Richmond Toyota
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Consumers Say Toyota Greenest Car Company!
Toyota took a dominant first-place ranking in consumer brand perception, according to Consumer Reports Car Brand Perceptions Survey. Twice as many car-shoppers associate Toyota with being environmentally friendly as second-ranked Honda.
Although far behind Toyota and Honda in this ranking, Ford generated buzz when it released the Escape Hybrid, which was the first hybrid SUV. 
ToyotaVP: Toyota 100% Hybrid By 2020
Toyota is hoping to make as much money from hybrids as it does from conventional cars by the end of the decade, Motor Authority reports In addition, 
Toyota's vice president in charge of powertrain development, Masatami Takimoto, also made the bold claim that by 2020, hybrids will be the standard drivetrain and account for "100 percent" of Toyota's cars as they would be no more expensive to produce than a conventional vehicle.
Toyota To Make 'Eco' Indicators Standard In All Vehicles
Toyota plans to make vehicle efficiency indicators standard in all of its vehicles, hybrid and non-hybrid, reports Green Car Congress. Toyota claims in a blog post that it's doing so because it has found that "when hybrid drivers use their Hybrid Vehicle System Indicators, their driving habits change as the system provides feedback on efficiency."The current plan is to include the indicators on all next generation Toyota, Lexus and Scion models after the next-generation 4-Runner launch in August, 2009.
Last summer, Nissan announced that all its future models will be equipped with a fuel efficiency gauge to give drivers more information on how their driving style directly relates to fuel economy.
Toyota was recently ranked the greenest car company. Last year, Toyota's VP said by 2020, all of its cars will be hybrid.
Toyota Could Create Family Of Prius Hybrids
Toyota is considering creating a family of Prius gas-electric hybrid sedans by adding new versions of the popular hybrid, The Wall Street Journal reports.
In speaking about the additional models, Tokiuchi Uranishi, head of Toyota's global sales operations, strongly suggested he favors offering a hybrid minivan in the U.S. market. But he said no decisions have been made about that. Toyota has a goal of selling as many as a million gas-electric hybrid vehicles a year by early in the next decade, he said.
Takimoto also said he believes the costs of all-electric vehicles are still too high to allow for broad commercialization of that technology, according to the Journal. He said that Toyota is committed to developing much of its alternative vehicle technology inhouse - including fuel cells and advanced hybrid vehicles.
The company is also considering expanding production capacity for the Prius, first in Japan and then possibly in other markets including the U.S.
The headquarters of Toyota Motors Sales U.S.A. in Torrance, Calif., has been honored with a Gold Award for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) from the U.S. Green Building Council. CTG Energetics, Inc. served as a sustainable design consulting firm, LPA, Inc, was the architectural firm, and Turner Construction Company was the general contractor.
The 624,000-sq. ft. complex is the largest "green" building complex in the U.S. It will initially house about 2,000 Toyota associates. The company decided to pursue LEED certification as part of its Earth Charter guidelines established in 1992, which call on the company to reduce its impact on the environment in every aspect of its business.
"We wanted to show that building an environmentally sensitive office complex does not have to be limited to small or unique projects-or ones with inflated budgets," says Robert Pitts, Toyota group vice president for administrative services.
Green aspects of the complex include:The use of recycled materials. The project has a 95 percent recycled content including more than 250 miles of reinforced steel made up primarily of recycled automobiles.
One of the largest commercial solar electric systems in North America.
The installation of a special pipeline to supply recycled water to the complex for cooling, landscaping and restroom flushing.
Energy-efficient lighting, insulation, and thermally insulated glass.
A hydrogen fueling and service station to support Toyota's fuel cell vehicle development program.
Use of Marshfield DoorSystems' Environmental Class wood doors, certified by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
Jennifer Aniston Buys a Prius - These Days, Every Sees the Benefit of Going Green
The lovely Jennifer Aniston, neighbor of Prius driver Leonardo DiC
aprio, has replaced her Range Rover with a Toyota Prius. There is not much more to add to the story, other than the fact that she more than doubles her fuel efficiency for less than half of the price of the large SUV. Most people doubt that the money savings were very high on her list of reasons to go the environmentally friendly route, but, what do we know? Anyway, here she is! (She looks kinda cute there!)Prius Rules Hybrid Roost, Will Continue To Do So
Toyota's Prius rules the hybrid roost, and consultancies say the car will continue to do so: Toyota sold a record 16,062 Priuses last month - a 50 percent increase versus the month last year, MediaPost reports. Year to date, the company saw an 85 percent increase through July versus the period in 2006.
