Toyota and Honda plan to hire as many as 5,000 temporary workers in Japan for the first time in more than a year as the automotive industry recovers from the March 11 earthquake.

Toyota will be hiring between 3,000 and 4,000 temporary workers from mid-July as the company plans to increase production in October.

This is great news considering Japanese carmakers’ domestic production dropeed 60 percent in April as Toyota’s output in the country plunged 78 percent.

Honda will be hiring 1,000 temporary workers as the company plans to resume normal production numbers as well.

Toyota’s plants suffered a 50-percent production decline in April and May but are running at 90 percent capacity this month. The plan is to reach 100 percent of planned production levels by July.

“Hiring temporary workers shows that the problem with parts supply is being resolved and that the industry is on a solid recovery path,” explained Takeshi Miyao an analyst at the consulting company Carnorama in Tokyo. “There are a lot of back orders and without these additional workers, they won’t be able to catch up fast enough.”

Nissan has also begun hiring around 200 temporary workers to help restore normal production levels.

[Source: Automotive News]

Nissan has released full details on its 2012 Altima lineup with the Altima Hybrid notably absent. The Altima Hybrid officially launched in 2007 and featured Nissan’s first gas-electric engine, thanks to technology licensed from Toyota. It was able to achieve 33 mpg (7.1 L/100 km), which is still a respectable number. However, the Altima was only sold in a handful of states during its tenure and never quite caught on.

Nissan has planned to continue selling the Altima Hybrid inventory while they are still being produced. However, if you were thinking of buying one, you may want to hit the dealership sooner than later!

An all-new Altima is expected for 2013, and if the Ellure Concept is any indication, a hybrid version will return.

[Source: Kicking Tires]

Ferrari is holding a world design contest to develop the Ferrari of the future. Ferrari, in collaboration with with Autodesk, the technical partner and supporter of the project, is challenging students to develop the Ferrari hypercar of the future with the latest generation technologies and materials, while preserving the iconic performance and elegance associated with the legendary Italian automaker.

Students must focus on lowering fuel consumption,alternative powertrains, and hybrid technology while also emphasizing driving pleasure and weight reduction through their models.

Fifty presigious international design schools began the competition, and now there are seven finalist schools, from all over the world. The finalists include: IED and IAAD from Turin (Italy), the London Royal College of Arts (UK), the European Design Institute Barcelona (Spain), Seoul’s Hong-ik College (Korea), the DSK Supinfocom (India) and the College For Creative Studies in Detroit (USA).

The winner of the design contest will be announced on July 19, including a grand prize of an internship at Ferrari in Maranello, Italy as well as cash prizes. Autodesk will also award the student team that best used Autodesk Alias software to communicate their design and demonstrate their process of design.

[Source: Ferrari]

The all-new eagerly anticipated MINI Coupe is almost here. The all-new two-seater coupe is described as being an important competitor within the compact sports car class, a greater focus on performance compared to other MINI models. MINI describes its fine balance of the selection of engines, chassis set-up, weight distribution and aerodynamic properties, delivering optimum performance and superb driving pleasure.

The MINI Coupe will offer the Cooper, the Cooper S and the John Cooper Works Model. Surprisingly there will be no engines changes for the Coupe. Power will remain the same at 122-hp(base), 180-hp(S) and 208-hp(JCW). Both the Cooper and Cooper S Coupes are available with an optional six-speed automatic transmission or the six-speed manual transmission that comes fitted in all models as standard. An active rear spoiler is also offered on all Coupe models.

Outside, the car still retains the same MINI styling, but comes wrapped in a more aggressive package. Interestingly, the Coupe is actually based on the MINI Convertible, but with added bracing on the rear and sills, making it even stiffer than the current hatch. Pricing and weight have not yet been announced but we will soon have more information in the next few days.

GALLERY: MINI Coupe

[Source: MotoringFile]

With much of the electric car attention being drawn by the first mass-produced Nissan LEAF and Chevy Volt, many have ignored the 2011 Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid luxury sports sedan.

Fisker dealers in Los Angeles previously claimed the first deliveries to paying customers would take place in March or April of this year. But the cars never materialized, and the date was pushed into the third quarter of this year.

