Toyota today released further details about one of its new battery plants in Japan. The plant, to be operated by Panasonic EV Energy (the joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic), is planned to be constructed in Taiwa-cho, Kurokawa-gun, Miyagi Prefecture north of Tokyo. The $290 million plant is expected to start turning out 100,000 nickel metal hydride batteries a year in early 2010. Eventually it will ramp up to twice that number to help supply the needs of the one million hybrids that Toyota hopes to be producing annually by the end of the next decade.

[Source: Toyota]

When you see a Toyota Prius, you instantly recognize the fact that the car is a hybrid right? Sure, because they all are. What about the Camry Hybrid? Unless you know just where to look for the unique badging, you wouldn't know a hybrid model from the standard model. Toyota would like to change that by making all of their hybrids share a unique design theme.

According to Toyota's chief designer, Wahei Hirai, "People like to buy it because they like to advertise 'I am interested in the environment.' So currently the Camry doesn't appeal very much. They prefer Prius because, while they are driving in town, people can understand that the driver has more social awareness."

The design theme that Toyota plans to use is known internally as "free-form geometrics", which "gives some feeling of ceramics," according to Hirai. If that makes as little sense to you as it does me, start thinking of concepts like the iQ subcompact and the FT-HS sports car and you'll have an idea of what is on their styling minds.

[Source: Automotive News (sub. required)]

Hmmm, now I'm curious. According to the International Herald Tribune, Masatami Takimoto, Toyota's executive vice president in charge of powertrain development, said that he expected hybrids will power "100 percent" of Toyota's vehicles by 2020. Now, technically, a hybrid can be a lot of things, but in the IHT article, the word "hybrid" is used in the common gasoline-electric hybrid sense. The quote comes in the context of an article about how hybrids are becoming more and more profitable for Toyota.

So, either the IHT is being unclear or Takimoto knows something we don't know (ahem, hydrogen) and a lot of news we've reported recently is all wrong (see: Toyota's diesel hybrid or ultra-clean diesel). It's probably a bit of hyperbole on Takimoto's part, but it's still a strange thing to say, considering all the alternative-fuel research going on.

[Source: International Herald Tribune via HybridCars]

If you want a 2007 Camry Hybrid 50th Anniversary Edition, it will be yours - oh, yes, it will - for $31,680. This limited edition hybrid is meant to celebrate Toyota's 50 years of business in the United States. Only 3,000 of these special editions will be made at Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Kentucky. The Camry recently won Motor Trend's Car of the Year and the hybrid version won Green Car of the Year from Green Car Journal (see related links below).

The 50th Anniversary Edition Camry Hybrid is unlike any other Camrys, with "stunning" Blizzard Pearl paint, unique 16-inch alloy wheels with a graphite finish, and exterior badging that reads "50th Anniversary Edition." A moonroof, voice-activated DVD navigation system with a four-disc changer, leather-trimmed bisque-colored interior, heated front seats, and a carpeted cargo mat grace the interior, along with 50th-Anniversary-Edition-only features like brushed stainless dash appliqué, illuminated front door sills, and carpeted floor mats with the "50th Anniversary Edition" logo.

These cars will be rolling to dealers next month. Toyota's full press release is after the jump, and don't forget to check out our high-res image gallery.



Related:

• Toyota Camry Hybrid is Green Car of the Year
• Redesigned Toyota Camry, including hybrid model, is Motor Trend's Car of the Year
• Toyota looking to build hybrid Camry in Australia

[Source: Toyota Motor Sales]

Last year, Toyota's hybrid sales increased by thirty-three percent and this year the company is aiming for forty percent, with total worldwide sales of 430,000 vehicles. Toyota is also planning to increase production of the Prius by forty percent to 280,000 annually. It will be interesting to watch how the US hybrid market evolves this year if gas prices remain relatively low in the $2/gallon range.

[Source: Reuters]

Toyota's FT-HS hybrid "21st Century sports car" didn't make quite the splash on AutoblogGreen the way the Chevy Volt or the Ford Airstream did. But we, of course covered is as did the UK media crew from Newspress. They just put together a little write-up on three upcoming Toyota and Lexus vehicles on display at the NAIAS, the Toyota FT-HS, the Lexus IS-F and an updated Lexus LF-A, along with three high-res pictures. Only the FT-HS has any green cred, but these three images give us a chance to compare the design effort that went into the green and the luxury models. Which one strikes you as the best?

