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Volvo is in the midst of a three-stage design revolution. The first stage came with the reveal of the Concept Coupe in Frankfurt just this past September. What you see here is our first glimpse at the second stage.

The Volvo Concept XC Coupe previewed here will be unveiled in full on January 8 in advance of the Detroit Auto Show. While the previous concept was all sleek, the Concept XC Coupe takes a more rugged, utilitarian approach with a hatchback roofline, higher ride height, knobbier tires, lower body cladding and a rooftop box. From what we can see, it looks like a cross between the previous concept and an XC70 wagon that could preview a soft-road replacement for the C30 hatchback.

That's about all there is to say at this point, but you can scope out the press release along with the video below and the trio of teaser images in the gallery above.

Images of the overhauled BMW M3 sedan and M4 coupe have leaked ahead of a debut at next month's Detroit Auto Show, along with option sheets and some specs.

Both wear the standard hallmarks of BMW's M division. There's a subtle power dome in the hood, along with the requisite M3/4-branded strakes on the front fenders. The front and rear fascia are more aggressive than what we've seen in the 3/4 Series M Sport package, as well. Split-five-spoke wheels mean the neither car will stand out in the family portrait and those gold calipers, meanwhile, signify what has been rumored for some time - the M3 and M4 will be getting carbon-ceramic brakes.

The cabin is home to the standard suite of M accoutrements, including a new steering wheel and more heavily bolstered seats. Special trim, including carbon fiber, will be available to further set these cars apart from the standard models.

We reported on the M3 and M4's powertrains back in September, but as a quick refresher, both cars will use a 430-horsepower, twin-turbocharged six-cylinder with the owner's choice of a six-speed manual or a dual-clutch transmission.

According to the options sheet provided by BimmerBoost, an adaptive suspension, 19-inch wheels and a head-up display will be available as optional goodies, along with a range of more traditional luxury options like heated and powered seats, a parking assistant, side and top-view cameras and LED lighting.

Finally, the color palette - both cars will be available in eight colors. The M3 you see above is in Yas Marina Blue Metallic, while we're guessing the M4 is Austin Yellow Metallic (which reminds more than one Autoblog editor of the E46's Phoenix Gold).

Take a look up top for M4 images and down below for M3 images, and then let us know what you think of the new sports cars down in Comments.

The US will soon work with China as the world's most populous nation works to draft stricter emissions standards. The two countries certainly know how to put pollution into the air – China is the world's biggest emitter polluter, followed by the US.

The announcement was made during a visit Vice President Joe Biden recently made to China. According to Reuters, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy will work with the Asian nation on its so-called China VI standards. These regulations will, among other things, require cars to have filters that capture particulate matter.

The legislation is slated to follow the China IV standards, which included diesel regulations that reduced engines' maximum-allowable sulfur content by a factor of seven, along with China V, which will bring sulfur content down by another 80 percent by 2017. Once China reaches that level, it will be lower than current US standards.

Just in time, too. Vehicle ownership in China is expected to jump to more than 200 million by the end of the decade, way up from 120 million estimated at the end of 2012. Earlier this year, a number of Chinese government entities pushed for fuel economy standards that would require a fleetwide 34 miles per gallon average by 2015 as part of the country's first-ever fuel-economy mandate.

Cars in the United Kingdom are required to have what's known as a tax disc - a little, circular sticker fitted to the inside of a car's windshield. It signifies that tax has been paid on the car, and is roughly analogous to the registration stickers on some American license plates. In the US, though, we don't really have to worry about anything eating our registration stickers.

A British repair shop did, though, when they found a snail snacking away on the tax disc of a Peugeot van they were repairing. Naturally, they didn't discover the munching mollusk until the local constabulary had left a 100-pound ($164.23) fine for the half-missing sticker. Rather than pass the discless Pug off back to its owner, the men, Jon Roles and his father Steve, set about convincing local police that the only foul play was on the part of the snail.

"As the vehicle was in the care of the garage at the time we felt the liability rested with us so we appealed on the customer's behalf," Roles Senior told The Western Gazette. According to the Roles, police weren't interested in hearing their story. "We explained the situation but they weren't too keen to see the evidence."

Finally, the two got through by sending a letter with pictures of the snail consuming the tax disc, which led Avon and Somerset Police to void the fine. The official letter from the bobbies included advice to "interrogate the offender, preferably with a teaspoon of salt."

The Racers starts off with a quote from legendary racecar driver Sir Stirling Moss: "There are two things no man will admit he cannot do well... Drive and make love." Whether that's true or not, it sets the tone of the video, to be sure, and is fitting for a film that romanticizes Formula One racing, traditionally a male-dominated sport.

Head below to watch the video - a mish-mash of some of the most memorable F1 moments - and read some famous quotes from some of the greatest racers that ever lived.

