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Toyota wants you to meet an 'obsessed' hydrogen fuel cell engineer

Like a television-broadcasting company covering the Olympics, Toyota is looking to market its future in hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle production by taking the personal approach. In this case, the Japanese automaker is telling the backstory of Jackie Birdsall, an engineer at Toyota Technical Center who Toyota says is "obsessed" with fuel-cell technology. A Sacramento native, Birdsall is responsible for testing fuel-cell vehicles and making sure hydrogen stations fill the tanks of the cars in a "reasonable" timeframe. Long a gearhead, she attended Flint, MI's Kettering University (formerly General Motors Institute) and, among other places, worked for the California Fuel Cell Partnership before joining Toyota in 2012. Her first car was an '87 Camry. That's one personal side of Toyota's hydrogen push, and shows another way Toyota is introducing the world to this new powertrain (see also: winter performance). The nitty-gritty is made up of things like working with FirstElement Fuel Inc. on a hydrogen-refueling network in California. As for its fuel-cell sedan, which was displayed in FCV prototype form at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January and is due next year, Toyota said it expects the car to have a full-tank range of about 300 miles and a five-minute refueling time. That's if Ms. Birdsall has anything to say about it. Check out Toyota's press release about Birdsall below. Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution A healthy obsession leads Jackie Birdsall and TTC to the forefront of history The word she keeps using is "obsessed." Jackie Birdsall became "obsessed" with cars when she was a teenager. That made her "obsessed" with the history of auto icons like Henry Ford and Lee Iacocca. In 2003, she did an internship with Daimler-Chrysler, leading to an "obsession" with hydrogen fuel cell technology. And now, as an engineer at Toyota Technical Center, Birdsall is "obsessed" with bringing fuel cell technology to the masses. But perhaps you need to be obsessed when you're trying to change the world. After all, revolutions don't blossom from complacency. Leading an alternative fuel revolution is just what Birdsall and her partners on the Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle team are doing. Collectively, they're finding tangible ways to reduce fossil fuels in the automobile world and figuring out how hydrogen fuel cells can be useful and affordable. In 2015, that obsession will bear fruit when Toyota's FCV hits the markets in California, Japan and Europe.

Volkswagen could outsell GM in China for the first time in nine years

As of the end of November, Volkswagen had sold 70,000 more cars than General Motors in China in 2013, making it appear inevitable that VW will outsell GM there. The feat would return the German brand to the top of chart in China for the first time in nine years, but even the second-place getter won't be complaining too loudly: both automakers sold more than three million vehicles in a market pegged to hit 16 million sales this year.
Volkswagen said it could have sold more cars if it had had more production capacity in China. The arrival of a new-to-China Audi A4, a China-built A3 sedan, the VW Bora and Skoda Octavia, as well as an $18.2-billion-euro investment in the country to construct new factories, means VW should see its numbers grow in 2014. GM's lineup is expanding next year, too, adding four Chevrolet nameplates and two vehicles to its Baojun brand as it tries to get to five million in sales by 2015.
Among other automakers, Ford benefited from good product and woes for Japanese automakers over a territorial dispute with China, outselling Toyota by almost 32,000 units through the end of November. The Ford Focus is China's best-selling vehicle so far this year.

MotorWeek proves '90s were awesome with Supra, Stealth, RX-7, Corvette, 968, 300ZX comparo

Oh, the heady days of 1993, back when the Clinton Presidency was just getting underway, and it seemed like every hot new rock band was coming out of Seattle. Sports cars in the US had finally shaken off the shackles that slowed them during the '70s and '80s, and you could buy any number of legitimately quick vehicles again. MotorWeek recently went digging into its archives to find this six-model test from 1993 showing off some of the best semi-affordable performance coupes that money could buy at the time, and it's priceless.
Featuring the 1994 model year Toyota Supra in twin-turbo guise and MY 1993 versions of the Porsche 968, Nissan 300ZX TT, Mazda RX-7, Dodge Stealth R/T Turbo and Chevrolet Corvette LT-1, MotorWeek definitely covered all of the bases. One thing that might surprise younger readers is these cars' performance. The video only provides 0-60 acceleration times, but several of these vehicles would still be considered pretty potent today - over 20 years since going on sale. The Supra is especially impressive, hitting 60 miles per hour in just 5 seconds. Even today, that's nothing to sneeze at.
Given their performance potential and still-attractive looks, it's amazing that some of these coupes are old enough to drink now. The progress of interior design and safety equipment in the intervening years is pretty shocking, though. In most of these models, having two airbags is touted as a big deal. Scroll down to watch a Throwback Thursday blast from the past about some of the '90s best sports cars.