Filed under: Government/Legal , GM A year ago, General Motors needed a $50 billion U.S. government bailout to stave off liquidation. One year later, the Detroit-based automaker is on the precipice of filing for one of the largest initial public offerings in American history. Automotive News quotes unnamed...

The 2011 Chevy Volt’s 230 mpg rating is no more, according to USA Today. The much-hyped rating came from using a preliminary EPA methodology that was meant to gauge the efficiency of plug-in hybrids.  The 230 mpg rating was for city driving and required that the Volt be fully charged first, a process...

You know we love eco-friendlier motoring and we’re the first to sing the praises of this hybrid or that EV. But we’re also gearheads, which means we’re suckers for crazy fast supercars. Like, say, the McLaren MP4-12C. We told you about McLaren honcho Ron Dennis’ latest foray...

Too often custom motorcycles are outrageously expensive exercises in exuberant excess that place form over function . They aren’t motorcycles so much as objets d’art . There isn’t anything wrong with that, but it’s nice to see a custom you could actually ride — if you wanted...

Harley Earl was the first automotive designer to hire women. But it wasn’t necessarily equality Earl sought back in 1950. If that were the case, General Motors probably wouldn’t have called them the “Damsels of Design.” No, the legendary designer hired women because he felt they...

Filed under: Recalls , Safety , Technology , Toyota Behind the scenes at Toyota’s R&D center - Click above for high-res image gallery The last 18 months have been a particularly painful period for Toyota Motor Company . Starting in early 2009, with the automotive industry facing a global economic...

Filed under: Technology , Ford Ray LaHood, the Department of Transportation’s boss, recently had the revelation that looking down at your phone for four seconds while behind the wheel means you’re “driving the length of a football field without watching the road.” The DoT goes...

Filed under: Crossover , Hyundai , First Drive , Reviews 2011 Kia Sportage - click above for high-res image gallery The crossover is the high-fructose corn syrup of the automotive world. Think about it: Rather than using real sugar, Pepsi opts for a cheaper, highly refined and processed sweetener. Which,...

The autonomous Audi TTS that will try to climb Pikes Peak without a driver is packed with leading-edge tech, but Audi went old-school with livery that pays homage to its glory days in rallying. Audi pulled the wraps off the latest iteration of the robotic car we took a ride in a few months ago, and...

United Airlines has taken hypermiling to the skies. On a flight between between Chicago and Frankfurt, the airline employed every trick in the book to show what can be done to reduce fuel burn in existing aircraft. The result was a savings of more than 1,400 gallons of jet fuel on a transatlantic round-trip...

“I want to say just one word to you: Plastics!” That might have been good advice to new college graduates a generation ago, but today that could be replaced with this word: “Biofoam.” Most conversations about the environmental impact of cars focus on drivetrains—hybrid versus diesel versus...

Filed under: Etc. , Lexus , Toyota Hiromu Naruse’s Creations - Click above for image gallery Last October I had the chance to shake hands with one of my heros. I was attending the launch of the Lexus LFA in Florida and after taking a few hot laps around Homestead, I was offered a ride with Hiromu...

Filed under: Motorsports , Porsche , UK , Racing Porsche at Goodwood 2010 - Click above for high-res image gallery Porsche is going big at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Stuttgart marque will be hauling trailers full of vintage machinery into the English countryside to support the...

Review: 2010 BMW 335i Sedan is what we’ve been missing After a full week with the 2010 BMW 335i sedan, we’ve come to understand why the bastions of auto-journodom have spent the last 10 years drinking the BMW Kool-Aid. BREAKING: Toyota’s chief test driver dies behind wheel of LFA in...