Ben T Wilson asked:


One of the biggest car manufacturers in the world is Toyota, superseded only by General Motors. Toyota has high hopes of becoming the largest car maker in the world by 2010, which, considering it is one of the most profitable companies in the world, is a reasonable aim.

Toyota Toyota made 9.5 million cars in 2007 alone, with success being pinned to the fact that cars are produced in the country where they are sold. This has led to a global enterprise, with Toyota’s production spanning six continents, with a work force of quarter of a million people, and selling within 160 different markets across the globe.

Toyota history

Toyota was actually the result of the Toyota Spinning and Weaving Company, set up by Sakichi Toyoda in 1918. He invented the first automatic loom, for which he sold the patent and gave the money to his son. His son, Kiichiro, invested it into automotive technology and in 1936 the Toyota AA hit the market, with the 100,000th vehicle being built 11 years later. Toyota cars came to Europe in 1962, with production surpassing the one million mark. Fast forward a couple of decades to 1986, and 50 million Toyotas had been produced. A few years later, Toyota set up manufacturing in Britain with an engine manufacturing plant in Wales and a factory in Derbyshire where cars are produced.

Toyota Facts



Type: Public (Xetra: NSU)

Founded: 1937

Founder: Kiichiro Toyoda

Headquarters: Toyota, Aichi, Nagoya and Tokyo, Japan

Key People: Kiichiro Toyoda (Founder), Fujio Cho (Chairman and Representative Director)

Industry: Automotive

Products: Vehicles

Subsidiaries: 522 companies



Toyota Featured Models

TOYOTA CELICA – launched in 1970 and discontinued in 2005, this means “heavenly” and is the name given to a series of popular coupés.

TOYOTA COROLLA – put on the market in 1966, the tenth generation of this car was launched in 2006. At least 30 million Corollas have been sold, but it hasn’t been sold in the UK since February 2007 when the Auris took its place.

TOYOTA HILUX – first reaching the market in 1969 to replace the Stout, this Toyota model is a compact pick-up truck.

TOYOTA LANDCRUISER – this first appeared in 1954, and has since reached its ninth generation. A four-wheel drive, it is renowned for getting close to the off-road capabilities of the Range Rover.

TOYOTA MR2 – a two-seater sports car with mid-engine and rear-wheel drive, made from 1984 to 2007.

TOYOTA RAV4 –first manufactured in 1994, now in its third generation, this is a compact SUV.

TOYOTA SUPRA – made between 1979 and 2002, this is a full-sized sports car, modelled on the Toyota Celica, but with more powerful engines.

TOYOTA YARIS – now in its second generation, this is a small hatchback city car that first came on the market in 1999.

Toyota – did you know?



Approximately 70 per cent of Toyota cars produced in the UK are exported to Europe, and 15 per cent to another 70 countries worldwide.

The surname of the founder was actually Toyoda but it got changed to Toyota as, according to Japanese superstition, this is luckier.

Shoichiro Toyoda – a member of the founding family – was inducted into the USA’s Automotive Hall of Fame in 2007.

In 2001, the first Toyota to be awarded European Car of the Year was the Yaris, followed by the Prius in 2005.

Toyota has a subsidiary called Lexus, which owns Daihatsu as well, and a US one called Scion which aims its cars at young drivers.



Toyota – where to buy?

Auto Trader is a UK base website where you will find a wide range of new and used Toyota models, and more information about this car.



Judy

MOFITO asked:


I am planning to buy a Lexus, yet i notice Lexus cars look almost identical to Toyota cars, i assume they just crossover the car, do a few touchups to the grille and lights and re-badge it.

Are there any major differences to the engine or interior of the Lexus that justify the x2 price increase to its Toyota counterpart?

Jacqueline

Groshan Fabiola asked:


A simple but vital component of your car that needs to checked every time you get your Toyota serviced or tuned up, is the fuel filter. The Toyota fuel filter has a very important job: to make sure that the fuel that reaches your engine does not contain any particles that could clog the engine. The Toyota alternator is another important component that charges your Toyota’s battery when the car’s running.

