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Ford began manufacturing cars in Australia in 1925 with the Model T. In 2016, Ford will stop manufacturing cars Down Under, including the Falcon and the Territory SUV, as Ford Australia CEO Bob Graziano has reportedly confirmed the closure of the Broadmeadows assembly plant and the Geelong engine plant, both in the state of Victoria. There will be 650 jobs lost at Broadmeadows, 510 sacrificed at Geelong. Of the roughly 3,000 workers The Blue Oval has in Australia, it's said it will try to retain about 1,000 of them at its R&D and product development facilities.

The writing hasn't just been on the wall, it's been a regular item in all the papers and on Ford's bottom line for years. As recently as 2003, Ford sold nearly 75,000 Falcons, but over the next four years annual sales dropped by something like 10,000 units, and the last two years, it has sold less than 20,000 per year. It isn't only Ford that has suffered – sales of the other large, locally produced sedan, the Holden Commodore, have also gone over the precipice, triggering the same kind of angst about Holden's continued existence. Ford is the smallest of Australia's local automakers, Holden and Toyota the others, and has posted losses of $AUD141 million last year ($136M US) and $AUD600 million ($580M US) in the past five years. Graziano said the cost of manufacturing is simply too expensive in the country, twice as high as Europe and three times as high as Asia, and there no way to make a business case for staying in the country.

In January 2012, Ford Australia announced it would stay in the country until at least 2016, but by July of the same year, most outside observers were quietly declaring that 2016 would be the last year of Ford Down Under, and even the speculation was making other observers nervous. Ford received money from the Victorian government last year to aid its refresh of the Falcon and Territory, which will continue on schedule for the 2014 model year. An front- and all-wheel-drive sedan on a global platform is predicted to replace the Falcon, with some other SUV expected to replace the Territory. The company says it still intends to expand its lineup in the country.

As for what will replace the employment hole at the factories and the supplier base, no one is quite sure. Ford has said that the employees will receive their entitlements, and workers do have three years to prepare for what's coming. As well, the state and national governments have already committed tens of millions to a fund to assist the employees.

The Nissan Leaf, the Fiat 500e and now the 2014 Chevy Spark EV 1LT. Three different electric hatchbacks that can all be had for the same low lease price: $199 per month. The Spark even has the same appealing $999 down payment as the Fiat (the Leaf's is $1,999) and both require 36-month leases, so the cost of these two city runabouts is identical, at least at the base level. The one potential hiccup: Chevy says it's a "low mileage lease," and you'll pay 25 cents a mile for each mile over 12,000 per year. Considering these are urban-minded vehicles with limited ranges, however, that doesn't seem like as pressing an issue.

If you want to buy a Spark EV outright, General Motors will ask you for $27,495, a figure that will drop to $19,995 for anyone who qualifies for the full $7,500 federal tax credit. That's a good deal for EVs, but the gas-powered Spark starts at just $12,185. Before Fiat announced its low lease deal last month, all GM would say is that the Spark EV would cost somewhere "under $25,000 with tax incentives." Well under, apparently.

The Spark EV goes on sale in California and Oregon in the middle of June. The car is rated at 119 MPGe combined and has a range of 82 miles. When that's not enough, DC quick charging with the SAE combo charger will refill the battery to 80 percent in about 20 minutes (when such DC stations stations become available, since the Spark is not compatible with the already-available CHAdeMO stations).

The team over at Motor Trend has pitted the new Audi R8 V10 Plus against the Nissan GT-R. While both of the bright red all-wheel-drive supercars are comparably matched in power output, the similarities end there. Audi offers a mid-engine aluminum coupe with a naturally aspirated V10 that spits out 550 horsepower. Nissan shows up with a more traditional coupe equipped with a 545-horsepower twin-turbocharged V6 at the front of the car.

The Head-to-Head video takes both cars to the Streets of Willow Springs in the California desert for some track work with professional racing driver Randy Pobst behind the wheel. After a day at the track, the pair head to the local mountains for some spirited real-world driving. One dominates on the circuit, while the other earns back its credibility in the canyons. We won't tell you which coupe comes out on top, but we think you may be surprised. Follow the link below to watch for yourself.

You might think that Jeremy Clarkson has run out of groups to offend, but the Top Gear frontman remains as unfiltered and unbowed as ever, this time calling for British Airways to deposit traveling young children in with the luggage under its planes. After a flight to Scotland, the irascible Brit quipped, "When will British Airways realise that babies belong in the hold?" via Twitter. The tweet prompted equal quantities of laughter, outrage and support from those who follow him on the social media service. Acknowledging the controversy, Clarkson would later follow up by noting, "Mine didn't fly till they were old enough to behave."

