Maybe Auto Bild missed the memo that police fleet Ford Crown Victorias have been called “Interceptor” since 1992. Either way, they’re arguing that Ford’s new “all-new Interceptor” should be a production version of 2006’s Ford Interceptor Concept. “With it the police’s new transportation would not only be more modern, but also properly cool,” they deadpan.

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What’s Wrong With This Picture: Cool Über Alles Edition

Automotive News [sub] reports that the newest addition to Chrysler’s new Ram brand will be the Fiat Dobló, a compact van in the style of Ford’s Transit Connect. The latest generation Dobló has been previewed, and will go on sale in Europe early next year. The Rambló will hit the US market in 2012, and

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Fiat Doblo: My Tank Is Full

Are more losses showing up on your post-bankruptcy financial statement? Are uptight Europeans and Republicans making your overseas division rescue harder than it needs to be? Is the thought of another year defined by Consumer Reports mediocrity getting you down? Good news! GM’s court jester Bob Lutz hasn’t been shipped off to chair Opel just

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Bob Lutz’s Traveling Old Time Niche Product Sideshow

Wired has some fantastic coverage of Aptera’s coming-of-age struggles, which have been come to a head since the firm received permission to tap the federal ATVM loan program, the most important rite of passage for boutique EV startups. In short, the auto industry insiders led by Paul Wilbur, formerly of Ford and Chrysler, were delaying

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Aptera Founders Ousted In EV Startup Rite Of Passage

Think the new Z4 is a bloated boulevard cruiser unworthy of the roadster-implying Z badge? We’d tend to agree. Which is why we were chuffed to see renderings of a possible BMW 1 Series-based Z2 roadster in the most recent Auto Motor und Sport (print edition). Several Einser engines will be available say AM und

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Wild Ass Rumor Of The Day: Meet the 1 Series-based Roadster

Brace yourself ladies and gentlemen, because an automaker is taking on one of the American market’s greatest bugbears: size and weight bloat. Mazda’s vehicles have gained 80 pounds on average with each recent redesign, according to Robert Davis, senior vice president of product development and quality for Mazda North American Operations. Davis tells Automotive News

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Positive Post Of The Day: Mazda To Add Lightness

According to the Detroit News, the Cadivolt is go! Not that the announcement comes as any huge surprise: when has GM ever invested heavily in a new platform and not built a Cadillac version? On the other hand, when was the last time GM built a $40k Chevrolet? More importantly, where does the Caddy version’s

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Cadillac Confirms Converj

As we noted in our rundown of the New New Chrysler’s powertrain plans, the Pentastar’s ENVI electrification task force wasn’t mentioned once. Well, by name anyway. Weirdly though, as the slide above shows, Fiat is making Chrysler the focal point for the alliance’s hybrid and electric technology development. Wouldn’t that make the bailout-baiting, vaporware-hawking ENVI

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Fiat/Chrysler Walk Away From Electrification And Hybrids

As we noted in our rundown of the New New Chrysler’s powertrain plans, the Pentastar’s ENVI electrification task force wasn’t mentioned once. Well, by name anyway. Weirdly though, as the slide above shows, Fiat is making Chrysler the focal point for the alliance’s hybrid and electric technology development. Wouldn’t that make the bailout-baiting, vaporware-hawking ENVI

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Fiat/Chrysler Walk Away From Electrification And Hybrids

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: if you want proof that Ford’s water-walking CEO doesn’t “get” automotive branding, look at Lincoln. The Blue Oval Boyz’ upmarket marque is in total disarray. Lincoln lacks anything approaching an effective brand proposition; it’s burning through tag lines almost as quickly and ineffectively as the industry standard

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FoMoCo CEO Alan Mulally Links Lincoln to Ford Dealers