Tokyo Debut: Toyota FT-EV II Electric Vehicle Revealed Ahead

Toyota released first details about the Toyota FT-EV II earlier today. The Future Toyota Electric Vehicle II concept is meant to be a daily driver capable of low-level highway speeds.Running on lithium-ion batteries, the vehicle is capable of taking passengers a distance of 90 kilometers on a single charge. Top speed is 100 km/h, which is just enough to stay in the slow lanes on the freeway.The manufacturer did not release details about recharge time and motor size. The weight of the FT-EV II was also not released.Its interior was designed to be "retro-futuristic," which seems like an oxymoran at first. However, taking a look at the provided interior picture, the car looks like something that could have been storyboarded in the late-1970s, or possibly earlier, as a "car of the future." It has no foot pedals or steering wheel. Instead, the vehicle appears to be controlled by two control levers when the car is not on auto-pilot.Auto-pilot functions are meant to go beyond navigation. The FT-EV II can automatically download audio/visual content specifically geared towards the individuals in the car. Once plugged in at home, the vehicle can upload its content to a central computer.
Meanwhile, the vehicle's exterior is very much an evolution on the first FT-EV. This car appears to give more headroom, and more space in the back. A shorter nose means the windshield is flatter, and less angled. The front bumper was also redesigned. No pictures of the new concept's rear were provided.
Toyota will debut the new Toyota FT-EV II concept at the Tokyo Motor Show at the end of October.

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Update Office: Toyota Auris HSD Hybrid Fully Revealed, Features Prius' Hybrid Drivetrain

The new Auris HSD Full Hybrid is a thinly disguised concept model that will be launched at the Frankfurt show next week previewing the production model that is scheduled to go on sale in Europe sometime during the second half of 2010. According to Toyota, it marks a significant milestone in the firm's plan to equip its mainstream European models with full hybrid technology. As anticipated, the Auris HSD Full Hybrid shares its hybrid powertran with the thrid-gen Prius.

This means that it is equipped with a 1.8-liter Atkinson Cycle petrol engine with 98HP, a 60kW - 80HP electric motor and a nickel-metal hydride battery pack. The combined output of the hybrid system is 134 horsepower. Being a 'full' hybrid, the Auris can be driven on petrol engine alone, electric motor alone for up to 1.25 miles (2km) at speeds up to 31mph or combination of both.

Toyota says that the Auris HSD Hybrid accelerates from nought to 100km/h (62mph) in around 10 seconds, while returning a "class-leading" combined cycle fuel economy (no figures were released) and sub-100g/km CO2 emissions.

Compared to the conventional Auris that has replaced the hatchback versions of the Corolla in Europe, the hybrid model features some subtle styling changes to improve aerodynamic efficiency as well as to differentiate it from the rest of the range. These include the new front-end fascia with a different grille and LED headlights, the new bumpers with flat corners, the LED tail lamps, the addition of a rear diffuser and a larger rear spoiler.

Other changes include the 20mm lower ride height, the underbody panels and the bespoke 18-inch alloy wheels that are designed to cut air turbulence in the wheel arches and are shod with low rolling resistance tyres. These changes result to a drag coefficient of 0.28 - for comparison, the latest Prius has a Cd figure of 0.25.

The hybrid model has also been fitted with solar panels on the roof as well as on top of the dashboard that generate enough energy to recharge mobile phones or portable music plays mounted in purpose-designed charging trays.

Being a concept and all, the car's cabin gets a special makeover as the seats and upper dashboard are finished in blue Gaucholino leather with light blue accent stitching while the centre console and side air vents have a pearl white finish. Furthermore, the instrument cluster gets 'hybrid blue' illumination while other upgrades include the flat bottom steering wheel and ambient illumination of the footwells and headlining.

The Auris HSD Full Hybrid will be built by Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK (TMUK) at the firm's Burnaston factory, near Derby, with sales of the production model set to start across Europe in the second half of 2010.

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Toyota Auris HSD uses hybrid system from Prius

This Toyota Auris HSD Full Hybrid previews what will be Toyota’s first step in offering a hybrid model for each car they sell in Europe by the early 2020s, and starting out with the Auris HSD makes sense as the 5-door hatchback bodytype is the most popular bodytype in terms of sales in Europe.

But 2020 is a long way to go – will we even be in the position to use ‘hybrid’ cars by then or would we have gone all fuel cell or EV, at least in terms of new vehicles? I believe as long as there are countries where cars have a much longer lifecycle and remain in use for a long time (such as our country), there will be the need to have fuel stations that serve petrol, and as long as there’s still petrol widely available, people will still continue to pick it as the fuel of choice, assuming the price of EVs and fuel cells don’t come down of course.

Back to the Auris HSD. It’s of course not the first time Toyota has put a hybrid system in a variant that’s not exclusively hybrid. However these hybrid cars have been pretty much reserved for JDM markets – we’re talking about models such as the Estima Hybrid. Everywhere else, Toyota’s only hybrid offering has been the successful hybrid-only Prius, and the Lexus hybrids don’t really count as they don’t have a Toyota badge.

