1997 Toyota Land Cruiser Base Sport Utility 4-door 4.5l on 2040-cars

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Toyota teases 2014 4Runner, will debut on April 27

The 2014 Toyota 4Runner appears to be getting a styling refresh that is as out of the ordinary for Toyota as the venue at which it will be debuting. Launching on April 27 at the 2013 Stagecoach Music Festival in Indio, CA, the 2014 4Runner looks to be getting more of an in-your-face design. Toyota says this marks the first time it has ever revealed a new product at a music festival.
While we only see two images of the updated 2014 4Runner, the new headlights break from the rectangular shape present on the current model for an edgy, scalloped shape. Below the headlights are vertical air inlets - looking quite similar to the 2014 Subaru Forester XT - but it isn't clear if all models will get these or just special trim levels. The other image Toyota released was of the smoked, LED taillight.
As the presenting sponsor of the music festival, Toyota will have legendary off-road driver Ivan "Ironman" Stewart at the show as well as an off-road driving course for people to drive the automaker's trucks and SUVs. Scroll down for a press release giving some additional information about both the 2014 4Runner and the Stagecoach Music Festival.

VW targeting 10M sales in 2014

Volkswagen Group believes it can sell over 10 million vehicles in 2014, with hopes of overtaking Toyota as the world's largest automaker in the process. If VW can do it, it would meet that goal four years earlier than planned. Of course, Toyota isn't sitting still - it also hopes to top the 10 million-car threshold this year and has the advantage of already holding the top spot.
"With rising volume and new models, we will increasingly see positive earnings effects as well," said VW Group CEO Martin Winterkorn during its annual press conference, according to Automotive News. The company is spending huge amounts of money to propel it to the top, investing 84.2 billion euros ($117 billion) through 2018, and according to AN it plans to introduce over 100 new models worldwide among all of its brands by the end of next year.
The German automaker may get an extra boost as the European car industry shows signs of emerging from its yearlong stagnation and China continues to grow. In January, VW Group was up 8.5 percent in Europe and 15.5 percent in China, according to its own figures. However, the US has been slowing with Volkswagen brand sales down 19.04 percent in January and down 13.81 percent in February.

Tesla pulling plug on Toyota RAV4 EV battery deal

The future of the Toyota RAV4 EV appears to be in doubt. Tesla supplies the EVs battery packs, and it says that production ends later this year.
"Toyota is expected to end the current RAV4 EV model this year," Tesla said in its quarterly financial filing obtained by Bloomberg. "Our production activities under this program are expected to end in 2014," the company said.
This timeline fits closely with the original production plans for the RAV4 EV. When the $100-million project was first announced, Tesla said that it expected to supply battery packs for the vehicle from 2012 to 2014. Building components for the Japanese automaker continues to bring in money, though. In the company's Q1 2014 letter to shareholders, it said: "Automotive revenue included $15 million of Toyota powertrain sales." According to Bloomberg, Toyota has sold just 1,594 RAV4 EV models from 2012 through April 2014. Initially, the business had estimated that it would sell 2,600 units of the electrified crossover.