Every car guy's favorite executive, Bob Lutz has had a long history in top positions at major automakers. Following service as a Marine Corps pilot and a few years as the top sales and marketing exec at BMW, Lutz went on to hold high positions at Ford, Chrysler and most recently General Motors. But he's been keeping busy since leaving GM over three years ago. He's since gone on to chair EV startup Via Motors, start up VL Automotive with Gilbert Villereal to remake the Fisker Karma, and offers the benefit of his experience through his consultancy Lutz Communications. But that's not the end of the road for Maximum Bob.

His latest appointment was just announced by Katzkin, a company known for transforming vehicle interiors. Katzkin retrofits existing vehicles for private customers, but is also often called upon by major automakers and tuners alike to reupholster show cars. In his new capacity, Lutz will serve as Senior Advisor to Katzkin, helping it expand its reach and solidify its position in the $30 billion annual automotive customization market. A far cry from the board rooms of Detroit's Big Three, but at 81 years old and still flying fighter jets for kicks, Lutz deserves to take it a little easy these days. Easy for Bob, anyway.

Change is in the air at General Motors. With the company's stock price rising to new highs, the US government is divesting itself from the last of its holdings in GM. The auto giant also recently announced a complete restructuring of its European operations, as well as its Chinese operations, and – there was something else – oh yeah, the appointment of the industry's first female chief executive. But for our friends Down Under, the biggest news has just been announced.

Following earlier reports, GM has confirmed that it is shutting down all its Australian manufacturing operations by the end of 2017. The move is expected to cost the Aussies some 2,900 jobs over the next four years as manufacturing comes to an end at Holden plants in Elizabeth and Victoria. GM cites as a principal reason for the move the strength of the Australian dollar, which has risen in value against the US dollar from 50 cents in 2001 to as high as $1.10, making it 65 percent more expensive for an American company to manufacture in Australia than it was a decade ago. The decision follows a similar announcement made by Ford earlier this year.

Although Holden's design studio will remain untouched for the time being, its engineering department is being gutted, leaving the division to focus strictly on sales and parts. Just what that means for the future of the Commodore (Holden's only home-grown product in a portfolio of rebadged Chevys) remains to be seen, as does the fate of the Chevy SS which Holden manufactures for export to the US market. But for now you can view the full announcement below.

With winter kicking off, people across the country are coming to grips with that horrible white substance we call snow. And while we, as motorists, might be sick of the stuff already, some college students in Oregon saw it as an opportunity to have some fun, although as things are wont to do in college, matters got out of hand rather quickly.

A giant snowball fight, orchestrated by members of the University of Oregon's football team, quickly escalated into an assault on passing cars, as students and student-athletes pelted vehicles with snow and stopped traffic on one of the university's side streets. A video of the fight has now gone viral, and shows one of the cars, supposedly driven by a professor, getting covered in snow. When the driver gets out to confront the students, he's then drilled with snowballs and has a bucket dumped on him.

Dean of Students Paul Shang: "The behavior exhibited in the video is unacceptable and will not be tolerated on our campus."

"The police department is investigating. They are trying to identify as many of the students that are involved as possible," said Joe Mosely, a spokesman for the university. Meanwhile, the University of Oregon Athletic Department is swinging into action, suspending the Ducks' starting tight end, Pharaoh Brown, for his part in the fracas. He'll now miss Oregon's game against the University of Texas Longhorns at the Alamo Bowl later this month. Other players that took part are being disciplined, as well.

"The behavior exhibited in the video is unacceptable and will not be tolerated on our campus. We will use this incident as an opportunity to remind our campus community of the positive values and quality of character that we as a university hold dear," said Dean of Students Paul Shang, in a statement picked up by ABC News.

We've got video of the fight down below, and we'd like to know what you think – is the university taking things too far with Brown's suspension? Should charges be filed against the participants? Have your say in Comments.

In the modern industry, there's a clear distinction between Ferrari and its parent company, Fiat. Confusing the two is virtually impossible, although that wasn't always so. In the 1960s, the line between Fiat and Ferrari was still there, but it wasn't nearly so well defined, thanks to the addition of the Dino line.

And while we could essentially write a dissertation on Ferrari, Dino and Fiat, let's just say that it wasn't at all difficult to find a Dino-badged car that could still set your hair on fire. One such car from those halcyon days of Italian automotive production is the 1968 Fiat Dino Spyder, shown in the latest video from Petrolicious.

Now, this isn't the exotic, mid-engined Dino. Rather, this is a sporty, but humble, Fiat-badged convertible, that's a bit lesser known. Still, it's a truly gorgeous car, and this example, owned by Danny Soukup, is a prime specimen of that rare 1960s Italian car. Scroll down for the latest video from Petrolicious.

