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The Type S moniker is back along with the 2021 Acura TLX Type S sedan. And today, the internet has sprouted some more Acura Type S news. We caught wind of a forum post on Acurazine through a thread on Reddit that includes a link to a video allegedly shown during Acura's 2020 dealer meeting webcast. That video doesn't appear to be live anymore, but an enterprising individual happened to screenshot the most important slide from the video: Acura's product roadmap to 2022. Here's the link you're looking for.

Take this information with a grain of salt. There's a good chance that this intel is correct, but plans change. Most imminent is a redesigned Acura MDX with a Type S variant. We expect an MDX Type S to follow the same formula as the TLX Type S. Acura's new 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 would be a fine candidate for this duty. With that powerplant (horsepower unknown, but likely around 400 ponies), it could punch up against SUVs like the Mercedes-AMG GLE 53, or punch down to the Ford Explorer ST. tuned suspension, plenty of appearance add-ons and sportier interior would also likely be along for the ride. It's placed directly after the TLX on the chart timewise, so there's a good chance that we see a new MDX soon.

Collectors who find limited-edition hypercars with a multi-million-dollar price tag a little bit too stodgy will soon have a rare opportunity to add a real Formula One car to their fleet. Toyota donated the first example of the last car it built to compete in the series to a charity auction whose proceeds will go towards COVID-19 relief.

Wearing chassis number 01, this TF109 participated in a battery of tests leading up to the 2009 Formula One season. It was driven by several professional pilots, including Henkie Waldschmidt, Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock, but it never lined up on the starting grid of a race. Instead of stuffing it in a dimly-lit museum, Toyota passed the TF109 to Pirelli who used it as a high-speed test mule for tires. It was stripped of its red and white livery and put in the hands of well-known pilots (including Romain Grosjean) until it finally retired in 2011 after covering about 30,000 kilometers (approximately 19,000 miles), which is enormous for a Formula One car.

The 2021 Toyota Corolla hatchback doesn't see many updates for the new model year, but it does get a spiffy new limited edition with the unimaginative "Special Edition" moniker. Despite the name, the car is rather bold looking, gaining a unique front spoiler, side skirts and rear bumper. And we're pleased to report the rear bumper does away with the silly fake chrome tailpipes. Besides the lower body additions, all painted black, it gets a black rear spoiler and black 18-inch wheels. The Special Edition goes on sale later this summer, and only 1,500 examples will be built, all of which come in Supersonic Red. Bizarrely, this very sporty looking Corolla is only available in the SE trim level with a CVT. You'll have to stick with a regular SE or XSE if you want to pair the 2.0-liter 168-horsepower four-cylinder with a manual transmission.

As for the rest of the Corolla hatchback lineup, there are a few feature updates. All Corolla hatchbacks now come standard with rear seat side impact airbags. These are the abdominal airbags mounted to the seat, as opposed to the already standard curtain airbags. The XSE trim also picks up blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert as standard, and both features are available on the SE trim as part of the optional SE Preferred Package. There's also the new Enhanced Cargo Space Package. Basically, it's the option to replace the spare tire with a tire repair kit to free up space under the cargo floor. It brings space up to 23 cubic feet over the regular model's 17, and it's a no cost option. Finally, Toyota is adding two new colors to the hatchback, Magnetic Gray Metallic and Wind Chill Pearl.

Honda has teamed up yet again with Ryan ‘The Brickman' McNaught, a LEGO Certified Professional, for another impressive build, after a successful second season of ‘LEGO Masters'.

Japan will veto Lebanon's $10 billion bailout request if decision-makers in the Middle Eastern nation don't deport former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn, according to lawyers. He famously fled Japan, where he was under house arrest, and landed in Lebanon, where he was raised, by boarding a private jet in a box in 2019.

Ghosn's cunning plan — which he orchestrated with the help of a former Green Beret arrested in 2020 — was worthy of a James Bond movie, but it didn't take Lebanon's financial difficulties into account. Inflation is rising, unemployment is growing, food is becoming increasingly expensive and the country's public debt hovers in the vicinity of $90 billion. Banks are also running out of dollars, which the business sector pressingly needs to pay for imported goods. Government officials began negotiating the terms of a $10 billion bailout with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in May 2020, and Ghosn may unexpectedly find himself in the middle of the talks.

Toyota has issued a recall for certain 2019-2020 RAV4 and RAV4 hybrid crossovers due to the risk of defective suspension parts. In total, 9,502 vehicles might have cracked lower suspension parts that lead to a dangerous situation. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) posted campaign No. 20V286000 on May 20, 2020. The recall states that "the front lower suspension arms may have cracks, which may result in the suspension arm separating from the front wheel assembly." Furthermore, a recall documents states, "if a vehicle is driven frequently with rapid acceleration and deceleration over its lifetime, an involved front lower suspension arm can eventually separate." Rapid acceleration and deceleration seem like pretty common occurrences in cars.

