Autoblog

At a press conference in Japan today, Toyota CEO Katsuaki Watanabe finally confirmed that his company is jointly developing a pair of rear-wheel-drive sports cars with Subaru. Each brand will get its own version of the car, which will be powered by one of Subaru's boxer engines, though the engine's displacement, power output and even number of cylinders is not yet known. We're also not sure if the Subaru version will feature the brand's trademark all-wheel-drive system either as an option or standard equipment, or whether Toyota might offer AWD as well in an homage to the Celica GT4 (we hope so!). The styling will most likely resemble the sketch that was published by Autocar yesterday, though we don't expect one car to be a rebadged version of the other. Mark your calendars for 2011, which is when the new sports cars are scheduled to arrive. They'll be riding on a brand new platform and be built in Japan at a new plant by Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru. Toyota also confirmed rumors this morning that it will be buying up more of Fuji, raising its stake in the company from 8.7% to 16.5%.

These RWD sports cars will mean a lot for both companies, as Subaru hasn't offered a performance coupe since the slightly odd SVX, and Toyota all but abandoned performance models after the Supra, Celica and MR2 were cancelled.

[Source: Automotive News, Autocar]

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More details have emerged about the accident that occurred yesterday in Clearwater, Florida involving Nick Hogan, the Hulkster's son, who was driving a yellow souped-up Toyota Supra with his friend, John Graziano. Police are still investigating the accident, though it appears drugs and alcohol were not involved. While the 17-year-old Hogan and his friend were both taken to the hospital yesterday, Nick was released this morning. Graziano remains hospitalized, and according to a statement issued by Linda Hogan, wife of Hulk and mother to Nick, her son is spending the day at the hospital with the Graziano family.

TMZ, our morally bankrupt yet lovable sister site beneath this big AOL umbrella, did some digging and uncovered that Nick has been charged four times for unlawful speeding since September 2006, despite having his license for just one year. Those charges, which include last night's accident, also include a violation for going 115 mph in a 70 mph zone, 57 mph in a 30 and 106 mph in a 70. The link to TMZ also contains a video of Nick doing a burnout in his brand new Viper in front of his mom last December.

We've included a gallery of images below showing the totaled Supra that were shot by Tim Boyles of Getty Images. We're not sure how either Nick or his friend survived the crash, as the Supra is completely destroyed behind the B-pillar.

[Source: TMZ, Getty Images]

This past Saturday marked the closing of the 2007 One Lap of America and after the scores were totaled, the duo of Mark DaVia and Drew Wikstrom walked away with the trophy for the fourth consecutive year. Manning their championship Porsche 996 Turbo, they beat out the second place contenders Brian Smith and Nick Arevalo in the #3 Hennessey Viper, while the Mk. IV Supra came home with third place piloted by the team of Greg Caloudas and Leh Keen.

Winding Road has pics and a breakdown of each winner in the individual classes, and we'd be remiss not to say that we're totally making plans to at least cover next year's event. Maybe more.

[Source: Winding Road]