The Tesla battery swap project has been in the works for some time, with the Model S apparently having the capability for battery-swapping from the get-go. There are a few issues that come into question here; what kind of technology will be used to help swap a 1,200 pound battery in under 5 minutes? What level of automation will be used? How does this conflict (or complement) with the whole Supercharger network? We’ll have to wait until Thursday to find out.

I wish I had more time with the Focus ST, but circumstances conspired to cut my loan short; I was off on the West Coast, driving a hot hatch older than I am, as well as two competitors, the Volkswagen GTI and the Mazdaspeed3. Driving those two back to back gave me some context before I drove the first truly hot Focus since the first-generation SVT version. In Europe, that car was also an ST, dubbed the ST170, because the RS was top dog in Ford of Europe’s hatch hierarchy. I hear that we’ll be getting the next Focus RS as well, complete with the 2.3L Ecoboost, but of course, my Ford sources will neither confirm or deny that.

Squint really hard, and the Focus ST looks just like the Corgi Cosworth toy that my Grandma bought for me at Asda and which I ended up smashing against a Corgi Metropolitan Police Range Rover while engaging in a youthful re-enactment of “The Sweeney”. It must be the Performance Blue paint and the hatch spoiler, which resembles the orca-esque monstrosity that came on the Cossie hatches.

The rest of the car is fairly agressive-looking without being over the top. I would be a little embarrassed to show up for a date or a lunch meeting with the Mazdaspeed3′s goofy mug smiling back at my would-be passenger, but at least with the ST, the front fascia looks appropriate. Hopefully nobody notices the overly large fascia-bumper panel gap.

Exterior styling aside, it’s the interior that will pose the greatest challenge for any occupants. Americans can opt for standard seats, but Canadian market cars only come one way; with the ST3 Package, including the Sony-branded MyFord Touch system and the Recaro seats. As nice as the Recaro’s look, they are absurdly confining; I’m 5’10 and 175 lbs with a 32″ waist, yet I’ve felt more comfortable in one-piece racing buckets. My brother and father, who are around my height but much stockier, were visceral in their criticism of the constricting bolsters. My father in particular raised an interesting point; guys like him (middle-aged, carrying a few extra pounds thanks to a white collar job) are the ones who buy performance cars, but the seats alone would DQ the ST from his list.

After a few days, I was able to look past them – in fact, it’s hard to imagine putting up with the regular Focus seats. This is what the Brit mags would call a “very quick point-to-point car”. At one end of the spectrum, we have the Volkswagen GTI. It’s not quite as performance oriented, but it does drive well while providing an appropriate amount of comfort and refinement. At the other end of the spectrum is the ‘Speed3, which feels like a garage-built tuner car with a warranty. In between those two is the Focus ST.

There’s more power than the GTI, but less than the Mazda. There’s less torque steer than the Mazda but more than the GTI. The ride and handling, steering feel and braking capability are a happy medium between the two. Every reviewer with a keyboard and an HJC DOT helmet seems to have coaxed some kind of “lift off oversteer” from this car. I can’t say I ever really pushed it that hard on public roads, but I also save my most aggressive driving exploits for wheel to wheel competition, a domain notoriously devoid of auto journalists.

On paper, the ST sounds a bit dull and wishy-washy, a true “warm hatch” that’s not much more exciting than a Honda Civic Si. But this car has charm. Mash the gas pedal and keep the wheel pointed straight and you will experience acceleration free of turbo lag and the masculine growl of the ST’s engine note; I don’t care if it’s piped in via a “sound synthesizer” or whatever Ford calls it. It does the job without alerting the outside world (or John Law) of your presence with an obnoxiously loud muffler. Each and every one of the 252 horsepower on tap is useful in the real world of cutting through traffic or taking an on-ramp just a little too quickly, unlike most of today’s steroid-enhanced sports cars, where driving them on the street makes you feel like you’re firing a Ma Deuce from the 5 yard line of an indoor gun range.

