2000 Toyota 4runner Limited Sport Utility 4-door 3.4l **factory Supercharged** on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Recharge Wrap-up: New and old Audis get greener, as does US electricity

Audi has made environmental improvements to the its TT while boosting performance. The new TT sees an 11-percent reduction in emissions, and up to 14 percent more power. Audi says that each TT will save around 5.5 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over its lifecycle. Additionally, the TT's manufacturing process has been cleaned up a bit, reducing emissions by about nine percent. Read more in the press release, below, or see Audi's lifecycle assessment here. Speaking of greening up Audis, Al Swackhammer of Washington converted his 1960 Audi DKW 1000S to run on electric power. Swackhammer first fell in love with the Audi Ur-Quattro, became an enthusiast of Audi and Volkswagen cars, and has owned nothing else ever since. With his DKW, he combined his passion for the classic car with his responsibility to the environment. "I am pleased that I did this project," says the happy owner, "and I enjoy driving it very dearly." Meet the man and his beloved electric Audi DKW in the video below. Toyota has chosen a sustainable design firm, Corgan, as the lead architect for its new North American headquarters. The new campus will be built in Plano, TX, and will be the workplace of about 4,000 Toyota employees. Corgan, who has already done 47 LEED certified projects, is already designing a temporary office for the site while it finishes the project. Toyota expects to begin working from the site in late 2016 or early 2017. Learn more in the press release below. In July, all new electrical generating capacity in the US came from renewable sources. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Energy Projects' newest "Energy Infrastructure Update" report says new electric generation put into service last month came from wind (379 megawatts), solar (21 megawatts) and hydro (5 megawatts). So far this year, 53 percent of new energy generation capacity has come from various renewable sources, and none from coal or nuclear. Currently, renewable energy accounts for 16.3 percent of the US electric generation capacity, providing about 14 percent of actual electricity. Read more in the press release from the Sun Day Campaign below. Positive life cycle assessment for the new Audi TT Compact sports car scores high for dynamic performance and efficiency Emissions reduced by 11 percent compared with predecessor Customer benefits from the very first mile Ingolstadt, August 18, 2014 – Dynamic performance and efficiency: The new Audi TT* impressively combines both qualities.

Toyota racks up $18-billion profit

Toyota is looking strong at the end of the fiscal year with its net revenue showing six percent growth to the equivalent of $227 billion. Operating income grew to $23 billion in that period, a 20-percent jump, and net income increased to $18.1 billion, a 19-percent advancement. The company attributes the positive numbers to cost reductions and the weak yen compared to other currencies. Toyota increased its operating income in every major region, but despite these ballooning figures, total sales globally actually fell slightly to almost 9 million – 144,149 fewer than last year. The automaker's biggest division in terms of units was North America, and it accounted for 2.7-million vehicles during the fiscal year. Operating income amounted to $4.5 billion there. Meanwhile, Japan ranked as the most lucrative territory. Sales there fell by about 200,000 vehicles to a total of 2.15 million. However, operating income for the fiscal year more than doubled to $13.1 billion. In its forecasts for the next fiscal year, Toyota predicts global sales to remain roughly the same as this year at 8.9 million vehicles. Net revenue and net income are expected to make slight gains, though. Related Video: TMC Announces Financial Results for Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2015 (All consolidated financial information has been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles) Toyota City, Japan, May 8, 2015-Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) today announces its financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015. Consolidated vehicle sales totaled 8,971,864 units, a decrease of 144,169 units compared to the previous fiscal year. On a consolidated basis, net revenues for the period totaled 27.23 trillion yen, an increase of 6.0 percent. Operating income increased from 2.2921 trillion yen to 2.7505 trillion yen, while income before income taxes1 was 2.8928 trillion yen. Net income2 increased from 1.8231 trillion yen to 2.1733 trillion yen. Operating income increased by 458.4 billion yen. Major factors contributing to the increase included currency fluctuations of 280.0 billion yen and cost reduction efforts of 280.0 billion yen.

Next Toyota Prius may get optional all-wheel drive

We've been hearing rumors about the next generation of the Toyota Prius for the last couple of years on a pretty regular basis. From the expectation of lithium-ion battery packs with more capacity for electric-only miles to wireless charging and more emotional styling, there's been no shortage of talking points for the car that's expected to see its first light of day at the very end of 2015 (we hope). But one thing we've yet to hear about, until now that is, is all-wheel drive. According to a report from Automotive News, Koei Saga, senior managing officer in charge of powertrain development of the Prius, said in an interview last week, "I think we will possibly do [all-wheel drive]" for the car's next generation. There isn't any further indication on how the AWD system would work, but we'd put our money on something similar, at least in principle, to the E-Four system that just debuted on the 2015 Lexus NX 300h, which uses an electric motor mounted at the rear to power the car's back wheels when the front wheels lose traction. The AN report also repeats a rumor we've heard before – that Toyota may offer two different battery pack options in its next Prius, one using lithium-ion chemistry and one using the nickel metal hydride technology that the Prius has featured from its very beginning. While the automaker has yet to talk efficiency, it's natural to expect more capacity for EV driving from newer lithium-based technology over that of nickel-based packs to go along with what we'd also expect would be a somewhat higher price. We're sure you're just as curious about the next Prius as much as we are, and so we'll leave you with these words, again from Saga: "The batteries will be renewed. Everything will be revised. And I think we will come up with a fuel economy that will surprise everyone."