Mitsubishi closes California design studio

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. closed its design studio in Cypress, CA last Thursday – just one month shy of its 25th anniversary. A result of the recent downturn in the global economy, the closure of the facility will eliminate 33 design positions as part of a personnel cull that has seen 60 people within the automaker's US operations lose their jobs.

Subaru BRZ: First official BRZ picture

Subaru BRZ - First Photo Released We’ve had a raft of images of the Toyota FT-86 in the last week or two, but very little on its Subaru sibling – the Subaru BRZ. But now, with the Tokyo Motor Show and the official debut of the BRZ (and the FT-86) looming, we have the first photo of the Subaru offering in the Toybaru project. Developed by Subaru and Toyota – with, it seems, Subaru doing the oily bits and Toyota the styling – the ‘affordable’ sports car from Japan does seem to be a tempting offering.

Jenson Button drives the McLaren P1 up the Goodwood hillclimb (video) UPDATED

Jenson Button drives the McLaren P1 (pictured at Goodwood) up the hillclimb Update: We’ve added an extra video of the McLaren P1 going up the hillclimb that shows more of the actual run (below) It’s all Goodwood FoS this weekend – hardly surprising – and now we have video of the McLaren P1 in action up the hillclimb. McLaren roped in their F1 star, Jenson Button, to get behind the wheel of the P1 for its debut on the Goodwood hillclimb, but we get more of the Jenson talking head than we do of the P1 in action. Still, Jenson’s an affable and entertaining chap, and we learn that his daily driver is currently a company car – the McLaren 12C Spider – which he keeps in his garage in Monaco.