota.

The Japanese car maker, in which Renault SA holds a 44% stake, follows Honda Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. in seeking to beef up its hybrid lineup.

Honda said July 13 that it will launch two new gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles next year, while Mazda is in talks with Toyota over using components of Toyota's system for its hybrid vehicles.

Nissan has lagged behind major hybrid makers including Toyota, Honda and Ford Motor Co. as the company has focused more on developing electric cars. It plans to roll out electric vehicles next year in Japan and the U.S.

Future of 'green' cars begins with the hybrid

Toyota Motor Corp.'s newest Prius hybrid, with tens of thousands of orders in before it hit dealerships nationwide in May, seems a sure-fire winner in the race to dominate the eco-car market.

Also in the running is Honda Motor Co.'s gas-electric Insight, introduced earlier this year.

But with full-electric vehicles coming up fast in the development lane and minivehicle makers scrambling to improve fuel efficiency, will hybrids fulfill their promise in the global market for "green" cars?

"We have come closer to the price range our customers are willing to pay," Akio Toyoda, Toyota's incoming president, said at the unveiling of the company's third-generation Prius hybrid on May 18.

A basic Prius model starts at 2.05 million yen, tax included--about 300,000 yen less than the previous model.

The revamped Prius boasts a 1.8-liter engine, up from the 1.5-liter displacement of the previous model. The new Prius gets 38 kilometers to the liter, a 7-percent improvement, and offers better safety features.

Toyota's efforts to roll out more affordable hybrids have paid off. It received 80,000 prelaunch orders for the new Prius--an unprecedented number for a new model.

That lifted total orders for Toyota vehicles by 20 percent in April over the same month a year earlier to their highest level in four years.

The latest Prius model represents one-fifth of the Toyota's total domestic production, pushing it closer to the carmaker's mainstay Corolla.

Price has been the biggest obstacle to Prius sales since its introduction in 1997, when it whetted appetites for the world's first mass-produced hybrid.

Reportedly, hybrids cost hundreds of thousands of yen more to produce than the average gas-powered car. To make the new Prius more affordable, Toyota trimmed costs from its hybrid system.

Toyota's future hybrids will likely come with a lower sticker price. A smaller hybrid is in the works, aimed at offering more than 40 km per liter. The model, due in 2011, will sell for 1.7 million yen or so.

Toyota is confident it can lead the race in the global eco-car market with hybrids alone, ruling out the need to add electric vehicles or other types to its lineup.

"If we can achieve our targets for the smaller hybrid in fuel economy and price competitiveness, we won't need other types of eco-friendly vehicles," said a senior Toyota official.

Toyota pushed its innovative "21st century" car development into full gear in the early 1990s under company chairman Eiji Toyoda.

"Developing a commercial electric vehicle at that time posed a slew of challenges," the official said. "That is the case even today."

In fact, Toyota has a long history of research into electric vehicles, which greatly interested the company's late founder, Kiichiro Toyoda.

Toyota conducted a test run of a prototype electric vehicle in around 1941. It even sold a few units.

In recent years, however, testing showed that an electric minivehicle would only be able to travel 150 km or so at most between charges, even using a next-generation lithium-ion battery. The bigger the vehicle, the higher the retail price, because more batteries are needed.

Moreover, a battery pack's ability to hold a charge and its durability vary by temperature and driving conditions, the automaker points out.

For example, the distance covered on one battery charge would be significantly reduced when a hybrid is caught in a traffic jam on a hot summer day requiring air conditioning.

Honda too sees the hybrid as becoming the mainstream green vehicle.

Amid sharply dwindling revenues due to the global recession, the carmaker has frozen development of a next-generation diesel car that it initially hoped to introduce at the end of this year. And Honda has no plans to market a fully electric model.

Honda is now firmly focused on hybrids, after years of jockeying to come up with the next-generation green car, whether electric or hybrid vehicle. It has managed to considerably reduce the cost to produce hybrids.

From next year, Honda plans to introduce both a small hybrid and a hybrid sports car, aiming to raise the share of hybrids to 10 percent of its worldwide unit sales by about 2015.

According to Nomura Research Institute, the global market for hybrids will expand to an estimated 12 million vehicles in 2020, up from 700,000 vehicles in 2007. That represents about 17 percent of all units sold worldwide.

Hybrids, however, are not the only bright sign for the auto industry.

U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged to ensure 1 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are on the road across America by 2015.

Plug-in vehicles, which are closer to electric vehicles than hybrids, are recharged using ordinary household sockets.

With that policy, the United States, whose market clout steers the direction of next-generation vehicles, could produce big changes in the eco-friendly vehicle market.

Other automakers, lagging behind Toyota and Honda in hybrids, are scrambling to speed their plans to develop electric vehicles.

Nissan Motor Co. CEO Carlos Ghosn says he is skeptical of the single-minded focus on hybrids his company's rivals have displayed. Electric vehicles will greatly alter the green vehicle market, Ghosn says.

Because of a shortage of funds in the late 1990s, Nissan was unable to invest enough in hybrid development. Instead, Nissan pinned its hopes on a planned electric vehicle due out in 2010 or later.

