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TOYOTA (Page 2)

Toyota to begin testing Guardian Angel—an invisible driving companion that could save your life

KK Miller
Apr 12, 2016
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It may sound like something from an anime about a magical harem, but “Guardian Angel” is in fact here to make sure you don’t do anything stupid on the road…

Japan
(cars • Guardian Angel • new technology • simulator • TOYOTA)

The most fun I’ve had behind the wheel this year was with Toyota’s unusual vision for the future of mobility

BUSINESS INSIDER
Apr 12, 2016

The future of mobility is an exciting frontier that everyone in the automotive world is trying to explore. As a result, companies have taken creative and odd approaches to meet the challenge.

Games & Tech, Japan, USA
(bike • car • EV • iRoad • Japan • photos • technology • test drive • TOYOTA)

Toyota shifts otaku marketing into high gear with Vocaloid song, cosplay of car part girls 【Vids】

Casey Baseel
Feb 4, 2016

The 40 anthropomorphized parts of the Prius hybrid are back in a virtual idol-backed video with a unique method of writing lyrics.

Japan
(anime • cars • cosplay • cute • music • otaku • Prius • TOYOTA • video • Vocaloid)

New Toyota ad answers the age-old question: How is a sumo wrestler like a car?【Video】

Preston Phro
Jan 20, 2016

Seven sumo wrestlers, one car. The similarities are almost too numerous to list them all!

Internet, Japan, USA
(cars • Sumo • TOYOTA • wtf)

Toyota goes full otaku, makes 40 kawaii mascots for every part of the car

Scott Wilson
Jan 19, 2016

For some odd reason I suddenly feel like buying a Toyota….

Japan
(anime girls • cars • cute • mascot • moe • TOYOTA)

Toyota wants Japan to think of its new model Prius as an “erotic” vehicle【Video】

Philip Kendall
Dec 11, 2015

Why drive a boring old hybrid when you could have an Erotic Vehicle?

Japan
(ad • commercial • eroi • Japanese TV • Prius • TOYOTA)

Tokyo Motor Show set to reveal the new concept Toyota SF-R, which looks surprisingly like Pikachu

Oona McGee
Oct 12, 2015

Since Toyota revealed details of its concept S-FR, set to make its first appearance at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month, people in Japan have been picking their jaws up off the floor—but it’s got nothing to do with the car’s impressive specs or surprisingly low price point.

You see, the compact sports car looks astonishingly like Pikachu, the bright yellow electric rodent from the popular anime franchise Pokémon. And what’s even more surprising is that few people in the mainstream media are daring to comment on the astounding likeness.

Japan
(anime • cars • Pikachu • Pokemon • S-FR • Tokyo Motor Show • TOYOTA)

Lexus pays homage to its Japanese workers by building a driveable origami car out of cardboard

Oona McGee
Oct 7, 2015

Lexus has always admired the skills of the craftsmen and women who work on their production lines in Japan. Known as takumi, these highly trained Japanese production workers hone their dexterity skills by learning to fold an origami cat in 90 seconds—using only their non-dominant hand.

Now, Lexus UK has unveiled a stunning tribute to these skilled workers by creating a life-sized replica of the Lexus IS, using 1,700 pieces of laser-cut cardboard in what they’re calling the “Origami Car”. Complete with an electric motor, the cardboard vehicle can actually be driven. With the cardboard seats and interior, it won’t be an entirely practical, or legal, ride, but it would certainly be a memorable one!

Europe, Japan
(cardboard • cars • design • Lexus • origami • TOYOTA)

“My son didn’t look back when I waved.” Toyota ad will leave you choked up, wanting to call home

Casey Baseel
Oct 3, 2015

You might think that Japanese advertisements are all Hollywood celebrity endorsements or surreal tales of busty schoolgirls with nose rings, but when it wants to, Japan can make commercials that yank on the heartstrings as strongly as anywhere else in Asia. Getting the waterworks flowing today is Toyota, asking the question, “Do you care about your parents as much as they love you?”, and while the video is short on cars, it makes up for that with plenty of tears.

Japan
(ad • cars • family • Parenting • touching • TOYOTA • video)

Mobile Suit Toyota – Japanese automaker makes awesome anime ad for new Gundam-themed car

Casey Baseel
Sep 29, 2015

We’re sure everyone’s first choice for mode of transportation would be giant robot, but there are times when you need something more practical to get from Point A to Point B. Being behind the wheel of a four-door hatchback doesn’t mean you have to give up your mecha jock daydreams, though, thanks to the newest collaboration between Toyota and anime franchise Gundam.

The automaker has just released not only a special model inspired by charismatic anime villain Char Aznable, but also an awesome anime commercial for it that has higher production values than the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series.

Japan
(ads • anime • cars • cool • Gundam • TOYOTA • video)

The future is (kind of) here – Something not quite right with Toyota’s patent for a flying car

Scott Wilson
Sep 10, 2015

It’s 2015, so where are the flying cars? Sure, we have plenty of cool stuff like lifelike anime girl mousepads and plastic bag swimsuits, but where are the flying cars and floating cities that science fiction promised us would exist by now? I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of disappointed.

Thankfully one car company is picking up the slack: Toyota. They recently submitted a patent for their version of a flying car, complete with diagrams and detailed explanations. Is the future we were promised finally going to be a reality? Or is the only thing soaring in the sky our high hopes? Read on to find out!

