Previewed by the FT-86 Open concept that debuted at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, the topless FR-S will be aimed squarely at the next generation of the Mazda MX-5 Miata that will bow at next year’s Chicago show. The convertible will feature a cloth top that will retract at the push of a button in under 20 seconds, and Toyota has ambitious promised the conversion from a coupe to a convertible will be weight-neutral.

The topless FR-S will likely use the coupe’s 2.0-liter flat-four engine rated at 200 horsepower and 151 lb-ft. of torque.

Called 734A internally, the yet-unnamed sedan will stretch approximately 187 inches long, 70 inches wide and 55 inches tall, dimensions that will make it roughly the same size all around as a Subaru Legacy. The sedan will likely feature frameless doors and a specific rear end treatment, but the coupe’s front end will be grafted to the sedan with only minor modifications.

The aforementioned 200-horsepower, 2.0-liter flat-four is not powerful enough to briskly move the extra weight added by sedan body style so engineers will fit the car with a turbocharger in order to raise its output to around 250 horsepower. All-wheel drive will be offered as an option, and a range-topping turbo-hybrid powerplant with in-wheel electric motors will round out the lineup.

Australian website Motoring believes the FR-S convertible will land in showrooms across Japan in October of this year, meaning it will likely be presented at the Paris Motor Show. The same source reports the sedan is not scheduled to arrive until 2016 at the earliest.

Interested buyers need to log on to a purpose-built micro-site where they will be asked to enter their contact information, the name of their nearest dealer and select whether they want a manual or an automatic transmission. Registration will close at 11:25 am or when 250 potential buyers have signed up, a number that indicates Mazda is anticipating many individuals will sign up and not follow through with the deal.

According to the report, released on Wednesday by the Treasury Department, taxpayers lost $11.2 billion on the United States’ bailout of GM. The Treasury estimated the U.S. would lose about $10.3 billion on the deal when it sold its remaining shares in GM in December.

The U.S. government bailed GM out to the tune of $50 billion in 2009. Following the automaker’s bankruptcy filing, the United States became a 61 percent owner of the company. The government slowly sold off its stake in GM in the subsequent years and completely divested its interest late last year.

Although a sizable loss, the Treasury notes that its goal in bailing out GM was to rescue the economy, not turn a profit.

“The goal of Treasury’s investment in GM was never to make a profit, but to help save the American auto industry, and by any measure that effort was successful,” Treasury Department spokesman Adam Hodge told Reuters.

It’s estimated that the government’s bailout of the auto sector – which also included a $12.5 billion loan to Chrysler – saved 1.5 million U.S. jobs.

The White House and US Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx have been focusing on other proposals in their public push for support, however the tolling changes are noted in a lengthy summary of all provisions (PDF).

The bill “would eliminate the prohibition on tolling existing free Interstate highways, subject to the approval of the Secretary, for purposes of reconstruction, this providing States greater flexibility to use tolling as a revenue source for needed reconstruction activities on all components of their highway systems.”

Thousands of miles of the Interstate Highway System are already used for toll collection, grandfathered into the system, however states are prohibited from installing new tolls on existing sections of toll-free Interstates.

States that want to fund maintenance or upgrades through tolls on Interstates are currently forced to receive approval from Congress. The latest funding bill would essentially shift the decision-making authority to the Department of Transportation, however the criteria for approval of additional tolls has yet to be described by Foxx or the agency.

Aside from revenue generation, the eased restrictions are also promoted as a way for states or public agency to implement variable tolls on existing highways, bridges or tunnels “for purposes of congestion management.” Such changes would also be subject to approval from the Secretary of Transportation.

Specific provisions included in the bill may be killed or reworked as it makes its way through Congress.

Although most three-row crossovers still rely on six-cylinder power for motivation, Masahiro Moro, Mazda global head of sales and marketing, indicated to Australia’s Car Advice on the sidelines of the New York auto show that the next-generation of the CX-9 – due out in 2016 – will likely use a turbocharged four-cylinder. Moro said the move away from the CX-9′s current V6 is the result of Mazda cutting ties with Ford and a general industry shift toward downsized engines.

“We stopped production of our own V6 in the late 1990s,” he said. “We have used Ford V6 [up until today, and that engine is still used in the CX-9]. Since then everybody is putting in a downsized turbocharged solution.”

Mazda doesn’t currently have a turbocharged four-cylinder in its range, but the automaker could be working on one for its next Mazdaspeed3.

Moro didn’t completely rule out a diesel for the next CX-9, but cautioned that given the SUV’s main market, the United States, it would be a stretch.

“With the CX-9 the main market is the USA,” Moro said. “In general, these customers don’t have a strong preference towards diesel engines. So probably the main engine should be a petrol engine in my opinion.”

A hybrid powertrain is also unlikely.