“[Toyota] and the BMW Group share the same strategic vision of future sustainable mobility,” said Norbert Reithofer, chairman of the board at BMW. “In light of the technological changes ahead, the entire automotive industry faces tremendous challenges, which we also regard as an opportunity. This collaboration is an important building block in keeping both companies on a successful course in the future.”

A new fuel-cell system will be jointly developed by the companies, which includes a hydrogen tank, motor, and battery. The project is slated to be completed in 2020, and codes and standards for the hydrogen infrastructure will also be developed.

BMW and Toyota will also jointly develop lightweight technologies for vehicle bodies. The research will include reinforced composites, which could be included in another joint venture: a mid-size sports car. A feasibility study on the jointly designed car is due by the end of 2013, and the companies will combine their technology and engineering know-how to “maximise customer satisfaction.

Perhaps the most far-reaching collaboration the companies will undertake is the development of lithium-air battery technology. Such batteries would have energy densities far greater than current lithium-ion batteries.

“It is just over a year since we signed our collaborative MoU [memorandum of understanding), and with each day as our relationship strengthens, we feel acutely that we are making steadfast progress,” said Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota. “Now, we are entering the phase that promises the fruit. While placing importance on what we learn from the joint development, we will work hard together in reaching our common goal of making ever-better cars.”

That meant that many of the smaller, older side streets were left off the radar. To help with this problem, Toyota Belgium came to the rescue (via Google Creative Sandbox Google+ post):

The Google Street View car couldn’t fit through many of the narrow Belgium roads and so some streets weren’t photographed. Toyota Belgium worked with agency Happiness Brussels to tackle the challenge. They outfitted the tiny iQ car with a 360° camera, kicking off the interactive “iQ Street View” project. The car traverses all the narrow Belgium streets and sends the data to the iQ project’s website (http://iqstreetview.com), where residents can tag the streets that Google couldn’t reach.

The car we’re talking about here is the Toyota iQ, and city car nicknamed “The Brick” that was first debuted back in 2008. Last year it finally came to the North America in a limited basis, having been rebranded the Scion iQ. It’s small – 120.1 inches long, 59.1 inches tall, and only 66.1 inches wide.

Check it out in action below:

With the iQ Street View project, Toyota brags that they “complete Google Street View” with their car. Currently, the project is only in Belgium but if you know of a street in the area that still needs to be tagged, you can add it here and the Toyota iQ will go and find it.

Toyota first beat out GM in 2008, but then saw setbacks after the Japanese earthquake, Thai floods and various recalls, which prompted a loss of the top spot in 2010. Though, sales of the new Camry and Prius in the U.S. have bolstered business, allowing it to again surpass GM. Roughly 4 million Toyota hybrid models have been sold worldwide since 1997, with 1.5 million of those bought in the U.S. – though it was recently reported that the majority of hybrid owners don’t go on to buy a second hybrid.

A back and forth battle for the top spot should be expected in the coming quarters, and GM plans to relaunch the marketing of the all-electric Volt, while Volkswagon plans to sell 10 million cars by 2018. Perhaps Volkswagon will market it’s magnet-powered hovercar. This commercial for the concept car is off the chain:

Toyota has so far sold roughly 1.2 million Prius models in the U.S., and offers the classic Prius, the larger Prius V, the compact Prius C and the plug-in model. The company also makes hybrid versions of the Camry and Highlander, as well as high-end Lexus models.

It allows passengers to input destinations without having to reach across to access the in-dash navigation system. They can also view maps and sightseeing information and go back to it later using the DS’ save feature.

Kurama de DS is Bluetooth enabled, allow DS users instant access when they enter the car. The interface includes your Nintendo Mii avatar, and even allows you to view the speedometer from your DS. It allows nearly full access to all of the car’s navigation controlled systems, even letting you play music from the DS on the car’s speakers.

While this is a cool use of technology, it’s easy to see where this can go horribly wrong. In the U.S. at least, the Nintendo DS is primarily used by children. As any parent, or anyone who has ever taken a ride with children, knows, they can be incredibly bothersome to drivers. The cliched saying “I will turn this car around, mister” exists for a reason.

Now add to the constant bickering siblings will get into and questions of “are we there, yet?” – total control of the car’s navigation system, and you could have a serious problem. Imagine driving down the road, when all of a sudden you hear Mario screaming through your speakers at top volume; “It’s-a me, Mario!” Then you start getting endless suggestions on where to stop, changing your route destination and getting lost in the process. Granted, this could be a worst case scenario, but you get the idea. Giving away control of your car’s navigation system is probably not the best of ideas.

