Let’s talk about the Toyota luxury van Wilfa--Toyota’s unique brand technical character
In recent film and television films, especially scenes involving wealthy people in Asia, there is always a The car prop, that is, Alpha, is used to pick up and drop off guests. In the garages of wealthy people in Asia, there are fleets of cars ranging from Rolls-Royce to Lamborghini. However, if the owner wants to show respect and a special gesture of goodwill or intimacy to a guest, he will send an Alpha to pick him up and drop him off. If you use a Rolls-Royce, it shows respect at most, but inadvertently shows distance. If you use a Bentley, it may mean that the guest does not like to show off. If you send a Lamborghini or Ferrari, at most it is to cater to young guests, or even let the guests drive from the airport by themselves. to destination. And the important guest who is treated like a family is Alpha. This kind of car-using culture has been cultivated subtly for many years. To understand Toyota's unique brand and the technology behind it, you can understand its history and see the future clearly.
Toyota luxury van
The title says Wilfa, but you are talking about Alfa. For those who are not familiar with the car, these are two cars, and for those who are not familiar with it, these are two cars. From an engineer's perspective, this is a car. This van has a history.
Toyota Motors started out as a loom maker and has been ambitious from the beginning to face the global market. Therefore, the car brand must have an English name. Even if it is Japanese Toyota, it must be modified to facilitate the Western context. , that’s how Toyota came about. As early as 1956, a light truck specially developed for the global market was named Toyoace. Ace is the Ace in poker, the biggest. Toyo is of course Toyota, and Toyoace is the best of Toyota. There is an appropriate name in Chinese, Toyota Flower. . The reason why Ace is called a flower will be understood naturally if you read books about Japanese culture.
Flower of Toyota
As for the light buses that transport passengers in cities, they are called vans in our country. Toyota followed the Flower of Toyota and also gave the English name Liteace, which we transliterated. , called Laiteisi, which means the flower of light passenger cars, my country imported a large number of them in the 1970s and 1980s. Toyota's original Liteace was used as a tool cart, used to transport people and portable tools and equipment that were protected from rain, and for small groups of people to commute in the city. It has 7 seats and is very practical.
Liteace Tool Cart
Commuting for small groups
Later, some companies used it for small team business trips, with leaders plus secretaries plus translators, as well as sales and finance, typically The characteristics of Japanese export-oriented corporate cars, Toyota took this business use into consideration, Liteace developed a sister car, the luxurious and business-oriented Townace, the flower of the city, which uses electronically controlled fuel injection, automatic transmission, front and rear air conditioning, small refrigerator, etc. Configuration, the special version also has four-wheel drive. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, it is called the "Little Overlord" and is very popular in Southeast Asia. This model is about 4.5 meters in size of an ordinary car, with a mid-mounted rear-wheel drive engine, a low center of gravity and a powerful Good handling performance, short wheelbase, small turning radius, and maximum comfortable seating space for 7 people have become the representative of this type of vehicle.
Luxurious configurations
Business oriented
This type of car was later exported to the United States in large quantities in the 1980s and became the second family car, accommodating the whole family's children and pets. Very popular for weekend shopping and vacation use. In the 1990s, this kind of square bread with edges and corners seemed outdated, so Toyota launched a replacement model, the Previa, especially for the North American market. It has a sleek shape, luxurious configurations, a side gear, and a central aisle that is suitable for walking and changing positions. It is very popular among American families. Like, in order to distinguish the Little Overlord, Hong Kong and Taiwan call it Big Overlord, and the Mainland calls Bullet.
Previa
Central aisle
In order to adhere to the mid-engine layout with a low center of gravity and expand the seating space, a horizontal engine was specially developed for Previa. 2TZ, which greatly reduces the height of the engine, is specially designed with a long transmission shaft to drive the cooling fan, generator, air conditioning compressor and other accessories at the front of the car. This low center of gravity rear-wheel drive design makes the sporty handling far superior to American MPVs such as Chrysler Grand Voyager and Ford Venda with front transverse platforms.
