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Toyota to show Camry and Corolla Special Editions, updated Avalon in Chicago

Toyota has quite the party ready for the upcoming Chicago Auto Show with the unveiling of some colorful Special Edition versions the Camry and Corolla to go along with the biggest piece of news, a refresh for the Avalon. The company didn't announce any specific info about the updated sedan but did release this dark teaser image, which we lightened (pictured right) to show off more detail. The stylists seemingly tweaked the higher portion of the grille, while giving the lower section a wide-open mouth. After the Camry's 2015 refresh, the popular sedan now has sharper, somewhat more aggressive styling, and this Special Edition based on the SE trim leans into that demeanor even more. Limited to 12,000 units starting in August, power still comes from a 2.5-liter four-cylinder rated at 178 horsepower and 170 pound-feet of torque with a six-speed automatic, but Toyota tries make it look a meaner, including 18-inch wheels with black highlights, smoked taillights and a choice of either Blizzard Pearl or Blue Streak Metallic paint. The interior changes are more thorough, with black bolsters and blue centers for the seats, plus matching cerulean highlights for the instruments and trim. Buyers also get a few luxuries inside with an Entune Audio Plus stereo, push-button start and moonroof. Navigation is optional. Where the Camry has a blue theme, the Corolla Special Edition goes crimson for its limit of 8,000 units beginning in August. Based on the S Plus trim, exterior upgrades are limited to a set of gloss black 17-inch wheels and a choice of Absolutely Red, Black Sand Pearl or Super White paint. There are a few more updates inside, with red stitching and accents for the seats, dashboard and door trim. These models also get push-button start, but an improved audio system with navigation and power moonroof are optional. View 8 Photos TOYOTA TO CREATE TURBULANCE IN WINDY CITY WITH SPORTY CAMRY AND COROLLA SPECIAL EDITIONS Camry and Corolla to Create Excitement With Special Edition Debuts Limited Production Models Equipped With Unique Sport-Themed Features Refreshed Avalon to be Unveiled at Chicago Auto Show CHICAGO, Feb. 5, 2015 - - Winds of change will be blowing into the Chicago Auto Show. Toyota's Camry mid-size sedan, the best-selling car in America for the past 13 years, and Corolla compact sedan, the world's best-selling car of all time, will debut special edition models at next week's Chicago Auto Show.

Weekly Recap: Toyota wants cars to be your 'close friends' around 2020

Toyota confirmed plans this week to launch autonomous technology in its production cars around 2020. The automaker's version is called Highway Teammate, and it's one element of a broader mobility strategy that includes vehicles communicating with each other and the grid. "Toyota believes that interactions between drivers and cars should mirror those between close friends who share a common purpose, sometimes watching over each other and sometimes helping each other out," the company said in a statement. That sounds utopian, and perhaps a bit cheesy, but it's an acknowledgment that autonomous driving requires more than technology developed in a vacuum. Toyota is looking at its research in a broader context, and dubs its overall strategy the Mobility Teammate Concept. Highway Teammate is the first step. Its test vehicle is a modified Lexus GS, which uses road-mapping data and external sensors to merge or exit highways, change lanes, and maintain safe distances during driving. It's operated on the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo. Toyota has been working on autonomous tech since the 1990s, with the goal of providing mobility for older people and the disabled, as well as lowering the frequency of traffic accidents. Toyota's push comes as an early adopter, Nissan, is hedging on its own deadline to implement the autonomous tech by 2020 due to a lack of firm laws governing self-driving cars around the world. Conversely, Volvo took the landmark step of being the first automaker to accept liability for when its cars will operate in autonomous mode, and urged the US government to set federal guidelines to regulate the technology. OTHER NEWS & NOTES 2016 BMW M4 GTS: Your water-injected, turbo-boosted demon BMW is unleashing its most powerful M4 ever, a 493-horsepower special edition that's road legal yet bred for the track. The company is making 700 copies for sale around the world, and 300 of them will come to the United States. The twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter six-cylinder revs to 7,600 rpm and uses a water-injection technology to cool the intake air and lower the compression temperature. BMW says this allows it to wring more power out of the inline six. The car also uses carbon-fiber reinforced plastic for the roof, hood, engine compartment strut brace, drive shaft, and rear spoiler to reduce weight. The M4 features BMW's organic light-emitting diode taillights, which are said to be an industry first.

Major automakers urge Trump not to freeze fuel economy targets

WASHINGTON — Major automakers are telling the Trump administration they want to reach an agreement with California to avoid a legal battle over fuel efficiency standards, and they support continued increases in mileage standards through 2025. "We support standards that increase year over year that also are consistent with marketplace realities," Mitch Bainwol, chief executive of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing major automakers, will tell a U.S. House of Representatives panel on Tuesday, according to written testimony released on Monday. The Trump administration is weighing how to revise fuel economy standards through at least the 2025 model year, and one option is to propose freezing the standards through 2026, effectively allowing automakers to delay investments in technology to cut greenhouse gas emissions from burning petroleum. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not formally submitted its joint proposal with the Environmental Protection Agency to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. Even so, last week, California and 16 other states sued to challenge the Trump administration's decision to revise U.S. vehicle rules. Auto industry executives have held meetings with the Trump administration for months and have urged the administration to try to reach a deal with California even as they support slowing the pace of reduction in carbon dioxide emissions that the Obama administration rules outlined. One automaker official said part of the message to President Donald Trump at a meeting on Friday will be to consider California like a foreign trade deal that needs to be renegotiated. Automakers want to urge him to get automakers a "better deal" — as opposed to potentially years of litigation between major states and federal regulators. On Friday, Trump is set to meet with the chief executives of General Motors, Ford, Fiat Chrysler and the top U.S. executives of at least five other major automakers, including Toyota, Volkswagen AG and Daimler AG, to talk about revisions to the vehicle rules. Senior EPA and Transportation Department officials will also attend. Environmental groups are eager to keep the rules in place, saying they will save consumers billions in fuel costs. A coalition of groups plans to stage a protest outside Ford's headquarters in Michigan.