RECAP: a digest of recent Toyota news
Missed out on the news? Catch up here and click the links to access the full stories and pictures.
Yaris Hybrid is the latest newcomer in Toyota’s busy summer of new introductions and following the recent press launch, full information, images and videos are available on the Toyota media website.
Yaris Hybrid is Europe’s first full hybrid supermini and the downsizing of Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive system to work within a smaller vehicle architecture makes for a highly efficient car that’s no less spacious than a standard Yaris and which offers great benefits in terms of ownership costs.
This year’s J.D. Power and Associates vehicle ownership satisfaction survey demonstrated strength-in-depth in Toyota’s performance, with an unmatched three models ranked in the top 10 in the UK overall. Both Prius and iQ took top ranking in their respective categories.
Toyota’s Burnaston factory is home to worldwide production of the Toyota Avensis and that’s prompted the new Mayor of Derby to choose the model for her official car, declaring her intention to “buy local” and support the region’s economy.
Speed and competition are high on the agenda for Toyota at the moment, with the new TS030 HYBRID making its debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend and preparations well in hand for the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which this year coincides with the official UK sales launch of the new GT86.
Toyota’s development of alternative power systems for motor sport has taken another step forward with a new electric race car, the EV P002, which will take on the famous Pikes Peak hill climb challenge in the USA in July.
Away from the track,Toyota has passed another significant milestone, with worldwide sales of hybrid vehicles reaching four million – and counting.
Toyota hybrids still have a long way to go to challenge the achievement of Corolla however, a name that’s been carried by more than 39 million Toyota vehicles since the mid-1960s. There has been no new Corolla in the UK since the arrival of Auris in 2007, but in Japan a new Corolla Axio saloon and Corolla Fielder estate have just been launched.
