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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.

From Cape Town to London -- in a Fiat Panda

If we wanted to break the speed record for the run from Cape Town, South Africa to London -- a quick 10,000-mile jaunt -- we'd start out by scouring the classifieds for something big and rugged. A Land Rover would be a classic choice, but a tricked-out Toyota or Jeep could do nicely as well. A team consisting of British rally drivers Philip Young and Paul Brace are taking a somewhat different approach.

New BMW website shows off ActiveE data

BMW launched a new website Thursday that presents range, cost savings and environmental impact data taken from 700 ActiveE drivers (dubbed “Electronauts” by BMW … really guys?) to inform consumers about the potential savings of electric vehicles. Titled the "Electronaut Effect," BMW's BMWActivatetheFuture.com, is dedicated to the ActiveE drivers, providing even more data and allowing the drivers to compare a variety of data, including the average number of charges each car requires per day and how performance varies from the East Coast to the west. Through this site, ActiveE drivers can also see which "Electronauts" are in the top 25 based on a specified set of data points, for instance who has traveled the most miles and who has charged the vehicle the least.