Akio Toyoda

  Toyota Motor Corp. plans to fix accelerator pedals on about 4 million vehicles in its biggest U.S. recall, as the automaker works to fulfill its president’s vow to “make better cars.” The Japanese company also will install a brake override system on some of the vehicles after drivers reported cases of sudden acceleration, the U.S. Transportation Department said yesterday. The recall covers Toyota’s top-selling Camry as well as its Lexus and Prius cars and Tacoma and Tundra trucks. Toyota’s recall, at least the third covering more than 100,000 U.S. autos in the past two years, dents a reputation for vehicle quality established in surveys ... Read Full Story

Toyota's president said it was "extremely regrettable" an American family died in a crash in which a floor mat in one of the Japanese automaker's vehicles is suspected as the cause. "Four precious lives have been lost," Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda said Friday. "I offer my deepest condolences." Without giving specifics, he said an investigation was under way into the problem which potentially affects 3.8 million Toyota vehicles in the U.S., and may cause the accelerator to get stuck. If Toyota decides on a recall, it would be its biggest ever in the U.S. Toyoda, who took helm at the world's top ... Read Full Story

Toyota Motor's new president Akio Toyoda said on Friday he is optimistic about prospects for the ailing global auto industry but warned that the yen's recent surge may delay its recovery. The grandson of the company's founder confirmed that, for this year, the US and Japanese auto markets are on course for sizeable drops in sales in the wake of the global financial crisis. "But (sales) will certainly pick up in the long run," Toyoda, 53, who took the top job in June, told a news conference. Toyota, the world's number one automaker, saw domestic sales rise by 14 percent on-year in September, driven ... Read Full Story

DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp has decided to end production at a California plant it has shared with General Motors for 25 years, industry sources said on Thursday. Two sources, who had direct knowledge of the decision but were not authorized to speak on the record, confirmed that the Japanese automaker would not continue operations at the Fremont facility that employs 4,500 people. Toyota's board met earlier in the day and decided to shut the plant in March, the sources said. A Toyota representative declined to comment on the reports, saying that the automaker expected to release a statement on the plant later ... Read Full Story

Toyota under its new president will no longer chase global market share and other numerical targets, even as it hopes to sell more cars in emerging markets, a company executive said Friday. Under previous presidents, Toyota Motor Corp. had set a goal of reaching 15 percent global market share in global vehicle sales sometime after 2010. Until last year's financial crisis, which sent sales crashing, it had been steadily expanding production toward that goal. The executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he spoke to select reporters, said the automaker will still use numbers in their business plans, but "the vision" had changed ... Read Full Story