Volkswagen is not sharing the specifics of which two vehicles they’ll be introducing but most auto industry analysts are guessing that at least one of them will be the new convertible version of the popular Beetle, which recently went on sale in its hardtop version, sporting an updated design.

For the other vehicle, rumors abound, but most car bloggers agree that it’s likely to be a new variation of an existing vehicle, though it’s possible that the much-whispered about crossover with three rows of seats might be put on the pedestal.

If you’ll be in or near Los Angeles during the month of November, you can check out the Auto Show yourself. The media preview will take place on November 16th and 17th, while the actual show runs from the 18th-27th, including Thanksgiving weekend.

The lawsuit, which is also seeking class-action status, says that GM should make the same repair to Impalas sold to general consumers (rather than the police) because they have the same spindle rod issue. It also charges GM with “breech of warranty,” and demands that the automobile company be compelled to either repair or replace the rear spindle rods.

Specifically, the lawsuit points out that, “There are no relevant material differences between police vehicles and class members’ vehicles relating the defective spindle rods.”

GM, which built about 24,000 of the police versions of the Impala in the 2007 and 2008 model years, declined to comment, claiming it never discusses matters in litigation, but the company did confirm that dealers had been notified of the rear suspension defect. The lawsuit says this defect applies to the 423,000 Chevrolet Impalas that were sold in those two years.

The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Donna Trusky of Blakely, PA, bought her Impala in February, 2008, but according to the lawsuit the tread on her car’s back tires was so worn that safe use was “questionable” after only 6,000 miles. Her dealer supplied new tires and re-aligned the front end of her car, but never mentioned the rear spindle rods. In November, 2010, with only a bit over 24,000 miles on the car, Trusky had to replace the back tires again, at a cost of roughly $290.

Speaking about GM, the lawsuit said, “Defendant concealed the existence of the defect from class members, even those who presented their vehicles for repair of the defect.”

Ms. Trusky’s lawyers said that complaints about the Chevrolet Impala’s rear suspension issues have been filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

All totaled, Nissan Division sold 65,659 cars and trucks, an improvement over the 56,266 sold in June of last year.

Most people would consider a 17% sales uptick a good thing, but Automotive News is reporting that Nissan’s vice president for sales, Al Castignetti was disappointed by the results of his company in particular and the industry as a whole, and that he had been projecting a sales increase of 20%.

The strongest performers in Nissan’s stable were the Altima and Sentra, which saw sales increases of 23% and 31%, respectively. This is especially pleasing to Nissan since the Sentra is due for a redesign, yet managed to outsell the lower-priced Nissan Versa during the month of June. Last year, the positions were reversed, and Versa was the better selling model.

The 2011 Nissan Leaf, the carmaker’s all-electric pride and joy, was also a strong performer, with 1,708 units – 200 more than expected – delivered last month.

Other increases were seen in the Nissan Rogue (8% improvement) and the Nissan Juke, though inventory shortages hurt those cars as well.

Reports from Nissan say that Infiniti’s supply issues should end this month with the arrival of 10,000 vehicles to the United States.

I’ve often heard that rumor – that you get more gas if you fill then – but I’ve never seen any science backing it up. I wanted to know if it was true.

So I did some research, and here’s what I learned: No, it actually isn’t.

Here’s why:
Gasoline does expand and contract as the temperature varies, just as all other liquids do. For example, an increase of temperature of about fifteen degrees F generally increases its volume about 1 percent, though the energy content remains the same, but gas stations usually keep their gas in tanks under the ground, where they’re protected from the greatest temperature variations. Because of this, the temperature of gas coming from the pump doesn’t really vary that much within any 24-hour period, at any particular station.

In fact, Craig Erkes, a former chairman of the Petroleum Marketers Association of America – a trade group for gas stations – said that the contraction or expansion of gasoline due to temperature shifts during the day is “…so miniscule as to be almost nonexistent.”

So when should you fill your tank, for the best fuel economy? Day or night doesn’t matter, but you want to make sure that one or two cars fill before you, especially if the weather is hot, because while gas stays at a fairly constant temperature underground, it warms fairly quickly in the actual pump.

A mile-wide tornado that touched down in Tuscaloosa, AL, and caused damage in parts of the city, also caused minor damage to the Mercedes-Benz International plant north of town. While the facility didn’t lose power, and the only damage was to siding and the roof, neither of which would harm production, the decision to close was made, according to company spokesperson Felycia Jerald, in order to help employees, “…who needed to support their families, friends and communities that were severely impacted.”

