#toyota

Before Lexus, there was Cressida. It was probably more of a Japanese take on a Buick- or Oldsmobile-style upper-middle-luxury car than the game changer Lexus would be, but that’s no mark against it. The first Toyota bearing the Cressida name became available in the U.S. in 1977, and they were decidedly trans-Pacific cars, bearing much resemblance to contemporary Detroit products. Interiors could be Brougham plush; some available upholstery fabrics wouldn’t look out of place in a bordello – or a Buick. However, the instrumentation was more complete than you’d find on most Detroiters.

Extremes are easy to write about.

Just as sportswriters would prefer to cover either contending teams or basement dwellers instead of those that win about as much as they lose, most auto writers find it easier to describe sexy sports cars or to lampoon rolling failures.

This is why writers who are itching to show you how well they can use a thesaurus are almost as happy to see a Mitsubishi Mirage arrive at their home as they would be a Ferrari. Almost.

Toyota has suspended operations at a factory in China because local authorities issued an order for the region to conserve electricity. Sichuan province is reportedly rationing energy for both residential and industrial zones, complicating things for manufacturers. Toyota has said that the plant is likely to be closed through Saturday — adding that it would be monitoring the situation and taking guidance from the Chinese government. But the issue could have sweeping ramifications because the area is also home to numerous part suppliers.

According to a new report, at least some Toyota GR86s are suffering from lubrication issues.

One driver even claims Toyota refused to pay for a new engine, accusing him of abusing it on track.

Today’s Rare Ride is brought to you by a Tweet that featured today’s subject and was the exact moment your author became aware of its existence. Released in the Nineties prior to the American retro styling craze, the Classic was a limited edition sedan sold only to Japanese customers. Curious yet?

When I walk the rows of a big Ewe Pullet-style self-service car graveyard, I always take a look inside every 2000s Toyota Camry I see. I do this because I wish to document one of the most elusive of all junkyard inmates: One of the final Camrys sold in the United States with a factory-installed manual transmission. Prior to today's Junkyard Find, the newest discarded three-pedal Camry I'd found was a 2001 model in California. We're pushing the record another five years forward today because I've found this five-on-the-floor-equipped 2006 Camry in the very same yard.

Students of automotive history will know the Toyota Crown has sat atop the aspirational ladder in Japan since the 1950s and hasn’t been part of the Big T’s portfolio in America since 1973 when it was replaced by the Corona. Our own Murilee can expound on this family tree in excruciating detail, which is one of the many reasons we appreciate his ramblings.

Now, the Crown in back in this country. Technically replacing the Avalon, it’s a hybrid-powered four-door vehicle (car? SUV?) with a conventional sedan trunk opening sitting on a structure that places it four inches higher than a Camry. If Toyota was looking to defy categorization as it brought the Crown name back to America for the first time in five decades, it has definitely succeeded.

Toyota and Subaru are recalling their new all-electric models, though EV fans will be pleased to know that the issue has nothing to do with the battery packs. Instead, the affected vehicles run the risk of losing their wheels under sudden braking or sharp turns — which I suppose isn’t much of an improvement over the possibility of an electrical fire.

The good news is that the problem is limited almost entirely to demo models of the Toyota bZ4X and Subaru Solterra the companies wanted to use for promotional purposes. While they may eventually have found their way into residential garages, the original intent was to have them attend trade events and serve as test models on dealership lots. That’s likely to remain the plan, too. But only after the automakers comply with the demands of Japanese regulators.

Despite starting 2022 announcing a plan to normalize output, Toyota has had trouble living up to its promise. While most automakers were figuring out how to make more money off diminished production, the Japanese brand was plotting assembly schedules that would restore assembly rates to levels that would have been considered normal prior to 2020. But the rest of the market hasn’t managed to match Toyota’s optimism and the automaker has had to scale back its global production plan yet again — citing the usual supply chain constraints stemming from COVID restrictions and worldwide deficit of semiconductors.

Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. looks to be abandoning its vehicle assembly plant in Saarlouis, Germany. The facility produces the Focus for Europe and may be in danger of closing if the automaker elects to sell it. While the site was in the running to produce Ford’s next-gen electric vehicles, those products have since been slated for assembly in Valencia, Spain.

On Monday, General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, and Toyota Motor North America reportedly asked the United States Congress to lift the existing cap on the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles. Though automakers petitioning the government for free money is hardly new business.

The 2023 Toyota Sequoia is going to remain atop the brand’s SUV ladder, with a planned sticker price based at $58,300.

The TRD Pro version, which is top-of-the-line and off-road-oriented, will start at $76,900.

Toyota plans on having seven models in its bZ family of EVs by 2025, according to Motor1. Scheduled to arrive in the late spring, the bZ4X crossover will be the first of those models, as you likely know. And there are more on the way.

If the Venn Diagram of your friends has an overlap of people who like all-terrain tires and hybrid powertrains (you may need a magnifying glass to find that sliver), then Toyota has a solution. Enter the RAV4 Hybrid Woodland, an all-wheel-drive machine featuring TRD-tuned suspenders and an efficient four-banger hybrid engine.

When The General began building the AE82 Toyota Corolla (actually based on the JDM Sprinter version) at the NUMMI plant in California, that car got Chevrolet Nova badges. When Toyota debuted the E90 Corolla platform in 1987, it made sense for the NUMMI-ized version of the new E90 Sprinter to join the Suzukis and Isuzus of the new Geo brand. That car was the Geo Prizm, and I’ve found one of the super-rare factory-hot-rod GSi Prizms in a Denver-area self-service yard.

The automotive industry has basically resigned itself to running with lessened production for the foreseeable future. A significant number of automakers have suggested that it might be more lucrative to scale back output, reduce overhead, and focus on achieving broader margins per car during this prolonged period of economic and logistical duress. However, Toyota started the year saying it would do its utmost to raise production output as a way to make up for losses incurred during the pandemic. The company even said it anticipated things to gradually normalize through the spring.

Unfortunately, things have not gone according to plan. By March, the Japanese automaker had lowered its output goal for the fiscal year by 500,000 global units. Another 20 percent was lopped off for the month of April and leadership began expressing concerns that those preexisting goals might be totally untenable. While there were moments with the target actually rose, Toyota has repeatedly been forced to walk those claims back as the realities of the market dashed its dreams. Now, the company is once again cutting planned output for the month of June over supply chain issues with China.