Toyota has officially spoken out against allegations that it planted a story in the Wall Street Journal that absolved the company of an responsibility in their unintended acceleration scandal.

The mess began after The Wall Street Journal published a story citing “people familiar with” the investigation who claimed that the evidence pointed to driver error rather than mechanical or electronic failure on the part of Toyota cars.

Just-Auto, a UK based website, then delivered reports from unnamed NHTSA sources saying that the original story was planed by Toyota. Toyota denies any involvement in this incident, but says that independent research appears to exonerate them of any wrong doing. Us mere mortals will have to wait until the official report and its release in Late 2010 if we want to make heads or tails of this without clouding our minds with bias.

[Source: Just Auto]

Five Lincoln concept cars, as well as one Mercury concept will go up for auction at RM’s Sports & Classics of Monterey on August 12th. The six concepts are being sold by Ford Motor Co. through RM Auctions, a well known auction house that regularly handles ultra high end vehicles. All vehicles, except the Lincoln Navicross and Mercury Messenger, can be driven, although it is illegal to drive them on public roads. All proceeds from the auction will benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and The Children’s Center.

[Source: Carscoop]

Gallery: Lincoln & Mercury Concept Vehicles

Not too long ago, if you had a 3/4 or 1 ton pickup that made 600 ft-lbs from its diesel engine, it was a really big deal. No longer. In 2010, both Ford and GM heavy-duty trucks top 700 ft-lbs from their turbo diesel engines with Ford claiming 735 ft-lbs and GM recently upping its number to 765 ft-lbs. But in what has become perhaps a new performance war, Ford is set to up the ante once again, this time by tuning it’s 6.7-liter PowerStroke turbo diesel to deliver 400 horsepower and a whopping 800 ft-lbs of torque.

It’s been claimed that these numbers are possible with the current powertrain due to such engineering features as a graphite iron block employed on the 6.7-liter version of the PowerStroke, along with Ford’s beefy six-speed automatic transmission, which was designed from the outset to handle extreme torque loads. At this stage it’s too early to say exactly how the increase in power and torque will be achieved, but expect revised engine mapping to be a prime factor, along with some hardware upgrades. However, given industry lead times and because 2011 Super Duty trucks are already on sale, the more powerful diesel will likely become available late in the model year, much to the chagrin of those that have already purchased one of the 2011 model year trucks. As somebody once said, the best things often come to those who wait.

And given the tug of war going on between Ford and GM, it will be interesting to see how the General responds to this latest salvo.

[Source: Pickup trucks.com]

Ford Motor Company is clearly hedging its bets on this EcoBoost thing. For the 2011 Explorer, it will be dropping one of these engines between the frame rails, though unlike those found in the Flex, Taurus SHO and Lincoln MKT, this will be a four-cylinder version, a 2.0-liter mill that; via direct injection, forced induction and electronic trickery, is claimed to deliver 30 percent better fuel economy than the hoary old V6 in the current truck.

If Ford’s claims are to be believed, that means the 2011 Explorer will likely get 18 miles per gallon in town and around 26 on the highway, versus the 14/20 cycle for today’s truck. Factor in other such features on the 2011 model such as a six-speed automatic transmission, unit-construction (versus a heavy separate frame), electric power steering and a variable-capacity air-conditioning compressor designed to reduce parasitic loss and it would appear Ford has the right ingredients for helping achieving these fuel economy targets.

The 2011 model will also employ a terrain management system to aid four-wheeling ability and other current Ford fads such as Blind Spot monitoring, collision warning with brake support, cross-traffic alert and adaptive cruise control. Who said nothing good came out of the Premier Automotive Group?

Official release after the jump:

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Perhaps its divine punishment for that awful, gaudy Polo shirt, but some poor shmuck’s Ferrari 458 Italia went up in flames in Paris earlier this month.

Luckily, a passer-by happened to have a fire extinguisher on hand, but that didn’t stop his left rear fender from getting a little charred. We’re not sure how this transpired, or how someone just happened to have a camera, but we’ll sit back and chuckle anyways.

[Source: Autogespot]

Gallery: Ferrari 458 Italia In Flames

Subaru is adding in-car wi-fi to the 2011 Outback, similar to Ford’s 3G Internet system with their SYNC telematics technology. A $499 dealer installed option, the Wi-Fi will work within 150 feet of the car, and can be used while the vehicle is in motion. Subaru will pick up the first three months, but the service will cost $29 a month after that.

