No sign of global auto meltdown at Tokyo Auto Salon

With more than 600 cars on display and a record number of exhibitors, nothing at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon tuner show hinted at the global economic downturn. As always, there was a great mix of styles, from hard-core, 1,000-hp, supertuned machinery to weird customized scooter tricycles. Auto manufacturers tried hard to capture the minds--if not the wallets--of the younger-than-30 crowd with customized versions of production cars, while tuners were busy persuading power junkies to choose them for their next engine modification.

OFFICIAL: BMW M4 Concept

The BMW M4 Concept (pictured) has been revealed The BMW M4 heading towards Pebble Beach this weekend (and pictured above) is billed by BMW as the M4 Concept, but it’s almost exactly what you’ll get when the M4 goes on sale in 2014. As this is a ‘Concept’ BMW don’t feel the need to fill in all the details, but there’s some stuff we can see and some stuff we pretty much know. The stuff we can see includes the same CFRP roof the old M3 Coupe got (in this case titivated with BMW M colours) and CFRP for the splitter and diffuser.

Ford and GM tie-in with Apple

Having established a relationship with Nike for recycling materials as demonstrated on the Ford Reflex concept, Ford has now joined GM in collaborating with Apple to ensure their cars are iPod compatible. Rather than the retrofitted wire many drivers have had to resort to, cars will offer a bespoke area in the glove compartment that also acts as a charging point, the iPod instead controlled through the car?s GUI. By the end of the year, 70% of all new models sold in America are expected to be iPod compatible, an arrangement that furthers Apple?s continuing domination of the MP3-player market and one that will introduce Apple to the car-computer market, anticipated to be worth $6billion by 2010.