Custom Chrome-chrome Rear Belt/pulley Hub Cap on 2040-parts.com

Monthly sales projected to rise 15 percent, J.D. Power says

December is shaping up to show the U.S. industry's strongest year-over-year sales increase of what's been a dismal 2009. Expect a 15 percent spike in new vehicle sales in December, powered by a retail surge, according to projections released today by industry forecaster J.D.

Fiat 500 by Diesel – now it’s the convertible 500C by Diesel

The Fiat 500C by Diesel Fiat has been trying hard to churn out as many limited edition versions of the 500 as MINI have managed on their own re-created motoring icon. That’s probably an impossible target (we reckoned that MINI managed a new model a month last year) but that’s not going to stop Fiat having a good old bash at milking the ‘Limited Edition’ market. One of the earliest limited edition specials from the Fiat 500 was the ‘Style’ makeover from designers Diesel.

One Lap of the Web: Cool classic concepts, Rat Pack Cadillacs and even more Vin Diesel

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- Petrolicious brings us an awesome VWvortex forum thread packed with prototype photos, design proposals and concept sketches of everything from the Iso Grifo to the 1994 Mustang.