Similar to the NASCAR Dodge Charger and Ford Fusion that were revealed earlier this year, Toyota’s newest entry to NASCAR looks to more closely resemble its production model.

The 2013 Toyota Camry was introduced looking much like its production counterpart and will compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starting next season. TRD worked closely with Calty Design, which is part of the Japanese automaker’s global network design team, to help create the race car that incorporates elements of America’s best-selling car.

This is all part of a bigger goal for NASCAR and the four competing automakers to help put the ‘S’ back in NASCAR – stock. One of the major changes from NASCAR is allowing the automakers to exchange glass for solid body pieces.

“When everyone at Toyota first saw the design of the 2013 Camry, the first reaction was, ‘They’re actually going to let you race a car that looks like that’,” said Andy Graves, TRD’s vice president of chassis engineering. “That just demonstrates how excited everyone was about the new design of the Camry stock car.”

As much as it might look a lot like a street Camry, this isn’t. As is the case with stock cars, it features a tube frame chassis, V8 and rear-wheel drive. A grocery-getter this isn’t.

GALLERY: 2013 NASCAR Toyota Camry

Toyota has many new competitors nipping at its heels, but can still successfully claim the hybrid king crown, with total sales across all of the Japanese company’s brands topping four million through April, 2012. 

The first Toyota hybrid, the Prius, went on sale in Japan in 1997, and three years later in 2000 in America.

There are currently 18 hybrid vehicles in Toyota’s worldwide lineup, sales of which account for 15 percent of Toyota Motor Corporation’s overall vehicle sales this year. 1.5 million hybrids in total have been sold in the U.S. alone, with 1.2 million of those sales coming from the original hybrid that started them all, the Prius.

The new additions to the Prius family, namely the small Prius C and the large Prius V, have helped boost sales of the iconic hybrid brand.

“While we’re proud of this accomplishment, we are not stopping here as hybrids will continue to be a core technology for Toyota,” Bob Carter, group vice president and general manager at Toyota Division said.

In addition to being proud of its sales, Toyota is also touting is environmental impact and claiming that 26 million tons of C02 emission have been saved from entering the earth’s atmosphere thanks to the company’s hybrid technology.

However with the rise in efficiency of pure electric cars, you have to wonder if Toyota’s dominance in the gasoline alternative market will remain.

If the GT 86 is any sign of Toyota‘s future, it most certainly will be a bright and successful one.

Recently president of Toyota’s CALTY Design Research unit, Kevin Hunter, said that the Japanese automaker’s focus for its future models will be unexpected designs. They plan on delivering a big message in years to come that Toyota can be more than just a conservative, mundane brand of automobiles.

Looking to differentiate itself from the competition, Toyota is looking to become a pioneer in the field of design, something that they haven’t really made a priority over the last few years. Most Toyota models were designed based on consumer preferences rather than ingenuity and innovation.

“In the past, let’s face it, we had boring design,” Hunter said. “We’re going to act more instinctively. We’ll continue listening to the customer, but we can’t do creative design only listening to the consumer. They don’t know what they want five years from now. We’re going to make some predictions.”

In the past, Toyota was well-known for performance-oriented vehicles such as its MR2 and Supra, but nowadays its popularity is synonymous with boring models such as the Prius and Camry. Much of its upcoming changes can be attributed to current CEO Akio Toyoda, who often times can be seen sporting a race suit rather than a business suit.

The design message will also spread to Toyota’s luxury brand Lexus, and its sub-brand Scion, targeted to younger consumers. Currently Hunter characterizes Toyota showrooms as a department store – lots of good, but mostly mainstream products. His hope is to transform the entire brand to be more like “select shops” with Scion and Lexus featuring a more boutique approach.