Of course, the ST has its flaws. The shifter is abominable, with an action that feels like rowing a broomstick through a tub of Greek yogurt. The pedal placement for heel-and-toeing was also all wrong, though that may be a function of my size 11.5 shoes. The Sony-branded MyFord Touch system wasn’t nearly as infuriating as previous iterations, but I’d rather not have to unplug my iPhone three times just to be able to access my music. I never got close to the EPA ratings of 23/32 mpg either, but again, caveat emptor.

There’s a lot to like about this car; the power, the looks, the fact that I could fit my Costco groceries and a bicycle in the back of the hatch with ease. But in Canada, the ST comes out to about $34,000, plus 13 percent sales tax, which is a crapload of money for a guy like me. For comparison, a Mustang V6 with the Performance Package and Recaros (which may not be as lithe, but would lay waste to an ST in any objective performance category) is about $4000 cheaper and probably gets equivalent or better gas mileage. Even financing a Focus ST over 84 months means payments of about $450 a month, and I’d be paying off a complex, electronics-laden car long past its warranty period. And OEMs wonder why young people aren’t buying new cars anymore.

Big news out of Dearborn; the Blue Oval will be adding buttons to its MyFord Touch infotainment system, but they won’t be getting rid of the maligned touchscreen system entirely.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Ford will be adding more buttons and knobs as vehicles get refreshed or redesigned, and move away from the near-exclusively touchscreen based interface. While Ford claims that consumers are overwhelmingly happy with the system, the automotive press has been resoundingly negative.

While MFT has improved in the years since it was introduced, it’s far from perfect. Ford has also been forced to add a full suite of tactile controls on versions of the F-Series pickup, as customers wearing work gloves were unable to use the touchscreen controls.

Opel and Buick are going to get a lot cozier in the coming years if Dan Akerson has his way. The GM CEO wants the two companies to align their product portfolios even further, so that the high R&D costs of Opel products can be absorbed further.

Speaking to Automotive News at an investor conference last week, Akerson told the paper

“What we’re trying to do is bring together the product development teams much more closely,” Akerson said, so that “there will be all sorts of synergies, I believe, between Opel-Vauxhall and Buick….We think we can take costs out that way,” he said. “You’ve got to change the rules of the game in Europe — we do — because of where we are today.”

Opel has been a consistent money loser in Europe, but the firm has provided Buick with the kind of product that has revitalized its lineup. The Buick Verano, Encore and Regal are all derived from Opel products, and the upcoming Opel Cascada convertible (above) is also rumored to be making its way Stateside. The big challenge now will be engineered cars that can appeal to consumers in Europe, America and China, three markets with varying tastes.

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to calling it a “428i xDrive”, but I’m also not buying one. In any case, here it is, the BMW 4-Series, official photos.

Just as Suzuki prepares to wrap things up in the North American market, their global product line is set to be revamped entirely, with a focus on vehicles like the Nissan Juke.

AutoExpress is reporting that no less than five new cars will debut in the Suzuki lineup, including

• A new three-cylinder city car to replace the Splash
• A four-wheel drive version of the highly acclaimed Swift
• A new B-segment crossover
• A production version of the Suzuki G70 concept car using Fiat’s TwinAir two-cylinder engine
• An MPV-type vehicle slotting above the Swift

Right now, the last two are under consideration with the others being given a green light. Given that none of those products would really fly in North America, save for the Swift (and that’s a longshot at best) it’s easy to see why the decision to close up shop was made, rather than invest in North American-specific product.

Most estimates put the market share of manual transmission cars in the United States at less than 10 percent. Whether it’s a lowly Nissan Sentra or the mighty Porsche 911 GT3, it seems that Americans just do not want to drive a three pedal transmission. The die hard manual crowd, as vocal as they may be, can’t seem to get anyone to listen to them, for love or money. If only they knew that just a few hours north of Boston, there existed a land where automotive purity was considered as the full contact lap dance.

One of the quirks of the Canadian marketplace is the abundance of “Quebec specials”; stripped out models with no air-conditioning, a manual transmission and little else. It would be unfair to compare these cars to the Nissan Versa S because these are often variants of good cars, like the Honda Fit or the Kia Rio, but other crappier examples are out there as well. Nissan, for example, makes a Sentra with a 6-speed manual and no A/C for sale in Canada and not the United States, solely as a concession to the Quebec market.

