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#26
03-02-2010, 12:40 AM
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Mazda to launch special 20th Anniversary MX-5 Miata in Geneva
Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Geneva Motor Show, Japan, Mazda  Twenty years of motoring goodness - click above for high-res image Twenty years. Can you believe it's been two decades since we first heard the Japanese phrase Jinba ittai (meaning "rider and the horse are one")? To catch you up, way back in 1976, some Mazda engineers asked American auto journalist Bob Hall what they should build next. Mr Hall, who later wound up working for Mazda, mentioned the bugs-in-the-teeth British roadsters that every gearhead both loved and loathed. Their reputation as great driver's cars was only preceded by their rep for breaking down and stranding you on the side of the road. If Mazda could engineer a tight, compact, great-handling roadster that didn't dump all its fluids every other Wednesday, they'd surely have a hit. Back at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show, the world met the MX-5, much, much better known as the Miata. Since then, nearly 1,000,000 Miatas have been built, with just under 400,000 of them getting snatched up by American consumers. In other words, the Miata gambit worked. To commemorate twenty years of building such great sports cars, Mazda will be introducing a 20th Anniversary Limited Edition MX-5 Miata at next month's Geneva Motor Show. Pay special attention to the "Limited" part of the name, as only 2,000 anniversary cars will be built, and they'll only be available in Europe. One reason for the latter might be that the 20th Anniversary cars are based on the smaller displacement 1.8-liter car, a version of the Miata not sold in the States, or it could be that we may get our own commemorative edition to be announced at a later date. Like most anniversary packages (see the big four-oh Nissan Z), nothing too exciting is happening to this Miata. There is, of course, the requisite numbered plaque. There's a chrome grille surround, chrome door-handles and chrome headlight surrounds. You also get "silver-look" fog light surrounds, plus special 17-inch wheels with "20th Anniversary" logos. The 20th Anniversary cars are available only in red, white or a new Aurora Blue, which we find rather sharp looking. And lest you think Mazda's not tossing a bone to performance enthusiasts, the car comes with a strut-tower brace. Gallery: 20th Anniversary Mazda MX-5 Miata  [Source: Mazda] Mazda to launch special 20th Anniversary MX-5 Miata in Geneva originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Commentsأكثر... 
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#27
03-02-2010, 04:21 AM
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LaHood: Getting Toyota to recall took "enormous effort," calls automaker "a little safety deaf"
Filed under: Government/Legal, Japan, Recalls, Toyota  Man, when it rains, it absolutely pours. Especially if you're a carmaker called Toyota and are already embroiled in a credibility-killing (and sales-smothering) gas pedal recall plus another for defective floor mats. According to the Detroit Free Press, none other than U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has absolutely blasted the Japanese giant, calling it "a little safety deaf" and noting he was upset that NHTSA officials had to fly to Japan "to remind Toyota management about its legal obligations." That's just the tip of the spear stuff, too. Check out the shaft: To paraphrase L.A. Confidential's Captain Dudley Smith, we wouldn't trade places with Toyota right now for all the whiskey in Ireland. Still, we find the timing of Secretary LaHood's comments a little odd. Here's what we mean: the NHTSA official that flew to Japan to verbally beat on Toyota did so in December. And while Toyota seems to have behaved badly at first, the company has found an unobjectionable solution (according to the safety agency) to its gas pedal problem. So, why whip on 'em today? Could it have something to do with next week's Congressional inquiry scheduled to begin on February 10? We'd wager yes.  [Source: Detroit Free Press | Image: Alex Wong/Getty Images] LaHood: Getting Toyota to recall took "enormous effort," calls automaker "a little safety deaf" originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Commentsأكثر...
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#28
03-02-2010, 08:50 PM
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Review: 2010 Lexus IS 350C F-Sport is a mixed, expensive bag
Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Japan, Lexus, Reviews, Luxury  2010 Lexus IS 350C F-Sport - Click above for high-res image gallery When Toyota launched Lexus in 1989, it had one goal in mind: Beat the Germans at the luxury game. And for a while, at least, they did exactly that. The LS400 didn't change everything, but it manifested a shift in the luxury paradigm. However, the LS400 was at the top of the heap, competing against the mighty S-Class from Mercedes-Benz and the 7 Series from BMW (Audi and Cadillac were both in their basket case phase and not really competing with anyone). Towards the bottom of the luxury pile sat the Lexus ES 250. Despite being the nicest Camry ever built, it was most definitely Glass Joe to the BMW 3 Series' Mike Tyson in the entry level luxury/performance punch out. After more than a decade, Lexus eventually realized that no matter how refined it made the front-wheel-drive, Camry-based ES lineup, it simply couldn't compete with the sportiness inherent to the rear-wheel-driven 3 Series. As such, it introduced the sporty IS 300 in 2001. While the IS featured some killer features - chronograph style gauges, pop-up navigation screen, manual transmission, a wagon body style and sporty dynamics - its rear seat was so tiny it got classified as a subcompact. Despite some fans, it just wasn't in the same league as the 3 Series, and as you might expect, sales remained lackluster in the U.S. Finally, in 2006 Lexus launched the current generation IS. Available with a 2.5-liter (IS 250) or 3.5-liter (IS 350) V6, the second-generation IS became the first Lexus product that could credibly compete with BMW's dominant 3 Series, as well as the surging Infiniti G35. Then came the hopped-up IS-F, with a 5.0-liter V8 that cranked out 416 horsepower, two ponies more than the 414-hp V8 motor in the M3. Lexus need not make any excuses for the brute IS-F. While Lexus continues to shy away from the full-fledged 3 Series battle royal by not bringing out a two-door or a wagon, it has released a hardtop convertible variant called the IS 350C. We got our hands on a nearly murdered-out variant, the IS 350C F-Sport. Our thoughts and impressions are available after the jump. Photos by Drew Phillips / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc. Continue reading Review: 2010 Lexus IS 350C F-Sport is a mixed, expensive bag Review: 2010 Lexus IS 350C F-Sport is a mixed, expensive bag originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Commentsأكثر...
