Toyota has announced a recall of its Highlander Hybrid and Lexus RX400h vehicles, dating from the 2006 and 2007 model years. According to a statement released by the automaker, improperly soldered transistors on the Intelligent Power Module (IPM) located inside the Hybrid System Inverter could become damaged due to excessive heat, causing the car’s hybrid powerplant to enter a low power limp-mode or cease working all together. This would be accompanied by a warning lights on the dash.

Affected vehicles include 45,500 Highlander Hybrid models and 36,700 Lexus RX400h models.

Replacement parts are not yet available, but Toyota says it is working to obtain them and will notify owners at that time. Toyota says it will initially inform owners in July and will follow up once the parts are available.

Owners with questions or concerns are asked to contact Toyota online at 1 800-331-4331 or visit www.toyota.com/recall for more info. Lexus owners can call 1 800-255-3987 or visit www.lexus.com/recall.

It’s summer and your expenses have to go further. Ice cream, ballpark franks, cold beverages – there’s a lot more stuff to buy. Shell understands that you have better things to spend your cash on rather than gas – that’s why they are giving you the chance to win free fuel for a whole year.

From June 27 until September 5, 2011, consumers have the chance to enter the Shell “Favorite Road Trip” Sweepstakes. You may be one of 10 lucky drivers to win free fuel for year. There is a little homework involved (boo!) – you need to submit a short story about your favorite road trip route or memory. Every week for 10 weeks, Shell chooses a random winner (so you don’t have to worry about being Danielle Steel or JK Rowling to be selected).  On top of that, random daily winners have a chance to win a $100 Shell Gift Card.

Once you finish your story or if you want to check out all the rules and on Shell’s “Favorite Road Trip” Sweepstakes, visit www.shell.us/roadtrip.

Move over NASCAR, some new V8 racing cars are coming to town, to show whose the new boss. We are talking about the possible introduction of the Australian V8 Supercar series to North America.

Over the last decade, this Aussie racing series has expanded beyond its island home, having staged races in China, New Zealand and the Middle-East. Now it is looking at the United States to stage a race, and it will probably be at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. This circuit is being built especially to host Formula-One races in the coming years, and since the Australian V8 Supercars are an FIA sanctioned race series, it makes sense to race at this new circuit.

V8 Supercars boss Tony Cochrane has said that the series is looking to expand to six new overseas venues, while retaining all the currents stops in Australia. This could include some European and Asian destinations, plus the ever attractive American market.

You’ll have to wait some time before watching these V8 Supercars race in the flesh. The FIA has approved new races for this series for 2013. By then the new circuit in Austin should be complete. We can’t wait to see Holden (GM) and Ford racing head-to-head on our shores.

[Source: The Age]

In this 45 second commercial, the all-new BMW 1M drifts on a helipad hundreds of feet in the air over a city. Is it real? Of course not but it is very entertaining to watch, and actually looks pretty realistic. BMW has been launching these fun commercials (1M vs the Concrete Walls), to stress the fact that the 1M is a high performance machine that will be used much more than for going to the store for a jug of milk.

BMW admits that its latest high performance two door rocket will have a very limited run of one model year. With limited production in place, the $46,135 price tag may be a bargain should this car appreciate in value in the future. BMW stated that “less than 1,000 units” will be produced in 2011.

Check out the videos after the jump!

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The Barrett-Jackson auctions are famous for selling rare exotic cars for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Usually the cars that command the highest prices are limited production Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s and Aston Martin’s.

At the Orange County auction, a 1970 Dodge Hemi Challenger sold for $215,600, and a 1964 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III James Young sedan sold for $159,500. However the car of the weekend was a 1963 Volkswagen Samba Microbus that sold for a whopping $217,800.

This particular model was the top-of-the-line first generation bus made for Alpine touring. It has been restored to “much-better-than-new condition”, which helps to explain why it sold for such an obscene amount of money and is powered by a 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine and a manual transmission. The exterior is painted Mouse Grey with touches of red trim. The interior features a German mohair headliner, original latches, restored ashtrays and luggage rails, as well as the original radio.

[Source: Autoblog]

Going to the highest bidder this year at the Young Eagles Auction will be this one-of-a-kind Blue Angels 2011 Ford Mustang GT. For the past four years, Ford Motor Company has worked in collaboration with the EAA Young Eagles Program to build a one-of-one aviation-themed vehicle for auction. This year, they’ll be honoring the Centennial of Naval Aviation by drawing inspiration from the Blue Angels for their Mustang GT.

Famous for their in-air antics, the Blue Angels aviation demonstration team clearly had heavy influences on this unique Mustang. The exterior features a unique blue-chrome finish, accented by yellow gloss accents and the infamous Blue Angels logo and crest scripted across the side. Under the hood is a 5.0L V8 supercharged powerplant that pushes out 500-hp. In addition, Ford also outfitted the Mustang with their handling package, performance exhaust, racetrack brake components and a fancy set of mesh wheels.

