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Toyota Yaris, 2012: New look, price for subcompact, siblings

The 2012 Toyota Yaris sub-compact, redesigned for 2012, will have a base price of $14,115 for the L grade three-door liftback with a five-speed manual transmission and increase to $17,200 for the SE grade five-door liftback with a four-speed automatic transmission. Prices for the 2012 Yaris will begin with the start of production on August 31 and new prices for 2012 Tundra full-size pickup truck, Sequoia large sport utility vehicle (SUV) and Sienna van will begin in the same time frame. The 2012 Sequoia adds an extra measure of towing safety with the addition of a Trailer Sway Control system as standard equipment.  In addition, a new Blind Spot  Monitor is standard on the Sequoia Platinum grade. The interior of

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Ford invests $900 million, seeks to challenge Maruti Suzuki

Ford has taken direct financial aim at the quickly expanding Indian auto market dominated Maruti Suzuki by announcing plans to build a $900 million production plant in Sanand, the same city in which the Tata Nano is built. Maruti Suzuki currently leads India car sales with about 45 percent followed by Hyundai (18 percent), Tata (13 percent) and Mahindra & Mahindra (6 percent). Ford‘s planned factory in Sanand, in the business-friendly western state of Gujarat, will be operational by 2014 and employ 5,000 people, according to Ford. With initial annual capacity of 240,000 vehicles, the plant will bring Ford‘s total capacity in India to 600,000. It will reduce the cost of getting vehicles to domestic market and give the company

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Yugo endures as endearing, worst car ever made

The legend of the Yugo, the Yugoslavian-built mini sedan often cited as the worst car in history, lives on. Jonathan Welsh, writing in revolving automotive blog Driver’s Seat in The Wall Street Journal, contributed a recent piece about the Yugo. The author noticed 1987 Yugo on the street and it triggered thoughts of a college friend who owned one of the early versions of the cheap car. Welsh’s bog is critical of the car, yes. But it’s also endearing, an homage to the dubious history of the now infamous car. In one paragraph, Welsh writes: “Its tan interior was sleek and uncluttered, a bit like a minimalist art exhibit. The car gained minor fame for its amazingly low sticker price

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Ford, Volkswagen cooperating with feds on safety concerns

Ford and Volkswagen are cooperating with safety regulators conducting preliminary investigations into issues with two of the manufacturers’ most popular vehicles, the Mustang and Jetta. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is examining the Ford Mustang for possible manual transmissions for possible shifting problems and diesel Volkswagen Jetta sedans for possible fuel leaks. Spokesmen for both automakers said they were not aware of any accidents or injuries related to the issues. A preliminary investigation is the first step in a process that could lead to a recall if regulators determine a manufacturer needs to address a safety issue. The NHTSA reported it opened a preliminary investigation into an estimated 26,000 Ford Mustangs from model years 2011-2012 over potential problems with

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Honda, Toyota again top U.S. top 10 most stolen car list

In its yearly report called “Hot Wheels,” the 1994 Honda Accord was the most stolen car in the country in 2010, following by the 1995 Civic and the 1991 Toyota Camry. Hot Wheels is the only report that examines all theft data without regard to a vehicle’s insured status thereby providing a more complete view of the vehicle theft landscape. For example, certain models of older cars and trucks are popular with thieves because of the value of their parts — but many are not insured against theft. Whereas newer, more expensive and insured vehicles are often stolen to be resold intact with counterfeit vehicle identification numbers or shipped out of the country. Overall, vehicle thefts continue their decline. Preliminary

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California gets dubious car honor — most stolen vehicles

California has it charms — beaches to quaint cities to redwood tree forests. But it also has the dubious honor — the most car thefts of any state in the country. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) released its annual list of cities with the most car thefts, and Fresno, Calif., tops the list. In fact, eight cities in the top 10 are in California, with the remaining two in Washington state. Following Fresno on the list are Modesto and Bakersfield with Sacramento Stockton and the area including San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont also on the list. Spokane, Wash., was No. 4 among on the top-theft list, while Los Angeles surprisingly was No. 23. The NICB calculated rates of car

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President Obama: New automotive decree: 54.5 mpg by 2025

President Obama has announced a proposal with the backing of car manufacturers from General Motors to Ford and Hyundai to Toyota to improve the fuel efficiency of vehicles to 54.5 mpg by and substantially reduce green house gas emissions by 2025. Chrysler, BMW, Honda, Jaguar/Land Rover, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Volvo also approve the plan, which means it will affect more that 90 percent of all vehicles sold in the United States. The announcement extends a 2009 agreement with the auto industry to improve fuel efficiency in the next five years. Fuel efficiency is currently controlled by the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) within the Department of Transportation, which was enacted by Congress in 1975 in response to the

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Driving the Tour de France: Country roads in my Renault

ST. FLOUR, France — The Tour de France Road Book, distributed to the media at the start of the race, features the history of each starting and finish city, extensive maps how to get from the start to the finish each day and a wealth of other details about the race. It’s difficult to maneuver around France during the race with the book, and I suspect nearly impossible to do without the book. Direct and indirect route options are provided for each stage, with the direct option usually the route of course. It’s sometimes longer but quicker. But the off-course route is often the proper choice, if seeing the course isn’t necessary. It avoids the race course, massive crowds, and

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Driving the Tour de France, July 3: Many cars, few cyclists

