New Ruff & Ready 22 Pcs Highway Emergency Tool Kit, Jumper, Tester, Screwdriver on 2040-parts.com

Cadillac may get future rear-drive hybrids

General Motors' two mode hybrid powertrain, used only in trucks, will migrate to rear-drive cars in the next generation, said Tom Stephens, GM's vice chairman of global product operations. Two likely candidates: Cadillacs, says consultant Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics in suburban Detroit. Last month, GM said it is developing an electric motor that is 25 percent smaller and 20 percent more powerful than the motor used in today's two mode hybrid full-sized trucks.

Subaru XV production car at 2011 Frankfurt show

Subaru will show its new Qashqai rival, the XV, at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show. Not that you would have guessed it from this frustrating teaser sketch issued today. Parent firm Fuji Heavy Industries confirmed the Subaru crossover will be shown on 13 September at the IAA German show - five months after the concept waded in at the 2011 Shanghai show.

Pioneer App Radio officially unveiled

Pioneer has officially unveiled the App Radio that AutoWeek told you about earlier this month. Now that it's willing to talk, Pioneer claims that the radio and audio system is "the first in-vehicle product designed to utilize the processing power, storage capacity, network connectivity and apps of the iPhone and iPod Touch as the primary source for its information and entertainment capabilities." That does sound a lot like what Mini Connected and, in a more platform-agnostic sense, Ford Sync are doing. Pioneer said it couldn't speak to the similarity of those systems, but Ted Cardenas, director of marketing for Pioneer's car-electronics division, briefed us on installation of the device and what Pioneer is doing to minimize driver distraction.