Predictably, British Airways has responded by reiterating that all are welcome in its airplane cabins, but Clarkson's musing has also triggered widespread support for the notion of child-free air travel – on Twitter and beyond. And as the Telegraph notes, at least one airline realizes that for some travelers, there is real appeal to the idea: Malaysia's Air X airlines recently introduced select routes with seating areas where occupants must be 12 years or older. Perhaps they've just found their new spokesman.

While we had been told it was coming in 2014, the exact release date of the production version of the Infiniti LE concept might just might hinge on something you can't see and that the Japanese automaker can't control: wireless charging infrastructure. That's the word from Autocar, which talked to Nissan executive vice president Andy Palmer, who admits that wireless charging "is this technology we want to shine a light on, so while there is no world standard on methods, the rollout will be dependent on region." In other words, if you want the latest luxury EV, you'd better hide those wires. They're so gauche.

There's a good chance Infiniti will be the first OEM to sell a production inductive charging vehicle (companies like Mitsubishi and Audi are also working on the technology), which is likely to be a double-edged sword. Yes, it'll have bragging rights, but the wired infrastructure is proving difficult enough to put into place, and having the coolest tech doesn't mean much if you can't put it into use. Thankfully, the LE (or whatever it will be called) is also expected to come with conventional wired charging capabilities. Also, Infiniti is, at this point, trying to get induction charging technology to be open source, which could help a lot of players in the industry.

The LE concept, based on the Nissan Leaf, has the same 24-kWh lithium-ion battery pack but a more powerful 100-kw electric motor good for 134 horsepower and 240 pound-feet of torque.

We're willing to bet there are bottles of champagne popping all the way from Washington, DC to Palo Alto, CA today with the announcement that Tesla Motors has, as suspected, paid off the entirety of its $465-million Department of Energy loan.

"I hope we did you proud" - Elon Musk

As far back as July 2012, Tesla began talking about paying the US government back early, but it was apparently the tremendous rise in the company's stock value recently that prompted CEO Elon Musk to push for the immediate repayment this week. From a price of $33.87 on January 1, TSLA has climbed to $87.24 today (down a bit from the recent highs of over $92). Last week, Tesla sold enough stock to raise over a billion dollars to repay the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) loan, with interest. This makes Tesla the first automaker to pay the DOE back, and it did so nine years ahead of schedule. In a prepared statement, Tesla CEO Elon Musk thanked the DOE and Congress and "particularly the American taxpayer from whom these funds originate. I hope we did you proud."

The DOE is certainly proud, issuing a release that said the repayment "shows the strength of energy department's overall loan portfolio." The DOE has come under fire recently for the loan it gave to Fisker Automotive. Two other ATVM recipients, Nissan and Ford, have not yet paid all theit money back, but there are no apparent worries there, either. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in a statement that, "not every investment will succeed" but that the DOE's overall $34-million loan portfolio of more than 30 loans "is delivering big results for the American economy while costing far less than anticipated." Details in the press releases below.

The Mansory Stallone you see above isn't the first such transmogrification of a Prancing Horse. This one is based on the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta, but the first honor, as far as we can tell, went to the Stallone based on the 599 GTB Fiorano. The F12 version was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show this year, but we missed out, and we were sure you wouldn't want to miss it.

As with its predecessor, this one gets a total makeover, from the new front clip and hood to the side skirts, new rear end, rear diffuser and rear wing. There is additional muscle for the 6.0-liter V12, too – a tweaked ECU and sports exhaust with a stainless steel muffler getting matters up from 740 horsepower to 775, and torque from 509 pound-feet to 535. Moving things forward is a set of bespoke, staggered, lightweight aluminum wheels, 21 inches up front, 22 in the back.

The showstopper is inside, where a red and black leather treatment and redesigned steering wheel will make the cabin a very intense place to be. Check out the press release below for the minutiae, and the high-res gallery above for more angles.

According to a report from Autoweek, Volkswagen has plans in place to retrofit a quarter of a million 2009-2012 model-year TDI-engined cars with a system that will prevent misfueling with gasoline instead of diesel. In a notice sent out to VW dealers, the company specified that affected models will include the 2009-2012 Jetta and Jetta Sportwagen TDI, as well as 2010-2012 Golf TDI models.

