The idea of a separate brand for the Toyota Prius has gone from "seriously considering" to "not a 'go'" to, now, "Um, no." That's the word from Miguel Fonseca, Toyota's managing director in the UK, who says that there won't be a Prius sub-brand.
However, Fonseca did say that the stork would be visiting the Prius factory to drop off other body styles, making a Prius family of vehicles. He wouldn't say what the body types were, but AutoCar speculation centers on an estate and an MPV to be unveiled in 2010, along with a coupe debuting the following year. As reported before, when the larger, frugal-er next gen Prius sedan arrives in about a year, it won't be packing lithium-ion batteries -- Toyota engineers say they're still not yet ready for prime-time.
[ Via: AutoCar ]
[ Tag: alternative, hybrids, prius, prius brand, prius sub brand, PriusBrand, PriusSubBrand, sedans, toyota, toyota prius, ToyotaPrius ]
Toyota has been scrambling to right its financial ship after cutting its profit forecast by 63% in the face of dismal US auto sales. The Japanese automaker set up an emergency committee to look at areas to cut costs, and all programs are said to be on the table. Though Toyota has announced nothing specific to this point, Japan's Nikkei Business Daily is announcing that the first US-built Priuses may not be produced until 2011. That would mean a one year delay of the opening of Toyota's Mississippi plant, which has already seen a 
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Lexus is set to invade the 
There's a workout regimen called Crossfit that aims to increase one's abilities in eight different areas. Crossfit doesn't reward the specialist, it rewards the well-rounded; it doesn't create marathoners, it creates decathletes. The point of Crossfit is to allow you to enter any situation with the confidence that you have things like the agility, strength and conditioning to do well. The Toyota Venza has the same ethos: pitched as 70-percent car, 30-percent SUV, the Venza wants to do everything well. And when we say "well", we mean it wants to do everything better than the competition: 10,000 people were leaving Toyota every year to get into something between the Camry and the Highlander, things that ended up being the Ford Edge, Mazda CX-7 and Infiniti FX. The Venza is Toyota's request to those buyers to "Come back to papa." Follow the jump to find out whether you should heed the call.
The world's largest automaker is looking to join 
Click above for high-res gallery of the Toyota RAV4 Performance Sport
We have good news and bad news to report regarding Toyota's 0% financing deal that's currently going on in the U.S. The Japanese automaker must be seeing positive results from the operation, as it's extended the incentive through the month of November. That's the good news. The bad? This announcement likely means that we'll all need to put up with the excruciatingly horrible "
When the 2009 Toyota Highlander hits dealerships in mid-to-late January, it will finally have an optional four-cylinder engine. The 2.7-liter four comes courtesy of the Venza and is mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. This powertrain combination has been developed primarily for fuel efficiency and the EPA has given it a rating of 20/27 city and highway, with combined real-world mileage expected to hit about 22 miles per gallon. For comparison, the 3.5L V6, which will still be available, is rated at 18/24, and the hybrid model retains its 3.3L V6 and 
Click any image for a high-res gallery of Toyota's SEMAfied trucks
It's been almost a year since Toyota debuted its new 
Rumors from LLN that a separate Prius brand are "
An "insider" at LLN has it on good authority that the 
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According to a report by Japan's Kyodo News, General Motors' chief executive and chairman Rick Wagoner is considering visiting Toyota in Japan to discuss a myriad of issues, ranging from funding to parts sharing.In typical fashion (of late), the story cites unnamed sources saying Toyota is "expected to consider quick fixes for the cash-strapped GM, including buying up its assets and helping secure sufficient business funds." The talks are also said to include a partnership that would license Toyota's hybrid technology for use in GM products, along with ToMoCo building fuel-efficient, compact cars for the General.We're suitably skeptical about any kind of partnership between the world's two automotive giants, particular since no one from Toyota or GM was willing to comment for the story. More to come... or not. Watch this space.
General Motors is reporting global sales of 2.1 million units for the third quarter, which is down 11% from the same period last year. Through September of this year, GM has sold 6.7 million cars and trucks worldwide, putting the automaker further behind Toyota, which has sold 7.05 million units so far this year. The struggling U.S. market is a big part of GM's sales woes, as 61% of the Detroit automaker's sales came from outside of its home market. That's up from 56% last year, but down from the 65% figure for the second quarter of 2008. VP of sales and marketing Jonathan Browning points out challenges in the global financial markets as a big problem for GM, but also mentioned that strong sales in emerging markets is helping to ease the sales burden.Since GM has a serious cash crunch and merger talks on its hands right now, it likely doesn't care much about a global sales race with Toyota. That doesn't make Toyota's accomplishment any less significant, though, considering how long the General has been on top of the global sales charts.
Toyota is reportedly having great success 
