04 05 06 Scion Xb Compact Spare on 2040-parts.com

Toyota gives paralyzed bride a mobility van

In the 14 months after bride-to-be Rachelle Friedman took a paralyzing fall at her bachelorette party, she'd become pretty dependent on her wheelchair-accessible loaner van. Little did she know that Toyota planned to hand one over as a gift for her wedding--postponed until this week in Raleigh, N.C. Toyota and Braun--a manufacturer for wheelchair-accessible van conversions--had lent Friedman and her fianc

Used car sales hit record high

USED CAR SALES were at their highest in five years in 2013. There was a 0.9% increase in used car trades, with more than 6.8 million exchanges of ownership recorded, though this is still some way behind the previous record high of 7.8 million used car sales in 2008. Analysis from Experian shows cars aged nine years old or over were among the strongest performers in the used car market, with sales up 6% in 2013 compared to the previous year.

Brazilian students develop soapbox racers for Volkswagen

Brazilian design students have competed for year-long internships at Volkswagen's Brazilian design studio by designing – and racing – soapbox cars. Established 15 years ago by Volkswagen South America design director Luiz Veiga, the Volkswagen Design Talent Contest refreshed its format for 2013 by challenging students to develop a prototype for a gravity-powered soapbox racer instead of asking for sketch and render-based proposals. According to Veiga, Volkswagen was looking for someone "capable of working away from the desk and able to create design solutions, assess and build them".