The first arrivals will likely take place sometime in July, according to Fisker, for a retail price of $95,000

[Source: Green Car Reports]

Toyota is taking product development authority away from Japanese bosses and putting it in the hands of North American executives as part of a larger change aimed at fixing quality control issues that hurt the automaker’s reputation last year.

Until now, vehicles produced and designed and developed in North America had to be approved by chief engineers in Japan. Vehicles unique to the North American market such as the Venza, Sienna, Avalon, Tacoma and Tundra will no longer require painstaking and frustrating sign-offs from Japan at each step of the development processes.

“We are going to implement the process from design to preparation for production to development, cost planning, and identifying and selecting suppliers,” said Inaba, CEO of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. “All these processes are going to be 100 percent done here, without going back to Japan for approval.”

The changes come too late to affect the development of the redesigned 2012 Toyota Camry due this fall, however upcoming models based in North America, such as the next Tundra pickup, will see the result of the new structure.

[Source: Automotive News]

Sebastian Vettel, the reigning Formula One world champion and currently in first place on the F1 leaderboard, has been appointed brand ambassador in the hopes of boosting the Infiniti brand.

Vettel has been provided with several Infiniti products including a personal car, according to the manufacturer.

“Since our first contact with Infiniti I liked their cars. A car can impress you in two ways: its looks and its handling. After I had the chance to test some cars in the range I became a big fan,” said Vettel.

“They are comfortable as well as sporty when you ask for it. I am sure we as a team and myself can benefit a lot from the experience of Infiniti and I am very much looking forward to our partnership in the future.”

Since the beginning of the 2011 F1 season, the Infiniti logo has appeared on the successful Red Bull Racing team’s clothing, their equipment, and the race car as well, helping gain valuable exposure.

BMW will only produce the BMW 1 Series M for the 2011 production year, making the brand’s latest sports coupe a guaranteed collectible in the future.

BMW admits that its latest high performance two door rocket will have a very limited run of one model year. With the limited production in place, the $46,135 price tag may be worth much more in a few years. BMW confirmed that the 1 Series M Coupe will have a short production run and that the next generation 1 Series is at least two-and-a-half years away. BMW stated that “less than 1,000 units” will be produced in 2011.

[Source: The Detroit Bureau]

A 2011 Chevrolet Volt will be worth just over $17,000 after 36 months, the length of a typical lease, says Kelley Blue Book. That’s a 42 percent drop in price from the car’s $41,000 sticker price.

Eric Ibara, director of residual value consulting at Kelley Blue Book, says the residual value projection seems low. But the first 200,000 Volts sold will qualify for a $7,500 federal tax credit, effectively dropping the sticker to $33,500. With this KBB number,  the Volt will hold 51 percent of its value, better than some of its rivals. The Toyota Prius, the industry’s best known hybrid, is projected to drop 46 percent after 36 months. Kelley’s projection assumes gasoline will sell for around $4 per gallon three years from now.

[Source: Car Tech Blog]

General Motors has announced the recall of 4,674 model year 2011 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups for faulty windshield wipers that may fail in cold weather conditions.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) has stated that the windshield wipers may become inoperative. The issue centers around potentially loose nuts on the wiper’s motor crank arm intended to secure the windshield wipers. The nuts were not properly secured during manufacturing. This could reduce driver visibility, therefor increasing the risk of a crash.

Chrysler will have a short 2011 model year, as its revamped efforts for this year haven’t even finished arriving, while ordering for the 2012 model year cars will begin in just over a month.

After its 2009 bankruptcy, Chrysler doubled down to bring out a slate of revised products for 2011. A total of 16 products were revamped within 18 months, but some cars, like the 2011 Chrysler 300, have yet to arrive at dealers. Meanwhile, ordering of the 2012 models begins in late May, with production commencing in July.

Dealers don’t seem too concerned with the issue, and anticipate a smooth transition to the 2012 model year. A whole host of changes are scheduled for 2012, including an all-new Pentastar V6 for the Jeep Wrangler, and a replacement for the underwhelming Dodge Caliber based on a Fiat platform.

