The mega makeshift building in Technology Park Malaysia (just behind Wisma Standard Chartered) tells a story of the scale of UMW Toyota Motor's Beyond Zero event, an all under-one-roof symposium of Toyota's multi-pathway sustainable mobility strategy and the products it entails. Happening from now all the way to 28-February 2024, the event houses displays and unique demonstrations with something for everyone. Here's 5 of the coolest things you can see (and do!) there this week: 1. Get up close t

The stark contrast between the falling income of battery electric vehicle-only (BEV) stalwarts like Tesla, Polestar, Nio, and Xpeng, versus the record earnings by companies with more varied product portfolios - Volvo, BYD, even supposedly BEV laggards like Toyota and Honda proves one thing – BEVs are the future, but manufacturers need profitable hybrids today to fund their BEV endeavours tomorrow. Manufacturers relying on a 100 percent BEV-only line-up are in for a very painful journey ahead. BY

In 2023, Toyota achieved a record-breaking sales year in Europe, delivering a total of 1,173,419 vehicles, including those carrying the Lexus badge. The Yaris Cross emerged as the top-selling product, with 195,569 units, followed by the Corolla family with 166,925 cars, and the C-HR with 117,552 vehicles shipped to customers. Never mind that, the real mindwarp is how the GR86 outsold the Prius by nearly double in the region last year; 4,041 units against 2,755 cars respectively! Just slightly be

The Toyota Prius is not a car that you would associate with motorsports. When it was introduced in 1997, car enthusiasts made fun of the slow hybrid. Who would’ve expected that 26 years later, I am at Southeast Asia’s most popular racetrack, the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand, being heckled and mobbed by fans clamouring to take a photo with the 67-year old chairman of Toyota posing next to a Prius. Jeremy Clarkson would’ve called this “Bollocks.” He is not Chairman Akio Toyoda.

Not content with just being a standard but comfortable hybrid hatchback, the all-new second-generation Toyota Aqua, which is the JDM name for the Prius C that was once sold in Malaysia, has been given the Gazoo Racing (GR) treatment. Just launched in Japan, the second-gen Aqua GR Sport (GR-S) balances the comfort of a TNGA-based hybrid car with the famed performance elements of Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR). Hence, the Aqua GR-S is the sixth GR-S model currently sold in Japan following the Yaris Cro

Japan has one of the highest fuel prices in the world. Despite it being home to many of the world’s biggest automotive names, Japan actively discourages the use of personal cars, especially in the city. To promote public transport – as any sustainably developed country should – Japan imposes two types of taxes on petrol – consumption tax (similar to GST) and petrol tax. Fuel prices in Japan now average around RM 5.40 per litre for regular petrol (RON 89 to RON 95), and RM 5.75 per litre for high