Nissan would not be able to lead technological innovations, Ghosn says, if it were to pursue hybrid strategies similar to its competitors.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Friday it will roll out its new i MiEV electric vehicle in July, with a sales target of 1,400 units for the current fiscal year.

The company says its breakeven point is 30,000 units a year, which it hopes to reach by 2013 by broadening the market for electric cars through an OEM supply deal with PSA Peugeot Citroen in France and other means.

The battle between hybrids and electric cars is not only intensifying competition for the next-generation earth-friendly automotive technology. It is also sparking concerns for automakers whose future plans remain reliant on gas-fueled minivehicles.

To survive, makers such as Suzuki Motor Corp. will have to substantially improve the fuel efficiency of their offerings.

According to Suzuki Chairman Osamu Suzuki, "The presence of minivehicles will be called into question" when more green cars hit the road.

His company's WagonR is currently Japan's best-selling minivehicle. But the WagonR's top mileage is 23.5 km per liter, only about 60 percent of the Prius's 38 km per liter of gasoline.

"We won't be able to survive unless we succeed in raising the fuel efficiency (of our products)," Suzuki said.

2009 Toyota Venza 4WD Review

MODEL: 2009 Toyota Venza 4WD
ENGINE: 3.5-liter DOHC V6
HORSEPOWER/TORQUE: 268 hp @ 6200 rpm/246 lb.-ft. @ 4700 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed automatic with sequential shift
WHEELBASE: 109.3 in.
LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT: 189.0 x 75.0 x 63.4 in.
TIRES: P245/50R20
CARGO VOLUME: 30.7/70.1 cubic feet (rear seat up/down)
FUEL ECONOMY: 19 mpg city/26 mpg highway/18.7 mpg test
FUEL CAPACITY: 17.7 gal.
STICKER: $38,493 (includes $720 delivery, processing and handling fee and $8,474 in options)
BOTTOM LINE: Toyota calls its new Venza a sedan, but it’s more like a crossover or simply a wagon. Whatever you classify it as, the Venza is versatile as a people mover and as a cargo carrier. Like most Toyota vehicles, it’s user friendly and won’t disappoint you.

The Toyota Venza is a vehicle that’s hard to classify. It looks as if it might be ready to compete with the Nissan Murano or Chrysler Pacifica, to crossover vehicles. With 4-wheel drive, it may lay claim to some SUV DNA as well. Toyota calls it a 5-passenger sedan, but if it’s a sedan it’s one of the biggest Toyota makes. It has the cargo capacity of an SUV. In my eyes, the Venza is simply a station wagon, without a sedan version, but it’s not politically correct to give an “old” definition to a new car.

The first thing you’ll notice about the 2009 Toyota Venza is its un-Toyota-like grille that has a “smile” that’s unique to the brand.

The second thing you’ll notice is the push button start. This isn’t unusual, but with the 2009 Toyota Venza you must push the start button with the key fob. The problem with this is that you then put the fob and keys in someplace convenient, like the cup holder. We did that once, and after shutting off the car simply walked away with the keys still in the cup holder. Eventually we learned to keep them in the door pull, where we’d notice them whenever we exited.

Another thing that will catch your attention is the multitude of storage spaces. There’s one by the driver’s left knee that would be good for cell phones. There’s a center console with a sliding top, and another console in front of it with another sliding top. There’s also a long thin compartment on the driver’s side of the console.

The one that confused me was in the center. Lift up the door and there’s a thingy in there that you push. We checked the owner’s manual and there was no indication of what it was for. In the press release on the 2009 Toyota Venza it is identified as a spring-loaded MP3/iPod holder, that has no bottom so that you can plug the wire into the AUX input below it with no wire clutter.

The 3.8-liter double overhead V6 engine offers good power through a 6-speed automatic transmission that has a sequential manual m ode as well. In my mind the manual shift wasn’t necessary, because it’s doubtful you’d be doing brisk driving in the Venza. The engine is quiet in normal operation. We did notice some tire noise intruding into the cabin, but that appeared to be more of a function of the road surface. Up front the seats are comfortable with some side support. Rear seats have excellent legroom with a low center hump that would make the center passenger not have to ride with his knees tucked up under his chin. The rear seats fold 60/40 relatively easily to create a huge cargo area. We used the 2009 Toyota Venza for our spring gardening errands. We loaded sod in the back and fertilizer to help it grow, while on the other side of the growth cycle we took branches, etc. to the local compost center. You can also carry as many as four golf bags in the back with the four golfers riding comfortably up ahead. In this era of overly fancy controls, it was surprising to see the simple HVAC controls in the Venza. However, they were easy to figure out how to get the temperature and fan speed the way we wanted them.

Venza comes equipped with Toyota’s STAR Safety System. This includes ABS, Electronic Brake Distribution, Vehicle Stability Control, Traction Control and Hill Start Assist Control as well as numerous air bags.

Among the options on our tester were the Premium Package #2 ($4,345) with leather seating surfaces, 4-way power front passenger seat with lumbar support, heated front seats, wood trim, smart key system, power rear hatch, back-up camera and fold able heated outside mirrors. The voice-activated touch-screen navigation system with JBL Synthesis surround sound added another $2,590.

Don’t call the 2009 Toyota Venza a sedan or a crossover; it’s a wagon, pure and simple.