How many Toyota hybrids would you expect to see pass by if you were to stand at the Tomei Expressway for an hour on a busy Thursday afternoon? We have no idea, but luckily we know someone who does…

Would you like a car that offers over 100mpg? How about CO2 emissions of just 59g/km? That’s what we had the chance to drive yesterday. Two things shouldn’t come as a surprise though: it was a Toyota hybrid, and it carried the familiar Prius badge. But this was unlike any Prius we had experienced before. This was Prius PHV.

In the first of a range of posts leading up to the July 1 launch of the new Auris Hybrid, we take you behind the scenes at Toyota’s manufacturing plant in Burnaston, UK. Following on from our time in Barcelona, we find out how the Auris Hybrid is built and discover the many ways in which Toyota Manufacturing UK (TMUK) has risen to the challenge of building Europe’s first mass-produced hybrid car.

Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announced details of a number of quality-related matters at a press conference in Tokyo today.

KEY POINTS:
- Chief quality officers to be appointed worldwide
- New Special Committee for Global Quality
- Stronger framework for receiving and monitoring customer feedback
- Rigorous and independent testing of electronic throttle fail-safe system
- Brake-override system to be introduced [...]

Press speculation continues today regarding the 3rd Generation Prius braking system. On Friday, Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Corporation, gave a press conference, and below is an extract from his statement.

We understand that, whilst the probability is rare, any chance that a pedal may mechanically stick in a partially depressed position is a concern for a driver.
Therefore we have detailed below some advice which you should follow if you do experience a problem whilst driving:
For vehicles with manual transmission, depress the clutch pedal and shift [...]