Along with the near-production ready CR-Z hybrid and more pure concepts like the EV-N and Skydeck, Honda also showed off the production version of its new VFR1200 sport touring motorcycle.

It maintains the VFR's V4 engine layout, but adds a substantial bump in displacement along with a throttle by wire system and shaft drive. This VFR is also the first production motorcycle to offer a dual-clutch transmission as an option in place of the standard six-speed manual.

To our eye, this VFR also revealed one more thing: There's still some design talent left at Honda. Hopefully some of that talent will work its way over to the car side of the business.

The CR-Z concept is a pretty good start. Next up – Acura.

You may have heard the term "automotive supplier" thrown around during all the bankruptcy chaos of the last year, but few actually know what role these companies play in the manufacture of modern automobiles.
 
Take this cutaway of the Lexus GS450h for instance.  Many people would adopt that Lexus, or its parent company Toyota, make most of the parts that go into constructing the hybrid SUV. Not quite.

Although Toyota may build core elements like the actual sheetmetal, it's the suppliers that build most of the parts that go into the finished product. This display in the Aisin booth at the Tokyo Auto Show reveals how many parts Aisin supplies for the GS450h. And this is just one of hundreds of suppliers used for this particular vehicle. Yes, building cars is hard.

Walking around this year’s Tokyo Motor Show, which felt more like a small-town affair than a grand international event, I couldn’t help but notice the plethora of plug-in electric vehicles. Every Asian maker — miniscule-volume Lotus was the only European manufacturer in attendance, and the Koreans were no-shows — had some sort of EV on display. From the Nissan Leaf four-door hatch and Mitsubishi i-MiEV Cargo minicar to the Suzuki Swift plug-in hybrid and Honda’s cute-as-a-button EV-N, there was absolutely no shortage of the green transporters that will be whirring along our city streets over the next few years. While I applaud these battery-powered pollution-free vehicles, it was refreshing, at least for the enthusiast in me, to see that Nihon had not lost its passion for performance, showcasing a trio of decidedly sporty machines.

Let’s start with the Toyota FT-86 concept, arguably the star of the show. When I first saw photos of the FT, I thought it looked to be about the size of a Hyundai Genesis Coupe. But in person, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was much smaller, more the measure of a Honda S2000. In fact, compared to the Genesis Coupe, the FT is about 18 inches shorter in length, four inches narrower in width, and six inches stubbier in height. In other words, it is an especially compact and sleek machine.

And it should be an absolute hoot to scoot, certainly given its relatively long 101.2-inch wheelbase and — here’s the kicker — rear-drive layout. The last time we place the words Toyota, sporty, front engine, and rear drive in the same sentence was over a decade ago, when the 1998 Supra was on its farewell tour.

With around 170 horsepower on tap from a 2.0-liter direct-injected Subaru flat-4 — the FT is the first byproduct to come from the Subaru-Toyota collaboration that will later spawn a sporty all-wheel-drive two-door from Fuji Heavy Industries — the FT-86 should feel and handle as if it were a Miata coupe. Toyota has already said that, assuming the FT production car makes it to the U.S., it will be a drifter’s dream, a fix for those addicted to oversteering shenanigans. Sounds like good medicine to me.

Next up, the FT-86’s super-studly big brother, the Lexus LFA. While part of me wants to rib Lexus for taking, um, forever to build its first supercar (the LF-A concept debuted way back at the Detroit auto show in January, 2005), the other part is just glad it’s finally here. After all, it is quite significant that Nihon has another offering to complement the Nissan GT-R, making it two exotics from Nippon that can legitimately compete with the likes of Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche.