Anyone who has peeked inside a row of parked cars in Montreal will know that Quebecers are the last holdout of manual adoration in North America, but the “no A/C” bundle is a bit more puzzling. Contrary to popular belief, it does get hot in Canada. Parts of British Columbia are technically considered desert, while Southern Ontario can be similar to Washington D.C. in the summer (stiflingly humid with temperatures approaching the mid-90s). In most of the country, A/C is a must-have, not only for the summer, but to help quickly defog the front windscreen in the colder months.

Quebec, being Quebec, insists on being the lone holdout, with their consumers demanding a stripper model with three pedals, no A/C while also refusing to speak English or sign Canada’s constitution. What gives?

The big motivator here is, of course, economics. Quebec is not as wealthy as other provinces, while taxes and fuel costs are a good deal higher. Canadians drive more modest cars than Americans, but Quebecers take that a step further, overwhelmingly opting for compact  and subcompact cars.

The second factor is also geography. Not everyone lives in Montreal or Quebec City – a decent portion of Quebec is actually further north than the southern part of Greenland, and when you’re that far north, it doesn’t really get hot enough to use air conditioning. Even in less remote locales like Saguenay (a few hours northeast of Montreal), temperatures in June can barely break 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Unlike in America, where internet commenters demand a no-frills small car and then fail to follow through on their promise to buy one, people in Quebec really do buy these things – at one point, 1 in 2 Hyundai Accents in Canada were being sold in Quebec, and you can bet that a good portion of them had three pedals and a block-off plate where the climate control system should have been. Offering a Quebec special is also good for the OEMs. It lets them advertise a rock bottom starting price, while charging around $2,000 more for the next model up, which has air-conditioning and the option of an automatic transmission.

Hyundai’s approach for the Accent is interesting itself. A bare-bones Accent sedan with a manual and no A/C is $13,339, but to get an automatic gearbox and A/C in a sedan body, you have to step up to the $16,749 GL Auto trim. The hatchback offers a bit more flexibility, but just A/C alone on a manual hatchback requires a $2,100 jump from the L hatchback to the GL hatchback.

While these stripper models would fail in America due to being an undeniable marker of poverty, Quebecers embrace their stripped-out econoboxes with open arms, and the OEMs are happy to serve this small but very vocal market segment. No wonder on whether Porsche will be serving this market with a 7-speed 911 sans air-conditioning, but we can still hold out hope that the GT3 RS will return, non

The next generation European-market Volkswagen Passat will be delayed until at least the end of 2014, as Volkswagen follows an industry-trend in Europe of neglecting their slow-selling D-segment cars.

Europe’s economic crunch has led to a sharp contraction in new car sales, and D-segment vehicles are among the hardest hit. Ford is delaying replacing the Mondeo with the car we know as the Fusion, until late 2014, while other cars like the Honda Accord are on the chopping block for Europe.

According to Just-Auto, the next Passat will be based off the MQB modular architecture, but with sales of D-segment cars moving so slowly, VW sees little reason to introduce an all-new car in such a slow market. Where VW is really hurting is in the mid-size crossover segment, which is the main culprit behind slowing sales of large sedans. Buyers are opting for crossovers like the Nissan Qashqai, which is roughly the size of our Rogue, rather than a mid-size sedan – and Volkswagen doesn’t really have a competitor in that segment, save for the relatively unpopular (in North America) Tiguan.

We all knew that the Alfa Romeo 4C was going to be light, but the recently announced curb  (looks like it’s the dry weight) weight of 1969 lbs is unprecedentedly svelte in this era. That’s the same weight as a Lotus Elise or a Volkswagen Up! That  237 horsepower turbo 4-cylinder doesn’t seem so puny anymore, does it?

The carbon monocoque being used by McLaren weighs in at a mere 143 lbs – less than the average adult male. Other tricks like thinner glass and special plastic for the front and rear bumpers also help trim weight. Best of all, the car’s bodywork and monocoque are impervious to corrosion, so if you’re a special grade of crazy (or brave), only a set of snow tires stands between you and winter driving. How about a ski rack mounted over the rear, like James Bond’s Lotus Esprit?

