Toyota Aurion 2006 News

The ultra-green machine has a 2.8-litre, twin-turbocharged engine based on the GM global V6 made in Australia. However, the engine in the Aero X has been developed by Swedish engineers to run on bio-ethanol.Saab says the bio-ethanol engine does not increase greenhouse-gas levels because its CO2 emissions are balanced by the amount of CO2 that is removed from the atmosphere when crops for conversion to bio-ethanol are grown.It has 298kW of power, 500Nm of torque with a seven-speed double-clutch manual gearbox in a lightweight carbon-fibre body.Saab says it is theoretically capable of 0-100km/h in less than five seconds.Several new concept cars are expected to debut at the show along with key new production models, including the all-new Toyota Aurion, the Ford BF II Falcon and Holden's new Captiva 4WD.For details, go to australianmotorshow.com

Show organisers have changed the format this year to expand the offerings that they see as competing with a range of cultural activities offered around Sydney."The Australian Motor Show is the second largest event in New South Wales after the Easter Show," said spokesman Mark Mathot. "We’ve really had to think about how we can maintain a large scale event that appeals to revheads, families, and people from all walks of life," he said.More than $1.5 million has been spent on marketing and promotion of the new show, which is up 15 per cent on last year’s budget. Last year’s pioneering success of webcasting the show will continue again, with eight hours of live car releases shown via the new website at www.australianmotorshow.com. The website is also selling show tickets for the first time, and offering quicker entry to those who prepurchase online.There will also be video interviews with industry commentators, car executives and designers available on the internet.The Great OutdoorsThe show is also expanding outside the Darling Harbour Exhibition Hall due to more car makers wanting greater space for the show. Forty three individual brands have confirmed attendance, plus a small area dedicated to retail accessories.Outdoor activities will range from events around Darling Harbour and the CBD."Family Day" is set for November 14 and will feature Australian Idol finalists on a stage sponsored by Mazda. Printed balloons, jugglers, face painting and Geoff Giraffe will also be there with giveaways for young ones.A 4WD track has also been set up outdoors, and Toyota and VW have booked extensive outdoor stands to show certain types of vehicles such as 4WDs and Kombis.Sydney Model Autosports will host model car races of miniature Lamborghini’s, Ferrari’s, Porsche’s and more at lunchtimes in Martin Place.New stuffA new addition inside the Exhibition Hall is the Australian Scooter Federation. The ASF is holding a rally with a demonstration of member’s scooter on a large area in Hall 6. Shannons Unique Vintage cars will also be in Hall 6, plus the Edag concept car and Western Sydney international dragway exhibits.The usual half-a-dozen or so new car launches, concept cars, and prototype production vehicles will feature at the show, although car makers are being tightlipped about those until the day for maximum impact.Key among the new offerings is a week-long fashion parade – designed specifically to entice more women to the show.The motor industry has long had an association with fashion as leading designers often assist with car interiors and vehicle launches. Mercedes also sponsors Australian Fashion Week, recently held in Sydney.The second week of the motor show will feature two fashion parades each day at 6.30pm and 7pm from Monday to Friday. "There will be one designer per car maker for the five day parade," said event organiser Carlene Clarke. "Brands have aligned with designers that they think create fashion which best reflects the values offered with their cars," Clarke said.Audi has hooked up with Herringbone. Lexus has Carla Zampatti. Saab and Nicola Fenetti will be an item. Alfa Romeo and Roberto Pierucci are together, and VW will be joined by Zimmermann.Big issuesAmidst the razzle dazzle of new metal and fashion parades, there will be one clear theme emerging from the makers showcasing their newest cars: Fuel technology.It’s the first opportunity that car makers have had to seriously offer cleaner fuel variants, according to Peter Sturrock, CEO of Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI)."Australia this year got an upgrade to a higher standard of diesel fuel that is more aligned with Japan and Europe."There is significant interest in engine technology and the types of fuel that new cars can now offer and you’ll see cleaner fuel cars being demonstrated by Peugeot, Alfa Romeo, Volvo, Audi, Mazda, Honda, Saab and many others. The cars will have a much more advanced engines, with better performance in terms of driveability, power, speed and fuel consumption – but also with much cleaner emissions," Sturrock said."It’s the first time these cars will have been shown in Australia. LPG, diesel, biodiesel, ethanol, hybrid petrol-electric…you name it and you will see the largest range of fuel types being brought to market this year."The show is critical to showcasing these new fuel technologies to show people what each brand is bringing to the Australian market," Sturrock said.Hybrid petrol-electrics have had only modest success in the past five years, but Sturrock said this year’s show will see brands heavily promote these cars."We’ve seen rapid growth from Toyota, Lexus and Honda with these types of cars," he said. "The hybrids use petrol to accelerate the car, but rely on an electric charge generated by the car’s speed to produce braking. That way you only use half the fuel and that’s something Australians are thinking about a lot at the moment."Sturrock said he still didn’t know what the "hero car" would be at the show, but said this year’s show was particularly important for three new local cars: Holden’s VE Commodore, Toyota’s Camry, plus the six-cylinder Toyota Aurion that is scheduled for release in October."These three cars make this show significant because of the export opportunities," Sturrock said."Toyota and Holden are aggressively looking to expand their exports to the Middle East, Asia, South Africa and South America, and this show forms part of the strategy for some of those initiatives."