Check out a short video highlighting the Mustang after the break.

[Source: Mustangs Daily]

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In the world of Super GT racing, we often think of Japan’s finest campaigning around the series, like Nissan’s Skyline variants, Toyota’s Supras and Acura’s NSXs. While there are some European race cars from Porsche, Japan’s finest has dominated the majority of Super GT’s championships taking back to the days of JGTC. That looks to change however ever since GSR & Studie with TeamUKYO started campaigning a BMW Z4 GT3 race car for the 2011 season.

Tuning European cars in Japan has become commonplace, and seeing Japan’s fine touch on Europe’s best is a pleasant sight to see. But seeing this full-blown race car sporting a very Japanese-themed livery makes us a little giddy. Combine that with seeing Nobuteru Taniguchi behind the wheel to help grab BMW’s first top podium in Super GT and it’s almost like a changing of the guard in Super GT.

The HatsuneMiku GoodSmile BMW Z4 GT3 race car is a wicked widebody racer that has been moving up in the GT300 class since it hit the track in Round 1 this year. First they ended up in fifth place and at the second race of the season, they netted themselves a fourth place finish. Now after Round 3, the team has nowhere to go but down after grabbing their first top podium finish in Sepang.

GALLERY: HatsuneMiku GoodSmile BMW Z4 GT3 Race Car

[Source: Jon Sibal]

American automakers are performing much better regarding vehicle safety recalls compared to their Japanese counterparts. Approaching the middle of 2011,  there have been 59 recalls, potentially affecting 6.8 million cars and light trucks. In 2010 at this point in the year, there had been 65 recalls potentially affecting 9.6 million light vehicles.

Toyota, whose reputation has been smudged recently for recalling millions of cars and trucks linked to sticky accelerator pedals and ill-fitting floor mats, is still in the hot seat. So far, Toyota has racked up nine of the industry’s worst recall campaigns affecting more than 2.8 million vehicles. The issue continues as the company widened its recall for another 1.4 million units also affected by floor mats that threatened to shift and pin down accelerator pedals. Since 2009, Toyota has recalled 9.8 million vehicles and has paid 32.4 million in fines for not issuing the recalls sooner.

At current pace, auto makers are on track to bring in fewer cars and trucks into dealers for recall issues compared to 2010.  In 2010, 17.2 million units required a recall making it one of the poorest performances in recent years. 2009 was also plagued with recall issues totaling 16.4 million.

[Source: Wards Auto]

In between light-beer dick jokes and Justin Bieber cameos, Chrysler’s now-famous “Born of Fire” ad was one of the Super Bowl standouts. The experts in the industry agree, too: the Eminem-infused ad swept four awards at the 85th annual Cannes International Festival of Creativity.

The ad took home Best Direction, Best Use of Music, Best Script and—to top everything off—Best Automotive Commercial. It was developed by Wieden+Kennedy, who hold such well-known brands as Coca-Cola, Nike, and Old Spice (but not Secor Laxatives), and can now add a few more “Lions” to their trophy cabinet.

“Chrysler is humbled to be awarded with such a prestigious honor,” said Olivier Francois, president of Chrysler. “The ‘Born of Fire’ commercial and the ‘Imported from Detroit’ campaign describes the comeback of the Chrysler brand and truly defines American luxury.”

Don’t remember the ad? Or just want to watch it again? Check it out after the jump:

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One of the most loved classic cars from the 1960′s is the MGB. It allows you to get a taste of old world British motoring without the price tag of a good Jaguar E-type or the Aston Martin DB5.

Now a British tuning shop by the name of Frontline wants to bring you the old with a some new technology, so you can enjoy your classic on the road, rather than it steaming on the hard shoulder.

Frontline will be dumping the miserable, old four-cylinder of the original MGB, and replacing it with a much more modern and reliable, 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine from the Mazda MX-5.

Thanks to new con-rods, crankshafts and pistons, this motor will be able to produce 240 hp. Since the car is expected to weight just under 2000 lbs. it should be plenty quick.

It should handle better than the original also, since the old suspension bits are axed and replaced with new telescopic dampers and coilovers. Just to ensure this classic still has that classic feel, the car retains its live-axle set-up, and just like the original, it won’t have any power steering either.

All sounds very good then, until you get to the price. Frontline will be asking around $80,000 for each example, and you won’t be able to enjoy it until next year anyway. But since each car will use a new British Motor Heritage MGB shell, it’s like getting a new car, rather than a refurbished old one.

None have been completed so far, hence we had to use a file photo. Hopefully we get to see what this company can really do before forking out the cash.

[Source: TopGear]