Thursday, December 1, 2011

Official: BMW to Provide Toyota with Diesel Engines, while Japanese Firm will give Bavarians Access to Hybrid Tech


Just two days after our first rumors started circulating on the web, Toyota and BMW confirmed that they intend to collaborate in the development of hybrid systems and diesel engines.

On Thursday, the two companies announced that they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concerning the mid-to-long development of environmental-friendly technologies.

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Honda to Take on Fiat 500 with N Concept 4, Production Model Coming in Fall of 2012


One of Honda's less publicized world premieres at the 42nd edition of the Tokyo Motor Show could well very turn out to be the most interesting. We're talking about the new N Concept 4 which is a follow up to the EV-N study that was displayed at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show.

The new N Concept 4 has not only veered closer to production in styling but it will actually go on sale next year. The announcement was made by Sho Minekawa, who is the Managing Officer and CEO for Honda Regional Sales Operations in Japan, during the company's presentation in Tokyo.

"As a part of the N Series, a new model based on N Concept 3 will be introduced to the market in spring 2012, followed by the introduction of another model based on N Concept 4 in fall 2012," said Minekawa. "With that, we will strive to increase our mini-vehicle sales to 280,000 units, which would double the sales of 2011," he added.

The N Concept 4 will be based on the running gear of Honda's new Kei-class N Box tall city car, which also made its world premiere in Tokyo but more on that later.

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Auto Couture: Fashions Designers get Creative with Recycled Lexus CT 200h Hybrid Parts


Lexus has bridged the worlds of cars and high-end fashion with a new project that challenged four fashion designers to create unique clothing pieces and accessories from more than 2,000 individual parts of a completely dismantled CT 200 hybrid hatchback for an advertising campaign that will appear in the January 2012 issue of Vogue magazine. Read more »

Live Photos of the New Toyota Aqua or Prius C from the Tokyo Motor Show


Apparently, the Prius nameplate isn't as strong in Toyota's home market of Japan as it is in the rest of the world as what we will come to know as the new Prius C will be marketed locally as the Aqua.

Besides the name, there's nothing else different about the Aqua that made its world premiere this week at the 42nd edition of the bi-annual Tokyo Motor Show in Japan.

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NISMO Adds Some Zing to Nissan Leaf EV with New Concept at Tokyo Motor Show


This has been a rough year for Japanese automakers but if there's one company from the Land of the Rising Sun that's showing a lot of potential, that would be Nissan - be that with its quirky looking Juke crossover, the pure electric Leaf or the tarmac-shredding GT-R sports car.

Perhaps the most important news coming from Nissan at the Tokyo Motor Show is the company's decision to heavily invest in its performance arm NISMO and expand its offerings to include more focused editions of Nissan's mainstream models.

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Tokyo Motor Show: New Isuzu D-MAX Pickup Truck


These have been challenging times for Isuzu but the Japanese company is still holding on with its light commercial and truck offerings.

At this week's Tokyo Motor Show, Isuzu presented the Japanese premiere of its new 2012 Isuzu D-MAX mid-size pickup truck that was developed in collaboration with General Motors.

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Audi to Build Second Plant in China for Production of the Next A3


The country with the most car brands and factories in the world just agreed to let Audi to open another plant. Audi made the announcement today stating that FAW-VW, the VW Group's current Chinese operation, will set up a new plant in Foshan for the production of the next generation of the A3.

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