Toyota 86 (Subaru BRZ) was conceived as a cheap and cheerful sportscar, but some people might still find its Japanese price of around $25K bit too steep.

Good news! There’s a sub-entry level version of the car on sale in Japanese Domestic Market, which will cost a few thousands less than that. It is for those who want an 86 just as a driver’s car, those who appreciate just what a damn good car it is, and can live without the amenities the normal car comes with.

These discount versions do not benefit from air conditioning, audio system, door lamps, leather upholstery, aluminum pedals and trims, and door and trunk lights.

It’s worse for the Toyota version. To make it cheap Toyota won’t paint bumpers, side mirrors and rear spoiler. Neither 86 and BRZ discount get fog lamps and alloys. They come with 16-inch steel wheels. Other things you lose in your quest to save a few grands include ventilated discs and the LSD diff. You get a mechanical unit instead.

These cars are currently only offered in Japan.

This weird sketch you see above shows the silhouette of the Toyota FT-Bh, the Japanese car maker’s concept car for this year’s Geneva Motor Show.

FT-bh is an ultra-lightweight, full hybrid city car study. It is supposed to simple and ingenious, which is why Toyota steered clear of using high-end expensive materials in making it. They say it uses only materials that are already commonplace in the auto industry.

Toyota has also avoided complex manufacturing processes for this concept. Simplifying will make things more efficient.

The FT-bh is only part of Toyota’s Geneva offensive this year. They will also bring along the Yaris hybrid in its production-ready form, and the GT 86 sports car.

Toyota’s NS4 and FCV-R concepts are also being shown in Europe for the first time. NS4 is a next-generation plug-in hybrid vehicle, designed to address customer demand for added value from hybrid motoring, together with advanced design and a more involving drive. FCV-R represents Toyota’s next step towards mass production of hydrogen-powered vehicles, paving the way for the launch of a saloon-type fuel cell vehicle by 2015.

The strange but interesting Toyota Fun-Vii will also be present in Geneva, but it’s renamed to ‘diji’. The car is basically a smartphone with wheels.

The new Toyota Prius C hybrid hatchback goes on sale in America from next month, starting from $18,950.

You have to add $760 destination charge to that price, so it actually starts at $19,710, or near as makes no difference 20 grand.

The Prius C is powered by a Hybrid Synergy Drive 1.5-liter DOHC engine with VVT-i, a 60 hp permanent magnet AC synchronous motor, and a 144 volt nickel-metal hydride battery which generates 25.9 hp. It’s a mouthful, but the result is a dismal 99hp.

So the performance will be quite shabby. You might be thinking it’s a price worth paying in return for great fuel economy. Well, official EPA ratings are yet to be confirmed, but don’t be surprised if you realized a normal diesel car does much better than this hybrid.

This little car gets a fair bit of kit though. Here’s a list of what you can get with the car:

6-speaker audio system, auto windshield wipers, a 60/40 split fold-down rear seat with adjustable headrests, cruise control, engine immobilizer, center console with armrest and storage compartment, and a cargo area tonneau cover.  Getting a little more interesting, the Prius C Three will add a Display Audio system with Navigation and Entune with a 6.1-inch touchscreen, Sirius XM Satellite Radio capability, HD Radio with iTunes Tagging, USB port with iPod connectivity and control, vehicle information with customizable settings, and advanced voice recognition. It also gets color-keyed outside door handles with touch- sensor lock/unlock feature, a tilt/telescopic steering wheel with audio, climate, Multi-information Display, Bluetooth hands free phone and voice command controls, a Touch Tracer Display, and a Smart Key System on the front doors and liftgate with Push Button Start and remote illuminated entry. 15-inch alloy wheels are also aded along with tilt/slide moonroof.

Pricing and options:

Available for Prius c Three:

• Power tilt/slide moonroof with sliding sunshade – MSRP $850
• 15-inch 8-spoke alloy wheels with P175/65R15 tires- MSRP $390

Available for Prius c Four:

• Power tilt/slide moonroof with sliding sunshade – MSRP $850
• 16-inch 8-spoke alloy wheels with P195/50R16 tires – MSRP $300
• 16-inch Alloy Wheel Package: combines 16-inch 8-spoke alloy wheels with P195/50R16 tires and power tilt/slide moonroof with sliding sunshade – MSRP $1,150

Available Exterior Colors:

• Habanero
• Blue Streak Metallic
• Summer Rain Metallic
• Absolutely Red
• Black Sand Pearl
• Magnetic Gray Metallic
• Classic Silver Metallic
• Moonglow
• Super White

The first proper video review of the Toyota 86 (FT 86, GT 86 FR-S, whatever you like to call it) is probably the best one we’re gonna get. It’s Chris Harris given a 20-minute drive in the new Japanese sportscar in Madrid. Chris is the man find out if this car is any good. He’s going to judge that by going sideways in it, a lot. Oh, and in the picture above he’s not air-fondling the air hostess in the Airbus, he’s practicing oversteer on the way to Spain.