[Source: Automotive News]

Despite higher gas prices and panic over Japan’s earthquake, and its subsequent effect on auto production, March 2011 was a positive month for the industry, with sales up 17 percent compared to the previous year.

Among the Big 3, Ford managed to outsell General Motors for the first time in a year, with a 16 percent gain, while Chrysler was up 31 percent. Toyota was the only major auto maker to lose ground, with sales falling 6 percent, while Kia and Honda posted gains of 45 percent and 25 percent respectively. Nissan recorded a record month with 121,141 total units sold, a 28 percent increase from the previous year.

Among premium brands, MINI recorded a 69 percent bump and BMW was up 12 percent. Mercedes saw sales up 37 percent while Smart sales dropped by 37 percent. Lexus posted modest gains of 2 percent despite Toyota’s downward trend, and Audi recorded a 14 percent increase while parent company Volkswagen saw sales rise 20 percent.

[Source: Automotive News]

While we won’t have final March sales numbers until Thursday evening, but for the first time since February of 2010, Ford looks set to beat GM in sales figures, with 210,000 units sold.

GM won’t fare so badly, with a projected 208,000 cars and trucks moved in March. GM’s slump – and Ford’s success – has been attributed to a reduction on incentives by the General, and Ford’s bump in factory money. GM was previously the industry leader in incentives.

While Japanese automakers like Toyota, Honda and Nissan reported strong showings, the natural disasters in Japan may prove to be a thorn in their side, and Edmunds has already reported a downturn in sales for March, based on these events, as well as higher gas prices.

[Source: Edmunds]

After going through the equivalent of 160,000 miles worth of grueling tasks, Ford will take apart an Ecoboost V6 selected for the evaluation process, in a bid to demonstrate that the boosted V6 can be a viable alternative to traditional V8s.

The V6, which was randomly pulled from the regular production line, was put into action in a variety of tasks, from racing in the Baja 1000 to towing over 11,000 pounds for 24 hours straight. At the end of the test process, Ford dynoed the motor and found that it still produced 360 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque, just as it did when it left the assembly line.

[Source: Ford]

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GReddy has always been a huge supporter of Scion and its vehicles, producing a turbo kit for the original tC when it first hit the market. In fact, their tC was one of the cleanest ones ever built, so it’s no surprise that they’re already all over the new generation 2011 Scion tC, R&D’ing new parts including an exhaust system and turbo kit.

While snooping around GReddy’s Plixi account, we spotted several photos of a 2011 Scion tC already under the knife. From what we can gather, they just picked up the car about a week ago and have already mocked up a new exhaust system for their SEMA project. It looks now they are now working hard on getting a turbo kit ready to go to show off to the rest of the industry come SEMA.

GReddy is well known for producing very streetable turbo kits that do not hamper the reliability and daily-driving ability of cars. We fully expect another high quality product from their factory once they get everything sorted out and ready to go. It should be a nice improvement to the factory 2.5L-liter inline-four, and knowing GReddy they’ll aim for around 250-hp nice and safely.

And with HKS’s Scion SEMA car confirmed, there’s little doubt that we’ll see a few other 2011 tCs all tricked out.

Be sure to catch AutoGuide’s 2010 SEMA coverage starting November 2nd.

[Source: GReddy's Plixi]

GALLERY: GReddy 2011 Scion tC

Rear AutoGuide’s 2011 Scion tC Review by Clicking Here

Mazda announced it will introduce its next generation Sky powertrain in North America in 2011.

The gasoline-based Sky-G engine and Sky-Drive automatic transmission system will make their way into production models in 2011 while the diesel-based Sky-D engine (pictured above) will reach North America in 2012.

The Sky powertrain concept is part of Mazda’s goal of improving fuel efficiency by 30% by 2015.

The Sky-G will have 15% better fuel efficiency than current engines. The Sky-D will see a 20% improvement as well as having improved torque.

Mazda says the six-speed Sky-Drive transmission will improve fuel efficiency by another 5% while offering the performance of a dual-clutch transmission.

Gallery: Mazda Sky Powertrain Concept