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Toyota plans biggest stock buyback in over a decade

At the end of December, 2013 Toyota had a cash stockpile of 1.8 trillion yen ($17.5B US). As of March 31, at the end of its current financial year, company coffers are expected to swallow another 1.9 trillion yen ($18.4B US) in net profit - said to be a record sum for the Japanese automaker. In a gesture signaling a turnaround from the horrors of the global recession, Bloomberg reports that Toyota will buy back 60 million shares of its stock, as much as 1.89 percent of the company, for something like 360 billion yen ($3.5B US). It's the first buyback since 2009 and the largest buyback since 2003, when it spent roughly 390 billion yen ($3.8B US) repurchasing shares.
Company president Akio Toyoda founded the Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF), a non-profit that will support international groups working on transportation issues in emerging markets. Half of the stock that Toyota buys, 30 million shares, will be sold to the foundation via the Japanese Trustee Services Bank for one yen per share, the dividend providing the foundation's initial funding. The other 30 million shares will be canceled, a company spokesman telling Reuters that the company wants to reward shareholders.
Industry analysts have been asking Toyota to either return money to shareholders or invest in new factories, but Toyota has ruled out the latter. After getting burned with excess capacity when the financial crisis came, the company is focused on extracting efficiencies from the plants it already has. Toyota has said it plans to complete the buyback by June of this year.

Watch Congress sample Toyota's i-Road 3-wheeler concept

Toyota brought its new i-Road, a three-wheeled, all-electric low-speed vehicle that debuted in 2013 at the Geneva Motor Show, to the Capitol for some of our elected officials to test out. As easy as it is to forget that politicians are people, too, it was refreshing to see a human side to many of them as they zipped about one of the Capitol's many meeting rooms.
We'd say their reactions were surprisingly positive. Of course, some were just down there because Toyota is a big presence in their respective districts, but the bulk of the senators and representatives seemed like they just wanted to zip about the makeshift indoor course on the leaning trike.
Take a look below at the video from Bloomberg.

GM, Audi, Jaguar halt Russian sales amidst ruble's collapse

The value of Russia's ruble currency has sunk like a stone tossed in the Volga for much of the year, losing over 40 percent of its worth since June. The change is having bizarre effects on the auto industry there and leaving some automakers scrambling to adjust. According to Bloomberg, Russians are buying up luxury goods including automobiles at the moment to have a physical investment in case the ruble sinks further. However, with the money worth so little, the companies aren't making much from these transactions. Things are so dire that several automakers are temporarily ending deliveries until the situation stabilizes. According to Bloomberg, General Motors stopped sales on December 16 with no set date to start again. Audi did the same thing but with the intention to resume once it has adjusted model pricing. Jaguar Land Rover terminated business until December 19 to see how things changed. Toyota is increasing its pricing, as well, but keeping business open at the same time. Some automakers have subtly been reacting to the slumping Russian auto market all year. The moves have included Volkswagen cutting production by 30,000 units from its factory in Kaluga. Ford also got rid of 950 workers from two plants due to low demand. Some analysts have even speculated that the contracting industry and possibility of lower import duties into the country could cause companies to end their manufacturing in Russia completely.