Another morsel to come out of Fiat's 2-year plan is the short term product plan for Lancia, a brand that the parent company has been accused of neglecting for quite a while. In addition to the usual refreshes and facelifts, the truly juicy bit is that Fiat plans 17 new vehicles over the next two years, and Chrysler platforms will provide the basis for four Lancias.

Next month's Detroit Auto Show is expected to host the first "new" Chrysler product: a rebadged Lancia Delta. An SUV is expected to follow sometime next year, then a midsize sedan and convertible, a luxury sedan, and a minivan in 2011. The real meat that we're still missing is how these vehicles will really be created. How much of the initiative will be badge engineering, and how much will be genuine, clean-sheet engineering.

Fiat wants Chrysler's global sales to more than double by 2014, to 2.8 million. If that number is accurate, that would mean Sergio Marchionne expects Chrysler to account for more than half of his targeted five million global sales for the entire Fiat Group by 2014 -- and that group just grew thanks to Fiat's swallowing up Zastava. Marchionne is said to be thinking about a successor because he "can't work 24/7 forever." With plans like these, we can't imagine he'll be sleeping or stepping aside any time soon.

[Source: Carscoop via GM Inside News]

Wishing to sharpen up the eternally imprecise data collected by using with real, live human beings, Ford is apparently the first automaker to use motion-capture software to assist with its vehicle design. The technology, already used to great effect in video games and the film industry, allows Ford engineers to examine how people really move around in their vehicles and, hopefully, design more ergonomic solutions as a result.

In jargon-ese, Ford's system is called the Human Occupant Package Simulator (HOPS). In real life, it means a "human test subject" hooked up to fifty sensors and doing the things he or she would do in a car, "such as swinging a leg outside of the vehicle or reaching for the seat belt." If you've ever seen a video of how EA Sports makes games like Madden or NBA live, you're intimately familiar with the general process.

Combined with Ford's Cave Automated Virtual Environment (CAVE) and Programmable Vehicle Model (PVM), HOPS allows the automaker make a much better vehicle with pixels before it ever has to render it in steel. It should also mean that future Fords will be suitable for orcs, battle droids, humans, and the Na'vi. Follow the jump to read about the tech, and you can see what one of the lucky "human test subjects" looks like in the gallery below.



[Source: Ford]

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You know what they say about life at the top... Toyota will probably add a few more bittersweet reminiscences to that pile of axioms once it recovers from the beating it's currently taking.

The automaker has responded to the recent Los Angeles Times article concerning its safety record by issuing a statement and posting the entire e-mail Q&A document it gave the Times. Not surprisingly, Toyota calls the article an "attack" and says the "questions were couched in accusatory terms." After looking over the doc, it's true that some of the questions posed do have the flavor of, "Have you stopped killing puppies, and if so, why?"

Others come off as a tad disingenuous, such as, "If Toyota's position is that the problem is caused by floor mat and pedal interaction when the floor mat is improperly installed by the driver or another third party, why would the company have settled those cases?" Nearly every life form on the planet knows that companies will settle cases even when convinced of their own innocence because it's easier than going to court, especially in the States. We're not saying Toyota is innocent, and perhaps the Times had to ask, but the practice of settling lawsuits is so common that we find the question intriguing.

On the other hand, some of Toyota's answers left us wondering. Its response regarding the steering relay rod issue in the company's 4Runner SUVs, in which Toyota asserts that it's up to a jury to decide whether it knew about the problem in the U.S., struck us as odd.

At the very least, Toyota might want to dial back the polemics. Any corporation that has gone through a steadily-expanding PR nightmare can tell you that we're heading to the point where mere words, and perhaps even the historical and scientific data, do no good. Just ask Johnson & Johnson.. or General Motors... or Audi.

Their execs – and any decent crisis management consultant – would likely tell you that at this point, you do whatever you need to do, spend whatever you need to spend, but you get ahead of it. You can read Toyota's statement and the complete L.A. Times Q&A after the jump.

[Source: Toyota]

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The 2011 BMW M5 is having its heart and reflexes tested at der Nürburgring. Thus far, the company has kept a remarkably tight lid on the details of what the buyers can expect from the forthcoming supersedan, but varied and persistent rumors all point to more power, more usability, more economy, and more edge.

The next M5's twin-turbo V8, said to be a tweaked version of the one in the X5M and X6M, could have somewhere between 570 and 600 horses in its corral. Carbon and aluminum will undoubtedly be featured prominently, and a Kinetic Energy Recovery System could also figure into the mix. Maybe it's just us, but it looks like the front end is going to wear some serious wheel arches as part of the visual package, too.

The only obvious, and disappointing, hole in all of the scuttlebutt so far is whether the new M5 will be offered with a manual transmission. We hope BMW knows that there is indeed a wrong answer to that question...

