detroit auto show

Detroit Auto Show: 2009 Toyota Venza Crossover Sedan Live Reveal Video

The 2009 Toyota Venza Crossover Sedan was revealed live only moments ago and through the power of digital media, you can watch how it happened. It's a small wonder we got out of there alive since moments after the end of this video, the throngs of rabid Japanese photographers and journalists mobbed the stage for a Toyota Venza free for all. One of us almost lost a finger.

Update: We've got the live reveal video posted HERE
Toyota told us about the 2009 Toyota Venza Crossover Sedan last year, but it's been bone-dry for teaser shots. But the seal is now broken! Here are the first live photos of the sorta sporty, sorta utilitarian, sorta... vehicle has an intriguing squashed-Ford Edge-meets-Toyota Camry look to it. This is all we've got at the moment but give us a second and we'll be adding we've added live galleries and whatever press information we can get our grubby little hands on.



More »

This is it — whatever "it" is. Actually "it" is Toyota's newest concept they'll be bringing to the Detroit Auto Show in two weeks, the A-BAT Concept Pickup Truck. And A-BAT is more than just a winged rat, it's actually, as we're told by our friends at PickupTruck.com, an acronym for "Advanced Breakthrough Aero Truck." That's a name that has us kinda scratching our heads. How did Toyota name a concept vehicle a "breakthrough" when it looks like the love child of some sort of menage-a-truck involving the Honda Ridgeline, the Chevy Avalanche and the Toyota Prius. Yeah, you heard us — the Toyota Prius — you know, for that tint of green. But despite what appears to our eyes as the obvious Ridgeline-esque styling, Toyota claims the look of this unibody-platformed concept truck is unique — based on "the 'trapezoid' silhouette from the side profile of the Toyota Prius." But don't think for a moment this concept is all car and no truck. The A-BAT's able to shed the five-person crew-cab-like set-up with a tiny four-foot bed and transform itself into a two-seat "El Camino" configuration with a full eight-foot bed. The transformation's accomplished by dropping both the liftgate and the "midgate" ( that sound you hear is Chevrolet's legal team opening up their briefcases in unison) on either end of the mini-bed.

But wait, there's more — as we alluded to earlier, this concept's got some green going on under the hood by way of a hybrid synergy drive. So if Toyota ever builds this new-fangled El Cam, you can head to Home Depot to buy lumber for the deck of your cookie-cutter McMansion and make a statement about saving the environment all at once. But we do give Toyota some credit for aggressively going after a market they've targeted. Full press release after the jump.

NOTE:This story was embargoed until midnight, but because of the nice guys over at Edmunds getting an early copy of Automobile magazine with the full story in it — causing them to go live with their story along with the side-by-side of the Dodge Rampage and the Toyota A-BAT — we're going live with our own story.
UPDATE: Our friends at PickupTruck.com have some video of the A-BAT which we've included below the jump. More »

detroit auto show

Detroit Auto Show: 2009 Toyota Venza Crossover Sedan To Bow In Detroit

Toyota announced today that they will be debuting a new crossover sedan at the Detroit Auto Show. We guess they're hoping to expand their narrow offerings and fill that huge hole between the RAV-4, Matrix and Highlander. The new vehicle will be "a unique blend of sedan and sport utility vehicle." Unique? The new Toyota will offer seating for five, a car-like ride and will have some sort of functional utility (err... AWD?). The 2009 Toyota Venza will be built in the Georgetown, Kentucky plant, which currently produces the Camry, Avalon and Solara. We have no spy photos or teases for you, though we'll throw out the FT SX concept from the 2005 Detroit Auto Show as a possible spiritual heir and maybe a replacement for the Highlander. Press release below the jump. More »