The actual car will be on sale in Japan this fall, and is expected in the United States next year. The Japanese price will be around $18,600, which is roughly $3,500 less than the current “cheapest hybrid,” the Honda Insight, and about $4,600 more expensive than the gasoline-engine Fit. While pricing in Japan doesn’t typically match pricing in the U.S., if Honda sticks with their strategy, the American version will probably have a base MSRP of about $17,000.

Honda is withholding the hybrid Fit’s specs until the Paris Motor Show, which runs from September 30 to October 17, but experts agree that it’s probably going to have better fuel economy than the gasoline-only Honda Fit, which makes 28 mpg in the city and 35 mpg on open highway, and many anticipate it will come in second behind the Toyota Prius as the second most fuel efficient hybrid on the market.

2011 Honda Fit Hybrid | Source: HybridCars.com | Click to Enlarge

According to Audi sales chief Peter Schwarzenbauer, Audi is increasing production of the A1 to meet greater demand. The car, which was originally meant only for the European market, will be offered globally (except for China and the United States) in 2011. Schwarzenbauer added that this smallest of Audi’s models will be available in China sometime after 2011, but that it wouldn’t be available to U.S. consumers until the model’s second generation “at the earliest.”

The Audi A1, which is designed to compete with BMW AG’s 1-series and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz A-class, will go on sale this Friday, August 27th, and – at least in Germany – the base price will be 15,800 euros.

Schwarzenbauer said that it was interest generated from the Audi A1’s website that spurred the plan to expand sales of the car. In an interview on Tuesday, he said, “We will expand our production capacities by 20 percent” for the A1. The original production plan was for only 100,000 A1s per year, all coming from the company’s factory in Brussels.

Audi, which could set a record sales goal of more than 1.08 million cars and SUVs this year, has set its sights on dethroning BMW as the world’s largest luxury carmaker by 2015, when it wants to reach annual sales of 1.5 million vehicles.

All of the German big three automakers, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, have seen increased sales this years, thanks to greater demand in China, the largest car market in the world, and a rebound in the United States.

The first model to receive the IPL treatment is the G Coupe, which will have a 348 hp VQ family V-6 engine and a specially tuned exhaust system. It also has updated shock absorbers and increased spring rates, as well as an option of either a 6-speed manual or 7-speed automatic (with paddle shifters!) automatic transmission.

The outside of the G will also be modified, with a spiffy new body kit, and new wheels, tires and paint colors.

Reviewers from most of the industry authorities, including Motor Trend, haven’t yet published reviews of the new Inifiniti line, but the editor of one of the MT blogs expressed excitement about the G Coupe itself, as well as the whole line.

Frankly, we’re excited, too.

The car, known as the Kia Pop is a three-seat electric “city car” that is 3,000 mm long, equal in length to the four-seat Toyota iQ minicar, and 300 mm longer than Smart’s two-seat ForTwo.

Spokespeople for Kia say the zero-emissions Pop should bring, “innovative design chic and dramatic styling to the city car segment.”

The Kia Pop has two adult-sized seats in the front, and a single rear passenger seat behind the front passenger.

Kia Pop | Debuting in Paris next month | Source: Automotive News

Here’s another review, courtesy of Steve Hammes from Yahoo Auto, and YouTube:

2012 Ford Mustang Boss | Source: Automotive News | Click to enlarge

Industry leader Automotive News is reporting today that Ford is back in the resurrection business. Specifically, there will be a new Ford Mustang Boss speeding at us for the 2012 model year.

The 2012 Mustang Boss was revealed Friday at Laguna Seca, the same place where Parnelli Jones drove a Boss 302 to victory in the 1970 Trans-Am opening race.

This version, based on the 5.0-liter Mustang GT comes with a 440 hp V-8 engine that sports revised camshafts mated to a close-ratio six-speed manual transmission. The torque is down 10 lb-ft from the GT, resulting in 380 lb-ft of torque, but Ford says this is because the engine’s been tuned to maximize RPMs. The 2012 Boss will have a top speed of 155 mph, and will achieve more than 1 g of lateral acceleration, making it the first non-SVT model to do so. Ford says that on closed courses, the new Mustang Boss is two seconds faster than the Mustang GT.

