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The unboxed assembly process is intended to enable Tesla to hit that ambitious price target. Several big questions loom: What sort of impact will Tesla's process have on the auto industry overall? Body panels are painted separately, then joined together toward the end of the assembly process. If everything works as planned, the unboxed process could rewrite the industry's standard playbook and practices. Oba worked previously for the Toyota Production System Support Center, a division that helps the automaker's suppliers and others implement TPS.

[1/2] A Toyota logo is seen during the New York International Auto Show, in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., April 5, 2023. REUTERS/David 'Dee' DelgadoTOKYO, May 12 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Friday the vehicle data of 2.15 million users in Japan, or almost the entire customer base who signed up for its main cloud service platforms since 2012, had been publicly available for a decade due to human error. The issue, which began in November 2013 and lasted until mid-April, stemmed from human error, leading to a cloud system being set to public instead of private, a Toyota spokesperson said. It could encompass details such as vehicle locations and identification numbers of vehicle devices, but there were no reports of malicious use, the company said. Toyota said it would introduce a system to audit cloud settings, establish a system to continuously monitor settings, and thoroughly educate employees on data handling rules.

☆ GM, VW face idled capacity risk in China without faster EV transition -Greenpeace
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File PhotoSHANGHAI/BERLIN, May 11 (Reuters) - Automakers including Volkswagen and General Motors could have considerable unused production capacity for conventionally powered vehicles in China by 2030 if they do not speed up their transition to electric vehicles (EV), Greenpeace said on Thursday. By the end of 2021, China had total annual production capacity for 40.89 million passenger vehicles of all fuel types with a utilisation rate of 52.5%, showed data from the China Passenger Car Association. If the sales rate reaches 70%, the average unused capacity utilisation rate for ICE production would rise to two thirds, Greenpeace said, basing its estimates on public information about planned capacity and projected sales. GM and Volkswagen will face the largest pressure with over 3 million units of idled capacity for ICE cars in China, presenting a major risk for those automakers, Greenpeace said. Volkswagen pointed to its rising sales in China and said it expects to profit from the country's growing demand for cars.

[1/2] A Ford Ranger Raptor is seen at a Ford event in Michigan, U.S., May 5, 2023. REUTERS/Joe WhiteDETROIT, May 10 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N) on Wednesday unveiled the latest addition to its muscle truck franchise - a Ranger Raptor midsize pickup with a 405-horsepower engine and a suspension designed for racing across the desert, made possible in part by Ford's electric vehicles. But a Ranger Raptor will start at $56,960, Ford said. Ford is also ramping up production of its Mustang Mach-E, Ford F-150 Lightning and Transit electric vehicles - generating credits that allow it to sell more high-performance, combustion vehicles such as the Ranger Raptor, the Bronco Raptor and the F-150 Raptor. "We're doing it through a portfolio of products" that includes electric vehicles and a hybrid Maverick pickup, Baumbick said.

Toyota's board on Wednesday recommended that shareholders vote against the resolution, to be put to the company's annual general meeting in June. On Wednesday Toyota said it expects a five-fold jump in pure electric vehicle (EV) sales this business year. "We need concrete policy changes and a better annual review drawing on independent data to calm international investors." LONG ENGAGEMENTIt will be the first time that Toyota faces such a climate-related resolution at its annual general meeting, the funds said. It first planned to submit a shareholder proposal in 2021, but withdrew that after it received assurances that Toyota would review its climate lobbying.

Toyota forecast operating profit will rise to 3.0 trillion yen ($22.2 billion) this business year, in line with analysts' average forecast of 3.02 trillion yen. That target came operating profit for the fiscal fourth quarter through March surged more than a third to 626.9 billion yen - easily ahead of the average 553.46 billion yen profit estimated by 10 analysts, according to Refinitiv data. Reflecting the weak yen impact, revenue for the business year ended March 2023 grew to a record 37.15 trillion yen. EV ACCELERATIONThe new EV sales target, still a fraction of industry leader Tesla (TSLA.O), would boost Toyota's battery EVs to nearly 2% of total sales volume, up from just 0.4% of its total vehicle sales in the last fiscal year. "We expect an increase in (overall) sales volume in all regions and production volume of 10.1 million (vehicles), due to such factors as ... improvement in semiconductor supply," Toyota said in a statement.

