Professional drifter Ryan Tuerck is embarking on an ambitious project to create an A90 Toyota Supra drift car powered by a Judd Formula 1-derived V10 engine.
New spy photos fresh from Germany give us yet another look at Toyota's upcoming subcompact hot hatch. While the Toyota GR Yaris is not destined for American showrooms, we're always happy to see Toyota hard at work developing enthusiast cars. Our spies speculate that this particular prototype may be a hardcore GRMN variant of the new baby rally car.
This prototype boasts canards on its front bumper and an upsized rear wing, suggesting that it might be the GRMN variant, rather than the "basic" GR Yaris. GRMN stands for "Gazoo Racing Meisters of the Nürburgring," after all, so it makes all the sense in the world that Toyota's motorsports development specialists would take their prototype to its namesake road course.
Act fast if you want to explore the outdoors in a new Toyota Land Cruiser. It seems 2021 will be the current-generation SUV's last model year on the American market, according to a recent report, and it's not coming back.
An anonymous dealer source confirmed the off-roader's demise to Motor Authority. "Unfortunately it's gone, which I'm pretty bummed about. It's a punch to the gut for all of us enthusiasts who love the product. There's no illusion it's coming back, and it's completely dead for the moment, " the incognito employee told the publication.
Being bland used to be a pretty solid way to ensure a car's popularity. Bland may not inspire, but it won't offend, either. That sure seemed like Toyota's playbook for decades, but things have changed (in the marketplace and with Toyota), and nowhere is that more evident than the 2021 Toyota RAV4. Rather than being vanilla enough to appeal equally to as many people as possible, it instead offers an unmatched selection of flavors to cater more specifically to a wide variety different people and purposes. There are regular, sporty and off-road-oriented RAV4s. There's a regular gas engine and two hybrid choices, including the new 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid (pictured above). There are vibrant colors, two-tone roofs and flashy styling flourishes available along with more traditional, subdued choices. Again, something for everyone.
Yet, underlying all those different flavors is a base vehicle that generally nails the basic fundamentals demanded of a compact SUV, regardless of whether you're getting a simple RAV4 LE, a sporty XSE Hybrid or the TRD Off-Road. It has more passenger and cargo space than most, as well as more ground clearance. Its infotainment system is easy to use and amply contented, if not the flashiest or rapid in response. It's fuel efficient, especially the two hybrid choices. It's surprisingly responsive to drive. Finally, its resale value and maintenance costs should continue to be excellent. Now, there are rivals that match or better the RAV4 in these regards, especially the Honda CR-V, but few do them all as well and none offer the same variety as the RAV4.
The Toyota RAV4 lineup is expanding for 2021 as the company has announced a new RAV4 Hybrid XLE Premium.
Since it's only a couple of years old, it's no surprise that the 2021 Toyota RAV4 is generally unchanged from the years before. But there are a couple of noteworthy additions to the range. There's a slight price increase, too.
Possibly the most significant change is the addition of an XLE Premium trim to the RAV4 Hybrid line. It falls squarely in the middle, offering more features than the LE and XLE, but not being as sporty or as luxurious as the XSE or Limited trims. It's priced between those trims, too, with a base price of $33,675. Included for the price are 18-inch "super chrome-finished" alloy wheels, LED projector headlights with automatic high beams, fog lights, leather-wrapped steering wheel, leatherette upholstery, eight-way power driver's seat and dual-zone automatic climate control.
Vans are generally boring things. Oh, you can spray paint sexy, psychedelic valkryies on the side or buy some right-hand-steer Japanese import with a name like Sambar Try Dias, but by and large, they're boring. That goes triple for the minivan variety, but since their invention in the early 1980s, one minivan has been the obvious exception. There was and continues to be absolutely nothing boring about the Toyota Previa. In fact, it's one of the most interesting vehicles Toyota has sold in this country in the past 30 years.
Early minivans were less cookie cutter in shape and layout than they are today, but even by that standard, the Previa was different. For starters, just look at the thing as it balloons above its tiny wheels and lower cladding. I imagine its design language was nouveaux blimp. There's so much glass! Just look at those windshield wipers. And remember, the Dodge Caravan looked like this when the Previa came out ... and Chrysler had just redesigned them. Yet, the styling is just the tip of the wacky pants iceberg.
TOKYO — A joint battery venture of Toyota and Panasonic on Tuesday said it will produce lithium-ion batteries for hybrid cars at a plant in Western Japan from 2022 to meet growing demand for electric vehicles (EV).
The production line at a Panasonic factory in Tokushima prefecture will have enough capacity to build batteries for around 500,000 vehicles a year, Prime Planet Energy & Solutions Inc said in a statement.
Toyota and its subsidiary Hino have agreed to jointly develop a Class 8 fuel cell electric truck (FCET) for the North American market.
Unveiled earlier this year and expected to enter production this month, the 2021 Toyota Camry brings a few upgrades for the new model year and small visual revisions that help set the trim levels apart.
TOKYO — Japanese automakers Toyota and Nissan would seek reimbursement from Britain if the government fails to agree an EU trade deal, the Nikkei financial daily reported on Monday.
The companies are bracing for an additional 10% EU tax on automobile imports from Britain and are demanding that the government pays for such additional customs costs, the report said, without citing sources.
The 2021 Toyota Camry gains both visual and technology improvements in the new model year. It's not a full-fledged mid-cycle update, but the changes are welcome nonetheless.
Toyota added an XSE grade to the Hybrid trim to start. This brings the sportier suspension tuning and aggressive appearance package to the greenest of models. It's pictured in gray here, and if not for the blue Toyota logo and Hybrid badge, we'd never assume this model was the eco-focused one. It looks just like the XSE grade for the standard Camry, which gets an even bolder honeycomb style grille this year. If boring, hybrid-car looks were keeping you from going Camry Hybrid, Toyota appears to have a solution for that now.
The 2021 Lexus LC500 and 2021 Toyota Supra are two hugely desirable cars and while they both come from the conglomerate that is Toyota, they couldn't be any more different.
A Toyota hybrid on display at the Beijing Motor Show. (Reuters)