Looking for something slightly larger than a golf cart to tool around in?  Well you are the target buyer for Toyota's latest creation, the 09 iQ.  This teeny tiny 4 seater will be available this fall in Japan and European markets, so the US will have to wait for this glorified go-cart.

Although small in size the 09 Toyota iQ is big on safety features.  First it's all steel frame makes this baby weigh in at almost 1900lbs and sports a whopping 12 airbags, including the worlds first rear window air bag.

The 09 iQ is of course a hybrid, which will help Toyota meet it's goals of building 1 million hybrid vehicles a year by 2010.

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Toyota has announced the development of a new safety feature, which will come as an option in their upcoming iQ vehicle.  The Rear Window Air Bag will act as a curtain to protect rear seat passengers from debris in the case of a rear end collission.

It's a world first from Toyota who wants to make side air bags and shield air bags 'standard' equipment on all new vehicles.

Rear Window Air Bags in iQ

Toyota has announced that they will be upgrading the batteries in their upcoming 09 and 2010 model year Prius hybrids.  Furthermore they will be upgrading the tiny 1.5 litre engine to the one currently used in the Camry, a 1.8 litre.

The new batteries will be made with nickel-metal hybride packs.  Everyone is still waiting around on the Lithium Ion on battery pack with plug-in capabilities.

Toyota Prius

Personally I'm starting to hate how recall's are just an expected part of purchasing a new car.  It would seem no matter what manufacturer, you will have at least a few recalls.  Even after manufacturers spend millions of dollars on testing, research, and engineering they can still screw up and need to spend even more to fix a problem that should have been found. duh!?  I'm curious what portion of recalls effects a car manufacturers red line?

Toyota is the latest to issue a recall, which effects their Corolla and Matrix model lines.  Reportedly the bolts holding the power windows can cause the glass to actually shatter.  While this is minor in terms of some of the recalls out there, minor accidents have already been reported.

The recall is part of Toyota's safety recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) involving approximately 539,500 cars. The manufacturing defect is noticed on 2003 and 2004 model Corolla and Matrix cars.

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Earlier in the year Toyota announced the production of an all new Venza SUV.  Toyota was hoping they could bring enough change to the crossover market to make the Toyota Venza appealing, you be the judge.  Obviously this high priced SUV is marketed towards the 'Boomers' and well-to-do small families.  I think the new Venza looks like fat mini-van.

According to industry analysts and Toyota, the manufacturer is planning on producing 100,000 new hybrid cars by 2009.  This is a hybrid only vehicle, which will be released under the Lexus name plate in the US and looks to be an upsale to the great selling green car Prius.

Toyota is obviously hoping this new hybrid car will sell as well as the Prius.  A press release in May announced that Toyota sold over 1 million Prius hybrid cars world wide.

As part of its high-priority environment-management policies, Toyota has made a concerted effort to promote and popularize hybrid technology, chiefly through the Prius. And as hybrid technology can be applied to a wide range of vehicles, Toyota aims to sell 1 million or more hybrid vehicles annually as early as possible in the 2010s.

Toyota Prius

I'm not sure they could have found a more fitting name for this Rally looking freak show known as a Toyota Aygo Crazy.  Yes, it's a one-off, but if you are only going to build one might as well make it amazing, which is what it looks like Toyota did.  Plenty of smooth lines, aggressive design, tight, compact, and pretty much built to race, it's not something to go get groceries in.

Even though the Aygo Crazy is only producing 200 horsepower, the hp to weight ratio makes it a worthy opponent of any rally car.  It's curb weight is only 1090 kg, which will allow the little Toyota Crazy to zip from 0-60 in just under 6 seconds.  The estimated top speed of this pocket demon is 125 miles per hour and I'm sure it sounds like a pissed off bumble bee the whole way.

Looks like Toyota is taking another green move and will possibly be outfitting the Toyota Prius with a set of solar panels.  These panels would be equipped on a select number of Prius hybrids and would power things like A/C and other electronics on board.

"It's more of a symbolic gesture," said the person, who asked not to be identified because he was not allowed to speak publicly. "It's very difficult to power much more than that with solar energy."

It's a novel move to add the solar panels to the Toyota hybrid, but it really doesn't accomplish a whole lot.  Unfortunately, according to industry experts, technology has not come far enough to do a whole lot with solar energy.  The surface area required to produce significant energy is not condusive to cars and trucks yet, and it's barely suitable for homes.

It's cute, it's cuddly, and up until now if you got hit in the side by a shopping cart you would probably have been killed.  But the all new 2009 Toyota Yaris will start offering side airbags as standard equipment.  This was no doubt a much needed safety addition to the ever growing small car market that surely others will follow suit soon.

According to Toyota and IIHS tests the Yaris ranked the lowest possible score for side impact ratings, but with the side air bags ranked in the highest category.

According to Toyota they will start manufacturing a Toyota Camry Hybrid in China by 2010.  They are hopiong to ramp up production as they see a demand for hybrid vehicles increase, obviously in line with increasing fuel prices.  Seems to be a smart move, especially considering the Chinese government recently increased gas prices, the potential for demand on an Electric-Gas Hybrid vehicle is good.

This isn't the first Hybrid car Toyota has manufactured in China, but the Toyota Prius was only made in very short supply.  It's reported that there were over 430,000 Hybrid's made, less than 400 were built in the China manufacturing plant.  However, keeping inventory close to home may be in the minds of Toyota higher ups.

Currently Toyota has plans to produce the Camry Hybrid in Thailand and Australia until 2010.

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