The Toyota TS040 hybrid Le Mans prototype has won the FIA World Endurance Championships. Though it didn’t prevail in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the race is but one of many in the WEC season, and Toyota scored enough points to win overall in both driver’s and manufacturer’s categories.

The victory marks the first time a hybrid race car has taken the series championships. The automaker has already announced that technology gleaned from the WEC race program will trickle down into the next-generation Prius, currently under development, though its power rating is expected to be slightly lower than the TS040′s 1000 hp.

Toyota’s hybrid engineers work on the race team in six-month shifts, and are then sent back to Toyota City to work on production drivetrains.

Toyota began campaigning its hybrid system in motorsports in 2006, and took its first victory in 2007 with a hybrid Supra.

By the penultimate race in Bahrain, it was already presumed that the Number 8 car driven by Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi would take the championship, as their points lead was too great to catch. However, what wasn’t yet known was whether Toyota would win the manufacturer’s championship.

Ultimately, the TS040s finished second and fourth at the final race in Sao Paolo. The points were enough to push the Toyota team over the top in the manufacturers’ rankings over rivals Porsche, Nissan, and long-time dominant force Audi, leaving WEC fans enthusiastic about a legitimate challenger to the diesel-running Germans for the 2015 season.

A member of Britain’s Royal Family has confirmed that the British Motor Show will make an unexpected return in May of 2016.
Last held in 2008, the event will be renamed London Motor Show to reflect the fact that a new company has been put in charge of organizing it. The show will be held on the south bank of the Thames river in London’s Battersea Park.

Speaking at a dinner held for members of the British press, His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent boldly claimed that he hopes the London Motor Show will eventually be able to rival the major European shows held in cities like Geneva, Frankfurt and Paris. The organizers are currently inviting automakers big and small from all around the world to register for a booth.

If all goes as planned, the London Motor Show will be open to the public from May 5th to the 8th. The show’s theme will be green cars but there will also be classics, supercars as well as “the latest gadgets and gizmos.”

Former Glory
First held in 1903, the British Motor Show was a major international event throughout most of the second half of the 20th century. Some of the most significant cars to debut there include the original Mini, the Triumph Spitfire, the first-gen Jaguar XJ (pictured), the Aston Martin Lagonda and the Jaguar XJ220.

The show went from an annual to a biennial event in 1978. By the late 1990s attendance had started to drop because it was overshadowed by bigger events held elsewhere in Europe. The show was hit hard by the recession in Europe and organizer were forced to cancel the 2010 event.

A small Italian company named Maggiora has brought the Willys name back from the dead after a 51-year hiatus. The company’s first car, a retro-styled coupe called AW 380 Berlineta [sic], was presented at the Bologna Motor Show that is currently taking place in Italy.
The AW 380 Berlineta borrows styling cues from the Renault-based Alpine A108 that was built in the early 1960s. Renault was not involved in the project, it is busily developing its own 21st century Alpine, but Maggiora can get away with using the design because Willys-Overland’s Brazilian division briefly built a version of the A108 called Interlagos.

The AW 380 Berlineta is powered by a 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged flat-six engine that generates 610 horsepower at 6,750 rpms and 612 lb-ft. of torque at 4,500 rpms. Willys is keeping the engine’s origins a secret but the flat-six is more than likely sourced from the Porsche parts bin.

Linked to a six-speed automatic transmission controlled by shift paddles, the turbo six propels the Berlineta from zero to 62 mph in 2.7 seconds and on to a top speed of 211 mph. Fuel economy checks in at 25 mpg when the coupe is driven with a featherlight right foot.

A 93-year old Turin-based coachbuilder named Carrozzeria Viotti has been contracted to build 110 examples of the Willys AW 380 Berlineta starting next month. Each one will carry a base price of €380,000, a sum that converts to nearly $467,000. In spite of the astronomical price tag, Maggiora says that the first Willys has already been spoken for.