The Japanese automaker has a new SUV coming, possibly an EV. Last week, we saw the rear end; today, we’re getting a glimpse of the interior, which appears to have three rows of seats. We still don’t have any details about the powertrain, although Toyota characterized the new vehicle as “big energy” — whatever that means.
Toyota unveiled a concept version of its frumpy, best-selling sedan at the Tokyo auto show this week. The concept was, dare I say, sharp as hell? Practically makes you want to slowly lower your sunglasses and let out an appreciative whistle.
Toyota has been extremely reticent about EVs — environmentalists would even call them obstructionist — but an electric Corolla would do numbers. Toyota says the new platform could support gas, hybrid, or electric. Let’s see if they deliver on that promise.
During his CES press conference today, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said the company was “exploring rockets.” Indeed, Toyota had just announced that it had invested an undisclosed sum in Interstellar Technologies, a private Japanese spaceflight company, with the aim to leverage Toyota’s manufacturing prowess to mass produce rockets.
At the end of the event, Toyoda cracked that “the future of mobility shouldn’t be limited to just Earth, or just one car company” — a possible dig at Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s ownership of SpaceX.
The company is expected to update its progress on Woven City, its “living laboratory” in Japan for future mobility projects. Tune in here.
The project will add a new 1 million-square-foot painting facility at its Georgetown location. Toyota had already invested $1.3 billion into the Kentucky site in February to kick off its electrification efforts.
Toyota made a one-off Land Cruiser concept for SEMA that would make a Wrangler fan blush. The “ROX” is based on the 2024 Land Cruiser but is open-air like the ones the automaker made decades ago. Ford brought back the Bronco, and Toyota should follow suit.
The automakers describe the yet-to-be-revealed EV as “a nimble SUV with the sharp driving characteristics of a BEV” with “ample cruising range.” Production is scheduled for spring 2025 at Suzuki Motor Gujarat.
I would love to see them make an electric rickshaw or motorcycle as well.
[Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website]
The world’s biggest car company is joining seven other automakers, including BMW, Honda, General Motors, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis. Ionna plans to install a few chargers by the end of this year, and more than 30,000 across North America by 2030. By that time, Toyota and Lexus together plan to offer 30 EV models globally, the company says.
While everyone was getting worked up about the announcement of the next Pokémon game, the Toyota Engineering Society was busy working on a special project to create a life-sized Miraidon, the motorcycle-like legendary dragon mascot from Pokémon Violet.
Even though we’ll probably never get a chance to see the thing actually zooming around, it’s still cool as hell seeing it come together in this video about the collaboration.
The all-new 2024 Tacoma lineup (which is adding a hybrid option) uses a portable Toyota-branded JBL “FLEX” device as a center speaker for the main audio system when docked away — and since two of those Toyota speakers can pair for stereo sound... all you need are two Tacomas.
Rivian’s all-electric R1T and R1S also have a removable Bluetooth Camp speaker / lamp that elegantly hides away, although future models could swap in a drawer instead.
Legacy car company trying a “Silicon Valley-style” software unit with impossible ambitions running into the cold hard reality of needing to actually ship working software? Nope, not VW: this time it’s Toyota, whose Woven Planet software subsidiary working on CES-style nonsense ideas has basically hit the rocks.
Toyota named the concept Arene, a kind of operating system for cars that was envisioned as making it possible for drivers to wirelessly download a wide array of upgrades, just like Tesla. Arene-powered vehicles would connect to a cloud network, gathering and sharing data among millions of vehicles, smart homes and city infrastructure. Developers outside of Toyota would be able to use it to design their own applications and services for cars, and Arene would be open for use by other automakers as well, in the manner of Android, the mobile operating system that runs on many brands of smartphone.
The Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo saw the debut of five different electrified sports cars, ranging from production-intent coupes to outrageous concept supercars.
