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One could say things about what is now without doubt the biggest company joke in the history of the US - maybe global - automotive sector, putting even East Germany's infamous Trabant to shame. Things like following the just announced latest recall of another 7.6 million cars across models from 1997 to 2014, and another 800K+ cars thrown in just because, GM has recalled more cars in the first 6 months of 2014 than it has sold in all of 2011, 2012 and 2013. Which incidentally would be true as the chart below shows.

Thieves attempt carjacking, but can’t get away in a stick shift SEATTLE – A 70 year old woman is stopped by three young men with a gun right outside her Seattle home. They got her keys, but they didn’t get away with her car. That’s because when the would-be thieves got in Nancy Fredrickson’s car, they discovered it was a stick shift. None of them knew how to drive a manual, so they ended up ditching the car and running away. Nancy Fredrickson had just returned home yesterday afternoon, after buying some things at a garage sale. She was getting...

Saudi Arabia’s Shura council (appointed parliament) will shortly hold a special session to debate a law allowing women to drive cars, a newspaper said on Tuesday. The Arabic language daily Al Riyadh said Shura members would debate a proposal by two female members abolishing a long-standing ban on driving by women. “This is a wonderful proposal. We hope it will see light soon,” the paper said, quoting Shura member Lubna Al Ansari. Al Riyadh said a poll it had conducted among local journalists showed 92 per cent of them supported the proposal.

Selmon Expressway Now Eligible as Testing Ground for Automated Vehicles     The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) announced that the Selmon Expressway (Expressway) is about to make history. Approved by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) and the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), the Expressway has met the criteria to become an automated vehicle testing ground, joining a small affiliation of other testing ground locations nationwide and only the second one in Florida.The Expressway’s designation provides the capabilities for researchers to test the safety, mobility, environmental and efficiency advantages, services, standards and components of robotic cars "within...

Waste coffee grinds could be turned into a sustainable fuel to power vehicles, scientists have found. Oil can be extracted from coffee grounds by soaking them in an organic solvent, before being chemically transformed into biodiesel via a process called 'transesterification', according to researchers from the Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies at University of Bath. As part of the study, the researchers made biofuel from ground coffee produced in 20 different geographic regions, including caffeinated and decaffeinated forms, as well as Robusta and Arabica varieties. "Around 8 million tonnes of coffee are produced globally each year and ground waste coffee...

The days when a bare-bones "stripper" car came with vinyl seats, rubber floor mats and no air conditioning are long gone. Today, convenience and cold air come standard for all models, along with a long list of niceties that were once the sole domain of the loaded vehicle. A base Chevy Spark, as one example, offers aluminum wheels, ten standard airbags, power windows — even six months of OnStar service, in case you lock your keys in the car. On the surface, the new car market is offering better values than ever. There is just one small problem with nearly...

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A federal appeals court has struck down a Los Angeles law prohibiting people from living in their vehicles, a ruling that could affect similar laws in numerous cities. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the ban, in place since 1983, is unconstitutionally vague and leads to discriminatory enforcement against the homeless.

These days, your car isn't a car - it's a rolling computer platform. You don't drive it as much as you give the computer commands and then let it carry them out. That's why the idea of hackers breaking into car computers is so terrifying. You have to see this video showing the scary reality of car hacking.

"Kids: Want to know how we (once) pre-teens and teens spent the way-too-much free time we had back in the electronic dark ages of a half-century or so ago? We read books. The classics, of course, like the famous J.C. Whitney Automotive Accessory and Parts Book (J.C. deliberately called it a book in order to let us tell our parents we were indeed reading a “book”– as though they really cared then, before the invention of helicopter parents). Now, one simply didn’t read a JC W book cover-to-cover or randomly, without some higher purpose; no, we exercised our developing minds...

Ford will compensate owners of about 200,000 U.S. vehicles after discovering the cars' gas mileage was overstated. The automaker said it recently discovered an error in the calculation used to determine fuel efficiency. That meant the gas mileage was less than advertised, usually by between one and five miles per gallon.

