2000 Toyota 4runner Base Sport Utility 4-door 2.7l on 2040-cars

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Toyota, Lexus to build more CUVs to meet surging demand

What was the biggest takeaway from the auto industry's 2014? Besides the fact that recalls are now a sad and mostly unremarkable part of a vehicle's life, it's that you can't be a competitive, mainstream brand in the US without a really strong line of crossovers, SUVs or pickups. We saw evidence of this as recently as Monday, when Hyundai unveiled its HCD-15 Santa Cruz Concept, and now we're seeing it again with Toyota. The company already has a comprehensive lineup of both mainstream and luxury CUVs and SUVs, although surging demand – sales were up 16 percent last year, Bloomberg reports – has led the company to increase its production tempo at the plants responsible for the RAV4 and Lexus RX. "The freeze is still in place until the end of March of 2016," Toyota's Jim Lentz told Bloomberg during this week's Detroit Auto Show, referencing the production bump at the Japanese and Canadian factories responsible for the models. "That hasn't changed. All indications are that it will lift, but right now it has not lifted." The increased sales are even spurring the brand to consider additional CUVs, including a compact that would slot in below the RAV4, Lentz told the business publication. Such a move would give Toyota a player in an increasingly competitive and important segment. In 2014 alone, mainstream brands, including Honda, Mazda, Chevrolet and Jeep, have announced brand new products destined for the compact CUV market. "We're going to have to look at how the market under RAV4 develops," Lentz told Bloomberg. "There's no question that it's going to. That's going to be the next growth spurt." Related Video:

Recharge Wrap-up: Toyota to go electric with Aygo? Renault Zoe bests BEVs in e-Rallye Monte-Carlo

Toyota could sell the Aygo hatchback as an EV. Toyota Europe CEO Johan van Zyl says that the A-segment city car could be a candidate for all-electric power. "We see a stronger growth of that type of thinking in cities where they're saying, 'We'd rather have emissions-free vehicles so it should be a plug-in or a pure-electric vehicle,'" he says. As the Aygo is produced alongside and shares most components with the Peugeot 108 and Citroen C1, it's possible those cars could see a plug-in version in the future as well. Read more at Hybrid Cars. The Renault Zoe took first and second place in the battery electric category of the 2016 e-Rallye Monte-Carlo. Defending Renault's title for a third year, two of the updated Zoes with improved range topped the category, taking second and third place overall. A hydrogen powered Toyota Mirai bested the Renaults by taking first place overall. 34 crews entered the competition, which took them from Fontainebleau, France to Monaco over four days. Read more from Renault. Teslarati talks to Youseph Tanha (AKA Yoshi) about his Tesla Transformer comic art project. Tanha, who cohosts the TransMissions podcast, commissioned artist Brendan Cahill to sketch a comic book cover featuring the Tesla Model X as a Transformer. The result is the Voltic (a name borrowed from Grand Theft Auto 5), an impressively reimagined Tesla Transformer that launches missiles from its falcon wing doors. While it doesn't necessarily fit into IDW's Transformers storyline, the commissioned piece does capture the imagination of comic fans and Tesla enthusiasts alike. Read more at Teslarati. Singapore is launching an EV carsharing program. The nation's Economic Development Board and Land Transport Authority have commissioned Bollore Group's BlueSG to operate the fleet of 1,000 EVs and 2,000 charging points by 2020, with 125 cars and 250 charging points available by the middle of next year. The program – sort of similar to the BlueIndy program in Indianapolis – is part of an effort to reduce pollution. "The future of transport in Singapore will look very different from today," says Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Khaw Boon Wan. "Most people will not see the need to own a car." Read more at Wards Auto.

Honda may recall up to 1M vehicles for airbag issue, following Toyota's lead

It seems Toyota won't be the only one recalling the faulty Takata airbag inflators for long. Honda insiders in Japan claim that the company is getting close to announcing its own worldwide campaign that would begin before the end of June.
Unnamed sources close to Honda in Japan tell Automotive News that the company is pursuing an internal investigation into possibly affected models and is working with Takata to gather more information. They claim that it could involve even more than the 1.14 million cars worldwide that the automaker covered under the first recall for the problem in April 2013, including 561,000 vehicles in the US.
Toyota jumpstarted this process last week when it recalled over 2 million cars worldwide, including 844,277 in the US. Soon after, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began a preliminary evaluation into the issue following six reported incidents, and started assembling data about potentially affected models from Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Chrysler. NHTSA also began investigating Takata itself.