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Toyota Auris Touring Sports is a handsome Prius V alternative [w/videos]

The Toyota Prius V has a lot to recommend it, but adventurous and sporty styling is not in its repertoire. That's why this new Auris Touring Sports has our attention. Claimed to be the "first full hybrid estate car" in the compact class, this two-box Auris has genuine visual panache to go with its load-lugging capability and parsimonious fuel economy. In the metal, we think its v-shaped grille and headlamp treatment acquits itself better than it does on the new RAV4, a model that shares its new design language.
Built by Toyota UK, the Auris Touring Sports hybrid is powered by a familiar-sounding 1.8-liter gas engine paired with an electric motor, with total system output quoted at 134 horsepower. The model will also be available in a variety of gas or diesel trims if you prefer your vehicle sans electrification (a non-hybrid model is shown). It goes on sale later this year in Europe, but don't hold your breath to see one in North America. Still interested? Scroll below to see a couple of videos and to read the official press release.

Toyota bringing updated Avensis to Geneva

The upper end of Toyota's sedan lineup in America may be all about the Camry and Avalon, but that's not the case everywhere in the world. Back home in Japan, Toyota offers the Crown and the Mark X. But in Europe, it all comes down to the Avensis. And the Japanese automaker is about to roll out an updated version at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. The Avensis, for those unfamiliar, is Toyota's challenger to the likes of the Ford Mondeo (which we know as the Fusion) and the Volkswagen Passat, available in both sedan and wagon forms. It was first introduced in 1997 and is currently in its third iteration, but what you see here is not the fourth-generation model but an update on the MkIII that hit the European market in 2009. Full details on the refreshed model have yet to be disclosed, but the new Avensis clearly benefits from revised styling – carried out at the company's design studio in the South of France, with production to continue at the Burnaston plant in the UK. Expect a revised interior, updated equipment and a new engine range to also be part of the mix when the new Avensis is revealed in full early next month in Switzerland. TOYOTA TO REVEAL NEW AVENSIS AT THE GENEVA MOTOR SHOW Toyota will reveal the new Avensis at the Geneva motor show (3 – 15 March), the latest development of its contender in the European mid-size (D-segment) car market. New Avensis has been styled at Toyota's ED2 design studio in the South of France and developed by the company's R&D centre in Brussels. It will be built by Toyota Manufacturing UK at the Burnaston car plant, near Derby. The new model will deliver innovations in comfort and safety and will feature a new range of engines that promise both performance and efficiency. Avensis has been designed to appeal to fleet and private customers alike. Toyota will present new Avensis and host a press conference on its stand at the Geneva motor show at 12:15 on 3 March. Featured Gallery 2016 Toyota Avensis News Source: Toyota Geneva Motor Show Toyota Wagon Sedan 2015 Geneva Motor Show toyota avensis

Bibendum 2014: Former EU President says Toyota could lose 100,000 euros per hydrogen FCV sedan

Pat Cox does not work for Toyota and we don't think he has any secret inside information. Still, he's the former President of the European Parliament and the current high level coordinator for TransEuropean Network, so when he says Toyota is likely going to lose between 50,000 and 100,000 euros ($66,000 and $133,000) on each of the hydrogen-powered FCV sedans it will sell next year, it's worth noting. That was just one highlight of Cox's presentation at the 2014 Michelin Challenge Bibendum in Chengdu, China today, which addressed the main problem of using more H2 in transportation: cost. The EU has a tremendous incentive to find an alternative to fossil fuels, since Europe today is 94 percent dependent on oil for its transportation sector and 84 percent of that 94 percent dependency is imported oil. The tab for that costs the EU a billion euros a day, Cox said, on top of the environmental costs. To encourage a shift away from petroleum, European Directive 2014/94 requires each member state to develop national policy frameworks for the market development of alternative fuels and their infrastructure. For the member states that choose to fulfill 2014/94 by developing a hydrogen market – and to be clear, Cox said, it's not an EU diktat that they do so, since a number of other alternatives are also allowed – the aim is to have things in place by the end of 2025. The plans don't even have to be submitted until the end of 2016. The long lead time is due to a quirk in a hydrogen economy. In hydrogen infrastructure, "the first-mover cost is not the first-mover advantage, but the firstmover disadvantage." – Pat Cox In deploying a hydrogen infrastructure, Cox said, "the first-mover cost is not the first-mover advantage, but the first-mover disadvantage, and high risk." That's why the EU and member states will financially support the early stages, but everyone agrees that "if this is to work, it will have to be ultimately and essentially a commercially viable and commercially driven infrastructure roll-out." Since 1986, European Union research programs have spent 550 million euros on hydrogen-related and fuel-cell-related research, including methods of hydrogen storage and distribution as well as improved fuel cells vehicles, Cox said. Expensive problems remain to be solved. At a conference in Berlin, Germany this past summer, Cox said, the unit cost of the refueling stations was identified as the main problem.