(August 29, 2012) MOSCOW — Mazda has finally revealed its all-new 2014 Mazda6. It made its debut Tuesday at the Moscow International Auto Show. The new mid-sized sedan will be sold around the world with sales in the U.S. to begin sometime early in 2013.

(August 28, 2012) DETROIT — General Motors plans to idle the plant where it assembles the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid for four weeks starting next month, two people familiar with the plans said.

GM will close its Detroit-Hamtramck plant from Sept. 17 until Oct. 15, one of the sources said. Union representatives last week told the plant's roughly 1,500 workers about the scheduled downtime, the source said.

(August 27, 2012) DETROIT — General Motors, which has a long history of crash test dummy design, is leading research on the potential for global auto industry use of a new dummy that would help automakers and safety experts better understand how crash victims are hurt in rear impacts.

The dummy, called BioRID, was designed by Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden, for seat restraint assessment. It is distinguished by its sophisticated spinal column with 24 vertebra simulators that allow it to sit naturally and demonstrates humanlike neck movement in rear-end collisions.

(August 27, 2012) DEARBORN, Mich. — Enthusiasts will say the all-new Ford Fusion equipped with the 2.0-liter EcoBoost turbo engine is a rocket ship. Fusion engineers will tell you parts of its engine depend on technology from one.
 
To prolong turbo life and combat thermal fatigue, powertrain engineers for the new Ford Fusion, in conjunction with a team at supplier BorgWarner, went to the upper limits of commercially available turbo materials when deciding on the turbine wheel for the turbocharger fitted to 2.0-liter EcoBoost variants.