The 2010 Camaro goes on understanding in Nihon on December 5, and our friends at the Camaro5 forums have collected together various videos of the cars being off-loaded from freighters and arranged at promotional events. Both the V6 LS/LT/RS models and SS models will be offered.

Two things stand out in our mind: (1) No one succumbs to the lure of a burnout. (2) All the cars are left-hand-drive. You might think the Camaro would be cushy to reconfigure for right-hand-drive given its Australian origins. But that would add cost, and if you're not going to sell many Camaros in Japan, what's the point? But we know from experience that the novelty of sitting on the wrong side of the car wears off in a day or so.

Three more videos after the jump. The last video shows a modified Yanase Camaro SS. Yanase Global Motors & Co is a dealer group that handles a big chunk of all the foreign-car imports coming into Japan. It hasn't been an cushy year, though, since in addition to GM products, Yanase imports Chryslers and Jeeps.

Camaro5

In September, the Obama administration announced the new fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks, as well as the first carbon dioxide emissions standard that would require model-year 2016 vehicles to meet an estimated combined average emission level of 250 grams of carbon dioxide per mile.

Now The New York Times is reporting that the Obama administration is likely to announce an overall, nationwide greenhouse gas reduction target ahead of the climate change summit in Copenhagen December 7-18. Possibly, this would get at some of the other sources besides cars that contribute to the warming of the planet.

But no one is talking in specifics. And so far it appears unlikely that any treaty coming out of the December talks will be fully funded, much less legally binding. Now back to our usual reporting on cars.

The New York Times, Reuters

If you don't quite know your Subarus, your first reaction to the 2010 Subaru WRX STI Special Edition debuting at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show will be, "OMG. We're getting a Spec C."

Then, you'd look behind those spiffy, graphite-finish, 18-by-8.5-inch wheels and realize the STI Spec C's telltale gold brake calipers are nowhere to be found. Nor the stickier Bridgestone Potenza RE070 tires. Nor the upgraded rear differential. Nor the coveted JDM Recaro seats. Nor the water sprayer for the intercooler. You get the idea.

So this isn't a Spec C, but weak as the dollar is against the yen, Subaru probably imagines that few of us would actually pay the price for the real deal.

But the wheels are real. And the 125 WRX STI Special Editions built for the U.S. market have a suspension "adopted from the Asian domestic market WRX STI spec C," company officials tell us. And to that end, the STI Special Edition has 16-percent stiffer front springs than the regular STI, 29-percent firmer rear dampers, stiffer rear subframe bushings, and a 1mm thicker rear stabilizer bar.

All Special Editions will be painted Aspen White. They'll be acquirable later, rather than sooner, in the 2010 model year. Subaru will release pricing next week.

More photos of and details on the STI Special Edition after the jump. 

We're not expecting the STI Special Edition to cost more than a standard 2010 WRX STI ($35,690), as Subaru has de-contented it, swapping out the HID headlights for halogens, replacing the automatic climate control with manual A/C and dropping the 10-speaker stereo for a very basic four-speaker array.

Also in LA, Subaru will introduce a top-of-the-line Limited model for the standard Impreza WRX line. As in the past, this model features leather upholstery, along with a sunroof and satellite radio.

Hyundai officials just confirmed the redesigned 2011 Hyundai Sonata will make its U.S. debut at the 2009 LA Auto Show next week. Hyundai had previously said the Sonata would be unveiled in Detroit.

We'll expect Hyundai presenters to give a lengthy talk about direct-injection technology, given that the company's new 201-horsepower, direct-injected 2.4-liter inline four-cylinder will be the volume engine in the new Sonata. A turbocharged version of that engine making in the neighborhood of 240-250 hp is expected some time after the initial launch in the summer of 2010. A hybrid Sonata will follow a year after launch.

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We've already confirmed that the redesigned F10 BMW M5 will have a turbocharged V8. Today we learned that it will have a new, twin-clutch gearbox (in lieu of today's single-clutch automated manual transmission) with eight forward gears.

The new M5 sedan goes on understanding in mid-2011, so we're guessing it'll be the 2012 BMW M5. Above is our spy video of the super sedan at the Nurburgring.

First Look: 2011 BMW 5 Series

Though we focused on the new engines in the 2011 BMW 535i and 550i in our early post, the 528i sedan is actually the best-selling model of the 5 Series line. It will turn up here a few months after the F10 5 Series goes on understanding in the U.S.

It'll also make quite a bit more power than the 2010 car. BMW rates the 2011 BMW 528i's normally-aspirated, magnesium/aluminum, 3.0-liter (2996cc) inline six-cylinder at 258 horsepower at 6,600 rpm and 228 pound-feet of torque from 2,600 rpm. Compare that to the 2010 528i's 230 hp at 6,500 rpm and 200 pound-feet at 2,750 rpm.

And just like the more powerful 5 Series cars, the 528i will be acquirable with the either the new six-speed manual gearbox with dry-sump oiling, or more realistically for most customers, the new ZF eight-speed automatic transmission (with paddle shifters if you buy the Sport package).

