Toyota announced today that it will resume Japan production Monday of the Prius at the Tsutsumi plant. This announcement comes one week after Toyota restarted production of replacement parts and three days after reopening some of its plants which produce parts for overseas production since the tsunami/earthquake that happened in Japan on March 11.
Read more: http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota-to-resume-japan-production-199495.aspx
When it comes to hybrids, it’s hard to top the success of the Toyota Prius. Despite a growing wave of competition, the Prius is still the most fuel-efficient hybrid in the U.S.—with a stellar EPA line of 51 mpg city/48 mpg highway—and it’s the best-selling one as well, attracting more than 140,000 new customers last year alone. But that doesn’t mean Toyota is resting on its laurels; in fact, the automaker recently introduced three new members of the Prius family at the 2011 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Prius v: Designed specifically to appeal to young families, the Prius v offers typically hybrid fuel-economy numbers of 42 mpg city and 38 mpg highway to go with a surprising amount of interior versatility. The new Toyota offers a full 50 percent more cargo space than the roomy Prius, with 34.3 cubic feet behind the rear seats, which then offer a 60/40 split configuration allowing for even more room. The bottom line: The Prius v will be the most spacious dedicated hybrid vehicle on the market when it reaches dealers late this summer.
Prius c: Showcasing a future Prius variant that will be at home in tight urban spaces, the Prius c concept vehicle offers athletic styling, responsive performance and, of course, incredible fuel economy. The production version is expected to reach the market in the first half of 2012 as the most value-oriented and fuel-efficient “cordless” hybrid in the U.S.
Prius Plug-in: Consider it the best of both worlds. The Prius Plug-in vehicle is slated to launch in key markets in the first half of 2012 with the ability to deliver up to 13 miles of all-electric, emissions-free driving, at speeds of up to 60 mph. Then, if its lithium-ion battery pack is depleted, it will provide hundreds of more miles of driving with the same kind of fuel efficiency as the standard Prius. Plus, its batteries can be recharged in as few as three hours, even with a standard household outlet.
“It’s a modern family with a Prius for everyone,” said Bob Carter, Toyota Division group vice president and general manager. “The Prius v is an all-new dedicated hybrid vehicle, and all future Prius family members will be as well. They will all share common Prius attributes but will be unique, with a special appeal to different buyers.”
Read more: http://www.toyotainthenews.com/toyota-expands-prius-family-at-detroit-auto-show/#more-1263
Check out these fun facts and may the luck of the Irish smile upon ya!
Fun Facts about St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick’s Day is observed on March 17 because that is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is believed that he died on March 17 in the year 461 AD. It is also a worldwide celebration of Irish culture and history. St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in Ireland, and a provincial holiday in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The actual color of St. Patrick is blue. Green became associated with St. Patrick's Day during the 19th century. Green, in Irish legends, was worn by fairies and immortals, and also by people to encourage their crops to grow.
St. Patrick did not actually drive snakes out of Ireland; the snakes represent the pagans that he converted to Christianity.
The very first St. Patrick's Day parade was not in Ireland. It was in Boston in 1737.
In Chicago, on St. Patrick's Day, the rivers are dyed green.
In Seattle, there is a ceremony where a green stripe is painted down the roads.
Most Catholics attend mass in the morning and then attend the St. Patrick's Day parade.
Shamrocks are worn on the lapel on this day.
In Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, people traditionally wear a small bunch of shamrocks on their jackets or caps. Children wear orange, white and green badges, and women and girls wear green ribbons in their hair
Many young people dye their hair green for the special day.
Many people wear green on this holiday to avoid being pinched.
The phrase, "Drowning The Shamrock" is from the custom of floating the shamrock on the top of whiskey before drinking it. The Irish believe that if you keep the custom, then you will have a prosperous year.
Many bars in the United States, and abroad, serve green beer to celebrate St. Patty's Day.
Fun Facts about the Irish
34 million Americans have Irish ancestry, according to the 2003 US Census. That’s almost nine times the population of Ireland, which has 4.1 million people.
Nine of the people who signed our Declaration Of Independence were of Irish origin, and nineteen Presidents of the United States proudly claim Irish heritage -- including our first President, George Washington.
Some American towns have “Irish” names. You could visit: Mount Gay-Shamrock, West Virginia; Shamrock Lakes, Indiana; Shamrock, Oklahoma; Shamrock, Texas; Dublin, California and Dublin, Ohio.
The harp is the symbol of Ireland. The color green is also commonly associated with Ireland, also known as “the Emerald Isle.”
The Irish flag is green, white and orange. The green symbolizes the people of the south, and orange, the people of the north. White represents the peace that brings them together as a nation.
The name “leprechaun” has several origins. It could be from the Irish Gaelic word “leipreachan,” which means “a kind of aqueous sprite.” Or, it could be from “leath bhrogan,” which means “shoemaker.”
Fun Facts about Clovers
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest number of leaves found on a clover is 14.
One estimate suggests that there are about 10,000 regular three-leaf clovers for every lucky four-leaf clover.
Legend says that each leaf of the clover means something: the first is for hope, the second for faith, the third for love and the fourth for luck.
It’s a match made in heaven: On the one hand, “Consumers have grown accustomed to having the world at their fingertips through their mobile phones,” according to Jon Bucci, vice president of the Advanced Technology Department at Toyota. And on the other, those buyers also have grown accustomed to Toyota meeting all their transportation needs. Now the automaker is putting both those expectations together with the Toyota Entune multimedia system, recently introduced at this year’s International CES consumer electronics show.
“And unlike other industry solutions, Entune allows the driver to interact with informative and entertaining mobile content without fumbling with their phone,” added Bucci. “We offer features that our customers demand and integrate them seamlessly in the vehicle.”
Among those features will be:
- Mobile Apps—Entune will launch offering the Bing search engine to help drivers find more than 16 million points of interest, with destinations sent directly to the vehicle’s navigation system; OpenTable, capable of making reservations at any one of 15,000 restaurants across the country; MovieTickets.com, providing access to film tickets and reviews; and the ability to get customized, real-world information about traffic, fuel prices, weather, stocks and sports.
- Music—Tuning into Entune will deliver more than 750 local radio stations via iheartradio, access to the Pandora music-streaming service, XM satellite radio, HD radio and USB connectivity for personal media players.
- Voice Recognition—Entune’s best-in-class voice-recognition system is able to respond to conversational speech commands, so there’s no need to worry about memorizing thousands of specific voice directions to operate the system.
In addition, Entune can be upgraded wirelessly, so it always packs the latest applications and functionality, and it was designed to be compatible with a wide range of current cell phones.
Read more: http://www.toyotainthenews.com/toyota-launches-entune-in-vehicle-multimedia-system/#more-1231
Daylight savings time is coming up this weekend. Don’t forget to set your clocks forward!
Every year, daylight savings time seems to take people by surprise. In the United States, daylight savings time begins on March 13 at 2 a.m. local time except in parts of Arizona and Hawaii. As the popular saying goes, clocks need to "spring forward" to observe the change. In other words, clocks need to be set ahead by one hour when the clock strikes 2 a.m.
Daylight Savings Time Begins on March 13 in the U.S. - Yahoo! News
