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Southern California's Holiday Motor Excursion wraps up the year: Video

It wouldn't be Christmas, New Year's or any of the other things we celebrate around this time without the annual Holiday Motor Excursion put on by the Horseless Carriage Club of America's Southern California Branch. Each year, between Dec. 25 and New Year's Day, a couple hundred cars older than your favorite grandfather drive, putter, wheeze or roar onto the roads in and around Pasadena, Calif., for a daylong road trip into motoring's past in a wheeled testament to mechanical devotion.

Future products: Kia seeks lively, upscale look

Kia's redesigned Optima sedan and the Cadenza replacement for the Amanti, both due next year, reflect an emphasis on creating a livelier and more upscale look for the once-bland brand. Indeed, styling has been a crucial element of Kia's new-product push in the past 18 months. The team at Kia Design Center America near Los Angeles--part of the automaker's global design network led by onetime Audi design chief Peter Schreyer--has helped set the new styling direction.

Volkswagen L1 concept

Volkswagen chose the Frankfurt motor show to unveil the revolutionary L1 Concept - a diesel-electric hybrid vehicle constructed from aluminum and carbon fiber.  Weighing 380kg, the L1 can seat two occupants in tandem. They enter through a side-hinging, electrically operated canopy which maximizes aerodynamic efficiency. It has a Cd figure of just 0.195.