AutoWeek Daily Drive — Wednesday, October 6, 2010

HOME   |   CAR NEWS   |   CAR REVIEWS   |   RACING   |   AUTOSHOWS   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   MARKETPLACE Wednesday, October 06, 2010                  Smart USA's sketch of a Nissan-built small car that it plans to start selling in late 2011.... Smart to sell rebadged Nissan in U.S. in 2011 The U.S. distributor of Smart cars says it has a tentative deal with Nissan to sell a small, five-door car built by the Japanese automaker under the Smart brand, beginning in late 2011. Smart USA Distributor LLC, which is owned by Roger Penske's Penske Automotive Group, said the car would be powered by a gasoline engine and fit the B-segment size class. The Nissan Versa is a B-size car in the...   Former Lotus boss Peter Warr dies Peter Warr, who worked with an extraordinary list of big names over his time as team boss of Lotus and Wolf Racing, died Oct. 4 at the age of 72 after suffering a heart attack. Warr joined Lotus in 1958 as a salesman. Initially, he had racing ambitions of his own and famously won the first...   The 2010 Volkswagen Touareg TDI, an AW Drivers Log EDITOR WES RAYNAL: This is the second diesel in a row I've driven in which I didn't detect a whiff of diesel smell, nor did I hear any diesel clatter. This is among the smoothest diesels I can remember driving. There's tons of power and torque, too. It's a pretty quick SUV considering it...   Kyle Busch vs. David Reutimann: The latest NASCAR feud It seems that every weekend or so, a new feud erupts between NASCAR drivers. We've had Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick at Pocono and Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski at Atlanta and St. Louis. There was Jeff Gordon and--well, just about everybody--at Sears Point, where Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch...   October 5, 2010: Vaughn ponders electrics in the City of Lights I just got back from the Paris motor show. Man, that place was packed with electric cars. Almost every carmaker had one or two EVs on its show stand. One hall was filled with them. Do they know something we don't? Gasoline is far more expensive over there, something like $7 a gallon, and they have... You May Have Missed...   NHTSA unveils new safety ratings; BMW and Hyundai first to get five stars The 2011 BMW 5-series and the Hyundai Sonata were the first two cars to achieve five-star ratings under NHTSA's revised safety ratings announced on Tuesday.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will rate a total of 24 cars, 20 SUVs, nine pickups and two vans for the 2011 model year....   NASCAR: Richard Childress appeals penalties to new ‘supreme court' John Middlebrook, in his first case as NASCAR's chief appellate officer, has upheld the sanctioning body's most serious penalties again Richard Childress Racing. The team lost an appeal to the three-person National Stock Car Racing Commission last week but appealed that 3-0 decision to Middlebrook....   Neiman Marcus Christmas Book features Chevrolet Camaro convertible Sure, declaring the start of the holiday shopping season at the beginning of October might seem a tad early. But for enthusiasts who have seen pages 44-45 of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book, the holidays can't come soon enough. Though the production 2011 Chevrolet Camaro convertible won't debut...   Forecasters see slow auto-sales recovery through 2011 U.S. auto sales in 2010 and 2011 will continue to crawl -- not walk or run -- out of last year's recession, according to forecasters at the Auto Industry Hot Topics Conference here.“It's going to be a long crawl out of this, but we're crawling in the right direction,” said David Wyss,... CLICK HERE TO UNSUBSCRIBE from the AutoWeek Daily Drive E-mail or to sign up for other AutoWeek e-mail products. IMPORTANT: Please add AutoWeek.com to your E-mail Address Book to ensure you will continue to receive our newsletters. Please DO NOT reply to this e-mail. You will not receive a reply if you use this e-mail address. Crain Communications, 1155 Gratiot Ave. Detroit, MI 48207.