Then there are the economics to consider. Toyota’s Smart Navi system costs around $2,500, the Kuruma de DS add-on costs an extra $100. Even if you buy a Toyota and want the Smart Navi system for other reasons, it isn’t even worth the extra $100 to be bothered by backseat drivers telling you where to go.

As a concept, it is interesting, and tech companies should explore ways to control automated systems using wireless hand-held technology. However, giving this technology to kids as a first step, is a big misfire.

[source: Kotaku]

A new study from R.L. Polk is saying that, like in so many other instances, commercials and real life don’t always coincide. The survey on hybrid loyalty shows that most hybrid owners do not buy another one.

The data, coming from car purchases made in 2011, shows that only 35% of hybrid owners who made car purchases last year bought a hybrid again.

However, hybrid owners do tend to remain loyal to the brand they chose. Toyoto tops this list, with 60% of Prius owners buying a Toyota their next time around. In the case of Honda, 51% returned for another Honda, while only 20% bought another hybrid, from any brand. Apparently they liked the fact that it was a Honda, just not the hybrid aspect.

For dealers, it makes since to have a hybrid as part of their line, even though the segment makes up only 2.4 percent of the new car market. While not many hybrids are being sold, they do tend to bring customers back to that brand.

Though gas savings is often cited as a good reason to buy hybrid, there is little evidence that the price of gas, having nearly doubled from 2008 to 2011, has any impact on hybrid loyalty. Not only that, but hybrids do not carry more loyalty in so called “eco-friendly cities” in the United States. Markets like Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, and Seattle show no more loyalty to hybrids than the nation at-large.

“The lineup of alternate drive vehicles and their premium price points just aren’t appealing enough to consumers to give the segment the momentum it once anticipated, especially given the growing strength of fuel economy among compact and midsize competitors,” according to Lacey Plache, Edmunds.com chief economist. “For EVs and PHEVs in particular, certain obstacles — including consumer unease with unfamiliar technology and the lack of an adequate recharging infrastructure — will need to be overcome before sales increase.”

The Next Web is reporting that Toyota has taken to Twitter to advertise their new Camry Effect by offering Twitter users the chance to win one of the new cars. The account @CamryEffect was replying to users who used a Super Bowl related hashtag like #Giants or #Patriots and replying to the tweet with the same offer to win a car every time.

What made this worse is that Toyota set up verified accounts for @CamryEffect alongside @CamryEffect1, @CamryEffect2 and so on. This allowed the company to effectively spam their Twitter campaign to every user who was using Super Bowl related hashtags.

Users were bombarded with the same tweets over and over again until they decided that enough was enough. They took the matter to Twitter who seemingly ignored the reports.

Thankfully, the company, either through Twitter telling them to stop or through their own realization, has stopped the spam campaign. They have suspended all the extra @CamryEffect accounts and made the original private.

Toyota apologized for the spam campaign via a statement:

We apologize to anyone in the Twitterverse who received an unwanted @reply over the past few days. We were excited to share the message of our Camry Effect campaign in a new way and it was never our intention to displease anyone. We’ve certainly learned from this experience and have suspended the accounts effective immediately to avoid any additional issues. Kimberley Gardiner, National Digital Marketing & Social Media Manager, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc.

This is just another example of social media gone terribly wrong. You would think that companies would learn by now. If you want a successful social media ad campaign, don’t shove it in their faces.

Now, feast your eyes.

Shared by Isik Mater.

Shared by Dalai Lama.

Shared by Lotus Carrol.

Shared by Robert Scoble.

Shared by Mario Pires.

Shared by H-L- Andreson.

Shared by Gabriel Vasile.

Shared by Paul Meriweather.

Shared by Thomas Hawk.

Shared by Scott Jarvie.

To introduce the newest model of the Camry, Toyota is streaming the process live on their official site, and, in fact, they are scheduled to show the first one roll off the factory floor in Georgetown, Kentucky during the broadcast. Of course, to celebrate the new Camry’s reveal, Toyota took to the social media networks, namely Twitter, to share the news:

There’s a lot of information coming out during the broadcast, which is still going on. For the tech sector, the vehicle will include access to Microsoft’s Bing search engine–one wonders if that includes free GPS–as well as the option to stream Pandora to the vehicle’s stereo. This latter piece of information is valuable in the sense that Pandora in the car sounds like a direct threat to the Sirius satellite radio service.

As for Bing, well, that gives them a boon over Google, but it’s doubtful such a designation will tilt the scales in Microsoft’s favor when it comes to search dominance. Nevertheless, to be included in such a popular vehicle can only be considered a plus for Bing.

