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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.

RCA Tata 'Space' project

First year students at the Royal College of Art in London, UK, presented their interpretations of a small Tata that boasted internationally appealing Indian character. Following on from the Indica and Nano small cars, the project aimed to call out existing typologies for the brand and create an innovative and internationally relevant product. The brief also aimed to build on – and assist – Tata's fast-track development to be a leading small car global brand by building on the brand's extensive portfolio beyond the automotive sector.

Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger to get a new lease on life

With Fiat-based replacements still at least two years away, the Chrysler Group has delayed plans to kill its slow-selling Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger, sources say. The two sedans were all but left for dead by previous owner Cerberus Capital Management. Now insiders say Chrysler intends to freshen the cars and keep them on the market until late 2012.