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General Motors' ignition switch problem goes back even farther than first imagined. In a statement that the automaker submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it said that it found a case of the faulty ignition switch going back to 2001 in a pre-production Saturn Ion (pictured above). Previously, the earliest known affected vehicles were from 2004.

NHTSA received the GM letter on March 11, and it came as part of the timeline it released to explain the widened recall. The report includes a case of a pre-production Ion where engineers found a problem with the ignition switch's "passlock" system. The engineers diagnosed it as "low detent plunger force," and a design change fixed the issue.

The same report documents a case in 2003 where a service technician was driving an Ion, and the car stalled. The mechanic said: "'[t]he owner had several keys on the key ring,' and stated that '[t]he additional weight of the keys had worn out the ignition switch,'" according to the letter. The worker replaced the vehicle's ignition switch.

GM said that it received customer complaints to its warranty and technical assistance offices around this time of customers not being able to start their vehicles, and some of these included reports of stalling.

For the Ion alone, GM says in the new report that it has found eight frontal crashes of 2003-2007 models where the ignition switch fault may have played a role. Among these accidents, there were four fatalities and six injuries. It also has evidence of three frontal impacts of 2006-2007 Chevrolet HHRs where the switch might have been responsible, and they resulted in three injuries.

This latest letter to NHTSA comes in addition to the 107 questions the automaker has to answer for the regulator by April 7. The company is also facing a hearing before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee, but a date hasn't been set yet. The entire letter 10-page letter can be viewed as a PDF here. Much of the new information comes on page nine.

The hamsters in those Kia Soul commercials? Looks like they'll be riding real quiet and quite clean a little sooner than we thought. Kia is now saying it will start production of the 2015 Soul EV next month, and sales will start later this year in the company's home country of South Korea. Additionally, according to Reuters, Kia is keeping sales expectations low, suggesting it should sell about 5,000 Soul EVs a year at a price of around $39,000, though the out-of-pocket costs should be cut in half because of South Korean government subsidies.

As for the US, Kia spokesman James Hope tells AutoblogGreen that while the company hasn't set a definitive debut date, "we are targeting Q3 of this year." Hope says Kia isn't providing Soul EV sales guidance for the US, so we'll just have to see where the EV chips fall come September or so.

Reuters also notes that sister company Hyundai will start selling its own battery-electric vehicle in 2016, a timetable confirmed by Hyundai Senior Vice President Lee Ki-sang. Both Kia and Hyundai are shooting for a South Korean electric-vehicle market that they hope will expand exponentially from a total of just 713 sales last year. The front-wheel-drive Soul EV will have a 81-kilowatt electric motor, and its single-charge range will be about 120 miles. The model was first shown off at the Chicago Auto Show last month, but Autoblog scored an early prototype test drive ahead of the reveal – check out our feature drive report here.

Used to be that if you wanted a luxury automobile – especially one to be chauffeured around in – your choices were basically limited to a sedan. It could be bigger or smaller, more or less expensive, depending on your needs and budget, but it was always going to have four doors and a trunk. But these days the rich and famous are looking elsewhere for their commodious forms of pampering transportation. There are, of course, the crossovers and SUVs, which only seem to be getting bigger and more expensive thanks to the likes of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, Range Rover L and upcoming Bentley sport-ute. But luxury vans are becoming the new big thing.

That's the point that one dealer in Japan is trying to make to Toyota. The dealership owner himself reasons that if he's going out on the town, he's likely to take his chauffeured Lexus LS. But if he's taking a few friends along, even the biggest sedan isn't going to cut it. So he takes a Toyota Alphard (pictured above, also known as the Vellfire), a JDM van that's even bigger than a Voxy/Noah or Sienna but hardly a high-end affair. That's why he's asking Lexus to make a luxury van.

