4b0 959 655 Aa Audi A-6 2002 on 2040-parts.com

Ford warms up new era of car-guy leaders

A minor temblor shook Dearborn, Mich., today with the announcement that Mark Fields, president of the Americas, climbed the golden corporate ladder to grab the chief operating officer ring, setting him up to succeed Alan Mulally in a couple of years. The move did not come as a shock-it only confirmed the whispers of auto industry Royal Watchers. The biggest news for those who care about cars, however, is two-fold: Jim Farley, Ford's global marketing boss, also takes the helm of Lincoln.

Toyota sets prices for Baja Series Tacoma

Toyota has released sticker prices for the TRD T/X Baja Series package for the Tacoma pickup. The off-road bits will tack on $5,015 to the sticker of a four-wheel-drive Tacoma, minus the current $650 factory credit. The least expensive version will sticker at $33,800 including shipping charges.

Leno invites Ricardo HyBoost Ford Focus to the garage

Jay Leno invited Tom Apostolos to the garage this week. He’s the president of Ricardo Americas, a tech company partially responsible for the hybrid powerplant on the McLaren P1. Leno and Apostolos talk about hybrids, and how you have to drive them tens of years and hundreds of thousands of miles to get any added value out of them.