Toyota Aygo gets new engine technology to make it more economical

The new Toyota Aygo (pictured) gets new engine tech The new Toyota Aygo has only just arrived as Toyota’s part of the city car triumvirate which includes the new Citroen C1 and new Peugeot 108, but its already set to get improvements. Toyota have been playing with the little 1.0 litre three-cylinder that lurks under the bonnet of the majority of Aygos, and have managed to do some serious tweaking. The tweaks include a higher compression ratio of 11.5:1, a cooled exhaust gas recirculation system, changes to the timing, better combustion, less friction and lower weight.

The Toyota FT-1 concept would make a damn fine new Supra

The Detroit auto show is just getting started, and Toyota has kicked things off with a nice surprise: The racy FT-1 concept. A product of Toyota's Calty Design Research facility, the FT-1 concept shares some of the swoops and vents with the Lexus RC F. But there's a boatload of high-performance styling cues there, too: Take a quick glance and you might spot the front end of a Ferrari Enzo, the profile of the Nissan GT-R, the double-bubble roof of the SRT Viper/any number of Zagato creations and the oversized retractable rear wing of the McLaren P1.

Parade celebrates astronauts and Corvettes

After Alan Shepard became the first American to travel into outer space in 1961, General Motors executive Ed Cole presented the astronaut with a new 1962 Chevrolet Corvette, customized with a space-age interior. Shepard had brought along his own 1957 Corvette when he reported for the space-training program in 1959. Thanks to a special lease arrangement between the space men and a Melbourne, Fla., Chevy dealership, six of the Mercury Seven astronauts were Corvette owners.