Toyota Motor Corp. has put millions of people on four wheels. Now, the global auto giant wants to put roofs over their heads, too.
Best known for its top-selling cars like the Prius and Corolla, Toyota is looking to apply its ecofriendly image and technical know-how to help boost sales of its small and little-known prefabricated-housing division.
Since 1975, Toyota has been building steel-frame houses designed to withstand earthquakes and typhoons and keep out burglars…But with new Japanese government calls for sturdier home construction — to cut down on waste created by home demolitions — and heightened consumer interest in eco-conscious designs, Toyota hopes it will play a leading role in the years ahead in defining not only how the Japanese drive but where they live, too.
Toyota’s aspirations as a home builder are also gaining new importance with the planned launch by 2010 of its plug-in vehicles, gas-electric hybrid cars with powerful lithium-ion batteries that drivers will need to recharge at home. The car maker is testing an electricity-monitoring system in its homes that would charge the vehicle during off-peak hours to keep utility bills low, while the car’s battery can serve as an electrical backup, powering the home during blackouts.
You should even be able to use the same smart key to lock and unlock house and car. :)
Thanks, Helen and others
I doubt if anyone at Toyota is under any illusions of how much emergency power will be available from Prius batteries – though experiments in the U.S. indicate that skilled “hybrid-style” drivers might contribute some small excess to the grid.
Still, having something at hand and easier than a diesel generator to supplement the sleazy power company I presently “rely” on might be cool.
Production homes including more steel aren’t new; but, Toyota no doubt has undated the technology beyond the styles offered by Lustron.
http://tinyurl.com/65eydr
Since some people practically live in their cars 24/7 can you not say that Toyota has already in a way put a roof over some people’s heads.
So does Toyota make a 4 wheel drive house too? I’d love to take my house for a drive down the highway while sitting on my couch with my steering wheel in front of my livingroom window.
I like want a car that has a house in it like that you can drive and stuff and you can cook and go to the bathroom while drivin’ down the road, and watch TV and stuff, er wait,… Oh those are like Motorhomes! Yah!
Their homes are made the same way as their cars. Out homes are made the same way as 17th century sailing ships.
How about the fact that GM invested heavily previously on mortgages, and lost heavily.
GM should have thought about this, and use the same Aftermarket Parts Replacement program for making money.
Just like most GM cars, change the muffler every three years, change the roof every three years.
Since this house is Toyota, the house will be priced at a higher price that if GM had built it. However, since it’s Toyota, the roof will last a lifetime.
I’d buy one. Those criminal builders need some competition, selling us $95,000 houses for $400,000, and we find out later it was put together with the minimum amount of nails, the cheapest grade of tile, contractor grade outlets and carpet, and engineered to last at best 10 years before it begins falling apart.
As long as they can make something other than the horrid “dallas style” houses that are popping up every day, I’d be happy.
I’d buy one, too. With any luck, this should have the American builders of overpriced McMansions made of grade B materials shaking in their boots… if they don’t go bankrupt first. Maybe Toyota will be able to build homes that don’t fall apart after ten years.
Toyota finally got its act together making full-size pickup trucks, and Ford, GM, and Chrysler are feeling the heat a bit. Here’s hoping they will be able to do the same for homes.
#4 Dot
That’s from MAD TV right? Love that character.
#3
But if Apple made houses you would have to pay a million dollars for a house just because it’s extra pretty whereas the neighbor bought a similar house for $200,000; and if a wall got a dent you would have to buy a new house rather than just put some plaster and a new paint job.
Repainting the house would mean that you have to replace ALL of the furniture because it would be 100% completely imcompatible.
And don’t even think that you can use any paint, if you buy a generic one and paint over your house the electricity will shut down until you pay Apple a premium for a new paintjob.
The steel in these houses comes from recycled Fords!
#6-Toyota’s big idea to compete with the big boys and their big trucks is really biting them in the ass right now.
The next step of course, is to put up a Wind Turbine on the roof to charge your Toyota House/Car !!! Certainly ECO-Friendly and could move you OFF THE POWER GRID COMPLETELY !!!