Toyota's fuel-economy figures for the new V6 Aurion are impressive. It has confirmed details of the most powerful and fuel-efficient six-cylinder engine in a locally-made car, even though its V6 Aurion will not hit showrooms until November. Toyota Australia says the high-tech imported V6 will have 200kW and fuel economy of 9.9 litres/100km, measured to the Australian Design Rule standard test 81/01. It will also comply with the latest Euro 4 emission standards. The economy is a big boost as Toyota tries to drive home a double-edged attack on the new Commodore and updated Falcon BFII. Even so, the company says the timing is not planned to keep people out of GM Holden showrooms or put the Aurion on to shopping lists early. "We had to submit the figures to the government for the Australian Design Rules," Toyota Australia spokesman Mike Breen says. "Since they were going to be in the public domain we thought we might as well release them." The numbers are good, and better than both the VE and BFII, and show an improvement on the economy side from the 11.2 litres/100km that Toyota managed with its last local V6 car, the Avalon. "That's as the engine comes. I think with the new generation of engines from Toyota we have the specific aim of improving fuel efficiency. There is no special tweaking or testing for the ADR runs," Breen says. The Aurion is in final testing on roads around Melbourne with only the barest of taping over the lights and badges. Although Toyota has revealed its power and economy numbers, it is not talking about the Aurion's exact performance. But insiders at the company hint that the Aurion will be just as quick, or quicker, than the Falcon and Commodore. "Among the Aussie six-cylinder family cars, it will be the leader in performance, delivering the power demanded by Australia's large-car motorists," Toyota's executive director of sales and marketing Dave Buttner says.

1. What is the biggest challenge facing the Australian motor industry today?"I think it is the challenge of meeting the growth expectation of locally-produced cars for the domestic market, gaining an increasing share against the rising imports."Almost 70 per cent of new vehicles sold in Australia are now imported and it is growing. But we need a strong domestic base ffor our locally-produced cars."2. Toyota builds the Camry here and will add the Aurion later in the year, but isn't your company also Australia's largest importer? "Yes we are, by far. But we are simply taking advantage of the rules to ensure we maintain number one in Australia in the face of vigorous competition from all directions. 'We also want to maintain growth in locally produced cars."3. In that case, how important is the upcoming V6 Aurion and 2006 overall for Toyota?"It is easily the most significant car yet for Toyota in this country. And the biggest year in our history."Not only are we introducing a range of new imports this year, including the Yaris sedan we have just displayed, but for the first time our company will introduce two locally-produced cars in the one year. They are the four-cylinder Camry, of course, and the new Aurion 4. Are these cars the ones that will see Toyota accepted as a genuine Australian carmaker alongside Holden and Ford? "I think it's a huge step towards that ultimate goal of being recognised as a legitimate supplier of large cars in Australia. The Aurion supplies us with the opporunity."It is credibility in the Australian market. We are not yet recoginised because of our inability to supply a large six, where the Commodore and Falcon are icons in this market."5. How do you see sales going in 2006?"We don't see the market reaching one million this year. It's possible, but we're not predicting it this year.Toyota's position is to maintain an overall market share of around 21 per cent. So if you do the numbers, we believe we will sell slightly more vehicles this year than last year, at around 205,000 to 210,000. The plan for our factory at Altona in Melbourne will be to go to 140,000 cars. We're presently around 110,000.This is the first step towards the new target with Camry and Aurion. We haven't finalised the numbers, but by the end of the first full year with the two cars - including domestic sales and exports - we plan to be at 140,000."6. What about staying number one in Australia and future growth, including exports?"The plan is to move the Australian vehicle sales number for Toyota towards 250,000 vehicles for the next three or four years. If that delivers number one that's fine, but it is an outcome provided consumers accept our products."If we are skilful enough to reach that target then it will deliver number one, and for some time."The export number is a minimum of 80,000 in the first year of the new models. But we don't have a breakdown on the split between Camry and Aurion yet."

A pre-production version of the new large car to replace the Avalon was unveiled yesterday at the Melbourne Motor Show.However, a Toyota spokesman said Queensland dealers did not want the Aurion at the Brisbane Motor Show because they were concerned it would divert attention from selling current models.Toyota Australia boss John Conomos confirmed there were no plans to bring the Aurion to Queensland.Brisbane Motor Show spokesman Chris Nixon said Toyota, Mitsubishi, Ford, Hyundai and some others treated the event as a "selling show" rather than a display occasion. "That sounds plausible that dealers would not want attention distracted by the new car," he said.Aurion, which means "tomorrow" in Greek, will have a 3.5-litre V6 engine with 190 kilowatts of power, but other specifications and price will not be known until close to its release date towards the end of the year.The world debut of the front-wheel-drive Aurion followed substantial involvement in the design process by Toyota Style Australia members Nick Hogios, Paul Beranger and Max Gillard.The Melbourne Motor Show yesterday unveiled several new models on the Australian market, including the return after 18 years of the Fiat brand with the Punto hatchback. In an acknowledgment of record fuel prices, Holden, BMW, Jaguar, Fiat, VW, SsangYong and Alfa Romeo announced new diesel-powered passenger cars.

Lead singer Natalie Bassingthwaighte was in fine form as the covers came off the new Aussie big V6, belting out the song in black hot pants and fishnet stockings as hundreds of motoring journalists and industry players looked on. The launch of the car was webcast live by Toyota and was watched with interest by executives at head office in Japan. Toyota's new car, designed by Australian designer Nick Hogios, is expected to start at around $35,000 when sales kick off late this year.