New Supra-like sports car developed with BMW could be in the automaker's future.
Toyota Motor Corp.'s incoming chairman said he wants the sports car the company is developing with BMW to be a midsized vehicle comparable to the discontinued Toyota Supra.
Toyota's next sports car should be like the Supra so that it doesn't overlap with the 86 coupe, Takeshi Uchiyamada said in an interview today in Osaka at a gathering of members of the Keidanren, Japan's biggest business lobbying group.
Still, such decisions are up to engineers, Uchiyamada said.
"That's what I want but it's not me who makes the decision," said Uchiyamada, who's known within Toyota as the "father of the Prius" for his work developing the world's best-selling gasoline-electric car.
Cars from the 2006 and 2007 model years are affected.
Honda is recalling 18,352 cars in the United States to fix weak brakes, the automaker said today.The 2006-2007 Honda S2000 and 2006 Acura RSX have brake boosters that can cause "decreased brake assistance over time" and make it harder for drivers to stop the vehicle. Honda said that it received many warranty claims related to the issue, but that no injuries or accidents were reported.
In total, 5,239 S2000 models and 13,113 RSX models are affected. Dealers will replace the brake booster starting in mid-July. Owners can visit www.recalls.honda.com and www.recalls.acura.com for more details.
On Wednesday, Toyota recalled 242,000 hybrids worldwide to fix weakened brakes due to a cracked pressure accumulator, including about 87,000 in the United States.
[Source: Honda]
BMW, Honda provide motorcycles for study to determine how vehicle-to-vehicle communication can reduce accidents.
One of the most dangerous aspects of riding a motorcycle is not being seen by other motorists in traffic. But using vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, drivers in cars, trucks and buses would be able to know that a motorcycle is nearby -- without ever having to look for or even hear it.
This could go a long way toward lowering the recent rise in motorcycle traffic fatalities, which is why the two-wheel vehicles have been added to the federal government’s massive connected-car field trial currently under way in Ann Arbor, Mich.
For the study, which kicked off in August and involves more than 3,000 vehicles, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is working with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), automakers, technology suppliers and others to determine how V2V as well as vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication can help reduce accidents. At the end of the field trial, NHTSA will determine whether to mandate the technology for new vehicles.
Now two motorcycle manufacturers -- BMW and Honda -- have partnered with UMTRI and Cohda Wireless, which provides communication technology for the project, to take part in the field trial.
Our semiregular roundup of the latest automotive news and musings from around the Web.
Welcome to Exhaust Notes, our self-titled, semiregular roundup of automotive bits and pieces from around the Web.
Unlike other posts on this blog, these are truly notes, but they're worth a few moments of your precious time.
This week, General Motors joins the frenzy of electric-car discounts, Audi gives the scoop on three new diesels, and an old Saab lawsuit against GM is thrown out by a federal judge.
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To do this, MSN Autos has partnered with Motor Trend to create an all-new, immersive online automotive experience that will significantly change the way people look at, talk about and shop for cars – all in one place. Motor Trend content has always been popular on MSN Autos — almost 2 million people read last year’s Motor Trend Car of the Year story alone — so we’re very excited that Motor Trend Web content will be exclusively available on MSN. For 65 years, Motor Trend has set the standard for unbiased, entertaining automotive journalism of the highest quality.
The new site will be called Motor Trend on MSN and will replace the current offerings from MSN Autos and MotorTrend.com. Launching in early 2014, this partnership will pair Motor Trend’s industry-leading expertise with MSN’s massive scale. The result: a powerful, trusted and entertaining autos resource designed to appeal to the automotive shopper as well as the automotive enthusiast.
Automotive-centric feature, unveiled at the World Wide Developers Conference, integrates music, maps, messaging and more from an Apple device into the dash.
After years of influencing automakers to integrate its iPod and iPhone devices into new cars, Apple now wants them to adopt its infotainment system.
At the company's World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday – an annual pilgrimage where Apple devotees learn what products they'll be lining up to buy in a few months – Apple unveiled a vehicle-specific feature to its new iOS 7 mobile operating system.
Korean automaker expects to sell 1,000 fuel-cell crossovers by 2015.
Copenhagen, Denmark, is trying to go “carbon-neutral” by 2025, and it's taken the first step with a delivery of 15 Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cells for its municipal fleet.
How does this help Copenhagen? Well, the car – a European version of the Tucson – is powered exclusively by hydrogen, and the only thing coming out of the tailpipe is water vapor – which Hyundai morbidly pointed out in a commercial mocking suicide. More appropriately, the delivery by Hyundai Motors Europe coincided with the opening of the first hydrogen filling station in Denmark. No mention of the price of hydrogen at said station, though.
During the handover, Byung Kwon Rhim, president of Hyundai Motor Europe, said that hydrogen would be "the fuel of the future for Europe." The company has made ix35s available to European Union policy-makers in Brussels through a program called the EU Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking and wooed 100 European business reps at a special event in Berlin with test drives and product demonstrations. In May, Hyundai signed up with the U.S. Energy Department's H2USA program, which will combine government and industry forces to find ways to promote hydrogen-powered technology.
The 2013 Dodge Dart can stall after startup, and all Coda electric sedans need their side curtain airbags replaced.
Chrysler is recalling 14,800 Dodge Dart sedans to fix sudden stalling, the automaker said Monday evening.The 2013 Dart can stall shortly after being started. In company testing, Chrysler said a Dart stalled after being started in below-freezing temperatures and that Dodge dealers have reported "similar incidents." The recall affects only Dart models equipped with the optional turbocharged 1.4-liter MultiAir engine and dual-clutch automatic transmission. About 12,900 of the cars are in the United States, Chrysler said.
Dealers will reprogram the engine control unit at a later date. Dart owners can call Chrysler at 1-800-853-1403 for more information.
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Contributors
Clifford Atiyeh has spent his entire life driving cars he doesn't own. Raised in Volvos, he has grown to love fast, irresponsible vehicles of all kinds. He is the senior news editor at MSN Autos and also reports for Car and Driver, Road & Track, The Boston Globe and other publications.
In the garage: 21-speed Iron Horse, 2002 Jeep Wrangler X (not his)
Doug Newcomb has covered car technology for over 20 years for outlets ranging from Rolling Stone to Edmunds.com. In 2008, he published his first book, "Car Audio for Dummies" (Wiley). He lives and drives in Hood River, Ore., with his wife and two kids, who share his passion for cars and technology.
In the garage: 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS, two 1984 Chevrolet Blazers, 2008 Honda CR-V
James Tate learned to drive stick at age 13 in a 1988 Land Cruiser - in La Paz, Bolivia. He's since been a mechanic, on a pit crew and has wrenched on every car he's owned since his first 1989 Honda CRX Si (and won't stop until the car is a 1973 Porsche 911 RS). His work has appeared in Car and Driver, Popular Mechanics, Automobile and others.
In the garage: 1995 Porsche 911 Carrera, 1988 BMW M5
About Exhaust Notes
Cars are cool, and here at MSN Autos we love everything about them, but we also know they're more than simply speed and style: a car is an essential tool, a much-needed accessory to help you get through your day-to-day life. What you drive is also one of the most important investments you can make, so we'll help you navigate your way through the car buying and ownership experiences. We strive to be your daily destination for news, notes, tips and tricks from across the automotive world. So whether it's through original content from our world-class journalists or the latest buzz from the far corners of the Web, Exhaust Notes helps you make sense of your automotive world.
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