Sales at Infiniti in 2019 were down in the dumps. While the market as a whole fell 1.2%, Infiniti brand sales were down 21%. Nissan wasn't too far behind, with its sales sliding 9.9% year-to-year. None of those numbers look great, but Nissan COO Ashwani Gupta still sees a path forward for Nissan's luxury brand, Infiniti.

"We will bring back Infiniti as Nissan-plus, in terms of product and technology," Gupta told Automotive News. "Infiniti will be great again."

Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso joined Toyota's testing team to put the updated Hilux pickup through its paces. His involvement isn't as random as it seems: He raced a heavily-modified version of the current truck in the 2020 Dakar Rally, and he knows how it should handle when pushed to its limits — and beyond.

Toyota introduced the current-generation Hilux in 2015, so the truck isn't scheduled to retire yet; its predecessor remained in production for 11 years. Instead, the model will receive comprehensive updates including a new 2.8-liter turbodiesel engine, suspension modifications, and an updated front end. Peeking through the camouflage suggests the visual changes include thinner lights and a grille that brings the Hilux in line with recent additions to the Toyota range, like the RAV4. Its lower bumper has gone under the knife, too.

While the larger Lexus GS has finally been discontinued after declining sales, its smaller sibling is getting a new generation. The new 2021 Lexus IS will be revealed next week, and in the meantime, Lexus released this teaser image.

It doesn't reveal too much, and the company was smart enough to make some adjustments so that playing with exposure and brightness in Photoshop wouldn't reveal anything more. All we can tell is that it's a sedan, it gets a full-width taillight design, and there's a bit of a diffuser treatment to the rear bumper.

Toyota is prepping a few significant updates for the eighth-generation Hilux, which has been in production at factories all over the world since 2015.

Kawasaki is working on a unique open-air three-wheeler with a rolling body that can lean into turns, according to a patent application published by the European Patent Office and discovered by Motorcycle.com. 

Like the three-wheeled Polaris Slingshot — which just got an update including a more powerful engine — it seats two people in a side-by-side layout, but it has some key differences. Most notable is the ability to tilt inward into the turning direction, which the applicant says makes it "possible to realize a favorable driving feeling similar to that of a motorcycle or the like." And that's the whole point: to counteract the centrifugal forces that normally push the driver away from the cornering side.

The 2020 Nissan Kicks is a refreshingly honest tool for people who know what they honestly need from a car. It doesn't have all-wheel drive, but you know what, most people don't really need it -- front-wheel drive and a useful extra bit of ground clearance will be just fine to access that campground, and if snow is in the forecast, snow tires will mean more than all-wheel-drive anyway. It doesn't have much power, but you know what, the Kicks is probably going to spend most of its life in traffic and the general urban grind, and in that setting, its engineers have made it feel surprisingly spritely. That it's reasonably quiet and comfortable on the highway should make that weekend trek to the campground sufficiently pleasant. 

And what about all the stuff you'll be bringing to that campground? The Kicks may have comparable exterior dimensions to most subcompact SUVs, but it's packing a shocking amount of cargo room. On paper, it has 25.3 cubic feet of space, whereas nearly all its competitors are in the teens. Only the Honda HR-V comes close at 24.3. And as you're about to see, it lives up to that promise in person.

This Honda Civic Si was a neat car when it was introduced — it got noticed. Besides the exclusive Electron Blue paint job, those in the know would recognize it packed a special 1.6-liter VTEC engine producing 160 horsepower at a screaming 8,000 rpm (the regular Civic topped out at 127 horsepower). The Si also had a stiffer suspension with progressive rate springs, upgraded roll bars, a tower brace and lower-profile tires for improved handling. A five-speed manual was mandatory, which refreshingly is exactly the same as today's Honda Civic Si. Bravo. However, this Si didn't have ABS, which always struck me as odd since it was available on the cheaper EX. 

Despite all this well-deserved fanfare at the time, however, the Civic Si didn't exactly scream "collector's item, store me in a garage for 20 years!" And yet, somebody basically did just that after buying this car in 2004. So what you have here, up for auction on Bring a Trailer, is a brand-new Honda Civic Si. It would be a hoot to drive, a pleasant reminder of a simpler time, but also a barely driven old Honda Civic that should theoretically be as easy to maintain as, well, a barely driven old Honda. It's really the prime example of such a thing. 

The 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime SE will ring the till at $39,220 (including a $1,120 destination charge) when it goes on sale this summer, Toyota announced Friday, as the company looks to claim the performance high ground in the compact crossover segment with its high-output plug-in hybrid. 

So far, hybrid variants of smaller mainstream two-row crossovers have been focused entirely on efficiency; even Toyota's own RAV4 Hybrid is rated at 41 mpg city, 38 mpg highway and 40 combined on the strength of its 219-horsepower conventional hybrid drive system.