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Toyota's 'green bond' an industry first, quickly rises to $1.75 billion

Toyota is greasing the skids for more green car purchases with the announcement of a $1.75-billion bond designed to finance the purchase of high-efficiency Toyota and Lexus models. The Asset-Backed Green Bond is a first for the automotive industry and is making a lot of money available to buy or lease the following vehicles: any of the four Prius variants, Camry Hybrid, Avalon Hybrid, RAV4 EV, Lexus CT 200h and Lexus ES 300h. Originally, the bond was set at $1.25 billion, but Justin Leach, manager of public relations for Toyota Financial Services (TFS), told AutoblogGreen that demand was high and it was quickly oversubscribed. TFS has been looking at more ways to diversify its portfolio after a Diversity & Inclusion Bond that was announced in early 2013 and, with the new Green Bond, TFS is offering something for the "number of investors out there who are looking for investment opportunities in green." The way the money from the bond is used, basically, is that TFS takes the $1.75 billion and uses it to finance the purchase or lease of the nine vehicles listed above. As of right now, all the eligible vehicles are plug-in or hybrids, but the rules simply say that the cars in the program have to meet certain "powertrain, fuel efficiency and emissions" criteria. That means: Minimum EPA estimated MPG (or MPG equivalent for alternative fuel vehicles) of 35 city / 35 highway California Low-Emission Vehicle II (LEV II) certification of super ultra-low emission vehicles (SULEVs) or higher, which would include partial zero emissions vehicles (PZEVs) and zero emissions vehicles (ZEVs). TFS raises plenty of billions in other ways for the rest of the lineup, and got into asset backed securities in 2010, Leach said. Given the success of this first Green Bond, Leach said he expects TFS to keep this idea in its arsenal. "This one was so well received, I would be surprised if we didn't see it again," he said. "If anyone was going to do it, it should be Toyota, right?" Toyota Financial Services (TFS) Issues Auto Industry's First-Ever Asset-Backed Green Bond Bond Proceeds to Fund Consumer Loans and Leases for Toyota's Leading Portfolio of Green Vehicles TORRANCE, Calif., (March 24, 2014) – Toyota Financial Services (TFS) issued the auto industry's first-ever Asset-Backed Green Bond in the amount of $1.75 billion.

Lexus RZ electric SUV will be shown (with a yoke) on 4/20

Lexus will reveal its production RZ electric SUV on April 20, the company announced Tuesday, steering well clear of April Fool's Day with a teaser package that would be right at home in Elon Musk's Twitter feed. And yes, there's a yoke. If it weren't for the fact that we already knew about the Lexus RZ, coupled with confirmation from Toyota that the bZ4X's yoke is the real deal, we'd be highly suspicious of this early-April announcement from a traditionally conservative manufacturer. Welcome to 2022, when none of that really seems to matter anymore.  We already suspected that the RZ was based on Toyota's bZ4X, so the indication of an available yoke is not that surprising, really.  In the Toyota, it's paired to a variable-ratio, steer-by-wire system. Toyota says it also improves steering feel and ensures road and tire vibrations don't make their way to the driver. The latter seems obvious since there's no physical connection between the wheel and road, but whether that makes for an "improvement" in steering feel is not something with which we're inclined to automatically agree.  Lexus offered no further info apart from the reveal date and time (6 a.m. EDT April 20) and these new teaser photos. The psychedelic lighting job on the car seems a bit on-the-nose for something debuting on 4/20, but again, this isn't a Tesla, so clearly somebody just thought it would look cool. Fortunately, we have the bZ4X's spec sheet to go on. The 4,232-pound Toyota is powered by a single electric motor with 201 horsepower or a dual-motor setup with 214 horses (107 per motor). Clearly, getting all-wheel drive into the equation mattered more than performance, as Toyota says it'll still take 7.7 seconds for the bZ4X to hit 60.  Regardless of motor count, the bZ4X gets a 71.4-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack said to deliver about 310 miles of maximum driving range in the front-wheel-drive model and 285 miles in the all-wheel-drive version based on the Japanese testing cycle. It's not outrageous to think the RZ might get a more potent powertrain, but we'll just have to wait and see what Lexus has in store.  Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.  

Lexus boots up early NX configurator

Lexus is ramping up to launch its NX luxury compact crossover. Its international website just launched a teaser page for the CUV that shows off the available models and some nifty new photos of the upcoming vehicle on location. The site also includes an early configurator to allow potential customers to imagine their future NX.
Unfortunately, the configurator is quite bare bones at the moment. It only allows users to choose from 4 trims, 10 colors and 3 wheel designs. You can't do anything to the interior, and there are no options. Pricing is still a mystery as well.
We do know that in the US the NX is offered with either the company's new 2.0-liter four-cylinder, turbocharged engine with a six-speed automatic or a 2.5-liter four-cylinder hybrid powertrain. The F Sport package is also available with either engine for a dash more sport in your crossover.