The idea may seem a little far-fetched, but isn't without precedent. It didn't take much for Lexus to transform the Land Cruiser into the LX and thus create its first luxury SUV. And as Mercedes has shown with pimped-out versions of the Sprinter and now with the debut of the new V-Class in Geneva, there's clearly a market for it... in some countries, anyway. The only question in our minds is how long it's going to take other luxury automakers to catch on, because let's face it: the Chrysler Town & Country ain't gonna cut it for those used to be driven around in a Maybach.

We recently received the sad news that the Jaguar XK is ceasing production by the end of the year, but what better way to bid it farewell than with some big, smoky powerslides? The retirement of the sporty GT isn't actually the topic of the latest video from Evo – it's on hand to compete against the Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG to see which is faster around a track. Still, we can think of it as a wonderful sendoff for the Jag.

Both convertible grand tourers get their laps around the course, and they couldn't be more different. Driver Jethro Bovingdon gets some grins out of them both, but absolutely giggles while behind the wheel of the XKR-S convertible. The SL63 AMG is the more powerful of the two, but as we know, that doesn't always matter at a racetrack. You'll just have to scroll down and watch the video to see which of them is actually the winner.

Let's file this one away in the category of "Why didn't I think of that?" A Detroit company called has built a set of wiper arms that will smack themselves agains the windshield, shaking ice and snow loose. It's a product of a company called Motor City Wiper. These systems aren't for sale yet, although the company is currently looking for an angel investor for the product, after shopping it around to automakers and suppliers and being disappointed by the level of interest.

Now, we understand that our southern readers might not understand how useful this would be (although based on this winter's weather, they might), so we'll provide a quick explanation. Snow and ice mess with windshield wipers. They might prevent the wipers from actually making contact with the windshield or lead to horrible, annoying streaks of water. Either scenario usually ends with the driver reaching out the window while the wipers are going and picking the blades up and smacking them back down on the window to clear the ice. It is arguably the worst thing about winter, outside of shoveling and road salt.

This system is operated manually, via a pair of buttons near the ignition. It looks like it can be easily switched on or off, to prevent accidental use, as well. Our big concern would surround the windshield - the system doesn't look particularly delicate in the way it slams back down on the glass.

We've got video of this new wiper system in action, and we want to know what you think. Is this something that strikes you as a must-have feature? Take a look at the video and then have your say in Comments.

The National Transportation Safety Board will be getting a new boss, as the current head has announced she'll be stepping down. Deborah Hersman had a controversial tenure as head of the NTSB, strongly criticizing efforts in automotive safety.

Hersman was a vocal opponent of talking and texting while driving, regardless of of whether it was through a hands-free system. She also spoke out critically of in-car distractions.

"We have got to dispel the myth of multitasking," Hersman said in early 2012, according to Automotive News. "We are still learning what the human brain can handle. What is the price of our desire to be mobile and connected at the same time?"

The NTSB was most recently seen on the pages of Autoblog back in May, when Hersman led a charge against drunk driving, promoting a lowering of the legal limit to a blood-alcohol content of 0.05, among other measures. She remained a strong opponent of impaired driving for her entire four-and-a-half-year term as the head of the NTSB.

Hersman is leaving the NTSB to take a position as the CEO of the National Safety Council.

Rallying requires lightning quick reflexes and the ability to turn off one's sense of self-preservation. This much is not in doubt. Anyone that's ever seen a rally car hurtle along a tree-lined spit of dirt road at high speeds could tell you that. What many people don't know is that it also requires a strong mechanical sense. Knowing how to repair one's car when far from the service garages is a must. A strong sense of ingenuity is pretty handy, as well.

It was that sense of ingenuity that came to the aid of Thierry Neuville (shown above during last weekend's Rally Mexico), a WRC driver for the Hyundai Motorsport team, after his i20 suffered a radiator leak during the drive back to service. Neuville and his co-driver, Nicolas Gilsoul, hopped out of the car, assessed the issue and realized they needed to patch the radiator leak and refill the coolant, which they were fresh out of. So, instead, they used beer.