On the performance front, Alfa Romeo is said to be expecting a 0-60 time of 4.5 seconds – a few tenths quicker than a PDK-equipped Porsche Cayman S, which weighs 880 lbs more and has 88 more horsepower. Unlike other Alfas, the 4C gets a 25 mile shakedown to ensure everything functions properly prior to delivery. Leave your best reliability joke in the comments.

Spend enough time on the autoblogosphere and you’ll know that most “rumors” propagated by various auto sites are at best worthless garbage created to generate pageview clicks. The best stuff usually doesn’t make it to the pages of the publication, because sources need to be protected, and the juiciest rumors would inevitably somebody’s cover if they were revealed.

Thanks to some of our supplier contacts (hey, if the OEMs won’t talk to us, we’ll go elsewhere), we’ve known a fair bit about the 2015 Mustang for some time. But we didn’t want to publish anything about it just yet, largely because doing so would have meant that a trusted source would have been burned.

But now that Road & Track has spilled the beans on the all new SVT Cobra, (with accurate information that was certainly gleaned from someone deep inside Ford) it’s time for us to show our hand (with the permission of our source). Among the new features appearing on the 2015 Mustang

• Independent rear suspension (but you knew that).
• A 3.7L V6, 5.0 V8. The new 2.3L Ecoboost I4 is said to make roughly 270 horsepower.
• MT82 6-speed will carry over
• The SVT Cobra will have a 5.2L naturally aspirated V8 with no engine cover. The reason for that is because the new styling (and Euro safety regs) mean a supercharger is not feasible as far as fitting under the hood goes.
• There will be further option packages for the SVT car to make it even more hardcore and track-oriented

Apple just announced a bunch of new stuff today as part of their annual developers conference. Most TTAC readers don’t really care that iOS7 is ditching the old skeuomorphic look (fake brushed metal, fake leather, etc.) for a flat design that is damn near identical to what Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows 8 have been doing. However, they’ll care about this.

Apple has announced “iOS in the Car” (TheVerge has a summary; see also Cnet, Engadget, Gizmodo). Apple didn’t say much, beyond a a few pretty screenshots and a list of car manufacturers who will support this in 2014. We don’t know if this will be an Apple-proprietary protocol or if it will be an open standard that Android and other phones can use. Regardless, we can expect non-Apple phones to be hacked in one way or another to work with this, assuming they’re willing to do battle with Apple’s patent portfolio.

This is a big deal. For the first time, we have car manufacturers conceding a significant part of the driver’s user experience to a device or company outside of their control. For example, if you buy the most alpha nerd car available today, a Tesla Model S with its monstrous 17″ touch screen, you have well-integrated Tesla-skinned Slacker and TuneIn Internet radio, complete with a secondary display of the current song next to your speedometer. Would you prefer Pandora or Google Music? Sorry, you’ll have to stream that through your phone, which won’t be anywhere near the same slick experience. In Apple’s new world order, your car is an accessory to your phone, which is exactly the way it should be. Many people replace their phones every time their two year contract comes up for renewal and some replace it even more often. Conversely, most any modern car should handily last ten years or more with the right tender loving care. You can go through five generations of phones in the same time that you go through a single car. Your phone keeps getting better and your car (generally speaking) doesn’t. Furthermore, as I go from my personal car to a rental car to whatever else (a taxi?), I get to take “my” navigation system and “my” music along for the ride, rather than learning my way around yet another car manufacturer’s dial that spins, clicks, slides, and otherwise goes out of its way to annoy the driver.

I’d previously been skeptical that something like this would ever come to pass. Why would a car manufacturer willingly allow themselves to be commoditized like this? Why would they willingly give up the chance to upsell their customers on monthly service charges? In the new world order, a third-party app installed on your phone could use the built-in accelerometer and GPS to figure out that you decelerated in a big hurry and probably had an accident, just like GM OnStar and other such manufacturer-provided subscription services do. Would you rather have that service attached to your car or to your phone? I’d vote for the phone, since it would be with me regardless of what car I happened to be in.

