~~ Pontiac Tempest Vintage 1960's Hubcaps Pair Vgc ~~ on 2040-parts.com

Chevrolet touts the 2012 Sonic's 40-mpg highway rating

With an EPA-rated 40 mpg on the highway, Chevrolet is calling its 2012 Sonic one of the most fuel-efficient small cars on the market. Chevy says that 40-mpg rating puts the Sonic right on par with the 2012 Ford Fiesta and the Hyundai Accent in terms of eco-friendliness. In city driving, the 1.4-liter turbocharged Ecotec engine gets 29 mpg.

Mercedes GLA Concept leaks ahead of Shanghai Motor Show debut

But ahead of a debut of the production ready GLA at Frankfurt, Mercedes are taking a GLA Concept – which is pretty much what the production version will be – to the Shanghai Motor Show this month. But it’s arrived early. Thanks to a German website publishing the pictures ahead of time (which they’ve subsequently removed) we get our first look at Mercedes latest addition to the A Class family – and it does look quite convincing.

Crunch watch Dec 08: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard and Simon Stiel Motor Industry 31 December 2008 14:05 Wednesday 31 December 2008• GMAC, GM's finance arm, said it would immediately revise its criteria for providing loans, after the US government bail-out of the General's credit arm. It will now supply credit for anyone with a score of 621 or more on the Fico scale, the scale used to assess Amercian customers' creditworthiness (Financial Times)• The news means that 80% of US consumers would now qualify for a loan from GMAC – which should improve sales in the depressed US market (Detroit News)• Chrysler is being lambasted for taking out full-page adverts in the American national press thanking the nation for supporting its auto industry. But critics point out this is a fresh waste of bail-out resources, as pages in the Wall Street Journal – one of the titles in which the ad ran – reportedly cost up to $264,000.