Vintage 1960's Ford Mustang Hubcap on 2040-parts.com

Toyota's quake-hit Yaris plant offline for at least another month

Toyota's quake-hammered Miyagi assembly plant, which makes the Yaris small car for export to the United States, is expected to be offline for at least another month. Workers have completed repairs at the factory and restored electricity, but the facility cannot get supplies of natural gas, a person familiar with the situation said. The assessment underscores the long road facing Toyota and other Japanese automakers in bringing plants back into full operation following the deadly quake, which killed more than 11,000 people, ruptured gas lines, shutdown electric grids and snarled logistics across half the country.

Hyundai enlists Flaming Lips for Super Bowl ad

We previewed a couple of Hyundai's Super Bowl spots -- focused largely on speed and power -- earlier in the week. The Sonata ad was a trifle of pedestrian whimsy, while the Genesis sedan R-Spec spot grated, grated and grated some more. Now, with the kickoff looming, the Korean automaker's loosed its marquee ad, promoting the 2013 Santa Fe, upon the YouTubifying unwashed.

New Infiniti Q50 starts at £27,950 for the Q50 2.2d

Infiniti are pinning the new Q50′s sporting credibility on Sebastian Vettel (pictured) Infiniti are hanging their future sales on a name change that sounds like a James Bond reference – with all Infiniti models now getting the ‘Q’ prefix – and Sebastian Vettel’s input and endorsement of the brand – he’s Infiniti’s Director of Performance (well, there’s a price to pay for Infiniti’s Red Bull sponsorship). The first outing for Infiniti ‘Q’ in the UK is the new Infiniti Q50, which gets a four cylinder 2.2 litre turbo diesel as its entry-level, and it looks quite promising with 168bhp and 295lb/ft of torque and emissions of 115g/km, which should mean official economy around 65mpg. Standard features on the Q50 2.2d include Infiniti inTouch (so you can Tweet and Like on the go), Infiniti Drive Mode Selector, Stop-Start, rear view camera, Climate, 17″ alloys, Voice and Bluetooth.