There's a Toyota Prius wait list?

2010 Toyota Prius

Auto sales are down - that's not exactly a surprise to anyone anymore. But Toyota has revived a little something from last summer called a wait list - for people who are interested in buying a new 2010 Prius. According to a story in The New York Times, Toyota is running its Prius production plants in Japan 24 hours a day and offering overtime to workers - even bringing in workers from other areas of the country - to meet demand for the hybrid car. Panasonic EV Energy, the Prius' battery supplier, is also working constantly to keep churning out packs for the model.
This is the effect of those higher-than-expected sales numbers. The NYT says that the waiting list is "several months" long in Japan. While impressive considering the marketplace, Toyota is still warning that 2009 will not be a profitable year for the company.

Yet another crack at Toyobaru

The Toyobaru deserves a place in the mythical creature pantheon with vampires and the Loch Ness Monster -- every official denial is followed by another sighting. The latest speculation on Toyota and Subaru's coupe project provides more details, suggesting specs of 200 hp and 145 lb-ft, MacPherson struts forward and a multilink suspension aft on a 2,700-pound vehicle.
Supposedly the car's mechanicals are Subaru's work; Subaru's 2.0-liter engine is mentioned, but not the Toyota-designed heads that have been mentioned before. The look of the car is on Toyota's shoulders and will come in two slightly different flavors for each marque to sell. The car should cost around $20,000, and expect it to arrive in 2011. Or not. Hat tip to Ben D.
[Source: Road & Track]

2010 Toyota Prius was Japan’s best-selling car in May

Toyota spent most of February tossing and turning in its sleep over competition from the new 2010 Honda Insight. Honda’s new hybrid was the best-selling model in Japan in April; marking the first time a hybrid has held the spot for a monthly sales period. Well, Toyota can now sleep peacefully at night.

For the month of May, Toyota’s 2010 Prius sales beat the Insight, becoming the best-selling car in Japan for the month.

“I think a green car tax break and other incentives helped the sales performance (of the Prius) quite a bit,” Akihiko Otsuka, chief engineer for the new Prius, told reporters.

The 2010 Toyota Prius went on sale on May 18 and was priced about $3,000 less than the outgoing model. Toyota says there were more than 80,000 advance orders for the third-generation model. Towards the end of May, Toyota announced that it will be increasing production of the 2010 Prius to meet better-than-expected demand.

We’re guessing all the Japanese folks listened to Clarkson when he called the Honda Insight ‘Biblically terrible.’ Nonetheless, Honda is planning to have four gasoline-electric hybrids on the road by 2012 including the CR-Z hybrid and a Fit hybrid.

Toyota sees the turnaround coming, ramps up production

Toyota, which reported a 39.5 percent drop in May sales when compared to the same month last year, said that it will be ramping up production of six of its best-selling models over the next three months.

“We see a turnaround coming,” Bob Carter, general manager of Toyota Division, said during a sales call Tuesday.

With nearly a 40 percent drop in sales, what turnaround is Carter talking about? Carter told Automotive News that May sales were up 25 percent when compared to April.

“There was an improvement on the retail side of the business for the entire industry,” he said.

Carter said that North American production will increase by 65,000 units as Toyota increases output of the Camry, Corolla, Sienna, RAV4, Tacoma and Tundra models. All six models posted a sales gain in May over April with the Corolla up 27.2 percent and the Camry up 23.7 percent.

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

2,200 Toyota managers pitch in by buying Toyota vehicles

A group of mid-level Toyota manager has decided to help out the Japanese automaker by buying the company’s cars in an effort to help it withstand the economic crisis. A total of 2,200 managers made the decision last month to buy the new vehicles that fit their personal capacity by the end of March.

A Toyota spokesman said that the move is a voluntary effort on the part of the managers and that Toyota had played no role and did not force them to follow through with the plan.

“It does not mean everyone in the group, which is essentially a fellowship association, would have to buy new cars,” the Toyota spokesman said.

Toyota has announced that it expects its first annual operating loss due to the fall in demand and the global economic crisis.