2005 Scion Tc 5 Speed Manual 2-door Hatchback on 2040-cars

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World Car Of The Year down to its final four

Judges for the World Car of the Year Award have narrowed down the finalists to just four vehicles. Out of a total of 42 entries, only the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Porsche Boxster/Cayman, Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT-86 and Volkswagen Golf remain standing. For Volkswagen, this marks the second consecutive year the company has had an entry among the finalists, and the fourth time since 2009. In order to qualify, a vehicle must be on sale on two continents during the span of time between January 1, 2013 and May 30, 2013. A panel of 66 journalists from 23 countries then vote on the finalists.
Three vehicles have made the cut for the last round of voting on the 2013 World Performance Car as well, with the Cayman/Boxster and FR-S/BRZ/GT-86 running against the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta. Meanwhile, the Renault Zoe, Tesla Model S and Volvo V60 Plug-In Hybrid are duking it out for the World Green Car Award. Finally, the World Car Design of the Year Award is up for grabs between the Aston Martin Vanquish, Jaguar F-Type, and the Mazda6. Check out the full press release below. Overall winners will be presented at the 2013 New York Auto Show.

Scion celebrates first 10 years with special edition models

As the story goes, Toyota's Scion brand was imagined up in someone's basement and then came to fruition in 2003 as a youth-oriented brand with a focus on delivering unique vehicles with an equally unique retail experience. A decade later, the brand has grown to five models, which will each be commemorated starting in June with a new Scion 10 Series edition.
In varying quantities, Scion will be offering the FR-S, tC, iQ, xB and xD with an exclusive package that will all come in the Silver Ignition exterior color. Aside from the paint, these cars will also receive Scion badges on the front and rear that are backlit with blue LEDs that illuminate when the car is unlocked. Silver seat belts and a solar-powered illuminated shift knob will help distinguish the interiors of these cars, but the iQ, xB and xD will stand out further from the outside with darker alloy wheels.
In total, just 10,000 Scion 10 Series models are planned, and each will be identifiable with a sequentially numbered badge inside the car. The redesigned 2014 tC will get the most of the special-edition models with 3,500 units, while other new models like the FR-S and iQ will be restricted to just 2,500 units and 900 units, respectively. The original Scion, the xB, will get 2,100 Scion 10 Series models, and the xD will round out the 10,000-unit run with 1,000 models being produced. Scroll down for the official press release.

Scion FR-S may be getting supercharger kit from TRD

The Scion FR-S was just named the Hottest Sport Compact at the 2012 SEMA Show, and Toyota Racing Development (TRD) is apparently looking to make this car a little hotter. According to Car and Driver, TRD is close to coming up with a supercharger to fit to the car's 2.0-liter flat-four engine in order to squeeze out a little more performance. Currently, the FR-S produces 200 horsepower, but there's no guessing how much a supercharger could improve this figure.
With Subaru seemingly hard at work on a new turbo engine for the BRZ and even possibly a BRZ STI model, it is only logical for a force-fed FR-S to be in the works as well. Surprisingly, though, the report says that supercharger would be unique to the FR-S, but since the Scion and Subaru BRZ are mechanically identical, it isn't clear how this would be accomplished. TRD already offers plenty of upgrades for the FR-S such as exhaust, brake and suspension kits, and it offers a handful of superchargers for other models including the 5.7-liter V8 used in the Toyota Tundra and the 4.0-liter V6 used in the Tacoma.