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Toyota reveals cause of heartbreaking failure at Le Mans

Toyota was set to become only the second Japanese automaker to win the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. But on the last lap, the No. 5 TS 050 car, which was being driven by Kazuki Nakajima, suffered a technical issue that resulted in a sudden loss of power. In a team statement, Toyota Gazoo Racing has revealed that the culprit was a "defect on a connector on the air line between the turbocharger and the intercooler." The defective air line connector, according to the statement, resulted in a loss of control over the turbocharger. The team isn't sure why the connector failed and is continuing to analyze the component to get down to the root cause, the team said in the statement. During the race, the team was able to get the No. 5 car running again by modifying the control settings. The fix, however, came a little too late as the vehicle could not complete the lap under Le Mans' maximum final lap time of six minutes and limped its way to 45th place. While the team is working hard to find the fix – to avoid a similar type of failure in the future – it claims there is no relation to the engine issues that were experienced by the two TS 050 cars at Spa during the World Endurance Championship in May. You can read Toyota Gazoo Racing's full statement here. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Image Credit: JEAN-SEBASTIEN EVRARD via Getty Images Motorsports Porsche Toyota Racing Vehicles le mans 24 hours

VW Group to split brands under four holding companies

The Volkswagen Group is planning a tremendous shift in its internal structure that will decentralize operations by splitting its 12 brands into four different holding companies. Here's the breakdown. Things will be split logically, considering the inter-sharing of parts, platforms, and engines. The Volkswagen brand, Seat, and Skoda make up a passenger vehicle division led by former BMW man Herbert Diess. Audi, which is tightly intertwined with Lamborghini and motorcycle manufacturer Ducati, will be managed by current Audi exec Rupert Stadler. Porsche and Bentley, which are already quite close, will be joined by Bugatti and run by Matthias Mueller. Finally, a commercial vehicles division will include Volkswagen Commercial, Scania, and Man. Former Daimler exec Andreas Renschler will take care of the big vehicles. The massive move, according to Automotive News Europe, is part of an internal VAG effort to move away from the structure established by ousted Chairman Ferdinand Piech, who favored a compact, but highly centralized, management structure to oversee the independent actions of the company's brands. Criticism of Piech's arrangement stemmed from the company's slow responses to changes in the market, ANE reports. The new structure should make for a more efficient, streamlined company that's better able to make crucial decisions. What are your thoughts? Should VAG decentralize, or did Piech have the right idea? Have your say in Comments.

Porsche Cayenne diesel V8 may not be long for this world

Goodbye, Porsche Cayenne V8 Diesel. We hardly knew ye. Nor did the Europeans, apparently. Porsche's V8 oil burner is still on the European model list for the Cayenne SUV, but the mill won't go through the likely pricey process of being updated to adhere to new and stricter European emissions standards, Just-Auto says. A Porsche spokesman confirmed to the publication that it's a fairly complicated process to update the diesel V8 to be so-called "Euro-6 compliant." With Cayenne diesels selling in relatively low volumes anyways, the German automaker might just dump the V8 diesel altogether, as it'd be quite cost-ineffective to make the necessary upgrades. The V8 diesel was a 4.1-liter engine that delivered 385 horsepower in addition to what sounds like a little too much exhaust for European clean-air regulators. While that's a pretty powerful profile, the most recent gas-powered V8 for the Cayenne delivers about 570 horsepower, so the diesel engine won't likely be missed by European auto enthusiasts. Besides, there's still the V6 diesel that's also sold in the US. That's a 4,800-pound beast that moves from 0 to 60 miles per hour in about seven seconds and gets a relatively (for diesels) modest 20 miles per gallon city. For those who are curious, Autoblog's First Drive review of that model can be found here.