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.

Nissan to build $2 billion plant in Mexico

Nissan Motor Co. will build a $2 billion auto assembly plant in Mexico, its third in that country, as it works to outgun rival Honda Motor Co. The plant, in Aguascalientes, Mexico, will have initial capacity to build 175,000 light vehicles annually for the United States, Mexico and Latin America, with plans to expand.

2012 VW Beetle revealed

2012 VW Beetle – it’s official Back to the future again with the reveal today – ahead of a debut at both New York and Shanghai – of the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle. Where do you go when you update a car that’s already a pastiche of an original? It seems VW’s answer is you don’t go anywhere, you just fiddle at the margins.