TOYOTA AUSTRALIA has announced a raft of updates for the 70 Series Landcruiser range, including better passive safety equipment and more generous standard features.

Driver and front passenger airbags are now standard and an extended front bumper houses sensors for the airbag system.

A new four-spoke steering wheel with telescopic adjustment has also been added to [...]

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TOYOTA HAS ANNOUNCED the development of revolutionary new lithium-ion battery technology, which enables enormous gains in power storage and, ultimately, increased range for electric and hybrid vehicles.

The new battery tech was developed in partnership with Japan’s Tohoku University and reportedly uses single crystals of lithium cobalt oxide to create its prodigious capacity.

Toyota is keeping the [...]

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NEW TOYOTA PRESIDENT Akio Toyoda announced this week that the world’s biggest carmaker will fast-track development of its upcoming lightweight entry-level RWD sports car.

Speaking at the 2009 Center for Automotive Research Conference, Mr Toyoda - an avid performance car enthusiast - said he personally wanted to see more driving fun injected into Toyota’s model line-up.
“My [...]

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TOYOTA HAS ANNOUNCED plans to manufacture a full hybrid version of its Auris small car (known as the Corolla hatch in Australia) at its Derbyshire plant in the United Kingdom.

While there are no solid plans to bring it here, Toyota Australia has told TMR that the petrol-electric hatchback hasn’t been entirely ruled out for our [...]

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THE ANNUAL Global Green Car Challenge is shaping up to be a good one this year. Scheduled to begin in Darwin on October 24 and finish 3000km away in Adelaide on October 31, this year’s event will see environmentally-friendly production cars battling for the title of “most eco-friendly” alongside the usual experimental solar-powered.

Originally a solar-only [...]

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TOYOTA HAS UNLEASHED its most eco-friendly model yet, launching the third-gen 2010 Prius into the Australian market.

The Prius ties with the MINI Cooper D for average fuel consumption -  requiring just 3.9 l/100km on the combined cycle - but beats it for CO2 emissions with its 89g/km rating.

Surprisingly, it’s quicker as well as being more [...]

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THE ASTON MARTIN CYGNET concept revealed last week, based on the Toyota iQ, might seem like a pairing akin to Ronald McDonald serving supper to the Queen of England, but CEO Dr Ulrich Bez promises the Cygnet is more Aston than not.

Speaking with the UK’s Auto Express magazine, Dr Bez said the Cygnet represents an [...]

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WHILE TOYOTA HAS already announced the start of low-volume plug-in hybrid production, the Japanese automaker will reportedly be ramping up output of the mains-charged cars to a whopping 20,000 to 30,000 cars by 2013.

By the end of this year, 500 plug-in Priuses will be leased out to government and private fleets in the USA, Japan [...]

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AKIO TOYODA, the man responsible for the Lexus LF-A supercar and the M3-rivalling IS-F sports sedan, begins his job as President of Toyota today, after 25 years with the company.

Grandson of Kiichiro Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, 52-year-old Akio Toyoda takes over from 66-year-old Katsuaki Watanabe, who has been Toyota chief [...]

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AS AUSTRALIAN CAR BUYERS gradually warm to the idea of diesel engines, and Peugeot, Citroen and Volvo forge ahead with their plans to bring diesel-electric hybrids to market, Toyota, the world’s current hybrid-car leader, has reportedly nixed the idea of an oil-burning hybrid.

Toyota currently produces a diesel hybrid truck for the Japanese market, but it [...]

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Touch Tracer is the first display system in the world to allow steering wheel controls to read out on the instrument panel. (Overseas model shown)

THE ALL-NEW TOYOTA PRIUS features a clever new piece of technology Toyota has named Touch Tracer, allowing the driver to view important vehicle information on a heads-up display, requiring the minimum [...]

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THE CHEVY VOLT isn’t too far away from the showroom and Volvo has just announced that it’ll be bringing out its own plug-in hybrid in 2012. They’re not alone either, as Volkswagen is already trialing its plug-in tech and high consumer interest in plug-in hybrids has prompted Honda to revise its no plug-in stance.

Not to [...]

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