The gauntlet is thrown: VW Jetta TDI vs. Toyota Prius

Clean diesel or hybrid drive? It's an intriguing question, and one that's not quite so easy to answer. There's the price of diesel fuel to consider, which runs a few dimes over that of regular gasoline. Then there is fuel mileage. Does the Volkswagen Jetta TDI have a shot at dethroning the Toyota Prius as the undisputed mileage champion of the U.S.? To get a preliminary answer to some of these questions, Popular Mechanics put almost 500 miles on both cars, dividing up their miles between the city and the highway. It's not a knock-out for either car, but it may offer some early answers to a few questions.
First, the mileage. In the city, there's just no beating a hybrid, which uses its electric motor to good effect and scores over ten mpg better in the stop-and-go traffic of Los Angeles. On the highway, though, the Jetta TDI is able to eke out a narrow victory, scoring less than one mile per gallon better. Once the price of crude is factored in, the Prius remains the overall cheaper car to keep filled up. Of course, there is more to the story than that, including which car is a better to drive -- according to PM, the Jetta. Finally, the TDI qualifies for a $1,300 tax credit that the Prius can't claim. It's too close to call. Expect a rematch soon enough.
Read our First Drive of the 2009 VW Jetta TDI and full review of the Toyota Prius to see what we think.

[ Via: Popular Mechanics ]
[ Tag: jetta tdi, jetta tdi mileage, jetta tdi prius, jetta tdi test, jetta tdi vs prius, JettaTdi, JettaTdiMileage, JettaTdiPrius, JettaTdiTest, JettaTdiVsPrius, prius mileage, prius test, prius vs jetta tdi, prius vs. jetta tdi, PriusMileage, PriusTest, PriusVs.JettaTdi, PriusVsJettaTdi ]

Toyota to Tundra factory workers: Get thee to a park!

As reported recently, even though Toyota halted Tundra production for a while, the company pledged not to lay off its workers. At a total cost of potentially $1 billion to the company, Toyota instead placed the employees in retraining and civic works programs during a Kaizen and Development Period.
What kinds of civic programs? One of them, in San Antonio, is called the City-Toyota Green Clean-Up Project, which has put up to 340 workers on the streets to "clean, paint, and plant." Factory staffers have painted curbs, picnic tables and trash cans, trimmed trees and plants, and cleaned up lots. While employees do want to get back to the factories, they're enjoying the time away and being able to give back to the city -- all the while earning their regular wages and benefits.
A second round of city improvement will begin next month. After that, Toyota expects to have all hands on deck again at the factory in November, building 2009-model-year Tundras. Thanks for the tip, Mike!

[ Via: My SA News ]
[ Tag: city toyota green clean up project, CityToyotaGreenCleanUpProject, factories, kaizen, layoffs, san antonio, SanAntonio, toyota, toyota layoffs, toyota san antonio, toyota tundra, ToyotaLayoffs, ToyotaSanAntonio, ToyotaTundra, tundra ]

F1 teams spent over $3 billion, Toyota the most

While we knew Formula 1 racing was an expensive venture, leave it to the 2008/2009 edition of Formula Money to spell-out the jaw-dropping finances for us. According to their latest guide, the supporting cast will shell out over $3 billion this year in team resources -- with Toyota dropping more than $445 million of it alone. McLaren is a close second at $433 million, while Ferrari rounds out the top three with $414 million coming out of pocket. If you take a look at team resources divided by points scored, each point cost Ferrari $1.9 million in 2007 (while each point cost Honda a staggering $57.2 million during the same period!). With the financial markets around the world roiled in turmoil, many are wondering when the F1 budgets are going to feel the pinch... Thanks for the tip, Keith!


[ Via: F1 Fanatic ]
[ Tag: budget, F1, F1 Guide, F1Guide, Ferrari, Ferrari F1, FerrariF1, finances, Formula 1, Formula Money, Formula1, FormulaMoney, Honda F1, HondaF1, Season budget, SeasonBudget, Spending, Toyota F1, ToyotaF1 ]

Toyota considers building A-BAT truck, cancels small diesel

Despite the fact that its full-sized truck competitors from Ford, General Motors and Dodge will all offer new small-displacement diesel engines within the next year or so, Toyota has reportedly canceled plans for a similar powertrain for its Tundra. Instead of dumping money into the stalled full-size market, the automaker has reportedly contacted key suppliers for quotes on systems for its radical A-BAT concept truck from the Detroit Auto Show. Powertrain choices for the trucklet would include a traditional four-cylinder option along with a hybrid drivetrain, possibly sourced from the Camry hybrid. If it went into production, the A-BAT would join the lonely Ford Ranger in the small pickup market and would use a uni-body platform in lieu of a full frame, which is standard fare on most other trucks. Then again, it may never be given the green-light for production at all.

