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The most important player at the Tokyo Auto Salon 2011 was Toyota which revealed 17 models, including the Lexus IS F CCS-R (Circuit Club Sport Racer). The car was designed from ground up as a proper race car with many lightweight carbon fiber body parts, slipperier aeroparts, a reinforced frame and roll cage plus the very powerful V8 5.0-liter engine that churns 435 hp. With a curb weight of only 3130 lbs, it should be a pretty fast car.

Tuners focused most of their attention on the Nissan GT-R and one of these cars is the Nismo GT-R RC (Racing Concept) that sports a lightweight carbon body and a roll cage plus upgraded slicks and brakes, similar to the Lexus IS F CCS-R. There were other tuners that created their own version of the GT-R, including the jaw-dropping Blitz GT-R that can output 1000 hp. Another powerful version was the Tommy Kaira GT-R, offering about 800 hp.

An interesting car was the Nissan Leaf Aero Style Concept that benefits from many drag-reducing aerodynamic components and rims that can lengthen their range.

Honda's highlights were the CRZ-inspired TS-1X and a NSX special 20^th anniversary edition. The most tuned car at the show after the GT-R was the CR-Z. The most interesting model was the Top Secret CR-Z, offering more than 300 ponies from the engine.

NATS – Nihon [Japan] Automobile College came up with their interesting bright yellow "Wamerican" that is based on a Toyota Camry platform and features a design inspired from the Corvette C2. The other car was the "Justice" which is a left-hand-drive concept based on the Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder platform and inspired by the Batmobile.

RE Amemiya Ltd brought a heavily-modified RX-7 that produced 600 hp and Veilside showed us what you get when you tack a mock Bentley front end onto a GT-R R35.

Without any doubt, the award for the most out-of-the-ordinary bodykit went to Value Progress for the Toyota MR-S-based DragStar F1 Dragon concept.

All things considered, the Tokyo Auto Salon has become more and more popular among tuners and domestic manufacturers and in this year's edition there were some big names with some very interesting projects.

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Quick Look – Tokyo Auto Salon 2011

Back in September last year, Travis Pastrana made us turn our attention to Mt. Washington Auto Road. In his 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Travis managed to climb the mountain in 6 minutes and 20.47 which is faster than the old record held by Frank Sprongl who did it in 6 minutes and 41.99 seconds. The whole reason for why he did this was to evaluate the course for the 2011 Climb to the Clouds event which will take place quite soon. Thanks to the fact that it was a successful evaluation run, the organizers recently announced the classes and opened up the registration for this interesting competition.

The very first event was run in 1904, but unfortunately in 2000 it was canceled. After a pause of 10 years, the competition is back and the 2011 edition will be an anniversary one, marking the Mt. Washington Auto Road's 150^th celebration. The route measures 7.6 miles and begins at 1,527 feet and climbs to 6,288 feet above the sea level.

The classes available for the 2011 edition will be: open, rally, hillclimb, vintage and electric. The first class is invitation-only and is available for the category of cars from 1961 or older. The last one is for electric vehicles only, no hybrid cars are allowed. The hillclimb and rally classes are divided according to the New England Hillclimb Association and Rally America standards. The open class is opened for basically any car but places some restrictions on power unit size based on the wheels driving the car and whether it is turbocharged or naturally aspirated.

The event will be organized from June 22^nd until the 26^th and the organizers hope that they will be able to gather about 70 cars.

Source: AutoBlog.com

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Info – Mt. Washington 2011 Climb to the Clouds

Toyota was the world's biggest car manufacturer in 2010, for the third year in a row, as a recovery in global car demand outweighed a decline US sales. Toyota managed to sell 8% more cars in 2010, reaching 8.42 million units (including Lexus and deliveries from affiliates Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor). General Motors grabbed the second place, reaching 8.39 million units, 12% more in comparison to 2009.

Toyota sold 0.4% less cars in the United States in 2010, managing to deliver 1.76 million units. They did better in China where sales boosted by 19% but General Motors managed to sell 29% more cars in that same period.

Rounding up the top three is Volkswagen AG who managed to sell 7.14 million cars last year which is 14% more than 2009 and according to sale chief Christian Klinger, sells will grow in 2011 by 5%.

On December 21, Toyota officials stated that they expect to sell approximately 8.6 million cars this year. Without the Daihatsu and Hino units, Toyota managed to sell 7.53 million cars last year which is an 8% increase over 2009. Daihatsu's sales rose by 4% to 783,000 units last year while Hino, which makes trucks, sold 107,000 units, 35% more than in 2009, according to Toyota.

Source: Bloomberg.com

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Toyota Is Still World’s Largest Automaker

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If you are looking for a supercar that you can drive at very high speeds along with three of you best friends, look no further as the Savage Rival Roadyacht GTS is everything you'd ever wanted. The car you see in this video has been under development for several years in the Netherlands and is considered by its makers to be the very first 4-seater convertible supercar and the last time we seen it at an official event was back in 2009 at Top Marques Monaco.

