1978 Ford F250 Custom Pickup Truck Front Seat on 2040-parts.com

Toyota's quake-hit Yaris plant offline for at least another month

Toyota's quake-hammered Miyagi assembly plant, which makes the Yaris small car for export to the United States, is expected to be offline for at least another month. Workers have completed repairs at the factory and restored electricity, but the facility cannot get supplies of natural gas, a person familiar with the situation said. The assessment underscores the long road facing Toyota and other Japanese automakers in bringing plants back into full operation following the deadly quake, which killed more than 11,000 people, ruptured gas lines, shutdown electric grids and snarled logistics across half the country.

2012 BMW M5 revealed in production trim

The wraps have been torn off the fire-breathing 2012 BMW M5. And, as expected, the Bavarian luxury maker is going in a different direction under the hood. BMW is eschewing a naturally aspirated powerplant in the new M5, whose high-revving roots date to the 1980s, in favor of a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 pushing out about 552 hp.

Redesigned Ford Focus expected to get 40 mpg highway

The redesigned 2012 Ford Focus will get an estimated 40 mpg in highway driving with an all-aluminum 2.0-liter engine mated to a six-speed, dual dry-clutch automatic transmission. The normally aspirated engine combines variable camshaft timing and high-pressure direct fuel injection to crank out 160 hp and 146 lb-ft of torque. That compares with 140 hp and 136 lb-ft from the aluminum 2.0-liter engine used in the current-generation Focus.