Auto Moto

PARIS — Renault is preparing to substantially reduce its vehicle range, withdrawing well-known but ailing models like the Espace minivans, as part of looming cost cutting plans, four sources in the industry and close to the French carmaker said.

The company, shaken by the downfall of its once star CEO Carlos Ghosn and by setbacks in its main markets, is set to detail at the end of the month how it aims to cut costs by 2 billion euros ($2.16 billion) over the next three years.

Japanese police say the volume of traffic around the country has plunged amid the coronavirus outbreak, leading to a significant decline in accidents.

But there has been an increase in fatal car crashes in urban areas. Police suspect this is due to more aggressive driving on empty roads.

The mid-2010s saw motorcycle builder Yamaha release a couple of nifty little concept cars, a departure from its powersports vehicles and occasional assistance in developing engines for car companies. It led to the rumors that the company might actually bring a car to production, and it culminated in the beginning development of one with Gordon Murray, designer of the McLaren F1. Unfortunately, Yamaha revealed that project was canceled before we even saw a concept. But now a patent rendering of that very car has surfaced at the European Union's Intellectual Property Office, and while it's cool to see, it also reminds us how sad we are it was canceled.

The car is a curvy, mid-engine coupe. It almost looks a little Lotus-like. The proportions suggest it would have been quite small, similar to the Sports Ride concept coupe from 2015. Though significantly more toned-down than that concept, this stillborn Yamaha bears some interesting design cues such as the flush door handles, as well as the Y-shaped character lines on the hood. Those lines echo design cues from both the Sports Ride and Cross Hub. Extrapolating from the Sports Ride, this unnamed coupe could have been made using Murray's F1-inspired iStream production process and featured a rev-happy Yamaha motorcycle engine.

Does anyone remember the Willy's Wheeler RC car from the '80s, also known as the Honda City Turbo? The originals are tough to come by nowadays, but luckily, there's a brand new version available with new insides.

The new Tamiya Honda City Turbo RC car sits upon the Tamiya WR-02C chassis. The chassis features rear-wheel 2WD with fully independent double wishbone suspension. It also shares the 185mm wheelbase of the original WR-02 chassis. This is an assembly kit, so don't expect to pick one up and start driving right away, but popping wheelies with one of these (which is totally possible thanks to the model's weight distribution and motor) will be all the more satisfying after putting in a little work to make it happen.

TOKYO — Nissan plans to slash the number of cars it produces at home in May by 78% from last year, as the impact of the coronavirus shakes the troubled automaker which has already been struggling with falling sales.

As global automakers reel from plunging sales amid lockdowns imposed in many countries to curb the spread of the virus, the hit is particularly severe for Nissan, whose profitability has been deteriorating as it grapples with the turmoil that followed the ousting of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn.

New car registrations in Germany were down 38% last month to 215,119 units, according to a KBA vehicle registration agency report.

During last year's World Final of the FIA World Tour in Gran Turismo Sport in Monaco, Mazda announced it would become an official video game partner this year, the automaker's centenary. The Japanese automaker then teased a sketch of its RX-Vision GT3 Concept, a GT3-class racer based on RX-Vision Concept shown at 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, penned by global design boss Ikuo Maeda and headed for Gran Turismo Sport this year. Polyphony Digital has finished modeling the car and just debuted it on the game's official site. Now dubbed the Gr.3 Mazda RX-Vision GT3 Concept, the slinky crimson contender will soon become the second GT3-class Mazda in the game alongside the Atenza Gr.3. Polyphony says the race car will arrive on May 25 as part of an online update.  

Usurprisingly, the final product is toned down from last year's teaser sketch, yet the teaser was so wild that the in-game version retains plenty of extravagance. Drivers can see over the hood now, but the front splitter is even more extreme, the nose more chiseled and angry, fenders and hood drawn with new lines and more character, and a front-exit exhaust pokes out of an aero duct behind the front wheel. Revised struts hold the giant rear wing aloft, and a less outlandish diffuser sheds its tall endplates but still makes a menacing sight from the back.

Lexus commissioned the first "tattooed" car ever, and it's chosen the UX as the tattoo artist's canvas. Art cars and special projects catch our eye sometimes, but this particular project is one of the most intriguing works of art on a car we've seen in a long time. The process that tattoo artist Claudia de Sabe went through to translate her vision onto the UX is what we're really interested in here.

Since the UX is obviously a metal car, de Sabe needed to use a Dremel tool to drill away the blank white surface paint, exposing the bare metal underneath. Those painstakingly drilled lines were used as the pattern for the art taking shape. She had to be unerringly precise in her work. After all, there's no magic eraser for drilling into a car's metal body panels. Spending that much time free-drawing with a Dremel is intensive and demanding work, too. Comfortable positions are hard to come by, and a slip could be disastrous.

Honda's Civic Type R will again get the opportunity to prove its mettle on the track during the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). The factory-backed Halfords Yuasa Racing team unveiled the updated hatchback it will enter in the 2020 season of the series that starts in March.

The regular-production Civic Type R is not for motorists seeking to keep a low profile, yet the BTCC-spec model makes it look almost subtle. It wears a front spoiler, seriously flared fenders, and an even bigger wing on the hatch. Although we haven't seen the interior yet, peeking through the windshield reveals a full roll cage, a racing seat, and little else. It weighs approximately 2,820 pounds, which is the minimum allowed by regulations.

Forty years after it was founded, Mazda tapped into the car market for the first time, with the R360 that was launched in 1960.

Toyota intends on building a new electric vehicle plant in Tianjin, China with its local partner FAW Group, Reuters reports.

Renault's Alpine brand is launching a more luxurious version of its sleek A110 sports car as it looks to branch out from its core French market. Alpine's latest version of the A110 is the Légende GT, pictured in silver in the image gallery above. The GT model gets a bespoke interior that looks to be more luxurious and premium than other Alpine models. A new exhaust system and Brembo brake package join an improved audio system, backup camera and parking sensors, and a matching three-piece leather luggage set rounds out the package.

Its first production run will be limited to 400 cars, and prices will start at 69,300 euros ($77,100) — some 13,500 euros more than Alpine's most affordable models already in circulation.

Consumer Reports is out with its top 10 picks for best cars of the year, with increased emphasis for 2020 on safety technologies and its rankings based for the first time on price point rather than segment categories. Models from Asian brands cleaned up, with the Tesla Model 3 as the lone entrant from an American automaker on the list and the controversial Toyota Supra making an appearance.

Among 33 brands tested, Porsche was named top vehicle brand, with Genesis staying at No. 2 and Subaru dropping two places to third.

Japan is looking to be proactive with regards to this latest Coronavirus outbreak and is setting up a joint task force between the car industry and the government.