Toyota

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Toyota Dumps Raunchy 'Incest' Ad

Boyfriend vows to have daughter 'on her back by 11'

(Newser) - Toyota has dumped an Australian teen night-on-the-town online ad dripping with sexual innuendo and smacking of date rape and incest following a storm of angry complaints. The ad, created by an independent filmmaker, features a young man who arrives at the door of a home to tell the father of...

GM CEO Henderson Resigns
 GM CEO Henderson Resigns 

GM CEO Henderson Resigns

Move comes as sales figures show industry stabilizing

(Newser) - General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson has resigned after only 8 months in his post. He will be replaced on an interim basis by board chairman Ed Whitacre Jr. Henderson took over in March and led the company through bankruptcy proceedings and helped it toward its goal of scaling down to...

Feds: Toyota Statement on Accidents 'Misleading'
Feds: Toyota Statement on Accidents 'Misleading'
RUNAWAY CARS

Feds: Toyota Statement on Accidents 'Misleading'

Matter isn't closed, says NHTSA

(Newser) - Federal safety officials have criticized Toyota for trying to play down mechanical concerns over their "runaway cars.” Though victims and media reports have suggested that computer malfunctions or pedal design flaws are to blame in several incidents in which cars uncontrollably accelerated, Toyota says oversize floor mats are...

'Runaway Car' Owners Don't Believe Toyota's Explanation

They fault electronics, not recalled floor mats

(Newser) - Many Toyota owners don’t buy the company’s claim that floor mats are behind an accelerator malfunction, ABC reports. Toyota has ordered a 3.8 million-car recall for a problem that has vehicles suddenly and uncontrollably accelerating to high speeds, offering the explanation that an oversize floor mat pins...

In Eco-Terms, Dog = Hummer
 In Eco-Terms, 
 Dog = Hummer 
pop science

In Eco-Terms, Dog = Hummer

(Newser) - A dog has about the same impact on the planet as an SUV, according to a study out of New Zealand. The authors of Time to Eat the Dog? The Real Guide to Sustainable Living claim the environmental footprint of a Toyota Land Cruiser is smaller than the ecological impact...

Nissan Leaf Wins Name Game
 Nissan Leaf Wins Name Game 

Nissan Leaf Wins Name Game

Not dirty, sexy, or violent, brand is 'a minor miracle'

(Newser) - Nissan already had its work cut out in designing a hybrid—whatever it made had to measure up to Toyota’s hugely successful Prius. Then it needed a name, which came at the end of a process blending business, culture, and the law. Possibilities must be cleared in hundreds of...

Saturn: GM's Biggest Mistake
 Saturn: GM's Biggest Mistake  
ANALYSIS

Saturn: GM's Biggest Mistake

Brand was an unsustainable distraction from the start

(Newser) - As General Motors’ Saturn experiment ends with a whimper, it’s important to understand that the brand was a failure from the start. Some obituaries blame GM for not providing a fuller roster of vehicles to build customer loyalty—but if anything, the automaker gave Saturn too much, writes Mark...

Toyota Will Recall 3.8M Vehicles in Floor Mat Danger

Company fears accelerator pedal in Camry, Prius, others can become trapped

(Newser) - Toyota will issue a recall next week on 3.8 million vehicles—including many popular Camry, Prius and Lexus models—over fears that accelerator pedals can become stuck under floor mats even after drivers take their feet off. In the meantime, a company rep tells Automotive News, owners should remove...

Japanese Mull Noisier Hybrids to Protect Blind

Survey finds blind people are unnerved by silent vehicles

(Newser) - Japanese automakers are looking into ways to make their super-quiet hybrid cars a lot louder after more than half of blind people surveyed said they were terrified of the vehicles, AP reports. The automakers are considering equipping the vehicles with radar to sense pedestrians and make sounds like engine noises...

