Toyota's president is named Toyoda, and we just couldn't get over that coincidence. So we Googled it, and as you may already know, the Toyoda family founded a loom company in 1926. By 1937 the company had launched an automobile department and flipped the name to Toyota. The Japanese character for "T" is eight strokes, a lucky number in Japanese culture, so the two extra marks needed to make a "D" were abandoned. They also liked the way it sounded.
Isn't learning fun?
🌍⛄ Jumping to Denmark. A recent test of Toyota's bZ4X showed the battery range lacking. The test showed just 134 miles of real-world range, and the company is investigating the apparent anomaly. Previous tests resulted in 280-313 miles of range, depending on the configuration.
"Winter in Denmark" sounds like an art-house movie about something cooler than batteries losing their jazz too quickly.
📈⏳ Cold batteries aside, Toyota impresses people with its lifespan. A recent 20-year 2M vehicle study by iSeeCars shows Toyota vehicles possess 10 of the top 20 potential lifespans by mileage. The Toyota Sequoia took the top spot with nearly 300K miles, the Highlander Hybrid came in 10th with nearly 250K, and the Toyota Camry Hybrid finished the list at 20th with just over 230K.
We wonder which vehicles are in the bottom 20... anybody have any guesses?
💪🚙 It's an excellent time to be a big ol' Toyota! Rumor has it the brand may bring its Land Cruiser back to the US after a discontinued year. The rumors are based on the VP of North American sales, Jack Hollis, saying the vehicles will likely come back, but not soon. It's less of a rumor and more of a thing somebody in the know said.
Every time SUVs get bigger, we get one step close to the joy of owning a pirate ship.