Toyota outlines quality reforms; chief bows out of U.S. hearings

Conceding that breakneck expansion led to Toyota Motor Corp.'s current recall crisis, president Akio Toyoda outlined reforms meant to get quality back on track, including more active use of the car's so-called black box crash data recorder. Toyoda, grandson of the carmaker's founder, also indicated he won't sit before Congressional hearings into the quality lapses that have triggered recalls of more than 8.5 million vehicles since last fall. Yoshimi Inaba, the head of Toyota's U.S.

Autodesk European Automotive Days 2008

The 2008 Autodesk European Automotive Days conference was held last week in Munich, bringing together 200 automotive design and visualization experts. Autodesk presented their strategy and vision for industrial design, with an emphasis on 'digital prototyping', where even at the concept stage the digital model is treated not just as a set of surfaces, but is integrated within the engineering process as as a functional digital prototype, with the aim to eventually replace physical models entirely. There was also a recognition that traditional techniques continue to have an important place alongside digital workflows, as the workflows and technologies continue to evolve.

Electric Lightning GT

By Dimitri Pesin Motor Industry 10 June 2008 10:30 Specialist manufacturer Lightning Car Company is set to build a 700bhp electric sports car. The Lightning GT will be powered by batteries and capable of delivering a range of 250 miles on a single charge by distributing power through electric wheel motors. All of the power will be available from zero rpm and a 0-60 time of under four seconds is predicted.