1996 Toyota Tacoma, 4x4, 4cly, Single Cab Trd Off Road on 2040-cars

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Toyota begins shipping Le Yaris to America

Our tiniest Toyota (Scion iQ notwithstanding) is about to get a little French flair. The Japanese automaker announced Thursday that its Toyota Motor Manufacturing France facility would begin building Yaris models destined for North America - specifically, the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. This will mark the first time in history that Toyota has exported vehicles to North America from Europe.
Initially, Toyota will export roughly 25,000 Yaris models to North American markets from France each year. In order to handle this additional production, Toyota Motor Manufacturing France has invested 10 million euro into its French facility.
Despite being somewhat of a snooze-fest (it's a car!), the Yaris carries on in North America with a 106-horsepower 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine, with prices starting at $14,370 for the three-door and $15,395 for the five-door, not including $795 for destination.

Kia EV9 wins 2024 World Car of the Year and World Electric Car at New York Auto Show

The Hyundai Group refuses to release its kung-fu grip on winning prestigious vehicle awards, especially those for electric vehicles. In 2020, Kia took the overall World Car of the Year (WCOTY) title with the Telluride, won World Performance Car with the EV6 GT, and won the World Urban Car category with the Kia Soul EV. In 2021, after the Hyundai Group walked away with nothing but a free lunch, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 won the 2022 World Car of the Year laurels, plus World Electric Vehicle and World Car Design of the Year, followed in 2023 by the Hyundai Ioniq 6 winning the same three awards. Kia returns to the top step today, the new EV9 announced at the New York Auto Show as the 2024 World Car of the Year and World Electric Vehicle. Because the South Koreans like to do this in threes, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N won World Performance Car.  One hundred automotive scribes from 29 countries tested 38 vehicles for the main prize. The qualifications for entry are that a car must exceed 10,000 units in production annually, be on sale in at least two major global markets, and be priced below the luxury options in their respective regions. The EV9 beat the BYD Seal and the Volvo EX30 to the WCOTY title. Thirty-two cars vied for honors in the electric category, the EV9 outdoing the BMW i5 and the Volvo EX30. The German and the Swede aren't leaving New York with nothing, however, as the BMW 5 Series and i5 won the World Luxury Car title, and the EX30 won the World Urban Car trophy.  The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N outdid 16 other performance cars. We're sure there are engineers in Germany looking hard into their beer right now, the Ioniq 5 N pipping the M2 and XM to the victory circle.  The surprise of the bunch is the inclusion of the Toyota Prius, the global hybrid icon thrashing 70 other entries to win the 2024 World Car Design of the Year award. The other two finalists? The Ford Bronco and the Ferrari Purosangue. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the Prius. 

Scion rules out roadster, turbo versions of FR-S

Ever since Toyota and Subaru released the sports car alternatively known as the GT86, 86, BRZ and Scion FR-S a couple of years ago, rumors have circulated that even more exciting variants could be in store. But at least as far as Scion is concerned, those rumors are apparently nothing more than wishful thinking. Speaking with WardsAuto at the LA Auto Show last week, Scion chief Doug Murtha said that the prospect of an FR-S roadster has been taken off the table entirely. Apparently Scion lobbied parent company Toyota to produce just such a model, but after failing to find other markets interested enough in the model to put it into production, corporate HQ said no. "I think we were pretty aggressive on our (submitted plan), but we looked at what we would have conceivably lost on the product and said, 'We're not going to even push it further,'" Murtha said, going on to note, "Nobody was more disappointed than we were." Murtha further shot down the idea of a turbo version of the FR-S, dismissing it as a prospect the blogosphere (that's us) wanted to happen but "that's not something that's coming." Either variant might have helped Scion and Toyota boost sales of the model (which are predictably dropping after their first two years on the market), but the investment also might not have paid off their development, tooling and marketing costs. Of course, Murtha can only speak for Toyota, but we'd be surprised to see Subaru go it alone on either model, as costs would be that much more prohibitive without a partner. Bummer.