[ Via: Autoblog (Toyota) ]
[ Tag: a-bat, a-bat concept, A-BAT hybrid, a-bat hybrid truck, a-bat-concept, a-bat-hybrid, A-batConcept, A-batHybrid, A-batHybridTruck, toyota a-bat, toyota a-bat concept, ToyotaA-bat, ToyotaA-batConcept, tundra diesel, TundraDiesel ]

Toyota iQ platform will spawn new compact cars

Toyota developed an all-new architecture for its iQ city car, but in an effort to defray the costs the automaker will be using the platform to underpin three new models.
The first will be the next-generation Yaris, due out in 2011, which will be packaged more efficiently to improve interior volume and be a more competent competitor to the Honda Fit. A new hybrid model is also in the works that takes aim at another Honda – the new 2009 Insight – while a seven-seat people mover is also slated to be built atop the iQ's architecture.
MotorTrend sat down with the iQ's chief engineer, Hiroki Nakajima, to discuss a half-dozen innovative packaging solutions employed on the city car, including a differential moved to the front of the engine to allow more interior room, a higher-mounted steering rack and wiper motor assembly, a smaller, more efficient climate control system and a flat, thin fuel tank that lies beneath the passenger seats.
All these innovations have cost some serious coin to develop, but over the iQ's lifetime, along with the implementation of these systems on other models, Toyota is confident that the expense is worth it for both the automaker and consumers.

[ Via: MotorTrend ]
[ Tag: 2011, 2011 toyota yaris, 2011ToyotaYaris, iq, platform, toyota, toyota hybrid, ToyotaHybrid, yaris ]

Toyota sees more struggles in 2009, blue skies next decade

The US auto industry has hit a serious slump in 2008, with overall sales estimated drop by two million vehicles compared to 2007. Even the mighty Toyota has seen sales slip by 7.8%, which is better than the industry average, but a far cry from annual increases of 10%. And times may not improve in 2009 either, as the credit crunch and mortgage crisis have conspired to kick the auto industry in the pants. Toyota sales boss Jim Lentz says the mortgage crisis is the main culprit of tough sledding for the Japanese automaker. Florida and California, which account for 30% of overall Toyota Sales, have been especially hard hit by decreased home values. Lexus sales have been hit hard, too, as one third of all of purchasers in the Sunshine State use home equity to buy their luxury vehicles. It doesn't take an accounting degree to know that houses are typically assets and cars are almost always liabilities. That large amounts of people who were using home equity to purchase cars is disturbing, and it's likely a trend that isn't unique to Toyota.
Toyota does see light at the end of the tunnel, as the Japanese automaker expects the US population to grow by 32 million in the next decade. Toyota also expects the rate of affluent customers to rise, which means more people with more money will want to buy a new car or truck. For the near term, since housing has gone nowhere but down and lenders are having trouble coming up with money, we're guessing the car market will be taking a hit for quite a while.


[ Via: '+replyToUndo+' ]
[ Tag: auto market, AutoMarket, california, car buying, CarBuying, florida, lexus, toyota ]

In The Autoblog Garage: 2009 Toyota Camry XLE

A recent night of excitement: driving the Camry XLE to the Super Wal-Mart. So lame, but that's not the car's fault. Like Wal-Mart, the Camry has been excoriated as a work of Satan, antithetical to all that is American, never mind where it's built. Despite the gleeful way everyone always lobs shots at Toyota's midsizer, there's a lot of virtue here. After all, there has to be some kind of hook to this car attaining such vaunted status, besides the bounce-lending automotive cult of personality. Since nobody actually reviews the Camry – we just complain about it as it outsells everything else – we rustled up an XLE powered by Toyota's 2.4-liter four cylinder and tried it out.

[ Via: Autoblog (Toyota) ]
[ Tag: camry autoblog garage, camry garage, camry review, camry xle, CamryAutoblogGarage, CamryGarage, CamryReview, CamryXle, featured, in the autoblog garage, InTheAutoblogGarage, toyota camry, ToyotaCamry ]