List of Australian Car Clubs and Specialists, New Car Releases and Owners' Car Reviews for Aussie motoring enthusiasts
If hybrid wasn’t a word that’s associated with environmentally friendly cars these days then it certainly would have applied to the Toyota FT-86 concept car for it’s a joint project of Toyota and Subaru. Toyota is providing the body – an all new design from Toyota’s design studio in France – while Subaru is supplying the […]
You have to feel just a little bit sorry for Toyota right now. Not only is it suffering from vastly reduced sales figures thanks to the global financial crisis but now it’s been bitten quite severely by the recall bug. In China Toyota is to recall 688,314 vehicles including Yaris hatchbacks, Camry sedans, Corolla sedans and Vios […]
If you’re a metro kind of guy then you may not appreciate this … but it’s still good for a laugh and it’s sure to sell more Toyotas
What keeps the wheels on the dirt? The Toyota Landcruiser LC200 uses what Toyota calls a Kinetic Suspension System and, while they don’t say much about it on the Toyota Landcruiser website they have posted this interesting video on YouTube to show how the system works. In just 1 minute and 15 seconds you’ll see […]
Toyota has been one of the success stories of the automotive industry for many years now. In fact they haven’t had a net loss in something like 40 years but oh what a loss they have recorded this year. The figures have just been released and they are HUGE … BLOODY HUGE The loss is […]
Well we knew that was happening anyway but just how bad has the drop been in January? Reuters is reporting that Ford’s sales in January are down 42.1 percent. General Motors has reported a drop in January sales of 49 percent, Toyota has dropped 34 percent and Nissan is down around 30 percent. Now let’s […]
Last month Toyota took the top sales spot from GM on a world-wide basis. This month Toyota decided to cut back it’s global production by 20%. That means that Toyota will cut back on last year’s production figures of 8.2 million vehicles to 6.5 million vehicles. I’ll let you do the maths but when you […]
Toyota unveils the FT-EVÂ a fully electric concept car and says it will be here by 2012 – but the range is limited. “The FT-EV concept shares its platform with the revolutionary-new iQ urban commuter vehicle. Already a huge hit in Japan, the iQ is lightweight and seats four passengers in comfort and security, while delivering […]
Even though it’s only lunch time there’s been some good and not so good news announced for Aussie car makers. In an announcement that must have stunned many in the car industry Toyota announced yesterday that it was going to close it’s plants for a total of 11 days in February and March because demand […]
In America General Motors is expected to announce the suspension of development work on a range of future models. One of Ford’s biggest parts suppliers has announced the closure of five plants as demand for its products dries up. The big three manufacturers in the US are reported to be planning on approaching the White […]
They say that a week in Australian politics is a long time and that’s something that could also be said about the Australian car manufacturing industry. Last week we had the bad news of the Bracks Report into Australia’s car industry and this week we’ve begun to see and feel the pain. Ford have announced […]
If there’s one thing I like about a Toyota Prius … apart from it’s great fuel consumption … is the fact that you can never mistake it for anything else. There’s something unique about the shape that makes a Toyota Prius instantly recognisable and marks it’s driver as someone special 🙂 But now there are […]
Well that’s the hype surrounding the latest fire-breathing Toyota Corolla and with specs that include a Dual VVT-i 1.8 litre engine that delivers 100kW of power then it’s definitely got the grunt to live up to the hype. It comes with either a 6 speed manual transmission or a 4 speed auto and the list […]
For the first time Ford has dropped behind Toyota in sales of motor vehicles in the United States. Now let’s see how long it takes Toyota to overtake General Motors. Meanwhile Toyota has now opened a production facility in Russia.
A suitable sports car for the 21st Century When Toyota asked that question of their US design team the answer they produced was the Toyota FT-HS hybrid sports concept and it was revealed to the public earlier this year. The FT-HS incorporates hybrid capability while maintaining sports car essentials, such as a sleek profile, lightweight […]
We’ve always been a nation of big car buyers. There was a time when you weren’t a real man unless you drove a six cylinder, a V8 or even a big 4WD and you could have been considered unpatriotic if you drove anything but a car built in Australia – unless of course you were […]
Newspapers in Japan are reporting that Toyota will have a new hybrid on the market by 2009. The new vehicle won’t be a replacement for the very successful Prius but will target the next level of engine capacity. It could even appear with a 3 litre motor.
Toyota has just released figures that indicate that in the first quarter of this year it sold 2.3 million vehicles worldwide. That figure put’s it about 900,000 vehicles ahead of General Motors. Interestingly in Toyota’s home market – in Japan – it’s suffering just as much as Japanese manufacturers. In China – the world’s biggest […]
Perhaps I’m showing my age but I can remember back to a time when we were told that Japanese cars were so cheap because the workers on the production line back in Japan were poorly paid. A quick glance at a new story in the auto section of Business Week Online might seem to confirm […]
What do all these have in common here in Australia? by Stuart Livesey Since the beginning of March they’ve all issued recalls on vehicles and the recalls have all had to do with the braking system. Toyota has issued the biggest recall of vehicles and it’s safe to say that this recall would have to […]