Gates 44022 Water Pump-water Pump (standard) on 2040-parts.com

Akio Toyoda waves family flag, heir makes crisis personal challenge

The reclusive Akio Toyoda is taking the rare step of waving the family flag, as the scion to Toyota Motor Corp.’s founding dynasty tries to steer the world’s largest car company out of a spiraling safety crisis. In testimony prepared for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, President Toyoda pursues a rare personal tack on the emergency, saying “my name is on every car.” “As you well know, I am the grandson of the founder, and all the Toyota vehicles bear my name,” Toyoda says in prepared comments circulated ahead of Wednesday’s committee hearing in Washington. “For me, when the cars are damaged, it is as though I am as well.” The intimate reflection is a departure for Toyoda, who has spent most of his career sidestepping public discussion of his lineage.

2012 Subaru XV Price announced

UK prices revealed for the 2012 Subaru XV Following a debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the 2012 Subaru XV is now ready to go on sale in the UK. Starts at £21,295. Subaru debuted the new XV Crossover at the Frankfurt Motor Show back in September, preceded by a rather pointless tease.

Saab 9-4X gets closer

As the world is only too well aware, GM has huge problems. In the real world it should have gone out of business, but in the political world that would probably be unacceptable to the American public. So it’s busy grovelling to Congress to acquire sufficient funding to stay alive until it can produce products the buying public might find worth having.