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Toyota Tells Dealers To Stop Selling Six Models

Toyota has told North American dealers to stop selling six popular models with heated seats because the fabric doesn't meet flammability standards. One soft material beneath the seat covers does not comply with U.S. safety standards, company spokesman John Hanson said. No fires or injuries have been reported, but Toyota can't legally sell cars that don't comply with U.S. safety codes, Hanson said. The company is still totaling how many vehicles are affected, but it will be in the thousands, according to the spokesman. The stop-sale order could mean trouble for Toyota and its dealers because it covers the company's top-selling vehicles. Dealers can no longer sell certain Camry, Avalon, Sienna and Tacoma models from the 2013 and 2014 model years, as well as Corollas and Tundras from 2014. The Camry, for instance, is the top-selling car in the U.S. with more than 408,000 sales last year. It depends on how long the repairs will take. Hanson said the company already has a new material that's being installed at factories and will be put in cars that are on dealer lots. "We don't think it will take long to get the parts and make the changes," Hanson said, without getting more specific. As for vehicles already on the road, Hanson says Toyota has reported the problem to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which will decide if the sold vehicles should be recalled. A NHTSA spokesman said he would check into the matter. "We don't believe that there is a safety issue here because there have been no reports of any problems," Hanson said. The stop-sale order affects cars and trucks distributed to dealers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. In addition, some vehicles were exported outside North America, Hanson said. The problem was discovered by safety regulators in South Korea, who disassembled seats and tested individual fabrics, Hanson said. U.S. safety standards require fabrics to resist flames at a certain rate, but the one fabric didn't meet the standard, Hanson said. Toyota spokesman Naoki Sumino in Japan said the affected vehicles were sold since August of 2012, when the fabric supplier was changed. Toyota has been struggling to regain its once sterling reputation for quality after announcing massive recalls over several years, starting in 2009, for a variety of defects including braking, accelerators and floor mats. The company was fined for being slow on recalls, which affected more than 14 million vehicles, and faces lawsuits.

Toyota to boost its Subaru stake to more than 20%

TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp plans to raise its stake in Subaru Corp to more than 20% from around 17% now, a deal that would also see the smaller firm invest in Japan's top automaker, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday. The deal is due to be approved at a Toyota board meeting on Friday, the people said, declining to be identified because the information has not been made public. The investment would come a month after Toyota and another smaller Japanese automaker, Suzuki, said they would take small equity stakes in each other. Such tie-ups highlight how automakers are scrambling to chase scale, manage costs and boost development. Traditional car makers, especially smaller ones like Subaru and Suzuki, are struggling to meet the fast pace of change in an industry being transformed by the rise of electric vehicles, ride hailing and autonomous driving. Toyota's investment is likely to cost more than 70 billion yen ($650 million) based on Subaru's stock market value, said the Nikkei business daily, which first reported the news. Subaru is likely to reciprocate with a stake in Toyota that would roughly equal the value of Toyota's additional investment, one of the people told Reuters. The companies have long worked together on projects such as the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ twins. At one time, Subaru built Toyota Camrys in its Indiana plant. Representatives for both Toyota and Subaru said the news was not something that had been announced by their companies. "The plan appears to be to ultimately make Subaru a fully owned subsidiary, to help create a 'mega Toyota.' This is the first step towards that," said Takeshi Miyao, managing director of Carnorama, a consultancy. "It's all about building scale." Subaru is particularly strong in sport-utility vehicles (SUV) and all-wheel-drive technology. The two automakers in June said they planned to jointly develop an electric sport-utility vehicle on a platform produced together, to split costs. Car markers around the world have been joining forces to slash development and manufacturing costs of new technology. Ford Motor Co and Volkswagen AG have said they will spend billions of dollars to jointly develop electric and self-driving vehicles. Toyota seems to be particularly keen to build scale now by investing in smaller, domestic automakers, rather than forging cross-border tie-ups like some of its rivals.

Toyota sold record 1.52 million hybrids in 2017

Toyota has been selling electrified cars for more than two decades now, launching the Prius hybrid in Japan in 1997. Back in the fall of 2015, the automaker announced a number of goals as part of its "Environmental Challenge 2050." One of those was to sell 1.5 million hybrids (including its Lexus brand) annually by 2020. Toyota has announced that is has already achieved that goal, selling 1.52 electrified vehicles in 2017. That's an 8 percent increase of Toyota's 2016 hybrid sales, and means the company has sold more than 11.47 million electrified vehicles since it began. Toyota says that represents a reduction of more than 90 million tons of CO2. Last year's achievement "is a testament from our customers to the quality, durability and reliability of our electrified powertrains," says Toyota Executive VP Shigeki Terashi, "and, thanks to them, has led us to establish a solid and sustainable foundation for mass producing a more diverse portfolio of electrified vehicles across our range moving forward." Other goals of Toyota's Environmental Challenge 2050 are 30,000 annual fuel cell vehicle sales by 2020, mass production of battery electric vehicles in 2020 and annual electrified vehicle sales of 5.5 million by 2030. These are all part of Toyota's larger goal of reducing new vehicle CO2 emissions by 90 percent by 2050 (compared to 2010). Prior to 2016, Toyota hybrid sales peaked in 2013, at 1.28 million before slumping slightly in 2014 and 2015. Toyota saw an uptick and a new record in 2016, at 1.4 million, before setting yet another record in 2017, at 1.52 million. Related Video: