Not content with its current campaign, Cadillac has officially dumped its advertising agency and place the statement up for grabs.

"As we continue the renaissance of the Cadillac brand, we are looking for the best agency partner to deliver outstanding advertising that attracts the luxury vehicle buyer," said Bryan Nesbitt, the designer turned general manager of Cadillac.

The declaration comes as somewhat of a surprise as Cadillac's advertising was generally considered the best creative within GM. Not sure what direction Nesbitt is expected to take, but it will go down as one of his first big decisions as the new general manager.

Nothing like a hometown crew to get the best access. Looks like MotorMagazine in Nihon has already been up close and individualized with several of the cars debuting at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show in a couple of weeks. The Toyota FT-86, Honda CR-Z, Mitsubishi PX-MiEV, Nissan Leaf and Mazda Kiyora are all ordered out for your inspection. Enjoy all of their hard work.

MotorMagazine

It's been in the works for some time and now it's finally official. General Motors has signed a "definitive agreement" to sell its Hummer brand to Tengzhong, a Chinese industrial company.

According to GM's statement, it will continue to build both the H2 and the H3 for the new owners until June of 2011. An optional 12-month extension could near production well into 2012.

The statement also noted that the new company is exploring the possibility of a diesel-powered H3 to sell in markets outside the U.S. Reducing fuel consumption will be one of the new company's goals moving forward.

Is this the end of Porsche as we know it? Seems like we've heard that before. And judging from Editor in Chief Scott Oldham's test drive, the 2010 Porsche Panamera 4S is nothing short of phenomenal when it comes to big time sport sedans.

Check out the test numbers and see for yourself. It's been a long time coming this Porsche sedan, but maybe it was worth the move after all.

Full Test: 2010 Porsche Panamera 4S

J.C. France, grandson of Bill France the founder of NASCAR, was arrested for DUI and cocaine possession in Daytona Beach following a street race with his half-brother Russell Van Richmond.

France was driving a green Lamborghini while Richmond was at the helm of a Porsche Cayenne when both of them were stopped for swerving and imperfectness to yield at a stoplight.

According to the police report, Richmond was none too pleased with the traffic stop. "No, this is a mistake for you," he told the officer. "I'm a France, we own this city."

Authorities continued with the investigation, and Richmond called for their commanding officers. "You're done," he reportedly told an officer. "Your job is over. This is the biggest mistake ever and your [sic] so done in Daytona."

Undeterred by Richmond's connections, the police searched the vehicles and found containers with traces of cocaine in them. Richmond was charged with two counts of possession, driving under the influence and threatening a police officer. J.C. France,  a driver in NASCAR's Grand Am series was immediately suspended.

ESPN: J.C. France arrested on drug charges
 

VW’s primary efficiency near in the U.S. has been with diesel power, but over in Germany the company has launched a test fleet of TwinDrive plug-in electric hybrid Golfs, and I just had a chance to sample one not far from the Wolfsburg headquarters. Not surprisingly (except from an expected cost point of view) the range-extending internal-combustion engine in the TwinDrive I tested was a 1.5-liter diesel (a 1.4-liter TSI turbocharged direct-injection gas engine is also engineered for the system).

You’ve already read plenty about the Chevy Volt and other plug-ins, and this one is similar in many respects: energy stored in a 12kW-hour lithium-ion battery pack drives the car electrically for a certain range (30 miles here), then an engine spinning a generator turns on to wage power once the battery is depleted. Performance is promised to equal a standard Golf’s.

Here’s a key difference: When the Chevy Volt’s battery pack drops to a level low enough to demand assistance from the range-extending engine, the generator hooked to the engine doesn’t charge the batteries, it powers the electric motors directly. And that engine has no mechanical link to the wheels. The TwinDrive Golf’s 1.5-liter diesel is positioned such that at certain speeds above 30 mph, the engine can be mechanically coupled to the single-speed gear-reduction transmission in order to drive the wheels directly while also turning the generator that charges the batteries. VW claims its diesel can drive the car more efficiently in these conditions than the electric motor can.