The pair had been awarded a magnum-sized bottle of Corona from the Rally Mexico's corporate sponsor after the final power stage. As Neuville doesn't drink, they tossed the beer in the back of the i20 and set off for the garages. It was a good thing they did, as adding the Mexican lager to the car's system allowed them to limp back to service.

"We were able to fix it quite quickly but to refill the system we made use of everything we had in the car, luckily we got some beer at the end of the Power Stage and we used it," Neuville told the WRC website. "I really tried to stay calm and say to myself we were okay, but when we had more than 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) to go I thought okay, maybe this could be the end. But after we stopped again the temperature came down and then I thought it would be okay."

The pair made it to service and captured Hyundai's first podium in the WRC.

As the federal government continues to investigate General Motors for the delayed recall of certain Chevrolet, Saturn and Pontiac vehicles with faulty ignition switches, the Detroit-based manufacturer has announced a $500 cash allowance for the 1.3 million American owners of affected cars. Dealers have also been instructed to issue loaner vehicles to customers concerned with the safety of their cars. The cash allowance is good on any 2013 to 2015 model year vehicle from the GM family of brands.

"GM will not market or solicit owners using this allowance," said a notice posted by GM on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website, according to Automotive News. "We ask that you not market to or solicit these customers either. This allowance is not a sales tool; it is to be used to help customers in need of assistance."

The replacement ignition switch costs just $2 to $5 and could be replaced in minutes.

The announcement was originally made on March 4, but the story broke today, shortly after The Detroit News discovered that the replacement part in the Chevy Cobalt and HHR, Pontiac G5 and Solstice, and Saturn Ion and Sky costs just $2 to $5 and could be replaced in just a few minutes. The cost of the new ignition switch was discovered in the report of a JP Morgan analyst.

"We learned from Delphi's sell-side dinner Monday that actual cost to manufacture a replacement part could be as little as $2 to $5 each, and that labor costs to install the part would likely be low as well, considering it can be swapped out in a matter of minutes," said analyst Ryan Brinkman's report. According to a separate report from RBC Capital Markets, the total cost of the warranty work could hit $80 million. Repairs are expected to start in April, according to CNN.

The Internet loves cat videos. It's just a fact. And we love car movies. So the combination of the two should be perfection. The folks at The Pet Collective have created a feline-centric parody of the Need for Speed trailer in what it calls Knead fur Speed.

The promotion for the movie has been ubiquitous recently, and star Aaron Paul has been making the rounds of all the talk shows. But this recasts him as an adorable, orange tabby. It's actually a pretty cute video combining recreations of some of the trailer's best stunts with RC cars and adding a cat wearing sunglasses.

The natural evolution of this is to follow the movie's roots and make Knead fur Speed the video game. Players would select their bored-looking feline and souped-up car and go on a cross-country journey evading the police, which would possibly be played by dogs. Scroll down to get your daily dose of Internet cat movies.

Other than the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and Mount Rushmore, South Dakota isn't generally a hot topic, but that just means that cool stuff can hide in the open waiting to be discovered. Case in point: the classic car dealer Frankman Motor Company that operates three locations in Sioux Falls, SD.

Unearthed by the folks at Bring a Trailer, Frankman is a treasure trove of vintage, American iron. Their collection is full of the type of vehicles your irresponsible but cool uncle would show up with when you were a kid. Even better, these cars are priced at a level a working man can afford.

If you are lusting about a cruiser then Frankman has a 1956 Cadillac Deville Hard Top Sedan (pictured right) with 82,896 miles for $12,975. It's painted a color called Cascade Grey, but looks more like a pastel purple in pictures. While it needs some repairs to the accessories, the Caddy runs and drives, which is all you really need.

For a dose of performance in your classic, Frankman has a 1970 Dodge Dart that packs a 340-cubic-inch (5.6-liter) V8 and lime green paint for $25,875. It claims that it has 200 miles since a recent restoration and comes with the original build sheet.

