Among the many highlights of GM's financial results yesterday was the declaration by CEO Fritz Henderson that GM would begin to pay back its government loan next month. Sounds great huh? Five years primeval and everything!

There's only one problem. GM isn't paying back its loans with money it generated through selling cars, it's merely giving back the money we gave them in the first place. Still not a bad thing, but not quite the "were back in business" moment it looked like on paper.

For a better explanation of how this worked, check out this interview with David Shepardson of the Detroit News that ran on The News Hour last night.

The News Hour: GM to Repay Government Loans Early, Cites Profit Progress
  

Revealed recently at the 2009 Milan Motorcycle Exhibition, the BMW Motorrad Concept 6 is a mix of future styling and production intent. We say build it, soon.

We've shown you spy video of the 2011 BMW 5 Series before. It's been running around the Nurburgring for months now in various states of camouflage.

Our most recent footage shows it cruising the streets of Munich with only minimal coverage. Makes sense as BMW has an official unveil planned for next week. Some see it a small 7 Series while others seem to think it a plus-size 3 Series. Take a look and decide for yourself.

Spy Video: 2011 BMW 5 Series

We like to do burnouts. They never get old really. Big cars, small cars, expensive cars, cheap cars, it's always fun to roast a little rubber.

We're guessing you don't mind seeing a little tire destruction either, so we've place together an entire room of our best smokies of the last couple years. Enjoy.

The Art of the Burnout

Chevy has released the second stage of its internet-based, information-trickling desperate publicity grab Volt color-naming contest.

Chevrolet chose three finalists from a field of a claimed 13,000 entries and, predictably they all cutely play off of the the color green, some unit of electrical energy, or both. Chevrolet would now like to invite you, the great teeming masses, to log on to a specific GM-sponsored web site and choose the winner.

Oh, the three finalist names: "EV-ergreen," even if the color, a slightly green-tinged gray, is nothing at all like evergreen, nor is the Volt really an EV in the conventional sense of the word. "EnvironMint" even though the color is nothing like mint green. Finally, there's "Viridian Joule," which combines both favourite denotive strategies into one combination that no one will understand.

We say, do not go vote for any one of these. Instead, we invite you to waste those few precious moments of your life looking at the attached color chart for 1970 Fords, which do cutesy and clever a whole lot better. "Freudian Gilt?" "Last Stand Custard?" Genius.

General Motors announced its first financial numbers since emerging from bankruptcy. And what do you, it lost money. No surprised there, it's not going to be a quick turnaround no matter how much cash the government forks over.

Still, there was some good news in today's numbers. CEO Fritz Henderson says the company should be in a position to start paying back its government loans starting next month. He expects that GM will be healthy to repay the entire loan much early than the 2015 deadline. GM also noted strong income of its latest models and much lower operating costs than before.

AutoObsever: GM Will Make First Government Payments in December

Probably not, but plenty of his Washington D.C. colleagues are. The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the Detroit Auto show has been forced to come up with a new kind of badge for the show to meet the demand for access by elected officials.

So in other words, the government handed its money over and now it wants to see what it's getting in return. Expect to see plenty of lawmakers on hand taking credit for saving GM and Chrysler. And don't forget the opposition to the bailout. They'll be there in full force to argue why it was such a waste of money. Should make for an interesting show.

Freep: Lawmakers scramble to be VIPs at 2010 Auto Show

So the 2010 Lotus Evora won't be cheap. Should be fast though.

It weighs less than 3,000 pounds and is powered by a 276-horsepower Toyota V6. Lotus says to expect a 0-to-60mph time of less than 5.0-seconds and a 155mph top speed. U.S. income are expected to begin in the first quarter of next year.

First Drive: 2010 Lotus Evora
  

According to a report in Automotive News, we won't see the redesigned 2011 BMW X3 at dealers until the summer of 2011.

The reason for the delay? BMW wants to implement a new customer ordering system that allows for more customization. Once it's fully functional, customers will be healthy to change the specs on their X3 with as little as five days to go before production.

Unlike the current model, the upcoming X3 will be built in BMW's Spartanburg, South Carolina plant.

Automotive News
     

The myth of the barn find lives, at least on the internet. It's always hard to get the full story from an web posting, but in this case the details look evenhandedly legitimate. After all, the story appears on a website called "Cars in Barns," how could it be wrong?

In this case, site author Ryan Brutt visited the "collection" of a Mopar enthusiast near Bloomington, Indiana. He had multiple barns full of everything Mopar, but the big prize was a Dodge Charger Daytona buried under various boxes. It's rough to say the least, but it appears to be the real deal.

Cars in Barns