[Source: Wards Auto]

The automotive industry is a global business that is constantly evolving and growing, and we here at AutoGuide know it can be hard to keep up sometimes. So here is a summary of the top stories you may have missed this past week:

2015 Ford Mustang Rendered into Reality

Mustang fans and Ford loyalists may decry the automaker’s modern new style language… 

Chevrolet SS Performance Sedan Announced

Straight from the other side of the world, Chevrolet announced its SS Performance sedan today…

Audi Celebrates First Ever Nürburgring 24 Hour Win

Arguably the world’s toughest endurance race, the 2012 Nürburgring 24 Hours ended with the AudiSport Team Phoenix R8 LMS ultra capturing the victory…

Toyota GT 86 Gets Unique 320-HP Twincharger System from Gazoo Racing

Ever since the Toyota GT 86 became official, sports car enthusiasts worldwide have been anxiously awaiting…

2014 Porsche 918 Spyder Prototypes Begin Testing

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. That at least seems to be the theory at Porsche these days…

Enthusiast-Built Chevrolet S10 Gets a Badass Viper Engine

At the purest level, being a passionate car guy is a selfish game. Somewhere along the line a bug with gas…

2013 Porsche 911 GT3 Near-Production Model in Spy Photos

Our photographers caught pictures of the 2013 Porsche911 GT3 today…

With the launch of the Lexus LFA and Toyota GT 86, Toyota seems to be back in the sports car game. And now the Japanese auto giant is proving its cars are more than just fun-to-drive and shiny sheetmetal, with each car winning its respective class at this weekend’s Nurburgring 24 Hour Race.

Partnered with Gazoo Racing, this is hardly the Lexus LFA’s first trip round the Green Hell, though while several past efforts proved disastrous, the luxury marque appears committed to erasing any memories by amassing trophies. Competing in the SP8 Class, the Gazoo Racing Lexus LFA topped the podium and finished an impressive 15th overall.

As for the Toyota GT 86 team, car No. 166 placed first in the SP3 class and 46th overall, with the second car placing sixth in class and 65th overall. In addition, another Toyota GT 86 from Toyota Swiss Racing managed a 78th place finish and first overall in the V3 class for stock vehicles.

GALLERY: Toyota GT 86 & Lexus LFA Nurburging 24 Photos

Automaker CEOs don’t often comment on how much they like a vehicle from a competitor, but then again Toyota President Akio Toyoda isn’t a conventional boss.

Shown above in his racing suit and standing side-by-side with fellow “enthusiast CEO” Aston Martin boss Ulrich Bez, both men are some of the few at the helm of a global automaker that not only enjoy hitting the race track, but do so competitively.

Recently appointed as the new chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Toyoda singled out one model from each of the other member automakers. The list says a great deal about the taste Toyoda has in vehicles and includes: the Nissan Skyline, Mazda Cosmo Sport, Mitsubishi Pajero, Isuzu Bellett and, not surprisingly, the Honda NSX.

Cars like the iconic NSX and Skyline are far from surprises and rank among the top on any enthusiasts list. As for the others Toyoda picked, there are some surprises.

The Cosmo Sport is a front-engine rear-drive machine from the 1960s and was the first to use the brand’s iconic rotary engine. The Isuzu Bellett is another oddity, though it was an extremely popular model made in the 1960s and ’70s and was the first Japanese car to wear a GT badge.

And finally on Toyoda’s list there’s the Mitsubishi Pajero (certainly no Evo), a large SUV that has been in production since 1982.

[Source: AutoNews]

We were well aware that Gazoo Racing was working on a pair of Toyota GT 86 race cars and a Lexus LFA for the upcoming Nürburgring 24 Hours race, and now Toyota Swiss Racing Team will be joining it with another pair.

The race takes place this weekend starting on May 17, held at the infamous track that played an important role in the development of both Toyota models. Gazoo Racing’s LFA will compete in the SP8 class while the two GT 86s will participate in the SP3 class. Toyota employees from the Japanese automaker will be part of the team personnel in order to gain further data on both models to bring feedback directly into future models.

“The momentum of our team is very good. Our target for the 24 Hours Nürburgring race is to maintain a steady pace, in line with the way we have chosen to set up the vehicles. Nevertheless, we have run at good speed and confident we will be full ready before the 24-hour event,” Gazoo Racing driver Akira Iida recently said after the team’s most recent race.

The Toyota Swiss Racing Team GT 86s will be competing in the V3 competition class for production models. The team’s participation is part of Toyota Switzerland’s grassroots motorsport program with the GT 86 to help encourage a new generation of racing and sports car enthusiasts.