Considering that a lot of Subaru owners take their cars to a summer home, ski cabin or far out area without high-speed web access, it’s a somewhat compelling option that is likely cheaper than an internet connection or exorbitant smartphone data plans.

Hit the jump to read the official press release

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Despite the bad language coming from the Honda Civic’s owner in this video, all parties are guilty of being criminally stupid. There’s a reason that race cars use special trailers (enclosed or open) with specific ramps.

Pushing a Civic onto a U Haul, with a flimsy ramp setup is a distinctly redneck way of trying to transport the car; not to mention the fact that there aren’t any tie-downs to keep the car from moving around.

Frankly, we have very little sympathy for these people. Doing things on the cheap rarely works out, and hopefully this is a painful and expensive lesson to prove that point. Besides, the car is really ugly.

Hit the jump to see idiots try and load a Honda Civic onto a U-Haul

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As the Chevrolet brand moves upmarket outside of North America, General Motors needed to create a new entry level brand to sell cars in China, now the largest auto market in the world.

In conjunction with Chinese partners SAIC and Wuling, GM has created the Baojun brand, which literally means “treasured horse”. Baojun is expected to use old platforms as a means of keeping costs down, a strategy that has worked for Volkswagen and a number of other brands. Baojun may also spread to other markets like Russia and India if the brand takes off.

[Source: GM Inside News]

With 73 days until Lotus unveils it’s “New Era” at the Paris Auto Show, the British sports car maker has once again teased us with a possible successor to the iconic Esprit. In a press release that looks back at the year 1975, Lotus recalls the movie Jaws, the birth of David Beckham and…. the launch of the original Lotus Esprit at the Paris Auto Show.

Now if that’s not a hint we don’t know what is.

But that’s not all. The press release issued by Lotus comments that, “35 years later, something breathtaking will happen once again. Once more in Paris. Once more at the Motor Show. Perhaps a new Esprit? Perhaps not. Or perhaps even more?”

We’ve got our money on the new Esprit and more as Lotus is tipped to reveal four new concept cars in Paris, including the Esprit concept, two new front-engined GT cars and a new roadster.

The newly released Evora rides on a chassis that was designed to be used for the Esprit successor as well. As for a roadster, it could easily be a top-down version of the Evora. Then, we have to think Lotus is also looking to unveil a V6 in the Exige, as the automaker recently dropped the 1.8L engine in Europe, and the 1.6-liter just isn’t suitable for the more hard-core version.

We won’t know for sure until the Paris Auto Show this fall. But we do expect several more teasers from Lotus in the coming weeks and months.

Official release after the jump:

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Here’s a great David vs Goliath story that’s sure to get you all fired up at “the man” on a Monday morning. G8Board.com member “jackalope” was recently ticketed for having what a police officer deemed to be illegal tail lights. Knowing that the lights are factory equipment on his Pontiac G8 GT, and are certified by the DOT, he took the ticket to court, considering the whole thing to be some kind of mistake. Knowing he was in the right and had the law on his side, Jackalope was shocked when the judge found him guilty and upheld the ticket, meaning he had to pay the $85. Worse still, he was told by the judge (this time “the man” was actually a woman) that she would continue to fine him if he refused to pay. And to add insult to injury, the judge even went so far as to advise the defendant that he should consider selling his car as its not legal in Maryland.

The issue surrounding the tail lights on Jackalope’s Pontiac G8 GT, involves the fact that the clear lenses on the G8 GT’s lights means GM had to use reflectors on the bumper in order to meet regulations. The state law requires the reflectors to reflect the color red, which the officer who issued the ticket obvious felt he couldn’t see.

According to Jackalope, the judge wasn’t interested in what the manufacturer or the DOT said, commenting that the opinion of the officer superseeded that of any other authorities on the matter and that as a judge she would uphold the officer’s decision to issue the ticket.

Jakalope has since contacted Pontiac and has an appointment to speak with them regarding the issue.

But the story doesn’t stop there, with some folks alleging that Jakalope wasn’t sporting factory lights, but rather modified taillights on his car. Jakalope has since both stated that he did have the factory lights on the car when the ticket was issued (although he does have other “show” lights). He also claims that even the modified taillights, which can be seen on his Cardomain page, should be legal as well, as they continue to reflect the color red.

[Source: G8Board via Jalopnik]