Toyota to launch sedan version of new Vitz called Vios

Toyota will launch a sedan version of the new Vitz (aka Yaris), which will be called Vios (ヴィオス). No more info are available at the moment.

Toyota to start selling home EV chargers in 2012

According to Nikkei, Toyota will start selling home EV chargers for EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2012. Group firms Toyota Home and Toyota Industries Corp. will jointly develop the charger and will market it under the Toyota Home brand, through the sales channels of Toyota Home and its affiliate, Misawa Homes Co., according to the report.

The companies will produce two charger types, with one designed to extend from the exterior wall of a home and the other made for installation in a garage. The chargers will be compatible with non-Toyota cars, and will be priced between several tens of thousands of yen to 200,000 yen, including installation costs.

In 2012, Toyota expects to sell a total of 50,000 plug-in hybrid vehicles in Japan, the US and Europe, in addition to several thousand electric cars. It expects its sales of home battery chargers to reach 20,000 to 30,000 units during this period. The Japanese government wants 2 million regular EV battery chargers and 5,000 high-speed chargers to be installed across the nation by 2020.

[Source: Nikkei via Green Car Congress]

All-new spicy Lexus LS coming in 2013!!!

Lexus seems to be very busy developing its new lineup, since the LS will be also replaced with a new model in 2013. The current model is a really good car, but it lacks character in my opinion. Well, this may be about to change judging by this rendering. So, BC claims that the all-new LS 600h, which will continue to be the top of the line version, will be powered by a 5.0L V8 engine delivering 400 ps and 55.0 kgm of torque. Oh, then we've got the electric motor! Fuel efficiency should be around 15.0 km/L, which doesn't seem a lot at first glance, but we are talking about a big car.