Toyota to stay top-selling car brand in the U.S.

Toyota Motor Corp. will most likely keep its top seller status in the U.S., beating out Chevrolet and Ford for the second year in a row. Toyota topped Chevrolet for the number one spot last year by 41,296 vehicles selling a total of 2.3 million. Sluggish SUV sales due to high gas-prices helped Toyota increase its lead over Ford and Chevrolet earlier this year. The Japanese automaker sold a total of 1.8 million vehicles through November, 185,200 more than Chevrolet.

GM would not comment on the report made by the Detroit Free Press but Ford said that it is more focused on returning to profitability rather than fighting for the sales leader title.

“In times like these, who’s on first is less important than who’s still on the team, meaning who’s still selling cars and trucks,” said George Pipas, Ford’s U.S. sales analyst.

Before 2004, Ford had been the top-selling U.S. brand for 18 years. Chevrolet jumped in on the action in 2004 fighting Ford for the number one spot.

Source: Detroit Free Press

Toyota updates Camry and Camry Hybrid for 2010

Toyota has used the 2009 Detroit Auto Show to display its facelifted Camry sedan, which for the 2010 model year has been given a new look both inside and out and has received an upgraded 2.5L four-cylinder as the base engine. The new engine is equipped with variable valve timing with intelligence (VVT-i) and produces 169hp for Camry, LE and XLE grades. For sportier SE, the engine gets additional tuning and delivers 179hp – 21hp more than the previous four-cylinder engine. Customers can select either a six-speed manual transmission or a six-speed automatic with sequential shift.

2010 Toyota Camry facelift