BANGKOK, May 8 (Reuters) - Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) has stopped sales and deliveries of its Yaris Ativ in Thailand, senior officials said on Monday, after its affiliate Daihatsu rigged part of the door in side-collision safety tests. Toyota was working with the Thai government to resume sales of the model, which has been produced in Toyota's Gateway plant in Chachoengsao province, and further investigation was underway. "If development had been carried out under appropriate conditions, this kind of problem would of course not have happened," Maeda said. Daihatsu has said that some 76,000 of those vehicles were Yaris Ativs mainly bound for Thailand, Mexico and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Toyota President Koji Sato, who took over the top job from Toyoda on April 1, was not at the press conference.

☆ Toyota suspends sales of Yaris model after safety test problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BANGKOK, May 8 (Reuters) - Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) has stopped sales of its Yaris Ativ, a senior official said on Monday, after its affiliate Daihatsu rigged part of the door in side-collision safety tests. "If development had been carried out under appropriate conditions, this kind of problem would of course not have happened," Maeda said. Toyota and Daihatsu (6023.T) disclosed last month they were investigating how part of the door in side-collision safety tests carried out for some 88,000 small cars, most of which were Ativs, had been changed for the purpose of side-on crash safety testing. Thailand is Toyota's fourth-biggest global centre by production volume after Japan, the U.S. and China. It produced some 659,000 vehicles, including models of its luxury brand Lexus, in the country last year.

While other automakers like Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) have also been caught out by the sharp shift in China, Japanese automakers stand out because of their limited showing in the fast-growing category of electric and plug-in hybrid sales. Mitsubishi, like some other Japanese automakers, does not break out China sales figures. Industry data analysed by Reuters showed its first-quarter sales in China fell by 58% from a year earlier. Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T) posted a 45.8% drop in China sales and Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T) sales were down 66.5% in the first quarter. "Japanese automakers could face a similar struggle in the United States as in China," he said.

☆ White House says Toyota 'fully committed' to electrifying auto fleet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] A Toyota bZ Compact SUV Concept electric car is displayed during the press day at the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S. November 17, 2022. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File PhotoWASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - White House senior adviser John Podesta said Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) is "fully committed" to electric vehicles after he met recently with senior company officials. Podesta told Reuters reporters and editors in a roundtable meeting on Tuesday the Japanese automaker "had been the laggard" but was now committed to electric vehicles. "I think they're going to stick with plug-in hybrids for a while, maybe longer than some of the other companies but they're fully now committed under their new leadership to electrification," he said. Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Toyota-affiliate Daihatsu rigged safety test for 88,000 cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Toyota said it had not received any report of an accident or injury related to the rigged side-crash test. Daihatsu said it had discovered the rigged safety test after a whistleblower report. It said it had reported the issue to safety regulatory agencies and stopped shipment of affected models. The affected models include Toyota Yaris Ativs made in Thailand from last August, and Perodua Axias manufactured in Malaysia starting from February. Daihatsu said it would run new safety tests in the presence of regulators and confirm the safety of the models before resuming shipments.

☆ Toyota edges past 9.1 mln vehicle output goal, warns chip shortage lingering
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies Toyota Motor Corp FollowTOKYO, April 27 (Reuters) - Japan's Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) set a global annual output record in the business year ended in March, just edging past its target of 9.1 million vehicles as factory disruption from global chip supply woes and pandemic lockdowns eased. But the world's biggest automaker by sales warned it continued to see impacts from the long-running global chip shortage, saying it remained hard to predict its effect going forward. Global sales for the 12 months ended March rose to 9.61 million vehicles from 9.51 million in the prior year, setting another annual record for the company. The company didn't release new sales or production targets for the current business year that started in April. That compared with 24,466 battery EVs sold by Toyota worldwide for the whole of 2022.

