2008 Fj Cruiser Base Voodoo Blue. 4.0l V6 4wd. 66,556 Miles on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Toyota giving away its first hydrogen car in US

California isn't Nevada, but Golden State residents are nonetheless being given a chance to make a small bet on what may be a large prize, courtesy of Toyota. The Japanese automaker will start selling its first hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles on the West Coast late next year, and before that, Toyota would like to pick up some positive publicity by giving America's first one away to one lucky Californian. Toyota is working with the Environmental Media Association, a nonprofit that melds celebrities with sustainability-related causes, on the promotion. The upshot is that folks can go to Bidding For Good and buy a $100 ticket to be eligible for the prize. Heck, people can get a half-dozen ducats for $500. What a deal. The winner will be announced October 18 at Warner Bros. Studios. Last month, Toyota unveiled a television commercial that proclaimed 2015 as the potential turning point for fuel-cell vehicle adoption. Toyota will start selling the FCV in Japan next April for about $69,000. Toyota says the fuel cell vehicle will be able to go about 300 miles on a full tank of hydrogen and, aside from some water vapor, will not have any emissions. Read more in Toyota's press release below. How the West Was Won: Toyota Offers Chance to Be a Fuel Cell Pioneer TORRANCE, Calif., Oct. 8, 2014 – It's hard to be a trendsetter in places like Los Angeles or San Francisco, but one lucky Californian will blaze that trail when they park a new Toyota Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) in their garage. Toyota and the Environmental Media Association (EMA) are offering a historic opportunity to own the company's first zero-emission hydrogen vehicle when it arrives in California in late 2015. Toyota is the first major auto manufacturer to give away a fuel cell vehicle to an individual owner. As the infrastructure to support the vehicle is currently only available in the golden state, prize applicants must be California residents. Residents can purchase opportunities to win at www.biddingforgood.com for a cost of $100 per ticket or $500 for six. All monies raised will benefit programs of the EMA, a nonprofit 501(c)3 dedicated to harnessing the power of celebrity and the media to promote sustainable lifestyles. The winner will be announced at the 24th annual EMA Awards, presented by Toyota and Lexus, on Oct. 18 at Warner Bros Studios. The EMA awards honor individuals within the entertainment industry for efforts to promote environmental messages.

Land Rover, Toyota big winners in ALG top resale value awards

"Residual value is important for automakers and consumers because it's a complete indicator of the vehicle's future value." - Larry Dominique
Toyota and Land Rover took home the top brand honors in ALG's 2015 Residual Value Awards, which will be presented this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

Toyota retires robots in favor of humans to improve automaking process

Mitsuru Kawai is overseeing a return to the old ways at Toyota factories throughout Japan. Having spent 50 years at the Japanese automaker, Kawai remembers when manual skills were prized at the company and "experienced masters used to be called gods, and they could make anything." Company CEO Akio Toyoda personally chose Kawai to develop programs to teach workers metalcraft such as how to forge a crankshaft from scratch, and 100 workstations that formerly housed machines have been set aside for human training.
The idea is that when employees personally understand the fabrication of components, they will understand how to make better machines. Said Kawai, "To be the master of the machine, you have to have the knowledge and the skills to teach the machine." Lessons learned by the newly skilled workers have led to shorter production lines - in one case, 96percent shorter - improved parts production and less scrap.
Taking time to give workers the knowledge to solve problems instead of merely having them "feed parts into a machine and call somebody for help when it breaks down," Kawai's initiative is akin to that of Toyota's Operations Management Consulting Division, where new managers are given a length of time to finish a project but not given any help - they have to learn on their own. It's not a step back from Toyota's quest to build more than ten million cars a year; it's an effort to make sure that this time they don't sacrifice quality while making the effort. Said Kawai, "We need to become more solid and get back to basics."