Volkswagen claims that the increased popularity of TDI diesel models has resulted in more incidents of damaging and potentially very costly misfueling mishaps. To address the issue, the company will front the cash for dealers to retrofit a fuel filler neck cap that can recognize the smaller nozzle of a gasoline pump and keep the fuel tank gate closed.

Autoweek also reports that the move might be slightly defensive in nature; VW has blamed misfueling on the wave of high-pressure fuel pump failures that has recently been the subject of an investigation by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Word has it SSC will deliver its first Tuatara supercar beginning in either December of this year or January of next. The news comes courtesy of company CEO Alan Leverett, who also said that the machine will set buyers back $1.3 million. As GTSpirit.com points out, the revelation is somewhat surprising given that SSC hasn't even unveiled the production-specification car just yet. It would seem that little fact hasn't been enough to scare away potential buyers.

The last time we heard major news from SSC was nearly a year ago when the company officially changed its name from Shelby SuperCars to SSC and broke ground on a new 36,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Washington. Since then, the company has been largely mum about progress on its ludicrous Tuatara, although last month, it did disclose that powertrain testing had exceeded "all design specifications" during dyno testing, registering 1,350 horsepower and 1,280 pound-feet of torque. As you may recall, the car's Ultimate-Aero-based early prototype managed to bolt to 200 miles per hour in a scant 16 seconds thanks to a 6.8-liter V8 with the same power.

The military's High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), or Humvee to most of us, is a rugged four-wheel drive vehicle designed and manufactured by AM General. In basic trim, the truck weighs about 7,500 pounds. For a beast of this stature, that number isn't overly alarming... until you realize that its stock 6.5-liter turbodiesel, running power through a four-speed automatic and portal geared hubs, only sends about 113 horsepower and 219 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels. Acceleration is leisurely, but at least the truck can get out of its own way.

Understandably, the situation becomes much more dangerous, potentially deadly, when the Humvee is fully armored for duty in combat zones – ironic, right? Tipping the scales at 14,400 pounds, the stock engine is only able to accelerate the truck to 60 mph in 43 seconds. Equally as jaw-dropping is the lousy stock braking system, as it takes a full 307 feet to bring the truck to a rest from 60 mph.

To help our troops make quicker entries and exits, Gale Banks Engineering has crafted the Sidewinder Turbo system with exhaust brake as an upgrade to the stock powerplant. When fitted, engine output jumps by about 50 percent. According to the dyno, 178 horsepower and 329 pound-feet of torque make it to the wheels. Acceleration to the benchmark 60 mph drops to 23.1 seconds, while braking falls to 243 feet. While those numbers still won't scare even the slowest passenger vehicle on your local highway, the improvement is dramatic - especially when under fire from an AK-47.

To demonstrate its wares, Banks recently invited us to drive both the stock and modified Humvees back-to-back at its headquarters in Southern California. (Note: The Humvee we drove was configured with some unique armor plating and a 50 caliber turret - we've been asked to hide both in our pictures.)

Driving Notes:

• The stock armored Humvee (M1165 in military speak) borders on pathetic in terms of ergonomics, passenger comfort, and overall drivability. Not to be confused with its barely civilianized Hummer H1, the archaic military Humvee was unquestionably the most miserable vehicle I have ever piloted on public roads. Outward visibility, through brick-thick bullet-resistant glass was pulse raising. In stock form, acceleration was dangerously slow and throttle response frighteningly lethargic. Once moving, the heavy body oscillated back and forth as it floated on its squishy off-road tires (in a motion mimicking trailer sway). Hitting the brake pedal initiated a lot of grinding noise and only mild deceleration, as the inboard disc brakes howled while fighting a losing battle against inertia. I exited the M1165 covered in nervous sweat, verbally praising the troops who are forced to drive it daily under far less desirable conditions.
• Banks works its magic on the Humvee in several different ways. To improve breathing, the company fits a new intake and a wastegated turbocharger. A large air-to-air intercooler keeps the charge temperature down, while new injectors (and a new injector pump) ensure fuel flow isn't an issue. A monster exhaust finishes off the power improvements. Another important upgrade is the exhaust brake, aptly named the Banks Brake, which uses the engine to supplement the mechanical brakes and slow the vehicle.
• The modified Banks Humvee was noticeably lighter on its feet (likely strong enough to run neck-to-neck with a 1977 Mercedes-Benz 240D). Twice as quick is a huge improvement, and I was visibly more comfortable pulling into moving traffic. Running acceleration, from 40-60 mph, drops by half as well. This meant around-town throttle response was decent, and not a white-knuckle affair. The Banks Brake was set to automatically slow the Humvee each time I lifted off the accelerator (it reminded me of regenerative braking, but without any additional external noise as our soldiers prefer to arrive silently). Combined with the disc brakes, stopping distances were greatly improved.
• Like the aging B-52 long-range bomber, the multi-purpose Humvee will be in service for many more decades as the military conjures up ways to sustain the program. Age and expanded roles have burdened the original light utility. Nevertheless, my initial impressions say that the Sidewinder Turbo system from Banks appears to provide a necessary shot of adrenaline to a vehicle desperately in need of vitality.

