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Toyota discontinuing FJ Cruiser after 2014 model year

The Toyota FJ Cruiser is not long for this world. According to the manufacturer's own fleet website, the rugged FJ will be discontinued after the 2014 model year, with the companies final orders due in June of next year.
Toyota first launched the FJ Cruiser in 2006 as a 2007 model, and aside from minor year-over-year changes, it has not been substantially updated. The FJ is the modern successor to the original FJ40 Land Cruiser that Toyota produced from the 1960s all the way up through 1984, when the automaker decided to better focus on its larger, four-door Land Cruiser line. Currently, it uses a 4.0-liter V6 engine with either rear- or four-wheel drive, and is available with either a five-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmission. Interestingly, word of the FJ's demise comes not long after Toyota's US boss, Bill Fay, reaffirmed his company's commitment to body-on-frame trucks in late July.
Also of interest, Toyota's fleet website states that the 2014 model year Prius range will have "minor updates," though it's unclear what those are as of this writing. When Autoblog reached out to confirm these developments with Toyota, spokesman Curt McCallister reminded us, "As is our corporate policy, we don't discuss future products beyond the present or upcoming model year."

Rod Millen to face Monster Tajima in Electric Division of Pikes Peak Hill Climb

The 91st running of the Pike's Peak International Hill Climb is scheduled to begin on June 30. Like last year's event, the 12.42 mile course - fully paved these days - starts at 9,390 feet elevation and doesn't stop climbing until it reaches an impressive 14,110 feet (the air is so thin up there that the FAA requires pilots to use oxygen at that altitude).
There will be an assortment of internal combustion machines racing to the summit, entries from France, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Sweden, Brazil, Canada, Great Britain, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and Belgium, but all eyes will be on the electric showdown between Rod Millen and Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima, from Japan. 61-year-old Millen is a familiar name to Toyota racing fans, and he will be driving the Toyota TMG EV P002 (it won the Electric title last year), while Tajima will be again piloting the Monster Sport E-Runner (which was forced out of the field last year after a fire broke out).
Other entrants include Rhys Millen driving a 2013 Hyundai PM58OT and Paul Dallenbach, who will be driving Millen's Hyundai Genesis Coupe (it set the all-time speed mark last year).

VW is world's second-best-selling automaker, GM falls to third

Every year when we start talking about which automaker is the biggest in the world, there always seems to be at least a little bit of controversy. For 2013, Toyota handily took the top spot with 9.98 million sales, but it's the runner up spot between General Motors and Volkswagen that is starting to create a stir.
Based on our earlier report, GM's 9.71 million vehicles put it in second place ahead of VW's 9.5-million-vehicle effort. Now, The Detroit News is reporting that VW is claiming a tally of 9.73 million sales, including figures from MAN and Scania - heavy-duty truck divisions under the VW AG family. The article points out that Toyota's sales figure includes its Hino line of trucks, but these might still be considered light-duty vehicles while MAN and Scania build tractor trailers.