After the natural disasters that crippled its production in 2011, Toyota is pulling ahead with a new plan to make up for the lost ground. This week, the number one Japanese automaker announced that it will increase production of the Highlander mid-size SUV at its Princeton, Indiana plant from late 2013. Read more »

Surely, anyone with an iota of common sense would give it up when surrounded by at least three police vehicles, right? Well, maybe most people but not Alexandra Osteyee-Hoffman.

The 28-year old North Carolina woman tried not once, but three times (!) to escape from the police last Friday. It all began when deputies came to her house to serve papers on a hearing. The officer approached her Toyota Corolla and asked for her at which point she took off only to be cornered by at least three police vehicles shortly after.

From that point on, we have the video footage from the police car dashboard camera, which shows her fleeing the scene for the second time leading the police on a high-speed chase – well, as fast as a Corolla can go, that is…

We all love us some cool sleepers and what a better mechanical wolf in sheepskin than a third generation Toyota Corolla sedan [KE30 series] from the mid-1970s with a completely stock look right up to the rear window shades sporting a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 Nissan engine under its tiny hood.

The ride comes to us from Australia and according to the blokes over at FullBoost, it was created in just four weeks' time. The force-fed VQ30 is linked to a ZX five-speed manual gearbox while the car runs on 14-inch tires.

Sometimes life imitates the virtual gaming world, as was the case of two burglar suspects that were pursued by the Sheriff's office in Orange County, Florida, last Wednesday.

Video footage from a KVOA news chopper that was following the white-colored vehicle, which could be a Toyota Corolla sedan, shows the suspects weaving through traffic at high speeds, driving over medians and entering the other side of the road in their attempt to escape the unmarked police cars that were chasing them.

For decades, mid-size sedans like the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and Ford Taurus have been best-sellers and the most common sight on American roads.

But the trend is starting to change. According to J.D Power and associates, an increasingly large number of buyers are downsizing and choose small cars such as the Chevrolet Cruze or even the Honda Fit.

In fact, J.D. Power forecasts that, for the first time in two decades, compact cars will outsell mid-size models by the end of the year. Moreover, it projects that by 2015, compact and sub-compact cars will have a 20% share in the U.S. market, while mid-size models’ share will shrink down to 14%.

Ford's F-150 Raptor SVT is one of those trucks that doesn't make much sense but somehow people like it and are willing to buy it despite its lofty $42,000+ price tag (in the States).

Being big, brawny and surprisingly powerful thanks to the ferocious 6.2-liter V8 with 411-ponies that's lurking under the hood, definitely helps.

Now there's a question of what to do once you get yourself in a F-150 Raptor SVT and while we can think of many things, for this particular owner, the answer was to climb over a Toyota (Corolla we believe). Whatever pops your cork...Watch the clip after the jump.

There's a change of production plans for Toyota's next generation of C-segment hatchback and sedan models in Europe.

According to an announcement made today, the Japanese automaker will invest €265 million (US$355 million) to produce the replacements of the Auris 3-door and 5-door hatchbacks at its UK assembly plant and add C-segment sedan production in Turkey.

With the Corolla having received a mild refresh only a year ago, Toyota focused its attention on simply improving the feature content for the new model year.

The 2012 Corolla L grade model gains color-keyed power side mirrors, along with power windows with driver’s auto-down, power door locks and remote key-less entry, while the better equipped LE trim adds standard 16-inch wheels and steering wheel audio controls. The higher-end S model gains a double-stitch accent to its seats for 2012.

Due to the fact that motorcyclists are far less protected in the event of an accident, they usually pay more attention to the road than car drivers.

But not this time as the man seen in the video footage below riding the scooter carelessly took the corner a little too wide and too fast. As a result, he drifted to the other side of the road and eventually lost traction and fell down.

Luckily for the biker, the driver of the oncoming vehicle (which appears to be an older-generation Toyota Corolla sedan), was fully alert and managed to avoid hitting him the last moment.