TOKYO, April 27 (Reuters) - Japanese trading house Toyota Tsusho Corp (8015.T) is concerned that there may be more moves by countries like Chile to restrict exports of raw minerals such as lithium, its chief financial officer said on Thursday. "Like what happened in Chile, there could be more cases of restrictions on export of raw materials due to growing nationalism in emerging countries," CFO Hideyuki Iwamoto told a news conference. Toyota Tsusho, together with Australian miner Orocobre, began production of lithium carbonate at a mine on the Olaroz salt flat in Argentina in 2014, and decided to expand the production capacity in 2018. Battery grade lithium prices touched record levels of $85,000 a tonne in December, but have slumped by nearly 50% since then. "Compared to the previous year, the lithium prices have halved, but the stock prices of lithium-producing companies have not fallen, so we expect the lithium prices to rise slightly from the current level in the medium to long term," Iwamoto said.

TOKYO, April 27 (Reuters) - Japan's Denso Corp (6902.T), a leading supplier to Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), reported an 86.3% rise in fourth quarter operating profit on Thursday, benefitting from stronger sales and weaker lockdown-induced headwinds. The company, a major manufacturer of automotive parts and chips, posted operating profit of 158.1 billion yen ($1.18 billion) for the three months to end-March, versus an average 161.51 billion yen profit estimated by 10 analysts. A year earlier, the company earned 84.9 billion yen in profit. Denso gets about half of its revenue from the Toyota group, which also includes Toyota truck unit Hino Motors (7205.T) and small-car maker Daihatsu, and counts Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda as a board member. The company, which makes systems for running gasoline engines and driving hybrid and battery-powered vehicles, projected operating profit of 510 billion yen for the current business year that started April 1.

☆ Pony.ai gets permit for driverless robotaxi services in China's Guangzhou
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 26 (Reuters) - Robotaxi startup Pony.ai said on Wednesday that it had received a permit to operate fully driverless ride-hailing services in China's Guangzhou city. The Toyota Motor Corp-backed (7203.T) startup, which has operations in China and the U.S., now has permits for fully driverless robotaxis in China's capital Beijing and Guangzhou. Pony.ai started driverless testing in Guangzhou in June 2021 and has accumulated nearly 200,000 fee-charging robotaxi orders globally as of this month, the company said in a statement. Both companies won permits for driverless taxi services in Beijing last month. California-based Pony.ai's next generation robotaxi model has obtained on-road testing licenses in Beijing and Guangzhou, it said, adding that robotaxi services with the model were expected to commence in the near future.

☆ Toyota Pitches a New Prius as Plug-In Hybrids Battle EVs for Share
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( River Davis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Toyota’s 2023 Prius Prime plug-in is capable of driving up to 44 miles on a battery alone. Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesToyota Motor Corp. is getting ready to bring its latest plug-in hybrid model to American showrooms next month, a part of the company’s bet that plug-ins can be the bridge between traditional cars and electric vehicles. Toyota, Ford Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. are among global brands rolling out new plug-in hybrid gas-electric cars. While most hybrids on the road today combine gas engines with electric motors to save fuel, plug-in hybrids can drive primarily on batteries—with the engine as a backup—making them the closest thing to a full EV on the road.

☆ South Korea announces $15 bln investment in advanced battery technologies
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Heekyong Yang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] An employee walks past the logo of LG Energy Solution at its office building in Seoul, South Korea, November 23, 2021. "The joint investment will allow South Korea to start commercial production of solid state batteries ahead of others," the ministry said in a statement. South Korea is home to three of the world's five biggest electric vehicle (EV) battery makers --LG Energy Solution Ltd (LGES) (373220.KS), Samsung SDI Co Ltd (006400.KS) and SK On. EV battery makers are racing to develop new battery technologies that promise longer driving range, higher energy density and better safety than the conventional lithium-ion batteries. The industry ministry said South Korea aimed to quadruple domestic production capacity of cathode materials and triple exports of battery production-related equipment with the investment.

☆ Toyota to invest $338 mln in new hybrid, flex car in Brazil
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SAO PAULO, April 19 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Wednesday it will invest 1.7 billion reais ($337.68 million) to manufacture a new hybrid, flex-fuel compact car in Brazil, which will run on both gasoline and ethanol in addition to its electric engine. Toyota's announcement came at an event attended by the firm's local head, Rafael Chang, and Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas. Part of the investment - roughly 1 billion reais - will come from tax credits Toyota had with the state. "Toyota believes in the Brazilian market and continues to invest in technology and innovation to meet consumer needs," Chang said. The car is set to be launched in Brazil in 2024 and sold in 22 Latin American countries, it added.