Toyota Accused of Hiding Evidence on Rollover Deaths

Lawsuit from former company lawyer says Toyota concealed documents in hundreds of cases

(Newser) - A former top lawyer for Toyota says the company concealed evidence relating to hundreds of rollover accidents that caused death and injury, the Los Angeles Times reports. The attorney, who says he was forced to resign from the firm in 2007, has filed a lawsuit alleging that engineering data that...

700K Cars Sold Under Clunkers

(Newser) - The final numbers for the Cash for Clunkers are in, and they’re pretty rosy, the Los Angeles Times reports. Dealers had until yesterday to file for rebates, and the total was 690,114 new cars sold—and 690,114 clunkers traded in—for a total of $2.9 billion,...

Toyota Plans Cheaper, More Fuel-Efficient Hybrid

(Newser) - Toyota plans to keep its lead in the environmentally friendly vehicle market with a new car to be released in 2011, Bloomberg reports. The vehicle, to be based on the company's Vitz compact, will be around 5% more fuel-efficient than its Prius and will sell for around $15,600, according...

Cars Replacing Clunkers Are Mostly Japanese

(Newser) - The "cash for clunkers" program might be a boon for car dealers, but for American automakers the news isn't so good—four of the five top-selling cars in the program are Japanese. While the Ford Focus is the No. 1 seller, Toyota and Honda occupy the next four spots....

Ford, Toyota Say Sales Slide Ending

(Newser) - A rare sentiment emerged from the auto industry today: cautious optimism. New sales figures show that Americans bought 860,000 vehicles in June, the Wall Street Journal reports. That's down 28% from last year, but it's also the smallest monthly sales drop of the year. Ford and Toyota both declared...

Toyota Rolls Out Mind-Controlled Wheelchair

Chair can translate thoughts into commands within milliseconds

(Newser) - Toyota has unveiled research on a mind-controlled wheelchair that can read its user's thoughts much faster and more accurately than any previous efforts, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The chair's interface reads brainwave activity and responds to imagined hand and foot movements within 125 milliseconds with up to 95% accuracy,...

10 Cars That Changed Our Lives
 10 Cars That Changed Our Lives

10 Cars That Changed Our Lives

Forbes compiles autos that changed the world

(Newser) - Cars can create or symbolize profound change—in lifestyle, financial status, and even forms of government. Forbes looks at 10 that changed the world:
  1. Toyota Prius. The flagship model for all hybrids, the Prius opened people's minds to the ugly environmental impact of driving. It remains the world's best-selling hybrid
...

US Automakers See Sales Increase in May

Ford, GM have best month of 2009

(Newser) - Some actual good news for the auto industry: All three US automakers saw sales of new cars jump from April to May, reports the New York Times. Granted, sales are still way down compared to last year, but the month-to-month leap offers a glimmer of hope among the bankruptcy headlines....

Big Three See Bumpy Road With 20-Somethings

Demographic key to rebuilding for US automakers

(Newser) - Detroit automakers face a hard road when it comes to Generation Y—consumers aged 22-32 whose business is crucial to securing the firms' futures, BusinessWeek reports. Their boomer parents broke from tradition by shifting to Japanese cars, and Gen Y is following in those footsteps. Detroit “simply must do...

Toyota Forecasts First-Ever Annual Loss

$8.6B loss is far worse than anticipated

(Newser) - Toyota forecast a 2009 loss of $8.6 billion, its first annual loss ever and one far deeper than anticipated, Reuters reports. Only last year Toyota posted record profits and climbed past GM to become the world's largest car maker, but the global downturn in the auto industry and a...

Honda Ready to Take On the Prius
 Honda Ready to 
 Take On the Prius 
AUTO REVIEW

Honda Ready to Take On the Prius

Insight cheaper, simpler than Toyota's hybrid king

(Newser) - Honda is rolling out a fresh—and worthy—competitor to Toyota’s Prius, king of the hybrid market, writes Joseph P. White in the Wall Street Journal. The 2010 Insight will sell for just under $20,000, some $2,000 less than the most popular Prius model, and gets “...

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