Automotive News reports Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has issued a written apology for his comments regarding his decision to stick with an Italian engine for the upcoming Alfa Romeo 4C. As you may recall, back in January, Marchionne was quoted as saying, "I cannot come up with a schlock product, I just won't. I won't put an American engine into that car. With all due respect to my American friends, it has to be a wop engine." The CEO penned an apology to the Italian American ONE VOICE Coalition for using the racial epithet, saying that he made the comment in jest. Marchionne also said he realizes his remarks were unacceptable.

ONE VOICE, an organization aimed at fighting discrimination and stereotyping of Italian Americans, thanked Marchionne, Chrysler and Fiat for the apology. Marchionne is an Italian-born Canadian citizen, and he's gotten in trouble for other comments in the past. In 2011, he called high interest rates Chrysler was paying to the Canadian government "shyster rates." He apologized a day later.

Most domestic automaker assembly plants traditionally take a couple of weeks off during the summer. The shutdowns give each plant time for much needed repairs and maintenance, and in some cases, help better align production with demand. Not this year, though, as demand for many models is outstripping what Ford, Chrysler and General Motors plants can produce.

Ford has announced that it will shorten its annual summer shutdown for most North American plants from two weeks to one. The shorter shutdown will increase the carmaker's annual North American production by 40,000 units on top of the 200,000 extra units that it was already planning to produce this year versus last. Automotive News reports that Ford produced 2.8 million vehicles on this continent in 2012, and that output this year has already increased 13 percent through April.

Chrysler, meanwhile, is also operating at full tilt and plans to run some plants through the summer with no shutdown at all. Those not getting a break include Jefferson North where the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango are assembled, Toledo North that will assemble the new Cherokee, and Conner Avenue, home of SRT Viper production. Other assembly plants will be down for a single week, while all of Chrysler's engine and transmission plants except one in Indiana will continue operating with no shutdown this summer.

Lastly, GM is keeping its cards closer to its chest. The automaker declined to comment to Automotive News about its summer production plans, instead saying that the company "does things a bit differently" now compared to the past, tying plant shutdowns to model life cycles and market demand rather than traditional annual timetables.

The upcoming version of the Volkswagen Golf R is nearly ready for prime time, if this video of the car flying around the Nürburgring is any indication. The all-wheel-drive R seems to make quick, neat work of the corners we see here, and sounds pretty devilish in the process.

Expectations are that the new Golf R will run a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder (what else?), tuned to produce even more than the current car's 256 horsepower. (Some sources have indicated outputs as high as 286 horsepower, with 280 pound-feet of torque. It's still not clear if Volkswagen will bring the six-speed dual-clutch transmission to the US-spec Golf R in this next go-round or if we'll stick to having only... eh... the stick.

In either case – watching the video below will only whet your appetite for the new, highest performing member of the Golf family.

Tow It All



There are no shiftier sands than those that underlie the heavy duty truck market. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have been locked in the same interminable sniping match for years, each delighting in picking their competitors off with new, more powerful drivelines and ever loftier tow ratings. Right now, Ram sits at the top of the heap with its 2013 3500 HD. With the optional Max Tow package, the truck is rated to pull an astonishing 30,000 pounds. That's ludicrous weight – the kind of heft typically left to the semi world.

In fact, most states require you to have a commercial driver's license just to pull that much ballast around behind you, and for good reason: All that tonnage comes to bear on every aspect of a vehicle's driving dynamics. Every maneuver takes longer, requires more forethought and exacts a larger toll on the vehicle's hardware. Of course, as is often the case, there can be a gulf between what it says on a machine's label and what the rig can actually muster in terms of performance. We hitched a full 30,000 lbs behind the 2013 Ram 3500 HD to find out exactly how well the truck lives up to its reputation.