Watch Toyota celebrate UAE launch of GT 86

Toyota has officially launched the company's GT 86 sportscar in the United Arab Emirates. The Japanese automaker rolled out the rear-drive hero with a fancy new video shot in the hills around Fujairah. With plenty of drifting, tire smoke and slow motion, the clip serves as a proper introduction to the lightweight coupe. Judging by the quick video, there are a few market-specific changes to the UAE Toyota GT 86, including the availability of one very massive rear wing. The piece has more than a passing resemblance to the exaggerated aero work found on the lusty Subaru WRX STI sedan.

Will the Toyota GT 86 find favor in the UAE? We certainly think it's got a shot. If there's a more car-obsessed culture on this planet than the one found in the U.S., it lies in the well-funded Middle East. You can check out the launch video for yourself by scrolling below, or head over to the Toyota UAE Facebook page for a little more information.

From Bayous to Beltways: Two for the Road

Even after driving his truck more than 1 million miles, Glen Allen doesn’t think the old girl has reached the end of the road. She keeps on rolling, even on a long trip.

“I can leave right now, punch your address into my GPS and drive with as much confidence as I have when I drive to the grocery store a quarter mile away,” says Allen, who lives in St. Amant, La.

That’s important for a man who makes his living driving across the country, escorting vehicles carrying oversized loads.

Allen bought his 1996 pickup truck in January 1997 from Price LeBlanc Toyota in nearby Baton Rouge. The truck had six miles on it.

It was his fourth Toyota vehicle, the only brand he’s ever owned. “I bought my first one when I was 21 years old,” he says. “It was an ’84 Xtra Cab, white with gray interior.”

He later bought a ’91 Corolla and a ’93 Toyota pickup truck. “I’ve been very impressed with Toyota’s products,” he says. “I really don’t have the desire to purchase anything else.”

He’s particularly pleased with his current truck. “For a small truck, it has plenty of leg room and head room,” he says. “It’s been a comfortable little truck for me. I can reach anything I need from the driver’s seat.”

Comfort is vital to Allen, who can rack up 90,000 miles a year escorting trucks carrying bulldozers, cranes and other heavy equipment. “I could get a call in the next five minutes telling me to go to Minnesota,” he says. “I never know where I’m going or when I’m going. I’ve got to keep my bag packed.”

Despite the uncertainty, he says, “It’s exciting because I get to go to a lot of places I never dreamed of going. I’ve been to 38 states and Canada. I enjoy taking back roads, running into little hole-in-the-wall restaurants.”

Allen doesn’t spend all of his time on the road. He sometimes spends hours in parking lots while the big trucks are being loaded. But he doesn’t mind waiting because his cabin is comfortable enough for naps. “I get some of my best sleep in my truck,” he says.

Even during Louisiana’s scorching summers. “I can sit in my truck all day long with the air conditioning on, and the temperature never goes up,” he says.

Allen calls his truck “My Little Red Demon.”  As for the gender, he says, “I think a vehicle is always a ‘her,’ isn’t it? You treat her nicely, and she’ll take care of you.”

Allen has treated his vehicle nicely. “I don’t dog the truck,” he says. “I don’t hot rod it at all.”

He gets the tires rotated regularly and changes the oil every 5,000 miles. He replaced the original engine at 658,000 miles. “The original clutch looked so good, the mechanic was tempted to put it back in.”

He got the truck painted a couple of years ago because “I wanted her to look good when she turned a million.”

Yes, Allen was confident his truck would reach that milestone. “Once I saw how far the first engine got me, I thought I could get to a million.”

Today, his truck has about 1,080,000 miles on it. Although his family and friends have urged him to get a new truck, he’s in no hurry. “It’s still in great shape,” he says. “Even if I get a new truck, I’ll keep this one for local jobs.”

When the time does come, Allen will probably get a Tacoma “unless I’m just completely blown away by a Tundra.”

In the meantime, he says, “I take care of my truck the best I can and boogie down the road. We spend a lot of time together. She’s the love of my life, what can I say?”

BMW, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz Are The Most Valuable Auto Brands

How do you value a brand -- not a company, not a world-renowned CEO, but a brand? Marketing research firm Millward Brown knows, and its recent rankings of international brands puts BMW, Toyota, and Mercedes-Benz at the top of the automotive sector.  

Millward Brown starts with quantitative data, looking at how much money brands have made and how much they're likely to make in the future. The firm is careful to strip away distractions related to marketing, product placement, and such to calculate the earnings that can be tied back solely to the brand itself.