Police have identified the owner of a high-performance sports car found abandoned burning near the George Washington Bridge. Deankarte E. Ditchfield-Agboh, 33, of Palisades Park, NJ, is the owner of the 2008 Lamborghini Murcielago, Port Authority Police spokesman Joe Pentangelo said. The Lamborghini was found on fire and unoccupied in the westbound lanes near the bridge toll plaza in Fort Lee early Monday.

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Roofs made of carbon fiber. Plastic windshields. Bumpers fashioned out of aluminum foam. What sounds like a science experiment could be your next car. While hybrids and electrics may grab the headlines, the real frontier in fuel economy is the switch to lighter materials. Automakers have been experimenting for decades with lightweighting, as the practice is known, but the effort is gaining urgency with the adoption of tougher gas mileage standards. To meet the government's goal of nearly doubling average fuel economy to 45 mpg by 2025, cars need to lose some serious pounds.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan Involved in Car Crash: Police A car damaged in Sunday's accident involving Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan was involved in a car crash Sunday evening, police said. Oakland police said Quan was a driver in a two-car crash on 26th and Market streets at about 5:30 p.m. Police are investigating the accident, and they do not know who is at fault. But police said they have conflicting reports from witnesses about whether the mayor had the right of way. The mayor’s spokesman did not have a response as to whether or not Quan...

Civilized? Yes. Tamed? Never. Lambo's V12 beast is as unapologetic as they comeI have an old boxing buddy made good. Just a passable boxer, but, as it turns out, a phenomenal businessman. Something about online poker, offshore Internet servers and the foresight to predict that most everyone would eventually want to get their thrills digitally. So, while I can take some small solace that I could pepper his noggin with more jabs than he could throw back, he can actually afford to buy the cars that I merely test. In the years I have known him, heÂ’s had everything from...

1942 Dodge 'blackout' (Library of Congress) More/photos at Reaganite Republican...

The epic car chase from the classic 1968 film Bullitt is still hailed as one of the most dramatic, exciting and influential in movie history.Now – as a special homage to the Oscar-winning original, which starred Hollywood legend Steve McQueen driving a Ford Mustang GT fastback – a modern day recreation is all set to be a YouTube sensation. The awe-inspiring, high-speed pursuit featured in the original action thriller was filmed on the hilly streets of San Francisco. Today’s tribute, however, was shot in Britain at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit where the iconic Mustang will be celebrating its 50th...

An event held at Washington D.C’s Brookings Institute saw FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne and former National Economic Council head Larry Summers discuss the auto bailout on its five-year anniversary. As always, Marchionne had some colorful commentary, with a one interesting nugget about Fiat. According to Christina Rogers of the Wall Street Journal, Marchionne claimed that the Fiat 500 was only imported to the United States due to the government’s hand, with Marchionne stating “It was a condition assigned to the [bailout] deal” This has previously never been stated in any bailout related discussion – only the Dodge Dart and its...

Even though it costs well over one million Euros, Pagani Huayra is selling like hot cakes. Each Huayra, as you’d expect, is bespoke to its owner, and some of these owners evidently have a very unique taste. Recently five very special examples of the car were spotted at Pagani Factory in Italy, each sporting a unique color combo. The classiest of the lot is a two-tone brown and tinted carbon model featuring yellow accenting, plus the Track Pack, black wheels, and gold brake calipers. This one is said to be heading to KSA (Saudi Arabia). There is also a red...

In the past several years, one of the topics covered in detail on these pages has been the surge in such gimmicks designed to disguise lack of demand and end customer sales, used extensively by US automotive manufacturers, better known as “channel stuffing”, of which General Motors is particularly guilty and whose inventory at dealer lots just hit a new record high. But did you know that when it comes to flat or declining sales and stagnant end demand, channel stuffing is merely the beginning? Presenting… Where the World’s Unsold Cars Go To Die Above is just a few of...