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Toyota, Mazda drop Takata as Mitsubishi, Subaru weigh options

It's not a very good time to be Takata right now. Fresh on the heels of longtime partner Honda ditching them, Toyota and Mazda have both come out and said they will not use the company's airbag inflators if they continue to rely on ammonium nitrate. Bloomberg reports that Subaru and Mitsubishi are also contemplating a divorce. "The inflator using ammonium nitrate produced by Takata will not be adopted by Toyota," President Akio Toyoda said during a briefing today. "What's most important above anything else is the safety and peace of mind of customers." Mazda echoed that position, simply saying it "will not use Takata airbag inflators which contain ammonium nitrate in our new cars." When you lose three huge OEM accounts in as many days, it's certainly going to have a deleterious effect on your fortunes. In Takata's case, that's meant a staggering 39-percent drop in their share price over the last three days. Yesterday alone, the company saw a 6.2-percent fall, Bloomberg reports. As the business publication reports, though, Takata isn't going down without a fight. The company is "considering some plans to survive," including a fundraising plan that will see it potentially offer up additional shares for sale. Still, at least one analyst doesn't see whatever company survives staying involved in the airbag inflator business. "I really don't see how they're going to be able to survive as an inflator manufacturer," Valient Market Research founder Scott Upham told Bloomberg. "When your major clients publicly come out and say that they're not going to use your products anymore, it makes this very difficult to sustain your business." News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Carlos Osorio / AP Honda Mazda Mitsubishi Subaru Toyota Safety supplier

2019 Toyota Corolla vs. compact hatchbacks: How they compare

So you've read what we thought about the 2019 Toyota Corolla Hatchback. Oh, you didn't? Well, click to your left, we'll still be here. Just made some coffee, we're good for a while. Welcome back! Wasn't that riveting? The blue paint sure is bright, eh? Well, now you must be wondering how that new 2019 Corolla stacks up with all the other hatchbacks. And, despite long thinking that hatchbacks were doomed, there are actually quite a lot of them these days. So many, in fact, that we couldn't fit them all in our space-limited comparison chart. So, with apologies to the Hyundai Elantra GT, Kia Forte and the dead-man-walking Ford Focus, these were the cars we chose based on sales and competitiveness: the Honda Civic Hatchback, Mazda3 5-Door, Volkswagen Golf, Chevrolet Cruze and Subaru Impreza. We also included the outgoing Corolla iM for reference. If you think we've left something of interest out, you can always create your own comparison. Performance and fuel economy There is but one king here, and its name is Civic. While the sedan and coupe come with a naturally aspirated 2.0-liter 158-horsepower four-cylinder that's less potent than the Corolla's, the hatchback comes standard with the 1.5-liter turbo that aces the segment in terms of both acceleration and fuel economy. The Golf's acceleration should be comparable, but as you can see, it trails on fuel economy (still not bad, though). The new Corolla ends up being better than the rest with its new 168-hp four-cylinder paired to novel transmissions: a six-speed manual with rev-matched downshifting (!) and a CVT that mimics the actions of a 10-speed automatic. The Corolla does weigh more than everything else, though, so that could hamper its acceleration. Fuel economy data also wasn't announced, but Toyota indicated it would be a bit better than the old Corolla iM. Something akin to the 2.0-liter Mazda 3's numbers seems likely. As for the Mazda, its top two trim levels actually come standard with its bigger engine. In any event, despite its ample power, testing has often showed that the Civic is still the quicker car from 0 to 60 mph. And finally, let's not leave out the two on the end. The Subaru is the only car in the segment that offers all-wheel drive (the Focus RS and Golf R don't count), but is also the segment weakling now that the Corolla iM has been discontinued.

Junkyard Gem: 1987 Subaru GL-10 4WD station wagon

Living in Colorado and spending a great deal of time in Denver-area wrecking yards, I see Subaru wagons everywhere. Lots of Subaru wagons. Today's Junkyard Gem, however, is the first GL-10 wagon I've found in such an establishment. I can't find a definitive description of what Subaru buyers in 1987 got with their GL-10 (at the time, the Subaru Leone was sold in the United States as just "The Subaru" with a confusing babel of trim-level codes tacked on). These badges look cool, anyway. This cassette deck would have been considered serious stuff at the time, what with auto-reverse and automatic detection of the prestigious metal tapes that cost twice as much as ordinary cassettes. This car has air conditioning as well, a very rare feature on this generation of Leone. These cars were available with automatic transmissions, but nearly all of the 1980s Leones I find have three pedals. Four-wheel-drive (real four-wheel-drive, including a low-range setting with manual drive selection) was a heavily-hyped Subaru option, not standard equipment, at the time. Under the hood is the boxer-four engine layout we've been seeing in U.S.-market Subarus since all the way back in 1971. This one displaces 1.8 liters and was rated at 90 horsepower. This car's archrival, the Toyota Tercel 4WD wagon, packed a mere 62 horses; prices for ordinary Tercel 4WD and Subaru GL 4WD wagons were similar, but the GL-10 package no doubt pushed the price up well above Tercel levels. These cars weren't anywhere near as reliable as the Tercel 4WD (which, though sluggish, was nearly — but not entirely — impossible to kill) or the Honda Wagovan 4WD, but this one made it to a respectable odometer figure before being retired. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The GL-10 could be had with turbocharging and digital instrumentation, but this wagon has neither. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. All new Leone! Featured Gallery Junked 1987 Subaru GL-10 View 18 Photos Auto News Subaru Automotive History Wagon