Toyota

Toyota Motor Corporation (トヨタ自動車株式会社, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki-gaisha) (pronounced [to-yo-ta]) is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan, and currently is the world's largest automaker.In terms of name recognition, Toyota is also the only car manufacturer to appear in the top 10 of the BrandZ name recognition ranking.

In 1934, while still a department of Toyota Industries, it created its first product Type A engine and its first passenger car (the Toyota AA) in 1936. The company was founded in 1937 by Kiichiro Toyoda as a spinoff from his father's company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. Toyota also owns and operates Lexus and Scion brands and has a majority shareholding in Daihatsu Motors , and minority shareholdings in Fuji Heavy Industries, Isuzu Motors, and the engine, motorcycle and marine craft manufacturer Yamaha Motors. The company includes 522 subsidiaries.

Toyota is headquartered in Aichi, Nagoya and in Tokyo. In addition to manufacturing automobiles, Toyota provides financial services through its division Toyota Financial Services and also creates robots. Toyota Industries and Finance divisions form the bulk of the Toyota Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the world.

Toyota Hybrid Technology

After General Motors announced it would produce the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, Toyota announced that it, too, would make one.Toyota is currently testing its "Toyota Plug-in HV' in Japan, the United States, and Europe. Like GM's Volt, it uses a lithium-ion battery pack. The PHEV could have a lower environmental impact than existing hybrids.

On June 05, 2008, Toyota dealers sold on Hymotion plug-in hybrids. Among the so-called Plug-In Pioneers are four Toyota dealerships, including Westboro Toyota in Boston, Fitzgerald Toyota in Washington, Toyota of Hollywood in Los Angeles, and the Minneapolis-based Denny Hecker Automotive Group, which sells multiple brands.

Toyota is one of the largest companies to push hybrid vehicles in the market and the first to commercially mass-produce and sell such vehicles, an example being the Toyota Prius. The company eventually began providing this option on the main smaller cars such as Camry and later with the Lexus divisions, producing some hybrid luxury vehicles. It labeled such technology in Toyota cars as "Hybrid Synergy Drive" and in Lexus versions as "Lexus Hybrid Drive."

The Prius has become the top selling hybrid car in America. Toyota, as a brand, now has three hybrid vehicles in its lineup: the Prius, Highlander, and Camry. The popular minivan Toyota Sienna is scheduled to join the hybrid lineup by 2010, and by 2030 Toyota plans to offer its entire lineup of cars, trucks, and SUVs with a Hybrid Synergy Drive option.

The Hybrid Synergy drive is the most widely rolled-out environment-friendly system in the automotive industry to date. More than 1,000,000 units have been sold. Toyota's CEO has committed to making every car of Toyota a hybrid vehicle eventually (though all hybrid versions may not be sold in the U.S.)Lexus also has their own hybrid lineup, consisting of the GS 450h, RX 400h, and launched in 2007, the LS 600h/LS 600h L.

Toyota Trucks

The Toyota Tundra is a full-size pickup truck sold by Toyota that originally went into production in 1999 (as a 2000 model year model), Currently, the Tundra has been on the market for more than half a decade, and has captured 17 percent of the full-size half-ton market.

The all new Tundra is assembled in two different locations, both inside the United States. The Standard and Double Cabs are assembled in "Truck Country" San Antonio, Texas, while the Crew Max are assembled in Gibson County, Indiana. Toyota Motor Company assembled around 150,000 Standard and Double Cabs, and only 70,000 Crew Max's in 2007.

Mercedes Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of luxury automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. It is the world's oldest automobile company, having its origins in Karl Benz's creation of the first automobile in January 1886.A few months after Benz's achievement, Gottlieb Daimler and engineer Wilhelm Maybach also produced an automobile, and in 1901 the first Mercedes vehicle was produced. In 1926, the merging of Karl Benz's and Gottlieb Daimler's companies resulted in the Daimler-Benz company, which produced the first Mercedes-Benz vehicles.Mercedes-Benz has, over the years, introduced many technological and safety innovations that have become common in modern vehicles.

Passenger Cars

The following passenger vehicles were in production in 2007:

• A-Class Hatchback
• B-Class Sports Tourer/Hatchback
• C-Class Sedan, Sports Coupe & Wagon
• CL-Class Coupe
• CLK-Class Coupe & Cabriolet
• CLS-Class "4 Door Coupe"
• CLC-Class luxury compact car (Due to be out in 2008)
• E-Class Sedan & Wagon
• G-Class Cross-country vehicle
• GL-Class SUV
• GLK-Class SUV
• M-Class SUV
• R-Class Sports Tourer
• S-Class Sedan
• SL-Class Roadster
• SLK-Class Roadster
• SLR-McLaren High Performance Coupe &

Significant car models produced

• 1928: SSK legendary racing car
• 1930: 770 "Grosser Mercedes" state and ceremonial car
• 1934: 500 K
• 1936: 260 D World's first diesel production car
• 1938: W195 Speed Record-breaker
• 1953: "Ponton" Models
• 1954: 300SL "Gullwing"
• 1959: "Fintail" Models
• 1960: 220SE Cabriolet
• 1963: 600 "Grand Mercedes"
• 1963: Mercedes-Benz 230SL "Pagoda"
• 1965: Mercedes-Benz S-Class
• 1966: 300SEL 6.3
• 1969: C111 experimental vehicle
• 1972: Mercedes-Benz W107 350SL
• 1974: 450SEL 6.9
• 1974: 240D
• 1975: 280
• 1976: 300D
• 1979: 500SEL and G-Class
• 1983: 190E 2.3-16
• 1986: First 'E-Class'
• 1991: 600SEL
• 1993: First 'C-Class'
• 1995: First 'Joint Mercedes-Benz & AMG'
• 1995: Mercedes-Benz SL73 AMG Biggest Engine Put Into a Mercedes-Benz, 7.3L V12
• 1996: Mercedes-Benz SL60 AMG Very Rare 6.0L V8, 408hp, 0-62mph in 5.1 seconds
• 1996: Mercedes-Benz Renntech E7.4RS
• 1997: Mercedes-Benz M-Class
• 1998: Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
• 2004: Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM AMG
• 2004: Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
• 2004: Mercedes-Benz CLS
• 2007: E320, GL320 Bluetec, ML320 Bluetec, R320 Bluetec

McLaren cars

Mercedes-Benz has also produced a supercar with McLaren Cars, an extension of the collaboration by which Mercedes engines are used by the Team McLaren-Mercedes Formula One racing team, which is part owned by Mercedes. The 2003 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren has a carbon-fiber/fibre body with a 5.5l V8 supercharged engine. This is the same block as featured in SL55 AMG and the CLS55 AMG, though modified to give 460 kW (630 PS/620 hp) and 780 N·m (575 ft·lb) of torque. The SLR has a maximum speed of 334 kilometres per hour (208 mph) and costs approximately US$500,000.

The most recent new joint-venture model, expected to reach production, is the mid-engine P8 supercar. Based around a unique carbon fiber/fibre monocoque, manufactured by McLaren, the P8 was originally predicted to receive the new naturally aspirated 6.3L V8 from Mercedes-AMG, but insiders[citation required] now say that the engine will be modified for the car and will probably be twin- turbocharged to produce in excess of 600 bhp (450 kW). The car is still in development, but likely to reach production to go on sale in early 2008, and have a price tag less than that of the SLR.