2011 Scion Xb on 2040-cars

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Scion sketches SEMA spread starring Slayer, skateboarder

I was in Nashville last weekend for a friend's bachelor party. It's all rather fuzzy, but I do recall that my friends and I found it hilarious to request Slayer every time one of the country groups on the Broadway strip asked for a specific song to be played. While there were a few good sports, most didn't find it too funny, largely because country music and Slayer don't mix all that well. Actually, Slayer and a lot of things don't mix too well. Like Slayer and Scion, Toyota's slowly withering youth brand.
This mish-mash hasn't prevented the Japanese budget brand from teaming with the metal group for a concept vehicle based on the tC coupe (shown above). If the Slayer link is a bit too extreme, Scion has a more mainstream xB, styled by skateboarder Riley Hawk on the way. Both new vehicles will be shown at the upcoming SEMA show, but Scion has opted to release a pair of sketches of both aftermarket creations ahead of the Las Vegas expo.
It's hard to tell what kind of exterior changes have been made to the tC, although Scion says the cabin now boasts a 32-inch monitor, as well as a heavily revamped stereo. As you can see, it will say "Slayer" on the door, in the band's stylized script.

Toyota adds 1.6m cars to Takata inflator recall list

As part of the Takata airbag inflator recall expansion announced by NHTSA earlier this month, Toyota has listed an additional 1.6 million cars that will need to have inflators or airbag assemblies replaced. This brings the total of recalled Toyota, Scion, and Lexus vehicles to 4.73 million. Other automakers will announce their expanded recall lists this week as well. This round of recalls affects some but not all vehicles with the following model names and years: 2009–2011 Toyota Corolla and Matrix 2006–2011 Toyota Yaris 2010–2011 Toyota 4Runner 2011 Toyota Sienna 2008–2011 Scion xB 2007–2011 Lexus ES 2010–2011 Lexus GX 2006–2011 Lexus IS To see if your specific vehicle falls under recall, write down your VIN and go to toyota.com/recall; you can also check any recalls, Takata or otherwise, at safercar.gov/vin. Toyota will inform owners of affected vehicles by mail. Depending on the model, either the inflator or the entire airbag assembly will have to be replaced. Due to the number of vehicles that have already been recalled, it may take some time for the necessary parts to be available. A total of 11 deaths have been attributed to the faulty Takata inflators, and federal investigators now know why the parts are prone to failure. The state of Hawaii was the first to sue the auto supplier, with more states expected to follow. The 17 other automakers are required to announce their additions resulting from the May 4 expansion this week, so expect more of the 35 to 40 million vehicles to be listed soon. Related Video: Image Credit: Reuters Recalls Lexus Scion Toyota Takata airbag recall lexus is toyota sienna toyota 4runner toyota matrix lexus es lexus gx

Toyota GT86 engineers explored shooting brake and sedan variants, are they still in the cards?

According to the Toyota UK blog, engineers for the automaker were so excited developing the GT86 coupe that they investigated producing a whole family of models based on the rear-wheel drive sports car. And at least one engineer - product chief Tetsuya Tada - still hopes it can happen, even if not everyone at Toyota is onboard. Tada: "Actually we tried to do this secretly but the executives found us out. They said: 'What are you doing? Will you please focus on the coupe.'"
Those mooted variants included both a four-door sedan and a shooting brake. Why? Aside from the pure excellence of a lightweight, brilliantly handling hatchback, Toyota was keenly aware of the fact that it may need to spread the cost of development out across several models. Tada says that's part of the reason why it was so easy to create the convertible. The company knew from the outset that a softtop version was in the cards, and built the machine's structure to accommodate having the roof sliced off.
Tada also made mention of the already-announced collaboration between Toyota and BMW. The engineer said that the GT86 was particularly helpful because it demonstrated just how successful a product conceived and designed by two different companies can be. While he didn't say exactly what Toyota and BMW are up to, it's clear the two are looking into a number of possibilities. It's an interesting read with a lot of