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Toyota teases mysterious RND Concept

Toyota is being very secretive about its newly teased RND Concept. The image above is all that the Japanese automaker is showing at the moment, and it's not much to go by. However, the wait to find out won't be very long, as the automaker is unveiling this very mysterious vehicle on January 26 in the UK. Making the RND even more intriguing is that this isn't just a concept pointing the way towards some nebulous future vehicle. Toyota claims that the model is production ready, and the automaker already has pricing, supply and manufacturing space prepared. We likely shouldn't expect a super luxury sedan or sports coupe, though, because Toyota says that the RND is meant for "the widest possible market." Could it possibly be some sort of inexpensive, electric vehicle like the Renault Twizy, then? With just the hind of a taillight, a slash of chrome and what might be an intake, there's not much styling work to go on here. Although, Toyota is making huge promises about the design; it claims the RND "has the potential to transform the look of every vehicle on the road." It's odd to see an automaker other than Tesla reveal a new vehicle outside of a major world auto show, which piques our interest about what Toyota is doing here. Read the company's press release below and let us know what you think the Japanese automaker is up to in Comments. THE NEW TOYOTA RND CONCEPT: SNEAK PREVIEW First details of new model released ahead of world debut next week Toyota is breaking with motor industry convention by revealing a new product outside the familiar surroundings of an international motor show. Instead its new RND Concept will make its world debut in the UK on 26th January, ready for fast-track development that should see it changing the face of motoring within weeks. The first image released today hints at how the concept's design marks a radical shift in direction for Toyota, taking the "fun-to-drive" qualities of its cars to a higher level. Although presented as a concept, Toyota acknowledges the RND will be unveiled in its production-ready form. Manufacturing and product supply have been secured and on-the-road pricing has been fixed at a level that will make the RND Concept accessible to the widest possible market. Toyota is confident, too, that the RND Concept's impact will go far beyond its own model range, having the potential to transform the look of every vehicle on the road.

Toyota cuts production target by 300,000 vehicles due to parts and chips shortages

TOKYO - Toyota cut its annual production target by 300,000 vehicles on Friday as rising COVID-19 infections slowed output at parts factories in Vietnam and Malaysia, compounding a global shortage of auto chips. "It's a combination of the coronavirus and semiconductors, but at the moment it is the coronavirus that is having the overwhelming impact," Kazunari Kumakura, an executive at the world's biggest car maker, said after the company revised its production target. Unlike other big global automakers that were forced earlier to scale back production plans, Toyota had managed to avoid cuts to output because it had stockpiled key components along a supply chain hardened against disruption following northeast Japan's devastating earthquake in 2011. Toyota's announcement on Friday is a further sign that no part of the global car industry has escaped the affects of a pandemic that has sapped sales and is hobbling its ability to take advantage of the recovery in demand that followed the initial waves of COVID-19. Car sales in China in August fell by almost a fifth from a year earlier because there were fewer vehicles for people to buy. Toyota now expects to build 9 million vehicles in the year to March 31, rather than 9.3 million. It did not revise its 2.5 trillion yen ($22.7 billion) operating profit forecast for the business year. Adding to a 360,000-vehicle cut in worldwide production in September, Toyota said on Friday it will reduce output by a further 70,000 this month and by 330,000 in October. It hopes to make up some of that lost production before its year-end. Demand for chips has soared during the pandemic as consumer electronic companies rush to meet stay-at-home demand for their smartphones, tablets and other devices. A heavy reliance on Southeast Asian factories for parts is a headache for Toyota, but its also a problem for its rivals that have struggled with what Volkswagen has described as "very volatile and tight" chip supplies. The German carmaker has warned it may need to cut production further as a result. Ford last month shut down production at a plant in Kansas that builds its best-selling F-150 pick up because of parts supply woes, with Renault extending partial stoppages at factories in Spain. Mercedes this month said it expects chip shortages to significantly lower third quarter sales. (Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Kim Coghill) Plants/Manufacturing Lexus Toyota

Watch the Muppets go for ice cream in a Toyota

Do Muppets drive? We're not sure it's necessarily a good idea, but it's been known to happen. Fozzy called his hibernating uncle's Studebaker a bear's "natural habitat," and Doctor Teeth wouldn't get the Electric Mayhem very far without his band's psychedelically painted school bus. But how about Rolf in a 2014 Toyota Highlander?
That's what we got a glimpse of in the run-up to the Super Bowl, and the same combination (plus one Rizzo the Rat) that features in this adorably ordinary video below. Ordinary because it's just a couple of guys going out for an ice cream. Adorable because, well... they're Muppets. See what we mean in the surprisingly entertaining two-minute clip below.