It is the result of an older sibling’s uncontrolled growth spurt and a crosstown rival’s geekily proportioned, willfully ugly rally car/small crossover SUV mashup that succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations. It’s also the last idiosyncratic hurrah of Toyota’s ultimately failed attempt at creating a separate, youth-oriented marque to better attract buyers that saw the parent brand […]

Colloquially, to 86 something means to get rid of it, kill it or throw it out. So there was a hint of irony when Toyota discontinued the Scion brand that the FR-S model name was also 86ed in favor of…86! The carmaker itself couldn’t resist having some fun with this, titling the official announcement Toyota […]

Does each and every bit of information, rumor and innuendo reported by the legacy major print car magazines appear on their websites? Conventional wisdom would suggest so, but, in reality, that is not always the case. Car and Driver, for instance, tends to lag a month or two before their columnists’ writings migrate from the […]

Trying to predict a carmaker’s future product pipeline and cadence of new-generation model releases is a fascinating sport for a sizable portion of the car enthusiast community, yours truly among them. Among the automotive publication universe, Automotive News’ annual July/August predictions, going out 3 years or so, are widely read and commented on. Flying under […]

Over 4 months before it was actually announced, we presciently wondered if Scion might join Saab, Mercury, Plymouth, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and so many others in the pantheon of defunct automotive brands. And, as we pondered the question of how existing Scion models would transition to the Toyota brand, we noted that U.S. trademarks for Auris […]

Longtime readers of Kaizen Factor know of our respect for the writings and work of Bertel Schmitt and the Daily Kanban website. In something of a mutual admiration society, Herr Schmitt also functions as our esteemed Asia Editor, with a number of his writings cross-posted both here and in the Daily Kanban he co-edits with […]

In a contemporary and future automotive world where B and lower C-segment crossover SUVs are the hottest and fastest-growing vehicle classes and most major carmakers are leading an inexorable march towards the holy grail of the fully autonomous vehicle, the traditional lightweight 2-seat roadster sports car is seemingly doomed to become the latest automotive dinosaur. […]

As Consumer Reports reveals the results of its latest (2015) Annual Auto Reliability Survey, there are no surprises at the very top, as Lexus and its more affordable parent Toyota reclaim their first and second place standing, respectively, from last year. Beyond that, though, there are a number of developments and surprises that are noteworthy […]

Since last June, when we reported on several U.S. trademarks filed by Toyota and its Scion and Lexus brands, there have been a number of new trademark and patent filings by Japan’s largest carmaker that are worthy of note. CH-R…er…C-HR On September 1, as the Toyota Europe Newsroom announced the global debut of the second […]

For an automotive make or model online fan forum to discover a new model trademark filing ahead of the A-list big boys of automotive journalism is hardly new or surprising in this day and age. I’ve been there. So chalk up one more for David, for the little guy when the administrator of the Supra […]

The previous piece this author wrote for Kaizen Factor, on the Toyota Harrier back in mid-January of this year, briefly touched upon the Toyota Venza, a mid-sized 2-row seating crossover SUV that occupies an odd upmarket-but-non-luxury-brand niche dominated by the Ford Edge and the Nissan Murano. Weeks later, the Venza was making news of its […]

In 1994, during Johan de Nysschen’s second year as general manager of Audi’s operations in his native South Africa, the carmaker introduced a new model naming system brilliant in its simplicity: the letter A (for Audi) followed by a single-digit number denoting a given model’s size and position in the overall hierarchy of vehicle offerings. […]

With the Toyota FT-1 being the buzz of this year’s NAIAS in Detroit, Scion quietly revealed two new limited edition models at their display. This is big news for Scion enthusiasts as premium features once reserved for overseas models are now available in the limited production Monogram Series. Instead of being limited to just one […]

As the 2014 Tokyo Auto Salon kicked off today, GAZOO Racing has held a press conference today at their booth expressing their intent to enter in this year’s 24 Hours of Nürburgring endurance race in Germany. The grueling race event starts on June 19 for qualifiying and the race will start on June 21 and […]

    They listened and we’re finally getting it. Scion will be introducing a limited edition premium lined called the “Monogram Series” for the hot selling FR-S and tC. For those that wanted all the premium options of the Scion 10 series but had second thoughts about the Silver Ignition exterior, you can now get […]