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Post-earthquake, Toyota prepares to reopen some plants in Japan

Toyota will restart vehicle production at most of its closed factories in Japan next week, but the factories that build the Mirai and many Lexus models will remain closed through at least April 28 and possibly longer. The earthquakes around the city of Kumamoto on the island of Kyushu forced the automaker to stop most of its assembly throughout the country due to a lack of parts supply. Toyota will reopen the plants in phases from April 25 to 28. However, the Motomachi factory with its LFA works, which makes the Mirai, and the Miyata factory will remain closed. These sites also build the Lexus NX, RX, ES, GS, and CT, according to Toyota. The automaker didn't say when production would begin again or how this would affect vehicle supply. "In the update, we received this morning from TMC, they said that at this stage it is too soon to tell what the impact on production will be, so we can't say yet whether there might be vehicle shortages in the US," spokesperson Aaron Fowles told Autoblog. While the quakes were focused on Kyushu, they damaged Aisin Seiki factories, which supplied parts to Toyota plants across the country. The automaker worked with its partner to import the necessary components from China and Mexico, and Aisin started moving molds from the damaged plants to operational ones in Japan, which gets production under way sooner. Automotive News Europe estimates the week of lost production cuts total assembly by 90,000 vehicles. It could cost Toyota the equivalent of $458.2 million to $641.5 million. The company could make up some of the losses through overtime. Toyota says these plans are subject to change because on ongoing tremors in the region, which could cause more damage. Reuters reported there was a magnitude 5.5 aftershock in the Kumamoto area on April 19. So far, the quakes have killed at least 47 people and around 100,000 people have moved to evacuation centers. Toyota to Restart Production on Vehicle Assembly Lines in Japan from April 25 Apr. 20, 2016 Toyota City, Japan, April 20, 2016-Between April 25 and 28, Toyota will restart production on most of its vehicle assembly lines in Japan. On April 17, Toyota announced that, due to parts shortages resulting from the severe earthquakes that struck Japan's island of Kyushu last week, production would be suspended on almost all of its vehicle assembly lines in stages between April 18 and 23.

We recap the 2017 Detroit Auto Show | Autoblog Podcast #499

We're back with our first Autoblog Podcast of 2017! This week, Greg Migliore and David Gluckman discuss the 2017 Detroit Auto Show, including the hot debuts, some new versions of bestsellers, and an unofficial theme we picked up on. Then it's on to what they've been driving lately, and we wrap up with Spend My (Your) Money buying advice to help you, our listeners. The rundown is below. Remember, if you have a car-related question you'd like us to answer or you want buying advice of your very own, send a message or a voice memo to podcast at autoblog dot com. (If you record audio of a question with your phone and get it to us, you could hear your very own voice on the podcast. Neat, right?) And please send trivia questions! You'll get the honor of stumping your fellow listeners, and we'll thank you too. Autoblog Podcast #499 The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience. Topics and stories we mention Our 2017 Detroit Auto Show coverage America was the unofficial theme of the 2017 Detroit Auto Show 2017 Chevy Malibu Hybrid 2017 Volkswagen Passat 2017 Buick Envision Used cars! Rundown Intro - 00:00 Detroit show recap - 03:04 What we're driving - 25:04 Spend My Money - 35:46 Total Duration: 49:45 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Feedback Email – Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show on iTunes Podcasts Detroit Auto Show Buick Chevrolet Ford Honda Jeep RAM Toyota Volkswagen Crossover Minivan/Van SUV Sedan Ford Bronco kia stinger gt

Toyota tops Consumer Reports best, worst used car values

We often mock Toyota for building boring, soulless cars, but a new study by Consumer Reports suggests that regardless of whether that's true, the company has some of the best used cars on the market. In its report on used cars from 2004-2013, the Japanese automaker had 11 vehicles among its brands on the list - more than any other automaker.
CR breaks the list down by cost and vehicle size, and Toyota has at least one entry at every price point and in nearly every segment. To score a recommendation, a vehicle had to perform well in the magazine's initial tests and score above-average reliability results. It also tried to only suggest cars with electronic stability control. Of the 28 recommended vehicles, Honda/Acura had the second most mentions at six, and Ford, Hyundai and Subaru managed two each.
The Detroit brands also made it to the list, but not in a positive way. Consumer Reports compiled a list of 22 vehicles it wouldn't recommend because "they have multiple years of much-worse-than-average overall reliability." General Motors had the most unrecommended models on the list at six, but Chrysler and Ford weren't far behind, with five cars each from their brands not making the grade. The full list of recommendations is available on CR's website.