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10 automakers shack up in Detroit hotel to talk Takata airbags

Since Takata has decided not to take the lead concerning potential issues with its airbag inflators, the automakers have. Perhaps that's unsurprising, since it's the automakers, not Takata, that will take a beating on the dealership floor if consumers decide its models are a health hazards. The Detroit News reports that Toyota, Honda, General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru met in a hotel conference room near the Detroit Metropolitan Airport last week to sort out a way to understand the technical issues involved. So far, faulty airbag inflators have been ruled the cause of five deaths and 50 injuries around the world, but neither Takata nor investigators understands exactly why the inflators are malfunctioning. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently asked Takata to issue a national recall, Takata declined, citing a minuscule failure rate and the fact that it's still investigating the issue. Toyota and Honda then made an industry-wide appeal for "a coordinated, comprehensive testing program" that would pinpoint the problem inflators and get them replaced, and that's what the Detroit meeting was about. Numerous issues, however, will make this a long row to hoe: simply getting the parts to replace the nearly 20 million inflators in cars recalled around the world so far - even working with other suppliers - will take a years, but more importantly, no one knows if the replacement inflators currently being installed will suffer the same issue. Answers will hopefully come quickly with Takata, the ten automakers and NHTSA all independently investigating the problem.

Toyota mints 10-millionth vehicle in Kentucky

In 26 years, from 1988 up to now, the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky plant in Georgetown has built ten million vehicles - nearly enough for every citizen of Seoul, Korea or the nation of Hungary. The first car to roll off the line back when the claymation California Raisins were singing old Marvin Gaye hits and everybody wanted to know Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was a white Camry. The ten-millionth car to roll off the line among the Avalons and Venzas also produced there: a white Camry Hybrid.
Toyota has put $5.9 billion into the site since its inception, employment is up to 7,000 associates and will grow when Lexus ES350 assembly begins next year. Whereas car number one is a showpiece for the ages, one of the automaker's current associates will get to win the ten-millionth car in a blind drawing to be held this summer.
There's a press release below with more information on the impressive milestone.

Toyota offering $4.2 billion in stock to fund Mirai, new hybrids

Toyota president Akio Toyoda told a group of investors that the hydrogen fuel-cell Mirai is the car for the next century. To help pay for it, Toyota is courting investors who aren't only after short-term capital gains but want to help the company long term. It will offer up to 500 billion yen ($4.2 billion US) worth of special shares in Japan that cost 20-percent more than common stock and that can't be sold for five years. The upshot is that the shares will pay a higher dividend, still have voting rights, and they can be converted to common stock or sold back to Toyota at the issue price. The investors won't lose money. Called "Model AA" shares in honor of the company's first passenger car, the sale would help Toyota hold onto capital while it works on the next - expensive - developments. The sale would be broken up into tranches, with 50 million potentially on offer this year after the annual shareholder's meeting. Successive sales would take place no more than once a year. The initial dividend is set at 0.5 percent and capped at 2.5 percent, which even at its lowest rate would beat that of a standard deposit account in a Japanese bank. At the moment, sales are only planned for Japan. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2016 Toyota Mirai: LA 2014 View 19 Photos News Source: Bloomberg Earnings/Financials Green Toyota Hydrogen Cars Sedan toyota mirai stocks investing