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Mitsubishi Fuso targets female truckers with pink polka dot Canter

We take it for granted that women can enter just about any career they want now. But there are still countless occupations where females are underrepresented. You don't see too many women truckers, for example - particularly in a country that's still as deeply traditional as Japan. But Mitsubishi Fuso is showing just how forward thinking - and simultaneously, how traditional (pink polka dots are a bit 'on the nose') it can be with this hybrid pink truck.
Now for those unfamiliar, the Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation has nothing to do with Mitsubishi the car company these days. Instead, it's owned by Daimler, which we know best as the parent company of Mercedes-Benz. Yet Daimler also owns a number of truck and bus manufacturers - among them Freightliner, Thomas Built and Mitsubishi Fuso. One of latter's most popular products is the Canter, the model seen here coated in the shade of Pepto pink at the Tokyo Motor Show.
The point? To make truck driving more attractive to women, of course! We're not sure it'll catch on, but apart from the color scheme - which extends, incidentally, from the cab to the box and inside the cabin - this particular Canter (which Fuso has dubbed Canna) features a hybrid powertrain that produces 130 horsepower and 221 pound-feet of torque, paired to a 7.5Ah lithium-ion battery good for 270 volts. The whole package weighs 6,250 pounds and can carry three Japanese school girls dressed up as Sailor Moon in the front and plenty of Hello Kitty merchandise in the back.

DoJ fines Japanese parts firms $740M in massive automotive price-fixing scandal

Nine Japanese suppliers have pleaded guilty in US court over charges of price fixing in the automotive parts industry, resulting in the Department of Justice doling out a total of $740 million of fines, according to a report from Bloomberg. The scandal, which has resulted in General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Chrysler spending up to $5 billion on inflated parts and driving up prices on 25 million vehicles has sent the DoJ hustling into investigations. "The conduct this investigation uncovered involved more than a dozen separate conspiracies aimed at the U.S. economy," Attorney General Eric Holder (pictured above) said during yesterday's press conference.
As the investigation stands, the DoJ has issued $1.6 billion in fines against 20 companies and 21 individual executives, with 17 of the execs headed to prison. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Scott Hammond said, "The breadth of the conspiracies brought to light today are as egregious as they are pervasive. They involve more than a dozen separate conspiracies operating independently but all sharing in common that they targeted US automotive manufacturers."
Big-name suppliers indicted in the investigation include Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Hitachi Automotive and Mitsuba Corporation. A list of fines and other corporations named in the investigation is available at Bloomberg.

Mitsubishi exec says Evo 'will be replaced in spirit' by high-po hybrid SUV

Stop us if you've heard this one: According to Autocar, the current generation will be the last Mitsubishi Evolution we will ever see.
That, while unfortunate for driving enthusiasts, is a reality we've had plenty of time to digest. The days of wanton fuel burning for the sake of speed and power will soon come to an end. But that doesn't mean the days of performance have to die, too. "Green is still fun to drive," said Mitsubishi UK boss Lance Bradley in a conversation with Autocar. "It's a challenge to make it fun, but not a particularly difficult one. Electric vehicle performance is very good."
So, should we expect a new hybrid sedan to take up the mantle left by the Evo? Not so much. The British magazine quotes Kanenori Okamoto of Mitsubishi as saying, "It will be replaced in spirit by an SUV with high performance," which will apparently incorporate lessons learned in the automaker's efforts at Pikes Peak. The Mitsubishi MiEV Evolution III, which handily broke the EV record at the famed mountain course, will donate much of its high-performance, zero-emissions technology to the project, including its Super All Wheel Control four-wheel-drive system.