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Toyota Camry, Honda Civic inventories mounting as US automakers make inroads

Two of the hottest-selling cars in America aren't quite as hot as they used to be. The Toyota Camry and Honda Civic are both seeing dealer supplies increase in the face of renewed competition from the much-improved Detroit Three.
According to a report from The Detroit News, the Camry's dealer inventory is 15 days higher than its seasonal average, while the Civic is 25 days above average. Things aren't expected to get better for Toyota and Honda, as RBC Capital Markets analyst Joseph Spak marked the two Japanese offerings as "at risk for reduced output."
The Detroit Three, meanwhile, are seeing supplies dwindle as demand increases, especially for the Ford Fusion, which has seen an 18-percent increase in 2013 sales, and the Chevrolet Cruze, which was second only to the Camry in June 2013 sales.

Honda S660 Concept portends a new kei car for 2015

Apart from a tiny, one-paragraph mention in a press release about the Honda show stand in general, the company hasn't said very much about its completely charming S660 Concept. The model would seem very much to be a look ahead at a possible successor to the Beat kei car for Japanese customers, though we've been told that we shouldn't expect any kind of translation or product for the American market (despite certain key executives wanting more sports cars in the US).
Honda tells us only that the S660 roadster features "advanced styling" and "new initiatives such as Super cockpit interior." We do think that the confines of the S660 look particularly driver-focused, with a carbon fiber steering wheel clad in soft leather, very racy looking vented seats and instruments tilted to keep the pilot constantly informed.
Honda President and CEO, Takanobu Ito, also touched on the S660 in his remarks at the press conference, saying that the model "embodies the freewheeling thinking of young Honda engineers, who want to make a cool car that is unique to Honda." Takanobu also said that the concept will be developed into a production model for 2015, which is great news for Japanese drivers.

Meet the Kanjozoku, Osaka's infamous street racers

Street racing is obviously illegal and incredibly dangerous, but that has never stopped people from doing it. While we don't hear nearly as much about the scourge of Japanese tuner cars as when The Fast and the Furious first hit theaters over a decade ago, illegal street racing is still bubbling under the surface all over the island nation. An excellent new documentary short from Bowls Films takes a look at the Kanjozoku from Osaka, Japan; a group that claims to be partially responsible for the tuning style known as JDM.
The group gets their name from their preferred route known as the Kanjo. It's a 4.77-mile long loop of connected highways running right through the city of Osaka. You might expect a hardcore group of illegal Japanese racers to show up with highly tuned Nissan GT-R and Toyota Supra coupes, but the Kanjozoku evidently eschew all of the others in favor of one particular car that they love: the Honda Civic.
According to the video, that vehicle of choice came in part from the city's location. Osaka was relatively near the one-make Civic races held at Japan's legendary Suzuka racetrack. The hatchbacks thus became the default weapons for the Kanjozoku's street battles.