TOYOTA (Page 2)
Since Toyota revealed details of its concept S-FR, set to make its first appearance at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month, people in Japan have been picking their jaws up off the floor—but it’s got nothing to do with the car’s impressive specs or surprisingly low price point.
You see, the compact sports car looks astonishingly like Pikachu, the bright yellow electric rodent from the popular anime franchise Pokémon. And what’s even more surprising is that few people in the mainstream media are daring to comment on the astounding likeness.
Lexus has always admired the skills of the craftsmen and women who work on their production lines in Japan. Known as takumi, these highly trained Japanese production workers hone their dexterity skills by learning to fold an origami cat in 90 seconds—using only their non-dominant hand.
Now, Lexus UK has unveiled a stunning tribute to these skilled workers by creating a life-sized replica of the Lexus IS, using 1,700 pieces of laser-cut cardboard in what they’re calling the “Origami Car”. Complete with an electric motor, the cardboard vehicle can actually be driven. With the cardboard seats and interior, it won’t be an entirely practical, or legal, ride, but it would certainly be a memorable one!
You might think that Japanese advertisements are all Hollywood celebrity endorsements or surreal tales of busty schoolgirls with nose rings, but when it wants to, Japan can make commercials that yank on the heartstrings as strongly as anywhere else in Asia. Getting the waterworks flowing today is Toyota, asking the question, “Do you care about your parents as much as they love you?”, and while the video is short on cars, it makes up for that with plenty of tears.
We’re sure everyone’s first choice for mode of transportation would be giant robot, but there are times when you need something more practical to get from Point A to Point B. Being behind the wheel of a four-door hatchback doesn’t mean you have to give up your mecha jock daydreams, though, thanks to the newest collaboration between Toyota and anime franchise Gundam.
The automaker has just released not only a special model inspired by charismatic anime villain Char Aznable, but also an awesome anime commercial for it that has higher production values than the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series.
At this point it’s probably no exaggeration to say that Toyota Japan is the master of making automotive commercials. Their commercials thus far have been heartwarming, bizarre, even more bizarre, and are more like minute-long movies than advertisements.
And the same thing goes for the most recent Toyota commercial. It’s about a man whose daughter leaves to go to college, and suddenly feels a lot lonelier at home with only his pet dog. What’s the twist ending that has Japanese netizens talking? And how does this all tie back to making us want to buy a Toyota? Read on to find out!
There’s a new Toyota commercial making the rounds on the Japanese Interwebs – with over 2 million views on YouTube – which showcases not only some mind-boggling new safety tech on Toyota cars, but also reminds viewers that the world is a dangerous place in which something terrifying, embarrassing or graphically injurious could happen to you at any time.
Join us after the jump for the feel-good video of the year!
With a history that stretches back some three generations, Toyota is one of the most recognized car manufacturers around. The company offers numerous family friendly vehicles, and their newer models include additional features like “Safety Sense” automatic braking technology, all designed to keep passengers as safe as possible.
That may explain why Toyota decided to release this commercial, just in time for Father’s Day in Japan, which documents the many car journeys one father and daughter take together, from the day Dad brings his little girl home from the hospital right up until she has a child of her own.
Following several years of building dependable, affordable, yet almost utterly soulless automobiles, Toyota is trying to get back to creating and market cars with a sense of joy and playfulness. After all, it’s a waste to treat driving as just going from Point A to Point B in the dullest way possible instead of the fun journey it has the potential to be.
That’s why in its newest commercial, Toyota is invoking the spirit of adventure with a fleet of yellow hybrids running about the countryside with the musical accompaniment of one of the most instantly recognizable pieces of Final Fantasy music ever composed.
Toyota’s Prius is designed for one purpose, and it’s not to deliver the sort of exciting performance that will seduce you into taking a spirited drive through a moonlit mountain pass (that’s another car’s job). No, the Prius promise is that it will get you from Point A to Point B in the most energy-efficient way possible.
But while the standard hybrid Prius remains a popular choice for eco-conscious motorists, sales of its plug-in variant have been stagnant. Toyota is hoping to change that, though, with an updated Prius that can travel roughly twice as far under purely electric power than the current model.
Not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle, the Toyota i-Road is a three-wheeled electric vehicle designed just for urbanites. Small, sleek and ultra slim, on paper the i-Road seems like the perfect solution to Tokyo’s traffic jams and woefully limited – not to mention expensive – parking.
But what’s it like to actually drive one of these things? Our Japanese team headed out to try an i-Road for themselves. Check out their video after the jump!
In Toyota’s newest commercial, the downtown area of a small city is turned into a massive baseball arena, where manholes are bases, the simple push of a button brings anyone into play, and pretty much anything goes. It’s a really fun watch, to say the least, and has already been viewed over six million times on YouTube.
Being a commercial, obviously most of what you see is fabricated by the film crew and enhanced with “movie magic”, but there is still a lot of raw talent to be seen, most notably from the actress in the final scene, whose killer swing has gotten her a lot of attention.
Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota is becoming as well-known for their wacky commercials as they are for their cars. We’ve seen everything from incredibly addictive live-action Doraemon ads to CMs featuring World Order and Busta Rhymes.
The car company recently took a slightly more sentimental turn with their commercials, but Toyota is back to being funny again now. A new ad for the Europe-exclusive AYGO x-wave, a canvas-topped compact car, is taking revenge on weather forecasters for their inaccurate predictions. It’s a silly ad that doesn’t focus much on the car, but we laugh and approve nonetheless.
Toyota, being the largest, most internationalized of Japan’s automakers, tends to do a pretty decent job steering clear of picking car names that sound weird or shocking to non-Japanese consumers. Sure, its product lineup briefly included the Emina, but that only sounds gross if you’re too impatient to carefully read the letters in order.
Until now Toyota hasn’t had anything as unintentionally startling as the Mazda Bongo Friendee, Daihatsu Naked, or Nissan Fairlady. But if you’ve taken a look at Toyota’s Japanese website recently, you may have found yourself doing a double-take as you noticed one of its current offerings seems to share its name with a well-known jihadist rebel group.
Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the Toyota Isis.
With Toyota’s first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV), Mirai, now available, many wait to see if this revolutionary car with take off or fall flat in Japan. On 25 December, JX Nippon Oil & Energy began selling hydrogen for these new vehicles at a cost of 1,000 yen per kilogram (US$8/kg – $3.60/lb).
So is that worth giving up the pumps for…whatever hydrogen comes out of?
When you get to be as big a company as Toyota, you can afford to go out and get A-list talent for your commercials. Over the last few years, the automaker’s created a series of ads starring boy band SMAP’s Takuya Kimura and film icon Beat Takeshi.
In the commercials, collectively known as ReBORN, Kimura and Takeshi play historical figures Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, reincarnated in modern Japan. The latest installment even has a special guest star as Hugh Jackman, Wolverine himself, shows up to help spread the word about Toyota’s newest eco-friendly cars.
Japan is famous for its quirky and original commercials, and Toyota is a strong player in the constant provision of video-based weird Japanese ad-tertainment. This summer’s offering is the wakudoki, a song and dance routine performed by techno-pop outfit World Order. With some tribespeople. Oh yes, and a dancing gorilla.
It’s weird, wonderful, and we can’t stop watching!
The ice bucket challenge has gone viral this summer with everyone from your average Joe to celebrities and business moguls such as Oprah, Charlie Sheen, and Bill Gates getting on board. Now it’s even spread across the pond to Japan, and started circulating among the business bigwigs over here. Yesterday Toyota President Akio Toyoda took on the challenge with a brave face, while also keeping the charitable spirit alive.
Toyota Motor Corporation’s sleek and compact vehicle shows off its moves in a new promotional video after successful public trials in Tokyo. Watch these cute and colorful little vehicles whizz past the city’s landmarks and glide around corners while leaning at an incredible angle.