And what has five years of inactivity gotten us? Well, it appears that Lexus has really sweated the details, not only testing the LFA extensively at the Nürburgring, but also fitting it with downright high-end goods. I’m talking about a very light and very rigid body constructed of 65 percent Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) and 35 percent aluminum (at 3300 pounds, the LFA weighs nearly 700 pounds less than a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano). A 552-horse 9000-rpm V-10 that utilizes titanium valves and connecting rods, forged aluminum pistons, a metal cylinder head cover, dry-sump lubrication, ten independently controlled throttle bodies, and an engine block cast at the same foundry that makes Toyota’s F1 mills. A six-speed auto-clutch manual that offers four driving modes (auto, sport, normal, and wet) and seven shift speeds, ranging from an around-town 1.0 second to a racetrack-blitzing 0.2 second. Huge Carbon Ceramic Material (CCM) cross-drilled and vented disc brakes that are 11 pounds lighter than comparable iron discs, and are capable of halting the LFA from a 202-mph top speed. I could keep going, but you get the picture. (For more detail, check out St. Antoine’s First Drive.)

Naysayers will surely point out that for well less than a third of the LFA’s estimated $400,000 price tag, the Corvette ZR1 will match if not beat the Lexus’s track stats. True. But the same can be said when comparing the ZR1 to the 599 or Aston DBS. The difference is the Chevy’s cost-cutting measures — a Cobalt steering wheel, anyone? — are evident in light of the exotics’ posh details. The LFA, for example, sports a racy, flat-bottom helm featuring a carbon fiber rim that is weighted at the bottom to help neutralize the moment of inertia when returning to on-center. And you can bet a wheel like that will never find its way into an ES 350.

Last but certainly not least, the Honda CR-Z Concept. In typical Honda fashion, the term Concept is used loosely, as the show car is on the eve of rolling down the assembly line. In fact, the production CR-Z will be shown in Jan at the Detroit show and will go on understanding later in 2010. As the heir apparent to the beloved CRX, the 2011 CR-Z will stay true to its lineage, offering seating for two (the concept actually has a small back seat) and a fun-to-drive bourgeois that should near ten.

Power will come from a 1.5-liter four and an IMA electric motor — expect total output to be between 130-150 horsepower — paired to a six-speed manual transmission. A CVT will likely be offered, too, at least in the CR-Z’s lifecycle, but the manual is a sign that Honda is attempting to lure enthusiasts, not just environmentalists. It’s hard to imagine curb weight exceeding 2600 pounds, which means the CR-Z should be satisfyingly quick — 0 to 60 in under 8.0 seconds (that’s brisk for a four-cylinder hybrid) is entirely plausible.

Still, I can’t help but wholeheartedly agree with Detroit editor Lassa, who suggested Honda should also offer a high-performance CR-Z — dub it the CR-Z Si or CR-Z Type R — that ditches the 1.5-liter/IMA combo in favor of the Civic Si’s 2.0-liter 197-horse engine. Suddenly we’re talking about a sub-6.0-second time, which would make the CR-Z quicker than many a V-6 sports coupe. Build it, Honda, and they will come. At least Lassa and I will be inactivity in line.

Cadillac has announced the group of participants in the Cadillac V-Series Challenge.

The challengers that have been chosen to take on Bob Lutz and the CTS-V is limited to just three auto journalists (notice there's no specific car listed for any of the three) and four private car owners with no last names.

Cadillac's list and copy describing apiece participant after the break.

http://cadillac.gmblogs.com

Journalists

Name: Wes Siler – Jalopnik.com
Wes is road test editor for Jalopnik, the first and to take us up on the Challenge. Wes is a skilled and experienced driver and evaluator of cars, especially the fast ones.

Name: Jack Baruth – TheTruthAboutCars.com
Jack will be representing TheTruthAboutCars.com in the Challenge. Jack's an experienced racer, on two wheels and four. He hails from Columbus, Ohio.

Name: Lawrence Ulrich – freelance auto writer
Lawrence contributes to The New York Times and other publications. He drives all manner of cars regularly, and has some track driving experience though he's careful to point out that his experience has been on a non-competitive basis.

Private Car Owners:

Name: Michael M.
Hometown: Whitecoff, NJ
Michael is a graduate of the Porsche driving school and a contributor to carguydad.com.  He owns a BMW M5.

