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Unintended acceleration settlement hits Toyota's Q4 bottom line

Depending on how you want to look at things, the US Attorney's Office $1.2-billion dollar settlement with Toyota in March over its unintended acceleration recall was either a big blow to the company or completely inconsequential. From January to March, net income fell five percent to 297 billion yen ($2.89 billion), compared to 313.9 billion yen ($3.05 billion) a year ago. However, the automaker still posted record full-year profits worldwide.
Operating profit also fell in the US by 9 percent to $498.1 million for the quarter, but sales were up by 6 percent to 581,261 vehicles. According to Automotive News, global revenue was still up from January to March by about 13 percent and vehicle sales were up 6 percent to 2.58 million units.
However, the payment to the feds did little to hold the company back last year. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, Toyota had net income of 1.82 trillion yen ($17.7 billion), compared to 962.1 billion yen ($9.5 billion) in the last fiscal year. Total vehicle sales were also up.

Toyota GT86 gets TRD treatment in UK

As dearly as we love the Toyota GT86 / Scion FR-S / Subaru BRZ franchise, we readily admit we wouldn't look sideways at a model with a bit more firepower. And while that's not quite on the table yet, Toyota has been busy amping up the visual firepower of its rear-drive coupe with a whole host of TRD parts. To this point, that's been a largely à la carte affair, but the automaker's UK outpost has just announced a special-edition model that allows our British friends to pick up the whole shooting match all in one go.
The Toyota GT86 TRD will only be available in black and white, and just 250 examples are to be built. As you can see from the excellent gallery above, the catalog of look-faster bits include a more aggressive front air dam, side skirts, rear bumper fascia, spoiler and unique 18-inch forged alloys. Additional flourishes include a TRD shift lever and branded radiator cap. The sole concession to actual performance? A "fast-response quad exhaust" that might only improve things audibly - 0-62 mph is apparently unchanged at 7.7 seconds, and the top end is still 140 mph for the manual transmission model. (The auto gets by with 8.4 seconds and 130 mph).
Pricing? Glad you asked. £31,495 for GT 86 TRD manual, £32,995 for the automatic - that's nearly $50,000 US for the tripedalist and just over for the automatic. (Those are heady prices, but bear in mind that UK MSRPs and taxes are generally significantly higher than their US counterparts). If the standard GT86 is more your speed, it still rings up at a more affordable £24,995 - roughly $39,500 - leaving plenty of budget for actual performance parts. No word yet on North American availability of a special TRD model, but we've got a call in...

2015 Toyota Tundra Bass Pro Shops Off-Road Edition a Gulf-State exclusive

Americans certainly have a fondness for pickup trucks with the Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado frequently being among the top sellers each month, and that attachment is famously strong in the Lone Star State. We already saw Chevrolet unveil its Colorado Sport concept at the State Fair of Texas. Not to be outdone, Toyota debuted its new the 2015 Tundra Bass Pro Shops Off-Road Edition there, as well.
All of the Tundras use a 4x4 CrewMax SR5 configuration with the Tow Package, and they all come with Toyota's 5.7-liter V8 with 381 horsepower and a six-speed automatic gearbox. What actually sets these vehicles off as the Bass Pro Shops special edition is the 20-inch matte black wheels, tubular side steps, a spray-on bedliner, stainless steel exhaust tips and fender flares. To promote the connection with the store, there are Bass Pro Shops-branded floor mats and company decals on the bed. Of course, pickups are meant to get used, and to make sure of that, buyers also receive a package containing fishing, hunting, camping or marine gear worth about $1,000.
The special edition trucks will only be available in the Gulf States of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas beginning this October, and they'll carry a price of $43,975.