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Japan's concept cars - the craziest of the noughties

By Alex Michaelides Motor Shows 19 August 2009 10:00 Here we are, celebrating the best cars that Japan has produced, but what about the ones it hasn’t? At many motor shows – and particularly ones in its back yard – the Japanese industry serves up some wild concept cars which boggle the brain and tickle the ribs. It’s hardly surprising that few of them hit the mainstream.

Hyundai drops out of shrinking Tokyo auto show

The incredibly shrinking Tokyo auto show just got even smaller. Hyundai Motor Co., the last major foreign automaker which was scheduled to participate in next month's show, has decided to pull out with just weeks to go, organizers say. “Hyundai called last week and orally confirmed their intent to cancel,” said Toyokazu Ishida, who administers the international exhibition for the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Redesigned Ford Focus expected to get 40 mpg highway

The redesigned 2012 Ford Focus will get an estimated 40 mpg in highway driving with an all-aluminum 2.0-liter engine mated to a six-speed, dual dry-clutch automatic transmission. The normally aspirated engine combines variable camshaft timing and high-pressure direct fuel injection to crank out 160 hp and 146 lb-ft of torque. That compares with 140 hp and 136 lb-ft from the aluminum 2.0-liter engine used in the current-generation Focus.