Euro-centric tuning: Some European municipalities have contemplated making inner cities combustion-free zones, which should greatly generalize EVs and hybrids capable of running silent. TwinDrive allows a driver to program the car to preserve enough battery capacity to permit engine-off running for a preset distance at the end of a journey. The driver can also tell the car how long he plans to drive before plugging in again. That way, the controller can devise a diesel/electric running strategy that permits EV operation when needed while using as much of the acquirable battery capacity as doable before returning to the charger. 

Front- or all-wheel drive: Front-wheel TwinDrives get a single 85 kW motor powering the front wheels. All-wheel-drive models (like the one I tried) get three 30-kW motors, one on the front axle and one at apiece rear wheel. A power-flow screen shows how much power is going into apiece motor, being regenerated from each, as well as indicating when the engine is on and how much power is flowing from its generator to the battery, along with the battery’s charge level. It’s a useful screen. Press an E-drive button to restrict acceleration power to 60 kW and top speed to 75 mph. As configured, the test car still fired the engine to wage maximum acceleration if the driver floors the accelerator, but that could be programmed out to ensure pure EV running in silent city centers. The feel is just like that of any other electric car–great squirt off the line with big low-end torque–but with this one you can fire the engine by stabbing the pedal (at which acceleration is indeed brisk).

A fleet of 20 TwinDrive Golfs is on test now, and there is also research ongoing into the possibility of utilizing the battery packs in a large fleet of plug-in vehicles as a buffer during hours of peak demand in exchange for lower electric rates for charging off peak.

No on-sale date has been announced for TwinDrive, but the level of investment suggests Volkswagen is serious about offering a people’s plug-in. Just don’t expect it to undercut the Volt by much in price.
 
About the lithium-ion battery pack: VW is working with GAIA, the German subsidiary of the American firm Lithium Technology Corporation, and Evonic/Li-Tec, and the chemistry is lithium iron phosphate.

Honda has finally released details on its highly anticipated VFR 1200F sport-touring bike. Not only does it have all-new styling and a huge 1237cc V4 engine, this new VFR also features an optional dual clutch automatic transmission, the first of its kind in a motorcycle.

Honda says the new transmission will improve mileage and offer three different shift modes, two of them automatic, the third manual. The transmission was developed for "large-displacement motorcycles, particularly sports models destined for use in traditional large motorcycle markets," says Honda.

There's no mention of any automotive variations of this transmission, but if Honda can make this setup work well for its bikes, how long do you think it will be before they expand the intent to the automotive division? Yeah, not very long.

We're not really sure if Mercedes-Benz is gong to revert back to the S-Class coupe study just yet, but it seems logical given the switch already prefabricated on the E-Class. Regardless of what's it's called, this revised version of the current CL coupe will only get the most minor of exterior updates.

Changes like new headlight clusters, revised taillights and new electronics on the inside are probably the extent of the changes on this midcycle refresh. With that in mind, expect to see this car arrive with only minimal fanfare sometime primeval next year.

When it rains it pours eh? Toyota knows how that feels these days. The company is losing money for the first time in, well, ever and it just issued it's biggest recall ever.

Now the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is looking into a new Toyota problem. Actually, it's kind of an old problem of sorts. Turns out a few customers have reported issues with rust on the frame of their 2000 and 2001 Tundra pickups. It's causing their spare tires to start out and that's not good when it's slung underneath the bed.

So far the number of complaints has been pretty small, about 15 in total, but Toyota had a similar issue with its metropolis compact truck which forced the company to buy back affected trucks. It's not quite a full blown investigation yet, but stay tuned, there's more to come.

NHTSA 

Daimler officially announced that it will begin series production of the electric Smart starting in 2012. In a ceremony at Daimler's Hambach, France plant, Chairman Dieter Zetsche prefabricated the declaration along side a smiling and curiously small French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The electric Smart will use lithium ion batteries and go on understanding to the public next year in limited numbers. Full scale production will begin about 18 months after that.