For 2012, the Ford Mustang Boss 302 is tricked out with a grille and lower front splitter meant to invoke the same kick-ass look as the 302R race car. (The splitter reduces underbody drag and front-end lift). It’s also got blocked-off fog lamp openings and a black or white roof panel that will match the chosen side strip color. Body color options are blue, white, yellow, and classic racecar red. The interior has an Alcantara suede Boss steering well, cue-ball shifter, and a dark instrument panel, and Recaro seats (stolen from the GT500) are available as an option.

The sound of the Boss 302 was also an important design factor: the new V-8 has a quad exhaust system that makes itself known. It’s been fitted with sound discs to tone the growl down to a sedate roar, but those are removable.

According to Dave Pericak, Mustang chief engineer, “Boss is a hallowed word around here, and we couldn’t put that name on a new Mustang until we were sure everything was in place to make this car a worthy successor. We were either going to do it right or not do it at all – no one on the team was going to let Boss become a sticker-and-wheel package.”

Pericak isn’t kidding. Performance upgrades abound in the 2012 Mustang Boss 302 include a chassis that’s been lowered 1 mm in back and 11 mm in front (as compared to the GT), adjustable shock absorbers and struts, as well as a larger rear stabilizer bar, high-rate springs, and stiffer suspension bushings. The wheels are black 19-inch alloy racers swathed in Pirelli PZero rubber, and the braking system features four-piston Brembo calipers in front, and enhanced pad compounds in back.

Just to make you really drool, though, Ford is also planning to offer a limited edition Boss 302 Laguna Seca model with a racing aero package and a stronger chassis.

These findings, while still preliminary, support Toyota’s insistence that there is no evidence of any flaws in the electronic controls on its vehicles, and that in some cases the drivers of its cars must have confused the accelerator and brake pedals. The automaker, the largest in the world, has recalled more than 8 million cars for stuck or snagged pedals in the last year, worldwide.

In a report released to lawmakers in Washington, the NHTSA said, “At this early point in its investigation, NHTSA officials have drawn no conclusions about additional causes of unintended acceleration in Toyotas beyond the two defects already known — pedal entrapment and sticking gas pedals.”

In addition to the 60 percent of cases where the brakes were never applied, the NHTSA referred to accidents in which the brakes were applied partially, or the onboard data recorders were never triggered. However, it should be made clear that these findings do not exonerate Toyota, because, as Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies, Inc., pointed out, not every case of unintended acceleration resulted in a crash.

Kane, whose company is based in Rehoboth, MA, explained, “Most of the incidents we’re looking at don’t involve crashes where it activates [the data recorder]. Toyota would like us to extrapolate that this is all driver error.”

Beginning with two Lexus models, says Brian Lyons, a Torrance, CA-based spokesperson for Toyota’s U.S. sales unit, the automaker began installing black boxes in its cars for the 2001 model year. The devices are designed to be triggered by crashes severe enough to deploy air bags and are meant to capture data including engine speed of the vehicle, G-forces from two directions, and whether the accelerator or brake pedals are depressed.

Until Toyota gave NHTSA the tools to read the data as part of this investigation, only the car maker had any access to the information recorded.

“Toyota’s own vehicle evaluations have confirmed that the remedies it developed for sticking accelerator pedal and potential accelerator pedal entrapment by an unsecured or incompatible floor mat are effective,” Lyons said. He added that Toyota has examined more than 4,000 vehicles, without finding a single case of unintended acceleration caused by defective electronic throttle controls.

NHTSA is working with NASA and the National Academy of Sciences in its continuing review of Toyota defects. Specifically, NASA is studying the possibility of electromagnetic interference causing the unintended aceleration, which may be linked to 71 crashes and 89 deaths since 2000.

Olivia Alair, a spokesperson for the Transportati9on Department (of which the NHTSA is a part) said that, “Reviewing event data recorders is one small part of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s effort to get to the bottom of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles.”

Toyota is facing a consolidated shareholder lawsuit accusing the company of “failing to disclose defects related to unintended acceleration.” A Maryland public pension fund is the lead plaintiff.

Here’s the whole, 35-second version of the “Boller Camry Tree” television spot.