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Toyota reaffirms commitment to body-on-frame SUVs

Toyota sold 121,055 Highlander CUVs in 2012, according to Automotive News. By comparison, it sold 78,457 examples of four different body-on-frame, truck-based SUVs (4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Sequoia and Land Cruiser). One could argue then, that the traditional SUVs aren't pulling their weight from a sales perspective. Yet that isn't stopping Toyota from reaffirming its commitment to a segment that has seen its former champions - Ford, General Motors and Chrysler - abandon it with alarming speed. Ford and GM still offer body-on frame utilities, but only in the very largest offerings, catering to seven or even eight passengers. Everything outside of the Expedition or Tahoe rides now on a unibody.
Toyota's decision to stick with the technology is good news if you're in the market for smaller SUVs that are still capable of heading well off the beaten path. Outside of the Jeep Wrangler, Grand Cherokee (a unibody) and perhaps Nissan Xterra, there's not much in terms of capable SUVs between $20,000 and $50,000. As the Toyota brand's US head, Bill Fay, says, "Clearly, the trend has shifted, but there is still an owner base that is interested in these vehicles."
We don't doubt Fay on that, but it may also be somewhat telling that Toyota's SUV lineup is aging, and we haven't seen or heard much about replacement models in the pipeline. Admittedly, the 4Runner (pictured) has been facelifted for 2014, but it's mostly cosmetic in nature. Despite Toyota's posturing, we still expect its body-on-frame lineup to thin in the coming years as sales dwindle and escalating fuel-economy standards make business cases even tougher. Here's hoping that Toyota manages to keep at least one rough-and-tumble SUV in its lineup in the coming years.

Toyota 86 most likely to get more power through more displacement? [w/poll]

The Sydney Morning Herald has spoken to Tetsuya Tada, chief engineer of the Toyota 86 (our version of it, the Scion FR-S, is pictured above), and they've been promised that more power is on the way. We've heard a lot of speculation about a more powerful Toyobaru since before the standard model was even launched. The only question now is how the power will be delivered, and among the engine concepts we've already heard about - turbo, supercharger, twin-charged, hybrid - is a new one: more displacement.
Tada said that an engine with more displacement than the current coupe's 2.0 liters is being tested alongside a turbocharged and a hybrid-assisted motor. The SMH cites "inside sources" as saying the displacement option is the one likely to get the go-ahead, and suggests increased bore and stroke will see the engine grow to 2.5 liters, horsepower to about 250 - a 50-hp increase over the present car.
While that's apparently the betting man's solution for the long-awaited increase in gumption, what happens with the next generation could be more wide open than we suspected. According to the report, Tada "hinted that [a successor] could be a radically different car, potentially dropping the boxer engine altogether." He said once they've sorted out the concept for the second generation car, then they'll sort out an engine. That's where a turbo option could come to market, perhaps the turbocharged four-cylinder Toyota is developing for the Lexus NX crossover or a hybrid system that uses a capacitor.

In Jamaica, it's not easy to sell or buy hybrid cars

Jamaica's mellow reputation and Rasta vibe contributes to an international reputation of an island nation that moves at a leisurely pace. And the term "leisurely" certainly applies to the rate of sales of hybrids there. And we thought Mitsubishi i sales in the US have been slow. The country's Toyota dealership is still in the process of explaining hybrid technology to many of its prospective customers, with the widespread perception remains that a standard Toyota Prius needs to be plugged in for electrical charging, the Jamaica Gleaner reports. Because of such slow exposure, Toyota has only sold about 10 hybrids in Jamaica since the Japanese automaker started selling them there in 2010. And we thought Mitsubishi i sales in the US have been slow. Toyota dealers in Jamaica continue to tout hybrid technology that can boost fuel economy by about 30 percent but are going up against the fact that Toyota's hybrids now need to be pre-ordered and aren't kept in stock because of sluggish demand. There's also the fact that Toyota's Japanese operations insist on an approval process that ensures the hybrids sent there can handle Jamaica's road conditions, and it typically takes three to four months for a Prius to get to Jamaica once ordered. Island locales provide a curious dichotomy for advanced-powertrain vehicles. On one hand, the driving distances tend to be relatively small, lengthening the amount of time it takes to pay back the original cost premium. On the flip side, importing fuel to islands makes gas prices skyrocket and can prove costly for the economy in island nations. Late last year, for instance, the government of another Caribbean nation, Barbados, estimated it spends about $250 million a year on gas used for personal vehicles. That's why the government there is pushing for more electric-vehicle adoption, though the number of EVs on the island was in the low double-digits as of mid-2013.