Motor Authority - blog Category: Yaris

Toyota has some bold plans for its hybrid lineup in Europe. The auto giant will reportedly launch a new entry-level, dedicated hybrid Lexus hatchback in Europe next year and now it’s claimed Toyota will also start production of another hybrid model in France.

While the Lexus version will be aimed at upmarket consumers and designed to rival cars like the BMW 1-series and Audi A3, the European-produced hybrid will be much more affordable and could be based on the compact Yaris.

The information comes from Japan’s Asahi newspaper, which also reports that Toyota will launch this compact hybrid in Japan in late 2011 with a price tag... Toyota has some bold plans for its hybrid lineup in Europe. The auto giant will reportedly launch a new entry-level, dedicated hybrid Lexus hatchback in Europe next year and now it’s claimed Toyota will also start production of another hybrid model in France. While the Lexus version will be aimed at upmarket consumers and designed to rival cars like the BMW 1-series and Audi A3, the European-produced hybrid will be much more affordable and could be based on the compact Yaris. The information comes from Japan’s Asahi newspaper, which also reports that Toyota will launch this compact hybrid in Japan in late 2011 with a price tag of roughly ¥1.5 million ($15,760). The European version will likely start production that same year. The new dedicated hybrid will use the platform and engine of the Yaris compact, which will be fully remodeled ahead of the car’s launch. The new hybrid also will feature a more cost-competitive and fuel-efficient hybrid system than that of the Prius, the reports claim. This won’t be the first hybrid Toyota builds in Europe, however. The automaker plans to build a gasoline-electric version of its Auris hatchback (sold as a Corolla in other markets) at its factory near Derby in the UK by the middle of next year. Read More

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has just come to a conclusion that we suspect many motorists have known for years - when it comes to car safety, size does matter. Conducting tests pitting micro cars against larger midsize vehicles, the IIHS found that in many cases the smaller cars were not able to afford their passengers the same level of protection as their larger counterparts.

Unlike tests that show just how much damage SUVs can cause to micro cars, the focus on midsize vehicles, such as the Toyota Camry, was used to present a fairer testing scenario, rather than say crashing a Toyota Yaris into a Hummer.

In total,... The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has just come to a conclusion that we suspect many motorists have known for years - when it comes to car safety, size does matter. Conducting tests pitting micro cars against larger midsize vehicles, the IIHS found that in many cases the smaller cars were not able to afford their passengers the same level of protection as their larger counterparts. Unlike tests that show just how much damage SUVs can cause to micro cars, the focus on midsize vehicles, such as the Toyota Camry, was used to present a fairer testing scenario, rather than say crashing a Toyota Yaris into a Hummer. In total, three tests were conducted and included the use of a Smart ForTwo, a Honda Fit (Jazz) and a Toyota Yaris. All three cars were then put in head-on crashes with midsize vehicles manufactured by their own respective companies - for the ForTwo, it was put up against a Mercedes Benz C-Class, while the Fit took on the Honda Accord and the Yaris faced the Toyota Camry. For many, the test results were not really that surprising in their eventual outcomes, but it was the sheer spectacular nature of the crashes that was a shock. For example, when the ForTwo and the C-Class collided, the diminutive Smart was launched into the air where it was spun around 450 degrees before landing - this resulted in the possibility of extensive injuries to the occupants, including to the head and neck. The results were not dissimilar in the other match-ups, and the tests contradict previous IIHS safety ratings for the Yaris, Fit and ForTwo. Previous head-on crashes into deformable barriers earned these cars the IIHS' highest rating of 'good', but when pitted against cars that were twice their weight, all three models scored the worst rating of 'poor'. Despite the results, many manufacturers are claiming that the tests depict an extremely unusual and severe crash. In reality, the tests haven't done much to alter the way we look at small cars in terms of their safety aspects - rather, they've just proven the basic laws of physics. Read More

Ford has its new Fusion, Honda has the Insight, and Toyota's new Prius is about to hit the streets. But already the next generation of the hybrid wars is drawing up its battle lines, and this time it's smaller. Toytoa is planing a Yaris-based hybrid to take on Honda's Fit hybrid, due around 2011-2012.

Toyota is actually positioning the Yaris to do battle with the Insight, however, continuing the company's angle of portraying the Honda hybrid as smaller and further down-segment than the Prius.

"We are developing a low-priced hybrid vehicle like Honda's Insight," Akihiko Otsuka, chief engineer of the new 2010 Prius, told the Nikkei. "We are... Ford has its new Fusion, Honda has the Insight, and Toyota's new Prius is about to hit the streets. But already the next generation of the hybrid wars is drawing up its battle lines, and this time it's smaller. Toytoa is planing a Yaris-based hybrid to take on Honda's Fit hybrid, due around 2011-2012. Toyota is actually positioning the Yaris to do battle with the Insight, however, continuing the company's angle of portraying the Honda hybrid as smaller and further down-segment than the Prius. "We are developing a low-priced hybrid vehicle like Honda's Insight," Akihiko Otsuka, chief engineer of the new 2010 Prius, told the Nikkei. "We are going to compete by expanding our hybrid-vehicle lineup to smaller hybrids, in the class of the [Japanese-market] Vitz and Yaris." But American's might more readily analogize the very similar-looking Insight to the Prius and therefore compare the Fit to the Yaris hybrid. Either way, it's the public that will benefit as a new generation of compact, inexpensive and highly efficient hybrids comes to market. Pricing for the third-gen Prius is still unannounced, but the Yaris hybrid will certainly check in several thousand dollars below its bigger brother, and may even come in well below the $20,000 mark - a target Honda has just managed for its Insight. The Yaris will need to stay cheap to compete with the Fit, which is expected to start at about $2,000 more than the standard Fit's $14,750 starting price when it finally arrives around 2015. The hybrid drivetrain would be adapted from the Prius application, using the same time-tested and inexpensive nickel-metal hydride batteries instead of more expensive and finicky lithium-ion units. Engines will also likely be co-opted from the existing Toyota lineup, possibly even offering an application for the second-gen Prius' 1.5L engine, now replaced with a 1.8L unit in the 2010 model. Read More

