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Toyota to axe Venza by June 2015

After years of wallowing about the market as a slow-selling alternative to its own RAV4 and Highlander (among over CUVs), Toyota is putting the Venza out to pasture, the company confirmed. Production will officially cease by June of this year, although Toyota will continue to screw together the car for export markets until September of 2017. No jobs will be affected at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing factory in Kentucky. TMMK already builds the Avalon, Camry and their hybrid variants. To make up for the loss of the Venza, Toyota has already upped production of the RAV4, and is planning on increasing supplies of its Highlander at its Princeton, IN factory. Venza sales have been, in a word, abysmal. According to CarsDirect, Toyota sold just 2,100 Venzas in January of 2015, while sales of the RAV4 and Highlander hit nearly 20,000 units for the former and exceeded 11,000 for the latter. Considering that, freeing up the showroom space occupied by the Venza sounds like a smart move.

Toyota takes aim at Musk's criticism of hydrogen 'fool cells'

Tesla's Elon Musk has called hydrogen fuel cell cars "a load of rubbish" and "fool cells," and he's nowhere near alone in his disdain for the technology. Toyota has been fighting back waves of condescension for years now, and did so again when Senior VP Bob Carter took the stage at the recent J.D. Power Automotive Summit this month. His target was comments that Musk made at the Automotive News World Congress at the Detroit Auto Show, when Musk said an FCEV was an "extremely silly way" to store energy, that "the best-case hydrogen fuel cell doesn't win against the current-case battery" and that hydrogen's failings will become obvious in the next few years. Carter's response was that the fuel cell initiative isn't about the next few years. "This is not a 24-to-36-month play, but when you start looking into the 2020s," then you can see the necessity of hydrogen fuel cells, which Toyota considers an extension of EV technology, he said. The Toyota Mirai will begin its defense of the FCEV industry in the US later this year. The Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell is already available in California and Honda's hydrogen car will arrive in 2016. Until then, we can let some more of Carter's words ring in our ears: "If I was in a position where I had all my eggs in one basket," he said of Musk's BEV-only focus, "I would perhaps be making those same comments." News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. Green Tesla Toyota Electric Future Vehicles Hydrogen Cars toyota mirai fcev bob carter

2019 Subaru Forester vs compact SUV rivals: How they compare on paper

We've seen what the 2019 Subaru Forester looks like (pretty much the same). We've found out how much it's going to cost (just a bit more). And also how much bigger and more powerful it'll be (appreciably on both counts). Now it's time to see how all of that compares to its top compact SUV rivals. While you can see the same engine and dimension specs for every compact SUV here, for this comparison featuring the latest 2019 Forester info, we've decided to define "top rivals" as those that the 2018 model was most frequently cross-shopped with. That means the 2018 Honda CR-V, 2018 Toyota RAV4, 2018 Mazda CX-5 and 2018 Nissan Rogue. At the time of this writing, none of their respective manufacturers had released data for 2019 models. We also included info for the 2018 Forester as well. So, without further blather, cue the Spreadsheet-o-Matic 3000. How big are they? The 2019 Forester may look nearly identical to the compact crossover it replaces, but it's nevertheless bigger and heavier. In particular, its wheelbase has increased from being the smallest in the segment to one that's pretty much average. It's a good bet that this gain is the reason rear seat legroom has also increased. Width is also up, but the Forester actually remains the narrowest compact SUV. As for other noteworthy dimensions, the new Forester now has the most maximum cargo capacity of any compact SUV with 76.1 cubic feet. Now, it should be noted, that's without the panoramic sunroof that comes on all but the base model. With it, max capacity shrinks to 70.9 cu-ft. Two points about that. First, Subaru is the only company that calls out this difference, and all the others almost certainly are not measuring with a sunroof. Second, this gives you an idea about how much of "maximum cargo capacity" includes space up high where you're probably not storing much cargo. As such, we included the Forester's biggest number and think it fairly indicates Subaru should carry the "biggest in segment" crown. How do their engines and fuel economy compare? Here's the most important takeaway here: The new Forester is tied for the best fuel economy in the segment, but that's with standard all-wheel drive. Everything else listed above is with front-wheel drive. The 2019 model also gets a welcome injection of power, resulting in the fourth-most base horsepower in the segment (or fifth, if you consider the CR-V technically holds spots 1 and 3).