What car does Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi a.k.a. His Serene Highness Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco drive? He drives a Prius.
Today, he switched it for a plug-in hybrid Prius. The minute the first plug-ion hybrid was available in Europe, Toyota shipped it to Monaco as a two month loaner. (Read More…)
“At the Nürburgring, there is always a car that passes me. It is a BMW.“ So said Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda today as he announced a deepening of the relationships between Toyota, and the company that makes those cars that pass Toyoda on the Ring. The surprising part: BMW and Toyota will jointly “develop architecture and components for a future sports vehicle.” (Read More…)
For two years, the world was worried about a possible rare earth shock, triggered by the crafty Chinese. As they are withholding the dirt that is essential for magnets, motors, and generators, an electrified world will go on its knees – or so the theory went.
The opposite happened. Right when everybody was ready to blame the high prices of EVs and hybrids on the Chinese, prices of rare earths crashed. Small miners went belly-up. And now, shockers of shockers, The Nikkei [sub] says that Japan found 200 years’ worth of rare earth near an island. Even bigger shocker: The island is not on the China side of Japan, it’s in the Pacific. (Read More…)
Toyota and BMW will announce a closer alliance as early as Friday, The Nikkei [sub] and Tokyo scuttlebutt say. According to the Nikkei, the two will share Toyota’s hybrid and fuel cell technology. BMW will try seeking scale effects for its CFRP technology. TTAC will feature a closer look into Toyota’s carbon fiber capabilities once we have finished our own research. (Read More…)
Judging from their writings, many TTAC commenters are prime candidates for a job as CEO at one of the world’s largest automakers. However, be careful who you work for. Executive pay is all over the map. It ranges from a charitable contribution of $1.71 million given to Toyota’s CEO, to nearly $29 million a year on Ford’s Alan Mulally’s paystub.
This according to a table circulated among reporters who, perched precariously in the 6th floor balcony of the National Convention Hall at the Pacifico in Yokohama, observed Nissan’s 113th ordinary general shareholders meeting today. (Read More…)
Today, Germany’s Spiegel Magazin reports what we suspected since last December: “BMW and Toyota edge closer.” Both, says the magazine, will “enter a close partnership that transcends the projects that were agreed in the past.” (Read More…)
Less than a week before Nissan’s stockholder meeting on the 26th at the Pacifico in Yokohama, Carlos Ghosn’s inner circle in Paris and Yokohama finds itself chasing a warmed-over rumor. Today, Bloomberg writes that “Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn is considering stepping down before the company’s next mid-term business plan begins in about five years.” A source close to Ghosn calls it “absolute nonsense and a yawner.” (Read More…)
Again and again, executives at Japanese car companies warned of a “hollowing out” of the Japanese industry if the yen remains as overvalued as it is. The yen remains unimpressed. Now, the executives start hollowing. A day after rumors of a reduction of domestic capacity at Toyota had hit the wires, Nissan is said to trim domestic output capacity by 15 percent. It will happen as early as next month, The Nikkei [sub] says. (Read More…)
Toyota will cut its production capacity in Japan by more than 10 percent to some 3.1 million units by 2014, if The Nikkei [sub] is correctly informed. (Read More…)
Honda is mining for rare earth in unusual places: In cars.
Honda has been extracting rare earth metals from used nickel-metal hydride batteries since April. Today, the company announced it will begin reusing the extracted metals before the end of 2012. (Read More…)
There is an unusual exhibitor at the International Tokyo Toy Show: Toyota. The company shows a grown-up toy car. The car seats 3 children up to 4 feet tall. It has an engine. It drives. Being a toy, it can be dismantled and put together in many different ways. Twist a few knobs, and the car converts from a retro sedan to an offroadish buggy. There is another turn: the toy is supposed to turn on kids to cars. (Read More…)
“This is my baby,” said Nissan’s Andy Palmer last year at the Tokyo Motor Show, and affectionately patted the head of Nissan’s new NV350 Caravan. “Let’s be honest. The competitor is the Hiace. This car beats Hiace in every single way you could imagine.” This morning in Yokohama, Andy’s baby did its first steps into the rough world of light commercial vehicles. (Read More…)
The Lexus ES has been the best-selling Lexus sedan for decades, outselling every Lexus model except for the RX. While the ES was originally designed as the Japanese luxury brand’s entry-level vehicle in America, it is slowly becoming one of Lexus’ flagship products. To prove to us that Lexus has what it takes to reign supreme in the FWD luxury class they created in 1989, they flew us up to Oregon to sample the all-new, sixth generation ES 350 and 300h hybrid.
In Japan, drivers of Nissan’s all-electric Leaf plant trees while they drive. Nissan started a Zero Emission Fund. Carbon credits are paid into this fund by converting the CO2 emissions prevented by individual Leaf owners in Japan. (Read More…)
When we wrote about Mitsubishi’s electric attack on the hill at Pike’s Peak, Toyota did not want to confirm rumors that WRC rally driver Fumio Nutahara would join the race on Toyota’s behalf in a TMG EV P001, the same that set a new electric lap record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. They were right. The rumor was off by a digit. (Read More…)
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