2014 Toyota Camry Xle on 2040-cars

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180,000 new vehicles are sitting, derailed by lack of transport trains

If you're planning on buying a new car in the next month or so, you might want to pick from what's on the lot, because there could be a long wait for new vehicles from the factory. Locomotives continue to be in short supply in North America, and that's causing major delays for automakers trying to move assembled cars.
According to The Detroit News, there are about 180,000 new vehicles waiting to be transported by rail in North America at the moment. In a normal year, it would be about 69,000. The complications have been industry-wide. Toyota, General Motors, Honda and Ford all reported experiencing some delays, and Chrysler recently had hundreds of minivans sitting on the Detroit waterfront waiting to be shipped out.
The problem is twofold for automakers. First, the fracking boom in the Bakken oil field in the Plains and Canada is monopolizing many locomotives. Second, the long, harsh winter is still causing major delays in freight train travel. The bad weather forced trains to slow down and carry less weight, which caused a backup of goods to transport. The auto companies resorted to moving some vehicles by truck, which was a less efficient but necessary option.

2015 Toyota Camry targeting 'more emotional' design

There are many ways to describe the Toyota Camry: "comfortable," "economical," "affordable," "reliable" and "dull as a bucket of mayonnaise" would all be accurate. It's this last one that the Japanese brand is seeking to change. While we aren't expecting it to suddenly sprout a high-revving V8, a rear-drive layout or razor-sharp handling, a report from Bloomberg suggests we should at least expect a more evocative design from one of the best-selling cars in the country.
The next Camry update, due for 2015, should have a "more emotional, more impactful design," says Kevin Hunter, head of Toyota's US design studio. That's according to Bloomberg, who caught up with the styling boss at this week's Detroit Auto Show. "Camry's taken some hits on styling, but it's still selling well. But we need to create better design for Camry in the future."
Toyoda wants to see waku-doki in his company's designs - heart-racing qualities

Toyota recalling 1.9M Prius models globally for software update

Toyota has announced a set of voluntary recalls covering 960,000 Prius, RAV4, Tacoma and Lexus RX350 models in the United States to address two separate issues. Worldwide, Toyota will have to recall a total of 1.9 million Prius cars.
The Prius recall affects about 700,000 2010-2014 models in the US, due to a fault in the motor/generator control ECU and hybrid control ECU software. It says that the current software could result in high temperatures on certain transistors and possibly damage them. When it fails, the error forces the car into failsafe mode. Toyota says that in rare circumstances, it could even shut the hybrid system down while the car is being driven.
Toyota spokeswoman Shino Yamada told Automotive News that the software update should take about 40 minutes, and dealers would start to be notified about affected vehicles today. She also told them that the first reported glitch occurred in May 2011 in the US when the system overheated and the car entered failsafe mode. The affected cars were built between March 2009 and Feb. 5, 2014, according to Automotive News. Toyota says that it has received no reports of accidents or injuries caused by either fault.