Toyota reveals safety research car at CES

One day before the International Consumer Electronics Show opened its doors in Las Vegas, Toyota took the wraps off the highest-tech Lexus LS ever made. The car -- with spinning sensors and probing lasers galore -- is meant to demonstrate safety features that could be coming to production cars someday soon. Called the Advanced Safety Research Vehicle, it sure looked like some of the autonomous self-driving vehicles we saw at the DARPA Challenge, but Toyota stressed that a robot car is not the goal.

VL Destino revealed - what became of the Fisker Karma

VL This is the new face of the Fisker Karma, the luxury plug-in hybrid whose parent company went to the wall last year. But it’s not only the Karma’s gap-toothed grin that’s disappeared: its plug-in hybrid powertrain has bitten the dust, too, replaced by a GM-sourced V8 – a supercharged lump boasting 638hp and 640lb ft. Called the VL Destino, the wilder Karma will be shown at this month’s North American International Auto Show, aka the Detroit Motor Show.

Jaguar-Land Rover sold today (2008)

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 26 March 2008 10:18 Ford has finally sold its Jaguar and Land Rover subsidiaries to Indian manufacturing giant Tata Motors. The Blue Oval announced the widely anticipated sale to the US stock markets and employees this morning, confirming it was paid $2.3 billion (£1.2bn) for the two premium British marques. It has sold them wholesale, rather than keeping a stake as it did with Aston Martin - ending a decade of American ownership.Ford bought Land Rover from the BMW-Rover break-up in 2000, 11 years after it acquired Jaguar.