Toyota Motor Corp Announced That It Will Produce A Green Diesel For the Tundra and Seqouia Platforms In The Very Near Future
Big headlines streamed out of the Detroit Auto Show halls this week. At the forefront was the much anticipated news of Toyota's future diesel technology. Toyota Motor Corp President Katsuaki Watanabe said on Sunday the Japanese automaker will launch a diesel-powered Tundra pickup truck and Sequoia SUV in the United States soon, in an about-face to its hybrid-centred product strategy.
Toyota, which likely unseated General Motors Corp as the world's biggest automaker last year, has repeatedly hesitated to committing a diesel vehicle for the U.S. market, which is slowly warming to the fuel-efficient drivetrain, especially for use in larger vehicles.
"I am happy to confirm that a new clean-diesel V8 engine will be offered in both the Tundra and the Sequoia in the near future," Watanabe told a news conference at the North American International Auto Show.
The diesel vehicles were one way to meet new fuel economy regulations agreed by the U.S. Congress that require a fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, Watanabe said.
He added that Toyota will also expand its hybrid line-up by launching world premieres of two all-new, dedicated hybrid models - one for Toyota and one for its luxury Lexus brand - at next year's Detroit auto show.
"We will not wait until the deadline to comply (with the fuel economy standards)," Watanabe said. "I have issued a challenge to our engineers to meet the new standard well in advance of 2020."
Toyota, which brought the world the first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid, has a goal of selling 1 million hybrid cars a year soon after 2010. In the 10 years since the launch of the first-generation Prius in late 1997, Toyota sold 1.25 million hybrid cars.
At the press conference, Toyota also unveiled a new hybrid pickup truck concept called A-BAT, which stands for the Advanced-Breakthrough Aerodynamic Truck.
