2008 Toyota Tundra 4x4 Crewmax Limited on 2040-cars

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Vote to unionize Toyota Canada plant faces delay

Volkswagen isn't the only automaker with high-profile unionization efforts afoot at one of its North American factories. Unifor, Canada's largest private-sector union, is attempting to organize Toyota's factories in Ontario, reports Reuters. A vote was originally set for next week, but Unifor has apparently found more workers eligible to vote, delaying the proceedings. It hasn't rescheduled the ballot yet, but claims there are 7,500 employees with the right to vote, with over 3,000 having already signed union cards.
Toyota is pushing against organizing, saying that workers already have a payment and benefits near the top of the industry, and noting that it has never laid off a permanent employee in Canada. Unifor has reportedly countered by saying that about a quarter of the workforce is operating under a temporary contract, which receives lower benefits.
The automaker has three factories in Ontario - two in Cambridge and one in Woodstock. To form a union, a majority of eligible employees must vote to join Unifor. If successful, they would be the first wholly owned Toyota plants in North America to be organized. Previous attempts to unionize the Japanese automaker's Canadian factories in 2001 and 2008 failed due to lack of support.

Lightweight Toyota GT86 spotted on Nordschleife with carbon panels, upgraded aero

We've seen (and frankly reported on) so many rumors of more powerful and performance-focused versions of the Subaru BRZ, Toyota GT86 and Scion FR-S at this point that haven't materialized that, at this point, we're almost tired of them. Almost. But what we have here was enough to pique our jaded interests as only a carbon-bodied sports car on the Nürburgring could do.
What we're looking at is, well, we don't quite know, to tell you the truth. What we can tell is that it's a Toyota GT86 (Scion FR-S for us) wearing new wheels and a carbon-fiber hood, roof, racing-spec rear wing and subtle lip spoiler. The vents in the hood indicate that the prototype in question could be packing an upgraded engine to go with the lighter body panels and upgraded aero, and the interior (at least as far as we can see) looks pretty well stripped out.
The right-hand drive configuration tells us this is either destined for former territories of the British Empire or for the racetrack. Considering the ride height, full glass and apparent lack of roll cage, our money's on this prototype is being developed for the Japanese Domestic Market, where Toyota badges the sports car simply as the 86. We can always hope, though, that some version makes it into Scion showrooms in North America... we just won't get our hopes up too high.

Supra successor may be all-electric sourced from Tesla; MR2 returning too?

Rumors of a revival of the Toyota Supra and MR2 have been swirling for years right up until just this week when high-level Toyota employees all but confirmed their return.
But now The Detroit Bureau has put together news from different sources suggesting that the next Supra might be all electric. The report cites recent comments from Toyota senior executives hinting at plans to work with Tesla on a new joint project. The FT-HS Concept (shown above) seems a logical inspiration for a new Supra.
And on the other side of the equation is Tesla's design chief Franz von Holzhausen who was quoted last year saying his company was looking at its next project, probably a sports car, that would follow next year's intro of the Model X. He went on to suggest the car would compete directly with BMW's 3 Series, which, in coupe form, could be a worthy competitor to a Supra as well.