2010 Toyota Prius Iii on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Mazda's new Mexican plant capacity rises to 230,000

After the turmoil of last year, 2013 is getting off to a much better start for Mazda. The company has issued a release indicating that the forthcoming plant in Salamanca, Mexico has had its production capacity raised even though it isn't scheduled to go online until March 2014. The original plans called for a 140,000-unit capacity, 90,000 of that allotted for the Mazda2 and Mazda3, the remaining 50,000 for a small car Mazda would build for Toyota that would be based on the Mazda2. The new plans call for raising that by 90,000 units to a total of 230,000 units within two years, by the end of March 2016, and it looks like it will all go toward Mazda production to satisfy growing demand for Skyactiv vehciles. The Mexican plant's opening will be the return of Mazda manufacturing to North America, after Mazda6 production was moved back to Japan last year.
More good news for the company is that it projects 10 billion yen ($114 million) in net income for the financial year that will end in March. That would be a welcome turnaround from the 100-billion-yen loss in the previous financial year, part of a series of three annual losses in a four-year span.
You'll find the press release with the factory update below.

Spongebob Squarepants Toyota Highlander gets Tanked in Vegas

In 2006, I bought a Scion xB (the super upright, first-generation one), and I always had this wild dream of turning the xBox into an aquarium after it had run its course in my personal test fleet. Long story short, that never happened. But apparently the folks at Toyota got wind of my idea - only, well, this isn't exactly what I had in mind.
Let's just start at the beginning here. This is a 2014 Toyota Highlander - you know, the redesigned one that bowed in New York earlier this year. I haven't driven it yet, but I'm sure it's plenty nice and will appeal to all sorts of families. Families with kids. Kids who like cartoons. Cartoons like Spongebob Squarepants.
Which brings me to our next talking point: the collaboration between Toyota and Nickelodeon for the Spongebob-themed wrap that covers every inch of this Highlander. This isn't the first time we've seen the yellow cartoon sponge on a Highlander - Toyota unveiled a differently wrapped version earlier this year - but this one features more of an aquatic, under-the-sea sort of theme. Perfect, considering the main point of this crossover's reason for being at SEMA.

Toyota launches new Noah, Voxy minivans in Japan [w/videos]

We know the feeling: you've got what seems like your whole bloodline to transport, and maybe not quite two of every living kind, but a household pet or two. So you're going to need something big to fit them all. Something like a Toyota Sienna ought to do the trick. But if you live on an Asian island that, we're sorry to say, has been known to flood in what can only be referred to as an Act of God but whose vehicles fall short of such biblical proportions, at least you can get one with a suitably biblical name. (And an awesome one at that, if this writer may say so.)
That would be Noah, the name Toyota gives to its JDM minivan. It's also known as the Voxy, and Toyota has just revealed new versions of both. Previewed in concept form at the recent Tokyo Motor Show, the production Noah and Voxy have been completely redesigned. The boxy form allows for as many as eight seats and a low, flat-folding cargo floor to accommodate your whole clan and all the stuff you could buy from Uniqlo and Muji with the roomiest interior in its class.
Toyota is offering both with a variety of gasoline and hybrid powertrain configurations driving the front wheels or all four through a continuously variable transmission in a range of trim levels starting from 2.18 million yen (equivalent to $20,952 at today's rates) to 3.4 million yen ($32,694). The Voxy is sold through Toyota's network of Netz dealerships across Japan, and the Noah through its parallel Corolla dealers. Along with the pair of video clips and the high-res image galleries top and bottom, there are plenty of details in the press release below, where you can read more about the flexible seating arrangements and all the latest tech. Just don't expect to be reading dimensions measured in cubits and construction from gopher wood.