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#29
05-02-2010, 05:10 PM
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Toyota President apologizes... again, calls situation a "crisis"
Filed under: Japan, Recalls, Toyota  Fifteen days after Toyota announced a recall of 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. for sticking accelerator pedals, the company's president and grandson of its founder made a formal apology at an evening news conference in Japan on Friday night (early morning EST). Akio Toyoda has been largely silent during the last two weeks as his company struggles to contain the fallout from recalls affecting over nine million vehicles on multiple continents. The only other time he's spoken on record was during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last Friday when he told a Japanese interviewer, "I am deeply sorry." What's the reason for today's remarks? Toyoda told the audience of press, ""I came out here today because I would not want our customers to spend the weekend wondering whether their cars are safe." The company president also announced that a committee would be created to look at Toyota's quality issues and address them going forward, something his predecessor, Katsuake Watanabe, also did back in 2006. Finally, in regards to braking issues with the 2010 Prius revealed yesterday, Toyoda said the company would soon announce how it plans to address them. Despite reports coming out of Japan to the contrary, there has been no official confirmation from Toyota that the new Prius will be recalled. Both the Japanese and U.S. governments have also opened investigations on the Prius and Toyota has pledged its cooperation. We also learned yesterday of brake issues in the Ford Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan Hybrid after Consumer Reports experienced a sudden loss of braking power in a Fusion Hybrid and contacted the automaker. The issue sounds similar to what some owners are experiencing in the 2010 Prius, though we've only heard of this one instance and Ford has already responded with a TSB to repair the issue with a software upgrade. [Source: The New York Times | Image: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty] Toyota President apologizes... again, calls situation a "crisis" originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Commentsأكثر...
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#30
10-02-2010, 01:40 AM
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Toyota President Akio Toyoda pens op-ed piece for Washington Post
Filed under: Japan, Recalls, Toyota  Oh, what a terrible feeling it must have been when Toyota's president, Akio Toyoda, had to sit down and write out this here mea culpa, mia maxima culpa for today's Washington Post. As the bad news continues to fall upon Toyota's bruised crown, we imagine that Mr. Toyoda realized that his company had reached the point where continued sound bite apologies (here's another one) isn't doing Toyota all that much good. As such, he put pen to paper and defends the Japanese giant in long format. Maybe we could use a more charitable word than "defends." For Toyoda does take responsibility (in writing, at any rate) for Toyota's unintended failings and accelerating recalls. Says Mr. Toyoda, "We have not lived up to the high standards you have come to expect from us. I am deeply disappointed by that and apologize. As the president of Toyota, I take personal responsibility." Not a bad place to start from, we think. Toyoda then goes on to explain about the Toyota's fabled andon cord. An andon cord is an alarm that any line worker at any Toyota plant can pull when there's trouble on the production line. Meaning that Toyota takes its vehicles's quality so seriously, that even the dude screwing in the ashtray (or whatever) can shut down production for the entire for an entire plant. Quote Mr. Toyoda, "Two weeks ago, I pulled the andon cord for our company." That's in reference to his decision to cease production of eight Toyota models. He then goes on and explains what Toyota is doing to prevent things like ThrottleGate from happening in the future, starting with a "top-to-bottom review" of Toyota's global operations. Toyota will also be establishing the Automotive Center of Quality Excellence, essentially an engineering and quality clearinghouse. Toyota will also be putting together a "blue-ribbon safety advisory group" comprised of non-Toyota quality management experts to periodically review Toyota's business practices. The group's findings - and Toyota's response to those findings - will be made public. Lastly, Mr. Toyoda acknowledges that Toyota needs to investigate complaints from consumers more quickly. To that last bit we say, "Gee, ya think?" [Source: Washington Post | Image: Junko Kimura/Getty Images] Toyota President Akio Toyoda pens op-ed piece for Washington Post originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Commentsأكثر...
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