Tag: planned

Worldwide Toyota Prius sales crack 2-million mark,10-year anniversary celebration planned

Filed under: Car Buying, Hybrid, Hatchback, Toyota

2010 Toyota Prius

2010 Toyota Prius – Click above for high-res image gallery

The Toyota Prius, launched in Japan in 1997 and introduced in Europe, North America and other markets in 2000, is without a doubt the best-selling hybrid vehicle ever produced. With a market that spans more than 70 countries and regions, the Toyota Motor Company’s economical hybrid is the most widely distributed gas-electric in this land (and just about every other one, too).

Selling at a rate of about 400,000 annual units worldwide, the Prius sits head-and-shoulders above any of its so-called competitors. All these sales mean you get to reach milestones now and again. Last month, the Prius reached another one, shattering the two-million sales mark worldwide. By the end of September, sales of the Prius stood at 2,012,000 and counting. You can hold back the applause for now, as the Prius’ record-setting run is far from over. Oh, yeah, a congratulatory pat on the back is welcomed as we also celebrate ten years of Prius sales in the U.S. which takes place, appropriately enough, on 10.10.10. Hit the jump for more on the Prius’ sales totals and plans for its ten-year anniversary celebration.

Gallery: Review: 2010 Toyota Prius


Photos copyright (C)2009 Sam Abuelsamid / AOL

[Source: Toyota]

Continue reading Worldwide Toyota Prius sales crack 2-million mark,10-year anniversary celebration planned

Worldwide Toyota Prius sales crack 2-million mark,10-year anniversary celebration planned originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Bad Habits’ monster truck world record practice session doesn’t go as planned

Filed under: Motorsports, Truck, Videos, Off-Road, Racing

Hey ya'll, watch this!

Bad Habits takes a dive – Click above to watch the video after the jump

Few realms of motorsport live the “Go big or go home” mantra to the fullest quite as well as the monster truck world. Aside from one of the largest voiceovers in the industry (“Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!!“), the guys who wrangle the epic horsepower, rear-wheel steering beasts of the Monster Jam circuit also boast some of the biggest egos. You know, the kind of sheer will of character that it takes to look at Bigfoot’s 202-foot, record-setting jump over a jetliner and think, “Nah, I can do better.” Such is the case with Joe Sylvester, the 26-year-old driver of the Bad Habits truck.

Sylvester has got it into his mind that he can embarrass the Bigfoot record, and has set about building a truck and a ramp to do just that. Only thing is, things didn’t go so swell during a practice session this week. After nailing his homemade ramp, the Bad Habits truck promptly began to turn its nose back toward terra firma, and it wasn’t long before the machine evaporated into a cloud of giant tires and red clay. Sylvester was unharmed in the accident and plans to officially attempt to break the record at this weekend’s Cornfield 500 at Columbus, PA’s Miller Farm. If you can’t make it, don’t worry – the folks at DirtVision plan a live webcast of this Sunday’s attempt.

Either way, we wish Sylvester the best of luck. You may want to do the same after hitting the jump and watching his failed practice attempt for yourself. Thanks for the tip, Shawn!

[Sources: YouTube, Cornfield500, DirtVision]

Continue reading Video: Bad Habits’ monster truck world record practice session doesn’t go as planned

Video: Bad Habits’ monster truck world record practice session doesn’t go as planned originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumormill: Lancia Stratos revival won’t be one-off, production planned

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Specialty, Luxury, Lancia

The story of the coachbuilt Lancia Stratos gets more curious by the day. Although it appeared that the homage was a Pininfarina-designed one-off for a wealthy and anonymous European, Car & Driver has done some snooping of its own and reports that it wasn’t exactly designed by Pininfarina and it won’t exactly be a one-off.

Supposedly in the works for four years, word is the new Stratos was penned by Jason Castriota when he was still at Pininfarina before departing for Stile Bertone. Italiaspeed has a sketch of a Stratos with a different front end, signed by Castriota, that was published in the Japanese magazine Zoom. If that sketch is accurate it could jibe with what a tipster wrote to us, saying that the client had asked the front end be changed to something more traditional. Even though the C/D notes the photo above as having been taken on Pininfarina’s roof, according to C/D it is Bertone that will get credit for this new Stratos – and we supposed Castriota will, too, eventually.

The best news for all those commenters disappointed that there would be just one: rumor is this thing is going into production. If true, it would be a huge deal for Lancia, an underperforming brand with rebadged Chryslers that would have this to parade around the world. Everyone wins. And to that shadowy, monied-up American, if you made this happen, we salute you.

[Source: Car & Driver]

Rumormill: Lancia Stratos revival won’t be one-off, production planned originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Chrysler delays planned expansion of Toledo plant

Filed under: SUV, Plants/Manufacturing, Crossover, Chrysler, Jeep, Fiat

Jeep

It’s no secret that Chrysler’s future plans are in a constant state of flux right now. After all, the automaker just went through a ridiculously fast bankruptcy where bits and pieces were shed before stewardship was handed over to Italy’s Fiat. It’s only natural that Chrysler’s new management would need some time to get itself organized.

According to The Toledo Blade, Chrysler decisionmakers are still up in the air as to how the Toledo North Assembly Plant figures into the company’s future roadmap. Previously, Chrysler said the Ohio facility would build three new SUVs based on Fiat’s C-Evo platform to replace the Jeep Liberty and Dodge Nitro.

Apparently, however, Chrysler has three plants that could build the new ‘utes – Toledo, Belvedere, Illinois and Sterling Heights, Michigan. The reality is that the Pentastar really only needs two of them to handle the project. Alternately, all three could build the vehicles using fewer shifts. At this point, it’s anyone’s guess which, if any, of these facilities will be left out in the cold, and what the resulting employee impact will be.

[Source: The Toledo Blade]

Report: Chrysler delays planned expansion of Toledo plant originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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