Prius

Toyota targets 20% October U.S. gain on Camry, Prius sales

2:11 pm U.S. ET | Oct. 25, 2012
Toyota, rebounding in the United States after four years of falling sales, may report a 20 percent rise in October deliveries on demand for Camry sedans and Prius hybrids, a group vice president said.... Read More »

 

Toyota Prius line becomes top-selling vehicle in Calif.

12:01 am U.S. ET | Oct. 19, 2012
Toyota's expanded Prius hybrid lineup has surged past the Honda Accord and Civic, and Toyota Camry, to become the best-selling vehicle line this year in California, the biggest United States auto market.... Read More »

 

DAVID PHILLIPS

Ford ups the ante in fuel economy wars

3:23 pm U.S. ET | Oct. 17, 2012
Lost amid the squabbling over drilling permits on public land, Iowa wind farms, Massachusetts coal plants and high gasoline prices during Wednesday's heated presidential debate, another shot was fired on the front lines of the battle for energy independence.... Read More »

 

Toyota touts hybrids on shopping network

12:01 am U.S. ET | Oct. 8, 2012
In a first for an automaker, Toyota bought three hours of airtime on the Home Shopping Network on Sunday, Oct. 7, to promote its hybrid vehicle lineup.... Read More »

 

Ford takes on Toyota Prius in ad campaign for C-Max hybrid wagon

9:35 am U.S. ET | Oct. 4, 2012
Ford, introducing its first hybrid-only model, is targeting Toyota's market- leading Prius in a series of advertisements starting today. The C-Max wagon, a vehicle Ford brought from Europe and equipped with a gasoline-electric propulsion system, arrived in showrooms last month.... Read More »

 

Volt deals, Toyota plug-in Prius buoy rechargeable-car sales

6:19 pm U.S. ET | Oct. 2, 2012
General Motors' Chevrolet Volt widened its lead as the top-selling U.S. rechargeable car this year and Toyota Motor Corp. expanded plug-in Prius deliveries as Nissan said it's working to boost electric Leaf sales.... Read More »

 

Toyota sales jump 42% on car volume

4:56 pm U.S. ET | Oct. 2, 2012
Rebounding Camry, Corolla and Prius sales enabled Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. to continue making up lost ground last month with a 42 percent sales gain over September 2011.... Read More »

 

CARS & CONCEPTS

Toyota: Prius Plug-in needs more marketing

12:01 am U.S. ET | Oct. 1, 2012
Toyota Motor Corp. says it misjudged the market for its Prius Plug-in, which went on sale in Japan in January and in the United States in the spring. The solution: more marketing and, maybe, revised styling.... Read More »

 

FINAL ASSEMBLY

Prius chief: Toyota eyes 1 million hybrid sales in N.A. in this decade

12:01 am U.S. ET | Oct. 1, 2012
Toyota, which expects to sell 1 million hybrid vehicles worldwide this year, could sell that many in North America alone as early as 2018, the company's top Prius engineer predicted.... Read More »

 

Daimler, BMW, VW race to catch up with EV, hybrid models

Sept. 25, 2012 10:04 CET
German automakers including Daimler, BMW and VW have spent much of the past decade fine-tuning their diesel and gasoline engines, letting Toyota race ahead in hybrid technology and more recently, allowing GM and the Renault-Nissan alliance take the lead in electric-powered vehicles.... Read More »

 

Toyota drops plans for widespread sales of EV minicar

7:34 am U.S. ET | Sept. 24, 2012
Toyota has scrapped plans for widespread sales of a new all-electric minicar, saying it had misread the market and the ability of still-emerging battery technology to meet consumer demands. Toyota said today it expected to have 21 hybrid gas-electric models like the Prius in its line-up by 2015. Of that total, 14 of the new hybrids will be all-new, the automaker said.... Read More »

 

Ford wants C-Max to grab fleet sales from Prius

12:01 am U.S. ET | Aug. 27, 2012
With its new C-Max Hybrid, the Ford brand hopes to take a bite out of the Toyota Prius' dominance of the hybrid vehicle market, not just retail sales but also sales to fleets. Ford's marketing strategy includes attractive pricing and performance.... Read More »

 

