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Jay Leno gets behind the curtain on the design of the Toyota FT-1 concept

Hinting at the future of Toyota performance vehicles, the FT-1 concept was one of the stars of the Detroit Auto Show this year. It even nabbed fourth place in our Editors' Choice list. While he's a few months behind the car's official reveal, Jay Leno managed to get the only existing concept of the sports coupe wheeled into his garage to take a closer look, and he's pretty impressed.
Leno speaks with Alex Shen and William Chergosky, the exterior and interior chief designers of the FT-1 respectively, to get a better idea of the inspirations behind the concept. Jay heaps high praise on it for mixing Italian and Japanese design and says he likes the look even more than the Lexus LFA. The coupe isn't a product of either country, though. It was penned at Toyota's CALTY Design Research center in Newport Beach, CA.
The designers go into the entire history of the FT-1, and Shen even admits that Toyota design lacks an emotional factor at the moment. It's a fascinating interview behind some of the little touches you might miss at first glance. Unfortunately, the model doesn't have the green light for production yet and may never get made. In any case, scroll down to watch Leno swoon over the coupe.

Watch Congress sample Toyota's i-Road 3-wheeler concept

Toyota brought its new i-Road, a three-wheeled, all-electric low-speed vehicle that debuted in 2013 at the Geneva Motor Show, to the Capitol for some of our elected officials to test out. As easy as it is to forget that politicians are people, too, it was refreshing to see a human side to many of them as they zipped about one of the Capitol's many meeting rooms.
We'd say their reactions were surprisingly positive. Of course, some were just down there because Toyota is a big presence in their respective districts, but the bulk of the senators and representatives seemed like they just wanted to zip about the makeshift indoor course on the leaning trike.
Take a look below at the video from Bloomberg.

Recharge Wrap-up: Qualcomm invests in Chargemaster, gamers will appreciate these Toyota Prius C ads

Chargemaster has received an investment from Qualcomm for wireless charging in the UK. Of the 27,000 charging stations it has already installed, 10,000 are ready to be adapted for inductive charging, according to Chargemaster. Dr. Anthony Thomson of Qualcomm says that with this investment (of a currently undisclosed amount), "we are taking another step towards deployment of a convenient and easy to use WEVC network." The convenience of wireless charging not only makes life easier for current EV drivers, but could also help convince more people to make the switch to electric driving. Read more at EV Fleet World or at Hybrid Cars. Toyota has released Japanese ads for the Prius C using music from popular video games. The ads, which borrow scores from Dragon Quest III and Monster Hunter, also use the tagline "Fun to drive, again." While some may find the link between driving and role-playing video games tenuous, fans of green cars and gaming know the various feedback displays in cars like the Prius C can make eking out every last mpg possible feel like a game, with the car's Eco Score essentially the equivalent of a game's high score. Plus even if the reference is lost on a viewer, the ads do instill a sense of adventure. See and hear for yourself in the videos below, and read more at Kotaku. The electric vehicle charger (EVC) market is predicted to grow by significantly worldwide by 2020, according to a new report. It shows a predicted compound annual growth rate of 28.28 percent between 2013 and 2020. Level 2 charging station sales will expand from $0.2 billion in 2014 to $3.5 billion by 2020, while growing from $67 million in 2013 to about $947 million in 2020 in the US alone. For 2014, residential EVC sales currently make up 70 percent of those in the US, while sales between home and non-residential level 2 chargers is expected to be about equally divided by 2020. Read more in the press release below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.