Toyota hands over small-car development to its European unit

Toyota Motor Corp.'s European division next month will take charge of global product planning for small cars as the Japanese automaker expands model research and development in the region. The change, announced Dec. 17, means that Toyota will count on Europe to develop future products in the minicar, subcompact and compact segments, something that Ford Motor Co.

Elemental RP1 track-focused sports car revealed

The Elemental RP1 revealed ahead of Goodwood FoS At the beginning of the month we ran a tease from a new start-up car maker teasing their track-focused sports car – the Elemental RP1 – and now, ahead of its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this week, Elemental have done the full reveal of the RP1. Due to be ready to sell by this time next year, Elemental bravely proclaim the RP1 as previewing a new generation of world class British sports cars, and the spec does at least offer more than a hollow promise, fingers crossed and lots of hype. Based on a lightweight carbon and aluminium tub wrapped in body panels to fully enclose the underpinnings, has double wishbone suspension with inboard Eibach springs and Nitron dampers, 4-pot Caparo calipers and 17″ alloys.

Ford of Europe turnaround plan 'on track'

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 25 June 2014 14:52 Ford of Europe will stem its huge 10-figure losses and return to profitability in 2015, president Stephen Odell vowed this week. Talking to CAR at the global launch of the Ford Edge in Cologne, Germany, Odell vowed that heavy losses would be reversed by the sweeping Ford of Europe turnaround plan whose fruits would be borne over the next 12 months. Ford lost $1.6 billion in Europe in 2013 - the third straight year of red ink flooding the region.