Dynojet Toyota Avensis BTTC Racer to get 2.0-liter Turbo Engine with 300HP

The latest news to come out of Toyota's BTCC camp is that Dynojet Race Team’s Avensis racer will have under its hood a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-banger adapted from one of the Japanese firm's road-going range. The engine is currently under Toyota GB-funded development at the Northamptonshire laboratories of engineering consultancy X CTech. It will feature a turbocharger as well as a number of internal revisions, which will all help boost output from around 140bhp in road specification to 300bhp or more.

X CTech said it believes the racing car powerplant will be one of the lightest and most powerful engines on the grid of the British Touring Car Championship.

“The Avensis has been designed to the ‘Next Generation Touring Car’ rules, which means we could have opted for the stock TOCA engine, however we were enormously impressed by the plans put forward by X CTech R and felt that this was the right way for us to go, not least because it means our Avensis will be 100 per cent Toyota,” said Dynojet Race Team chief Frank Wrathall Snr.

The Dynojet Race Team’s Avensis BTCC car will be raced this season by Frank Wrathall Jnr. The opening rounds of the British Touring Car Championship are scheduled for 3 April at Brands Hatch, Kent.

Toyota Avensis BTCC a Step Closer to its Racing Debut

The touring car version of Toyota's Avensis sedan has moved a step closer to its competition debut following extensive wind tunnel testing at MIRA's aerodynamic analysis facility. The Avensis NGTC (Next Generation Touring Car) is being constructed by GPR Motorsport and is scheduled to hit the tarmac for the first time in the opening rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) at Brands Hatch on 3 April.

As you can see in the photo below, the NGTC specification Avensis was joined in the MIRA wind tunnel by a road-going model equipped with a rear wing as the TOCA technical staff wanted to establish a baseline for the car’s aerodynamics.

“We needed to fix a position for the rear wing, based on the aerodynamics of the road car, which gave the levels of downforce we were looking for,” said the championship’s technical director, Peter Riches. “I am pleased to say that this was quickly achieved, and it means that we now have a base line for all cars built to the NGTC regulations and have saved a lot of development time and potential expense for the teams.”

The Japanese firm is not competing in the series with a works team, but does supply the donor cars and body shells to GPR Motorsport. Up until now, two private teams - Dynojet and Speedworks - have taken up the challenge to run in the Avensis, but the company said it hoped that their example will be followed by others "looking to take advantage of the reduced costs of development associated with the new car".

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First Images of GPR Motorsport's Toyota Avensis BTCC Racer

While Toyota has no plans to re-enter the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) with an official works team, the Japanese automaker has lent its support to GPR Motorsport that is building a new racing concept based on the European market and British-built Avensis sedan.

Toyota supplied GPR Motorsport with an Avensis donor car and bodyshell to build to the new specifications, which teams will be able to adopt from the 2011 racing season.

The Avensis NGTC (Next Generation Touring Car) car will make its track debut in the final round of this year's Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch on 9 – 10 October, driven by BTCC double champion, James Thompson.

Toyota Announces Details on Recalled European Models, Says up to 1.8 Million Vehicles May Be Affected by Sticky Accelerator

Less than 24 hours after Toyota Motor Europe announced that it would be investigating potential accelerator pedal issues on its European models, the Japanese automaker released details on the affected vehicles. The recall involves a total of eight models. These are listed below:

-AYGO (Feb 2005 – Aug 2009)
-iQ (Nov 2008 – Nov 2009)
-Yaris (Nov 2005 – Sep 2009)
-Auris (Oct 2006 – 5 Jan 2010)
-Corolla (Oct 2006 – Dec 2009)
-Verso (Feb 2009 – 5 Jan 2010)
-Avensis (Nov 2008 – Dec 2009)
-RAV4 (Nov 2005 – Nov 2009)

The company said that precise number of involved units is still under investigation, but may reach up to a total of 1.8 million vehicles in the Old Continent, adding that no Lexus or other Toyota models are affected by the recall to solve a potential accelerator pedal issue.

"Toyota's policy is to put its customers first, in all circumstances", said Tadashi Arashima, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe.

"We understand that the current situation is creating concerns, and we deeply regret it. We would also like to reassure customers: the potential accelerator pedal issue only occurs in very rare circumstances. The announced action is a preventive measure aimed to guarantee the highest safety standards to all customers."

According to Toyota, there is a chance that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms on the affected models may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position

Toyota said that the issue is caused because the accelerator pedal mechanisms concerned may become worn.

The Japanese automaker added that only a limited number of incidents have been reported in Europe, and that the company is not aware of any accident resulting from this issue.

Earlier this week, Toyota suspended sales of eight vehicles in the U.S. due to the sticky accelerator problem while the firm also added another 1.1 million vehicles to last fall's recall of 4.3 million vehicles in the USA.

