Magna Steyr Starts Production Of 2020 Toyota GR Supra

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Magna Steyr Starts Production Of 2020 Toyota GR Supra

25 Mar 2019, 12:27 UTC ·
by Mircea Panait

Home > News > Car Profile

Ah, outsourcing! If you were wondering, even Toyota is doing it because of the cost. After all, it’s cheaper to use the tooling and workforce of another company. And thus, the GR Supra is now manufactured in Graz, Austria instead of Motomachi, Japan.
71 photosThis turn of events shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the Supra is related to the Z4, and BMW has a long-running production partnership with Magna Steyr. On the other hand, we can’t imagine that the Austrians have the same quality assurance as Toyota in Japan. Adding insult to injury, the BMW parts utilized by the Supra aren’t the latest word in terms of reliability.
The question is, does reliability matter that much in a sports car? To each his own, but Mazda is a positive example in this regard with the MX-5 Miata. Even though the Supra is available with a 2.0-liter turbo in Europe, the German configurator takes reservations for configurations that start at €62,900.
Over in the United States, the Launch Edition retails at $55,250 and the Supra comes exclusively with the BMW-sourced turbo inline-six engine. Lower down the range, the 3.0 Premium is $53,990 while the 3.0 without Premium starts at $49,990 before destination charge.
Taking the Z4 sDrive30i for reference, the BMW starts at $49,700 with the 2.0-liter TwinPower Turbo inline-four engine. Looking at the bigger picture, both models are expensive from the get-go and both will be produced in limited numbers as a consequence.
Then again, sports cars aren’t selling too well these days. Crossovers and SUVs are at the forefront of demand, and every automaker in the industry is pouring resources into developing crossovers and SUVs as quickly as possible. It’s a matter of supply and demand, and there’s no reason to point the fingers at automakers for these circumstances.
As for the first-ever Supra to roll off the assembly line in Graz, Magna Steyr finished the car in phantom matte grey. The VIN is also special, including 20201 where 2020 marks the model year and 1 indicates the first example of the breed. If you were wondering , VIN 001 has been auctioned by Barrett-Jackson for $2.1 million, and all of the proceeds are going to the Bob Woodruff Foundation and American Heart Association.

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US expands probe into airbag failures to 12.3 million vehicles

Shiho Fukada | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A Toyota Motor worker at the production line in the company's Motomachi plant in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan, on July 26, 2018.

U.S. auto safety regulators have expanded an investigation into malfunctioning airbag controls to include 12.3 million vehicles because the bags may not inflate in a crash. The problem could be responsible for as many as eight deaths.

Vehicles made by Toyota, Honda, Kia, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Fiat Chrysler from the 2010 through 2019 model years are included in the probe, which was revealed Tuesday in documents posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It involves airbag control units made by ZF-TRW that were installed in the vehicles.

The control units can fail in a crash, possibly because of unwanted electrical signals produced by the crash itself that can disable an airbag control circuit housed in the passenger compartment, according to NHTSA documents. The electrical signals can damage the control circuit, the documents say.

ZF, a German auto parts maker which acquired TRW Automotive in 2015, said in a statement that it's committed to safety and is cooperating with NHTSA and automakers in the investigation.

The case is another in a long list of problems with auto industry airbags, including faulty and potentially deadly Takata airbag inflators. At least 24 people have been killed worldwide and more than 200 injured by the inflators, which can explode with too much force and hurl dangerous shrapnel into the passenger cabin. The inflators touched off the largest series of automotive recalls in U.S. history involving with as many as 70 million inflators to be recalled by the end of next year. About 100 million inflators are to be recalled worldwide.

On April 19, NHTSA upgraded the ZF-TRW probe from a preliminary evaluation to an engineering analysis, which is a step closer toward seeking recalls. So far, only Hyundai and Kia and Fiat Chrysler have issued recalls in the case. Four deaths that may have been caused by the problem were reported in Hyundai-Kia vehicles and three in Fiat Chrysler automobiles. NHTSA opened an investigation in March of 2017 involving the TRW parts in Hyundais and Kias.

The upgrade came after investigators found two recent serious crashes involving 2018 and 2019 Toyota Corollas in which the airbags did not inflate. One person was killed.

Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit consumer group, said the ZF-TRW case shows the auto industry thus far has learned very little from Takata.

“A single supplier of an important safety component provided what appears to be a defective part across multiple manufacturers and 12 million cars,” Levine said. “While the first fatality reports emerged three years ago, it has taken a higher body count for more significant action to be taken by NHTSA and most impacted manufacturers remain silent. The industry needs to do better.”

A message was left Tuesday seeking comment from NHTSA.

In the ZF-TRW investigation documents, NHTSA said that it didn't find any other cases of electrical interference in Hyundai, Kia or Fiat Chrysler vehicles that used the ZF-TRW system but were not recalled. Also, the agency has not identified any other cases of electrical interference in other Toyotas including Corollas, since the company started using the ZF-TRW parts in the 2011 model year. In addition, no electrical interference cases have been identified in Honda or Mitsubishi vehicles with the same parts, the agency said.

NHTSA will evaluate how susceptible the airbag control units are to electrical signals as well as other factors that could stop airbags from inflating. The agency also “will evaluate whether an unreasonable risk exists that requires further field action.”

Last year, Hyundai and Kia recalled nearly 1.1 million vehicles because of the problem, about a year after NHTSA opened its investigation.

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When a third-generation Escape was launched in 2013, Ford migrated to a crossover platform, boosting comfort and handling, as well as mileage, and gaining traction with U.S. buyers.

The fourth-generation Escape takes the same approach, but it adopts an even sleeker look, in part to put some distance between it and the reborn Bronco model that Ford will launch in 2020.

“We want to have really differentiated styling. “The new Escape's silhouette is very sleek, dynamic — more progressive. The off-road [Bronco] will be more upright, boxy,” said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford's executive vice president of product development.

The Escape's cabin will also take on a more refined, car-like look, reflecting the fact that Ford expects it to pick up many of the buyers it might otherwise lose as it abandons such familiar sedan nameplates as the Fiesta, Focus and Fusion over the next several years.

Escape will be loaded with the sort of high-tech features that younger buyers crave, including the latest take on Ford's Sync infotainment system, now able to handle both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It also will offer an assortment of advanced driver assistance features, dubbed Co-Pilot 360, including automatic emergency braking and blind-spot detection, as well as the ability to park itself in a tight spot.

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The plug-in hybrid, the first in the segment, will add a larger battery pack capable of propelling the 2020 Escape for up to 30 miles in all-electric mode. Using a 240-volt Level 2 charger, the same type many homeowners are adding, charge times for a drained battery will run around 3.5 hours.

As for the more rugged version of the Escape, Ford is only dropping hints for the moment, Thai-Tang said an “off-road version” is in development and should make its debut late this year.

Pricing will be released over the coming weeks, but the base 2020 Ford Escape is expected to top the current entry model, which starts around $24,100.

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