Ford Expedition, Trailer Hitch on 2040-parts.com

Tesla-Toyota RAV4 EV: LA Catchup +video

The Tesla Toyota RAV4 EV A couple of weeks ago we ran a story on the Tesla Toyota RAV4 EV, an electric Toyota RAV4 endowed with electric car gubbins by Tesla. That’s the same Tesla in whom Toyota recently acquired a stake and provided with a factory with a capacity at least twenty times that which Tesla will ever need. We speculated when the tease came in for the electric RAV4 that maybe Toyota had plans to get Tesla to run out electric versions of all its cars at the new Tesla plant to take up the enormous slack in production numbers.

Ford invents agile, low-cost solution for prototyping, customization and limited production [w/video]

A new metal forming technique pioneered by Ford that drastically reduces the time and cost of producing low-volume and one-off body parts may lead to cost-effective customization, redesigns, one-offs and limited production runs. Ford Freeform Fabrication Technology (F3T) forms sheets of metal by two stylus-like tools, one on each side of the surface. Using CAD data they form the part to the exacting strength and finish tolerances usually associated with stamping dies.

Driving Toyota's Pro/Celebrity Scion FR-S race cars

At the Streets of Willow Springs, there's a back straightaway that crests over a downhill and into a series of sudden, unsettling left turns. It's one of the most dramatic parts of the track, one that always trips up timid run groups. And as it turns out, heading blindly at 90 miles per hour, skimming the cones of the artificial chicane normally designed to slow lesser drivers who aren't Formula Drift prodigy Ken Gushi, will really put the fear of mortality into anyone who's signed up to ride shotgun -- especially when the car is the brand-new Scion FR-S race car for Toyota's Pro/Celebrity Race Series, here on its first outing.