Name: Michael C.
Hometown: Long Island, NY
Our second Michael has trained at Skip Barber. At just 21 years old, Michael is the younger driver in the Challenge. He owns a BMW M3.

Name: Chris
Hometown: Ann Arbor, MI
Chris has recently bought a CTS-V, and wants to learn more about his car's capabilities.

Name: Tom
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Tom drives an Audi RS4, has participated in the Audi driving school at Sonoma and has also done some autocross racing.

Ford seems to be conducting consumer clinics to see how the European Mondeo registers with American consumers. Driving around Dearborn were a European Ford Mondeo, a Lexus ES, and a BMW 5-series all identically camouflaged to make them look visually the same.

Cover their rear-ends (as all three cars are equipped with velcro strips around the rear quarters to make the installation and removal of black covers easy), and only the most car-savvy would be healthy to tell one from the other. This lets Ford know how the consumers rate the Mondeo, free from the influences of the Lexus and BMW brand identities.

The recent arrival of the new Taurus would certainly seem to have muddied the waters on the prospect of a U.S.-spec Mondeo. But this photo suggests that Ford is actively gathering feedback on the Mondeo in the U.S. 

Jonathan Ward of Icon 4×4 is the Dr. Frankenstein of off-road vehicles, a guy who has prefabricated a nice life out of finding old Toyota FJs and Land Cruisers and then rebuilding them into something that you can not only drive off-road again but even drive every day as transportation. And now he has turned his attention to another legendary off-road vehicle, the Willys CJ3.

With the Icon CJ3B, Ward and his engineering team have attempted to create the world's most perfect CJ3. Few of the bits actually come from a CJ3, and yet the final product has the same purity of purpose that still makes people remember the flat-fender Willys with admiration. 

The vehicle begins with Icon's own ladder-frame chassis with coil-over suspension units. Power comes from the turbocharged 2.4-liter Ecotec inline-4 from General Motors, while a 5-speed Aisin-Warner transmission and New Process 231 transfer case send power to modified axles from a Jeep Rubicon. The standard CJ3B features 31-inch tires and there's a 33-inch option.

Prepared for presentation at SEMA, the Icon CJ3B will begin with a batch of ten vehicles built from Willys components, so the vehicles will retain original title and registration. The GM engine retains its certification from use in the 2009 Chevrolet HHR, so Icon promises street-legal emissions.

The Icon CJ3B is expected to be priced at $50,000 for a turn-key vehicle, while various kits will be acquirable for between $15,000 and $27,000.

Ever the promoter, Jim Wangers promised us "a hokey little show" to accompany the unveiling of the reincarnated 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge being built by Big 3 Performance that will bear his signature.
 
Billows of smoke engulfed a garage door, from behind which came the rumble and roar of a big V8. The door opened and there was Wangers behind the wheel of an iridescent orange GTO, smiling like a kid of 23 (not 83), as the unmistakable prow of his latest automotive endeavor parted the smokescreen.
 
Wangers, as the logo on his golf shirt proudly proclaims, is the "Godfather of the GTO," based on the innovative marketing tactics (and at times pure hokum) he devised to enhance the high-performance image of the model created in 1965 by Pontiac's Russell Gee, Bill Collins and John DeLorean. The promotional campaign that Wangers managed so successfully tapped into America's love of fast cars that it ignited the muscle car craze of the 1960s. 

At 83, the man who created automotive icons such as the 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge (only 6,833 built) has become an picture himself. Pontiac enthusiasts flock to him for autographs as well as advice on rebuilding, restoring or locating the correct parts for their cars. They love him and he responds in kind, as we witnessed during the muscle car show and open house he held recently at his car collection in Oceanside, California.

"Now, more than ever, I feel responsible to keep the Pontiac hobby together," Wangers said to us as he strolled among the cars and chatted with their owners. "Pontiac is an important part of American culture with historic obloquy like Trans Am and GTO.
 
