2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hatchback 4-door 1.8l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

General Motors became second-largest US advertiser in 2013

General Motors might be mired in several recalls, as well as the ongoing investigations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Congress into the automaker's response to those recalls. However, the company can celebrate taking the title of the US' second-largest advertiser in 2013. According to Ad Week examining a recently released study, total advertising spending in the US posted its fourth consecutive year of rising expenditures with 0.9-percent growth to $140.2 billion. Of that, the auto industry spent $15.2 billion to promote its goods in 2013, up 3.8 percent.
The country's biggest advertiser was Procter and Gamble, which dropped $3.17 billion in 2013, an increase of 11.8 percent. GM became the nation's second largest promoter with $1.794 billion in spending, up 10 percent. The biggest proportion of that money went to sell Cadillac and GMC. AT&T barely lost out with $1.793 billion in advertising, 15.2 percent growth. The 10 businesses with the highest ad investments spent a cumulative $15.9 billion during the year, 6.6 percent higher than 2012. Toyota came in eighth place making it the only other automaker to rank in the top 10.
The study also indicates that there is a shift in advertising spending from television and print to the Internet. There was 15.7 percent more money outlaid to promote products online in 2013 than the previous year. In comparison, television dropped 0.1 percent, newspapers were down 3.7 percent and radio fell 5.6 percent.

Toyota makes $100M investment to boost Indiana Highlander production

Toyota has announced that it will be making a $100 million investment in its Princeton, IN factory in a bid to increase production of its popular Highlander CUV. The move will create 300 new jobs by 2016 and increase the total number of crossovers the plant can produce by 30,000.
Toyota currently builds the Highlander, alongside the fullsize Sequoia, at Toyota Indiana's West Plant. The additional capacity, though, will be sent to the East Plant, which is currently responsible for production of the recently refreshed Sienna minivan.
"The Highlander has been a great product for our plant," Toyota Indiana President Norm Bafunno said in a statement. "Establishing Highlander as the 'bridge vehicle,' as we call it, between the East and West plants increases our ability to meet customer needs for our outstanding products. This exciting news is a true testament to the capability of our hard-working and dedicated team members."

2014 Toyota Camry to get 'significant' attention?

With competition from Ford, Chevrolet, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda and Nissan mounting, Toyota is getting set to unveil a refreshed version of its Camry sedan a mere two years after it was fully redesigned.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Toyota's move to freshen the still young Camry comes as it seeks to retain its US sales crown in the midsize segment. That desperation has lead to increased incentives and fleet sales in a bid to keep its title, all while trying to keep pace with a slew of very competent competitors.
"It's safe to say we'll be doing something with it," Bill Fay, group vice president of the Toyota brand in the US, told Bloomberg during last week's LA Auto Show. "We'll be paying significant attention to Camry next year."