2007 Toyota Camry Solara on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Scion xB death sentence uncertain, minor updates announced

The last time we discussed the Scion xB and xD, in April of this year, it was to announce a report that both models were being killed. The vice president of the brand had said, "We don't have plans for a direct xB or xD replacement," but no date was given for the termination. Turns out rumors of their deaths have been greatly exaggerated: as part of a Toyota press release that summarized feature and pricing changes for 2013, the Scion xB was included.
The 2013 hatchback (above) gets a new front bumper and lower fascia with LED lighting, and the rear end gets a black diffuser. Stingray Metallic and Elusive Blue Metallic exterior hues will disappear, Absolutely Red and Nautical Blue Metallic will take their places. Inside will be light bronze metallic and chrome accents, as well as new seat fabric and the availability of the BeSpoke Premium Audio. It increases in price by $500, the manual costing $16,800, the automatic $17,750.
The xD (inset) has been left off the list and the Scion website it still hawking the 2012 car. But 2013 xD pricing and new features were announced earlier this year, the MSRP rising by $125 to $16,500. New equipment and options includes smoked headlight covers, more airbags and a two-tone paint job.

Watch a Camry driver in full road rage

There are vehicles that, fair or not, will forever be associated with jerky drivers. But as this very recent footage from an in-car camera shows, even the most mundane of sedans can be piloted by an ass.
In this video, the driver of one very beige Toyota Camry is driving like a person choked with rage. Though we don't see which (if any) actions by our camera car might have lead up to the tirade, we do see the Camry driver swerving from lane to lane, in multiple attempts to get in front of and brake check the couple in the recording.
According to the text associated with the YouTube video, the offending incident took place last week, on a section of I-880 near Fremont, CA. The uploader has gone so far as to include the date, time and license plate number of the Camry driver, in hopes, we guess, that some kind of legal action can be taken against him. Take a closer look for yourself in the video below.

VW is world's second-best-selling automaker, GM falls to third

Every year when we start talking about which automaker is the biggest in the world, there always seems to be at least a little bit of controversy. For 2013, Toyota handily took the top spot with 9.98 million sales, but it's the runner up spot between General Motors and Volkswagen that is starting to create a stir.
Based on our earlier report, GM's 9.71 million vehicles put it in second place ahead of VW's 9.5-million-vehicle effort. Now, The Detroit News is reporting that VW is claiming a tally of 9.73 million sales, including figures from MAN and Scania - heavy-duty truck divisions under the VW AG family. The article points out that Toyota's sales figure includes its Hino line of trucks, but these might still be considered light-duty vehicles while MAN and Scania build tractor trailers.