1992 Lexus Sc400 Base Coupe 2-door 4.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Lexus bringing next-gen IS to Detroit

With ES, GS and LS models all now minty fresh at your local Lexus showroom, it was only a matter of time before we had official word that the company's IS had a replacement in the wings. That word has come down today in an ultra brief press release that names the date and venue that the sheet will be pulled on the new car: January 15th in Detroit at the North American International Auto Show.
Don't pay too much attention to the test mule in these dusty spy shots, we're told that the small Lexus has been "completely redesigned" from the inside out and that it has drawn inspiration from the sultry LF-CC concept car. In LA we learned that the LF-CC has been green-lit for production, so we'd expect to see a lot of cues from that car (in the gallery below) lifted directly for the all-new IS. New fang-face, here we come.
While a coupe and a convertible version of the next IS are undoubtedly in the cards, too, we'd guess that the sedan will be first to go on stage at Detroit next month.

BMW-Toyota partnership to spawn hybrid supercar

BMW and Toyota inked a partnership some time ago to develop green technology, and while we were excited by the idea of a reborn Supra with BMW's carbon fiber reinforced plastic slashing the curb weight or an ultra-efficient, hybridized 1 Series, the joint efforts have been rather limited. That's set to change, though, according to a report from Australia.
Motoring reports that the partners have come to terms on a sports car. And not just any sports car, but a lightweight, hybridized model, with a six-figure price tag. Lending a bit of street cred to that idea is the site's claim that Toyota is currently carrying out durability testing on the BMW i8. According to the site, the new model will slot into the spot left by the Lexus LFA, although based on the language used, it's unclear if this is the Tokyo-bound vehicle we mentioned several months ago.
Details on this potential car are limited, although Motoring claims it will use a Toyota hybrid system mated up to a BMW gas engine - likely the 4.4-liter, twin-turbo V8 found in the M5 and M6. That sounds pretty amazing to us, but we'd still advise taking this with a grain of salt. What would you like to see out of a joint-venture supercar from Toyota and BMW? Let us know in Comments, and have your say on the prospects of a hybridized, twin-turbocharged V8.

Toyota settles first wrongful death suit related to unintended acceleration

Toyota's sales seem to have rebounded from the unintended acceleration issues from 2009 and 2010, but the automaker is far from done dealing with this situation. Following a settlement worth up to $1.4 billion for economic loss to affected vehicle owners, Toyota has settled rather than going to trial in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from an accident in Utah in 2010 that left two passengers dead. This isn't the first case in which Toyota has settled, but it was the first among a consolidated group of cases being held in Santa Ana, CA.
According to The Detroit News, this case was scheduled to take place next month, and it was for a November 2010 incident in which Paul Van Alfen and Charlene James Lloyd were killed in a Camry when, based on findings by the Utah Highway Patrol, the accelerator got stuck causing the car to speed out of control and hit a wall; the terms of the settlement were not announced.
The article says that while Toyota will settle on some cases, it doesn't plan on settling on all of them as it still wants to be able to "defend [its] product at trial." This will probably be the case in suits claiming that software for the drive-by-wire accelerator was the cause of an accident in a Toyota or Lexus vehicle. The question of whether or not the electronic accelerator played any role in this problem has been a hot-button topic since the beginning. Toyota has issued recalls in the past to attempt to prevent unintended acceleration caused by trapped floor mats and faulty accelerator pedals, but it also says driver error was to blame in some instances.