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Akio Toyoda waves family flag, heir makes crisis personal challenge

The reclusive Akio Toyoda is taking the rare step of waving the family flag, as the scion to Toyota Motor Corp.’s founding dynasty tries to steer the world’s largest car company out of a spiraling safety crisis. In testimony prepared for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, President Toyoda pursues a rare personal tack on the emergency, saying “my name is on every car.” “As you well know, I am the grandson of the founder, and all the Toyota vehicles bear my name,” Toyoda says in prepared comments circulated ahead of Wednesday’s committee hearing in Washington. “For me, when the cars are damaged, it is as though I am as well.” The intimate reflection is a departure for Toyoda, who has spent most of his career sidestepping public discussion of his lineage.

Japan's concept cars - the craziest of the noughties

By Alex Michaelides Motor Shows 19 August 2009 10:00 Here we are, celebrating the best cars that Japan has produced, but what about the ones it hasn’t? At many motor shows – and particularly ones in its back yard – the Japanese industry serves up some wild concept cars which boggle the brain and tickle the ribs. It’s hardly surprising that few of them hit the mainstream.

Maybach coupe set for limited production

German-based engineering specialist Xenatec has announced plans for an exclusive new Maybach coupe to rival the Bentley Brooklands and the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe. The new two-door, which will ride on the same underpinnings and draw power from the same engine as the Maybach 57S, is planned to be built in a limited run of 100 cars at the company’s workshop in Weinsberg, Germany, all with the blessing of Maybach parent company, Daimler. Daimler has carefully followed the car’s development and will supply built-up 57S chassis from its nearby Sindelfingen-based manufacturing headquarters.