China May Reject Toyota-Fuji Heavy Industries Joint Venture with Chery

China looks set to reject the proposal for a joint venture between Fuji Heavy Industries, in which Toyota holds a 16.5% stake, and the country’s seventh largest carmaker, Chery Automobile Co.

According to state sources cited by Bloomberg news, the reason is that this would give Toyota a third joint venture in the country. This violates current regulations stipulating that any overseas company can form only two joint ventures in the passenger car manufacturing field.

American Idol: U.S. Market Toyota Camry to be Built Exclusively in the Land of the Free

The Toyota Camry has been the best-selling car in the US for nine straight years. Yet, in its home market, it is virtually non-existent: even though it sold 82,000 cars in 1990, last year Toyota couldn’t shift more than 1,100 units! That’s because Japanese buyers prefer either the more sporty Mark X or the more luxurious Crown.

Therefore, for its seventh generation, which was only recently unveiled, Toyota decided to phase out imported Camrys from Japan and instead manufacture all cars earmarked for the North American market at its own plant in Georgetown and Subaru’s factory in Indiana.

New Promo Clip of Toyota FT-86 II Concept

Toyota may be polishing up the final production version of its long-time coming FT-86 rear-wheel drive sports coupe, but at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, the Japanese brand will display the most recent concept version dubbed FT-86 II, which we first saw in Geneva earlier this year.

Is this the Toyota FT-86 or the Subaru BRZ?

Our spies dropped these photos shot in Germany into our email box as the Subaru BRZ prototype. After checking out the cool assortment of BMW M3s in the background (the E30 still looks the part, doesn't it…), we went over our previous spy shots of the BRZ's Toyota sibling, the FT-86, and well, it looks the same.

However, we still don't know if the BRZ will share the same body styling as the FT-86 as Subaru has yet to reveal an actual concept of the sports coupe –the Geneva Salon prototype was a see-through concept designed to exhibit the car's mechanical hardware.

Toyota Introduces Yet Another Variant of the 2012 Camry, this Time in Japan

Toyota continues the roll out of country-specific versions of its new generation Camry with the launch of the Japanese domestic market (JDM) derivative of the mid-size sedan, which follows the recent introductions of the North American and Ukrainian models.

In Japan, the 2012 Camry is offered at launch exclusively as a hybrid model with power coming from a newly developed 2.5-liter Atkinson cycle, four-cylinder engine delivering 160HP and an electric motor with 143HP, for a combined maximum output of 205 horsepower.

Toyota Officially Previews 2012 Avensis Facelift Prior to the Frankfurt Show

In early August, a reader of Dutch car magazine Autoweek snagged some revealing photos of the facelifted 2012 Avensis sedan and its estate sibling parked at an undisclosed location with no camouflage whatsoever.

Now, only a week before the grand opening of the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, Toyota has released the first official picture of its updated mid-size model.