Toyota

We've seen a lot of campers here at Gizmag. Typically, they're made for big, gas-drunk trucks, SUVs and vans - vehicles with the size and hauling capacity to spend the night in. What we're not used to seeing is campers made for small, fuel-frugal hybrids. But the Habitents is just that - a camper extension for the Toyota Prius.  Read More

Electric vehicle charging has been a hot topic for years, but it's mostly been a one-way discussion: how the EV charges from a given home charging system. Toyota turns the conversation around, experimenting with how the home can draw power from the EV. Toyota's vehicle-to-home (V2H) charging system offers two-way charging between the Prius Plug-in and a home power supply.  Read More

The new Toyota GT86 and Subaru BRZ haven't been visible for long, but the marques' newest sports car scored a major coup on the weekend when it won two separate classes at the 40th ADAC 24 Hours Nürburgring race, including the V3 class for production machines. In all, it was a huge validation of the handling and horsepower of the new machine on what is generally regarded as the most demanding racetrack in the world.  Read More

It's been about two years since Tesla and Toyota announced a partnership, and we're about to see the fruit of their labor. The RAV4 Electric, the modern market's first all-electric SUV, will hit the market in the coming months. Toyota used the 26th annual Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles to launch the model.  Read More

One of the nice things about motorsport is its ability to put excellence in perspective. It hence reflects well on Audi that in debuting two race cars in the Spa Six Hour race yesterday, it achieved a rare perfect result. In fielding two each of the new Audi R18 ultra and R18 e-tron (hybrid) quattro cars, the marque finished with a stunning 1-2-3-4. In the end, it was the diesel-only R18 ultra which prevailed over the R18 e-tron quattro diesel-electric hybrid by 46 seconds. All cars ran strongly, and the hybrids in particular will benefit from the outing, as the balance of the car with its electrically-driven front wheels is still far from optimal.  Read More

Auto China is probably the most influential automobile show in the world at present. China now produces and consumes more cars than any other nation, so its needs will heavily influence personal transport globally in coming decades. Some early trends are emerging as to what we'll see, and as congestion in China increases and parking centrally becomes prohibitively expensive, a car will increasingly only get you part of the way to your destination. Geely and BMW both showed cars with inclusive last-mile transport at Auto China, but the number of last mile Transportation Appliance options under development by auto manufacturers is growing rapidly.  Read More

The strength of the world's emerging economies was on display at the opening of the Thai Motor Show today. For the next 10 days, 170,000 people a day will visit the show, and despite the country having been largely under water for much of 2011, the Thai motor industry looks more buoyant than ever. Almost every major manufacturer had something on show we haven't seen before. Great picture gallery.  Read More

More than six years ago, Subaru and Toyota entered into a cooperative agreement. In 2009, that relationship bore its first concept - the Toyota FT-86. Both automakers showed the production versions of their respective sports coupes last year, and Subaru has officially kicked off production on the models. In about two more months, car buyers will be able to get their hands on them.  Read More

The Yikebike is a miniature, electric penny farthing made of carbon fiber capable of 25 km/h (15 mph) with a range of 10 km (6.2 miles), or 20 km (12.4 miles) if you carry a spare battery.  Read More