Under that cool hood of the Rivale you will find the same engine that powers the Chevrolet Corvette Z06. In other words, the car is fitted with a V8 7.0-liter LS7 engine that outputs 601 hp and a massive torque of 553 pound-feet. More than that, the Savage Rivale is in fact based on a stretched Corvette platform with a carbon fiber body and a chrome molybdenum frame. Some unique elements of the car include the 8-piston brake calipers, air suspension and height-adjustable dampers manufactured by Koni.

There isn't any information about a possible launch date but from the looks of this video, the development of the car should be ready quite soon. Hopefully, they will also announce a starting price for this beauty.

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Quick Look – Savage Rivale Roadyacht GTS

Aston Martin Cygnet

The Aston Martin Cygnet is one of the most interesting (price-wise) cars of this year and a premiere for the British automaker. The company announced that their "ultimate city car" will be launched this April and will have a starting price of $49,340. It is an Aston Martin so this hefty price tag should not come as a surprise for you, although it will be $33,440 more expensive in comparison to the most affordable Toyota iQ! Ironically, the Aston Martin Cygnet has a price tag similar to the Audi A4, Mercedes C-Class and the BMW 3-Series.

Aston Martin Cygnet

What do you get for spending $50k for such a small car? You basically get the British-build version of the iQ that has the traditional Aston Martin styling and elegant leather upholstery.  In addition, you get GPS navigation, heated front seats and passive entry. Do all these worth $50,000? No way.

Aston Martin will also introduce two special editions of their Cygnet model, called White and Black. They will feature unique styling; a bespoke 5-piece luggage set from Bill Amberg and upgraded interiors.

Although there isn't any official info regarding the engine specifications of this tiny car, it should be a 1.33-liter Dual VVT-I, courtesy of Toyota. This power unit should output 97 hp and 91 lb.-ft of torque. As standard, this engine will be linked to a 5-speed manual gearbox or with the optional CVT transmission.

Aston Martin Cygnet

The Aston Martin Cygnet will be exclusively available in Europe. However, the automaker is "actively working on expanding market availability" for next year.

One final note – a Toyota engine in an Aston Martin? Sacrilege.

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Info – Aston Martin Cygnet

Think is another EV manufacturer and they have been selling their City model in Europe for a couple of years now. The company is planning on introducing the City onto the United States market in late 2011 / early 2012.

Chrysler managed to deliver approximately 40,000 units of their GEM 25-mph LEV – light electric vehicles and these are found in university towns, fleets as well as retirement communities. The net cost for this car is under the $10,000 with the federal and local tax reductions and cuts. Due to the significant growth of EVs and charging stations, sales of the model might increase. Next year in the United States, the Fiat 500 EV will be available at a price of about $35,000.

BYD is another important player in the world of hybrid and electrical cars and it is at the moment selling its E6 battery-electric car along with a plug-in hybrid in China, the second largest automotive market in the world. The plug-in hybrid version for the US will most likely be a freeway-speed electric price leader this year while the E6 will be more expensive and will offer a respectable 250 electric range.

Accenture estimates that more than 1.5 million EVs will be sold in the US by 2015 and more than 10 million units by 2020. The single electric utilities have scenarios for charging more than one million EVs in their own service area in 10 years and with the significant investment in renewable energy in 30 states of the US, these utilities will focus on night-time charging with wind, geothermal and hydropower.

By the end of this year the competition in the electric / hybrid car segment will be very intense and the above 10 mentioned manufacturers will be the most important market share leaders, at least for this year. It is a very tough deal to create these electric cars and one example of this difficulty comes from Tesla Motors as they had to postpone the launch of their Roadster model for 2 years and the product model is 700 pounds heavier in comparison with what they planned originally.

2012 will be even more competitive as Honda will start rolling up their own lineup of both hybrid and electric cars, some based on their current models while others brand new.

This year we will see 250 Smart ForTwo ED on the United States highways as they will undergo some serious tests.  All of these cars feature Tesla battery packs and the production model will be launched in 2013.

Volkswagen is currently planning on lowering the weight of their models in order to make them more fuel efficient. Their Concept Up model has a curb weight of just over 1,500 pounds, but there are slim chances that we will see a production model soon.

All things considered, these upcoming years seem to be very interesting for the automotive industry as more and more car makers will start rolling out vehicles that are very efficient and nature-friendly. Hopefully, as technology will progress, the price tags for these hybrids and EVs will be lowered.

Source: CleanFeetReport.com

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Top 10 EV Manufacturers In 2011

Us regular people, when we want to wash our car, we simply go to a car wash, pay a few bucks and a few minutes after we leave with our car shining. But for others, apparently, that’s taking too much time, so they tried an ultra quick method, using…an excavator. Yup, that’s right, an excavator! As you can imagine, when you put excavator and car in the same sentence, it usually ends up badly. Enjoy!

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How NOT to wash your car!