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Toyota GR GT3 Concept: a long, lean racer with road aspirations

Toyota and Lexus trundled into the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon with a bundle of modded gear. There are two especially racy bits — one, the GRMN Yaris we've already covered, and this, the Gazoo Racing GT3 Concept that is philosophically, if not aesthetically, related to the Yaris. Toyota believes it can provide more enjoyment for customers by commercializing race cars than by making customer cars racy. So instead of turning one of its road cars into a GT3-class competitor (Toyota does sell a Supra GT4), the GT3 Concept could be a customer potential race car that, as required by GT3 homologation rules, would become a road car.   Toyota Gazoo Racing President Koji Sato said the competition division will make a prototype GR GT3 at some point this year. That doesn't mean the exercise will go beyond this one-off, but Gazoo did also say, "TGR intends to use feedback and technologies refined through participation in various motorsports activities to develop both GT3 and mass-production cars and further promote making ever-better motorsports-bred cars," so its seems we will feel the effects of this somewhere. Based on the form factor of long, low hood and truncated, sloping rear, we could draw a line from the GR GT3 Concept to the Lexus Electrified Sport concept the luxury arm showed in December. Inspired by the LFA, that road car concept was claimed to hit 60 mph in the low 2-second range and be able to run about 435 miles on a charge. But we think it makes a lot more sense to draw a line from the GR GT3 Concept to Mazda's RX Vision GT3 concept from March 2020. We're not accusing GR of copying, but Toyota and Mazda are tight, and these two concepts could be confused for different skins on the same chassis in a video game. We'd be happy to see both make it to GT3 competition as it means there'd be street-legal versions, and frankly, this is probably a better path from circuit to street than the LMDh endurance racing hypercar that Gazoo Racing has toyed with turning into a street-going customer option. Elsewhere on the carmaker's Tokyo Auto Show stand, there was a racy on-road concept from Toyota and two off-road focused concepts from Lexus. The Toyota bZ4X GR Sport Concept turns the battery-electric crossover into a Friday L.A. nightclub hopper with a matte black exterior on big wheels in low-profile tires, and sport seats inside.

Total auto recalls already on record pace in 2014

If you've noticed that there have been more recalls than usual this year, you may be on to something. According to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the US market is on pace to break a record for recalls. In 2013, 22 million cars were recalled. We're only a third of the way through 2014, though, and we've already halved that figure, with 11 million units recalled. That's wild.
Considering the past few months, it shouldn't be a surprise that General Motors is leading the charge, with six million of the 11 million units recalled coming from one of the General's four brands. Between truck recalls, CUV recalls and the ignition switch recall, 2014 hasn't been a great year for GM.
Other recall leaders include Nissan (one million Sentra and Altima sedans), Honda (900,000 Odyssey minivans), Toyota (over one million units in a few recalls), Volkswagen (150,000 Passat sedans), Chrysler (644,000 Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs) and most recently, Ford (434,000 units, the bulk of which were early Ford Escape CUVs). So while it's been a bad year for GM so far, its competitors aren't doing too well, either.

Toyota recalling small number of 2014 FJ Cruisers for possible steering failure

Toyota is issuing a fairly tiny recall to fix a potentially serious problem in the FJ Cruiser. The company is recalling about 120 examples of the rugged SUV from the 2014 model year because the steering can fail. According to Toyota, the intermediate shaft that connects the steering wheel and steering gear box might not be welded correctly and can separate. If this happens, drivers lose steering control, which is obviously a major safety concern. However, the automaker is not aware of any crashes, injuries or fatalities from the problem. On the small number of affected models, Toyota will replace the intermediate shaft with a new one. TOYOTA RECALLS CERTAIN 2014 MODEL YEAR FJ CRUISER VEHICLES TORRANCE, Calif., February 5, 2015 – Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., today announced it will conduct a safety recall of approximately 120 Model Year 2014 FJ Cruiser vehicles. The steering system contains an intermediate shaft, which connects the steering wheel to the steering gear box. In the involved vehicles the intermediate shaft could have received an inadequate weld. Under some circumstances, the weld could separate, resulting in the loss of steering control and increasing the risk of a crash. Toyota is not aware of any crashes, injuries, or fatalities caused by this condition. Owners of the involved vehicles will receive a notification by first class mail. Toyota dealers will replace the intermediate shaft. Detailed information is available at www.toyota.com/recall and by calling Toyota Customer Service at 1-800-331-4331.