If I were king for a day, I’d not only push for the phone/car video interface to be standardized, but I’d also push for the car to provide specific sensors and data to the phone. For example, the car might feed your phone telemetry data (wheel angle, speedometer, tachometer, etc.), which can aid a navigation system that temporarily looses contact with the GPS satellites, or give you great feedback on your hot track laps. They might even consider providing deeper manufacturer-specific hooks to allow for over-the-air software updates. At that point, some interesting security threats rear their ugly heads, since the phone needs to be treated as a potentially hostile component within the otherwise-friendly world of the in-car network. Still, color me excited. I’ve wanted this for a long time.

I recently got behind a Toyota Sienna in traffic. This is a fairly common occurrence that usually involves a) changing lanes, and b) speeding up to see whether the children inside are watching SpongeBob SquarePants.

Of course, the children inside are always watching SpongeBob SquarePants, except in this case, where the Sienna didn’t have its rear DVD player on. This is probably because it was an Enterprise rental, likely the result of a cheerful woman behind the counter announcing: “Good news, Mr. Smith! We don’t have any compacts, but I’m going to upgrade you for free!”

This happens to me constantly: I book a subcompact and somehow end up leaving the rental facility in a Dodge Charger with a 2.7-liter V6. The Enterprise employee behind the counter is always stunned when I tell him I don’t consider this an upgrade over a subcompact, or a compact, or riding around on my desk chair.

Anyway: as I passed the Sienna, dismayed that Squidward Tentacles was nowhere to be found, I noticed something entirely different: the Toyota Sienna is enormous.

When I say “enormous,” I don’t mean it’s “a bit big,” like one of those college lecture halls that could, in a pinch, seat everyone in suburban Dallas. I mean it’s so large that I couldn’t see over it in my Range Rover. This is tremendously distressing because I, like all Range Rover drivers, bought mine so that I could sit above everyone else on the road, at least until the air suspension collapses at the very same moment the electronic tailgate fails, causing a small fire as the Range Rover slowly sinks to the ground. (I, like all Range Rover drivers, would respond to this by collecting the insurance payout and immediately buying another Range Rover.)

When I got home, I did some research and discovered the following height information:

- Toyota Sienna height: 69 inches (1752mm)
- My Range Rover height: 73.3 inches (1861mm)

In other words, my Range Rover – the finest off-roader on the planet, according to my Land Rover dealer – is just an iPhone taller than a Toyota Sienna, whose primary purpose is to safely transport children as they watch a cartoon about a talking sponge who inhabits a piece of fruit on the ocean floor. (For those of you that think the Range Rover’s purpose is similar, that isn’t true: I occasionally use its capabilities to drive over parking curbs when I don’t want to back up.)

But the Sienna’s height isn’t its most concerning measurement. Today’s Sienna stands at 200.2 inches long, or – for you metric folks – a whopping 0.005085 kilometers. That makes it more than a foot longer than the egg-shaped 1990s Previa we all love so dearly, unless we’re a mechanic and we have to work on it.

The expanding minivan trick isn’t limited to the Sienna. Compared to the first-gen Odyssey, which was only purchased by New York City taxi drivers, today’s model is longer by 16 inches, or roughly 454 grams. And since Dodge ditched the regular-length Caravan, the modern Grand Caravan has 26.6 inches (2.47 square meters) on the original model. Many of us suspect the Nissan Quest is also longer than its predecessors, but sadly the new model is too ugly to be captured by modern measuring sticks.

There’s also a width issue. Namely: the current Honda Odyssey is almost exactly as wide as the Chevy Silverado. Think about that for a second. The full-size Silverado, which – according to Chevy’s ads – was designed solely to help big, burly men round up cattle, takes up the very same amount of lane as a Honda minivan.

