New Cars Company: toyota

Toyota May See Production Diminished by 500,000 Cars because of the Earthquake

The shortage of parts and electricity problems in Japan in the aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake may delay the production of at least 500,000 Toyota vehicles, according to market research company Advanced Research Japan.

The world's largest carmaker may subsequently see its operating profit drop by at least 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in the 2010 fiscal year (ending March 31 2011) and up to 200 billion yen in the 2011 fiscal year. Auto analyst Koji Endo says any impact on production destined for export will affect earnings even more. “Hardly any cars will be built in April and a very low level of production will continue from May,” Endo was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

Toyota said it lost 140,000 units of production from March 14 to March 26, when it closed all 18 plants in Japan due to a shortage of electronic parts, rubber and plastics. The carmaker resumed building three models at two factories on March 24, with the company giving priority to hybrid vehicles, including the Prius best-seller. Toyota was able to resume hybrid production using remaining inventory and parts from suppliers who have recovered.

Starting this summer, Japanese manufacturers will see their power supply cut by around 15 percent, as the earthquake knocked out generators, with production to be further affected. Toyota built 3.28 million cars in Japan in 2010.

The other two major Japanese carmakers also admitted production delays, with Nissan saying it couldn't build 55,000 units this month, while Honda estimated a loss of 46,600 units between March 14 and April 3.

By Dan Mihalascu

Source: Bloomberg

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Toyota, PSA and BMW Closest to Achieving EU’s New CO2 Targets

Toyota, PSA/Peugeot-Citroen and BMW are the carmakers closest to reaching their CO2 targets next year, according to a report by market research firm JATO Dynamics. The targets are imposed by the European Union, whose objective for 2015 is to enforce a fleet average CO2 level of 130 g/km for manufacturers selling cars in Europe.

In order to reach that objective, CO2 targets are lowered progressively each year. In 2009 the average was 145.9 g/km and in 2010 it went down to 140.9 g/km. Emissions regulations will be imposed starting next year, with significant fines to be enforced to automakers that will not comply with the new emissions limits.

From 2012 to 2018, carmakers will be fined €5 per vehicle for the first g/km of CO2, €15 for the second gram, €25 for the third gram and €95 from the fourth gram onwards. For instance, a company that sells 1 million cars in Europe and misses the target by 1 g/km of CO2 will face a €5 million ($7 million) fine.

Toyota, PSA and BMW need to reduce their overall fleet emissions by 7 percent or less to reach the imposed threshold for this year, but Daimler, Mazda and Nissan are way behind, having to reduce their emissions with values ranging from 19.8 to 17.6 percent.

Fiat had the lowest group CO2 level last year – 125.9 g/km. Still, the Italian company needs to drop down to 116.1 g/km by 2015. That's because the EU calculates individual targets for each automaker according to a weight-based system. Since Fiat mostly sells small cars, it had the lightest average weight for its models in 2010, at 1,067 kg (2,352 lbs).

By Dan Mihalascu

Sources: Autonews , J.D. Power

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Toyota FT-86 Sports Concept II: New Pictures and Video from Brussels Photo Shoot

We’ve already seen and gone over all the juicy bits of the near-production Toyota FT-86 II sports coupe, but the Japanese automaker’s social media crew went over to the firm’s European headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, for a new photo shoot last week offering us a fresh batch of pictures as well as a behind-the-scenes video.

The second iteration of the FT-86 study made its first public outing at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month. Its main purpose is to preview actual production model that will go on sale in late 2012. The well-received styling of the original concept model evolved gaining new front and rear ends, more pronounced surfaces and a host of other fresh details, with Toyota claiming that the design changes were made for safety regulations as well as for practical reasons.

The new rear drive coupe is being developed in cooperation with Subaru that will present its own version in the near future. Both cars will share the same underpinnings and mechanical hardware including the 2.0-liter boxer engine and 6-speed transmission.

Toyota says the sports coupe will stand out for its light weight and low centre of gravity, offering an “optimum power-to-weight ratio”.More details are expected to be released later this year.

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