LES ESSARTS, France — Beyond the starting field of 198 cyclists, the moving caravan that is the Tour de France includes thousands of cars, trucks, motorhomes, motorcycles, team buses and wacky sponsors’ vehicles, some of which defy description. As one of the race publicist’s said in only the way a French person can say it when they speak English: “We didn’t think it would be possible to have 4,000 vehicles everyday following what 200 cyclists do.” In addition to about five vehicles per team, the Tour de France has 1,200 cars registered with media credentials and another 1,200 VIP, race officials, sponsors and technicians’ vehicles. There are 47 officers of the Republican Guard and 13 other policemen at the end

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Driving the Tour de France, July 2: Credentials and car stickers

LES HERBIERS, France — The journey to the opening day of the Tour de France Media Center (Salle de Presse) is always an unknown. It’s the “chicken-before-the-egg” scenario of cycling’s grand affair. Without a credential you can’t enter the media center and without a press sticker you can’t enter the media parking area to get your press pass. In some years, I’ve had to park a mile away, talk my way into the facility, acquire my car stickers, walk back to the car, attach the stickers and then drive into the media parking area. None of that occurred this year, which I’m taking as a good omen for the race. The drive from Nantes was only about an hour and

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Tesla pulls plug on pricey Roadster, focus shifts to sedan

The Tesla Roadster electric car can now be considered a collectors’ car. The much-touted California start-up manufacturer has announced it will stop taking orders for the $109,000 vehicle at the end of July 2011. The reason: The Telsa Roadster didn’t sell particularly well. Further, the innovative company is focusing on its less expensive Model S electric car, a four-door sedan. Now in version 2.5, the Tesla Roadster is a two-seat coupe. It’s fast (3.7 seconds, 0-60 mph), features a carbon-fiber body designed by Lotus, and a 245-mile-rated range. Powered by a liquid-cooled battery pack made up of 6,831 lithium ion cells (similar to those found in laptop computers), the Tesla Roadster delivers 295 lb-ft of torque and has an electronically

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Cars2 stalls in warm-up with motor running for start (video)

It’s taken five years, barrels full of money, expensive voice-over talent and a massive amount of publicity, but Cars2, the sequel to the massively popular 2006 original, debuts June 24. Owen Wilson and Michael Caine, among other famed actors and actresses, minus decease Paul Newman, return. But unlike the first film, which received two Academy Award nominations, and was universally praised, the current has been highly criticized in pre-public release reviews. Time magazine’s reviewer, for example, said, “its premise is a lemon.” In Cars2, Lightning McQueen, the main character is on the road in an international spy caper. He teams with his pal Mater, the tow truck, to compete with the world’s fastest cars in the World Grand Prix. Detours

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Auto show models: Pretty, smart and Sirens of Chrome

As much as the new cars on display, so are the models hired by manufacturers to help showcase the automobiles to the largely male audiences attending car shows around the globe. Once just pretty women, auto show models now know their car stuff. Which, of course, makes them even more attractive. Margery Krevsky, co-founder of the Productions Plus agency in 1981, became one of the major booking agents for auto show models. She’s now the author of the book Sirens of Chrome. The 192-page volume (ISBN 1-879094-84-3, Momentum Books, $24.95) chronicles the history of the “human hood ornaments” from 1900 to now. The book details: “These human hood ornaments and walking encyclopedias of fuel-economy and towing-capacity specifications are descendants of

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Hyundai, Toyota, Honda, Ford get best used cars honors

Hyundai keeps reaping praise. Edmunds.com, the respected California-based automotive web site, has selected two Hyundai models on its list of the top-15 recommended used cars since 2004. Hyundai, Ford, Honda and Toyota all had two models on the list, with the Hyundai Elantra selected as the best used sub-compact and the Hyundai Azera chosen as the best used large sedan. “With used car prices still soaring, it’s important for consumers to have expert guidance to get the best value,” said Scott Oldham, editor in chief of Edmunds.com. “By taking into consideration a range of factors from consumer ratings to NHTSA crash safety tests, to True Cost to Own metrics, these cars are the most attractive options in the used car

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Mazda recalls half-million Mazda3 models for faulty wipers

Mazda is recalling nearly a half-million Mazda3 (the Mazda Axela in some countries) globally to fix an electronic malfunction that could prevent the windshield wipers from working properly. Mazda said no accidents were reported, but 29 failure complaints were received by the manufacturer. The recall covers cars and knock-down parts for the Mazda3 that were shipped between Jan. 2008 and Jul. 2010. It affects 157,700 units in North America, 91,600 in Europe, 84,000 in China and about 20,000 in Japan. The Mazda3 was introduced in 2004 and the second generation was announced for the 2010 model year. The same problem plagues the Mazda3 and Mazda3 MPS models produced between January 7, 2008 and December 22, 2008. According to the company

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TheWeeklyDriver.com now featured on www.alltop.com

Auto enthusiasts likely already have their favorite sites bookmarked, and theweeklydriver.com hopes it continues to find a growing audience among the vast array of car sites. No other site does for the automotive industry what www.alltop.com does . . . it aggregates all the auto sites (and sites on almost any topic) and cleanly organizes the offerings into clear, easy-to-follow feeds. If you’re going to bookmark one auto site make in www.alltop.com We just received word that theweeklydriver.com is now part of the great aggregation site’s impressive auto section. We’re pretty jazzed about it. We fancy our site, but the section has dozens of other car sites — the major companies to a good supply of niche auto sites with

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