(December 29, 2012) DEARBORN, Mich. — The 2013 Ford Fusion — recently voted Green Car of the Year — just got greener as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency certified the new Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid at up to 108 MPGe, making it America’s most fuel-efficient sedan.
 

(December 28, 2012) Peter Schreyer, chief design officer at Kia Motors and the man who has led the company’s design transformation, has been appointed President — the first non-Korean to hold that title in the company’s history.

Schreyer, 59, joined Kia in 2006 from the Volkswagen Group to create a new design-led product strategy for the brand and quickly became known for his “Tiger-nose” family look.

(December 28, 2012) COSTA MESA, Calif. —  Hyundai's benchmark-setting mid-size Sonata broke its all-time yearly sales record this week, surpassing the 225,961 sales it logged in its record-setting performance last year. Sonata joins the Elantra, Veloster, Genesis, and Equus in setting all-time sales records for Hyundai in 2012.

(December 28, 2012) IRVINE, Calif. — The "KBB Races a Mazda Miata - Part 1: Skip Barber Race School" video recently was honored with the "Best Audio-Visual" award during the 2012 Dean Batchelor Awards from the Los Angeles-based Motor Press Guild (MPG), according to Kelley Blue Book.  The Motor Press Guild is the largest automotive media association in North America.

(December 28, 2012) DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford’s recycling and remanufacturing program has kept 120 million pounds of damaged vehicle parts from landfills since 2003, effectively ending the days when the crack of a headlamp or crunch of a bumper would render useless such components.
 

(December 27, 2012) BRENTWOOD, Essex, UK — The popular Ford Fiesta has a version not seen in North America — the van. Ford says the new Fiesta Van, an agile and stylish car-derived van for large and small businesses, will deliver class-leading fuel efficiency and segment-first technologies when it launches in 2013.

All diesel engines in the new Fiesta Van achieve 76.4 mpg (63 mpg U.S.).

(December 27, 2012) DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford is spending more than $773 million on new equipment and capacity expansions across six manufacturing facilities in southeast Michigan as it delivers on a commitment to invest $6.2 billion in U.S. plants by 2015.

(December 27, 2012) NEW YORK — Toyota on Wednesday announced an agreement to settle lawsuits in the U.S. related to unintended acceleration claims in 2009 and 2010. The company is setting aside $1.1 billion to settle the various claims.

(December 26, 2012) COSTA MESA, Calif. — Hyundai Motor America has announced the Hyundai Elantra, ALG's compact car residual value leader for three straight years, has set another all-time sales record in 2012, surpassing last year's total of 186,361 units earlier this month.

With a week left in the year, Elantra could become Hyundai's second model to break the 200,000 unit mark in annual sales, joining its big brother Sonata at that level, which is also built at Hyundai's assembly in Alabama.

(December 26, 2012) LOS ANGELES — New-model Audi, BMW and Mercedes vehicles introduced at this year's Los Angeles Auto Show were dressed in luxury interior materials from Milan-based Alcantara.