Congrats to Keith & Tonya Bentley!

On Saturday June 18, 2011 Walters Toyota/Nissan teamed up for an all day event to give away a car to one lucky person! We had several finalists present and gave away door prizes all day selecting the final winner that afternoon! Keith & Tonya Bentley had a tough choice at the end of the day between a New 2011 Toyota Camry and a New 2011 Nissan Altima and they chose the New 2011 Nissan Altima! We hope you are enjoying your New car! Congrats Again!

Toyota Awards Scholarships To Ten Safe Teens!

Toyota has awarded college scholarships as part of a nationwide safe driving program with Discovery Education. A total of ten high school students have received the awards after playing the interactive road challenge game, Heads Up!, which is designed to promote safe driving habits.
Winners of the scholarships will receive a $5,000 cash prize to be used for educational purposes at an accredited college or university. For Toyota, it was a fun, interactive way to promote safe driving among teen drivers.
“Toyota is dedicated to building awareness among teens about the dangers of distracted driving and encouraging responsible and safe driving habits,” said Patricia Salas Pineda, group vice president, national philanthropy and the Toyota USA Foundation. “With Discovery Education, we congratulate the winners of the Toyota Teen Driver Sweepstakes and all those who participated in the Heads Up! challenge for their commitment to safety.”
The scholarships are just one part of a joint program that Toyota and Discovery Education called “Toyota Teen Driver” that aims to keep teens safer behind the wheel. For the Toyota Teen Driver Sweepstakes, teens played the online, interactive road challenge, Head’s Up, which allows teens to put their driving skills to the test and see how they handle distracting scenarios. The game conditioned teens to avoid distractions like sending text messages, changing a radio station, or drinking a soda.
“Discovery Education recognizes the importance of educating America’s youth on the dangers and consequences of distracted driving and we are thrilled that so many teens shared our commitment to safety by participating in the Toyota Teen Driver Sweepstakes,” said Mary Rollins, vice president of education partnerships, Discovery Education. “Heads Up! is an effective and engaging challenge that allows teens to experience the consequences of distracted driving while fostering safe behaviors behind the wheel.”
More information on the Heads Up! game or other initiatives to promote safer driving can be found at ToyotaTeenDriver.com.

by Toyota in the News on April 28, 2011

TEST DRIVE FOR COAL!

Ten Toyota Models Top Vincentric’s “Best Value” Rankings!

When it comes to “Top 10″ lists, coming up with the “Top 10 Reasons to Buy a Toyota” just got a lot easier: That’s because Vincentric, one of the country’s most widely relied upon sources of automotive value data, recently announced its annual “Best Value in America” Awards, and it was Toyota leading the way with 10 segment winners—more than twice the number of any other brand. In addition, Toyota also earned recognition for best overall brand value in the Passenger Car category.
Garnering the honors for Toyota were:

• 4Runner—Taking the Mid-Size SUV segment for the third consecutive year
• Avalon—Winning the Large Car category for the sixth time
• Camry Hybrid—Besting all other Mid-Size Hybrid Sedans
• FJ Cruiser—The top-rated Compact SUV
• Highlander Hybrid—”Best Value” among the Mid-Size Hybrid SUV ranks
• Land Cruiser—Achieving its fourth straight victory in the Mid-Size Premium SUV segment
• Prius—Leading all Advanced Fuel Technology Compacts for the sixth time
• Tacoma—Now on a seven-year run as the highest-placing Compact Pickup
• Venza—Earning the highest marks in the Mid-Size Crossover category for the second time

Vincentric’s “Best Value in America” Awards are based on a comprehensive range of cost-of-ownership measures including depreciation, fuel, insurance, opportunity cost, financing, maintenance, taxes, state fees and repairs, with all vehicles evaluated across all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C.
“Vincentric’s 2011 Best Value in America Awards use cost-of-ownership to provide an independent benchmark that helps consumers understand which vehicles provide the best value in their segment,” said David Wurster, president of Vincentric.

And with one look at that list, it’s easy to understand why so many customers use that data to buy Toyota products.

Toyota Entune Receives Two Prestigious Awards at 2011 Consumer Electronics Show

•    Toyota Entune wins CNET “Best of CES” Award in Car Tech category
•    Popular Mechanics honors Entune with Editor’s Choice Award
•    Entune to be available on 2012 Prius v

 

TORRANCE, Calif., January 31, 2011 – At the just-concluded Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the debut of Toyota’s Entune™ multimedia system won both a “Best of CES” award from CNET (www.cnet.com) in the Car Tech category, and the Popular Mechanics Editor’s Choice Award.

 

“We were amazed by the media’s overwhelming reception of Toyota Entune at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show,” said Jon Bucci, vice president of the Advanced Technology Department at Toyota. “We listened to our customers and we worked hard to develop a truly easy-to-use, upgradeable multimedia system. It looks like our hard work paid off. We are honored to receive these prestigious awards from both CNET and Popular Mechanics.”

 

Toyota Entune brings popular mobile applications, including Bing, iheartradio, MovieTickets.com, OpenTable.com, and Pandora to select Toyota vehicles beginning in 2011. Featuring advanced voice recognition and intuitive in-vehicle controls, Entune is compatible with a wide range of smart phones and features phones. Toyota Entune brings personalized information and data services to the vehicle, and is wirelessly upgradeable, so in-vehicle applications are never obsolete.

 

The first vehicle to offer Toyota Entune will be the all-new 2012 Prius v, the first in a new line of vehicles in the Prius family. Prius v will be the most spacious dedicated hybrid vehicle on the market, with 50 percent more cargo volume than the Prius sedan, and will achieve a combined EPA fuel economy rating of 40 miles per gallon. The new Prius will also offer Safety Connect, which provides Automatic Collision Notification, Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance, Emergency Assistance, and Roadside Assistance.  Safety Connect combined with Toyota Entune offers comprehensive safety services and mobile applications not found in any other vehicle make. Prius v will go on sale in late summer of 2011. 

