Toyota to premiere five concepts in Tokyo

Toyota is the latest carmaker to announce the contents of its show stand for the upcoming Tokyo motor show, with five new concepts being unveiled. The latest development of the Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) Concept will make its debut – previewing a production model that could launch next year – alongside concepts exploring the future of taxis and compact MPVs. We'll also see the introduction of the FV2 (Fun Vehicle 2) concept, which Toyota says is designed to capture its ‘fun-to-drive' philosophy, and the Aqua G Sports concept.

Nissan GT-R to be revised for Europe

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 01 May 2008 18:14 Nissan is fettling its GT-R before it goes on sale in the UK in April 2009. It might have just announced a new lap record at the Nurburgring – chief test driver Tochio Suzuki shaved nine seconds off the GT-R's previous record of 7min 38 – but Nissan's engineers are already working on upgrades to the everyman's supercar.Chief vehicle engineer Kazutoshi Mizuno told CAR Online that the GT-R models bound for the American market would benefit from a range of small tweaks, including three harder engine mounts and a stiffer transaxle mount to stop the mechancial parts from moving under extreme cornering. It's detail like this that enabled the new 7min 29sec...Nissan GT-R: detail changes'The new mounts make the car feel more together in extreme circumstances,' he said.

Auto-safety history gets its place in the Smithsonian

Smithsonian museum officials say their new collection of auto-safety objects dating to the 1930s is about America's love affair with its cars. But really it's about our passion for, well, staying alive. While some enthusiasts might question whether their cars should be braking for them, it's hard to quarrel with most of this technology.