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Dubai claims debut of Toyota GT86 sedan concept

Typically, when the organizers of an auto show reveal that a new car will debut at their show, we take notice. But this particular claim from the Dubai International Motor Show ought to be taken with a grain of salt.
As our compatriots at AutoGuide discovered, the Facebook page for the Emirates auto expo includes a post with an interesting claim: that a sedan based on the Toyota GT86 (known in the US as the Scion FR-S) will debut at the show. The Facebook post is accompanied by the image above, purporting to show the concept in question.
The strange part is that the organizers claim the four-door GT86 concept will make its "regional unveil" at the Dubai show, which would seem to indicate that the concept in question would make its international debut at an earlier show. Considering that the doors open in Dubai on Tuesday, that seems increasingly unlikely. All of this begs the question, If this isn't actually a four-door GT86, what might it be?

European car sales up 8% in February

Three weeks ago an analyst increased projections for European car sales this year, expecting them to climb three percent compared to last year instead of 2.7 percent. That number is a postive sign after years of hard times but it turns out February was especially good, overall European sales climbing eight percent on a wave of southern European recovery and discounts - and this comes after five months of gains including January's 7.2-percent jump over the year before.
The only country of Europe's five largest markets to post a decline was France, just as it did in January, Germany, the UK and Italy posting solid double-digit numbers, Spain rocking the charts with an 18-percent increase because of a government program to encourage trade-ins.
The only brand to miss the wave was Volkswagen, dropping 0.8 percent as it watched the double-digit growth at sister brands Audi, Seat and Skoda lift the Volkswagen Group sales up by seven-percent. Peugeot overcame flat sales at Citroën to improve the group by 3.5 percent, BMW and the Mercedes-Benz/Smart combo rose by four percent, the Fiat group jumped 5.8 percent, Ford was up 11 percent, the Renault Group 11.5 percent, General Motors 12 percent and the Toyota clan by 14 percent.

Toyota recalls 690,000 Tacoma trucks for rusty leaf springs, fire risk

Toyota has announced that it will be issuing a recall of 690,000 Tacoma pickups from model years 2005 through 2011. The affected vehicles include both the four-wheel-drive model and the two-wheel-drive PreRunner (but not the standard 4x2 pickups), which may have a rather serious problem with their rear suspensions.
In some cases, corrosion and stress could cause one of the three or four leaves in the rear suspension's leaf springs to fracture. While the trucks can still be driven with a broken leaf, Toyota is concerned that it could move out of position and impact other components in the rear of the truck, with a particular focus on the fuel tank. Needless to say, but a piece of metal continuously impacting anything, let alone the fuel tank, is cause for concern.
As of this writing, there have been no reports of crashes, injuries, fires or deaths due to this problem, although that won't stop Toyota from informing all affected customers of the issue. Those 690,000 owners will need to report in to dealers for inspections and, if necessary, repairs.