Out in Japan, the Nintendo DS is a very popular handheld video game system, having sold over 33-million in its home country since its release in 2006. So it’s no surprise that Toyota has teamed up with the Japanese video game maker to add DS functionality to the Japanese automaker’s in-car GPS system.

Through a new Smart Navi GPS unit found in Toyota’s Estima Hybrid minivan, a Bluetooth-equipped DS with the Kuruma de DS cartridge becomes an in-car GPS remote and allows passengers to enter directions from the back seat. The cartridge also has some fun trivia, hand-drawn map notes, and tourist info to keep passengers entertained on the road.

You can also utilize the car’s stereo system to output the DS’s audio while Mii characters speak out text information.

All of this isn’t cheap though, even though the DS price has dropped since the release of the 3DS. The Smart Navi option is a tad over $2,500 while the Kuruma de DS cartridge runs over $90 bucks from Toyota. It might not be worth the investment, but the novelty of the idea is fresh to see considering everything these days revolve around a smartphone.

[Source: Kotaku]

Ever since the Toyota GT 86 became official, sports car enthusiasts worldwide have been anxiously awaiting the announcement of either a turbocharged or supercharged variant.

And for now, Toyota won’t be offering a supercharged or turbocharged variants of its greatest new sports car, but Gazoo Racing has decided to build its own GT 86 using both forced induction technologies. The result is the Gazoo Racing Sport FR Concept, using a twincharger system that makes 320-hp and 310 lb-ft of torque and is most certainly a complete blast to drive.

Gazoo Racing has been partnering with Toyota for a few years now, and we should point out that its GT 86 twincharger is simply a concept for now. On the outside, a styling package gives the Toyota GT 86 a more aggressive and sportier profile while the parts maker also equipped it with its own brakes and suspension.

One can only hope that something like that makes it to market, even in limited quantities. The interesting thought is whether Toyota will take note of what Gazoo Racing has done – or better yet, has been working with Gazoo Racing to determine the pros and cons of each method of forced induction. With how much fun the Scion FR-S already is, a twincharged version might just be perfection.

GALLERY: Gazoo Racing Sport FR Concept

Just a day after Google was awarded a driver’s license for its self-driving car, the tech giant brought one of its autonomous Toyota Prius out to Washington D.C. in hopes to make driverless cars legal in the United States.

It appears that Google made its way to the nation’s capital in hopes to appeal to federal policymakers and to maybe convince some to take a ride in its self-driving Prius. We’ve already seen what it can do for a blind man, and Google’s main focus right now is to prove its benefits to lawmakers. For the most part, Google is confident in the technology developed in its self-driving cars, its biggest concern now is for the public to widely accept the benefits of having autonomous vehicles on the road.

But of course, the U.S. government has been officially tight-lipped on the issue of autonomous vehicles with the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology stating that it had no knowledge of Google’s plans of operating its Prius out in D.C.

[Source: Wired]

Three new cars have been added to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) top safety pick list, an award which is bestowed on vehicles that receive the top ratings in all crash tests performed.

The Chevy Malibu Eco, Hyundai Azera, and Toyota Prius C are the newest recipients of the top safety pick award. The Malibu Eco is a redesigned model, which only took the honor after the update. The Prius C is an all new model, and now joins the Prius V and regular Prius as a top safety pick. As for the Azera, it had been tested previously, but only the new iteration of the car took home a top safety pick award.

The IIHS tests impact results for crashes from the rear, side, and front, as well as roof rigidity and in car whiplash protection.

Can’t get enough of the Toyota GT 86 / Scion FR-S? Neither can we. The all-new sports car from the Japanese automaker is starting to make its way to America and it couldn’t be soon enough.

We had the opportunity to put the FR-S to the test last year in December out in Japan, which seems like ages ago now. And in case we forgot just how great the car is, Scion gave us the opportunity to test the sports car on American soil late last month. At the same time, we released a mega gallery for the American FR-S and now the Toyota GT 86 gets its own as it makes its way to European dealerships.

We also get to look forward to a convertible variant of the FR-S and Toyota GT 86, rather soon.

GALLERY: 2013 Toyota GT 86

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