If there’s anything wrong with these two components, the car will not run. Without the Toyota alternator the car battery will discharge after a little while and the car will refuse to start. Similarly, if the Toyota fuel filter gets clogged the fuel will not reach the engine, and the car will refuse to run.

Luckily, these two parts are very low maintenance and if you keep your car services on schedule, you will not face any trouble. The Toyota fuel filter is a spare that needs to be replaced regularly. In fact the service guy probably replaces it every time you get your car serviced. The Toyota alternator on the other hand will go on working for years without a problem.

Although the service center charges a pretty hefty fee for it, replacing the Toyota fuel filter is not a difficult job for those who’re have some inclination towards learning car maintenance and repairs. In fact you will even find how to videos on the Internet that will show you how to replace the fuel filter yourself. Once you’ve mastered this skill, you’ll never be stranded due to a clogged fuel filter, and you’ll always know when to get your Toyota fuel filter replaced.

Maintaining the alternator unfortunately, is not so trivial. You can get to it pretty easily and also check if it’s generating a current for the battery or not, but if there’s something wrong with, it will be very difficult to repair it. Toyota alternator is not very cheap either, so if your alternator stops working, you’ll need to shell out a lot of cash.

One thing you must remember is that the Toyota alternator does not stop working very often. If you battery light on your car console is on, that means the batteries are not getting charged, but the trouble usually is not with the alternator but with the alternator belt. The alternator belt is responsible to turn the small turbine that generates the current in the Toyota alternator. Sometimes it breaks due to wear-and-tear and the current stops flowing. In this case all you need is a new alternator belt.

Usually buying the spare parts, be it a Toyota fuel filter or a Toyota alternator from the repair center is pretty expensive as those guys will sell it to you at a marked up price. You’ll get a better deal with a replacement parts stockist. So consider looking for the part on the Internet and finding out its price before you get it replaced. Ask your service guy what will be cost of just replacing the part if you got it yourself. You might be able to save a lot of money.

For more resources regarding Toyota Fuel Filter or even about Toyota Alternator, please review this page http://www.pdmautoparts.com



Martha

jessica.florian13 asked:


My boyfriend has a mildly beaten up but still well running 1993 Toyota Camry. We recently got into a minor accident in which we exchanged car paint with the other car and knocked out our right front blinker light. We didn’t break the anything on the front or dent it, it just stopped working. Please help?

Neil

Joseph K asked:


How much will it cost to fix a transmission on a 2002 Toyota Rav4, 2 wheel drive if we bring the car to the Toyota dealer?

Bonnie

Tom Bailey asked:


Yes, the Toyota Motor Corporation is set out on not only supplying the automotive world with the best products that could range from Toyota Yaris to Toyota Corollas to auto parts Toyota, this company is also set out on providing the best kind of health care for its employees.

Soon enough, the company’s Toyota Motor Manufacturing office in Texas would soon be opening a health care clinic on its grounds. This one actually cost the company some nine million dollars at that but it can be considered as quite a good investment. You see, this health care clinic would be providing the Toyota employees good health care. Not only that, but this one would also be open for the employees’ families as well. With such a kind of service given to employees, it would also mean that these would more or less be having thoughts of staying with the company and doing their best in return.

This new health care facility which would be rising on the Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Texas would actually be also the very first of its kind in the United States for Toyota. the facility will be called the Toyota Family Health Center.

Dr. Ford Brewer is the assistant general manager for Toyota Motors Engineering and Manufacturing North America’s health and wellness team and he does share, “Five years ago, our health care costs were half what they are now. Now it’s $11,000 per team member.” With that, it could be deduced that with such high costs and with the set up of this great new health facility, Toyota employees and their families would be able to save much on their expenses and still be able to take good care of their health.

If you are asking who would be the ones to run the pharmacy? It would actually be Familymeds, Inc. which is based in Connecticut who would be taking charge of that. However, as per the staff and the clinic’s personnel, CHD Meridian Healthcare of Pennsylvania was chosen as the company to shoulder that. Both of these companies would be helping out man and keep the Toyota Family Health Center running intact.



