We have to admit we’re big fans of the Storm Trooper look. Combining white paint with blacked-out trim, the treatment is one you’d typically find performed in the aftermarket. But in this case Volkswagen is offering it direct from the factory. Or so it is to European customers, anyway.
The treatment is being applied to a special edition of the CrossPolo, the soft-road version of the popular Polo hatchback. The Urban White edition combines a unique shade of white paint with 17-inch alloys painted either white or black, with black roof rails and dark tinted glass aft of the B-pillar. The interior features black and light gray sports seats in cloth and Alcantara, with black headliner and trim and silver top-stitching on the controls.
Overseas buyers can select between four gasoline and three common-rail diesel engines, with prices starting at €18,975.
Moody’s upgraded Ford’s credit rating to investment grade today, the final step for the company to be capable to reclaim its Blue Oval. Ford had offered its globally recognized trademark as part of a 2006 loan package. According to the Detroit Free Press, the collateralized logo and the rest of Fod’s assets and intellectual property would not return to the automaker until it achieved an investment-grade credit rating with at least two of the three major agencies. Last month, Ford’s credit was upgraded by Fitch.
At the time the loan was issued, the move was viewed as bold and risky, as Ford literally wager the farm that it could pay back the $ 23.5 billion. But as it turned out, the automaker’s head start on restructuring allowed it to weather the financial crisis and resultant industry downturn in 2008 without declaring failure and needing government intervention like its cross-town rivals.
The upgrade from Moody’s is said to potentially help Ford by lowering its borrowing costs, and surely having its assets back should permit everyone in Dearborn to sleep peacefully tonight.
Scroll down to read Ford’s official statement.
NASCAR may have once been a form of motorsport in which only domestic automakers competed. And that’s largely still the case, with one notable exception: Toyota. The Japanese automaker faced some difficulty breaking into the Good Ol’ Boys racing series, but though some purists may still malign it, Toyota is in NASCAR to stay. And this is its latest car.
“Based”, in design anyway, on the latest Camry, the new stock car from Toyota Racing Development is set to compete in the Sprint Cup next season, alongside the new Ford Fusion (among other competitors from Dodge and Chevy). The result of “an aggressive redesign”, the new racer was developed with input from the company’s Calty Design studio to look more like the road-going Camry than ever before.
Yes, it does bear a resemblance to its road-going cousin, especially in the fascia. That said, it’s still a composite body over a tube frame powered by a V8 engine driving the rear wheels. In other words, this is a Camry in name only.
Of course it doesn’t hurt Toyota’s case that the Camry is reinforced in America with more American components than most “domestic” vehicles, and now the stock car looks more stock, too. Keep reading under for the full press release.
