Autoblog

Jim Press, the president of Toyota Motor North America (TMA), has been announced as the recipient of this year's 2007 Automotive Industry Executive of the Year award, which surprisingly marks the first time (though probably not the last) that a Toyota exec has earned the honor. You may remember last year's recipient was Bill Ford, Jr., who technically no longer holds the position as Ford Motor Company's reigning auto exec. Press, however, is at the reigns of Toyota's North American division, which finished up last year with double-digit sales growth. Many analysts are placing their bets that 2007 will be the year that Toyota sells more vehicles in the U.S. world than General Motors, which seems entirely likely considering that GM is scaling back production while Toyota is revving up. 2007 also marks the year that Toyota will go head-to-head with its domestic competitors in the full-size pickup segment with the new Tundra pickup (show above with Press). Press also stands out for being the first non-Japanese president of TMA, and few can argue he's done an outstanding job so far. The question remains whether he can keep his ship intact as Toyota's business in the U.S. market scales ever upward. Clearly the automaker's reputation for quality has begun to crack with recalls and service issues beginning to grow in number. Nevertheless, Press will receive his award in April at a fancy shindig in Detroit attended by other OEM execs and industry leaders. Congrats, Jim!

[Source: PR Newswire]

UPDATE: This post has been correctly attributed to John Neff, who wrote the post near the end of a long day. The errors that were present have been corrected.

We're going to count down to the new year by going back over the top five most-read posts on Autoblog during the course of 2006.

The #5 Most-Read Post of the Year is "Loremo debuts 150 mpg concept car in Geneva".

Posted on February 27th by Stuart Waterman, this post highlighted a Geneva concept that was capable of incredible fuel economy, decent performance and an extremely low operating cost. Unfortunately, we haven't heard much about the Loremo since then.

Over the course of the year this post racked up 173, 612 page views. Click on the Read link below to relive 2/27 and see what all the fuss was about.

Click to enlarge

The Ford Transit has for decades been the standard working horse of Europe and much of the rest of the world – the F-150 for our friends across the pond. The versatile work-a-day hauler was recently named Van of the Year by a pan-European panel of automotive journalists. (Why didn't they ask us? Just 'cause we can't find "Yurp" on a map doesn't mean we don't have an opinion!)

Ford's upping the ante and making a versatile vehicle even more versatile by offering the van now with four-wheel-drive. Mated to a 140-hp 2.4-liter turbodiesel through a six-speed floor-shifter, Ford expects the surefooted Transit to find its way into the garages of police departments, park rangers and rescue workers (among others) who'll undoubtedly find its enhanced capability to make for a handy tool.

(Press release, hires pics after the jump after the jump)

[Source: Ford UK]

Sure, the North American wing of his company may be floundering a bit, but Bill Ford’s frankness in the face of financial hardship has won him the honor of being named the 2006 Automotive Industry Exec of the Year. The Automotive Industry Action Group and DNV, a management systems certification registrar, presented the award to Ford. Along with the man’s candor, it was the CEO’s constant focus on environmental issues that set him apart from the pack.

What about Dieter Zietsche, though? The Chrysler Group’s posting sales gains on an almost monthly basis, Mercedes Benz is quietly emerging from its quality troubles and, mark our words, DCX is poised to make a huge impact in the U.S. with its BLUETEC diesels when Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel becomes the rage in the states later this year.

[Source: Canadian Driver]