On the domestic side, Ford has sold over 11,000 units of its Escape hybrid in the first half of this year. General Motors' Saturn division has hybrids under the Green Line sub-brand of the Vue crossover and Aura sedan. GM's price premium is between $1,000 and $1,500. GM has sold less than 1,000 of its Aura hybrids since it went on sale in April.
Although there are now 11 hybrid models for sale in the U.S. market, Prius still accounts for over 50 percent of all new hybrid vehicles bought in the U.S. According to J.D. Power & Associates, it will continue to dominate.
The winners in the hybrid wars will be the ones offering the whole package. "The key will be-do they look different, how are they priced and do they offer that much of an advantage? It had better offer gasoline advantages and look different. That's what's required," says one industry expert.
Toyota To Launch Plug-In Hybrid, Prius Brand Could Spread
Toyota plans to lease plug-in hybrid cars, that recharge from electrical outlets, by 2010, Boston Globe reports. The move puts Toyota in direct competition with General Motors, which has announced plans to sell its own plug-in hybrid vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt, sometime around 2010.
Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, said that the company has been so successful marketing Scion and Lexus cars as a brand that it may use those lessons to support a lineup of hybrid vehicles under the brand of Prius. Prius has been the top seller in the U.S. hybrid market. Last year, Toyota sold more than 181,000 Prius hybrids, a 68% increase from the previous year. Hybrids currently account for more than 2 percent of domestic vehicle sales.
U.S. EPA Recognizes Three Toyota Manufacturing Facilities
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently recognized three of Toyota's U.S. vehicle assembly plants with an ENERGY STAR Plant Award for their commitment and leadership in protecting our environment through energy efficiency. The three plants include:
These three plants satisfied the EPA's Energy Performance Indicators (EPI) score, including lighting levels and environmental compliance criteria. This is the first time ever that the U.S. EPA has awarded the ENERGY STAR Plant Award.
Some of the keys to earning the award include:
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· Installing energy efficient fluorescent lamps in all areas of the three plants · Minimize operational time of the paint shops by ten percent · Eliminate certain sections of the paint operations to reduce energy use by five percent |
Some of the keys to earning the award include:
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· Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana, Inc. (TMMI) · Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. (TMMK) · New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) |
Located in Princeton, TMMI produces the Sequoia, Sienna and Tundra; Located in Georgetown, TMMK produces the Avalon, Camry and Solara, including four cylinder and V6 engines; Located in Fremont, California, NUMMI is a joint venture between Toyota and General Motors and produces the Corolla, Tacoma and Pontiac Vibe.
Toyota Faces Hybrid Challengers
Honda chief Takeo Fukui says the company will battle Toyota for eco-supremacy in the years ahead, Business Week reports. That's not an easy task, the Prius alone accounted for 50 percent of all hybrid sales in the U.S. last month.
The next phase of hybrids, Fukui argues, will focus on improving the economics of buying a hybrid. "The price needs to be reasonable and fuel efficiency higher so the [premium] the consumer pays [for a hybrid car] can be returned in a short period of time," he says. To achieve that goal, he confirmed that Honda will launch a long-awaited, hybrid-only model in 2009. Honda plans on producing 200,000 of the new hybrids per year. The company is also planning to launch its first-ever hybrid sports car.
Chevy is squaring off with Toyota too. A recent marketing campaign touts Chevrolet's five "Fuel Solutions:" more efficient internal combustion engines; biofuels such as E85 ethanol; gas-electric hybrids; electrically driven vehicles; and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
The brand's new tagline is "Chevrolet, from gas-friendly to gas-free."
The 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid - the first General Motors vehicle to use the company's all-new two-mode hybrid system - has been named Green Car Journal's 2008 Green Car of the Year.
Toyota is planning its own moves and is considering creating a family of Prius gas-electric hybrid sedans by adding new versions. In speaking about the additional models, Tokiuchi Uranishi, head of Toyota's global sales operations, strongly suggested he favors offering a hybrid minivan in the U.S. market.
The winners in the hybrid wars will be the ones offering the whole package. "The key will be-do they look different, how are they priced and do they offer that much of an advantage? It had better offer gasoline advantages and look different. That's what's required," says one industry expert.