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Toyota, Ford not interested in FCA merger

Sergio Marchionne will preach the benefits of mergers to anyone who'll listen, but his calls for industry consolidation may be falling on deaf ears. At least, that is, the ears of those who the Fiat Chrysler chief would most like to bend. Not only is General Motors uninterested, but according to The Detroit News, neither are Toyota or Ford. "It's something we would not be interested in," said Toyota's North American chief Jim Lentz, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Toyota Technical Center. "At 10 million (vehicles) we have enough scale right now to do what we need to do. There really would be no advantage for us." Toyota isn't the only one unenthused by the prospect of merging with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The Detroit News also reports that Ford, though it may yet to have been approached by Marchionne, wouldn't be interested either. "We're not a suitor for FCA," said Ford CFO Bob Shanks. "We don't see that type of opportunity as one that applies to us." With GM, Toyota, and Ford expressing disinterest in Marchionne's merger idea, the FCA chief will likely start looking elsewhere – or look for other ways to compel his primary candidate to reconsider. He may eventually find a partner – more likely in the Far East or within Europe – but it may not take the form of the major player Sergio has hoped for. News Source: The Detroit NewsImage Credit: Bill Pugliano/Getty Chrysler Fiat Ford Toyota Sergio Marchionne FCA merger fiat chrysler automobiles

Honda may recall up to 1M vehicles for airbag issue, following Toyota's lead

It seems Toyota won't be the only one recalling the faulty Takata airbag inflators for long. Honda insiders in Japan claim that the company is getting close to announcing its own worldwide campaign that would begin before the end of June.
Unnamed sources close to Honda in Japan tell Automotive News that the company is pursuing an internal investigation into possibly affected models and is working with Takata to gather more information. They claim that it could involve even more than the 1.14 million cars worldwide that the automaker covered under the first recall for the problem in April 2013, including 561,000 vehicles in the US.
Toyota jumpstarted this process last week when it recalled over 2 million cars worldwide, including 844,277 in the US. Soon after, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began a preliminary evaluation into the issue following six reported incidents, and started assembling data about potentially affected models from Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Chrysler. NHTSA also began investigating Takata itself.

When a Ferrari and a Toyota GT86 get jiggy, strange things happen

Swapping V8s into small Japanese cars is not new. In fact, swapping V8s into small sportscars from anywhere is not new. From the original Cobra to the modern FR-S and BRZ, big V8 power in a light, lithe chassis has been delicious combination rivaling the Reese's peanut butter cup. People familiar with these swaps know that American iron is the preferred source for large-displacement grunt, but Ryan Tuerck and Gumout have taken a different route, specifically from Italy. Replacing the 2.0-liter flat-4 of this Toyota GT86 is a Ferrari F136 V8. Unfortunately that's about the only detail we really know about this project. The F136 was used in the F430, California and 458 Italia, and all with varying displacement and output. So we don't even know which of those variants this engine is. If it came from a California, that'd at least make the front-engine location easier to fabricate. No matter though, it's still a Ferrari engine in a small car, and that's awesome. And Donut Media, the company that produced the video, promises more details down the road. In the meantime, enjoy this video preview of the project. Related Video: Related Gallery 2017 Toyota 86: New York 2016 View 12 Photos Aftermarket Weird Car News Ferrari Toyota Performance Videos sports car toyota gt86 engine swap 86 flat-four