Herman

Zeke Gervis asked:


Toyota Motor Corp. has unseated General Motors Corp. as the world’s biggest carmaker last year instead of in 2007, as industry observers have earlier predicted.

Detroit-based weekly Automotive News, whose data centre publishes a widely quoted ranking of the world’s automakers, said Japan’s top carmaker outsold GM by about 128,000 units last year based on a technicality that excludes sales of vehicles at minority-held subsidiaries.

It is now the world’s current number one automaker, but Toyota – maker of top of the line Toyota oxygen sensor — is not about to rest on its laurels.

On Tuesday announced the development of new engine technology that promises to mark a major step in the evolution of the gas engine. The giant Japanese automaker confirmed that it plans to completely revamp its gasoline engine and transmission lineup by the end of the decade.

The move comes in the middle of the domestic automakers’ frantic scrambling to come up with new, more competitive global engines, with Chrysler Group’s new Phoenix family of V6 engines being a major case in point. A report from Inside Line is saying that diesels may be a component of the future engine and transmission lineup for Toyota.

Toyota on Tuesday introduced a next-generation engine valve mechanism called “Valvematic” that according to the company improves fuel efficiency by 5-10 percent, and reduces CO2 emissions and boosts output by at least 10 percent. The automaker said it will “introduce Valvematic shortly, starting with a new vehicle model featuring a 2.0-liter engine.”

Toyota said Valvematic “further evolves the gasoline engine” by not only paying attention to green concerns but by also “enhancing acceleration responsiveness.

The company’s plans to produce more technologically advanced, environmentally vehicles are as released in a company news release, involve:



Revamping of entire gasoline engine and transmission lineup

TMC plans to completely revamp its gasoline engine and transmission lineup by 2010 in an effort that started with the development of a new type of V6 engine in 2003. As part of this effort, a new 1.8-liter gasoline engine (see below for details) and continuously variable transmission have been developed as the main powertrain for Toyota compact and midsize passenger vehicles. This new powertrain—to be introduced in new-model vehicles due out in the fall of 2006—is intended to reduce CO2 emissions through high fuel efficiency and to achieve cleaner exhaust emissions.

TMC achieved the Japanese government’s 2010 fuel efficiency standards in all weight categories of Toyota vehicles ahead of schedule in 2005.

As a target for 2010, TMC aims to achieve emissions levels that are 75% lower than the 2005 emissions standards*3 and to exceed the level called for by the Japanese 2010 fuel efficiency standards by 10% or more for most passenger vehicle.



Making hybrid vehicles more widespread and developing new technologies

TMC aims to make hybrid vehicles more widespread by doubling the number of hybrid models by the early years of the 2010s.

TMC will advance its research and development of plug-in hybrid vehicles (which can be charged from an external power source and provide electricity) and is currently working on a next-generation vehicle that can extend the distance traveled by the electric motor alone and that is expected to have a significant effect on reducing CO2 and helping to abate atmospheric pollution.



Initiatives toward the diversification of energy sources

Regarding TMC’s introduction of bioethanol-compatible vehicles, TMC has achieved the technology necessary to allow all TMC gasoline engines to run reliably on gasoline with 10 percent bioethanol content. TMC plans to introduce to the Brazilian market (where bioethanol fuel is widely used) flex-fuel vehicles*4 that can run on 100 percent ethanol in the spring of 2007. For the United States, TMC is considering introducing flex-fuel vehicles in consideration of policies to promote bioethanol fuels.

TMC plans to further its development of fuel cell passenger vehicles and has successfully reduced by a large margin the time required for sub-zero fuel-cell-system startup and has achieved system startup at minus 30 degrees Celsius.

Toyota is definitely in top fighting form.







Deborah

Anthony Fontanelle asked:


The popularity of the gas-electric hybrid Toyota Prius in the United States cannot be denied. Its fuel efficiency made it a favorite among car buyers as the awareness concerning the threat of global warming increases. The increasing price of gasoline has also made the Prius a favorite among car buyers.