The prices of these new models will vary from $24,725 to $25,900 for the hybrid model, which, according to the release, is lower than the 2011 rates. Twitter confirms this price drop as well:

Another point brought up by the presenters has to do with NASCAR’s use of Toyota parts and other car content. Because Camry and its parts are built in the United States, from Toyota’s perspective, no other car running in NASCAR uses more American-made content than Toyota does.

For a little more perspective, I steer you towards this particular thread, and the following quote:

…St. Angelo, a 30-year General Motors employee before moving to Toyota in April 2005, is referring to one of Toyota’s most popular talking points. The civilian versions of the three cars that compete in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series — the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Dodge Charger and Ford Fusion — are built either in Canada (the Charger and the Monte Carlo) or Mexico (the Fusion). Meanwhile more than 75 percent of the parts used here by Toyota (and 98 percent of the steel) comes from U.S. suppliers…..

While all of this is qualified as interesting facts in relation to Toyota and its Camry model, the way Toyota went about debuting the new model is the story.

Simulcasting video and social media engagement has not been done in relation to the debut of a new car model, especially from a company the size of Toyota, and for a car as popular as the Camry. Does this mean we can expect Toyota’s competitors to follow suit with their own exclusive video the next time the Mustang is remodeled?

It wouldn’t be at all surprising.

Speaking of reaction, Twitter seems to be largely impressed with the new models:

I was able to snag a couple of screenshots of the new Camry model, one of which leads the article and the following one:

That’s what Toyota wants to find out, and thanks to their partnership with Salesforce.com, consumers will be able to find out, as well. The partnership was made to power the “Toyota Friend” program, a social network designed to engage other Toyota drivers/owners. According to the release, Toyota Friend is a social network that connects Toyota owners to their car, the dealership, and with the Toyota company, providing things like maintenance tips and other service-related information. An example used in the announcement introduces the concept of Toyota Friend informing hybrid owners if their battery isn’t sufficiently charged.

Powered by the Salesforce Chatter network, which is described as a “private social network for business,” Toyota Friend will issue “tweet-like” notifications to the owner’s mobile device, which seems to ignore the elephant in the room. Aren’t we in a time of informing people about the dangers involved in mobile device use during vehicular operation? Doesn’t such a service bring the temptation of driving while playing with a mobile device? Questions for another day, I suppose.

While the Toyota Friend social network will be a private one, members can connect to their friends on other social networks like Twitter and Facebook, an idea that seems to court the potentially deadly combination of mobile device use while operating a vehicle even further. Killjoy reactions aside, Toyota President Akio Toyoda likes where the partnership is going:

“Social networking services are transforming human interaction and modes of communication. The automobile needs to evolve in step with that transformation. I am always calling for Toyota to make ever-better cars. The alliance that we announce today is an important step forward in achieving that goal.”

Unfortunately, it’s doubtful Mark Schaefer will approve of this latest social network capability. How about you? Does the idea of a socially-networked vehicle, one that let’s you connect with other social networks, appeal to you? Could you see yourself driving a socially networked vehicle, one that issues messages about the condition of your car? As for the service, will you be able to “friend” other Toyota drivers you see out and about? Something like, “hey, did you see that babe in the Camry? Send her a friend request, dude!”

If so, Toyota Friend’s potential just increased a great deal.

The service is scheduled to debut in 2012, and will be initially offered in Japan to hybrid and electrical Toyota owners.

Whereas SYNC boasts ties to Google Maps, a Microsoft representative explained in an email to WebProNews, "When Entune launches later this year, Bing for Mobile and Bing Maps will be featured as one of several immediately accessible apps, giving drivers access to more than 16 million points of interest."

The representative then continued, "Entune offers advanced conversational voice recognition and integrated mobile apps, allowing drivers to search for a destination, point of interest or restaurant and have the information and directions seamlessly delivered to the navigation system from Bing."

This is something owners are sure to take advantage of on a regular basis.  It’s then possible that, after parking their Entune-equipped cars, they’ll be more likely to visit Bing the next time they’re in front of a computer.

There is the question of pricing and adoption, of course.  Toyota hasn’t yet announced whether Entune will cost $200 or $2,000, and it’s possible a lot of shoppers will leave the option box unchecked.

Still, with a price tag of $395, SYNC has found its way into 3 million vehicles since late 2007, so as long as Entune remains competitive, it’s likely that a lot of Corolla, Camry, and Prius owners will soon start getting better acquainted with Bing.