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Evo pits Toyota GT86 vs. Mazda MX-5 Miata

The latest Deadly Rivals episode from Evo gets the Mazda MX-5 Miata and Toyota GT86 (our Scion FR-S) on track for a shakedown and a whole lot of drifting with Dan Prosser behind the wheel. The UK-spec coupes have slightly different power ratings than ours, but it's all close enough to be comparable. Their Miata has 158 horsepower (ours has 155), 148 pound-feet of torque, takes 7.3 seconds to run from naught to 60 62, and costs 22,695 pounds. The GT86, on the other hand, lists a 7.6-second dash to 60 62, and a base price of 25,000 pounds. The GT86 also weighs 400 pounds more than the Mazda. That's true in the States, too – curb weight for our MX-5 is 2,332 pounds, whereas the Scion FR-S comes in at 2,758 pounds. Both cars lauded for excellent shifting, but one of them has a better front end, a sweeter engine note, more controllable cornering behavior, and is faster by a tenth of a second around the test track. And Prosser doesn't mention it, but one has a lot more body roll. But it takes more than all that to make a winner, so check out the video above to see which is which. News Source: Evo via YouTube Mazda Scion Toyota Convertible Coupe Performance Videos toyota gt86 evo

Toyota sells off Tesla shares, too

The incredible rise of Tesla's stock price has done little to now stop two major shareholders from ditching their stake in the American EV manufacturer. First, Daimler, parent company of Mercedes-Benz, ditched its four-percent stake, and less than a week later, Toyota is doing the same thing, selling off an undisclosed bit of its Tesla investment.
The move comes as Toyota winds down sales of the RAV4 EV, which gets its batteries and electric motor from Tesla at the company's Fremont, CA factory.
"We have a good relationship with Tesla, and will evaluate the feasibility of working together on future projects," Toyota spokesperson Kayo Doi told Bloomberg via email.

Suzuki will road-test EVs in India, start production with Toyota in 2020

NEW DELHI — Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp will start testing prototypes of electric vehicles in India by October, its chairman said on Friday. "We will start road-running tests using a fleet of 50 EV prototype vehicles in India from next month in order to develop safe and easy-to-use EVs for Indian customers," Osamu Suzuki said at the Global Mobility Summit at New Delhi. The company would then launch EVs in India around 2020 in cooperation with Toyota, he added. However, Suzuki said that for EVs to become popular in India, there had to be well-developed charging infrastructure. "In this regard, we look forward to proactive leadership from the Indian government," he said. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a plan to electrify all new vehicles by 2030, a target many experts call ambitious. EVs are expensive due to the high cost of batteries which are still not manufactured in India, and carmakers say a lack of charging stations could make the proposition unviable. Suzuki, parent of India's top-selling automaker, Maruti Suzuki, would start production of lithium-ion batteries for automobiles at its plant in western India from 2020, Suzuki said. India is one of the world's fastest-growing car markets, but EV sales are negligible compared with millions of petrol and diesel cars sold every year. Suzuki said to meet India's environmental challenges, the government would have to look at hybrid and CNG (compressed natural gas) vehicles also.Related Video: