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Toyota's Psy-style Waku-Doki ad inherits Japan's bizarre ad crown

A new Japanese Toyota ad featuring crisply suited businessmen driving into the jungle only to segue into a Psy-style music-video dance-off with a gorilla and natives is the latest car commercial to go viral. Jungle Wakudoki is the newest installment in a grand tradition of bizarre ads from the island nation that are by turns hilarious, head-scratching and occasionally even frightening.
Let's face it: My people are weird.
I'm half-Japanese and take suitable pride in my Asian roots, but even I can't figure out what's been slipped into the water coolers of the country's ad agencies much of the time - or the nation at large, for that matter. From Japan's ubiquitous obsession with all things adorable (kawaii) to its offbeat sense of humor and its bizarrely perverse and violent tentacle porn, it's clear there's a lot going on in the culture, and only some of it bubbles up to the surface in its marketing efforts. Much of the strangest and most amazing ads are for non-transportation products (e.g. laundry soap, snacks, energy drinks), but the automotive space has its fair share. This latest Toyota ad had me trawling YouTube for a common theme, trying to make sense of why these spots are the way they are. Scroll down to watch the Toyota ad in question as well as a bunch of other examples of Japan's most bizarre car-related ads and see if you can't find the thread that runs between them. Is it just that something's being lost in translation? Have your say in Comments.

2016 Green Truck of the Year, Commercial Green Car of the Year finalists

Not only are commercial-grade haulers getting more green love lately, they're getting more different kinds of green love. The 2016 Green Truck of the Year, the second time the award has been handed out, is being decided by judges from Green Car Journal and the San Antonio Auto & Truck Show. This year the award is joined by the new 2016 Commercial Green Car of the Year, which crowns one of the little vans increasingly used by small business as cargo and delivery vehicles. The Green Truck of the Year finalists are the Chevrolet Colorado Duramax (pictured), Ford F-150, GMC Canyon Duramax, Nissan Titan XD, and Toyota Tacoma. The first three of those were on last year's list, but since they are completely new or upgraded for 2016 - Ford with its all-aluminum body, the General Motors twins with the new diesel Duramax engine - they qualify for entry again. The Ram 1500 EcoDiesel won last year. The Commercial Green Car finalists are the Chevrolet City Express, Ford Transit Connect, Mercedes-Benz Metris, Nissan NV200, and Ram ProMaster City. You can read more details in the presser below, and the awards will be announced in San Antonio sometime during the show from November 19-22. San Antonio Auto & Truck Show Announces 2016 Green Truck of the Year and Commercial Green Car of the Year Finalists SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Green Car Journal and the San Antonio Auto & Truck Show have announced finalists for the 2016 Green Truck of the Year™ and 2016 Commercial Green Car of the Year™ awards. The Green Truck of the Year™ nominees are the Chevrolet Colorado Duramax, Ford F-150, GMC Canyon Duramax, Nissan Titan XD, and Toyota Tacoma. Vying for the all-new 2016 Commercial Green Car of the Year™ award are the Chevrolet City Express, Ford Transit Connect, Mercedes-Benz Metris, Nissan NV200, and Ram ProMaster City. "Over the past few decades, new car models have benefitted from design and technology improvements that have brought higher fuel efficiency and greater levels of environmental compatibility," said Green Car Journal and CarsOfChange.com Editor and Publisher Ron Cogan. "With models like these ten deserving finalists, we're witnessing the pickup and light commercial vehicle field enjoying the same attention." The new Commercial Green Car of the Year™ award is part of an expanded awards program presented at this year's 2015 San Antonio Auto & Truck Show.

Supra successor may be all-electric sourced from Tesla; MR2 returning too?

Rumors of a revival of the Toyota Supra and MR2 have been swirling for years right up until just this week when high-level Toyota employees all but confirmed their return.
But now The Detroit Bureau has put together news from different sources suggesting that the next Supra might be all electric. The report cites recent comments from Toyota senior executives hinting at plans to work with Tesla on a new joint project. The FT-HS Concept (shown above) seems a logical inspiration for a new Supra.
And on the other side of the equation is Tesla's design chief Franz von Holzhausen who was quoted last year saying his company was looking at its next project, probably a sports car, that would follow next year's intro of the Model X. He went on to suggest the car would compete directly with BMW's 3 Series, which, in coupe form, could be a worthy competitor to a Supra as well.