1985 Celica Gts White 5 Speed Convertible on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2014 Toyota Corolla shows just enough to keep us interested

To date, the best idea we have of what the 2014 Toyota Corolla will look like is the shape and styling of the Furia Concept from this year's Detroit Auto Show. Obviously the compact car will turn down the wick a fair bit from that orange machine, and now we have one more scintilla of an idea of what the final product will look like.
Published today on Toyota's official Facebook page, the image above clearly shows the rear quarter of the 2014 Corolla S. Though the low angle is pretty wonky, we can make out that the shape of the taillight cluster is very similar to that of the Furia, albeit without the same LED treatment, A hint of a trunk-lid spoiler is also in evidence, and also follows the Furia's lead.
Toyota points out that the new Corolla will be shown in earnest on June 6. Expect to see the full version of the car by that date at the latest - online leaks have a tendancy to speed these things up.

Ford, Toyota clean up in Best Car For The Money Awards

The U.S. News Best Cars for the Money Awards picks winners by looking at the average transaction price, five-year total cost of ownership, the regard a car has from the automotive press, reliability figures from J.D. Power and Associates and safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The result, according to the magazine, is "the best combination of critical acclaim and long-term value."
Ford nabbed six of the 21 categories that received awards this year, the Focus, Fusion, Fusion Hybrid, Taurus, Escape and Edge getting trophies. Toyota and its Lexus and Scion sub-brands took another five, the Tacoma and Tundra owning the two categories given to pickup trucks. The other ten awards were split between Honda with three, Buick with two, and one each for Subaru, BMW, Hyundai, Chevrolet and Mazda.
Follow the link to see all the winners and read about why they were chosen.

Jim Lentz exposes more details behind Toyota's move to Texas

Toyota's North American CEO Jim Lentz has already given us a rough idea of what prompted the company's surprise move to the Dallas suburb of Plano, TX from its longstanding headquarters in Torrance, CA. A new story from The Los Angeles Times, though, delivers even more detail from Lentz on the reasoning for the move, what other cities were considered and why the company's current host city wasn't even in the running.
Of course, one of the more popular reasons being bandied about includes the $40 million Texas was set to give the company for the move, as well as the state's generous tax rates. According to Lentz, though, the reason Toyota chose Plano over a group of finalists made up of Atlanta, Charlotte and Denver, was far simpler than that - it was about consolidating its marketing, sales, engineering and production teams in a region that's closer to the company's seat of manufacturing in the south.
"It doesn't make sense to have oversight of manufacturing 2,000 miles away from where the cars were made," Lentz told The Times. "Geography is the reason not to have our headquarters in California."