Toyota is still committed to providing much needed relief efforts after the tragic earthquake and subsequent events that started March 11, 2011. In addition, the company reassures that vehicle availability and current ownership needs are being met.

Toyota makes 70% of the Lexus and Toyota models sold in the US, right here in the US. The March 11th earthquake in Japan has led to an interruption in parts manufacturing and new vehicle production, but as of 3/17/2011 the parts production will resume.

The decision to resume parts production will help ensure that current Toyota owners have their needs met with regards to service / parts to maintain their vehicles.

You can find more press releases on the Toyota website.

Updated Toyota Statement Regarding Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

NEW YORK, NY (March 16, 2011; Posted at 3:15 PM EDT) Regarding Toyota’s North American operations, so far the impact is limited. All 13 North American vehicle and engine plants are running normally, although overtime has been curtailed for now to assure we maintain adequate inventories of parts that come from Japan. In addition, since most parts and materials for Toyota’s North American-built vehicles are provided by suppliers in North America, this helps insulate Toyota’s North American plants from production interruptions in Japan.

Regarding dealerships in the US, inventories are good with adequate levels of supply. Toyota now makes 12 different models in North America, including high-volume vehicles such as Camry, Corolla, RAV4, and Lexus RX 350, and nearly 70 percent of all Toyota and Lexus vehicles sold in the U.S. are made in North America. Prius vehicles are built in Japan, and thus impacted more by the production halt there. But for now inventory levels of the Prius at U.S. dealerships are generally still adequate.

Regarding battery production in Japan, while future production plans are to be determined, only one of three hybrid battery plants in Japan sustained limited damage from the earthquake. The other two plants are located in central Japan and were not affected. The company is making every effort to minimize any long-term impact on Prius availability.

Meanwhile, Toyota employees in the U.S. are very interested in contributing to relief efforts in Japan. To make their support go further, Toyota Affiliates in the U.S. will match their personal relief donations to the American Red Cross.

This is in addition to Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan donating 300 million yen (approximately $3.75 million) to support relief efforts.

We will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available.

Toyota Announces the Plural of Prius

ERLANGER, Kentucky (January 27, 2011) – Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA) announced today that the company’s assembly plants produced 1,456,887 vehicles in 2010, an 18 percent increase compared to 2009.

Toyota’s North American facilities assemble the Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Highlander, Matrix, RAV4, Sequoia, Sienna, Tacoma, Tundra, Venza and Lexus RX 350.

“The challenges presented by the economic downturn and our recalls made Toyota an even stronger company,” said Tetsuo Agata, president and COO of TEMA. “By retaining our team members and continually improving during the worst of times, we are well positioned for 2011 and beyond. We thank all team members and our hundreds of suppliers for their tireless efforts.”

In 2010, the following milestones, projects and initiatives were accomplished:

• The Canadian operation in September assembled its four-millionth vehicle.
• The Kentucky plant in July produced its eight-millionth engine.
• The Indiana plant successfully ramped up production of the Highlander and the all-new Sienna after a $450 million investment upgrade. Toyota’s total investment in Princeton is nearly $4 billion and total employment is 4,100.
• The Texas plant began production of the Tacoma, representing a $100 million investment and an additional 1,000 jobs. Toyota’s total investment in San Antonio is $1.4 billion and total employment is now 2,800.
• TEMA named four new American plant presidents and the Toyota Technical Center named three American chief engineers. This increased local leadership provides greater regional autonomy.

*TMMWV’s total automatic transmission production for 2010 was 284,543.

In addition to the above mentioned plants, Toyota subsidiary Bodine Aluminum, Inc., in Tennessee and Missouri, casts aluminum parts such as cylinder heads, intake manifolds, engine brackets and engine blocks. TABC, Inc. in Long Beach, California, manufactures truck beds, catalytic converters, stamped parts, coated substrates and steering columns. Canadian Autoparts Toyota, Inc. (CAPTIN) in Delta, British Columbia, produces aluminum wheels.

[source: toyotanewsroom.com]

Toyota was awarded the most considered brand, an accomplishment that indicates Toyota recalls couldn’t overcome the years of building awesome pickup trucks.

As 2010 comes to a close, Toyota is the #1 consideration when it comes to buying or leasing a new car.

Toyota has overcome many challenges including safety recalls and concerns on behalf of the Toyota brand. This has resulted in many changes at the corporate level with regards to the testing, analysis and solutions implemented. Toyota has committed to each customer the level in which they will stand behind their vehicles with programs such as free Toyota maintenance on all new Toyotas.

Despite having to make the changes, Toyota has regained confidence with once again holding a number one position amongst consumers who frequent sites like Kelley Blue Book.

KBB is one of the top destination websites where consumers can search and find the vehicle information from all manufacturers that will allow them to become more informed when making decisions.

This award indicates that members and visitors on the KBB website have considered a Toyota as a potential purchase more than any other vehicle brand.

The number one position in this category indicates that consumer confidence regarding Toyota quality is as it’s always been.

“Regaining the number one position by Kelley Blue Book as the most considered auto brand among shoppers is a strong indication that consumers recognize our commitment to earn their confidence in the safety, quality and value of our vehicles,” said Bob Carter, group vice president and general manager, Toyota Division.

“Toyota has worked extremely hard to deliver the finest cars and trucks consumers have come to expect for more than 50 years and will continue to do so.”

Check out the New Toyota Models at your Maryland Toyota dealership.

The New Toyota App is live, giving customers the ability to browse available inventory from the convenience of their mobile phone. The application enables the user to see vehicles with 360 degree views, photos and pricing.

