Toyota Unveils New 2022 Tundra Pickup Truck with New Hybrid Engine

First Up 09/20/21

Toyota Unveils New 2022 Tundra Pickup Truck with New Hybrid Engine

Toyota Motor on Sunday unveiled its new 2022 Tundra pickup with a bolder look, new technologies and more power. But what may surprise many truck owners is the additional power will not be from a V-8 engine, reports CNBC. Instead of exclusively offering the pickup with a V-8 engine, the Japanese automaker will offer two versions of a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 engine, including a hybrid that can produce up to 437 horsepower – 56 more than the current V-8 – and 583 foot-pounds of torque, a 45% increase than the 2021 Tundra. “We took a fresh, transformational approach to our truck development and had to rethink many things we’d previously done,” Mike Sweers, senior vice president of Toyota’s product development office, said in a statement. Aside from the new engine, the Tundra offers a far more rugged design than the current pickup. Most notably, a massive front grille that takes up a majority of the front of the vehicle. It also features sleeker headlights and a boxier design. Read more here (Source: CNBC). 

Union-Built EV Tax Credit Provision Faces Hurdle

A proposal by House Democrats that would give consumers an extra incentive to buy union-made electric vehicles has stoked tension and debate among lawmakers, automakers and other stakeholders, reports Automotive News. Despite outspoken criticism from Toyota Motor North America, American Honda Motor Co., Tesla and advocates of nonunionized businesses, the House Ways and Means Committee last week advanced the tax credits for inclusion in the Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill. The proposal — led by Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich. — would boost consumer tax credits to as much as $12,500 for EVs assembled in a factory represented by a labor union with U.S.-produced batteries. Read Chairman Steve Gates’ latest blog on what AIADA dealers can do to fight back here. After five years, only EVs assembled in the U.S. would be eligible for the $7,500 base credit. As drafted, the House proposal could face a roadblock in the Senate: Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from coal-producing West Virginia, where Toyota is the only automaker with a factory. Read more here (Source: Automotive News). 

U.S. Opens Probe Into 30M Vehicles Over Air Bag Inflators

U.S. auto safety investigators have opened a new probe into 30 million vehicles built by nearly two dozen automakers with potentially defective Takata air bag inflators, a government document seen by Reuters on Sunday showed. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Friday opened an engineering analysis into an estimated 30 million U.S. vehicles from the 2001 through 2019 model years. Automakers were alerted to the investigation, which is not yet public. The new investigation includes vehicles assembled by Honda Motor Co, Ford Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp, General Motors Co, Nissan Motor, Subaru, Tesla, Ferrari NV, Nissan Motor, Mazda, Daimler AG, BMW, Chrysler, Porsche Cars, Jaguar Land Rover, and others. Read more here (Source: Reuters). 

'Explosive Profitability' Ignites Buy-Sells

Dealership buy-sell activity, building off a brisk pace that began in late 2020, ramped up in the second quarter and appears primed to reach new heights for the remainder of 2021 thanks to rising dealership profitability, improved access to capital, and increased activity from the publicly traded auto retailers. According to Automotive News, Kerrigan Advisors, a sell-side firm in Irvine, Calif., estimated in its second-quarter Blue Sky Report that dealership transactions soared 34 percent to 78. Transactions, as counted by Kerrigan Advisors, can be single- or multiple-store deals. Erin Kerrigan, managing director at Kerrigan Advisors, said the third and fourth quarters could average 100 transactions each while 2021's total could be around 350 transactions, compared with a record 289 in 2020. The number of dealerships that changed hands soared in the 2nd quarter of 2021 compared with a quieter time a year earlier, according to 2 industry reports that cited their own analysis and data from the Banks Report and Automotive News. Read more here (Source: Automotive News). 

Honda Targets Annual Sales of 70,000 Prologue Electric Vehicles in U.S.

From 2024Honda Motor Co's U.S. unit said on Monday it is targeting initial annual sales of 70,000 for its planned electric Prologue sport utility vehicle when it goes to market in 2024, according to Reuters. Honda plans to add additional electric vehicle models as it aims to have sold a total of 500,000 electric vehicles in the United States by 2030, and to achieve 100% zero emission vehicles sales in North America by 2040. It comes as President Joe Biden signed an executive order last month setting a target to make half of all new passenger vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles. The Honda Prologue is being co-developed with General Motors Co and is based on the Detroit automaker's Ultium platform, a modular platform and battery system. Honda and GM are also co-developing an electric Acura-brand SUV. Read more here (Source: Reuters). 

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