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Toyota says quake-hit plants escape major structural damage

Toyota Motor Corp. has released the first damage report for its northern Japanese factories in the region hammered by Friday's massive earthquake, saying some equipment and fixtures will need repairs but that the plants sustained no major structural harm. For days after the quake, Toyota had trouble contacting it plants in the northern Japan quake zone, making it difficult to assess their status.

Fitness-focused autonomous vehicle pedals to victory in Interior Motives Design Awards

Earlier tonight, on the eve of the first Paris Motor Show press day, the world's top designers and automotive journalists assembled at L'Espace Clacquesin in Paris to witness sponsors Ford and Volkswagen announce the 2014 Interior Motives Student Design of the Year: ‘Life Cycle' by Jason Chen and Dirk Wan of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, USA. Launched in January of this year and themed ‘Beyond Styling: a Design for Life', the competition asked students to create projects around three diverse but specific briefs: ‘Beyond Autonomous', which posed the question of what would happen if we were to combine the latest developments in computing and robotics with automobile design; ‘An Interior for Life', in which students were asked to focus on one feature or element of a car's interior and adapt it for dual use in a user's ordinary life; and ‘Pickup Truck of 2030', which challenged the young designers to extrapolate what the future might hold for this popular and versatile mode of transport. This year's contest attracted more than 200 entries from students based at 57 schools in 24 different countries.

Spyker stretches the C8 Laviolette to make the Spyker C8 Aileron

But those problems faded last year when Spyker got solid investment from a Russian banker. Which means Spyker can once more push forward after a period of struggle, although what impact the crisis engulfing the car market in general will have is anybody’s guess. Spyker C8 Aileron - a stretched C8 Laviolette We had half expected the story at Geneva for Spyker to be the reveal of the Spyker SUV – the Spyker D12 Peking-Paris – in something close to production ready state.