The very term “minivan” is, therefore, a bit of a stretch. That’s further proven when you look under the Sienna’s hood and discover… a giant plastic engine cover. But if you check the web’s finest source for information, Wikipedia, you’ll learn that under that plastic engine cover lurks a 266-horsepower V6 that displaces 3.5 liters, or approximately 12 degrees Celsius.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have an epidemic: the minivan is no longer “mini.” The sole exception is the Mazda5, which is actually shorter than several minivans of yore. It also offers about the same power as the supercharged Previa, though none of the charm, primarily because you don’t have to lift up the Mazda5’s passenger seat to change its oil. And where’s the fun in that?

Interestingly, families haven’t grown at the same rate as the minivan. Modern families are about the same size as their mid-1990s counterparts, even though their minivans have nearly a foot more room in each direction.

So I have to ask: why did minivans get so big? Is it all the SpongeBob DVDs they have to haul around? Or maybe it’s the Official Automotive Redesign Law, which states, in no uncertain terms, that every single new vehicle must be larger and more powerful than the one it replaces, until we’re all driving 800-horsepower mobile homes. (Or, if you’re Ford, an 830-horsepower mobile home powered by a 1.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder.)

Either way: as modern minivans continue to grow, I think we should probably stay away from the term “minivan” altogether. That is, until I get my 800-horsepower mobile home. Then I’ll be able to see over the Sienna in traffic.

@DougDeMuro operates PlaysWithCars.com. He’s owned an E63 AMG wagon, road-tripped across the US in a Lotus without air conditioning, and posted a six-minute lap time on the Circuit de Monaco in a rented Ford Fiesta. One year after becoming Porsche Cars North America’s youngest manager, he quit to become a writer. His parents are very disappointed.

Live shots from the Corolla reveal. The white car is the “Eco” model, while the grey car is the LE. The red “S” was featured prominently throughout the reveal. Anybody more interested in Junkyard Finds can click the jump.

Let’s hit the re-wind switch to a time before beige …

B&B, is ths a KE10 or one of the “Peanut/Mangro” TE27 Coupes?

This is most definitely a shooting brake. Unfortunately, the crappy lighting doesn’t do justice to how nice this car is.

The malaise era ‘Rolla

And, oddly enough, an FX16 instead of an AE86. I guess Toyota didn’t want to pay California asking prices ($4000 for a clapped out, primered SR5-GTS conversion)

By the time you’ve read this, I’ll have seen the new Corolla in the flesh. We’ll have more details shortly, but because you were dying to know, yes, the 4-speed automatic is back. But only on the very base model. Otherwise, there’s a CVT (which Toyota is calling a “7-Speed”) or a 6-speed manual. There will be an Eco model, targeting over 40 mpg, as well as an “S” model, seen here. The engine is a 1.8L with 132 horsepower and 128 lb-ft of torque, while Eco models get a revised valve timing system that puts out 140 hp and 126 lb-ft.

The Skoda Octavia vRS is almost like the VW Jetta GLI we should have gotten. Using the MK7 GTI’s MQB platform and 217-horsepower four-cylinder powertrain, the Octavia vRS is also available with a 2.0 TDI engine making 180 horsepower – and both powertrains can be had with the wagon bodystyle you see above.

With a price point below that of VW while offering identical performance, the previous Octavia vRS models were something of a cult performance car in Europe – and a favorite of the local constabulary in many parts of the UK. Especially the wagon. Too bad we won’t see this stateside in any form – now that the Jetta has become its own North American-spec car, the Octavia’s closest relative isn’t even available to us anymore.

Australian media is reporting that Toyota is next in line for some government cash, following Holden’s deal with the government to keep production of the Commodore and other models in Australia.

Toyota currently builds the Camry and Aurion (a V6 powered sedan based on the Camry, pictured above) at a factory near Melbourne, and a deal with the government is said to bring about a third model, likely the RAV4. Toyota’s Australian division head didn’t hesitate to re-affirm the company’s commitment to Australia, stating that they would remain in the country “indefinitely” and were taking a “long-term” view of things, even as rival firms panic about unfavorable exchange rates.

Local car production has been a money-loser for Toyota, with Australian outlet Go-Auto reporting a $160 million loss over the last three years. If Toyota’s deal is similar to Holden’s, Toyota will have to pony up a lot more cash on its own – with GM contributing $1 billion to keep production running until 2022.