Demonstrating the balance and poise of the Toyota 86 Sports Coupe’s chassis, a pair of highly skilled drifters have come up with this amazing stunt. The duo perform a perfect drift dance together. It’s a real treat to watch, and is sure to appeal to the slightly yobbish petrolheads who make the the 86′s main customer base. If you are more sophisticated, Subaru has made a brilliant ad for the BRZ that will do the same for you.

Toyota released further technical details on the new Yaris Hybrid as we get closer to the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, where the car makes its debut.

This hybrid hatch features a a petrol engine as the main source of power, coupled to an electric motor for a combined output of 99bhp  (74kW). This is a compact version of Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive system that is used in larger models, such as Prius and Auris Hybrid.

The petrol engine is a 1.5 liter unit, a smaller version of Prius and Auris’ 1.8 liter. It’s also 16.5 lg lighter than that, which helps with the overall efficiency of the car.

Likewise, other major components such as the electric motor, power control unit and transaxle were also made lighter and smaller: the size of the motor has been reduced by 20 per cent and thePCU12 per cent, compared to those in Auris Hybrid; and the transaxle has shed 11kg and is six per cent shorter.

The battery pack, consisting of nickel-metal components, is clever too. This and the fuel tank are both located under the rear bench seat in a compact package, so neither the interior nor boot space are affected by the hybrid system. You get the same 286 litre luggage capacity as the conventional models.

Sales of the Yaris Hybrid begins from June 2012.

Toyota revealed official pricing of the new 86 Sports Coupe for the British market ahead of the car’s launch in summer of 2012.

They are currently taking orders for the Toyota 86, for £24,995. That’s the base MSRP for the entry-level version. further pricing and specification details will be announced nearer the time of launch. Usually the final showroom price is a bit higher than what has been initially announced.

That sounds like a good price considering what you get in return. Toyota 86 is a rear-wheel-drive sports car, powered by a 2.0 liter flat-four engine which is mounted behind the front axle and low down to give the car a low center of gravity. That makes it, a least on paper, a great handling car.

The engine, made by Subaru, churns out 200hp, of which only 170 will actually make it to the rear wheels. The power is transmitted via a six-speed manual or automatic transmission, through a limited slip differential.

Toyota is currently working on a hotter version of the 86 with more power, so you might want to wait for that one to arrive.

Here’s what Toyota could muster up for this year’s Super Bowl night. The commercial focus on the new Camry and how it’s been reinvented in every sense of the word. It is still a practical four-door saloon, but it’s no longer a car for retired geography teachers, or so says Toyota. The new car certainly looks more lively and exciting. It is supposed to be more fun in doing all sort of mundane and boring things it does, and this commercial tries to deliver that message. They probably nailed it.

Normally we wouldn’t care much about the Toyota T030, because it’s not a production car and, let’s be honest, endurance racing is kinda boring. But since we first heard this bad boy we honestly can’t get enough of it! So here’s a couple of new videos featuring that hybrid system’s amazing soundtrack. In the pits the car runs on electricity, then the engine kicks in and all hell brakes loose. It must be the best sounding race car we’ve ever come across. Check it out after the jump.

Toyota’s reaches a significant milestone in producing hybrid cars in Europe, as the 400,000th unit delivered to its customer.

The 400,000th hybrid car delivered in Europe is an Auris Hybrid produced in UK. It was handed over to Valentine Nkwocha in Anderlecht (Belgium) as a company car from his employer CTG, an IT-consultancy. The company recently ordered over 20 Auris Hybrid cars to provide them to their junior consultants.

Toyota first began delivering hybrids to the European market back in 2000 with the first-gen Prius. It was also at first, but in recent years Toyota has been enjoying a remarkable boost in sales of hybrid cars. And it’s going to be better in 2012 when the new seven-seater Toyota Prius+ and Prius Plug-in Hybrid join the Prius to make up the Prius Family. The new Yaris will also get a hybrid variant.

Around the world Toyota has sold more than 3.5 million hybrid vehicles, representing a reduction of 23 million tons of CO2.

