TRD Aurion bites the dust!

[sleekism]

TRD Aurion withdrawn from sale
Steve Colquhoun, The Age, 18/09/07

http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Ar...ID=43596&vf=12




Toyota has suspended sales of its recently released high performance TRD Aurion, pending an investigation of an engine failure last week.


Toyota's high performance TRD Aurion
It is the crucial first release from the new Toyota Racing Developments workshop, which has bolted a supercharger on to the Aurion's V6 engine to lift power from 204 kW to 241 kW.

Toyota spokesman Mike Breen says one vehicle ''had an issue'' in the hands of a dealer salesperson. ''The issue appears unrelated to the supercharger or the engine power output,'' he says. ''At the moment, we believe this is a one-off issue.

Toyota has a commitment to the quality of our product and since this type of incident is unusual for a Toyota engine, we took the decision to stop selling the vehicle while we investigate.''

About 150 cars in dealerships or being used for marketing purposes will be inspected. ''We expect it will take about two hours per car, and about one week to run through the process,'' Mr Breen says.

''A handful of cars have already gone out to customers, who we believe have no reason to be concerned. If they would like to speak to their Toyota dealer we encourage that and the dealer will take the appropriate steps.''