Maybe you want to have the weirdest car on your block. In that case, the there is a rare 1956 Hudson Rambler Custom Wagon (pictured above) for $26,875. Its combination of mint green and white two-tone paint and oddly shaped rear is going to grab everyone's attention. Plus, it has also recently been restored.

It's really worth checking out the dealer's whole collection, and it's heartening to know that you don't have to be a millionaire to afford a fun, drivable classic.

Hyundai is locked and loaded to debut its redesigned, 2015 Sonata at the New York Auto Show next month. For one enterprising Korean photographer, however, the reveal just couldn't come soon enough.

A South Korean website called Bobaedream.co.kr unceremoniously published some images of what would appear to be a completely undisguised example of the new Sonata. Korean Car Blog quickly followed up on the leak, claiming that the car in question was fitted with Hyundai's 2.0-liter turbocharged GDI engine, making 274 horsepower, and connected to an all-new, seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Whether that information came from a reliable insider source (as the photos would suggest) or was just a best guess, we can't say. But we can see what direction Hyundai is headed in with the Sonata. The front end seen in the spy shots is more or less what we'd already seen in the last teaser picture, with a new headlamp design helping to set off a prominent grille. The grille does seem to have some element of the strong, graphical surround from the teaser, too, though it's not as defined in these low-resolution pictures. Sheetmetal on the hood and bodysides seems cleaner, straighter and less fussy than in the current car, too. As for whether or not this is the Korean-spec car or the one destined for the US market, that's unclear, though we have been told that the two cars do look very similar.

What say you? Does this leaked image promise a better-looking Sonata, or is the 2015 car a step backwards in terms of design? Tell us which way you're leaning, in Comments.

While the Dodge Journey crossover remains largely unchanged for the 2014 model year, there are two new flavors of the seven-passenger CUV on offer: the butch-looking Crossroad, and the SE V6 AWD, pictured right, which makes its debut today. As its name suggests, this new Journey model features the automaker's 3.6-liter Pentastar V6, and offers all-wheel drive, which, with a starting price of $24,895 (*excluding $995 for destination), reduces the cost-of-entry for an AWD-equipped Journey by $1,800 versus the SXT AWD model. Scroll down for the official press blast.

I like the Land Rover LR4. A lot. My first experience with it was back in 2010, when I drove it on, over and around Colorado's San Juan mountain range. Since then, I've been hooked on the three-row British brute. I've always liked that, despite its leather lining, it has always come across as an honest vehicle. Purposeful, even. It offers no false pretenses as an off-roader, unlike any number of its competitors.

But despite my fondness for the Discovery 4, as it's known in other markets, even I couldn't deny that it had become woefully outclassed in a market of newer products, with Land Rover seemingly unwilling to give it the attention it deserved. Then, following years of packed product rollout schedules that saw the entire Range Rover line redesigned, Land Rover finally took the wraps off of a freshened LR4 at last year's Frankfurt Motor Show.

Through a lucky coincidence, I recently found this gorgeous Fuji White LR4 HSE Lux sitting outside my home, waiting for a thorough going-over. Has Land Rover done enough to make the LR4 as significant to the CUV/SUV pack as the new, lighter Range Rover is to the top-shelf luxury segment?

