Topic: Toyota / Lexus Tidbits

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Toyota to recall 215,020 Lexus, other cars in Japan
Some cars in U.S., Canada and Britain included

Reuters
November 28, 2007 - 1:15 am ET   
 
TOKYO (Reuters) -- Toyota Motor Corp said today it would recall 215,020 units of the Lexus GS, Crown and three other high-end car models in Japan to fix a faulty fuel pipe that could lead to a fuel leakage.

The recall covers Crown, Lexus GS350, Lexus IS250, Lexus IS350 and Mark X sedans manufactured between December 2003 and December 2005, Japan's top automaker said in a filing with the transport ministry. No accident has been reported.

Another 49,000 of the Lexus models with the same design defect will be recalled in the United States, Britain and Canada and other markets, a spokesman said.

Shares in Toyota reacted little, falling 2.0 percent to 5,980 yen in late trade, largely unchanged from levels before the news.

[sailor723]

Almost seems like Toyota is trying to pass GM by acting like GM

Almost seems like Toyota is trying to pass GM by acting like GM  

That's ironic because it is a GM plant.  Gm still owns the plant. GM put up 400 million for the joint venture and Toyota 100 mil plus whatever the State of California threw in.  It's Toyota's worst operation.

Maybe it's like what happened to MB and Chrysler....Toyota got too close to GM in this case and caught their disease

[Mitlov]

The recall covers Crown, Lexus GS350, Lexus IS250, Lexus IS350 and Mark X sedans manufactured between December 2003 and December 2005

The IS250/350 came out in 2006, I thought.  What am I missing here? 

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Court rules Toyota employee worked to death


Reuters
November 30, 2007 - 5:55 am ET   
 
TOKYO (Reuters) -- A Toyota Motor Corp. employee died of overwork after logging more than 106 hours of overtime in a month, a judge ruled today, reversing a ministry's earlier decision not to pay compensation to his widow.

The Toyota Labor Standards Inspection office, a local branch of Japan's labor ministry, refused to pay the widow the usual compensation for a spouse's work-related death, saying the man had only logged 45 hours of overtime in the month before he died, Japanese media reported.

But the court ruled that the employee had worked far more than that, said Yomiuri Online, a Japanese news Web site. The Nagoya District Court in central Japan said the ruling overturned the labor ministry's decision.

"We want to think of how to respond to this ruling by discussing it with relevant agencies," an official at the Toyota Labor Standards Inspection Office told Reuters.

The employee, who was working at a Toyota factory in central Japan, died of irregular heartbeat in February 2002 after passing out in the factory around 4 a.m.

"[The employee] worked for extremely long hours and the relationship between his work and death is strong," Yomiuri Online quoted Judge Toshiro Tamiya as saying.

Overworking is a serious issue in Japan, where an average worker uses less than 50 percent of paid holidays, according to government data.

In fiscal year 2005-2006, the labor ministry received 315 requests for compensation from the bereaved families of workers who died of strokes and other illnesses seen as work-related.

Toyota said in a statement it would further improve the management of its employees' health.

[safristi]

..Oh DROP DEAD..............................

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Toyota brand to enter South Korea in 2009


Reuters
December 4, 2007 -- 06:01 CET   
 
TOKYO (Reuters) -- Toyota Motor Corp will launch its flagship Toyota brand in South Korea in 2009 to benefit from the country's fast-growing import-car market, the Nikkan Kogyo industrial daily reported.

Japan's top automaker will likely concentrate on hybrid cars such as the Prius, to be sold initially through several dealerships to be run by group trading firm Toyota Tsusho Corp, the paper said.

A Toyota spokeswoman said the plan was under consideration and that nothing had been decided.

Toyota entered the South Korean market, dominated by local Hyundai Motor Co, in 2001 with the high-end Lexus brand. It is now the top-selling import marque, followed closely by BMW and Honda Motor Co.

Lexus's sales grew 13 percent to 6,581 cars in 2006, and by 18 percent in the first 10 months of this year. The total import car market is up 32 percent so far this year.