Blue may be the colour signifying hybrid or green technology for the time being but the interior is completely overdone. The best way to describe it would be just acres and acres of blue, with a white centre console area.

For this concept, the 1.8 liter Hybrid Synergy Drive system from the latest Prius has been taken directly and slotted into the concept. A hybrid must of course be aerodynamic (unless you’re talking about a hybrid SUV, then it becomes relative) so Toyota has lowered the stock Auris ride height by 20mm, and they’ve also fitted underbody panels, a rear spoiler, aerodynamic 18 inch alloy wheels, and a rear diffuser.

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Toyota Auris HSD Hybrid Fully Revealed, Features Prius' Hybrid Drivetrain

The new Auris HSD Full Hybrid is a thinly disguised concept model that will be launched at the Frankfurt show next week previewing the production model that is scheduled to go on sale in Europe sometime during the second half of 2010. According to Toyota, it marks a significant milestone in the firm's plan to equip its mainstream European models with full hybrid technology. As anticipated, the Auris HSD Full Hybrid shares its hybrid powertran with the thrid-gen Prius.

This means that it is equipped with a 1.8-liter Atkinson Cycle petrol engine with 98HP, a 60kW - 80HP electric motor and a nickel-metal hydride battery pack. The combined output of the hybrid system is 134 horsepower. Being a 'full' hybrid, the Auris can be driven on petrol engine alone, electric motor alone for up to 1.25 miles (2km) at speeds up to 31mph or combination of both.

Toyota says that the Auris HSD Hybrid accelerates from nought to 100km/h (62mph) in around 10 seconds, while returning a "class-leading" combined cycle fuel economy (no figures were released) and sub-100g/km CO2 emissions.

Compared to the conventional Auris that has replaced the hatchback versions of the Corolla in Europe, the hybrid model features some subtle styling changes to improve aerodynamic efficiency as well as to differentiate it from the rest of the range. These include the new front-end fascia with a different grille and LED headlights, the new bumpers with flat corners, the LED tail lamps, the addition of a rear diffuser and a larger rear spoiler.

Other changes include the 20mm lower ride height, the underbody panels and the bespoke 18-inch alloy wheels that are designed to cut air turbulence in the wheel arches and are shod with low rolling resistance tyres. These changes result to a drag coefficient of 0.28 - for comparison, the latest Prius has a Cd figure of 0.25.

The hybrid model has also been fitted with solar panels on the roof as well as on top of the dashboard that generate enough energy to recharge mobile phones or portable music plays mounted in purpose-designed charging trays.

Being a concept and all, the car's cabin gets a special makeover as the seats and upper dashboard are finished in blue Gaucholino leather with light blue accent stitching while the centre console and side air vents have a pearl white finish. Furthermore, the instrument cluster gets 'hybrid blue' illumination while other upgrades include the flat bottom steering wheel and ambient illumination of the footwells and headlining.

The Auris HSD Full Hybrid will be built by Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK (TMUK) at the firm's Burnaston factory, near Derby, with sales of the production model set to start across Europe in the second half of 2010.

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Toyota Previews Auris Hybrid with Pre-Production Concept

Toyota today dropped an official photograph of the Auris HSD Full Hybrid Concept, which will be displayed for the very first time at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show. In essence, it's a pre-production model lightly guised as a concept that previews Toyota's first European-built full hybrid that will be produced in the UK with sales scheduled to start in mid-2010.

The Japanese automaker said that the Auris Hybrid represents a milestone in the firm's strategy as it will be the first mainstream Toyota (obviously, the company doesn't count the Prius as a mainstream model...) to benefit from the company's full hybrid technology and the first step in the deployment of Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) across the company's model range.

This means that like the Prius, the Auris Hybrid will most likely be able to run on its electric motor(s), the internal combustion engine or a combination of the two. There's been no hint from Toyota on the type of engine that will be used on the Auris Hybrid.

We've only got a single photo of the car to go by, but it is evident that the hybrid version of the Auris will feature a number of specific exterior styling cues to differentiate it from the standard model.

These include the reshaped headlights with blue rings, a unique grille with a highlighted Toyota logo and the redesigned front bumper. We also see that the Auris Hybrid's rooftop features what appears to be a solar panel.

Full details and a comprehensive image gallery will follow closer to the Frankfurt Show opening.

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Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid Concept Heads to Frankfurt

Ahead of its world debut on September 15 at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, Toyota today released the first official photograph of the new Prius Plug-in Hybrid Concept. While Toyota did not disclose any specific information on the car, the Japanese automaker said that in early 2010, more than 150 units of the plug-in version of the Prius will be leased to selected fleet customers as part of an extensive field trial in Europe.

The automaker's main objective with the road-test project that will also be deployed in Japan as well as in the USA is to investigate and further evaluate the technology and performance of plug-in hybrids in real life conditions.

We'll have more details on the plug-in Prius concept car closer to the Frankfurt Show opening.

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