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Toyota Prius points the way to design future

For a glimpse of Toyota's future design trends, check out the Prius. The third generation, debuting Monday in Japan, stays true to the line's role as a vanguard of futuristic styling and sports many new elements that will be popping up soon in other models. Chief among these are the sharply creased corners, the forward placement of the Toyota badge, a lowered grille and styling that Toyota's global design chief Wahei Hirai calls "free-form geometrics." The goal was to create an avant-garde, high-tech look that also screams green.

Germany to tax foreign drivers

GERMANY plans to introduce a car toll that seeks to make money from the millions of foreigners who drive through the country every year, the transport minister said today. Germany has a truck toll but, unlike many European countries, no car toll. Alexander Dobrindt said it wasn't fair that foreign drivers do not contribute to maintaining the roads and that "fairness gap" should be closed.

Toyota FT-1 sports car: How it happened

Editor's note: The inner sanctum of an automaker's design studio is as classified as a top-secret government spy shop. Even many top executives aren't allowed inside, much less civilians or the media. But after months of negotiations, Toyota Motor Corp.