The fate of the Toyota FT-86 Sports Car hangs in the balance as Toyota has decided to postpone the production and launch of the vehicle for another two years. The exact reason is not yet known but the speculation is that Toyota is not happy with the concept designs.

Also, if Toyota goes ahead with the production and unveils the car by next year, the financial scenario will not be ideal and hence it cold result in poor sales.

Toyota had plans to team up with Subaru a couple of years back but then again, the economic situations made Toyota put the project on hold. Toyota still went ahead with the production in 2009 and even unveiled a concept at the Toyota Motor Show in the same year. Now again, the design has been rejected and the hopefuls will probably have to hang around for a couple of years.

We want Toyota .. we want!

Source: Alex Ion

There is good news for the lovers of the benchmark MINI as there is further scope for the expansion of the lineage as the Beachcomber concept that was showcased at the 2010 North American International Auto Show might be headed to the production facility. For the records, the concept was a preview of the Countryman Crossover and it featured removable doors and a canvas roof. While the production isn’t a 100% certainty at the moment, the enthusiast are still hopeful as MINI’s Global Brand Manager Dr. Wolfgang Armbrecht has mentioned that they need to assess the business basis for this specific MINI model.

Source: Alex Ion

The F1 fanatics were treated with a race of their lives as Lewis Hamilton managed to win the seventh edition of the 2010 GP in Istanbul. It was a dramatic finish to a race where team Red Bull almost managed to clinch both the top spots, but sadly a clash between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel saw Hamilton take the advantage.

Mark Webber who appeared to be the culprit behind the collision managed to finish third, as he left his team-mate Vettel in a furious state after the race. Even team boss Christian Horner was angry at both drivers as he stressed on the need of the drivers giving each other room and none of the two sadly yielded.

Lewis was followed by team-mate Button on the podium and Mercedes GP driver Michael Schumacher grabbed the fourth spot.

Source: Alex Ion

Nico Rosberg, the Mercedes F1 Driver, is one freak as he avoids staying at hotels in Turkey for the Istanbul GP edition by lodging in his motor home, but the F1 driver has decided it is his last stay at the motor home in Turkey.

Nico was noticeably frustrated by the Turkish traffic and the transporting charges which he thought were too high compared to the benefits he gained by brining in his personal commuter home to Turkey. Nico openly quipped that it is ‘definitely’ the last time he has endeavored to do it.

Considering his reasons, we believe he has taken the right decisions.

Source: Alex Ion

The premium unit of German brand Volkswagen, Audi is famous for its unmatched interiors and not just us, but even GM seems conscious of this fact. GM’s Vice President of Global Engineering, Karl Stracke is the one who has gone public with his viewpoints regarding the Audi interiors quality. As per Karl, GM is fast-improving the quality of its interiors but it is still to meet the benchmark set by Audi. Karl mentioned that he recently drove the Corvette Grand Sport and he did like the performance but what did not convince him were the interiors. GM is putting in serious efforts to improve the quality of interiors and the company has recently started a program that lets the company engineers test competitor’s products every Friday at the Milford Proving Grounds.

Source: Alex Ion

The next edition of the Range Rover SUV will feature an upgraded engine as per a letter received by some German dealerships. The current model lineage is powered by a 3.6-liter V8 variant, however the 2011 model will feature a more powerful 4.4-liter V8 turbodiesel option. The better engine incorporation will make the Range Rover a more expensive vehicle in 2011 as it will be priced at €88,900, €3,000 more than the current generation model. The official press release of the 2011 Range Rover will be held on June 17 this year while in July, Range Rover will be celebrating its 40 years of existence, following which the sales will begin in October this year.

Source: Alex Ion

Toyota hasn’t been able to heave a sigh of relief after a flaw was discovered in the acceleration pedals of a number of Toyota models. Toyota first staged a heavy recall to get rid of the sticky gas pedals and thought that it might satiate the complaining NHTSA.

Toyota even paid $16.4 million fine for this mistake of theirs, but despite the ‘corrections,’ matters are only getting worse for the Japanese giant. NHTSA that reported 52 casualties because of the sticky gas pedals is now investigating 71 more crashes that led to fatalities. NHTSA has been notified of a total of 6,200 cases with 2,600 reports filed since March this year.

Out of these 2,600 cases, 100 consumers reported the problem after Toyota claimed to have rectified it.

Source: Alex Ion

The popularity of mainstream electric cars is on the rise and a good example is the soaring demand for the Nissan electric vehicle LEAF. Nissan has decided to produce 12,000 LEAF models for the year 2010 and in US alone, the number of bookings is 13,000. Add to this, the 6,000 LEAF models booked in Japan and this implies that the LEAF has been sold out in the US for this year. This is one of the first green commuters that has the potential to go mainstream unlike the Toyota Prius which was too heavily priced for a layman. The LEAF features an 80kW electric motor and it is powered by laminated lithium-ion batteries that give the green automobile a 99mile range on a single charge.

Source: Alex Ion

BMW is thinking more seriously about the safety of its cars and the passengers in cases of a collision, hence why they have resorted to anticipatory assistance systems.

Once such technology is preventive brake intervention and the German premium automobile manufacturer has successfully crash tested this system on the new 5 series (530d) model in collaboration with DEKRA. The intervention of this technology helps a 64km/h impact reduce to 40km/h as the automobile senses danger and applies automatic brakes not waiting for the driver to respond in such cases. The car’s advanced sensors first sense a probable collision and issue a warning to the driver and then the automatic brakes kick in. This may impress NCAP but what is ironical is that NCAP crash tests cars without applying the brakes.

Source: Alex Ion

There is some real good news for the American premium car enthusiasts as Mercedes-Benz US detailed their plans to expand the B-Class and the C-Class lineage beyond the existing range.

The move is seen as a step to compete with other premium brands in the US which offer a wide variety of commuters for each of their lineage unlike Mercedes Benz. The CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, Ernst Lieb mentioned that the C-Class will get a coupe version as early as next year to compete with the BMW 3 Series. Sometime later in the future, the C-Class will also get a sedan, a convertible and even an estate wagon. As far as the B-Class is concerned, the expansion will begin in 2012 which will again include a coupe, a convertible and a sedan. The B-Class expansion will be a move to target the likes of the BMW X1 and the Audi Q3.

Source: Alex Ion