Pininfarina boss dies in road accident

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 07 August 2008 12:06 Andrea Pininfarina – the chief executive of the fabled Italian coachbuilder bearing his name – died today in a road accident. He was the grandson of founder Battista Farina and son of Sergio Pininfarina. Pininfarina, 51, was killed in a road accident in Trofarello near Turin.

Mercedes launches Attention Assist

By Ben Whitworth Motor Industry 13 August 2008 13:28 Mercedes-Benz researchers call it the ‘one-second nap’ – that instant when fatigue overcomes you at the wheel on a long trip and you wake up in hospital. To counter dozing off while driving, which Mercedes claims accounts for a quarter of all major motorway accidents, its engineers have developed an innovative driver support system called Attention Assist. As well as registering linear and lateral acceleration, indicator and pedal operation and vehicle speed, the system also monitors steering response - the most important indicator of fatigue according to Mercedes, is tired drivers have difficulty in keeping their vehicle precisely on track.

Toyota aims for a comeback, shuffles execs

Toyota, unveiling a new business plan to double operating profit by 2015, will remove its head of North America from a downsized board and promote Canada chief Ray Tanguay to be its highest non-Japanese executive. Yoshi Inaba, 65, continues to lead Toyota North America and Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. while becoming one of 18 directors to lose board seats.