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April Fools' Day brings Jeep Sedan, Hyundai N Roadster, Toyota Yaris pickup and more

There is one day out of the year when public relations professionals have permission to lie to journalists and to the public: April Fools' Day. Manufacturers release details about wild, weird and wacky new technology, concept vehicles and services. Some take it to obvious outlandish extremes (Jeep Sedan anybody?), while others plot to mislead with products that are just outside the realm of possibility. Check out all the "jokes" below. BMW Motorrad BMW doesn't want to exclude anybody from experiencing the thrill of high-level racing, so it is introducing 'iRace" autonomous programming on its S 1000 RR sport bike. It includes beginner, sportsman, advanced and unlimited driving modes, and stores GPS information for all Superbike world championship tracks. Hyundai Hyundai is wrong for this. The Hyundai N Roadster is the work of South Korean designer Yeonjoon Park and features a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine, rear-wheel drive and a hard convertible top. Hyundai says this is a "concept (for now)," but we think it'd make a seriously great Mazda Miata competitor. Honda Honda wins the award for the best interactive gimmick, as its press release for the '90s-inspired special-edition Pastport includes a live hotline number with a message from Fred Savage. Call 1-833-PASTPORT for more information. Jeep Put the Jeep Cherokee face on the Chrysler 300's body, and voila! The 2019 Jeep Sedan is born. We can't decide if the name or the rendering is better. Land Rover Accessibility to charging ports is of major concern to anybody with a plug-in vehicle. So, with the recent launch of the Range Rover P400e and Range Rover Sport P400e, Land Rover is putting forth an effort to install more stations around the globe. First up is Scotland's Isle of Skye. Adventurers need juice too! Lexus Australia Lexus expands its Encore service to include doggos. The new service, called Enpaw, will take pups to luxury boarding kennels in style. Toyota U.S. Toyota created the Yaris Adventure pickup for "those who want to tell their friends they own a truck but never veer off pavement." It's part Mazda 2, part RAV4, 100 percent ute and it looks ... great? Creating a new segment might be all fun and games to Toyota, but Ford is reportedly considering a Focus-based ute in a similar, albeit larger, style. Toyota Australia Toyota is launching a new HiAce van, and it's already getting a limited-edition variant called the PieAce.

Lexus NX rolls on wheels made of ice

To create this rolling ice sculpture, Lexus teamed up with London-based Hamilton Ice Sculptors, which fitted the compact luxury crossover with wheels and tires crafted from ice. The sub-zero craftsmen then deep-froze the entire vehicle, stored it at -22 degrees Fahrenheit, and drove it around London – pleasantly surprised to find that it started on the first try. As far as publicity stunts go, the finished product looks even cooler than the cardboard IS that Lexus had crafted a few months ago or the biometric glow-in-the-dark RC F from this past summer. The project took three months of research, design, and testing to carry out. The wheels replicate the alloys on the NX with millimetric precision, right down to the tread pattern, and each one took a team of four craftsmen 36 hours of work to complete. Of course, blocks of ice would have a hard time supporting the weight of the vehicle – especially while in motion – so the frozen wheels were reinforced with clear acrylic discs. And to make it all glow, they were also fitted with in-wheel LED lighting. This isn't the first time we've seen ice sculptors apply their skills to automobiles, following the frozen Canadian Tire pickup, Toyota Land Cruiser, Nissan Cube, and Saab Aero-X we've seen in recently years. But this one is at least as cool, in one sense or another. Scope out the results in the video above, and the process that went into their creation in the making-of video below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. LEXUS NX RIDES ON THE WORLD'S COOLEST WHEELS – CRAFTED IN SOLID ICE The concept of driving on ice has taken on a whole new meaning for Lexus, which has crafted the world's first set of working wheels and tyres made from frozen water. Brussels, Belgium - True to its mission of "creating amazing" and inspired by the craftsmanship that goes into every vehicle it makes, Lexus commissioned a team of ice sculpture specialists to explore how ice could be used in place of conventional alloy metal and rubber. After three months' research, design and testing, the finished wheels were fitted to a Lexus NX for the ultimate ice drive. The car itself was deep-frozen, stored for five days at -30°C (it started first time) before being driven off down a London road. The addition of in-wheel LED lighting added an extra dramatic dimension to the cutting-edge contemporary styling of the NX.

Toyota recalling 1.67 million vehicles worldwide in 3 campaigns

Toyota is issuing three separate recalls covering 1.67 million vehicles worldwide with most of those models in Japan. It looks like the campaigns' impact on the US may be smaller, though. According to Reuters, Toyota isn't aware of any accidents, injuries or fatalities affecting the models. Some yet-unnamed Lexus models might also be affected.
The largest of the campaigns does not currently affect any US-market vehicles. About 802,000 units of the Toyota Crown Majesta, Crown, Noah and Voxy in Japan are being repaired to replace a seal that could leak in the brake master cylinder. Those already leaking get a new brake booster, as well, according to Reuters.
The only recall currently believed to affect the US is due to a problem covering approximately 759,000 vehicles with 423,000 of them here. The repair is to fix a faulty fuel delivery pipe that could cause a fire if the fuel leaks out. Unfortunately, we don't know which models it covers. Autoblog spoke to Toyota spokesperson Mona Richard and was told the information was still "under embargo." When exactly that embargo will lift isn't yet known, but we're on the case.