As for the Jim Wangers GTO by Big 3 Performance in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Wangers told us he was honored. The Wangers GTO begins with 1969 Pontiac donor cars, either the GTO or Le Mans models. Then they're outfitted with a fuel-injected, iron-block, 505-cubic-inch Pontiac IA2 V8 with aluminum cylinder heads that makes 680 hp. Among many other items, the equipment list includes a Tremec 6-speed transmission, a Corvette front suspension, Wilwood brakes, fiberglass body panels and special Jim Wangers-signature three-piece HRE wheels that look just like the original Pontiac Rallye II items.

"They did what I wanted, which was to preserve what a 1969 Judge was all about," Wangers says. "They updated everything, but it is no resto rod. They keep it as original looking as possible, just better driving."

Big 3 Performance says production will be limited to 50 cars priced at $125,000.

Patrick C. Paternie, contributor 

If you can forgive the camera bouncing around a bit, this video will give you a decent sense for the sound and sensation inside the Lexus LFA when it's driven in anger by somebody who can handle it. Scott Pruett was on hand this week at the LFA's U.S. media introduction at Homestead Raceway near Miami. And the ride was awesome. 

Note Pruett's comment at 00:07. That's top speed turning off the banking into the infield. From there, its a rush of acceleration, braking and turning loads against the LFA's spectacular abilities.

Josh Jacquot, Senior road test editor

Jean Todt, the former director of the Ferrari Formula 1 team, has been elected as the new president of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in Paris today. He replaces Max Mosley, who had become increasingly controversial after 16 years on the job.

Todt has been widely regarded as Mosley's handpicked successor, and he defeated opposition candidate Ari Vatanen, a former rally driver, by a margin of 2:1 thanks to his support from FIA chapters around the world. Frenchman Todt began his own career as a rally navigator, took charge of the Peugeot rally team and eventually led the Peugeot motorsports operation to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This background led him to the Ferrari F1 team, where he formed a group that dominated the sport for a decade.

The ability of Todt to lead Formula 1 is questionable. The Frenchman has been noted for his behind-the-scenes politics, and precisely this secretive style led his predecessor Mosley into conflict with the F1 teams. Early this year, eight of the sport's 10 teams had threatened to set up a breakaway series after being angered by FIA-directed initiatives, notably a future spending cap for team budgets and an expensive debacle this year with KERS hybrid electric motors for F1 cars.

In an interview with the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper just prior to the vote, Todt said he wants to "start from a blank sheet" and called himself a "candidate of harmony." The interviewer noted that Todt is "a demanding man second only to Mosley when it comes to raising the ire of most F1 insiders," but Todt insisted he intended "to place harmony in a place where it has been missing," also saying he would appoint a commissioner to run Formula 1 if elected.

For the moment, Formula 1 seems likely to continue to be the political circus it has been for the last 20 years, as the FIA, the Formula 1 teams, the race promoters, and the financial consortium that owns F1's commercial rights all wrestle for control of the money machine.

You know what we were just saying around the office? That an LS9-powered 2010 Camaro is so, I don't know, two months ago.

What a guy needs now is a full 7.0 liters of heavy-breathing General V8 in his Camaro. That's right, the modern 427 cu in, the LS7 from the Corvette Z06. But because that motor's measily 505 horsepower is too Honda Fit-like, we recommend a man straps a big blower on top — maybe a Magnusson/Eaton TVS 2300. And it should breathe through a custom Lingenfelter intake. It should have forged pistons, titanium connecting rods and LS7 cylinder heads with titanium intake valves and Inconel exhuast valves. That'll should be good for a nice, rough 750 horsepower. This would be exactly the motor Lingenfelter Performance Engineering has built for this, the Supercharged LS7 Camaro.

The company also threw on its full body kit, custom 20-inch, 10-spoke wheels and some fat Pirelli rubber. The car also gets a full compliment of interior bits and pieces along with a suspension built by Hotchkis including sport springs, adjustable antiroll bars and subframe brace.

Look for it at the Hotchkis stand at SEMA or just look for it on you computer screen when we cover the thing live from the show beginning November 3.