Japanese car-maker Toyota is into much more than just cars. In fact, Toyota has been in the home-building business for more than 20 years. These fabulous prefab designs employ auto-manufacturing technologies that build totally modern and earth-quake resistant homes. Clearly car and house go hand-in-hand here. With Toyota’s emphasis on the eco-friendly with its upcoming plug-in hybrid cars, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that this car-maker is also now evaluating an electricity-monitoring system in its home designs to charge the car on off-peak hours. The relationship here is reciprocal – the car’s battery acts as a back-up power source for the house. Toyota prefab homes are available in about 12 different styles – ranging from the Smart Stage design, an understated 1,000-sq.-ft., two-story home starting at $200,000, to the luxury, custom-built Espacio Square, at 2,600-sq. ft. with a price tag of around $800,000. The houses are built from six or more modules, and go up in around 45 days. As for the style, the homes are like the cars – sleek, stylish and sporty. Toyota
via The Wall Street Journal
