Toyota Motor Sales USA held its annual dealer meeting in Las Vegas yesterday, and TMC President Akio Toyoda made some statements about what’s coming up for Toyota in the next year.
First of all, Toyota’s bestselling car, the mid-size Camry, will get a full redesign for the 2012 model year, so we assume we’ll be seeing it pretty soon. Toyoda said to expect the Camry to provide technologically advanced features, a contemporary design inside and out as well as improved performance, handling and refinement. According to the President, the 2012 Camry will meet the changing needs of the 21st-century driver, whatever that means.
Electric-powered vehicles are on the way. Scheduled for 2012 are the RAV4 EV, the Scion iQ EV and, what we already knew, the Prius plug-in hybrid. The Prius v wagon/crossover will arrive this fall, while the compact Prius c should appear in the spring of 2012; Toyota bets the latter will be the most fuel-efficient hybrid sold in the United States.
A new assembly plant will open in Mississippi this fall and will start building 150,000 Corollas a year. This move will create 2,000 jobs.
A new multimedia interface, a growing trend among manufacturers, will debut this fall in the Prius v and the redesigned Camry. Toyota’s new system will be called Entune and is said to feature simple and seamless functionality, capable of connecting to virtually any smart phone.
As for current production, it will return to normal levels in Japan by July; eight North American-built models (Avalon, Camry, Highlander, Matrix, Sequoia, Sienna, Venza) have regained full production speed while the Tundra, the Tacoma, the RAV4 and the Lexus RX will return to 100 percent production in September.
Finally, Toyota is still planning to launch a fuel-cell vehicle by 2015.
First of all, Toyota’s bestselling car, the mid-size Camry, will get a full redesign for the 2012 model year, so we assume we’ll be seeing it pretty soon. Toyoda said to expect the Camry to provide technologically advanced features, a contemporary design inside and out as well as improved performance, handling and refinement. According to the President, the 2012 Camry will meet the changing needs of the 21st-century driver, whatever that means.
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| The Toyota Camry will be completely redesigned for the 2012 model year (Photo: Toyota Canada Inc.) |
Electric-powered vehicles are on the way. Scheduled for 2012 are the RAV4 EV, the Scion iQ EV and, what we already knew, the Prius plug-in hybrid. The Prius v wagon/crossover will arrive this fall, while the compact Prius c should appear in the spring of 2012; Toyota bets the latter will be the most fuel-efficient hybrid sold in the United States.
A new assembly plant will open in Mississippi this fall and will start building 150,000 Corollas a year. This move will create 2,000 jobs.
A new multimedia interface, a growing trend among manufacturers, will debut this fall in the Prius v and the redesigned Camry. Toyota’s new system will be called Entune and is said to feature simple and seamless functionality, capable of connecting to virtually any smart phone.
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| The Prius v will arrive this fall, while the compact Prius c should appear next spring. (Photo: Toyota Canada Inc.) |
As for current production, it will return to normal levels in Japan by July; eight North American-built models (Avalon, Camry, Highlander, Matrix, Sequoia, Sienna, Venza) have regained full production speed while the Tundra, the Tacoma, the RAV4 and the Lexus RX will return to 100 percent production in September.
Finally, Toyota is still planning to launch a fuel-cell vehicle by 2015.