$44,470 will buy you a Chevrolet SS when it goes on sale later this year. That’s about $7,500 less than a base model, no-options C7 Corvette Stingray $5300 less than a Chrysler 300C SRT8 and $2995 less than a Dodge Charger SRT8. The SRT8 cars have more power, but the SS does have a couple advantages; it’s more subdued looking than the overwrought Charger.

Word around TTAC is that the 300C in SRT trim is a monster of a machine, and adding a supercharger makes it an unbeatable weapon when street racing lesser machines. Personally, I have a major issue with all of those cars; no manual transmission. I’d much rather take this gently used C6 Corvette Grand Sport for the same money. Because, like all real enthusiasts, I buy used. And I’m poor.

Lincoln is cutting their free maintenance program in half, from 4 years/50,000 miles to 2 years/24,000 miles.

Automotive News reports that dealers were informed of the change last month.

In a May 6 memo sent to dealers, Lincoln said the revised program “complements short-term 24-month leases.” In a statement, Lincoln said the new program is “competitive with other luxury brands.” Jaguar and Volvo also recently cut back their complimentary maintenance programs.

Some dealers expressed disappointment over Lincoln’s decision, but Rhode Island dealer principal told AN that most Lincolns are leased for between 2-3 years, and the move wouldn’t have a great effect on his business. But given Lincoln’s supposed push for industry-leading customer service, it’s puzzling why Lincoln would decide to cut the program so drastically. It’s not just the Germans who offer 4 year maintenance packages either – Cadillac does it too.

The swan song of the 996 Porsche 911 was the “40 Jahre 911“, designed to commemorate the car’s 40th anniversary. Although it was a rear-drive, naturally aspirated Carrera, it shared the widebody look of the all-wheel drive and turbo cars, and inspired legions of badge concious buyers to check the option box the the “911″ badge, rather than suffer the indignity of having “Carrera” without an accompanying “S”.

Now that the 911 is 50 years old, Porsche is introducing…you guessed it, the 50 Jahre 911, officially dubbed the “Porsche 911 50 Years Edition.” It follows the same rear-drive-that-looks-like-a-C4 formula, and there are retro touches abound. An old-school 911 badge, faux-Fuchs wheels and tartan seat fabric have all been deployed. Sadly, manual steering was decided to be too retro.

The Acura TSX’s future has been in doubt ever since the debut of the smaller ILX, but more than ever, the rebadged European Accord appears to be living on borrowed time.

Automotive News reports that a few factors are conspiring to bring about the demise of the TSX. One is that the European Accord that the TSX is based on is a very poor seller in Europe, and the car sales crisis happening on the continent isn’t helping matters. Mid-size cars have really taken a beating, and the slow-selling Accord has been hit especially hard. Because of the slow sales, Honda is killing off the car rather than developing a whole new generation. That means no future platform for the TSX to ride on.

Furthermore, the next generation TL is going to be downsized to fit better below the upcoming Acura RLX. The TL and the new American market Accord actually use a global platform that can be scaled up or down, which is far more efficient rather than using regional platforms. The new, scaled-down TL is reportedly slightly larger than the TSX, meaning cannibalization would be inevitable.

Acura says that the TSX will remain in the lineup ”for the foreseeable future.” After all, why kill a good thing. The ILX isn’t exactly setting the sales charts a blaze – it can barely pull away from the TSX.

Every so often, the same tired rumor will pop up again, like a particularly resilient pimple that habitually reappears in the same conspicuous spot. Thanks to the incessant hunger for clicks among auto websites, these rumors refuse to die, no matter how asinine they are. How many times have you seen a “BREAKING” or “EXCLUSIVE” story on the next Toyota Supra or some absurd BS fabrication regarding a diesel Mazda MX-5?

The latest round of bollocks concerns the Holden Ute, another car that tickles the fancy of enthusiasts on all sides of the globe, but would be a commercial nightmare if they ever tried to export it to America. One Australian publication is now claiming that a guerilla marketing campaign showing Mark Reuss lapping the Nurburgring in a brand new Ute is part of a ploy to export the Ute to America. Of course, other car blogs have been lathering themselves up into a frenzy over the prospect of a very expensive quasi-pickup that they will not purchase once it gets here.

