General Motors salutes Bob Lutz

General Motors gave a fitting send-off to now-retired vice chairman Bob Lutz on Tuesday in Detroit. Lutz officially hung it up on April 30 after more than five decades in the auto business. He was most recently an adviser and served an extended stint as GM's product boss.

Volkswagen has plans for yet another Beetle

The Volkswagen Beetle is on its way back, and this time around, it will be focused more on driving dynamics than on efforts to resurrect the past. Expected to appear in concept form at the Los Angeles auto show late this year, the second-generation version of the modern-day Beetle goes on sale in the United States in May 2011. A convertible with a fabric top will follow about a year later.

Next Dodge Viper will shed some rough edges

Little by little we're getting a clearer picture of the next-generation Dodge Viper SRT10. During a conversation with Dodge boss Reid Bigland at the Los Angeles auto show, Bigland told me the redesigned Viper "will appeal to a broader segment of the market." The car is expected to debut in 2012 but is not likely to appear at the Detroit auto show, he says. Today's Viper is essentially a street-legal race car.