Picture a classic car in your head: likely it’s an American icon like a late ‘60s Mustang or even earlier like a ‘50s Fairlane. Maybe your taste is a bit more exotic and you’re imagining a classic Ferrari or even a British sports car like an MG or Triumph.
If the GT 86 is any sign of Toyota‘s future, it most certainly will be a bright and successful one.
When Lotus isn’t engineering cool cars like the Evora, dealing with PR snafus, or worrying about whether or not it’s going to be sold in a few months, it takes on contract work to lighten vehicles for other firms.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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]
Ivan “Ironman” Stewart became quite famous thanks to the Super Off Road game some of us played as children. Now you have a chance to own a historical piece of machinery that Stewart drove to various victories during his career.
After losing its crown as the world’s largest automaker in 2011, Toyota looks to regain its position at the top of the heap, out-selling rivals General Motors and Volkswagen through the first quarter of this year.
There might not be a turbocharged version of the Scion FR-S coming from the factory, but it looks like an FR-S convertible will make production.
The state of Nevada has just become the first to issue a driver’s license to a car.
The vehicle in question is Google’s autonomous Toyota Prius, which company engineers have been testing on California roads for the past two years, logging 140,000 miles with just one traffic-incident. That accident, caused when a car driven by a person bumped into the back of the autonomous car, is just the sort of thing Google intends to dramatically reduce or even eliminate with its revolutionary technology.
The car uses video cameras as well as radar and laser sensors to “see” as well as impressive computing power to control the vehicle’s next function, adapting to a rapidly changing environment. During the entire testing process Google engineers have been on hand in the vehicle in case human intervention became necessary.
Google’s driverless car has been issued a red license plate, with an infinity sign on it next to the number 001.
While the first, Nevada may soon be joined by California, which recently introduced similar legislation to introduce autonomous driving to the state’s busy freeways.
[Source: BBC]
The Toyota GT 86 generates enough buzz by itself, but it’s hard to resist looking at pictures of a race-modified version like the one in our gallery below.
Toyota unveiled its new electric RAV4 at the 26th annual Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles including new price, power and range information.
In order to attract buyers, car manufacturers have had to ramp up the amount of technology offered in their cars. Infotainment systems do a lot, like help navigate, set cabin temperature, adjust audio settings and more, but they tend to be a neat party trick, falling short in real-world use.
With a flood of Scion FR-S reviews (including our own) hitting the net recently, now is as good a time as any to take a look back at the inspiration to that car, the Toyota Corolla GT-S.
Light weight, well-balanced and rear-wheel drive the GT-S is one of the few sports cars in Toyota’s history, and part of an even smaller group of enthusiast focused vehicles. Looking to bring back some of that passion to the brand is the Scion FR-S. For the sake of comparison, the GT-S makes 112 hp at 6600 rpm from a 1.6-liter DOHC inline 4-cylinder in a package that weighs between 2200 lbs and 2400 lbs. The FR-S on the other hand makes 200 hp at 7000 rpm from a 2.0-liter boxer 4-cylinder in a 2,758 lb car.
Need a better look back? Then watch the video below: an incredibly cheesy ad for the car from the era of ripped jeans and short shorts. Enjoy.
Florida and New York car owners accusing Toyota of driving down the value of its vehicles by not disclosing or fixing defects related to unintended acceleration, has had the majority of their claims dismissed.
Toyota continues to enjoy success with its Prius family of models, as its plug-in hybrid sold 1,654 units in the month of April.
The sales figure trumps its main competitors, the Chevrolet Volt (1,462 sold) and the Nissan Leaf (370 sold) making it the most popular plug-in vehicle last month in America. It’s no huge surprise that the plug-in variant of the Prius is selling well compared to its counterparts, considering how well-known the Prius moniker has become over the years.
Last month the Japanese automaker also saw the highest sales total for its Prius models ever for the month of April, moving a combined figure of 25,168 units across all its model variants. In total, Toyota sold 30,126 hybrids while its luxury division Lexus moved a respectable 2,467. Compared to April 2011, Toyota’s hybrid sales saw a huge jump of 124.6 percent, but it’s worth noting that April 2011 was also after the disastrous tsunami that hindered vehicle production.
“Thanks to continued strong sales of Camry and Prius family, Toyota was America’s number one retail brand for the second straight month,” said Bob Carter, general manager of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. “With consumer confidence improving, we expect to see sustained industry growth in the months ahead.”
With the launch of the Scion FR-S as a Toyota AE86 successor, the return of the Supra might not be far off.
According to the most recent reports, a reborn Supra continues to await final production confirmation at Toyota, based on the GRMN (Gazoo Racing Meister of Nurburgring) Sports Hybrid Concept II. After completing testing and appearances at several low profile events since it was first introduced as an original concept car, it’s appearance at both the Tokyo Motor Show and Tokyo Auto Salon are strong hints by the Japanese auto giant that a relaunch is close.
While a top-tier sports car in the same vein as the Supra, this more modern performance machine is significantly different, sporting a mid-engine V6 powertrain as well as electric motors at the front wheels.
If given the green-light, the new Supra could arrive as early as 2015 with an asking price in the $60,000 range.
[Source: MotorTrend]
With the family of Prius models growing, Toyota is hoping to have production in the U.S. by the time the next-generation Prius model hits the streets in 2015.
