Suzuki Kei 2006 Speedometer [1761400] on 2040-parts.com

Akio Toyoda waves family flag, heir makes crisis personal challenge

The reclusive Akio Toyoda is taking the rare step of waving the family flag, as the scion to Toyota Motor Corp.’s founding dynasty tries to steer the world’s largest car company out of a spiraling safety crisis. In testimony prepared for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, President Toyoda pursues a rare personal tack on the emergency, saying “my name is on every car.” “As you well know, I am the grandson of the founder, and all the Toyota vehicles bear my name,” Toyoda says in prepared comments circulated ahead of Wednesday’s committee hearing in Washington. “For me, when the cars are damaged, it is as though I am as well.” The intimate reflection is a departure for Toyoda, who has spent most of his career sidestepping public discussion of his lineage.

Alan Mulally joins ‘Innovation power panel’ Keynote at CES

An ‘Innovation Power Panel' Keynote was the highlight of the second full morning of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Underlining the importance of this event to the automotive industry, and the importance and weight the automotive field now carries in the consumer electronics sphere, Alan Mulally – President and CEO of Ford motor company – was part of a three-person panel exploring how companies innovate, cope with failure and the relentless pace of change in the electronics world. Mulally was joined by Ursula Burns, Chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation and John Stratto, Enterprise Executive at Verizon, the US telecoms company.

Solar car built by Cambridge University crashes

The annual World Solar Challenge is taking place right now. 38 teams from all round the globe are racing 3,000km (1,864 miles) across Australia using energy from the sun alone. Unfortunately, the planned entry from the UK’s very own Cambridge University isn’t amongst them – because five days before the start the above happened.