Horizontal 2TZ generator
The success of Previa has consolidated Toyota's position in the field of luxury vans. Entering the 21st century, due to cost-cutting measures such as the first sharing platform, it has become more and more popular in global automobile manufacturing. For industrial applications, the Precia with its unique structure was under high-cost manufacturing pressure. Toyota also made a compromise and developed the Previa, a front-transverse front-drive platform, which is shared with Camry, Lexus and other model platforms.
Previa with front generator and front drive
Front transverse platform
After that, Toyota began to pay attention to the different tastes of MPV users in different regions, and the North American market paid attention to At the same time as Previa, the Sienna, a local market-specific car, was developed for North America. In Asia and the local market, Toyota specially developed the Alpha. Although it is the same front transverse platform, the body shape and interior are completely different designs. The Alpha became popular in Asia, and Hong Kong and Taiwan started to develop it. Nicknamed nanny car, many movie stars began to use it to attend various press conferences with their assistants. It has dedicated independent second row seats and is also called first-class on land.
Second-generation Alpha
First class
Starting from the second-generation Alpha, luxury MPVs have been further differentiated. Alpha is defined as luxurious, refined and elegant. , the user characteristic is stability. Vellfire is strong and sharp, and its user characteristics are distinctive and pioneering. The internal and external structures are the same. Except for the front part, the rest of the parts are common. They are sister cars, but they have different styles and have their own brand positioning.
Wilfa and Alfa sister cars
Toyota’s painstaking subdivision is the embodiment of the multi-model strategy under the shared platform. There may be many models covering different customer segments and forming a strict product line. In the local market, Toyota's model sub-brands are used to achieve luxury customer recognition. Therefore, the local market does not even use the Lexus brand. For luxury, the top model is the Toyota Century, followed by the Toyota Century. Crown and MPV are Alfa. Toyota fans have a special belief in these brands. This unique Toyota brand character native to Japan has also radiated in Southeast Asia.
Wilfa
Looking at the technologies under the platform, they are unique to Toyota. Overall, there are two important ones, both of which are English abbreviations. The industry has long ridiculed them. Toyota has a penchant for English abbreviations. One is THS, Toyota Hybrid, also called e-cvt. The other is e-four, which is electric four-wheel drive. e-cvt has a very simple structure, which is a set of planetary gears, plus two motors, M1 and M2. However, the principle is not easy to understand. Here it is only introduced from an easy-to-understand perspective.
Toyota hybrid is an ingenious invention of Toyota engineers. It is used on a transverse front-drive platform. As you can see in the picture, the transmission is very thin. Inside is a set of planetary gears and two auxiliary motors. A schematic diagram of the structural connection. As follows:
The generator output is connected to the planetary gear carrier, the middle sun gear is connected to the M1 motor, the ring gear is connected to the M2 motor, and the output is simultaneously output to the drive half shaft, it's that simple. The principle is relatively complicated to understand. All three components placed vertically can rotate freely. The components connected to the M1 and M2 motors can rotate at different speeds and directions as needed. In this way, power generation, fuel drive, and hybrid drive conditions can be achieved at the same time. 0-100% continuously changing transmission ratio, as well as reverse gear, only the computer needs to control the rotation speed and direction of M1 and M2. This is e-cvt, patented by Toyota, named THS.
The next one is e-four, electric four-wheel drive. This structure is complex, but the principle is easy to understand. It is on the front transverse front-wheel drive platform, and a drive motor is added to the rear axle to achieve four-wheel drive, eliminating the four-wheel drive PTU and transmission shaft of traditional urban SUVs. Therefore, it is called electric four-wheel drive. It is used in conjunction with THS. Electric four-wheel drive does not have a central transmission mechanism. , so there is no need for the so-called center differential and differential lock, the motor is directly driven, so the four-wheel drive performance far exceeds the timely four-wheel drive of urban SUVs.
Toyota e-four
Electric four-wheel drive, the rear axle is directly driven by an electric motor
As you can see from the above, Wilfa, this luxury MPV, is full of character. The brand is unique, the technology is unique, and the positioning is unique. It is an angular and sharp Toyota-style luxury MPV.
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.