The Vance plant builds the GL, M, and R-class vehicles for Mercedes. According to Jerald, no estimate of lost units was released, but the company will make up the output sometime in the future.

Chances are also good that you’ll be hearing a lot more from ZipCar in the future, because they had their IPO – initial public offering – last week, and their opening price for investors the night before it was on the stock exchange was $18 a share, but by the next morning it was selling between $28 and $30/share.

The company still has about $150 million of debt, and representatives have said that some of the $175 million raised in the IPO will go toward reducing that debt, but the car-sharing service remains the talk of the town a week later for two reasons:

1) Stock analysts believe that $18/share for the IPO was too low, and that it should have offered stock at $23 or $24 – it’s typical to give investors a discount, after all.

2) ZipCar has plans to expand to other markets, where owning a personal automobile is much more entrenched than in condensed urban areas like those mentioned above. Vast sections of the midwest, for example, don’t have reliable public transportation, so it’s a toss-up as to whether a car-sharing scheme would really take off.

One think we can say? In those markets where people tend NOT to drive their own cars (add Washington, D.C. to that mix), ZipCar is a fabulous option. It’s inexpensive, reliable, and reduces a city’s overall carbon footprint by reducing the number of individually owned vehicles that are on the road.

But that’s not all. According to Steve St. Angelo, executive vice president of manufacturing and engineering with Toyota, production will also be dropped to half capacity on the remaining three days of the week through the same date. As well, the company will continue its habit of halting production during holidays: production will stop in Canada in observance of Victoria Day during the week of May 23rd, and in the United State in observance of Memorial Day, for the week of May 30th.

In a statement to the press, St. Angelo said, “We are trying to continue production as much as possible and keep our workforce intact in order to facilitate a smooth transition back to full production when all parts are available.”

Despite the production halts, however, Toyota says there are no plays to lay off any workers, and the days when production is stopped will be used for training and plant improvement.

Now, with political control of the state of Baden-Württemberg, the third-largest in the nation, about to shift to a fairly liberal coalition of Green Party and Social Democrat members from the pretty conservative Christian Democratic Party, parts of the Autobahn that are not under speed limits may no longer be automotive free-for-alls.

Both parties have a pro-environment history that includes the implementation of a national speed limit to help reduce carbon emissions. The numbers being proposed are between 120 and 130 kph (74 – 80mph roughly), but German automakers are vocally and vehemently opposed to speed limits being imposed at all, especially because only about 2% of all the driving on the Autobahn is on those sections that are not speed-controlled.

What do you think? Is an Autobahn without speed limits crucial to the cultural identity of Germany, or is it a concept that has outlived its usefulness and wonder?

Toyota, which is still trying to recover from a recall crisis and accidents that were allegedly linked to acceleration problems in many of its top-selling models, considers this a major victory.

In a statement made yesterday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said, “There is no electronic-based cause for unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas.”

Assisted by engineers from NASA, the study was designed to determine whether or not cases of unintended acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles were caused by something other than trapped floor mats or sticking gas pedals. To that end, nine vehicles with supposed braking problems were examined by NASA, which subjected them to electromagnetic interference testing. Engineers also looked at the software to see if there were any code glitches that might disrupt electronic throttle control.

Steve St. Angeleo, Toyota’s chief quality officer for North America also released a statement, in which he said, “We hope this important study will help put to rest unsupported speculation about Toyota’s electronic throttle control system. We believe this rigorous scientific analysis by some of America’s foremost engineers should further reinforce confidence in the safety of Toyota and Lexus vehicles.”

Last August, the U.S. government said that no problems were found with Toyota’s software in the first six months of the study. Toyota, which has been putting electronically controlled throttles in its vehicles for nine years now, said that its own tests also ruled out electronic interference as a possible cause.

The engineers from both the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) and NASA found that only the previously identified causes – sticking pedals and loose floor mats – could cause the unintended acceleration issues that motorists experienced. It was these problems that were the cause of the massive Toyota recalls in 2009 and 2010, that not only shook the automaker to its core, but also prompted company president Aki Toyoda to come to Washington, D.C. last year in order to tell American lawmakers that he was “deeply sorry.”

NHTSA now plans to launch a long-term study into the placement and design of vehicle pedals to see if accidents can be reduced. It will also be considering three safety requirements for future vehicles: mandatory brake override systems, mandatory data event recorders, and standardized keyless ignition systems.

Mr. LaHood gave credit to Toyota for proving its commitment to safety during the recall process and subsequent investigation. “They’ve understood what we do here is serious business,” he said. “What we do here is promote safety and we take a back seat to nobody.”