Yes Howie Long, Honda has managed to sell everything from lawnmowers and mopeds to cars and jets under the same brand name for decades, without ever damaging the value of the Honda brand. In fact, given that Acura is Honda’s only auto branding exercise thus far and it’s hardly the strongest brand in the world, the best branding advice for Honda seems to be stick with the Honda thing. Which might explain why this Everus concept from the Motor Company’s forthcoming China-only brand, Li Nian, is such an Acura-like disappointment [via Paul Tan].

What happens when the man behind the McLaren F1 decides to chuck in the go-fast nonsense and devote his considerable energies towards developing a “revolutionary” city car? You’re looking at it. Autocar caught this first image of Gordon Murray‘s three-seat T.25 testing in the UK, and from the looks of it, all the talk of this car creating a new segment wasn’t just talk. We knew it was going to be small, but my god is it ever small. And, as Autocar reports, this first image of the T.25’s near-production look shows off one of its most distinctive features:

Our exclusive photograph shows the car’s compact dimensions and reveals the revolutionary single door for the first time. It swings upwards and forwards to allow cabin access for all three occupants.

That’s right, a swinging single-door design, and Mclaren F1-style “arrowhead” seating. What did you expect, a rebadged Toyota iQ?

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Red light camera program troubles continue to grow in South San Francisco, California. On Wednesday, the city council will meet to discuss how to pay the $250,000 bill submitted by the San Mateo County Superior Court to cover the administrative costs of processing $3 million worth of red light camera citation refunds. Because the city failed to properly ratify its contract with American Traffic Solutions, the company in charge of automated ticketing, the 6800 tickets issued between August 14 2009 and February 28, 2010 were declared invalid by the court.

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As a further sign that (most) of the world is slowly crawling out of the dumps, Japanese car companies report (sometimes sharp) increases in overseas production, says The Nikkei [sub]. (Read More…)

Volkswagen, China’s largest car brand, is undeterred by rumors that the Chinese might lose interest in foreign joint ventures. As someone who has been there since 1984, Volkswagen probably knows better. Volkswagen just said: “I see your 1.3 billion people and raise you by 1.6 billion.” Euros, to be invested into plants in China. (Read More…)

One would think that with all the recalls, Toyota would be looking at a hefty loss for fiscal 2009, which ended on March 2010. Toyota itself thought the same. Well, not hefty, but last projections saw a loss in the neighborhood of $200m. A loss is a loss, and it would have been the 3^rd lost year in a row. Toyota bean counters went over the books with a fine tooth comb. And guess what they found? (Read More…)

Thank you so much for the warm welcome last week! I appreciate all your comments and encouragement and look forward to sharing more about auto show life with you.

A comment on my last column caught my eye. The gist of it was why bother with “booth babes” or professional presenters at all? Why not just have sales people or the actual engineers at the shows? It is a question that has been asked of me multiple times in different forums, so I’d like to address it in greater detail here. (Read More…)

BMW has M, Mercedes has AMG, and what does Volkswagen have for the person that wants more (factory-approved) oomph under the hood? This is going to change. Except for quietly lending tech support to the odd private team Volkswagen has been avoiding the racing circuit. This is also going to change. (Read More…)

TTAC Exclusive:
The cars, the girls, the generals, and the news of the Beijing Motor Show

Day two of the Beijing Auto Show. It’s a Saturday morning, traffic is supposed to be light (by Beijing standards) – but boy are we wrong. The roads are clogged. All traffic flows north, towards the fairgrounds. Again, this is the second day for accredited media only. Yesterday, when we left the show, there were lots of traders offering money for the press passes. Which they resold to waiting customers for a hefty mark-up. The take was quickly put in circulation, and all of Beijing is headed to the show. Come along (Read More…)

A fully grown camel weighs up to 700kg (1542 lbs). That makes about a ton and a half for a pair. Which is another testament to the legendary ruggedness of the Peugeot 404 pickup, a vehicle that I would love to own. As the former owner of a slew of Peugeot 404s, including a wagon that this pickup is based on, I can attest to their intrinsic ruggedness. And I’m a notorious overloader too, having once been weighed out with a 3400 lb load of building rocks at a quarry in my half-ton F-100. But still; and how did they get them in there anyway? (Read More…)

Since we’re doing vintage Chevy trucks, let’s not forget that they didn’t look the same in other countries. Brazil had a long tradition of making Chevrolets and other GM vehicles going back to the thirties. And trucks played a big role. The Veraneio was a very popular utility truck built for almost forever. I’m guessing it was probably built on an obsolete chassis that tooling was sent south, as was typical for the era. Similar pickups were obviously on offer too. (Read More…)

Take a good look at this Chevy truck’s bed, if you can: six inches from the front of the bed, there’s a seam. That’s where the extra inches were welded on to make a Longhorn, America’s only 8 1/2 foot long production pickup. Why bother with six extra inches? To make room for one more Hooters girl, obviously. (Read More…)

Here’s a mighty fine example of one of my all-time favorite trucks, hard at work on the job site. It probably won’t come as a great surprise to you that there a dozens of these vintage Chevy trucks still earning their keep hereabouts, but this is a particularly nice one. And for some reason, the first year ’67s aren’t that common. Although I’m quite fond of my ’66 F-100, I’m not very partisan when it comes to American trucks of this vintage: they’re all just about equally attractive, hard working and easy to keep running. I’d take this turquoise beauty in a heartbeat (of America). (Read More…)

Did this old Mack ever bring a smile to my face when it pulled up next to me in traffic at a light. Macks of this vintage were my favorite trucks during my east coast years, as they predominated the truckscape back in the day. This B77 has the bigger radiator. The more common and classic B61 had the more delicate curved radiator that would have looked right at home on a classic car (see below). But my smile got even bigger when the light changed to green and he took of in his utterly un-muffled, un-sanitized hard working Mack, belching the kind of black cloud that used to be ubiquitous in the good old days. Did you know Mack trucks could shoot flames too? (Read More…)

While the car shows are full of hybrids and EVs, big trucks are still indulging in the horsepower race. Scania has seized the crown with its new 730 hp V8 R730. Lets I forget the really big number, here it is: 2,581 ft.lbs of torque (3,500 Nm). Full details here, and high-production value ad after the jump. (Read More…)