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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.

BMW 328 Hommage concept

BMW used Villa d'Este as the backdrop to unveil the 328 Hommage, a tribute to the historic 1930s Touring Coupe and highly successful road car that celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. Based on the Vision ConnectedDrive, the 328 Hommage sports many ‘details derived from motor racing’ and is built using CFRP construction to keep overall weight down. Juxtaposing this are sumptuous leather and polished aluminum details.

Gumpert back with the Gumpert Tornante at Geneva

The Gumpert Tornante will debut at Geneva We realised at the end of last Summer that Gumpert had been very quiet. We’d run a few stories – for example when the Gumpert Apollo S et a Nurburgring record – but really, very little. And then we discovered that Gumpert had been on the edge of financial oblivion and had laid off almost all its staff.