Auto News 5

So Honda has a new Insight hybrid, and almost every comment I have seen says that Honda "copied the Toyota Prius" shape. Not really. What both four-door hatchbacks do is follow the tenets of Reinhard Koenig-Fachsenfeld, a sometime motorcycle racer who lacked the academic credentials so important in German engineering circles. The talented German professor/doctor/engineer Wunibald Kamm, whose name is commonly applied to the truncated tail featured on both the Insight and the Prius, headed the Research Institute for Motor Vehicles and Engines (FKFS) in Stuttgart from 1930 until the end of WWII and lent his prestige to the development of Koenig-Fachsenfeld's aerodynamic patents. Together, they built and tested a series of experimental, Prius-like "K-cars" that were a far cry from the eponymous little boxes that saved Chrysler in the early 1980s.

Just what is in a name? When it comes to the Lexus IS-F, it depends on who you talk to. Some say the letter F comes from the original prototype for the Lexus LS400. When the first model for the Toyota luxury brand was being developed, the project was call F1 or circle F. Because the LS400 wasnt sold in all markets, the more official story on the nature of the IS-F nomenclature is that the hot Lexus was developed at Fuji Speedway, hence the name with the letter F. Either way, Lexus finally builds a proper sports sedan and we've got our hands on a nice blue one for a whole year.