R.I.P. Ralphie: Ford Sacrifices a Cane Toad in New Falcon EcoBoost Commercial

As part of the 240hp (179kW) Falcon EcoBoost launch in Australia, Ford's local division in cooperation with JWT Melbourne prepared a new online commercial called the "Cane Toad Road", which for the time being, is not intended for television.

The viral video kicks off by showing a pair of cane toads, which are native to Central and South America, but were introduced to the northeastern parts of Australia in the 1930s to control the beetle population.

The two cane toads are sitting on the road talking to each other before they notice a car coming their way. Ralphie, the male toad, sees no reason to move quickly as he rightly guesses from the sound that it is a four-cylinder model.

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Aussie 1969 Ford Falcon XW GT Wagon Replica up for Grabs

Some will be surprised to know that the ridiculously fast family car is not a creation of the German auto industry that has dominated the segment in the past few decades with models like the Audi RS4/RS6, BMW M3/M5 and Mercedes C63/E63 AMG.

Back in the late 1960s, while American carmakers were obsessed with pony and muscle cars in coupe and convertible forms, Ford's Australian division gave birth to a vehicle that would change the industry: the 1967 Falcon XR GT sports saloon powered by a Mustang-sourced 225bhp 4.7-liter V8.

Holden tried to compete with the four-door Monaro GTS, but it was Ford that ended up creating the world's fastest production saloon in 1971 with the XY Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III propelled by a tuned 351 (5.8-liter) Cleveland V8 with up to 390bhp and a top speed of 250km/h (155mph).

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Holden Ute Burnout Goes Down Under in Australia [NSFW]

Every gearhead in Australia likes doing a good ol' burnout once in a while, just as long as it goes down smoothly and without an incident.

Unfortunately for the young driver of this late 1970s Holden Ute (it looks like an HZ, but we're not entirely sure), it didn't go as well or as smooth as he had hoped for and while he narrowly missed the newer Commodore Ute parked on the side of the road, he couldn't avoid crashing into a brick fence destroying his car.

Make your way over the break to watch the video.

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Toyota Brings in Security Guards to Personally Escort Sacked Workers in Australia

More than 200 workers Toyota workers at the firm's Altona plant in Melbourne, Australia, were in for a nasty surprise on Monday as the company went ahead with its original plan to axe 350 employees. The remaining workers will be sacked on Tuesday.

The announcement was made in January but up until today, nobody knew who was going to be sacked, despite repeated pleas from workers to end their torment. The company said that it axed the worst performing workers.

Both the workers and their union said they were extremely upset with the way Toyota handled the situation as the company brought in security guards to escort the employees in min-vans across the road to a special reception center to sack them.

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Teen High on Paint Steals BMW and Leads Police on a Wild Chase

A seventeen-year old driver of a stolen BMW X5 crossover was involved in a high-speed chase that took place in Brisbane, Australia, on Monday, and which lasted for close to two hours.

According to the police, the driver of the SUV, William John Noel Compton, was under the influence of paint when he was arrested.

The teenager along with six more youths aged from 13 to 19 reportedly stole a white BMW X5 along with a black BMW Z4 roadster from the same Westlake home in the early hours of Monday morning.

The police eventually tracked down the two cars and began pursuit when they failed to stop. Media helicopters followed from above and filmed the entire chase, which for the occupants of the X5, ended when the teens entered an underground car park.

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Toyota Reveals New Strategy, will Roll Out Three Global FWD Platforms

It's time for a strategic change over at Toyota as the Japanese automaker today announced a new framework for vehicle development that will affect all brands within the group with the aim of lowering costs, reducing launch times as well as making its vehicles more appealing both in terms of styling and handling.

A core element of the firm's new strategy is the development of new global vehicle architectures that are to be shared across the world, a move that Toyota claims will ultimately help in the creation of better cars.

"Cooperation between planning and design divisions will result in a revised vehicle body structure with which new platforms will feature a lower center of gravity and bolder styling," said Toyota in a statement. "This will help to realize the development of cars with never-before-seen emotional designs and superb handling."

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