toyota

We saw images of the facelifted 2010 Toyota Aurion when it debuted in Australia more than a year ago. Then we heard rumblings from readers that a body-kitted model was now available in the Dubai showroom, under the guise of a “Touring” trim. Toyota’s UAE dealer hasn’t advertised the “new” Aurion at all, so we’d never seen this mysterious kit although we did assume it could be the same as the Australian-spec one. But today, we were at the showroom and caught the damn thing.

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Recalls are boring news. They’re in fact so boring that we only cover them once in a while now. The number of recalls per month has actually reduced since the last time we did a rundown, by about 35%. Of course, the general media still chooses to sensationalise some recalls more than others, especially anything to do with Toyota. In the past two months, there have been recalls by Lexus, Land Rover, General Motors, Ford, Honda, Suzuki, Chrysler, Saab and even Mazda, the last of which is a hilarious one.

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Toyota has already confirmed that the FT-86 sports car, the spiritual successor to the 1980s “AE86” Corolla, is set for production. This is the third concept to show off the car, a bit different than before and closer to the actual version that will hit showrooms in late 2012 as a 2013 model.

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Casual video interview with Simon Frith, the Managing Director of Al Futtaim Motors, the UAE dealer for Toyota. Topics include the Toyota Zelas launch during the 2010 Abu Dhabi Motor Show, the FT-86 launch date, the rising prices, the best sellers and the surprising sales figures for the Toyota Land Cruiser range.

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The Toyota unintended-acceleration recall scandal is famous around the world now, although it seems as if the Americans actually did anything about it. The U.S. Department of Transportation enlisted the help of NASA scientists, the same ones responsible for the American space programme, to have a look at the issues and software within Toyota and Lexus cars to see if the excessive unintended-acceleration claims had any electronic basis, as claimed by some. The engineers could not find anything pointing to an electronic problem.

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Today’s new cars are, supposedly, much more reliable than before. It is certainly true, to a certain extent. American cars nowadays are much more reliable than the crap they churned out in the 1980s. On the other hand, German cars are actually less reliable now than the rock-solid ones of the 1980s, thanks largely to their excessive reliance on electronics. It’s only the Japanese that have maintained their standards for the last couple of decades. But even they are not immune to problems, as recent recalls have shown. We took a look around the internet and found alleged issues involving the 2010-2011 Nissan Patrol,

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It’s been more than a decade since a Toyota coupe has set foot (or tyre even) in a Dubai showroom. But Toyota has been churning out 2-door cars elsewhere for years, and one of them has finally made it to the shores of the UAE. Whether the Toyota Zelas will make Honda fanboys jealous remains to be seen.

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The recalls were piling in hard and fast during this year. While we kept up with most of the ones which could’ve potentially affected car owners in the Middle East, we simply stopped keeping track around two months ago, because it became interminably boring writing up repetitive “recall” stories. However, we have a duty to at least highlight the ones which could matter, so here is a rundown of all the recalls in the last 60 days, most issued in the U.S. but which may also affect some GCC-spec cars. Consult your local dealer.

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Toyota has unveiled the latest Vitz hatchback in Japan, better known to us as the Yaris, and the all-new 2012 model at that. The new model is said to be more spacious than the outgoing one.

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Toyota’s UAE dealer launched the 2011 Scion tC at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Motor Show, only, it will be known as the Toyota Zelas in the GCC, and will come standard with an aggressive body kit.

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