It sure would be nice to see the words of Kevin Hunter, vice president of Toyota's Los Angeles-based CALTY Design center, which designed the FT-HS, actually applied to all concepts Toyota brings to future auto shows. "In addition to driving enjoyment, today's drivers are concerned about safety, ecology and social responsibility," he said. For a lot more high-res pictures of the FT-HS, click here.


click to enlarge

[Source: Newspress]

Jeremy mentioned Toyota's new hybrid sports car concept vehicle, the FT-HS, the other day, but now Toyota has sent out a press release (read it after the jump) with a few more precious details on this 21st Century sports car. The Toyota FT-HS concept will officially debuts this weekend at the Detroit Auto Show, so for the time being, Toyota is only releasing "preliminary specifications." They are as follows:

• Drivetrain: 3.5 Liter V6 hybrid electric
• DIMENSIONS (inches)
  Overall Length: 170.27
  Overall Width: 73.23
  Overall Height: 50.79
  Wheelbase: 104.33
  Wheels: Carbon Fiber
  Tire Sizes: Front 245/35R21 Rear 285/30R21
  

In short, we still don't know much about the FT-HS, aside that is would be a mid-priced vehicle if it's ever produced. The front-engine, rear-drive car was designed by Calty, Toyota's North American-based, research and design center in Newport Beach, Calif., and Toyota's California-based Advanced Product Strategy Group. Claty's Alex Shen led the design team. The lightweight FT-HS has ultra-low emissions and, as reported, should have a target power output of about 400-horsepower and 0-60 speed of about 4 seconds.

For a gallery of (computer-generated) images of the FT-HS, click here.

[Source: Toyota Motor Sales]

Toyota already offers a hybrid midsize model, the Camry hybrid. Additionally, they have hybrid versions of other popular model lines, such as the Highlander and various Lexus models. However, the Prius remains the single hybrid-only model in their U.S. lineup. This may be about the change.

The Asahi Shimbun reports that Toyota plans to introduce a new hybrid-only midsize model in 2009. The model will include the third generation of Toyota's hybrid gas-electric technology. This newest version should allow them to cut the costs and size of their system, and reduce costs further by spreading the R&D costs across more vehicles.

Toyota claims that one of the reasons that the Prius is their most popular hybrid model in the U.S. is because Americans want to be seen while being green. A hybrid-only model achieves that image. Additionally, the model will sport a larger gas engine of 2.5-3 liters, in part because Americans prefer vehicles with larger engines. They have already set a goal of 1 million gas-electric hybrid sales by 2010, this model should help them reach that goal.

Related:

• Toyota introduces the FT-HS hybrid sports car concept. See it in Detroit!
• Next-Gen Prius to get lithium ion battery and 113 mpg

[Source: asahi.com]

2010 is shaping up to be a big year for Toyota. Company officials have previously announced that they would start selling a diesel hybrid that year, and now the Nihon Keizai Shimbun has reported that 2010 is the year Toyota wants 50 percent of its new car sales to be either fuel-efficient diesels or hybrid models. That's 50 percent in Europe, not worldwide.

These two categories of vehicles made up 43 percent of Toyota's one million new car sales in Europe in 2005, with 41 percent being diesel and 2 percent hybrids. Toyota doesn't just want to increase the percentage of clean cars sold, but the numbers as well. Company PR folks are saying they predict 1.5 million new Toyota passenger vehicles sold there in 2010. Diesel models already make up more than 50 percent of the overall European market.

Related:

• Toyota to sell diesel hybrid in 2010

[Source: Green Car Congress

Toyota has been building Camrys for the US market in Georgetown, Kentucky for 20 years now and the plant has produced about 6.7 million vehicles. Since the first Camrys rolled off the line, Toyota has added production of the Avalon and Solara and over the years has also built other Camry derivatives such as the Sienna, and Lexus ES. The Kentucky plant is the primary source of US-market Camrys and the exclusive world-wide source of the Solara and Avalon. This week the Georgetown plant began producing the hybrid variant of the Camry as well becoming the second US assembly plant to produce hybrid vehicles after the Ford Kansas City plant that produces the Escape Hybrid. Toyota currently plans to build about 48,000 hybrid Camrys per year in Kentucky. This marks Toyota's first hybrid production outside of Japan.

The Camry Hybrid combines a 147hp 2.4L Atkinson cycle four cylinder with a 141hp electric motor which working together produce up to 187 combined horsepower. The drive-train also includes a continuously variable transmission. The Camry uses a nickel metal hybrid battery that can provide the electric motor with 40hp. Since the electric motor obviously capable of much more than is currently being used, it's probably just a matter of time before some enterprising after-market hackers substitute a different battery and create a plug-in version that can run more often on just electric power. The hybrid Camry is rated at 40/38 city/hwy mpg compared to 24/33 for the regular 4 cylinder model. The full press release is after the jump.

[Source: Toyota]

Engineers working for Hallmark Fire, an independent fire systems companies in the UK, have given praise to the Prius vehicles in their fleet of service vehicles. While the environmental benefits of the hybrids have not escaped the notice of the company's customers, the engineers – who service and maintain the company's fire safety systems for customers around the UK – praise the hybrid's creature comforts.

"The engineers have to carry quite a lot of tools, spares and ladders with them and they find the Prius quite adequate for the purpose," said Sean Ashton, Hallmark Fire's Operations Director in a press release. "Also, because the vehicles are automatic, the driving experience when in slow-moving traffic in major cities is more pleasurable.

Ashton said the Prius would likely make up 20 percent of company's fleet of 80 vehicles in the future. The company also uses Toyota Avensis diesel cars in the fleet.

[Source: Toyota]