Toyota Avensis gets 132HP 1.6L Petrol and 2.0L Diesel with Auto Transmission

Toyota has enhanced its engine line-up for the UK market Avensis with the introduction of two new powertrains, a 1.6-liter gasoline (already offered in other European countries) and the 2.2-liter D-CAT diesel with a 6-speed automatic transmission - the firm's first diesel automatic passenger car. The 1.6-liter Valvematic petrol produces an output of 132 horsepower and is linked to a 6-speed manual gearbox accelerating the Avensis sedan from 0 to 62mph (100km/h) in 10.4 seconds and the Tourer in 10.6 seconds.

The new entry-level Avensis returns 43.5mpg UK (36.2mpg US or 6.5 lt/100 km) in combined cycle driving, with 152g/km CO2 emissions. Available in T2 and TR grade saloon and tourer models, the Avensis 1.6L is priced from £16,485.

For the first time, Avensis buyers may also opt to combine Toyota's 2.2-liter turbo diesel engine with a new six-speed automatic transmission.

The four-cylinder unit produces 150 HP at 3,600rpm and maximum torque of 340Nm between 2,000 and 2,800rpm, enabling 0 to 62mph acceleration in 9.5 seconds for the sedan and 9.8 seconds for the Tourer while returning 44.1mpg UK (36.7mpg US or 6.4 lt/100km) in combined cycle driving (42.8mpg UK Tourer).

Prices for the Avensis 2.2 D-CAT Auto start from £21,515.

EuroNCAP's Revised Safety Ratings for Six New Cars Including Mazda6, Avensis and Impreza

The European organization for the assessment of vehicle safety has published the first results under its updated rating system. Up until now, Euro NCAP made three separate ratings available for each vehicle, but with the new system there's an overall rating for every car covering Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Pedestrian Protection and a new area of assessment, Safety Assist which takes into account systems such as electronic stability control (ESC) and seat belt reminders.

Of the six cars tested under the new ratings system, four managed to achieve Euro NCAP's maximum award of five stars: the Mazda 6, Mitsubishi Lancer, Toyota Avensis and Toyota iQ. Citroen's C3 Picasso minivan and the Subaru Impreza were both awarded four stars.

According to Euro NCAP, with the exception of the Subaru Impreza, all the other cars failed to impress on pedestrian protection.

After the announcement of the results, Mitsubishi and Subaru both said that they would change their ESC (electronic stability control) fitment policies for the Lancer and Impreza, as variants of these models without optional ESC were offered in some Euroepan countries.

Euro NCAP's new rating scheme requires all safety equipment, including ESC, to be standard on 85% of volume sales and at least optionally available on every variant.

Toyota Begins Production of New Avensis in the U.K.

Today, two Avensis models rolled off the line at Toyota's Burnaston Plant in Derbyshire, U.K., marking the official start of production of the firm's new European flagship model. The Burnaston Plant will produce the Avensis in body types, sedan and wagon, to support an annual European sales target of 115,000 vehicles. Designed, engineered and built in Europe, the all-new Avensis will also be launched in Africa, Central & South America, as well as in Oceania. Sales of both body types of the Avensis begin across Europe from January 2009.

The mid-size model's 1.6- and 1.8-liter petrol engines will be produced by Toyota's U.K. plant in Deeside, North Wales, while the 2.0-liter Valvematic will be built in Japan. The Japanese firm's plants in Poland (TMIP and TMMP) will manufacture the 2.0- and 2.2-litre D-4D diesel engines and the new 6-speed automatic transmission

Speaking ahead of today's celebrations, Tadashi Arashima, CEO and President of Toyota Motor Europe, said: "The UK has proved to be a valuable economic and business partner. Building on more than 15 years of production history, TMUK's team members continue to deliver the quality, efficiency and flexibility needed to meet the exacting standards of our customers in Europe and around the world."

Update: 2009 Toyota Avensis High-Res Photo

As we told you last Friday, Toyota will perform the global debut of its new D-Segment sedan, the 2009 Avensis on 2 October at the Paris International Motor show. The new Avensis is the third generation of the model to be built at Toyota’s Burnaston plant in Derbyshire, UK. The Japanese automaker has yet to reveal any specific information on its new European sedan, but Toyota did say that the 2009 Avensis will features a new range of engines that are both more powerful and emit less CO2. The new Avensis is due to go sale in Europe in January 2009, with full details and pricing to be announced later in the year. -Continued

2009 Toyota Avensis – First Official Image!

The first official photo of the next-generation Toyota Avensis has been leaked into the internet well before the mid-size sedan’s scheduled debut at the 2008 Paris International Motor Show on October 2. The Avensis, which you could call Toyota’s European equivalent of the American Camry (the two models share nothing in common), has been fully redesigned featuring a crispier and more dynamic styling than the outgoing model. We don’t have all the details in our hands yet, but in previous talks we had with Toyota Europe’s people, the new Avensis will get a new line-up of engines with lower consumption and reduced CO2 figures.