[1/6] Tundra trucks and Sequoia SUV's exit the assembly line as finished products at Toyota's truck plant in San Antonio, Texas, U.S. April 17, 2023. TOYOTA'S PAST SUCCESSWashington's push to accelerate the shift to battery-electric vehicles amplifies the threat posed by Tesla to Toyota's position as the world's largest automaker. Toyota San Antonio has weathered a series of challenges since it built its first truck in 2006. The future for factories like Toyota San Antonio will play out across the next several years. Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu in San Antonio, Texas, Joseph White in Detroit and David Shepardson in Washington Written by Joseph White Editing by Ben Klayman and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ New vehicle prices fall below sticker price after nearly two years - Kelley Blue Book
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 12 (Reuters) - New vehicles' average transaction price fell below the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) for the first time in 20 months, according to data published by automotive research company Kelley Blue Book. Vehicle prices turned hot after a pandemic-driven supply chain snag and an increased demand for private cars. The average transaction price of a new vehicle in the U.S. declined 1.1% in March to $48,008 from February's $48,558. However, March prices rose 3.8% compared to a year earlier. Top global automakers, except Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), reported a rise in first-quarter U.S. sales on improving shipments to dealers as vehicle inventories improve.

☆ New vehicle prices fall below sticker price after nearly two years, Kelley Blue Book data shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 12 (Reuters) - New vehicles' average transaction price fell below the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) for the first time in 20 months, according to data published by automotive research company Kelley Blue Book. Vehicle prices turned hot after a pandemic-driven supply chain snag and an increased demand for private cars. The average transaction price of a new vehicle in the U.S. declined 1.1% in March to $48,008 from February's $48,558. Top global automakers, except Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), reported a rise in first-quarter U.S. sales on improving shipments to dealers as vehicle inventories improve. Reporting by Pratyush Thakur in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra EluriOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

TOKYO, April 7 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Friday it aims to introduce 10 new battery electric vehicle models by 2026 - a long awaited ramp-up in an area that the Japanese automaker has been slow to embrace. Investors have long argued that Toyota has not been fast enough in developing a battery-powered vehicle line-up, instead favouring hybrids like its pioneering Prius. Toyota has countered that a mix of options - including gasoline-electric hybrids, makes more sense for its global customer base. New chief executive Koji Sato said Toyota would speed up in battery electrics but added that hybrids would remain an important pillar of its business. Toyota is targeting annual production of 1.5 million battery-powered cars by 2026, Chief Technology Officer Hiroki Nakajima told the briefing.

☆ Toyota to launch 10 new battery EV models by 2026, executive says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

A Toyota RAV4 Prime electric car is recharged October 3, 2022 at a charging station at the town hall in Charlotte, Vermont. Toyota Motor Corp aims to introduce 10 new battery electric vehicle models by 2026, a senior executive said on Friday, as the Japanese automaker looks to catch up in electric vehicles. Toyota will also set up a new, specialised unit to focus on battery EVs and is targeting annual production of 1.5 million battery-powered cars by 2026, Hiroki Nakajima, the company's chief technology officer, said at a briefing. The automaker, the world's largest by sales, has pushed back against criticism it has been too slow to embrace battery-powered vehicles. Toyota argues that a mix of options - including gasoline-electric hybrids, makes more sense for its global customer base.

A new EV platform, if implemented, would be the result of a far-reaching review of Toyota's electric-car strategy undertaken last year. Its current production architecture, the e-TNGA system, was launched in 2019 and produces electric vehicles on the same assembly line as gasoline cars and hybrids. The briefing was given by the former chief competitive officer tasked with the EV strategy review, Shigeki Terashi, according to the person. So far it has fallen short - its initial battery EV, the bZ4X, suffered an early recall and has had only limited sales. GM sold more than 20,000 electric vehicles during the first quarter while Toyota and its luxury brand Lexus sold about 1,880 battery electrics.

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