The Lamborghini Countach was the dream car for many teens and pre-teens in the 1980s, but at least one Japanese man thought there was room for improvement. As the story goes, Ryoji Yamazaki had a dream of a supercar as a 13-year-old, and at the age of 41, he used his design studio, Art & Tech, to create the Sogna in 1991.

Yamazaki unveiled the Sogna at the 1991 Geneva Motor Show as a rebodied Countach with intentions of selling it in limited production, but thankfully – or sadly, depending how you look at it – the $1.6 million (1991 price) coachbuilt supercar never made it into production. The Geneva show car was a rolling chassis, and the only other example that was produced was a fully operational version, shown above, which was unveiled at the 1994 Essen Motor Show. This car from Essen is now listed for sale on James Edition for 2.38 million euros, or around $3.25 million USD.

With its oddball styling and kiwi green paint, the Sogna was likely doomed from the start, but it still boasts the Countach's full powertrain including the 448-horsepower, 5.2-liter V12 and a claimed top speed of 186 miles per hour. Check out more images of the 1994 Sogna at James Edition and Enmann, and we also found a couple videos, which are posted below, of the car's early development.

Did you watch the video we posted yesterday and figure you've finally got a handle on the changes taking place in Formula One for next season? Well hold on, because there's more.

The Formula One Commission and F1 Strategy Group concluded their meetings in Paris yesterday and instituted a series of new regulations. The most controversial among them revolves around the final grand prix of the season, for which the series will now award double points. The idea is to incentivize drivers and teams to continue pushing until the end of the season rather than calculate their position in the year-end standings and call it a season.

The move is not unprecedented among top-tier racing series. The FIA World Endurance Championship, for example, awards double points for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But rather than award extra points for the highest-profile races – say, at the Monaco Grand Prix, for example – F1 has opted to pile them on the last race of the season, which typically takes place in either Brazil or Abu Dhabi.

While the double-points decision will undoubtedly prove the most controversial, it's not the only change that F1 has instituted. For another, the system of assigning race numbers according to how a driver or team finished in the previous year's standings is being eliminated, replaced by numbers which the drivers will choose for the duration of their career. The reigning World Champion, however, will still have the option of racing under number 1, leaving the rest to choose from between 2 and 99.

There will also be a new, as-yet undetermined cost cap to be applied starting in 2015, a group tire test to be held a week from now in Abu Dhabi and a clause in the regulations for a new type of five-second penalty. The new measures will not need to be ratified by the FIA World Motor Sport Council, which has mandated its newly re-elected president Jean Todt has the power to approve these changes on his own. Read the full announcement from the FIA below.

This shouldn't come as a shock, but heroin is a very, very bad drug. Doing 15 bags of heroin in one day, therefore, is a catastrophically terrible idea, as one Massachusetts man found out by shooting up and then taking his Volkswagen Golf for a spin.

According to The Berkshire Eagle, 23-year-old Tyler Renton was the subject of several calls to local police after he was seen swerving down the road, crashing into garbage cans and even uprooting a tree when he missed a turn.

When police arrived, Renton couldn't form a sentence, although upon arrival to a hospital, he told medical personnel that it was the "best day of life" and that the only possible way it could get better would be if he were "riding a 12-point unicorn." When advised he should consider a methadone program, Renton said, "I will never do methadone. Meth is for quitters." Right.

Renton was charged with drugged driving as a subsequent offense, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of a property damage accident and a marked lanes violation, according to the report.

In 2007, more than 200 teams set out on an ambitious automotive undertaking. The X Prize Foundation announced it would create a $10-million competition open to anyone who could build a safe, mass-producible car that achieved 100 miles per gallon equivalent. AutoblogGreen followed the competition in real time, but the grueling three-year adventure has now been recounted in fascinating detail by author Jason Fagone in Ingenious, a new book on sale this month.

Fagone follows four of the teams in the competition, chronicling the adventures of these innovators, inventors and tinkerers who rose above their relatively limited automotive experience to achieve incredible results. He recently chatted with us about the book, about the legacy of the X Prize and the state of American innovation itself. Check out our review of Ingenious and our conversation with Fagone below.

Have you got access to a 3D printer? Well lucky you, because as we're rapidly learning, the possibilities are virtually endless. And if your tastes lean towards the automotive (as we'd assume they do if you're reading this page), we've got good news.

Porsche has just released 3D printing data for the Cayman S so you can three-dimensionally print out your own and customize to your heart's content. Now Porsche hasn't specified just to what scale the data will allow you to print your Cayman, but we have a feeling that'd mostly be limited by the size of the printer at your disposal. Check it out in the video below and follow the link to the Porsche site to download the file.