The first known instance of a plug-in hybrid car going up in flames occurred on June 7 in Columbia, South Carolina to a 2008 Prius that had been converted to plug-in capability for the Central Electric Power Cooperative. The conversion was performed…

Click the 300SL for a high-res gallery
The lineage of the Mercedes Benz SL dates back to 1953, and over the years the car has had a number of transformations. The series began with the original gull-wing coupe that was soon joined by the classic long…

Drive through windows are undoubtedly one of the great convenience features that have proliferated in recent decades. When I was growing up in Hamilton, Ontario, (hometown to cultural luminaries Dave Thomas, Eugene Levy and Martin Short and home of…

Volkswagen's Spanish outpost at SEAT snuck out a battery-powered concept at Geneva last week called the IBE. It now appears that SEAT is intent on moving forward with production of the IBE. Just before the show, Volkswagen announced its intent to…

A reader posed us an interesting question the other day about air intakes and grilles. Specifically: do electric vehicles need them at all and why do many internal combustion vehicles have such large examples. For conventional vehicles, an intake of…

It's been said that “you can't cut your way to profitability.” This is especially true in product-related businesses like the auto industry. It doesn't matter how low your costs are if you don't have desirable products that people want to buy. Ford…

Back in November 2006, Mercedes-Benz, VW/ Audi and BMW indicated that the three companies would be cooperating on promoting new clean diesels using the same BlueTec aftertreatment technology. Within a few weeks BMW and, later, Volkswagen made it…

Ford has finally made it official: the upcoming Fiesta for the North American market will be built at the company's assembly plant in Cuautitlán, Mexico. Job 1 for Ford's new B-class car will be coming up in early 2010. The plant near Mexico City…

The clearest images yet of the upcoming Buick compact sedan have been captured in China. This is one of the numerous future models that was saw at the GM design center last summer and it is essentially nothing more than a sedan version of the new…

Northstar-powered 1998 Buick Riviera prototype – Click above for high-res image gallery
As we approach the big SEMA show in Las Vegas next week, it's time to look back at a previous star of the show. Sometime back in the mid-80s the decision was made…