NEWS

TOYOTA has underlined its current dominance of the hybrid car market by hitting a Prius sales landmark.
Sales have just topped the 200,000 mark across Europe, a decade after the petrol-electric motor went on sale.
It’s an impressive figure; the 100,000 mark was only reached in 2008! It’s doing even better globally, too: worldwide sales are expected [...]

LEXUS is to recall 3238 GS and LS models, including hybrid versions, to fix what it describes as a rare engine issue.
It has been found the valve spring strength can degrade over time, leading to failure.
If it breaks, says Lexus, the engine will misfire and start to run roughly.
New valve springs are fitted during the [...]

LEXUS has announced the posh LS is the latest Toyota Motor Corp car to be issued with a worldwide recall note.
Around 40 UK owners will be contacted for their local dealer to check their car.
The fault surrounds the Variable Gear Ratio Steering. In certain conditions when manoeuvring at low speed, the wheels return to the [...]

TOYOTA service centres in the UK have been awarded top customer satisfaction prizes by the brand.
Three Toyota centres were honoured with the ‘Ichiban’ European Customer Satisfaction Awards in a ceremony held in Toyota’s Paris customer experience showroom.
The UK dealers were Border Toyota at St Boswells, Hodgson Group in Newcastle and WKB Waterlooville – they came [...]

TOYOTA has announced the latest global recall campaign does not affect models sold in the UK.
This is because right-hand drive Land Cruiser models are set up differently so British buyers have escaped the recall hitting headlines in other countries.
For left-hand drive Land Cruisers (and their Lexus equivalents), the recall fixes issues with the stability [...]

TOYOTA is 80 percent through its 180,000-car recall programme 8 weeks after initiation.
The maker has praised ‘unstinting efforts’ by its dealers and service centres to process so many cars so quickly.
‘Owners have been able to have their vehicles fixed at their convenience, with minimum delay,’ said a spokesman. Now, car dealers will continue efforts to [...]

TOYOTA cars have suffered no discernible drop in secondhand values following the recent big recalls.

Glass’s says there are no signs of any change as the maker begins to recover after the past few months’ drama.
‘Many Toyota models still boast some of the strongest residuals in the UK used car market,’ said Glass’s car editor Jonathan [...]

TOYOTA has held the first meeting of its new Global Quality committee to set the agenda for future work.

TMC president Akio Toyoda chaired the meeting, which will investigate the cause of quality problems such as the recent spate of recalls.
The firm says quality will be approached from the customer’s point of view in the future [...]

TOYOTA has moved to reassure retail car buyers by introducing a 5 year warranty on its new car range.
From this weekend, private car buyers will be offered the 5 year new car warranty.
What’s more, if the 5 year warranty is not for them, they can choose the regular 3 year warranty option, but with a [...]

TOYOTA reports a big effort from car dealers has helped it fix over two thirds of its recalled models after 6 weeks.
That equates to 119,000 cars receiving attention from the Toyota UK car dealer network.
‘The rapid progress has been made possible thanks to the commitment and hard work of the teams at Toyota’s network [...]