That 2.3 million recall would surely hit Toyota hard. That’s on top of 4.3 million that they previously announced.

Sales of the RAV4, Matrix, Camry, Corolla, Avalon, Highlander, Tundra, and Sequioa are all suspended until they can figure out the accelerator pedal problem that has caused the massive recalls.

Toyota initially announced that removing the driver side matting surrounding the pedals is a temporary fix but it appears that the issue is with the accelerator mechanism. Reports of collissions and injuries have already been filed prompting the initial recall.

Just when Toyota is trying to position itself to make a profit this year. Looks like Volkswagen will surely be happy to trim away at Toyota’s lead as the world’s biggest automaker.

For a Toyota fan, this surely is a disheartening. We could all just hope that Toyota gets its act together.

No doubt about it, I’m a Toyota fan. Their mass-production cars might not be the slickest ones to drive for fun, but they will get you around. And they’re virtually indestructible. Selling my old Corolla and swapping it with my now junk of a Sentra has got to be one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made.

But thanks to the accelerator problem that affects 4.3 million vehicles, Toyota’s reputation of dependability has now been tarnished quite badly.

Now, Toyota announced that it will be recalling around 2.3 million vehicles in the US to fix the problem. Mind you that this is separate from the initial 4.3 million that they’ve already recalled last year. Toyota claimed that it was initially a floor mat problem but reports have been sent in that the accelerator pedals keep sticking even without the mats.

The vehicles included in this round of recall: 2005-’10 Avalon, 2007-’10 Camry , 2009-’10 Corolla, 2010 Highlander, 2009-’10 Matrix, 2009-’10 RAV4, 2008-’10 Sequoia and 2007-’10 Tundra.

US owners can call Toyota at 800-331-4331.

Uh oh. Toyota’s reputation of building rock solid cars will again be tarnished with this latest round of recalls. The Japanese giant just announced that it is recalling 690,000 units made in China due to faulty electrical window switches.

At least the problem’s not really that bad like, say, faulty brakes or steering linkages. The recall affects the Camry, Corolla, Vios and Yaris models made by Toyota’s partners in Guangzhou Auto and Tianjin FAW. The number is Toyota’s biggest recall in China.

As for the breakdown, the recall covers 384,736 Guangzhou Auto-made Camry and 22,767 Yaris units from 15 May 2006 to 31 December 2008 and 245,288 Corolla and 35,523 Vios units made in 2008 with FAW.

The switches haven’t cause any injuries or accidents yet but a faulty window switch can be a annoying bugger.

Source: BBC

The LA Auto Show is once again upon us, and the show tries to put a bright dot to cap a bleak 2008 for automakers. One of the more unique vehicles shown in the show so far is the Toyota Camry CNG Hybrid.

CNG stands for ‘compressed natural gas’, which is used as the cars power source along with the electric power of the hybrid’s battery. Jana Hartline, a Toyota spokesperson, the Camry Hybrid is designed to show the versatility of the company’s Hybrid Synergy Drive—this Camry is considerably more fuel-efficient compared to Toyota’s initial CNG production offering.

According to Hartline, there are still no concrete plans to have a production CNG or CNG hybrid car at the moment. If you can remember, back in 1999, Toyota already introduced a CNG-powered 4-cylinder Camry in California. It wasn’t received as warmly as hoped, and it was discontinued sometime later. However, times have changed—the clamor for efficient, environment-friendly cars that eliminate the reliance on petrol products puts a premium on cars like this Camry CNG Hybrid.

Source: Autoblog

Last month, Toyota was pretty open about Prius shortages brought about by the scarcity of batteries. As a result, Toyota was keen on pushing the Camry hybrid to those looking for their hybrid fix amidst the oil price crunch. I do wonder how this would work since, even if they’re both hybrids, there are a lot of differences between the two.

For a refresher, the MPGs alone bear much difference. The Prius gets 46 while the Camry gets 34. As for power figures, the Prius is ever so sluggish at 76 hp and the Camry has decent power with 147 hp. The Prius is priced at $21500 and the Camry, starts at $25900.

Doing the math, the $4000 price difference and the 12 mpg might just be worthy of the 71 hp difference. It does seem that the Camry is also a viable choice for those jumping into the hybrid bandwagon and still would want that oomph when it’s time to floor the gas pedal.

Video Source: Edmunds

Marketing spins and other drum-banging campaigns. For Toyota, no medium is too small and no field is too disjointed from its brand. One of their latest campaigns is the iflookscouldkill.com launched through a fashion show by Alexis Phifer of Ghita. Also participating was Keyshia Cole and DJ Beverly Bonds.

iflookscouldkill.com is an online interactive series about a fashionable special agent, Bianca. Needless to say, she drives a Toyota (a reason for Toyota to be in the fray). She’s not driving anything super fancy, just a good old dependable (but yes, stylish in its own right) Toyota Camry (the 2009 XLE V6 edition). To be shown will be 6 episodes of Bianca’s exploits with Episode 1 available for viewing.

Will others follow suit with this online feature-type of marketing campaign. We’ll see. But I admire Toyota’s vision for such approaches to their campaigns. They get to advertise. We get to be entertained (even if we don’t buy Camries). Everyone wins.

Source: Toyota

It’s somehow great to know how quickly auto makers are addressing issues especially if it’s their sales that are taking a beating. Yesterday, it was reported that Toyota and Ford are having real problems coping with the demand for their hybrids due to lack of battery supplies.

Now, it seems that Toyota and Ford have found a solution for the issue and it’s by shipping production overseas. Toyota will be sending production of their Camry hybrid to Thailand and Australia. Production in Australia is also partly to address the growing demand for hybrids down under. Ford is apparently also looking into tapping Australia to address their hybrid supply shortage.

As an incentive, Australia even awarded Toyota A$35 million to build hybrid cars for the local market.

Source: Reuters

One thing about the Honda Civic is that it’s a quality sedan. Great for those in a budget looking for a car to ferry themselves and their family around. The improvements to the new Civic (particularly performance and fuel efficiency improvements) also makes it very attractive for potential buyers now that gas prices at the pump are ionosphere high.

For the US alone, Honda sold 53,299 Civics just in the months of May. This is in stark contrast to the previously popular SUV market that took a bitchslap in the mouth as Civic May sales threatened to break Hummer sales for the whole year in 2007 with 55,986. Hummer sales are down 60% in a 12-month cycle and will struggle to even reach 40k by the end of the year.

The Civic also outscored rivaling budget family sedan, the Toyota Corolla (52,826) and even the ever popular Toyota Camry (51,291). This trend also reflects the shift from big vehicles to smaller ones as these three four-door cars raced into the lead ahead of the traditional sales leader, the Ford F-150 (42,973).

Source: Motor Trend Blog

The SEMA Show may not have featured too many releases but tuning fans may have gotten a rush out of the cars featured. Like this Toyota Camry VIP tuned by Street Image Inc.

Camries (is this the proper plural?) have been one of the swankier family sedans over the years and this pushes swanky just a bit more first with the sliding doors. Yep, you read that right. Sliding. Add that to the list of exterior mods like the custom body kit, shaved door handles, chrome Maya DTM wheels and a stainless exhaust.

Inside, you get a the two-tone black and beige suede and leather-laced environment. And for gearheads, feast on these – Eclipse audio equipment capable of linking to your iPod, headrest monitors, and a Nintendo Wii.

Source: eGMCarTech