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September sales hint at improvement

A 10 percent increase in new-vehicle sales in September is sparking optimism that the year will have a strong finish. And analysts say that deals might get better over the next few months as Toyota and Honda finally recover from shortages caused by the earthquake that hit Japan in March. Those brands might increase spending on incentives to woo buyers back into their showrooms.

Video: Ken Block tears through Hollywood in Gymkhana Four

We've missed you, Ken Block. We know it was only last September that he brought us Gymkhana Three, the DC Shoes commercial with the rally-ready Monster Energy Ford Fiesta as the star. But he is back, at Universal Studios, Calif., with his new car--and a new nine-minute “Hollywood Megamercial.” The new car is called the HFHV, for Hybrid Fiesta Hoonage Vehicle.

Automotive Press Association Design Panel says autonomous cars will tear up design rulebook [w/Video]

Fully autonomous cars will challenge everything we know about car design to date, according to industry experts at the Michelin Challenge Design-hosted Automotive Press Association (APA) Design Panel. The APA members-only event, held at the Detroit Athletic Club, carried the theme of 'Driven/Undriven: The Duality of Tomorrow's Automobile' – the subject of this year's Michelin Challenge Design – and explored the design challenges and opportunities that will arise with the advent of autonomous vehicles. The APA Design Panel consisted of Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics, Chris Borroni-Bird, vice president of Strategic Development at Qualcomm and author of Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility of the 21st Century as well as Stewart Reed, chair of the Transportation Design course at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.