[Source: Carscoop]

GM designer Sang Yup Lee has left for the enormous and vast wilds of the VW empire. Lee was the exterior designer of the 2010 Camaro, 50th Anniversary Stingray Concept, Buick Velite, and he worked on the C6 Corvette. Having spent time with him on a few occasions, we can also say he's an all-around great guy.

His new position, as chief exterior designer at the Volkswagen/Audi Advanced studio in California, will begin next month. Lee will report to Executive Design Director Jens Manske, and is apparently is charged with 'inspiring' the merged design divisions. We look forward to a future of brawny, haunchy, badass VWs, even if only in concept form.

[Source: Car Design News]

McLaren Formula One engineers use their laptops to find out what their MP4-series F1 cars are doing. Put one of the teams many computers in front of Lewis Hamilton, and he uses it to make the car do things – in this case, make a little music and dance a little jig. It's just his, and Vodafone's, way of saying Merry Christmas, folks. Follow the jump to see the vid.

[Source: Vodafone UK]

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Last month Fiat head Sergio Marchionne put Chrysler's five-year plan on everyone's plate to digest. This month he's done the same with Fiat's 2-year plan. One of the first items to come out is that the dinky Fiat 500 will get an even dinkier motor: the 0.9-liter, 2-cylinder turbocharged MultiAir gasoline engine.

Right now the smallest engine on offer in a 500 is the SOHC, inline 4-cylinder, 1.2-liter petrol with anywhere from 68 to 74 horsepower. The new unit will muster 65 horsepower in its naturally aspirated guise and 80 to 105 horsepower with the turbos on board. In addition to the reduced carbon dioxide output, the engine is lighter and more fuel efficient.

The news here isn't the output – the base three-door Fiesta, for example, has a 68-hp, 1.3-liter engine in the UK, and the Peugeot 107 has a 1-liter, 68-hp lump described as "zippy" – it's the size of the engine. While Ferrari tries to see how much power it can extract from a slightly smaller engine, Fiat, on the other hand, appears to want to see how small it can build an engine and still extract anything.

[Source: Carscoop]

Porsche test pilot and all-around legend Walter Röhrl will be competing in next year's Nürburgring 24-Hour race for the first time in 17 years. His weapon of choice for the event: the 2010 Porsche GT3 RS. That's the rear-wheel drive one with the 450 horsepower 3.8-liter that runs up to 8,500 RPM. The one with the track-specific, lightweight lithium-ion battery and dynamic engine mounts. The one that did the Kessel Run 'Ring in 12 parsecs 7:33 in light traffic.

Röhrl says the street-legal production car is the closest thing to a race car he's ever driven, so he wants to find out what it can ultimately do from gun-to-flag. It probably won't hand comeuppance to the four-liter, $494,000 GT3 RSR, but with the same horsepower as the dedicated racer we figure Röhrl plans to keep it close.



[Source: Paul Tan]

We give thumbs up to Cruden's reason for building a $191,500 F1 simulator: "Snooker rooms, swimming pools, gyms and cinemas have been done." So there. If you're over waiting for Codemasters to release F1 2009 on a real platform, or waiting for GT5 to ever show up and you have enough money to buy an SLS AMG and several weeks of track time, the Hexatech is waiting for you.

The fully-suspended system can be tailored to provide feedback based on the chassis setup, wheelbase and track, tire and suspension settings, drive train (engine, gearbox, differentials), aero loading, aero draft (slip streaming), steering, brakes and driver aids such as traction control, ABS, and more. It even has seat belt tensioners. And it isn't just for F1: the sim does NASCAR, WRC, and 24-Hour racing, too. Three 42-inch screens, or a projector and a room with at least a 10-foot ceiling will keep you in the action.

If you want one but you don't have that kind of dosh, there's still time to make a wish and be extra nice before Santa makes his final decision. Or you could ask Ferrari if you can borrow theirs...

[Source: F1 Fanatic]

As with every other automaker – heck, almost every other company – Toyota wants to save more money. Japan's Asahi business daily revealed a Toyota initiative to lower its parts expenses by 30% over the next three years, and it is one that we're all too familiar with: Toyota told its suppliers to cut their prices by 30-40%. Can anyone guess how suppliers will most likely remove one-third the cost of their parts? If you said "use cheaper materials," we have your prize backstage...

A Toyota spokesman said the company had given "various suggestions including cost reductions" to the affected portion of its supplier base, which makes it sound like at the very least the company didn't just say "Here's less money, make it work." There are more than 200 vehicle components involved the move – that might sound sizable on its own but it's a tiny fraction of all the parts in a car.

Ultimately, Toyota wants to ensure its competitiveness in emerging markets and guard against a strengthening yen. Assuming the initiative is carried out, the parts in question will be used for cars arriving for the 2013 model year. We hope that by 2014 it is clear that Toyota chose the right bets for this game of parts roulette.

[Source: Reuters via TTAC | Image: TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images]