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CAR interviews Karl Schlicht, Toyota and Lexus product chief (2014)

By Damion Smy Motor Industry 07 July 2014 11:07 CAR magazine interviewed Karl Schlicht, the product chief at Toyota and Lexus, to find out how one of the world's biggest car makers is fighting to make its cars more engaging. Japan's biggest manufacturer seemingly has quality and engineering licked, but is keen to inject real desirability on its European range - and products like the GT86 sports car and recently facelifted Yaris suggest that Toyota is making strides in that direction. Read on for our full interview.

2012 Aston Martin V8 Vantage range gets an overhaul

The 2012 Aston Martin Vantage gets a tweak The Aston Martin V8 Vantage range gets an engineering and cosmetic facelift for 2012. Starts at £84,995. It’s all but impossible for Aston Martin to come up with a new mainstream model, so all they can do is nip, tuck and tweak their existing cars in the hope that the market continues to smile favourably on their offerings.

1961 Ford Gyron concept scale model sells for $40,000

A scale model of the 1961 Ford Gyron concept has sold at auction for $40,000, around four times its estimate. The space-age concept car – designed by Alex Tremulis, McKinley Thompson, Syd Mead, Bill Dayton, John Najjar, and Elwood Engel – debuted in 1961 at the New York International Auto Show and featured two wheels mounted along the car's centerline, usung a gyroscope for stability. The full-size model – which relied on stabilizing wheels instead of a gyroscope – also predicted the development of satellite navigation systems, car phones and infrared sensing.