2021 Toyota Sienna Xle 8-passenger on 2040-cars

Auto blog

DoJ fines Japanese parts firms $740M in massive automotive price-fixing scandal

Nine Japanese suppliers have pleaded guilty in US court over charges of price fixing in the automotive parts industry, resulting in the Department of Justice doling out a total of $740 million of fines, according to a report from Bloomberg. The scandal, which has resulted in General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Chrysler spending up to $5 billion on inflated parts and driving up prices on 25 million vehicles has sent the DoJ hustling into investigations. "The conduct this investigation uncovered involved more than a dozen separate conspiracies aimed at the U.S. economy," Attorney General Eric Holder (pictured above) said during yesterday's press conference.
As the investigation stands, the DoJ has issued $1.6 billion in fines against 20 companies and 21 individual executives, with 17 of the execs headed to prison. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Scott Hammond said, "The breadth of the conspiracies brought to light today are as egregious as they are pervasive. They involve more than a dozen separate conspiracies operating independently but all sharing in common that they targeted US automotive manufacturers."
Big-name suppliers indicted in the investigation include Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Hitachi Automotive and Mitsuba Corporation. A list of fines and other corporations named in the investigation is available at Bloomberg.

Toyota FCV Concept comes one step closer to reality

When Toyota first conceptualized a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle for mainstream Americans to drive, the initial response was pretty skeptical. Still, through relentless engineering and solid product after solid product, Toyota has built the Prius brand into the dominant force in the hybrid car market.
Something like that plan of attack is what the Japanese company is preparing for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, as well, and that attack is seeing a critical salvo fired today with the debut of this FCV Concept at the Tokyo Motor Show.
Though there's nothing substantive to be said about rumors of a 300-mile range or a sticker price around $50,000, the FCV concept does offer a few technical details. The sharp-beaked concept makes use of two high-pressure hydrogen tanks and boasts a power output density of three kilowatts per liter.

Toyota C-HR hybrid crossover coupe concept leak ahead of Paris

Last week, Toyota previewed an upcoming concept called the C-HR and promised it would debut at the upcoming Paris Motor Show. It didn't say much more or give us anything beyond a silhouette and the shape of the lights, but here we have the first images of the finalized form.
The C-HR envisions a hybrid crossover coupe with angular styling that looks ready to take on the Nissan Juke. It's far sportier than a RAV4, and looks closer to how we'd imagine the next-generation Scion FR-S would look like if it were riding on a jacked-up suspension - with some show car elements thrown in for good measure, like a gloating roof, radical lighting and the usual absence of door handles and usable wing mirrors.
Of course, this being a Toyota concept, it packs a hybrid powertrain, although specifications did not leak out along with the images. Overall the form looks pretty striking, if decidedly unsubtle. We'll look forward to bringing you more as the Paris show rapidly approaches.