Subaru Brushed Stainless Logo Key Chain New In Packaging on 2040-parts.com

Winners of the 2013 Michelin Design Challenge announced

Michelin presented the three winners of the 2013 Michelin Challenge Design at its private Designers' Reception during of the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit's Renaissance Center. A jury of automotive designers and industry experts picked the winners from the 15 finalists that best explored how design contributes to and impacts the ongoing effort to develop more efficient vehicles, while keeping the emotional side of car design front of mind. This year's top three finalists are Jorge Biosca (Spain), Liu Shun (China) and Song Wei Teo (Singapore).

Toyota ends powertrain deal with Tesla

To the surprise of no one, Toyota has announced the end of a partnership with Tesla that gave rise to the slow-selling RAV4 EV, which will be replaced by a fuel cell car next year. Toyota has said that it can't meet California's zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate profitably with electric cars, but it thinks it can make money, or at least not lose so much of it, with fuel cells. Toyota signed a $100 million joint development deal in 2011 with Tesla, to build powertrains for its RAV4 EV.

New Honda CR-V: First new CR-V photos appear on Honda’s Japan site

Firts photo of the 2012 Honda CR-V We first got a proper look at the new Honda CR-V (the 2012 model) in concept form back in  July, and at the time Honda told us that they were planning a US release by the end of 2011, but no European release until Autumn of 2012. So the seemingly unheralded reveal of the new CR-V on Honda’s website in Japan is a bit of a surprise. The photo has suddenly appeared in a gallery of teaser photos of the new CR-V on Honda’s website and as far as we can see Honda has done nothing to trail it.