Lawyers would have to do pro bono work, or subsist on doing divorces and writing wills, would it not be for Toyota. Toyota’s contribution to the world of jurisprudence is immeasurable. They are in a drawn-out lawsuit against their own (former) lawyer. And they are named in more than 300 federal and state lawsuits including proposed class actions over allegations that the vehicles suddenly accelerated and couldn’t be stopped. Toyota is trying to put the brakes on that. (Read More…)

In the second bit of bad news for Toyota to break today, Corporate Counsel reports that former Toyota lawyer Dimitrios Biller has been cleared by an arbitrator to present evidence that Toyota claimed was protected by attorney-client privilege. That evidence reportedly proves that Toyota concealed safety information, although its value has been hotly debated. The evidence will be presented in Biller’s civil RICO suit against Toyota now that the arbitrator in that case has ruled that hey are not protected by attorney-client privilege. Biller tells CC

Attorney-client privileged information almost never gets to the finder of fact to determine the merits of the case. I am halfway there. The burden is now on Toyota to prove me wrong

But for full context, a retired federal judge clarifies that

The Arbitrator does not rule that a crime or a fraud has taken place. The ruling is simply that a prima facia showing has been made, so otherwise-privileged materials may be used in discovery and arbitration.

(Read More…)

Toyota turned into a fast breeder for hybrids. They will  introduce six new hybrid models worldwide by 2012, says The Nikkei [sub]

Furthermore, they will display an electric car at the Los Angeles auto show in November that is being developed jointly with Tesla.

Sometimes we forget that Toyota Motor Corp. is a member of a huge keiretsu (conglomerate). Well, The Nikkei [sub] reminds us that a “Toyota Motor Corp. affiliated trading house will obtain artificially raised juvenile fish about 6cm long from the university’s fishery lab in Wakayama Prefecture.” Juvenile fish? (Read More…)

Ray LaHood is great, isn’t he? When that big nasty corporation, Toyota, was building those awful machines that were murdering people and their children in their sleep in the middle of the night, he urged everyone to “stop driving your Toyotas” (Ford also had a problem with unintended acceleration, but LaHood couldn’t go after them with the same vigor as he was busy dealing holding “Toyota’s feet to the fire” at the time). His useful piece of advice led to a calm and controlled recall and gave people the courage to come forward and give their horror stories of how their Toyotas went all “HAL” on them. Then came allegations that Ray and the NHTSA were suppressing a report that confirmed it wasn’t the cars but driver error. Well, Ray knew he was being stabbed in the back but you can’t keep a good man quiet for long… (Read More…)

The ever rising yen makes Japanese manufacturers flirt with the idea of abandoning the land of the rising sun and to shift production abroad. Toyota President Akio Toyoda told Asahi Shimbun that Toyota wants to keep building cars in Japan — for domestic sales. Even that is up for discussion. (Read More…)

Toyota has been selling many hybrids since they introduced the Toyota Coaster Hybrid EV minibus in 1997. A few months later, they started mass-production of the Prius, and it’s been a runaway hit. In Japan, the Prius is leading the charts. The Toyota hybrid system is available in minivans, SUVs and sedans. Nine TMC-produced hybrid passenger vehicle models and three hybrid commercial vehicle models are sold in Japan. Outside Japan, eight hybrid passenger vehicle models are sold in approximately 80 countries.  So far, Toyota has sold  2.68 million hybrids throughout the world. Of course, Toyota is proud of that achievement. But what are they really proud of? That they have saved the world from a huge pile of dangerous dirt. (Read More…)

The Japanese “Big Three” automakers all saw significant sales drops in August, thanks to similarly large increases in August 2009 sales spurred by Cash For Clunkers. Toyota/Lexus/Scion sales fell 34 percent, as Camry and Corolla crashed down from insane C4C volumes of 54,936 and 43,061 respectively. Only Avalon, Sienna, 4Runner/FJ Cruiser and Sequoia gained year-over-year last month for the Toyota brand, while lower-volume Lexus models like HS, LS, SC, GX and LX were the firm’s sole luxury gainers. As a brand, Scion sold only 4,012 units. Honda’s Accord and Civic mirrored the Camry/Corolla’s drop, as Odyssey and Pilot were the only Honda-branded gainers. Acura RL, MDX and RDX were all up on the month, and Honda/Acura ended up with a 33 percent decline overall. Nissan saw sales growth from Maxima, Titan, Xterra, Pathfinder, Armada, and Murano.Conversely,  G37 Coupe and FX were the the only Infiniti models failing to outperform August 2009 sales, resulting in an overall 27 percent drop. Full numbers after the jump…

(Read More…)

Toyota’s Verso S will debut at the forthcoming Paris Auto Show, and these first pictures show that iQ-inspired styling is starting to creep across the Toyota small-car lineup. So does the edgier (by Toyota standards) iQ-inspired design language mean the shortest micro-MPV in Europe (at under 4 meters) might make it stateside as a Scion-branded van? Anything’s possible, but Toyota ain’t saying… for now.

So you think when a big company gives you (and your lawyer)  a sizable sum to settle a lawsuit, the lawsuit is settled?  To their horror, Toyota just found out that it’s not over when it’s over. Toyota could find itself wide open. Possibly to hundreds of old lawsuits that were settled and could haunt them again. Five years ago, Pennie Green’s Camry rolled over. Of course, it was Toyota’s fault, why don’t they build roll-over proof Camrys.  The woman was paralyzed. The personal injury suit was settled for $1.5 million. That should be it.  Then Ms. Green and her lawyer had a change of mind that could change the world of jurisprudence. At least in America … (Read More…)

If you think Toyota has problems, you sure can’t see them on their monthly report.  Toyota just released sales and production numbers for July,  and they look beauteous: (Read More…)

A press release, issued last night by Edmunds, had a devastating effect on Toyota. As the Tokyo bourse opened, the TMC share sunk to a fresh year-to-date low of 2,890 yen. In the afternoon session, it recovered a bit, but not much, to close at 2,941 yen. Ooops. In the beginning of the year, the ToMoCo share traded above 4000. What were the horrible news? (Read More…)

Toyota launched their hybrid Prius in late 1997. 13 years later, Toyota has sold a total of about 2.6m hybrids, says The Nikkei [sub]. That mostly because it is the top selling car in Japan.  And also “thanks to government subsidies that favor hybrids over other fuel-efficient cars,” as Automotive News [sub] remarks. Toyota doesn’t want to rest on its laurels. (Read More…)

Psssst! Want to buy Japanese car makers below book value? Now is the time. Spooked by the strong Japanese Yen, stocks of export-heavy Japanese automakers such as Toyota and Suzuki can be had for less than the assets on the books. (Read More…)