Driving Notes

• The big news is a new powertrain. Now, strictly speaking, the 3.0-liter, supercharged V6 and ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic aren't new pieces themselves. You can read all about them in our review of the 2013 Jaguar XF. The LR4's setup nets an identical 340 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque, a decrease of 35 horsepower and 43 pound-feet of torque over the discontinued 5.0-liter V8. The SC V6, though, nets torque over a wider range of engine speeds with peak twist available from 3,500 to 5,000 rpm, where the V8 topped out only at 3,500 rpm.
• Still, I wouldn't exactly call the SC V6 swap an improvement over the V8. The LR4 has never been a quick vehicle, and that descriptor isn't likely to change for 2014. Land Rover quotes the model's run to 60 at a relaxed 7.7 seconds, down 0.2 seconds from the V8 model. That's 1.5 seconds slower than a BMW X5 xDrive35i and 0.4 seconds slower than a 302-hp Mercedes-Benz ML350.
• On the road, the results are as expected. With 5,600 pounds of body fat to move about, perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised by the updated LR4's lack of pace. It feels especially slow pulling away from lights, before the engine hits its torque peak. At higher speeds, things do improve - mid-range punch is certainly adequate, and the LR4 feels decidedly better when accelerating on the highway.
• I'd be lying if I said my feelings on the LR4's engine change (and its lack of power) weren't at least partially linked to the lack of the 5.0-liter V8's sonorous engine note. The V6 just doesn't have the same brawny soundtrack at lower engine speeds, although there is some very noticeable supercharger whine at the higher end of the rev range.
• As I said above, the LR4 was fitted with ZF's eight-speed automatic for 2014, which is arguably the best non-dual-clutch modern transmission on the market. It scarcely bears mentioning, but as is the case in every other ZF-equipped vehicle I've driven, upshifts are quick and smooth, with predicable and aptly timed downshifts.
• As you can see from the photos, my LR4 was fitted with the distinctive Black Design Pack. Besides blacking out the grille, hood lettering, side vents, mirror caps and rear badges, it added a set of twin five-spoke, 20-inch wheels. Paired with the Fuji White paint of this tester, the overall look was rather intimidating. A friend remarked it looked like a Stormtrooper.
• I'd wholly recommend going for the Black Design Pack if you're in the market, but do yourself a favor and avoid the 20-inch wheel option. Besides trimming $1,900 from the price, the 19-inch option should be a bit kinder to the LR4's ride.
• There's a fair amount of vertical movement, but it's the way such imperfections feel that really dooms the 20s. The LR4 is crashy, with impacts having a way of reverberating throughout the cabin.
• Perhaps my biggest problem with the LR4 I tested was its price. A standard Disco starts at $49,700. My tester, meanwhile, topped out at $68,345. That price includes every option for the HSE Lux trim except for the $2,500 rear seat entertainment system. For reference, my tester was just $150 less than the volume HSE trim of the Range Rover Sport. Yes, you'd miss out on a two-speed transfer case and Terrain Response 2 Auto, along with a few other options if you went that route, but the interior, ride and overall driving experience are just better in the Sport. Of course, it's also possible to bloat the Sport's price tag with options on up to the level of the top-shelf Range Rover, so the lesson here is really to be mindful when checking option boxes.
• The LR4 is what I'd consider an irrational purchase. Considering how most of these vehicles are driven, there are better options out there for the money – some of which are within the Land Rover family. The LR4 remains slow, and if you get the 20-inch wheels, the ride isn't the greatest. It's also not particularly fuel efficient at 16 miles per gallon combined (I hit just below that). But it's a vehicle that doesn't feel like anything else, and it offers genuine off-road capability in a class where almost nothing else does. It's an unabashed SUV, and if you can live with that, it will happily work for you.

Sergio Marchionne will be buying fewer of his iconic sweaters, as his 2013 pay from Fiat took a dip from $6.24 million to an even $5 million. Marchionne, who was also CEO of Chrysler, made $307,989 thanks to some stocks and benefits from the American company, although he didn't take a salary. Of that $5 million paid by Fiat, $3.19 million came from Marchionne's fixed salary while the remaining $1.8 million was paid for hitting unspecified performance targets.

The news comes from Fiat's compensation reports, which also showed that the 61-year-old, who already owned three million shares in Fiat at the end of 2013, was able to receive an additional 2.3 million shares through a stock incentive program. According to Automotive News Europe, the additional shares would be worth about $25 million at today's prices, although so far, Marchionne has declined to claim the extra shares.

According to ANE, Fiat reported a 2013 trading profit of $4.7 billion.