“We are very proud to deliver our 400,000th hybrid in Europe to a customer in Belgium where we have a strong presence with our European headquarters, our R&D centre, our parts and vehicle logistics operations,” said Michel Gardel, Vice President of Communication, External and Environmental Affairs at Toyota Motor Europe. “It shows that Belgian and European customers are not only ready to consider a hybrid vehicle purchase but for Toyota, they have been doing so in large numbers – in fact 10% of our sales in Europe were hybrid vehicles last year,” he added.

Earlier today we showed you the all-new Toyota T030 Hybrid Le Mans in its full glory. Now check out this short video of the car, as it’s coming out of the pit at Paul Ricard circuit. Given the fact this is a hybrid, you’d expect it to be rather quite, would you not. But wait until it starts moving. DEAR GOD! This thing sounds awesome. I’d watch this year’s Le Mans race just so I can hear this soundtrack all day long.

Toyota released official pictures and details of its all-new Le Mans racing car, the TS030 HYBRID.

That’s right, it’s a hybrid race car, and it’s set to steal the show from the diesel-powered Audi’s at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours. Normal petrol-powered LMP1 race cars are, apparently, obsolete.

The Cologne-based Toyota Motorsport GmbH and the TS030 will make their race debut on 5 May in the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Then they enter Le Mans big race with two cars, but participation in further rounds is yet to be confirmed.

Driver lineup for one of the cars is already confirmed with Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima, while discussions are still ongoing to finalise the driver line-up for the other. Additionally, Andrea Caldarelli, from Pescara, Italy, has joined Toyota Racing as a junior driver.

On its comeback to Le Mans Toyota is making history by introducing the first hybrid car on the grid. The Ts030 is an spiritual successor to the TS010 and TS020 of the 90s. The car features an all-new V8 3.4litre normally-aspirated petrol engine and hybrid system with capacitor storage developed by official team partner Nisshinbo. TMG has developed a brand new carbon fibre LMP1 chassis for this car.

HKS decided to strap the new Toyota 86 sports coupe on the dyno to test Toyota’s claims regarding its power. The car is supposed to churn out 200hp, the dyno reads 170. We thought 200hp wasn’t enough for this well-balanced, rear-drive, sports car. Turns out it doesn’t even have 200! Mind you, this is the Japanese 86. The one coming to Europe and America might be a real 200hp car. Even this 170hp car seems to be capable of hooning though.

To make Berlin even less interesting than it already is – and much to the rejoice of German criminals – Berlin Police has employed a fleet of Toyota Prius patrol vehicles.

This is part of an environmental effort called Initiative 120, in which the Police force is committed to reduce its carbon footprint. Besides the Prius, Berlin Police will also use a fleet of Opel Amperas, Mitsubishi iMiEVs, and Renault Fluence and Kangoo Zero Emission vehicles.

These new patrol cars will definitely help to reduce the carbon emissions to the targeted 120 g/km average, but they don’t seem to be very good at being Police cars. I mean that iMiEV, that’s out of puff after 20km and has a top speed of 4, how is it going to keep up with getaway cars?

Berlin Police will probably use these cars only to chase after baddies on bicycles!

Couldn’t make it to Detroit Motor Show? No problem. Toyota has come up with an online tool that lets you at least visit their booth, virtually. It’s called the Toyota Collection Virtual Tour, and with it you can wander about in Toyota’s booth as if you are walking there, zoom in on the cars, and even comment on them using your Facebook. It’s a pity there’s no booth babes, but on the upside, you have the entire stand to yourself with no one else in it.

The video after the jump will teach you how to use the virtual booth, and then the link after that will take you there.

Toyota Motor Show Virtual Booth

A day after Peugeot announces its withdrawal from Le Mans Endurance racing in 2012, Toyota tweets first pictures of its new hybrid LMP1 car.

Or maybe that’s just a coincident. This superb race car is the tool by which Toyota makes a comeback to Le Mans 24 hours and FIA World Endurance Championship. They have been absent since the 90s, but now it seems like the right time to return.

So Audi’s happiness from Peugeot’s decision was not long-lived. That said, the only way Toyota is going to beat Audi is if their car is more fuel efficient, which it probably is, since it’s a hybrid. Hopefully that will result in more exciting races for us to watch.

Technical details of Toyota’s hybrid LMP1 are yet to be released, but its chassis and engine are engineered and built by Toyota in Japan.

Toyota UK announces a new customization program for the little iQ to make it more interesting in the eyes of young buyers.

The trendy city car gets a number of individualization options such as colourful body and roof decals and a choice of vibrant leather upholstery options. We can’t say they are very cool, but there they are! It is actually up to you – the customer – to make something good out of it.