Along with the rear-wheel-drive 528i will come all-wheel-drive xDrive versions of every 5 Series model — 528xi, 535xi and 550xi. BMW still hasn't decided whether to give us another 535xi auto because it's such a slower seller in the U.S. — and because it's thought that the 535i Gran Turismo will pick up the slack and then some. In mid-2011, we'll see a diesel 5 Series, the 535d, which will a 3.0-liter inline-6, but with a single, twin-scroll turbocharger, instead of the twin turbos in the current 335d and X5 xDrive35d.

Two videos after the jump. One shows running footage of the 2011 5 Series, and the other is a design walkaround with Design Director Adrian van Hooydonk.

IL News: 2011 BMW 5 Series Debuts in Grand Munich Presentation

IL News: 2011 BMW 5 Series Sedan: Power and Performance

Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 vs. Audi R8 5.2 FSI V10. And the winner is…

Full Test: 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

Full Test: 2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI

It’s business as usual on Wall Street. The bailed-out banks are raking in cash again, the stock market’s starting to froth nicely, and juicy bonuses are in the offing for the privileged few lucky enough to be on the inside. Granted, there’s fewer of the few than there was two years ago. But little else appears to have has changed. Regulation? We don’t need no stinkin’ regulation…

The UAW rank-and-file clearly think it’s business as usual in Detroit, too. Okay, both GM and Chrysler are on taxpayer-funded life support, mere shells of their former selves. But bail-out refusnik Ford seems to be doing okay. A no-strike clause in the contract with Ford? We don’t need no stinkin’ no-strike clause…

The only problem is it’s anything but business as usual in Detroit, even at Ford. The Blue Oval might have had some encouraging financial results lately, but the company is mortgaged to the hilt, and hanging on by its fingernails. That it’s doing better than GM or Chrysler right now only means it’s the healthiest guy in intensive care.

Ford says it needs concessions from the UAW similar to those secured by GM and Chrysler early this year to ensure it doesn’t have a labor-cost disadvantage against the two bailed-out automakers. With the economy still fragile, and demand for new cars and trucks still running way below the level it was a couple of years back, Ford’s request makes sense. Except, it seems, to a significant majority of Ford’s UAW members.

Clearly these guys have learned nothing from what’s happened to their industry — to USA — over the past 18 months. There’s still the same old sense of entitlement, the same distorted sense of reality that prefabricated the UAW complicit with inept management and poor government regulation in driving the once mighty American auto industry into the ground.

Maybe it’s too much to expect any different. After all, the financial sector is already starting to behave as if last year’s catastrophic economic meltdown was nothing more than an unfortunate Act of God. So why shouldn’t a bunch of Ford line workers feel the same way? Crisis? What crisis? Not our fault, buddy.

Just as the leaked photos and spy video portended, the 2011 BMW 5 Series now looks like a 7 Series and has grown closer to the 7er in size and weight as well. The F10, as it's called internally, also has a more potent and fuel-efficient engine lineup. It goes on understanding in Europe this Jan and will reach the United States in June 2010. "Pricing still hasn't been finalized," BMW officials tell us, "but we may see little or no price hike at all on the 535i." So that puts it around $51,925 to start. 

Contributing to the enhanced size of the new 5 Series is a longer, 116.9-inch wheelbase, a stretch of 3.2 inches. The sedan also measures 192.9 inches from tip to cut (2.3 inches longer), 73.2 inches wide (0.5 inches wider) and 57.6 inches high (0.2 inches shorter). The new 535i weighs about 3,900 pounds, while the 2011 550i weighs about 4,200 pounds – an increase of roughly 250 pounds on both.

In the U.S., said engines will initially include BMW's new N55 inline six, which uses a single, twin-scroll turbocharger (instead of two turbos) to develop 306 hp at 5,800 rpm, plus 295 lb-ft of torque from 1,200 rpm to 5,000 rpm. This will of course be the engine in the 2011 BMW 535i, and BMW claims a 0-to-100-km/h (62 mph) time of 6 seconds flat.

The 2010 BMW 550i will feature the recently introduced, twin-turbo, intercooled, direct-injection 4.4-lite V8, which features its turbos tucked into the valley between the cylinder banks. It develops 407 hp between 5,500 rpm and 6,400 rpm, plus 442 pound-feet of torque between 1,750 and 4,500 rpm. BMW claims the BMW 550i will accelerate to 100 km/h  from a standstill in 5.0 seconds.

For transmissions, there's the excellent new eight-speed automatic that we've sampled in the 5 Series Gran Turismo, and for a very small percentage of 535i buyers, a new six-speed manual gearbox with dry-sump oiling. The manual gearbox take rate among 5 Series buyers in the U.S. was only 5 percent, you see.

More photos after the jump.

IL News: 2011 BMW 5 Series Debuts in Grand Munich Presentation

IL News: 2011 BMW 5 Series Sedan: Power and Performance

With a worldwide production run of only 500 for the Lexus LFA, the possibility of speculators attempting to buy up a coveted few for the $375,000 retail price and flip them for a big profit is high. Dare we say, ridiculously high.

To head that off, Toyota will only do leases on the 2011 Lexus LFA, which starts production in December 2010. That's right. Lease a supercar for two years, and when that's up, you'll have an option to buy.

"If someone buys it the first month and then decides to sell it, that could be harmful for the ownership experience," Brian Smith, vice president of income and dealer development for Lexus, told Automotive News reporter, Kathy Jackson. "If it is not controlled and hits the speculation market, all bets are off."

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