Holden claims that there will be some kind of major announcement regarding the Ute next month. I’m going to be the first to say it will not be related to any Ute exports. There are two simple reasons here: the US-Australian dollar exchange rate is abominable as far as exports are concerned, and there is likely little to no demand for a very pricey product that is neither fish nor fowl. Who is going to pay $50k for Corvette powered pseudo-pickup wearing a Chevrolet badge. Did we discuss the UAW’s reaction to an Australian built pickup, or the whole “cannibalizing GM’s new ‘lifestyle pickup’ thing “either? Both of those matter, but would require their own articles to really get into.

One thing that is not a factor is the chicken tax. Not long ago, Holden used the chicken tax as an excuse for why it’s been unable to export Utes to America. TTAC commenters soon produced plenty of evidence showing that Australian cars and ”light commercial vehicles” (i.e. pickups and Utes) can be brought to America duty free. So that excuse is out. I feel for Holden though. The Australian domestic car industry is going down the tubes, their signature product is about to become just another boring front-drive appliance and all they want to do is send some good product to world markets.

The problem is nobody wants it. No matter how loud the internet cries out for it.

The above photo making its way around the internet is supposedly the first uncovered photos of the 2015 Mazda3. Based on prior shots of camo-clad prototypes, it looks like this could be the final design.

In any event, we’re likely to see the new 3 sooner rather than later, as our friends at Mazda tell us that the car is slated to debut in Q4 of this year. While the current Mazda3 uses only the powertrain part of Mazda’s Skyactiv technology, this one gets the full treatment, which means it will be a fair bit lighter than the current car thanks to a new platform. Who knows, maybe we’ll even see a diesel engine as well? At least that awful front end is finally put to rest.

Before the 993 Targa came along with its fancy sliding glass roof, Porsche 911 Targas had real lift-out tops, just like the best 1990′s Japanese sports cars did (no doubt emulating what was perceived to be a suave alternative to a real ragtop). It looks like the 991 Targa will be returning to those roots.

Spy shots over at Autocar seem to indicate a lift-out roof for the next Targa, and the classic looking B-pillar is another giveaway. Hopefully, we’ll be able to order Fuchs wheels and an industrial-sized can of aerosol hairspray to keep things authentic. Bring your own car-phone.  The Targa is said to debut at the Los Angeles auto show in November, alongside the Porsche Macan SUV.

The wraps have finally been taken off from the refreshed 2014 Chevrolet Malibu, and it…looks pretty much the same as the last one, though GM assures us that there have been real changes made.

Rear seat passengers get an extra 1.25 inches of knee room thanks to shorter bolsters, redesigned front seat backs and new cushioning for that places your backside deeper in the seat.

On the powertrain front, the base 2.5L engine has been revised, with a stop-start system adding 1 mpg all-around, or 23/35 mpg city/highway. Output is 196 horsepower and 186 pound-feet of torque, while the 2.0T gets a 14 percent bump in torque to 295 lb-ft (horsepower is unchanged at 259). Blind spot monitoring and cross-traffic alert are also part of the package.

New and current Honda Fit EV customers can look forward to a reduction in their lease costs.

The old lease cost of $389/month for 36 months with 12,000 miles allowed annually has now become $259/month for 36 months with unlimited mileage. Also included are scheduled maintenance, collision coverage and a free 240V charger (the unit is free but you have to pay for installation). Customers who already leased a Fit EV will be able to take advantage of the new rates going forward.

The EV market is experiencing a bit of a price war lately, with aggressive deals from Fiat, Nissan and Chevrolet. For commuters in California, this presents an opportunity for a cheap runabout for short distances. TTAC contributor Jeff Jablansky is slated to give us his impressions of what it’s like to live with the Fit EV in the next couple weeks. In the mean time, Alex Dykes has driven a pre-production version, and currently has a Fiat 500e in his garage. The rest of us will have to watch from afar.