[Guy]

$8,500. Off the RX350 if you pay cash. In the newspaper this morning.

[Allen]

Toyota expects $2.7-billion in cost savings
CHANG-RAN KIM AND NOBUHIRO KUBO

Reuters

December 11, 2007 at 6:36 AM EST

TOYOTA CITY, Japan — — The head of Toyota Motor Corp  [TM-N]said on Tuesday he expected more than 300 billion yen ($2.7-billion U.S.) in annual cost savings starting next year from the automaker's latest cost-cutting plan.

“We would expect to exceed what we've done under the previous plan,” President Katsuaki Watanabe told Reuters in an interview at the company's headquarters in Toyota City.

That amount should grow every year along with a rise in sales volume, he said, as the cost reductions would be made on a per-vehicle basis.

Since 2005, Toyota has been working on a new cost-saving strategy dubbed “VI” for Value Innovation, which seeks to lump some of the tens of thousands of components in a car into modules and systems. The first car to incorporate the new scheme is due out early next year, with the remodelled flagship Crown sedan.

Toyota has given scant details on the program's target, saying only that it expects the impact to be faster and bigger than a previous plan that cut the price of individual parts.

That plan, called CCC21 (Construction of Cost Competitiveness in the 21st Century) and led by Mr. Watanabe as purchasing chief, shaved 1 trillion yen ($9-billion) off costs over five years, and executives have said it had the capacity to eliminate 300 billion yen in costs every year.

The ability to reduce costs has been Toyota's forte, allowing it to pour money back into developing value-added cars and attracting drivers around the world. Toyota began selling the Prius, the world's first gasoline-electric hybrid car, 10 years ago and is still one of just a handful of car makers to mass-produce the gas-sipping vehicles.

“The full impact will be seen probably around 2010,” Mr. Watanabe said, adding that Toyota would step up its cooperation with North American and European suppliers to expand the cost-cutting activities beyond Japan.

Some impact from the VI efforts abroad will start to appear next year, he said.

Slashing production costs will become even more crucial as commodity prices keep climbing, environmental and safety standards rise and consumers migrate towards smaller and lower-margin compact cars to get better mileage. At the same time, Toyota has promised to reach and sustain a 10 per cent operating profit margin. Already its margin is the highest in the industry, at 9.3 per cent in the year ended in March, 2007.

By 2010, Mr. Watanabe said Toyota would likely have crafted a new scheme to replace the current “VI” plan.

“By then we'd be looking at the car's design as a whole, for example by using lightweight materials,” Mr. Watanabe said.

Toyota is the world's most valuable auto maker, with a market capitalization of more than $200-billion. Its revenue reached $215-billion last business year as sales grew in North America, Europe and China, although Toyota is conspicuously behind in the budding Indian market.

Toyota has forecast sales of 9.34 million vehicles this year, including units Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors Ltd, likely toppling General Motors Corp as the world's top seller of automobiles. Excluding GM's minority-held Chinese joint venture, Toyota ranked first in 2006.

By 2009, Toyota aims to expand sales to 10.4 million.

[Wolfe]

Toyota has given scant details on the program's target, saying only that it expects the impact to be faster and bigger than a previous plan that cut the price of individual parts.

That plan, called CCC21 (Construction of Cost Competitiveness in the 21st Century) and led by Mr. Watanabe as purchasing chief, shaved 1 trillion yen ($9-billion) off costs over five years...

Hmm, I wonder if that previous plan coincided with their significant increase in recalls in recent years.

[gotak]

That was my first thoughts too. 2.7 billion a year is a massive amount of money they want to cut. I wonder where that'll come from? Already their build quality lags behind their competitors. I wonder if this will be the same deal as what happened to the American auto companies.

[G35X]

Have you noticed a sudden increase in the number of articles about Toyota written by a Mr. CHANG-RAN KIM of Reuters?  I think Mr. Kim is biased against Toyota and Japan.  Maybe he was planted in Japan as a secret agent by the Korean Government...

[inco]

But you don't get Kim without Kubo.  Add some Ashai on the side and it's not a bad meal!