Japan
(cars • flying car • futuristic • patent • the future • TOYOTA)

Toyota Chocobos?! Iconic Final Fantasy music used in new car ad 【Videos】

Casey Baseel
May 19, 2015

Following several years of building dependable, affordable, yet almost utterly soulless automobiles, Toyota is trying to get back to creating and market cars with a sense of joy and playfulness. After all, it’s a waste to treat driving as just going from Point A to Point B in the dullest way possible instead of the fun journey it has the potential to be.

That’s why in its newest commercial, Toyota is invoking the spirit of adventure with a fleet of yellow hybrids running about the countryside with the musical accompaniment of one of the most instantly recognizable pieces of Final Fantasy music ever composed.

Japan
(cars • Chocobo • commercials • Final Fantasy • hybrid cars • Prius • Square Enix • TOYOTA • video games)

Breathe easy – Toyota redesigning Prius plug-in hybrid to double car’s all-electric range

Casey Baseel
May 9, 2015

Toyota’s Prius is designed for one purpose, and it’s not to deliver the sort of exciting performance that will seduce you into taking a spirited drive through a moonlit mountain pass (that’s another car’s job). No, the Prius promise is that it will get you from Point A to Point B in the most energy-efficient way possible.

But while the standard hybrid Prius remains a popular choice for eco-conscious motorists, sales of its plug-in variant have been stagnant. Toyota is hoping to change that, though, with an updated Prius that can travel roughly twice as far under purely electric power than the current model.

Global, Japan
(cars • ecology • environment • hybrid cars • Prius • technology • TOYOTA)

We take the Toyota i-Road electric vehicle out for a spin, find out it’s awesome 【Video】

Philip Kendall
Apr 25, 2015

Not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle, the Toyota i-Road is a three-wheeled electric vehicle designed just for urbanites. Small, sleek and ultra slim, on paper the i-Road seems like the perfect solution to Tokyo’s traffic jams and woefully limited – not to mention expensive – parking.

But what’s it like to actually drive one of these things? Our Japanese team headed out to try an i-Road for themselves. Check out their video after the jump!

Japan
(eco • electric vehicle • i-ROAD • Tokyo • TOYOTA • video test drive)

The Toyota Isis: The car with the most unfortunate name in Japan

Casey Baseel
Feb 18, 2015

Toyota, being the largest, most internationalized of Japan’s automakers, tends to do a pretty decent job steering clear of picking car names that sound weird or shocking to non-Japanese consumers. Sure, its product lineup briefly included the Emina, but that only sounds gross if you’re too impatient to carefully read the letters in order.

Until now Toyota hasn’t had anything as unintentionally startling as the Mazda Bongo Friendee, Daihatsu Naked, or Nissan Fairlady. But if you’ve taken a look at Toyota’s Japanese website recently, you may have found yourself doing a double-take as you noticed one of its current offerings seems to share its name with a well-known jihadist rebel group.

Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the Toyota Isis.

Japan
(cars • Isis • terrorism • TOYOTA)

Japan’s hydrogen fuel cell stations begin to open, but are they worth the switch?

Master Blaster
Jan 5, 2015

With Toyota’s first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV), Mirai, now available, many wait to see if this revolutionary car with take off or fall flat in Japan. On 25 December, JX Nippon Oil & Energy began selling hydrogen for these new vehicles at a cost of 1,000 yen per kilogram (US$8/kg – $3.60/lb).

So is that worth giving up the pumps for…whatever hydrogen comes out of?

Japan
(cars • FCV • hydrogen fuel cell • Mirai • TOYOTA)

Hugh Jackman stars, sings J-pop cover, and speaks Japanese in ads for Toyota【Videos】

Casey Baseel
Dec 28, 2014

When you get to be as big a company as Toyota, you can afford to go out and get A-list talent for your commercials. Over the last few years, the automaker’s created a series of ads starring boy band SMAP’s Takuya Kimura and film icon Beat Takeshi.

In the commercials, collectively known as ReBORN, Kimura and Takeshi play historical figures Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, reincarnated in modern Japan. The latest installment even has a special guest star as Hugh Jackman, Wolverine himself, shows up to help spread the word about Toyota’s newest eco-friendly cars.

Japan
(Beat Takeshi • cars • ecology • Hugh Jackman • J-Pop • movies • music • SMAP • technology • TOYOTA)

Toyota’s dance craze contest invites you to Wakudoki your way to Tokyo【Video】

Fran W
Aug 30, 2014

Japan is famous for its quirky and original commercials, and Toyota is a strong player in the constant provision of video-based weird Japanese ad-tertainment. This summer’s offering is the wakudoki, a song and dance routine performed by techno-pop outfit World Order. With some tribespeople. Oh yes, and a dancing gorilla.

It’s weird, wonderful, and we can’t stop watching!

Japan
(ad • campaign • TOYOTA • video • Wakudoki • YouTube)

Japanese CEOs take on the ice bucket challenge

Cara Clegg
Aug 23, 2014

The ice bucket challenge has gone viral this summer with everyone from your average Joe to celebrities and business moguls such as Oprah, Charlie Sheen, and Bill Gates getting on board. Now it’s even spread across the pond to Japan, and started circulating among the business bigwigs over here. Yesterday Toyota President Akio Toyoda took on the challenge with a brave face, while also keeping the charitable spirit alive.

Japan
(Akio Toyoda • ALS • charity • ice bucket challenge • motor neuron disease • TOYOTA)

See Toyota’s cute and compact i-ROAD in action on Tokyo’s streets

Cara Clegg
Jul 18, 2014

Toyota Motor Corporation’s sleek and compact vehicle shows off its moves in a new promotional video after successful public trials in Tokyo. Watch these cute and colorful little vehicles whizz past the city’s landmarks and glide around corners while leaning at an incredible angle.