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smart fortwo mhd makes Prius green with envy

smart fortwo mhd

According to the Federal Government’s Green Vehicle Guide, the smart fortwo cabrio mhd (micro hybrid drive) can lay claim to being Australia’s greenest car. This is on account of the mhd scoring the lowest greenhouse and air pollution emissions of any car currently on sale in Australia. Yes, even better than Toyota’s Prius, albeit by the barest of margins!

Despite the marketing trickey in its name, the smart fortwo mhd uses a conventional internal combustion engine, there’s no electric power hidden away. The smart fortwo mhd achieves its credentials, in part, by utilising start-stop engine technology. When driven in traffic the mhd system switches the engine off when stationary and restarts when the accelerator is next pressed. The mhd was featured on last week’s episode of Fifth Gear in the UK, and a YouTube clip of this segment can be seen after the jump.

The smart fortwo mhd only has a meagre 52kW of power, but with that comes impressive fuel consumption. Its combined cycle is 4.4l/100km (according to ADR 81/02) and carbon dioxide (CO2) output of the two-seater is a low 105g/km. Comparatively the Toyota Prius rates the same for fuel consumption, but a solitary extra gram for CO2 emissions at 106g/km.

However, the bar for fuel consumption and CO2 emissions is set to be lowered even further when the MINI Cooper D goes on sale in Australia in the second half of this year.

Horst von Sanden, managing director of Mercedes-Benz Cars in Australia was delighted with the news and said, “The goal of sustainable mobility lies at the heart of the smart concept, and it’s this very car, along with new developments such as the electric smart ed, that have made some of the biggest steps towards the ultimate goal of emission-free motoring.”

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Carmageddon News Toyota

Toyota leaves TRD out in the cold

TRD Aurion

It is just over 12 months since Toyota Australia was proudly boasting it was launching the first production cars in the world to wear the TRD nameplate. Yesterday the company announced the TRD performance brand will be dropped. Another scalp claimed by Carpocalypse Now (as named by Jalopnik). The decision will take effect at the end of March next year.

“Toyota made a significant financial commitment to TRD vehicle conversion and clearly understood short-term profitability was unlikely,” said David Buttner, senior executive director Toyota Australia.

“However, the perspective has changed for business globally and those new rules require tough decisions for the greater good. This is one of those decisions.”

This decision follows news that Toyota Australia will be increasing prices of its imported models from 1 January 2009 due to the falling Australian dollar.

The TRD operation produced a small product line, consisting of reworked Aurion and HiLux models. To the end of November just 888 TRD vehicles had been sold over its 16 month life cycle. Broken down, those sales amounted to 537 TRD Aurions and, since its April 2008 launch, 351 TRD HiLux models. While not directly comparable, HSV’s year to date sales to the end of November 2008 come to approximately 3500 vehicles. Although, recent sales have been encouraged by some heavy discounting.

TRD employed a small staff of just 17, and all will be kept on staff. Existing customers will continue to be covered by full factory warranty.

Full press statement after the jump.

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News Toyota

Currency movements shift Toyota’s pricing upwards

Toyota Yaris will increase in price by as much as $800

The Global Financial Crisis has claimed it’s first genuine scalp in the local motor industry. The falling value of the Australian dollar against the Yen has seen Toyota Australia announce pricing increases on all of its imported models, with the exception of the Prius. The average increase on affected models is about 2.4 per cent. The new pricing regime will take effect on 1 January 2009.

Toyota Australia senior executive director sales and marketing David Buttner commented, “The Australian dollar has weakened against the yen by more than 35 per cent in the past three months.

“In the past year, there have also been steep increases in the prices of raw materials, such as steel. In the light of all these pressures, we believe the increase of 2.4 per cent from the start of the new year is extremely modest.”

Volume sellers such as the Yaris and Corolla will be affected by as much as $800 and $750 per model respectively. While the Kluger (up to $1500) and Prado (up to $2000) are at the higher end of the increases.

Pricing of Australian built Camry and Aurion models will not be affected. Toyota’s full press statement can be read below.

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Motorsports Toyota

Neal Bates and Coral Taylor end 13 year drought

Neal Bates & Coral Taylor - 2008 Australian Rally Champions

Australian rally stalwarts Neal Bates and Coral Taylor won their fourth national title by claiming the 2008 Australian Rally Championship over the weekend. Confirmation of their title came after some cautious driving in difficult conditions during the Coffs Coast Rally. Bates and Taylor guided their Team TRD Corolla to eighth position in Saturday’s Heat 1 , and in doing so secured enough points to win the title with a day to spare.

The win ends a 13 year drought for the long time rally partnership. “I am absolutely over the moon,” Bates said. “It has been 13 years between championships and overall it was a very tense day as we were listening out for every noise and squeak, but the S2000 Corolla has been faultless all year and it was again today.

“Probably 80 per cent of the work in rallying is done before you get to an event so it is a big thanks to our incredibly smart bunch of guys in Canberra that have made this championship happen.”

Coral Taylor was both relieved and satisfied with their fourth Australian Rally Championship. “It is pretty amazing,” Taylor said. “I am not really sure where the last 13 years has gone since our last title but it is wonderful to win it again.”

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Toyota

Toyota try to hang with the cool kids … and FAIL!

Further proof that Toyota as a brand has about as much appeal as a three day old tea-bag can be found by viewing the above YouTube clip. Sure, the blogosphere is talking about the ad, but it’s more a case of “if you can’t say anything nice then…”

Maybe Toyota is aiming for a LOLcat internet phenomenon, either way, this ad does nothing to make the Corolla a desirable brand. If Toyota wants cred, they could do a lot worse than having a chat with Colin Osborne.

(Thanks to Ben for the link.)

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Carmageddon Ford Holden News Toyota

Discussion on Australia’s car industry

ABC Radio - Australia Talks on Radio National

On my drive home from work the other day I caught the start of Paul Barclay’s Australia Talks program on Radio National. The focus of discussion was on Australia’s car industry, with topics canvassed including:

  • Ford’s decision to cut 350 jobs and the broader impact that will have on local employment
  • The planned cut in tariffs from 10% down to 5%
  • How effective are the Holden and Toyota export programs?
  • Should the Australian car manufacturing industry be protected, and why has it been protected in the past?
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