Toyota Motor Corporation( Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki-gaisha) , or TMC, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures automobiles, trucks and buses. Excluding its half owned subsidiary Daihatsu, Toyota is the world's second largest automaker by sales. The headquarters of Toyota is located in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. Toyota also provides financial services through its subsidiary, Toyota Financial Services, and participates in other lines of business. It manufactures vehicles sold in the United States under the brand names Toyota, Scion and Lexus. Toyota also owns majority stakes in Daihatsu and Hino, and 8.7% of Fuji Heavy Industries, which manufactures Subaru vehicles.
As of 2005, Toyota combined with its half owned subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Company produced 8.54 million vehicles, about 500,000 fewer than the number produced by GM that year. Toyota has a large market share in United States, Europe and Africa and market leader in Australia. It has significant market shares in several fast-growing South East Asian countries. In the 2006 Forbes Global 2000 it was the twelfth-largest company in the world.
Worldwide presence
Toyota has factories all over the world, manufacturing or assembling vehicles for local markets, including the Corolla. Toyota has manufacturing or assembly plants in the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, and more recently Pakistan, India, Argentina, Czech Republic, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, China and Venezuela.
Toyota invests a great amount of research into cleaner-burning vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, based on technology such as the Hybrid Synergy Drive. In 2002, Toyota successfully road-tested a new version of the RAV4 which ran on a Hydrogen fuel cell. Scientific American called the company its Business Leader of the Year in 2003 for commercializing an affordable hybrid car.
In 2003, Toyota brought two of its popular cars from Japan (including the bB) to America, and created a new badge, called Scion, meaning a descendant or heir. These cars are targeted towards the young, and young-at-heart. They are meant to be tuned up or be used as simple road cars. Both models, the xA (known in Japan as the Toyota ist) and xB (known in Japan as the Toyota bB) are powered by a 1.5L DOHC I4 engine. A third model, the Scion tC, was introduced in 2004. They are all typically low priced and are affordable. Instead of importing an existing model from Japan as was done with the xA and xB, the tC was designed specifically for the North American market, using the four-cylinder engine and transmissions from the Toyota Camry.
Toyota is also famous in industry for its manufacturing philosophy, called the Toyota Production System. This system is copied worldwide by many manufacturing companies.
In 2005, Toyota was the 4th largest auto company in the world in terms of sales with $135.82 billion trailing General Motors with $185.52 billion, Ford with $164.20 billion, and DaimlerChrylser with $157.13 billion. As of May 2006, Toyota was able to catch Daimler-Chrysler for 3rd place in total sales in the United States, with GM and Ford being 1st and 2nd respectively. Due to the high fuel prices and Toyota's emphasis on compact and mid-size cars, sales of the Corolla and Yaris jumped, with each car getting an estimate around 40 highway miles.
Steering gets in the driver's way when entering the car, even if is adjusted to the highest level and seat adjusted to lowest.
General comments?
Highly reliable car, had just switch to the latest 2007 model 1.5 E. Previously owns a older 2006 1.5G Vios model, as I found that is very good make all round, decided to change to this new model as the elegant look and interior space totally worn me over.
So far I enjoy every ride in it, very smooth ride and feels like you are driving one of those "luxury"
cars. Car sit is much more comfortable, body hugging. Plenty of leg room, especially at the back. Some do not like the light steering, but personally I luv it, as I had driven the older model, the new model allows ease of manoeuvring especially around corners and parking.
Engine is smooth, responsive and powerful for this category of car. Sound system has been upgraded. Plenty of "hidden" compartment for stuff.
The new third generation Toyota Vios has been launched in Thailand, without much suprise as spyshots of the new Belta on test in Thailand as a Vios have been captured recently. The new Toyota Vios is based on the Toyota Belta, or the Toyota Yaris Sedan, which is currently being sold globally. This means the third gen Vios is now a global model instead of being a regional ASEAN model. You can already see the hatchback version being sold in the Malaysian market, the Toyota Yaris. Of course, trim level and some other variables are changed here and there with the different regions.
Compared to the 2nd generation Vios still being sold in Malaysia, the third gen Vios wheelbase is longer by 50mm at 2550mm, which is also longer than the Yaris hatchback which only stands at 2460mm. It is also heavier, now weighing 1045kg compared to the 2nd gen Vios’ kerb weight of 980kg. The 1NZ-FE engine and 4-speed Super ECT gearbox is retained, producing 109 horsepower and a maximum torque of 142Nm at 4,200rpm. This means you may feel the 2nd generation Vios is slightly more zippy than the 3rd generation Vios once it gets launched in Malaysia.
On the interior, dash layout is pretty much the same as the Toyota Yaris being the same car, and the plus point is it shares the Yaris interior’s abundance of storage space. However it also shares the Toyota Yaris meter panel’s centrally-mounted location, which some dislike and prefer a conventional location. More photos after the jump.
The Toyota Belta (referred to in North American markets as the Toyota Yaris) is a compact sedan and hatchback manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation. It is basically a redesigned and sportier version of the discontinued Toyota Platz, and is similar to the Toyota Vitz. The Belta went on sale in North America in 2006, equipped with 1.0 to 1.3 L engines (in Japan) and a 1.5 L from the Scion xA, xB, and the Toyota ECHO. In an effort to boost sales and gain popularity among youths, Toyota has created a MySpace profile of its North American Yaris/Belta vehicle as part of its advertising campaign.
First Generation (2006–)
The Vitz and the Belta share underpinnings with each other. However, while the Vitz was designed at Toyota's European design studios, the Belta was designed at Toyota's Japanese design studios – two completely different design projects for similar cars marketed toward different demographics. While the outgoing Vitz and Platz models look and feel virtually alike (the only things the cars don't share is the front clip, lights, rear doors and bodies from behind the B-pillar), the new Vitz and Belta are much more subtly related. Sharing a similar but different dashboard, they do not employ the same components. The cars only share a frame and the drivetrain options. Sheetmetal is completely different. The Belta has increased in size over the previous generation, its interior volume larger than the current generation Toyota Corolla.
The Canadian version of the Yaris sedan, which is simply called the Yaris, is based on the American Yaris S with power and all-weather guard packages, but with stardard 14 inch wheels. Option packages comes in one of B, C, D, or Aero packages. The B adds 15 inch all-season tires, chrome trim on the decklid, front and rear splash guards, colour-keyed door handles, blacked-out side window frames, keyless entry and power door locks; the C adds ABS, air conditioning, power windows, colour-keyed mirrors and power mirrors; the D adds both side and side-curtain airbags; the Aero adds aluminum alloy wheels, wheel locks, a rear spoiler, and a body kit. The Aero, however, has neither air conditioning nor side airbags. The Canadian model lacks the two-tone interior, pseudo-metallic trim on the door panels, and the new audio system controls (instead it uses an old design) found on the Japanese and American models.
The American Yaris is similar to the Canadian version but differs in trim and equipment details. The CE, LE, and RS packages in the Canadian hatchback cars are replaced by the more modular convenience, power, and all-weather guard packages. The Yaris Sedan is also available as the Yaris S, which has a standard convenience package. The power package on the Yaris Sedan offers alloy wheels as an option. Curtain airbags are optional while the more expensive Honda Fit has this as a standard option.
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