[safristi]

"V1"...with a rocket Lexus............ ............safer ta shoot yerself inna FOOT than CHEAPEN the Kar and or Image IMHO.... ..when Yer #1....something seems  to happen??  Hubris....BONUSES  who KNOWS................

[DockMan]

That was my first thoughts too. 2.7 billion a year is a massive amount of money they want to cut. I wonder where that'll come from? Already their build quality lags behind their competitors. I wonder if this will be the same deal as what happened to the American auto companies.

Sounds like the same modus-operandi. "We have become a massive inefficient leviathan (present company excluded of course) let's not look for internal improvements but squeeze the supplier investments in new technology and innovation that made us a great company out of the picture with mandated cost downs". Hey maybe we will see a Toyota version of GM's "Target Pricing" that helped them go from Hero to Zero. I hope that the Japanese companies are smarter than that.

[safristi]

Dockman tell    WILL FERRELL ta quit tha DRUMS ..WILLYA..I have an ARSEACHE!!!!! willya willya......

[G35X]

Fuji Heavy to make sports car for Toyota
The Yomiuri Shimbun

Toyota Motor Corp. will consign Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. to develop and produce a new low-price sports car targeting young drivers, company sources said Thursday.

The two automakers, which have formed a capital alliance, are in negotiations toward an agreement within the current fiscal year and seek to put the vehicle on the market around 2009, according to the sources.

The companies also will consider marketing the car overseas, including in the United States.

Toyota is Fuji Heavy's top shareholder, but the two are not affiliated group companies. It is rare for Toyota to ask a company outside its group to develop a new car. It will be sold solely under the Toyota brand and not under Fuji Heavy's Subaru brand.

The car will be equipped with a 2-liter engine and rear-wheel drive system. It will be priced around 2 million yen and positioned as an entry-level car. Fuji Heavy plans to take the development initiative and base the car on its horizontally opposed engine and chassis design used in its existing models.

Toyota formed an alliance with Fuji Heavy in October 2005, taking an 8 percent stake in the latter and becoming its top shareholder.

In addition to the capital alliance, Toyota has accepted Fuji Heavy engineers and in April, Toyota started producing its Camry sedan at Fuji Heavy's plant in Indiana. Through the alliance, Toyota raised its evaluation on Fuji Heavy's technology on sports cars, the sources said.

With Toyota quickly expanding worldwide and needing to make up for a shortage of development engineers, the company concluded it would be most efficient to use Fuji Heavy's engineering power.

For Fuji Heavy, Toyota's consignment benefits the company by boosting engineer morale and improving operating rates at plants, the sources said.

The two companies also are in talks to have original equipment manufacturing of compact cars by Toyota or its subsidiary, Daihatsu Motor Co., to be handled by Fuji Heavy's domestic marketing division, the sources said.

(Jan. 4, 2008)

[ArticSteve]

 


 The companies also will consider marketing the car overseas, including in the United States.

Please do.

[Allen]

Toyota taking lead with low-cost, low-price vehicles
GREG KEENAN

Globe and Mail Update

January 14, 2008 at 9:30 AM EST

DETROIT — Toyota Motor Corp. is close to completing development of a low-cost vehicle that will be offered in emerging markets and elsewhere, company president Katsuaki Watanabe said Monday.

“I think there is a huge market for low-cost and low-priced vehicles,” Mr. Watanabe told a small group of reporters Monday in Detroit.

“I have been asking our engineers to come up with low-cost enabling technology.”

The number of cheap vehicles being offered in emerging markets is growing rapidly, with the most recent example the $2,500 subcompact Nano introduced by Tata Motors Ltd. of India last week.

The Toyota car “is very close to the go-sign level” he said, but Toyota is not aiming to compete with Tata. The vehicle must be up to Toyota's standards and must address the key issues of environmental friendliness and safety, he said. A low-priced vehicle would not just be offered solely in emerging markets, he noted.

In all countries, he said, “we should be able to offer vehicles at reasonable prices to customers.”

During a news conference with two dozen North American reporters lasting about 90 minutes, Mr. Watanabe spent much of his time emphasizing the importance of the environment and of developing new green technologies that reduce emissions and improve fuel economy.

