Aston Martin Rapide S: The video

Ahead of the media launch of the Aston Martin Rapide S in Spain, Aston Martin has delivered a Rapide S video to pique interest. Now we have the arrival of the Aston Martin Rapide S as a replacement for the Rapide, which goes a similar route to the DB9 with a more a aggressive attitude and more power. Aston Martin revealed the Rapide S in January in an effort to inject some oomph in to Rapide sales – as a replacement for the Rapide and not as an ‘S’ model to sit above it – bestowing it with 550bhp instead of the Rapide’s 470bhp, chucking in a new grill and boot spoiler and a set of the Gen 4 tweaks like adaptive dampers.

Toyota to close Australian design studio

Toyota designers at its Technical Center Asia Pacific Australia (TTCAP-AU) are to lose their jobs as part of Toyota's decision to scale back the facility's activities as well as halting all manufacturing within the country by 2017. The TTCAP-AU, which carries out all its Australian design and evaluation operations, employs 150 designers and modelers and it's possible that its activities with the Camry, Camry Hybrid and Aurion models could be scrapped, raising doubts over its future. Around 2,500 employees at Toyota's Altona manufacturing plant are expected to lose their jobs, although the effects are likely to be wider ranging.

Honda Accord hybrid brake, acceleration claim under U.S. review

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating a claim into whether some Honda hybrid vehicles are prone to unintended acceleration. The federal auto safety regulator said today it had agreed to look into a complaint stemming from a fatal July 2005 crash. The driver of a 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid said she was driving over rumble strips on the side of a freeway when she tried to apply the brakes.