The short-sightedness of the car-buying public is breathtaking. It was just months ago that fears over $4 gas prices had people scurrying about, dumping loaded SUVs for a fraction of their purchase price and replacing them with smaller, more efficient vehicles. But today, with fuel well under $2 per gallon in most places, Americans are returning to their big-car ways.

Hybrids have taken it on the chin as well, even leading small cars back into oblivion. Sales of the Toyota Prius are off 30.8% in February when compared to 2007 figures, and hybrids were down 10% across the industry throughout 2008, despite record demand in the summer, reports... The short-sightedness of the car-buying public is breathtaking. It was just months ago that fears over $4 gas prices had people scurrying about, dumping loaded SUVs for a fraction of their purchase price and replacing them with smaller, more efficient vehicles. But today, with fuel well under $2 per gallon in most places, Americans are returning to their big-car ways. Hybrids have taken it on the chin as well, even leading small cars back into oblivion. Sales of the Toyota Prius are off 30.8% in February when compared to 2007 figures, and hybrids were down 10% across the industry throughout 2008, despite record demand in the summer, reports The Detroit News. The cost of buying the technology makes owning one only marginally cheaper than owning a larger, less efficient car - and even then only when fuel prices are high. With stricter CAFE regulations looming in the background and a weak economy in the fore, carmakers are not precisely happy with the reversal of tastes among those that are still buying cars either. The backlog in small cars like Toyota's Yaris, which has a 175-day supply in the U.S., and the Dodge Caliber, with 205 days worth of inventory on hand, threatens to put the assembly lines on hold indefinitely. Chevrolet's Aveo (pictured) is even worse off, with 427 days of overstock - enough to sell until May 24, 2010 even if the factory stopped making them today, reports The Wall Street Journal. So what happens when the carmakers readjust yet again to this fluctuation in consumer preference only to have the price of fuel skyrocket along with demand for small cars and hybrids? Can the industry withstand another such setback? There are those among the major auto companies that think fuel prices were only the catalyst in the reaction, and that other forces, including political and moral influences, will keep the ball rolling toward a smaller, more efficient American fleet. With the government backing the industry's play, President Obama's call for 1 million plug-in electrics by 2015 and a popular culture that tends toward demonization of what is perceived as anti-environmental action, they may be right. On the other side of the issue, there are people like Kelley Blue Book's Jack Nerad, who told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "I think what you hear out of the government these days is almost antithetical to what you hear in the marketplace, at least in the short term." So will the short-term dissonance in consumer demand and government-mandated supply resolve in favor of the carmakers? Or will the consumers continue to snatch up SUVs, pickup trucks and larger sedans until they are forced to once again dump them on the used market only to seek hybrids and smaller cars - perhaps to find them unavailable? Only time will tell, but it's a game being played with millions of jobs in the balance. Read More

Toyota has taken a somewhat paradoxical tack at creating a stripped-down single-seat club racer out of a front-wheel-drive Yaris econo car. The company says the design harks back to the racing heritage of the Can-Am Group 7 category Toyota 7 from the late 1960s.

The little car certainly looks well-suited to track duty, with its minimalist design essentially doing away with the entire interior except for the cockpit, low-chopped speedster windshield, lightweight alloy wheels and racing stripe paint job.

The engine has had some oomph added by way of a supercharger feeding it extra air, plus a reworked exhaust headers and exhaust system to... Toyota has taken a somewhat paradoxical tack at creating a stripped-down single-seat club racer out of a front-wheel-drive Yaris econo car. The company says the design harks back to the racing heritage of the Can-Am Group 7 category Toyota 7 from the late 1960s. The little car certainly looks well-suited to track duty, with its minimalist design essentially doing away with the entire interior except for the cockpit, low-chopped speedster windshield, lightweight alloy wheels and racing stripe paint job. The engine has had some oomph added by way of a supercharger feeding it extra air, plus a reworked exhaust headers and exhaust system to handle the extra flow. Upgraded coil-over shocks were added, the car was lowered and larger brakes more suitable to repeated use were installed as well. The final result is an output up 60hp (45kW) over stock at 166hp (124kW), a very aggressive look for such a small vehicle, and what is likely a good deal of additional grip and transitional capability thanks to the suspension upgrade and 17x7.5" alloy wheels. The car is likely to be an enjoyable track-day companion, but it doesn't really do justice to its Can-Am racer muse, whatever the paint scheme.Toyota Yaris Club by Five Axis Read More