Then, the firm looks at things qualitatively, asking consumers to express their feelings about various brands. Do they love it? Hate it? How much? Combine the two, and you've got brand value. (Methodology fans, there's a fuller explanation here.)

Millward Brown just released the data from its 2012 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study (PDF). The tip-top of the chart is dominated by a bunch of likely suspects: Apple, IBM, Google, McDonald's, and Microsoft. But a bit further down the line -- around #23 -- we start seeing automakers. Here's a list of the top ten, with overall rankings in parentheses for those brands that landed in the BrandZ Top 100.

1. BMW (23)

2. Toyota (28)

3. Mercedes-Benz (46)

4. Honda (65)

5. Nissan (81)

6. Volkswagen (96)

7. Ford

8. Audi

9. Hyundai

10. Lexus 

In its comments, Millward Brown gives some interesting perspective on the auto sector as a whole.

As we know, the strength of auto markets varies wildly from country to country. However, consumer demand in the U.S. has been huge, hitting heights not seen since 2006. That's due in part to the increased availability of high-tech, inexpensive vehicles.

In fact, Millward Brown says that's causing problems for luxury automakers. Conveniences once available only in the cushiest of rides are now available on vehicles that cost less than $20,000. Lexus and its ilk are going to have to engage in some major innovation to differentiate themselves from the mass-market pack.

Two other key factors at play in the auto sector are fuel-efficiency and Generation Y. The increased importance of the former explains how Toyota has been so quick to recover from the recall fiasco of 2010 and from the natural disasters that curtailed production in 2011. Thanks to the company's Prius lineup, when consumers think of fuel-efficient vehicles, they often think first of Toyota.

And as for Generation Y, Millward Brown believes -- as we've mentioned before -- that those young whippersnappers are forcing automakers to think very differently about the vehicles they make. Millennials are more interested in gadgets than gears, so finding effective, cost-efficient ways to turn 18-to-35 year-olds into car buyers will be key going forward.

Vote for Pet Helpers in Toyota Cars for Good!

PET HELPERS Is One of 500 Finalists for Toyota's 100 Cars for Good Program

Help us win a new car to make an even bigger difference!

PET HELPERS is proud to announce we've been selected as a finalist in Toyota's 100 Cars for Good Program. Now we need your support!

Tell your friends and vote for PET HELPERS at www.100carsforgood.com on May 17th.

Toyota's 100 Cars for Good program will be awarding 100 vehicles to 100 nonprofits over the course of 100 days based on votes from the public. A total of 500 nonprofits were selected from more than 4,000 applications nationwide. We are hoping to win a new Toyota Sienna to help save the lives of animals in the Lowcountry!

Toyota 100 Cars for Good: The Click Song

A lot of clicks go to waste, but now your clicks can give cars to nonprofits in need. Every day until August 21, cast your vote for Toyota's 100 Cars for Good at http://www.100carsforgood.com.

Voting begins in Toyota's annual charity car giveaway program

Your favorite charity could win a minivan that can accommodate children in wheelchairs.

Or maybe an SUV or a full-size pickup truck to transport equipment and people to an event.

On Monday, online voting started for Toyota's 100 Cars for Good, a program that awards a vehicle to 100 charities nationwide.

Four South Bay nonprofits are participating in this year's program.

They include Community's Child Inc. in Lomita, Boarding for Breast Cancer in Redondo Beach, Friendship Circle of South Bay in Redondo Beach and Beacon House Association in San Pedro.

Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., the Japanese automaker's U.S. sales and marketing headquarters, launched the annual program last year.

In the 2011 contest, Providence TrinityKids Care, a Torrance-based hospice program for children, won a Sienna minivan to transport young patients and their families to outings, appointments and other destinations.

"We'd love to win any vehicle to utilize for our activities we have here servicing children with special needs," said Yossi Mintz, executive director of Friendship Circle of the South Bay, which is among the 500 charities vying for the 100 vehicles.

The contest is an example of the growing importance of social media in philanthropy.

For example, Friendship Circle won

about $70,000 more than a year ago from Kohl's Department Stores based on public voting through Facebook, Mintz said.

Social media savvy even helps to organize events such as summer camps, sports leagues or youth hangouts.

"We get the best response from social media from the teenagers and even the adults," Mintz said. "With emails, you can wait. Whether it's Twitter or Facebook, we get an immediate response. It works for us."