 

Toyota Entune also includes location-based services, such as personalized traffic, fuel prices, stocks, weather, and sports.  These are combined with a fully featured entertainment and communication system, which includes XM radio, HD Radio, CD player, USB connectivity, Bluetooth® streaming and phonebook.  A high quality JBL sound system is available as an option as well.

About CNET “Best of CES” Award/Car Tech Category
“Each year, CNET editors spend hundreds of hours on the show floor to find the hottest technologies that will drive industry trends for the coming year and beyond,” said Scott Ard, Editor in Chief of CNET. “Toyota Entune was chosen from thousands of products at the show, and demonstrates the innovation to be honored with one of our ‘Best of CES’ award.”

 

Selected by CNET’s unbiased expert editors, winners are recognized as having the hottest products in their respective technology categories for their unmatched innovation and creativity, and their ability to excite consumers and help them explore a world gone digital.  CNET editors reviewed hundreds of entries, as well as scoured the 2010 CES show floor for products to consider for the prestigious award.

 

About Popular Mechanics
"At Popular Mechanics, we've been waiting for a car maker to harness the power and convenience of the mobile phones drivers are already carrying. Toyota's Entune system is a genuine breakthrough that points the way forward," said James Meigs, editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics.

 

Popular Mechanics, published monthly by Hearst Magazines, inspires, instructs and influences almost 9 million curious readers. Issues engage readers with breakthroughs in the latest innovations in science and technology; educates with informative “how-to” stories on automotive, the home and digital technology; and motivates action with product reviews and comparison tests of the newest equipment and products. Popular Mechanics is also the #1 ranked men’s monthly magazine when it comes to reaching an environmentally conscious audience.

 

About Toyota
Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. is the marketing, sales, distribution and customer service arm of Toyota, Lexus and Scion.  Established in 1957, TMS markets products and services through a network of nearly 1,500 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealers which sold more than 1.77 million vehicles in 2009.  Toyota directly employs nearly 30,000 people in the U.S. and its investment here is currently valued at more than $18 billion.

 

For more information about Toyota, visit http://www.toyota.com/ or www.toyotanewsroom.com/entune.

Consumer Reports Recognizes Several Toyota Vehicles

         Recommended- Consumer Reports recommends 20 out of 26 Toyota, Scion
     and Lexus products, the highest of any manufacturer (Pages 56-69)

     Best overall fuel economy- Toyota tied for the most with three out of
     thirteen vehicles (Page 10)
     Top picks- Toyota took 3 out of 10, more than any manufacturer;
     Sienna, Prius and RAV4 ( Pages 7-9)
     Best- Toyota has the most models listed in the "Best of the Best"
     used car category (Pages 80-81)
     Best vehicles under $20,000- Toyota tied for the most with four out
     of fourteen (Page 11)
     Five year ownership costs- Toyota has three out of the five least
     expensive vehicles to own (Page 12)
     Best values- Corolla, Prius, Camry, Sienna, RAV4, and Highlander
     (Page 20)
     Reliability over time- Toyota has the most reliable vehicles overall.
     Toyota vehicles have the fewest problems per 100 as the vehicles age.
     After five years most manufacturers' vehicles have twice as many
     problems as Toyota (Page 78)
     Problem free- The most problem free 5 year old model is the 2006
     Toyota Highlander V-6 (Page 78)
     Green car- Prius named green car of the year (Page 8)

Consumer Reports has more than 7 million subscribers and their survey is
influential because of how many consumers consider it before buying a new
vehicle.  Their latest results yielded data from over 1.3 million
responders.

Toyota Launches Entune In-Vehicle Multimedia System

It’s a match made in heaven: On the one hand, “Consumers have grown accustomed to having the world at their fingertips through their mobile phones,” according to Jon Bucci, vice president of the Advanced Technology Department at Toyota. And on the other, those buyers also have grown accustomed to Toyota meeting all their transportation needs. Now the automaker is putting both those expectations together with the Toyota Entune multimedia system, recently introduced at this year’s International CES consumer electronics show.
“And unlike other industry solutions, Entune allows the driver to interact with informative and entertaining mobile content without fumbling with their phone,” added Bucci. “We offer features that our customers demand and integrate them seamlessly in the vehicle.”
Among those features will be:

• Mobile Apps—Entune will launch offering the Bing search engine to help drivers find more than 16 million points of interest, with destinations sent directly to the vehicle’s navigation system; OpenTable, capable of making reservations at any one of 15,000 restaurants across the country; MovieTickets.com, providing access to film tickets and reviews; and the ability to get customized, real-world information about traffic, fuel prices, weather, stocks and sports.
• Music—Tuning into Entune will deliver more than 750 local radio stations via iheartradio, access to the Pandora music-streaming service, XM satellite radio, HD radio and USB connectivity for personal media players.
• Voice Recognition—Entune’s best-in-class voice-recognition system is able to respond to conversational speech commands, so there’s no need to worry about memorizing thousands of specific voice directions to operate the system.

In addition, Entune can be upgraded wirelessly, so it always packs the latest applications and functionality, and it was designed to be compatible with a wide range of current cell phones.
“Toyota has always been a leader in the automotive industry, so it makes sense it would bring the latest in mobile technology to the car,” said Chris Daniels, general manager of Bing for Mobile, Microsoft Corp. “By bringing Bing Maps and Bing for Mobile technology to the car, we are helping Toyota enhance the overall in-vehicle experience to be as rich and robust as possible, which means personalizing the information to each driver’s needs.”
The new Entune multimedia system will be available in select Toyota vehicles beginning later this year.