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Toyota nears $40B cash reserve as calls grow for new investment, payouts

With the April 15 tax deadline just a few months away, our US readers will be faced with a decision should they get a refund: save or spend? It seems this issue is one many of us face whenever there's a windfall, trying to decide whether we should set the money aside in an account of some sort or use it as a down payment on a new car or a trip to the Apple store. Unsurprisingly, major corporations face a similar, albeit more complex, issue.
Take Toyota, for example. With President Akio Toyoda at the helm, the Japanese manufacturer has gracefully weathered recalls and natural disasters, all while turning beaucoup profits. Last quarter, profits quintupled to 434.4-billion yen ($4.3-billion USD), according to Bloomberg. Toyota also upped its forecast for the end of fiscal year 2013 (which ends on March 31 for Japan), to a record 1.9-trillion yen (about $18.8 billion). Now, the Japanese brand is reportedly sitting on a cash pile of nearly $40 billion, leaving Toyoda-san in an envious predicament - what should the company do with all that money?
Some think Toyota should be doing something, anything with that big stack of cash.

Toyota pimps out Esquire van for Japanese businessmen [w/video]

A few months back we reported on a dealership owner in Japan who was petitioning Toyota to make a luxury van. The problem, he reasoned, was that he couldn't take as many friends, colleagues and clients around with him in his Lexus LS, and his Toyota Alphard van wasn't luxurious enough. Well, it seems like he wasn't alone, and Toyota has listened.
The Japanese auto giant has just revealed the Esquire, a new luxury van designed with just such customers in mind. It's significantly smaller than the Sienna we get in America, smaller than the aforementioned Alphard and about the same size as (this writer's favorite) the JDM Noah van (on which we gather it's based). But what sets the Esquire apart is its upscale appearance.
The boxy van is distinguished by its dominant T-shaped chrome grille with a unique emblem that encompasses a shield, sword, "the collar of a gentleman's suit" and the letters Esq. The flank is characterized by a strong beltline with chrome lower window frame and an expansive greenhouse with tinted rear glass. Inside the flexible cabin you'll find accommodation for seven or eight passengers (depending on specification), synthetic leather upholstery and wood and metallic trim. There are even wheelchair-enabled models on offer as well.

Toyota finds 10% MPG improvement in hybrid PCU

Keeping up its from-all-angles approach to efficiency, Toyota has found yet another way to eke out up to ten percent more precious MPGs in its hybrid vehicles, this time electronically. The automaker has announced the development of new silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors for use in power control units, which it will begin testing on Japanese roads within the next year. The PCU using the silicon carbide compound offers less electrical resistance, which improves efficiency when passing current between the battery and electric motor. It also loses less power after shutting off, and can operate at a higher frequency. The net power loss of the new PCU is just one-tenth of the current silicone-only version (the latter accounting for 20 percent of total electrical power loss in today's hybrids). The result, so far, is a claimed five-percent improvement in fuel economy in test vehicles, with the potential of ten percent by the time the new SiC power semiconductor comes to market. Additionally, the carbide wafers allow for smaller a power module, coil and capacitor, thus allowing the entire PCU to be 80 percent smaller (see the side-by-side comparison in the accompanying photo, which you can click to enlarge). We've got a while to wait before we start to see the carbide technology to start making a real-world impact. Toyota aims to begin using the SiC units in 2020. By then, with improvements in the company's other key efficiency factors - engine technology and aerodynamics - cars like the Prius will likely see significant gains in fuel economy. Read more in the press release below. Toyota Develops 'Diamond-like' Computer Chips to Boost Hybrid Mileage May 20, 2014 Toyota City, Japan – Toyota is using one of the hardest materials in nature after diamonds to develop a semiconductor chip it hopes will improve the fuel efficiency of its hybrids, such as the Prius, by as much at 10 percent. The company and its partners announced today that they have developed a silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor for use in automotive power control units. Toyota plans to begin test-driving vehicles with the technology on public roads in Japan within a year. The chips, made from carbide - one of the hardest materials in nature, theoretically have superior characteristics such as one-tenth the electrical power loss and 10 times the drive frequency. Toyota said the chips would also allow it to reduce the size of current automotive power control units by 80 percent.