For 100 Cars for Good, Toyota features five charities each day on its Facebook page. The public can vote for a favorite. The one with the most votes wins a Toyota vehicle, which could be worth more than $50,000.

The four other charities each walk away with $1,000 in cash.

No South Bay charities were featured on Monday, and it's unclear whether they will be competing against each other or different charities from across the nation.

Toyota also helps the charities attract votes.

"We give them social media tools," said Michael Rouse, vice president of diversity, philanthropy and community affairs for Toyota's Torrance sales and marketing operation. "We give them sample tweets and direction on how to use various forms of social media. And you'll find some that will use their traditional stuff."

Traditional approaches include newsletters and emails to supporters as well as promoting their cause on the radio.

Rouse noted that a New Jersey food bank that competed last year was staffed by elderly people with little social media experience. So they persuaded local children to help them mount an online campaign.

"We have found, based on last year's program, they get very, very creative," he said.

Involved charities also benefited from the added exposure of participating in the Toyota program, Rouse said.

"They gained a whole new community of fans and supporters and greater notoriety in their communities," the Toyota official said.

The contest, which involves at least one charity in each state and the District of Columbia, fits well into Toyota's branding, Rouse said.

"We're not just out writing checks to people," he said. "Our product becomes the star of this campaign."

Car Review: Toyota’s Yaris 2012 redesign is its snappiest econo-hatch

Small, but efficient and redesigned for 2012, the Toyota Yaris might be one car you don’t want to pass up when searching for the perfect small vehicle that is big on handling and short on gas guzzling.

Since the Yaris has been fully redesigned it comes with better handling while being stylish to a fault, and it’s roomier too with 2.9 inches added this year giving it more luggage space for the long haul.

Competition includes the Hyundai Accent, Chevrolet Sonic and the Nissan Versa, to name a few. Since it is a subcompact, you can get the 2012 Toyota Yaris with either two doors or the four-door hatchback. There are the L and LE trims in either option and there is also the sportier SE trim that can be had in the four-door.

The only other option you can expect on the Yaris is cruise control and that is only on the LE trim level. Otherwise, the standards on the L are 15-inch steel wheels, an intermittent front mono-arm windshield wiper, a rear windshield wiper, power door locks, air-conditioning, four-way-adjustable front seats, a tilt steering wheel, a trip computer, a fold-down rear bench seat, a cargo cover and a four-speaker CD player, a USB audio interface, and satellite radio.

On the LE the standard features are power windows, remote keyless entry, a six-way-adjustable driver seat, auxiliary steering-wheel-mounted audio controls, an upgraded interior, 60/40-split fold-down rear seat, and Bluetooth audio and phone connect.

On the sporty SE trim level there is sport-tuned suspension, 16-inch alloy wheels, performance tires, a notably cool grille, fog lamps, cruise control, leather-trimmed steering wheel, and upgraded cloth upholstery.

Under the hood look for front-wheel drive only and that is with a 1.5-liter inline-4 engine that will give you 106 horsepower and 103 pound-feet of torque. A five-speed manual transmission is the standard with a four-speed automatic as an option.

Safety, as in all the subcompact models, offers antilock brakes meaning rear drums on all but the SE, which has four-wheel discs instead. You can also expect traction and stability control, active front head restraints front seat side airbags and front and rear side-curtain, and a driver knee airbag.

Inside the Toyota Yaris, it’s a comfortable ride that offers support for the driver and front-seat passenger. Even the back seats offer a fair amount of room given the subcompact class and there is plenty of leg room overall, except for perhaps the tallest passenger.

While the Yaris in years past might not have garnered a high confidence factor, this one is a change for the better since the cabin is trendier, modern and comfortable.

Another plus with the redesign is the stereo system with the four speakers that are now standard and a sound quality that won’t disappoint.

The luggage space is 15.6 cubic feet and, while less room than in other subcompacts, some of the competition certainly won’t offer such confidence overall.

Easy to drive and easy to handle means that if you are in the market for an inexpensive compact, but still want a flare for the sporty, the SE trim is a must to look at before making a final decision.

Should You Need to Know: While it’s a subcompact with a fair level of competition, the 2012 Toyota Yaris will still inspire confidence in that it feels solid and takes the road and the turns with grace and ease.

Miles Per Gallon: I drove the 2012 Yaris LE Liftback and got 30 miles per gallon in the city and 35 miles per gallon on the highway.

Cost: For the LE Liftback, the price came in at $16,815.