Toyota Vitz 1999 Front Left Door Glass [0313230] on 2040-parts.com

Toyota's global design chief Tokuo Fukuichi appointed president of Lexus

Toyota's global design chief Tokuo Fukuichi will be the first designer to sit on the company's board of directors when his appointment comes into effect on 1 April. Fukuichi will retain his position as global head of design for the Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands and will join the board after the general shareholders' meeting. His influence on Toyota's design direction over the last few years has been noticeable, particularly with Lexus, as the company strives to make its traditionally very conservative products a little more exciting.

Future products: Mazda's new direct-injection engine family arrives in 2011

The big news at Mazda is a new family of direct-injection gasoline and diesel engines that will start to arrive in 2011. Mazda will make significant changes to vehicle platforms to accommodate the Sky engines, which will be more powerful and fuel-efficient at lower displacements than the company's current engines. The first Sky gasoline engine is expected to debut in the United States in 2011.

UK commuters spend 10 days a year in traffic

We’re now wasting more time stuck in traffic than ever before, as last year the average car journey took 27% longer than it would have done if the road was clear. That’s a rise of 1% compared to 2012, while the report by TomTom also found that 10 of the UK’s biggest cities now have more congestion than they did 12 months ago. Europe’s top 10 most congested cities Fewer people commuting but distances on the up London, Brighton, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Cardiff, Belfast and Southampton have all seen traffic levels increase, while Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Glasgow failed to improve.