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Incoming Toyota chairman wants a Supra successor

We'd venture to guess that in recent years, there have probably been almost as many rumors swirling about a Toyota Supra successor than there have been for a mid-engine Corvette. (Case in point: the speculative renderings we came across a few years ago, pictured above.) While we don't expect the Corvette's recipe to change drastically any time soon, it looks like a Supra - or more appropriately a Supra-like car - could be closer than we think.
First, there was an announcement of a BMW-Toyota joint venture. Said venture would, among other things, "Set up a feasibility study to define a joint platform concept for a mid-size sports vehicle."
Upping chances even further, a new Automotive News report claims that incoming Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada wants a vehicle "comparable" to the Supra. Clearly there are a lot of parties that want a new Supra to happen - to say nothing of enthusiasts - but Uchiyamada might be just the guy to get it done. None of this is proof positive of an impending Supra, to be sure, but winds do seem favorable.

Alonso can do full WEC season after date changed to avoid F1 race

McLaren Formula One driver Fernando Alonso can compete for Toyota in every round of the World Endurance Championship this season after organizers moved the Japanese event to avoid a U.S. Grand Prix clash. They announced at a presentation in Paris on Friday that the Six Hours of Fuji had been brought forward to Oct. 14, ensuring that the Spaniard can feature for Toyota at the manufacturer's home track. Alonso wants to win the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race in France as part of the "triple crown of motorsport" achieved only by the late Briton Graham Hill. Hill, like Alonso a two-times Formula One world champion, won Le Mans, the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 in the 1960s and early 1970s. Toyota announced last month that Alonso, whose main focus remains Formula One, would be racing all the rounds of the endurance season that did not clash with his McLaren commitments. The Fuji race had originally been pushed back a week to Oct. 21 to avoid a clash with the IMSA Petit Le Mans round at Road Atlanta in the United States. The eight round 2018-19 WEC "super season" includes two editions of Le Mans as a move towards a championship that will start in the European summer and end with the French endurance classic. The top LMP1 category will have 10 cars, with Toyota the only factory team following the departure of reigning champions Porsche. Alonso will share a car with Switzerland's Sebastien Buemi and Japanese Kazuki Nakajima, both former F1 drivers. Reporting by Alan Baldwin Related Video:

Recharge Wrap-up: Minnesota first to require biodiesel, maglev in Israel, Toyota FCV in Aspen

A new Minnesota law that requires biodiesel blends goes into effect in just a few days, says KELO. Diesel drivers in Minnesota will be pumping soybeans into their tank beginning July 1. Every year, diesel will be sold as a B10 blend (ten percent biofuel) from April through August, and will scale back to a cold-hardy B5 blend from September through March. The biofuel largely comes from soybean crops grown within Minnesota, and the biodiesel industry pumps more than $900 million into the state economy every year. According to the National Biodiesel Board, using the B10 and B5 blends will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1,342,000,000 pounds every year. Minnesota is the first state to require diesel to be sold as a biofuel blend. In Japan, Isuzu Motors and Japanese biotech venture Euglena are teaming up to create biodiesel using algae, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. The goal is to create a new type of fuel that doesn't need to be mixed with light oil to be used in engines. "As long as we use light oil for diesel engines, emissions of carbon dioxide are inevitable," says Isuzu president Susumu Hosoi. Euglena has also been using algae to develop jet fuel with airline operator ANA Holdings. Isuzu and Euglena hope to have the new biodiesel developed by 2018. Aerial maglev transportation is coming to the campus of a defense contractor in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wired reports. The SkyTran personal rapid transit system uses small pods on an elevated magnetic track to move people from place to place. The pilot program will see SkyTran come to the corporate campus of Israel Aerospace Industries as soon as next year. The pods are hailed by phone, and carry passengers along the magnetic rail system at speeds of up to 44 miles per hour. The passive magnetic system levitates the pod attachment a centimeter above the rails, while a burst of electricity propels the pod forward. If the test at the campus goes well, SkyTran could spread to Tel Aviv at large, moving up to 12,000 people per track per hour with top speeds of 150 mph. The pre-production prototype of the Toyota FCV will make its North American debut at the 2014 Aspen Ideas Festival on Friday, June 27. The hydrogen car's finished exterior was revealed in Japan on Wednesday along with its nearly $70,000 price tag. It will go on sale in Japan by April of next year, and will come to Europe and California in the summer of 2015.