He said he has challenged the company's engineers to come up with a dream car that actually cleans the environment the more it is used.

He said he once had a dream of developing a car that could drive across North America on a single tank of gas, but now wants a vehicle that can circle the globe on a single tank.

[Ex-airbalancer]

"He said he once had a dream of developing a car that could drive across North America on a single tank of gas, but now wants a vehicle that can circle the globe on a single tank."

He should finish his first dream before starting on his second dream

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Toyota lays down hybrid gauntlet

Pivotal battle with GM on horizon; Toyota says it will beat CAFE deadlines

Mark Rechtin
Automotive News
January 14, 2008 - 12:01 am ET
UPDATED: 1/14/08 9:45 a.m. EST

DETROIT - In an escalating war of green-fuel rhetoric, Toyota Motor CEO Katsuaki Watanabe laid forth several bold moves for the automaker in the next several years.

In a speech delivered here Sunday evening, Watanabe proclaimed that Toyota will:

  -- Deliver lithium-ion hybrid vehicles to demonstration fleets in 2010. These vehicles include plug-in hybrids that already have been under development. Toyota, in fact, already has two plug-in prototype vehicles in demonstration tests with the University of California, but they have lower-tech nickel-metal-hydride battery packs.

  -- Unveil new hybrid models for the Toyota and Lexus brands at the 2009 Detroit auto show. These will be production vehicles in addition to the Prius, and will be offered only with hybrid powertrains.


ENLARGE Sales of the Toyota Prius climbed 70 percent in 2007. Now Toyota wants to introduce more hybrid-only models.
 
 

  -- Increase investment in cellulosic ethanol derived from wood waste, through a Toyota affiliated company.

  -- Launch clean-diesel V-8 versions of the Tundra pickup and Sequoia SUV within the next 24 months.   For Artic 

  -- Expand the Panasonic joint-venture battery factory, adding an assembly line dedicated to automotive battery applications. The plant also will see an expansion of the Prius battery pack assembly line, from 500,000 units to 600,000 units.

  -- Sell 1 million hybrid-powered vehicles by 2011 or 2012.

  -- Meet the CAFE standard of a 35 mpg vehicle fleet " well in advance" of the 2020 regulation's start. " We will not wait until the deadline to comply" with the regulations, Watanabe said.

Watanabe added that the 2010 deadline for a lithium-ion plug-in hybrid is the latest he wants to see the vehicle reach demonstration fleets.

" I have asked my engineers to come up with plug-in hybrid not at end of 2010, but earlier than that," Watanabe said.

In a subsequent interview Monday morning, Watanabe cautioned against assuming that lithium-ion battery performance is scalable.

" As of today in the lab, the small volume of lithium-ion we have already developed is closer to the level we are satisfied with, but that is only in small quality. There is a huge difference between small volume and mass production of lithium-ion," Watanabe said.

Added Masatami Takimoto, Toyota executive vice president in charge of r&d and powertrain: " It is most difficult related to mass production, whether stable performance is assured. Unless you have a plant that can produce a large quantity of lithium-ion batteries, we cannot verify if we have good tech or not."

These comments could be interpreted as a direct shot at General Motors recent alliance with small-time battery maker A123 Systems of Watertown, Mass. GM is relying on A123 to deliver the lithium-ion technology for its Chevrolet Volt, but A123 has yet to develop a mass production assembly line.

Toyota's plant expansion with Panasonic EV Energy in Japan will include a separate assembly line for lithium-ion only batteries. That will be in addition to an expansion of the Prius battery pack line, from 500,000 units to 600,000 units.

Watanabe outlined these advances in rough form, but well-placed Toyota sources advanced his general remarks with specifics. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity, so as not to upstage Watanabe's announcement.

Although General Motors has announced similar targets for lithium-ion and cellulosic ethanol technologies, it is doing the research through small or start-up companies that are not connected to GM. Watanabe said Toyota will do the r&d in-house, which he said would be " faster and more efficient."   (and propriatary 'n licence-able)