Toyota

During his CES press conference today, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said the company was “exploring rockets.” Indeed, Toyota had just announced that it had invested an undisclosed sum in Interstellar Technologies, a private Japanese spaceflight company, with the aim to leverage Toyota’s manufacturing prowess to mass produce rockets.

The company is expected to update its progress on Woven City, its “living laboratory” in Japan for future mobility projects. Tune in here.

The project will add a new 1 million-square-foot painting facility at its Georgetown location. Toyota had already invested $1.3 billion into the Kentucky site in February to kick off its electrification efforts.

Toyota made a one-off Land Cruiser concept for SEMA that would make a Wrangler fan blush. The “ROX” is based on the 2024 Land Cruiser but is open-air like the ones the automaker made decades ago. Ford brought back the Bronco, and Toyota should follow suit.

The automakers describe the yet-to-be-revealed EV as “a nimble SUV with the sharp driving characteristics of a BEV” with “ample cruising range.” Production is scheduled for spring 2025 at Suzuki Motor Gujarat.

The world’s biggest car company is joining seven other automakers, including BMW, Honda, General Motors, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis. Ionna plans to install a few chargers by the end of this year, and more than 30,000 across North America by 2030. By that time, Toyota and Lexus together plan to offer 30 EV models globally, the company says.

While everyone was getting worked up about the announcement of the next Pokémon game, the Toyota Engineering Society was busy working on a special project to create a life-sized Miraidon, the motorcycle-like legendary dragon mascot from Pokémon Violet.

The all-new 2024 Tacoma lineup (which is adding a hybrid option) uses a portable Toyota-branded JBL “FLEX” device as a center speaker for the main audio system when docked away — and since two of those Toyota speakers can pair for stereo sound... all you need are two Tacomas.

Legacy car company trying a “Silicon Valley-style” software unit with impossible ambitions running into the cold hard reality of needing to actually ship working software? Nope, not VW: this time it’s Toyota, whose Woven Planet software subsidiary working on CES-style nonsense ideas has basically hit the rocks.

The companies are forming a joint venture that will provide Toyota-branded EVs to the autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai. The Level 4 vehicles can operate without a human at the wheel and will join the PonyPilot+ robotaxi network offered in China.

Toyota is planning on building it for Subaru, right after it makes its own mid-sized electric SUV, which will be called bZ5X, according to Automotive News. Subaru’s only current EV, the compact Solterra SUV, was also made by Toyota, which owns a 20 percent stake in the Japanese automaker. Initial sales were halted for months because the wheels could fall off.