Toyota Auris Touring Sports goes in to production

The Toyota Auris Touring Sports has gone in to production   We’ve had the debut of the Toyota Auris Sports Touring, we know the specs, and we know how much the Auris Estate will cost. And now Toyota has started production of the first full hybrid estate car in its sector. The first Auris Touring Sports rolled off the production line at Toyota’s Burnaston Plant on Thursday – a white car, predictably – with the Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, and Toyota’s European CEO, Didier Leroy, on hand to welcome the Touring Sports to European roads.

It looks like Aston Martin could be getting AMG/Mercedes platforms too

Mercedes/AMG platforms would make the Lagonda SUV a reality We’d been expecting Aston Martin to get access to Mercedes platforms ever since the Lagonda SUV – based on the underpinnings of the Mercedes GL - arrived in all its ‘beauty’ in 2009. The Lagonda SUV was met with wails of anguish from lovers of Aston Martin’s timeless beauty but, despite the horror at the looks of the SUV, the prospect that Aston Martin could be heading down a collaboration route with Mercedes was welcome. It was welcome because without the support of a major car maker – and access to its technology – Aston Martin would have little chance of a bright future; there is no way a minnow like Aston Martin could afford the development cost of new engines and platforms.

Citroen DS X7 SUV going in to production in 2014

The Citroen DS Wild Rubis (pictured) is going in to production as the Citroen DS X7 At the Shanghai Motor Show earlier this year, Citroen debuted the DS Wild Rubis Concept as a full-sized SUV concept which looked like it was heading for production. And now Citroen has confirmed it is. The new Citroen DS X7 will go in to production in China late in 2014 and be sold under the Changan-PSA joint venture with underpinnings based on the Citroen DS5.