The application also allows the customer to engage with the dealership in a manner that is more convenient for people than actually calling them.

The technology that companies make in order to providnique shopping experience will continue to be a major factor in how people make purchase decisions.

Toyota previously launched an app for the iPhone and it involved a Toyota Prius and interactive drawing controls so that the user could write unique messages and share them with friends.

The application that Toyota has created will likely result in an increase in the number of people visiting their website looking for a new car in a leisurely manner.

Since so many people work with computers these days this approach is one that they could sit down and relax while browsing through the new cars.

Toyota and Tesla have partnered to produce electric vehicle technology

The partnership benefits both companies, as each brings significant experience and technology.

In May, Tesla and TMC announced their intent to cooperate on the development of electric vehicles, parts, and production system and engineering support. Tesla seeks to learn and benefit from Toyota’s engineering, manufacturing, and production expertise, while Toyota aims to learn from Tesla’s EV technology, daring spirit, quick decision-making, and flexibility.

Toyota is well known for being the industry leader when it comes to hybrid vehicles, specifically the Toyota Prius, so this decision to work closely with Tesla means they’re making a significant push in electric vehicle technology.

Tesla has had a few hiccups in the beginning related to drivetrain, and transmission technology but has seemed to get those issues resolved.

Toyota recently announced that it plans to have 7 hybrid / electric vehicles on the market by 2012. This is a tremendous goal, but could mean capturing a very large market of consumers who have been anxious to lead greener lifestyles.

[source: http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota/tesla-motors-and-toyota-motor-163915.aspx]

SMART Business Process Getting Results

The Toyota Quality initiative nicknamed SMART was first used to address sudden acceleration issues, a process that provided the gathering of field evidence and the ability to evaluate situations within a 24 hour period provided immediate assistance to owners who reported the condition.

Toyota has seen an 80% decrease in acceleration cases since April 2010, and is expanding the reach of the program. The implementation of this program across other aspects of production such as the supplier’s part quality adherence and frequent testing.

All 2011 Toyota Vehicles Get Smart Stop

The brake system override technology, Smart Stop is being integrated into all 2011 models that is designed to provide engine power reduction allowing a vehicle to be safely brought to a complete stop.

All 2011 Toyota Vehicles Get Data Recorders

Event Data Recorders will provide valuable insight into vehicle collision. The recording device will measure the conditions that occur when a vehicle is becoming involved in an accident. The information will provide insight into which specific vehicle systems are comprimised at different stages of the accident.

Recall Remedies – Milestones Achieved

Results of the SMART process revealed valuable insight into the vehicle components, and systems that need to be analyzed quickly to provide the highest quality of care.

The Center’s mission is to provide quality and design-based training to improve the capabilities of Toyota employees so that they are empowered to work from a Customer-First perspective. Toyota team members will learn from a curriculum of safety, design and quality control training to reinforce work methods and develop new work standards through benchmarking and “continuous improvement” (kaizen) processes.[Source:Toyota USA]

The Toyota Corp has provided a gift, 16 scholarships to those who had served and died for their country, and left behind children at home. This gift was the ability for those children to have an opportunity to earn a scholarship and get the education they need to have a great career.

This act of generosity towards the military families is going to help them tremendously. Typically these families struggle to get help from the VA (Veteran’s Affairs) and can only get so far because it’s such a difficult government ran system that takes forever to accomplish some of the most simple tasks.

By taking the initiative to invest in these children, Toyota is giving back and hopefully going to see these children someday doing the same in their success.

Hopefully more of this type of generosity will come from other companies that could easily match this so that the country can produce quality education and a quality future for generations of military families who’ve given more to this country than the rest of us could ever imagine.

Toyota vehicles have been implemented with a new brake override system feature to allow the vehicle to cut power and enhance braking capability. This system will engage when certain conditions have been met with regards to the vehicle speed, throttle opening and brake pedal pressure applied.

In order to engage the system the accelerator must be pressed down and the driver must use their left foot to depress the brake pedal without lifting up on the gas pedal. When the condition engages the vehicles engine speed will be reduced to about half while the operator continues to press on the brake.

The brake system override fix helps Toyota owners feel safe that their vehicles will not have the ability to overpower the braking system under any conditions because this will disable the engine from making enough power.

Once the driver has adequately stopped or slowed down sufficiently, they’ll be able to resume driving as normal.

There doesn’t seem to be any indication from Toyota yet as to whether this override system will initiate a fault or trigger a dashboard warning indicator that the system had be engaged or is currently engaged.

For diagrams and drawings to illustrate how the brake system override software works with the vehicle, the Brake System Override pdf provides a good overview.

For more on this checkout the Toyota Newsroom article:

http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota-extends-brake-override-154194.aspx

First Edition RAV4 - Source: Wikipedia

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors Inc. will be delivering a fleet of vehicles sometime this year so Toyota can begin testing them. Toyota will also work with Tesla on manufacturing processes and the partnership to deliver electric vehicles by 2012 will be well underway.

This type of partnership puts Toyota and Tesla at an advantage because each company can bring specific engineering values when collaborating and allow the relationship to potentially grow into other vehicle models as well as Toyota’s market in Japan.

Tesla Motors will need to grow substantially to support the demand for this one partnership, let alone their own vehicles – the Tesla Roadster. This is great news for Tesla, and should translate into more jobs here in the US should they keep the bulk of the manufacturing here in the US.

For the rest of this press release – follow this link to go to the Toyota Newsroom