Recently, Japan’s largest car manufacturer Toyota reported that they have sold more than a million units of hybrid cars all over the world. The company announced that there are approximately 1,047,000 units of the fuel efficient vehicles as of the 31st of May this year with Prius having the bulk of the sale.

The Prius made its debut in Toyota’s home country of Japan in 1997 as well as in Europe. After the positive acceptance of Japanese car buyers of the Prius and the increased demand for fuel efficient vehicle in the United States, Toyota introduced the Prius in the country and the vehicle was received with much praise. The Prius was introduced in the United States auto market in 2000.

In 2003, the Toyota Prius received its first major redesign. Toyota made the car larger so that it can attract more attention from Americans who are looking for roomy vehicles without sacrificing fuel economy.

The redesign made the second generation of the Prius into a hatchback. Aside from the body style change, fuel efficiency was improved, thanks to an improved powertrain which is called the Hybrid Synergy Drive. Toyota made changes to the way the vehicle powers its air conditioning unit thus reducing the load on the small internal combustion engine.

As far as the construction of the second-generation Prius is concerned, it was made more aerodynamic. During the release of the redesigned Prius, it has the second lowest coefficient of drag of only 0.26. The Honda Insight is the only vehicle then that has a lower coefficient of drag at 0.25.

Another improved aspect of the Prius in 2003 is its regenerative braking system. This means that the car’s battery pack is provided with more power. According to the company, the improved regenerative braking system does not rely heavily on the friction-type brakes. With that improvement, Toyota claims that the stock brake pads will last for the entire life of the car.

Aside from the Prius, the Hybrid Synergy Drive has been used by the company on other auto models. The Toyota Camry has a hybrid version as well as the Toyota Highlander. The hybrid version of the Highlander uses the electric motor to enhance its performance which is considered to be similar in performance to a Celica equipped with a Toyota Celica cold air intake system.

Aside from the Camry and the Highlander, the company also offers hybrid versions of their Lexus vehicles. The Lexus RX350 has a hybrid version known as the Lexus RX400h.

The Prius and other hybrid vehicles from Toyota are being marketed in more than 40 countries across the world. In Japan, Toyota reported a sale of 345,000 units of their hybrid vehicles. Outside Toyota’s home country, the company sold 702,000 hybrids. The Prius is currently the best selling hybrid vehicle. According to the company, the more than 1 million hybrid vehicles sold contributed to a reduction of an estimated 3.5 million tons of carbon dioxide emission.



Marvin

Thomas Jones asked:


In the International Auto Show for North America in 2004, Japan’s Toyota Motor Corporation revealed a new hybrid vehicle, the Highlander hybrid. In fact, it was such a success at the Auto Show that the Highlander was put into mass production as a fuel-efficient hybrid and then brought to the market, labeled as a 2006.

The Toyota Highlander is another in a line of Toyota’s hybrid vehicles, designed with the Hybrid Synergy Drive that Toyota has used in all of their hybrid vehicles. It is a unique technology specific to the Toyota line, and is used in both Toyotas and Lexus’s. The Highlander uses the same platform of technology and design as the Camry Hybrid by Toyota, as well as Lexus RX 400h. For the most part, this particular hybrid is definitely similar to sedans and SUVs, but has its own unique modifications.

This particular vehicle is mainly a good hybrid marketed in and to the U.S. Consumers. They have a very strong desire to go green these days, and so they are attempting to find any method they can to limit gas consumption, as well as lower their own expenses. With gas at around $3.25 and with no signs of decreasing in the future, the desire to save any money is a very strong one, especially in the U.S. That is not to say that this vehicle isn’t distributed elsewhere, in fact, in Australia this Toyota is now known as the Kluger hybrid.

As for how this particular vehicle operates, the controls and instrumentation of the vehicle are the same as those used in a conventional Highlander in operation. The actual feel of the vehicle, as well as the sound of the actual Toyota is what sets it apart from other vehicles. When you start the vehicle the dashboard lights up at the moment of ignition, and then the entire vehicle appears to be ready for you to drive, as the button of the same name flashes to you. While driving, the computer system in the Highlander will automatically activate, then cease the gasoline engine’s operation so that you are not wasting more gasoline than necessary. The battery power in the vehicle actually allows the SUV to operate fully at lower speeds, while moving in traffic and stopping. This entire description simply reflects the fuel economy of the vehicle that puts it above other hybrid SUVs.

