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Toyota digs deeper, targets reforestation, carbon reduction!

Auto giant Toyota Motor Corp. has gone beyond merely creating hybrid cars. It has looked at the much bigger picture, and has funded reforestation projects as well as helped in creating a low-carbon emitting society. It knows, however, that implementing its vision too soon on a global scale would be akin to Don Quixote calling for a duel with the windmills. So, it has set its sights on a more manageable scale—in its sprawling Toyota City in Nagoya.

Forty journalists flew in at Nagoya and traveled for 40 minutes to reach Toyota City, a 91,847-hectare (918.47-square-kilometer) industrial society which, ironic to its classification, is a “low-carbon producing society” on 62,754 ha of forest. Here, an industrialized urban area and Mother Nature coexist. As of March 1, Toyota City has a population of 44,135 (In comparison, Metro Manila,  638.6 sq km large, has a population of nearly 12 million.)

So, how does an environmental model city that targets a 50-percent reduction in its carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 look like?

Toyota City features prototype smart homes, electric vehicles and an ultraefficient traffic system. The city’s “life pulse” was demonstrated at the Toyota Ecoful Town, where a pavilion illustrated energy management systems, new technologies on traffic management and safety, an on-demand bus system and pedestrian detection systems, among other things. Toyota’s perspective on the smart community focuses on local management from the viewpoint of motor vehicles, houses, and information and energy management.

Journalists saw city-fit compact electric cars in action. These ultracompact electric vehicles were used in a self-service vehicle-sharing system complementing public transportation. The energy consumption of the smart homes were closely managed and monitored by homeowners using modern devices. The energy used for the homes was from the sun, and even from homeowners’ cars that had excess energy (the vehicle, in effect, serving as a mobile generator). There are also systems that optimize the use of energy in public spaces.

The energy management system in Toyota City virtually began in August 2010, when the Toyota City Low-Carbon Society Verification Promotion Council was established. In October 2010, the system development for energy began in earnest. The first model house was completed in June 2011. The first group of residents started living in smart houses later that year. In March 2011, the development of a vehicle with V2H (vehicle-to-home) functionality was completed. The Toyota Ecoful Town was opened in May 2012. And in October 2012, the Urban Transport System called “Ha:mo” started operations.

Members of the international motoring press were also given the chance to go on a circuit run and public road drive on Toyota City using the Prius plug-in hybrid, Estima hybrid, Lexus RX 450h, Lexus CT200h, Alphard hybrid and the Prius CX. The most challenging part was competing with each other in a fuel miser run using the Prius in the 1.561-km Spa Nishiura Motor Park circuit.

Before the run, we were given tips on how to optimize the energy efficiency of each Prius variant. The instruction was to go full-speed on straight runs so as not to consume much time, and then slow down to average speeds (to optimize the use of electric vehicle mode) on corners and turns.
Having driven a Prius in various occasions for the past four years around the Philippines, my running average was somewhere between 20 and 24 kilometers per liter. This writer thought that the circuit run would be a walk in the park. Apparently, some drivers were even more lightfooted. The tandem of Toyota engineers, as expected, topped the event at 32 kpl, while the Philippine team of Top Gear’s Dinzo Tabamo and Toyota Motor Philippines’ Tonyo Silva squeezed out 29.75 km, and they were declared overall winners. My team (I was the designated driver, while Bernadette Magkilat of Manila Bulletin was navigator) got 23.35 km.

Apparently, the Prius could run even more efficiently. The Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism lists the Prius’ optimum fuel economy reading at 38 kpl, after up to 15 test cycles.

Toyota developed and sold the world’s first mass-produced hybrid in response to environmental issues. The vehicle’s seamless interplay between the electric and gasoline engine is managed by the breakthrough Hybrid Synergy Drive and its intelligent energy-management system. Its seat cushion, scuff plates and other interior components are made of ecological plastic.

According to Toyota, popularizing hybrid vehicles is the key to reducing fossil fuel reliance. Its engineers stressed that the hybrid technology is the core technology that can be applied to a variety of next-generation environmental vehicles.

The utopia at Toyota City merely showed the Prius in its natural, perfect habitat.

Courtesy of Business.Inquirer.net

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Toyota elevates expectations with the surprising 2014 Corolla.

Next Generation Toyota Corolla Unveiled With Extravaganza of Experiential Events!

 Dramatic sights, sounds and tastes helped introduce the strikingly re-styled 11^th generation Toyota Corolla at a packed celebration inside Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif. on Thursday night.

More than 750 consumers, journalists and Toyota guests took in a captivating theatrical performance by Fuerza Bruta, fog clouds from celebrity chef Richard Blais’s liquid nitrogen cocktails, and the capstone reveal of the 2014 Corolla lowered from the rafters with a surprise visit from comedian Adam Carolla.

The multi-sensory experiences celebrated an iconic compact vehicle with nearly 50 years of success and almost 40 million global sales. The sleeker, more advanced 2014 Corolla features chiseled, modern character lines, a more premium interior, improved fuel economy and an enhanced driving performance. Each trim level (L, LE, LE Eco, and S) will offer a range of popular features designed to delight current Toyota customers and attract new, youthful buyers.

“Full of surprises and unexpected features, this global reveal event captured the new era and elevated experience of the redesigned Corolla,” said Bill Fay, group vice president and general manager, Toyota Division. “As our second best-selling vehicle and a familiar sight on American roadways, the new Corolla retains its trusted quality and reliability while adding an exciting new look and energy.”

At the beginning of the evening, guests sampled innovative culinary creations including roasted pork belly with licorice grits and pickled peaches from Blais’s custom menu. Blais, who recently published his first cookbook, Try This at Home, is perhaps best known from his appearance on Season 4 of Bravo’s hit show “Top Chef” and his winning run on “Top Chef All-Stars,” for which he received his own Corolla among other prizes. Partnering with Los Angeles gourmet catering company Along Came Mary, Blais prepared items in front of guests, including the fog-inducing liquid nitrogen margaritas.

After tasting from each culinary station, guests were ushered into a newly revealed second space where the first of three viscerally stimulating Fuerza Bruta acts began. Fuerza Bruta (“brute force” in Spanish) is a critically acclaimed, live experience show first founded in Argentina then introduced in New York City in 2007. Elevated above the guests, some in tanks of water, the performers put on a 30-minute, high-energy acrobatic show.

As a finale to the spectacular performance, a 2014 Corolla descended from the ceiling while three additional new Corollas appeared from a hidden space, surprising and delighting guests with their new design. With a new longer wheelbase and  roomier premium interior, the new Corolla offers a collection of enhanced features including standard LED headlamps and Bluetooth^® connectivity, along with available touchscreen audio, backup monitor, Smart Key, paddle shifters and Entune^®, Toyota’s multimedia app suite.

During Fay’s brief remarks about the Corolla, car enthusiast and comedian Carolla interrupted from the side of the stage and joined to joke about being the “oldest Corolla in the room,” referring the similarities of the vehicle name and the comedian’s own last name . Carolla further described growing up in a working class community in the 1970s and 1980s and the value of the Corolla to many friends and families. Representing that era was a 1969 Corolla, from the Toyota Museum in Torrance, Calif.  In addition, three other vintage Corollas from the museum were on display, including models from 1971, 1983 and 1987.

At the conclusion of the presentation, DJs The Hood Internet kicked off music while guests were encouraged to explore and view the 2014 Corolla models.

Courtesy of Toyota Newsroom

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