1961 Fiat 1500 Spider Advertisement, Vintage Ad on 2040-parts.com

BMW spends $900 million on South Carolina plant to build the X4 SUV

BMW is expanding its lineup with the X4 and growing its manufacturing base with a $900 million investment in its Spartanburg, S.C., assembly plant. "This is in response to rising global demand for the BMW X family to include the BMW X4," BMW board member Frank-Peter Arndt said. BMW says the investment will create 300 new jobs at the plant.

Henrik Fisker leaves his eponymous company

Henrik Fisker, co-founder of Fisker Automotive, has resigned from the company as Fisker seeks funding to move forward. But Henrik Fisker managed to convince the car world his Fisker Karma was credible, even if its gestation has been plagued by problems,  the latest of which has been the demise of its battery supplier – A123 Systems – and the wrecking of a dock full of seemingly uninsured Karmas by Hurricane Sandy. The current problems at Fisker has seen them seeking a new investor, with two Chinese companies – Geely and Dohnfeng – vying to take a majority stake in Fisker Automotive and help Fisker recover sales of the Karma and move on with Project Nina, the smaller Fisker Atlantic.

Mercedes-Benz CLS shooting brake sparkles at Goodwood

Mercedes-Benz used the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed as the backdrop for the premiere of the definitive production version of its stylish new CLS shooting brake in Sussex, England. Set to go on sale across Europe in October, the new sporting wagon was given a production go-ahead by Mercedes boss Dieter Zetsche following positive reaction to the earlier E-class-based ConceptFascination prototype car unveiled at the 2008 Paris motor show and the subsequent CLS shooting brake show car wheeled out at the 2010 Beijing motor show. Sadly, though, there are no plans to sell the new Mercedes-Benz model in North America, owing to what one official described to Autoweek as "the continued aversion to wagons by U.S.