Customers can mix and match patterns and shades to suit their mood, and with a range of eight external paint colours, six leather combinations and six roof and body decals, there are hundreds of possible variations.

Decals you can choose from include Box (a scattering of colourful quadrilaterals), Bloom (retro daisies), Pulse (a swoosh of grey strokes) and Aqua (a flow of bubbles). Then there’s the leather package with the following combinations:

• Black leather with platinum fillets and stitching
• Platinum leather with black fillets and stitching
• Red leather with platinum fillets and stitching
• Black leather with Electric Blue fillets and stitching, plus iQ logo on headrest
• Black leather with Burnt Orange fillets and stitching, plus iQ logo on headrest
• Black leather with red fillets and stitching, plus iQ logo on headrest

As for the price, leathers cost £775, side decals £200 and roof decals £180.

This is not a post-apocalyptic Toyota Prius that’s developed a hideous radioactive-induced tumor. It’s a normal Prius turned into a camper van by some idiots in Japan.

The car has a fiberglass compartment stuck to its backside that increases the length by 520mm and height by 560mm. It has a full-size door which lets you walk in the lounge-like back, where two people can sleep, or climb on the roof where you find space for another two.

So four people can sleep in this thing. Mind you, they have to fairly small, I mean like Japanese small, to fit in there.

It really is a hateful thing, isn’t it. Here, have a laugh:

Toyota revealed pricing and specifications of the latest version of the Prius hybrid for the British market.

The 2012 Prius gets new face, new front seats, new upholstery and new soft-touch surfaces that combine to give a higher quality feel. It remains as efficient and green as ever, with economy figures of 89g/km CO₂ emissions – the lowest level in its class – and combined cycle fuel economy of 72.4mpg. Models equipped with 17-inch wheels will do 92g/km and 70.6mpg.

The new model is set to be better to drive as well. It comes with an extra stiff bodyshell and revised suspension and steering column.

UK sales of the revised model range will begin in March, with on-the-road prices from £21,350. That’s the T3 model. The better-equipped T4 version will cost you £23,080 and the top of the range T Spirit £24,620.

All models also benefit from trim level upgrade with new features, including Toyota Touch touchscreen control system. The advanced Toyota Touch & Go Plus multimedia and navigation system is a standard feature on Prius T Spirit and an option onT₃ & T₄. This brings with it Bluetooth, a rear-view camera, USB port and an on-board connectivity feature that allows access to a raft of on-line information services sourced through Google Local Search using a compatible mobile phone.

All versions of Prius can be specified with black leather upholstery. Likewise a Protection Pack, with rear parking sensors and a boot liner, is available across all grades. A Style Pack is offered for T₄ and T Spirit versions, which adds extra chrome trim to the sides and rear of the car and chrome foglamp surrounds.

Toyota announced pricing details of the UK-spec 2012 Land Cruiser. Going on sale from 1 March, it is priced at £62,285.

For your 62 grand you’ll be getting a mildly revised design which looks pretty much the same as before, the same 4.5-litre V8 turbodiesel engine – which now features particulate filter (DPF) and new fuel injectors in the common rail system – and six-speed automatic transmission. It makes 268bhp (200kW) and maximum torque of 650Nm.

That doesn’t sound like enough to move the absolutely huge Land Cruiser around with ease. But it comes with a couple of advanced off-road features that will help it get out of its own way. They include:

• The world’s first Turn Assist, reducing the vehicle’s turning radius when driving through tight off-road bends
• Crawl Control, with five speed settings for tackling steep climbs or descents
• Multi-terrain Select, with five selectable modes to tailor vehicle performance to different off-road conditions
• Multi-terrain Monitor, providing a 360-degree view of the area immediately around the vehicle via four external cameras
• Tyre Angle Display, displayed together with the predicted tyre path guidelines on the Multi-terrain Monitor, showing changes in steering angle between zero and 45 degrees
• Variable Flow Control power steering, with a unique, dedicated off-road setting

The UK-spec Land Cruiser comes as standard with Toyota Touch Pro, an advanced multimedia and navigation system with a digital tuner, Bluetooth and a rear-view camera. Featuring an 8-inch touchscreen, it also delivers on-board internet connectivity, using a compatible mobile phone and registration via a Toyota customer portal. A premium in-car entertainment package can be specified as an option.

Other notable features include new, air conditioned/heated front seats, a central cool box, heated steering wheel and all-round improvements to the quality and appearance of the trims and finishes.

UK customers can choose from eight exterior colours, including two new to the model range: Pearl White and Pure White.