Toyota wants car sales of 1 million, profit in Europe

Aug. 9, 2012 06:01 CET
From 2005 to 2007, Toyota consistently sold more than 1 million cars a year in the 56-countries that make up its European market. The problem is that it wasn't making any money. After some rough times that included last year's natural disasters in Japan and Thailand, Toyota is determined to boost European sales above the 1-million mark again within two to three years – and do so profitably. The man pushing Toyota toward these goals is European CEO Didier Leroy.... Read More »

 

Toyota posts $3.7 billion quarterly profit, hikes sales forecast

4:02 am U.S. ET | Aug. 3, 2012
Toyota reported a big increase in first-quarter profit and raised its vehicle sales forecast on demand for its cars in North America and Japan. The automaker said vehicle sales at its Toyota, Daihatsu and Hino brands would increase to 9.76 million from January to December, raising an earlier target of 9.58 million.... Read More »

 

Toyota's profit bucks downward trend in Europe

Aug. 3, 2012 11:00 CET
Unlike mass-market rivals GM and Ford, Toyota posted a quarterly profit in Europe. The Japanese automaker reported a first-quarter operating profit of 35.6 million euros compared with a 68.8 million euro operating loss in Europe during the same period last year, when it was reeling from the effects of natural disasters in Japan.... Read More »

 

Ford: C-Max Energi plug-in to have electric range of 20 miles

4:11 pm U.S. ET | July 20, 2012
Ford said today it expects its first plug-in hybrid to have an electric-only range of roughly 20 miles -- almost twice that of the Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid. Although the car has not been tested or certified by the EPA, Ford projects that the upcoming C-Max Energi will have a driving range of about 20 miles solely on battery power.... Read More »

 

Hybrid sales, tablet boom strain lithium supplies as prices triple

8:04 pm U.S. ET | June 19, 2012
The exploding popularity of iPads and increasing sales of hybrid cars is driving up prices of lithium used for batteries. Prices for the conductive metal, the lightest in the periodic table, have tripled since 2000 in a market now worth $1 billion a year as uses expand in vehicles, ceramics, electronics and lubricants.... Read More »

 

Nissan sees Leaf sales doubling as U.S. plant comes online

6:19 pm U.S. ET | June 17, 2012
Nissan will overcome a slowdown in deliveries of its all-electric Leaf vehicle, doubling U.S. sales to 20,000 during its current fiscal year, the vice chairman of its U.S. unit said.... Read More »

 

MARK RECHTIN

Toyota takes too much credit for 'Prius' sales

2:47 pm U.S. ET | June 4, 2012
When is a Toyota Prius not a Prius? When it's a Prius C. Toyota would like America to embrace the idea of its Prius family of four hybrid vehicles in a warm hug of environmentalism. Toyota might be taking it a bit too far.... Read More »

 

Volt tops plug-in Prius, Leaf in rechargeable car sales

5:13 pm U.S. ET | June 1, 2012
The Chevrolet Volt was the best-selling rechargeable auto in the United States in May, topping Toyota's plug-in Prius and Nissan's all-electric Leaf hatchback. Sales of the GM plug-in sedan more than tripled to 1,680 units from 481 a year earlier.... Read More »

 

Toyota Prius C denied Consumer Reports recommendation

10:24 am U.S. ET | May 31, 2012
Toyota's Prius C, its cheapest hybrid vehicle, failed to receive a recommendation from Consumer Reports magazine, which said the subcompact hatchback offers a harsh and noisy ride.... Read More »

 

SPLIT OVER PLUG-INS

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 28, 2012
A disconnect is emerging between the White House and the auto industry over the short-term future of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.... Read More »

 

THE GREAT RETHINKER

Takeshi Uchiyamada helped pilot Toyota through turbulent times

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 21, 2012
Takeshi Uchiyamada, the enormously influential Toyota Motor Corp. executive who next month takes on the largely advisory role of vice chairman, drew inspiration from Japan's doomed push to build a jet fighter in the last days of World War II. The saga, as Uchiyamada told it in a speech to Toyota executives, kept him plugging away as lead engineer on the first-generation Prius, another project that was short on time, long on ambition and against heavy odds.... Read More »