The 2008 model of the Highlander Hybrid was redesigned in order to enlarge the body of the car, as well as refine and smooth out a few other problems. Even though the size has been altered for a more prominent sport utility vehicle, the Highlander is impressive, while still functioning just as well as before. Even the fuel efficiency seemed to be exactly the same as before. As an SUV, the Hybrid is meant to be roomy and a joy to look at, and in this case, the vehicle is also flashy in a good way. Adorned with green stripes on the exterior, that is one of the definitive features that also gently remind the viewer of the eco-friendliness of the vehicle.

While the vehicle does have four-wheel drive, harsh weather conditions and roads would still give the vehicle problems, so driving in harsh inclement weather isn’t recommended. In fact, for the most part, the vehicle is normally running in front-drive mode, and is configured very differently than the typical, gas-powered Highlander. The conventional Highlander normally has much more power to the rear vehicles than the hybrid.

As far as the overall quality of the vehicle, however, Toyota’s Highlander hybrid is a rugged yet high-quality SUV that is most definitely true to its brand name. Rugged and sturdy, but also eco-conscious like the Toyota Company is known for. The vehicle is fuel-efficient, money-saving and a better investment than a conventional minivan.



Willie

Abby Reid asked:


The United States is currently facing somewhat of an economic crisis, and saving any little bit of money can significantly help your financial future. As the nation faces serious threats of a recession, money-conscious citizens should take every action that they can to spend less, earn more and save as much as possible. Careless and irresponsible spending habits can quickly and easily place a person in a metaphorical economic ditch, and it can take months, or even years, to dig oneself out.

Surviving the country’s current economic situation has been difficult for everyone, but the nation’s financial crisis is probably most problematic for recent Pittsburgh college graduates or entry-level job-seekers who are living with low salaries, little or no benefits and a plethora of expenses. How can a recent college graduate or person in his or her 20s in the Pittsburgh area possibly survive this monetary predicament? Between the regular costs of rent, mortgages, car payments, insurance premiums, student loans and other miscellaneous expenses, it can be nearly impossible for young people to stay afloat.

Buying a reliable used Pittsburgh Toyota car, like the Toyota Camry or Toyota Avalon, is one of the many ways that recent college graduates or twenty-somethings can save money and spend less. Pittsburgh Toyota cars are considerably less expensive than new cars, do not depreciate as quickly in value as new vehicles and can still provide a young buyer with several years of dependable driving.

Before purchasing a used Toyota car, like the Toyota Camry or Toyota Corolla, young drivers should explore the many different options that lay before them. It is no secret that certain brands of automobiles have more solid reputations than others. Foreign models like the Toyota Camry or Toyota Corolla, have over an 80% reliability rating. Certain used and new car dealerships, like Greensburg Toyota, help car purchasers find the best car deals on models like the Toyota Avalon, Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Echo, Toyota Matrix, Toyota Prius or Toyota Yaris.

Young car buyers will save more money over a long period of time if they purchase an automobile that is dependable, reliable and possesses a solid reputation. You can read consumer reports on Toyota car models like the Toyota Echo or Toyota Corolla, on a number of Web sites, like edmunds. While you may be tempted to buy a swanky, new car model with a variety of extra capabilities, many new vehicles come equipped with a variety of unnecessary additional features that simply add more money to the model’s overall price.

Many car dealerships, like Greensburg Toyota, are fully aware of the difficulties that young people face when first graduating from college or working in entry-level positions. These dealerships will gladly work with twenty-somethings who are attempting to find the best deal possible on a reliable Pittsburgh used Toyota car or truck.

If possible, it is smart to pay for your new Toyota car, truck or SUV in cash. Avoiding taking out a loan from a local bank will help you save significant money on interest charges.



Ida