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Just how long are the lights at General Motors' Australian subsidiary, Holden, going to remain on? According to a government report obtained by Australia's ABC and reported via the country's News.com.au website, not past 2016. The news comes mere months after Ford announced plans to end its production Down Under, killing the venerable Falcon sedan and Territory SUV.

But not everyone seems to be in agreement about word of the brand's closure – Australian government officials are denying the claim. "Consultations are continuing in good faith with Australian carmakers, the components industry and workers," a spokeswoman for Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said. "The Productivity Commission is continuing its work assessing the Australian automotive industry and will report to the government. That process is unchanged and will continue."

Shutting the doors at Holden in 2016 would line up with the end of production for the current Commodore, although Holden has denied any plans of shutting down. As news has circulated of the closure, Australian politicians, notably South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill, have been fighting for government assistance for the struggling automaker. South Australia is home to all of Holden's engine manufacturing.

"It is now time for the Prime Minister to intervene because this cannot be allowed to continue. This ongoing speculation is incredibly damaging to Holden and to the workers," Weatherill said. South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon said, "This is not just about [South Australia]. This is about 50,000 jobs being lost."

If an announcement is going to be made, it's unlikely to come before December 20, which is when workers begin summer/holiday breaks. We've reached out to General Motors Australia to get an official statement, and will update this story if/when we hear more.

Prepare the funereal wreaths, dig out the black duds, practice those somber facial expressions; it may just be that the Honda Insight is not long for this world. The car that took the hybrid fight to the Toyota Prius – and lost – could be on its way out, if we are reading our tea leaves correctly.

While Honda is still touting the 2014 model year, inside sources have told AutoblogGreen that some usual preparations (like preparing advertising materials) for a 2015 model are not be taking place. If true, this could signal that there is, verily, no 2015 model coming to the US, leaving consumers without a cheaper hybrid alternative to the popular Prius in as little as a year from now. Of course, it could also be that the Insight is undergoing some sort of transformative change. Something, hopefully, beyond the most modest of mile-per-gallon improvements. Something that might enhance the hybrid-driving experience, or at least equal that of its competitors. Somehow, though, we doubt it.

The Insight is getting the squeeze from its stablemates. Honda's own Civic Hybrid has been trouncing it in sales, despite costing a few grand more. As well, budget-minded buyers may soon be able to buy a sweet Fit sedan that returns decent fuel economy figures and is more fun to drive.

We asked, but Honda is not ready to give out any details. Honda public relations manager Chris Martin returned our call to remind us that the automaker doesn't comment on rumors, giving us the old "can neither confirm nor deny" bit. That sure doesn't sound like the message Honda would give if the Insight were sticking around.

The more we think about it, though, the less compelling the business case for this vehicle becomes. Indeed, if the Insight falls from the lineup, we're pretty sure it won't really be missed. If you feel differently, however, let us know in the comments.

If you've taken even a cursory look at GM's European strategy and wondered how it can target the market there with both Chevrolet and Opel/Vauxhall, you're not alone. In fact General Motors itself has found it difficult to justify the two-pronged approach. That's why it's essentially pulling Chevy from the European marketplace.

Instead of trying to ply European buyers with what are mostly former Daewoo products rebadged as Chevys, GM will now let Opel (or Vauxhall in the UK) represent its mass-market aspirations. Chevrolet will keep its presence in Russia and other former Soviet markets, and will continue selling certain niche products in Eastern and Western Europe. The Corvette, for example, has long been sold in Europe through Cadillac dealerships, which for its part is currently "finalizing plans for expanding in the European market".

While the shift in strategy is expected to help GM get a stronger foothold in the European market in the long run, in the short term the restructuring will cost it dearly: between $700 million and $1 billion, according to its own estimates, split between the last quarter of this year and the first half of the next. Jump into the full press release below for more.

General Motors Vice President of Global Design, Ed Welburn, had some dismissive words for a certain cross-town luxury brand during an interview with Car and Driver. When asked about his thoughts on Lincoln, Welburn deflected, before saying, "I don't consider Lincoln to be a competitor for Cadillac."

"They're not a global luxury brand. I don't consider them a competitor. Are they a competitor for Buick? Quite possibly. But not for Cadillac," GM's head designer explained. Welburn, who's been at the helm of GM Design North America since 2003 and is the first to hold the position of VP of Global Design, has been instrumental in the styling renaissance at GM, so predictably, Car and Driver's interview with him focused on the design aspect of cars.

During the interview, Welburn explicitly denied plans for a reborn Cadillac XLR, even as a new Chevrolet Corvette is hitting the market and strides are being made with Cadillac's V-Series performance arm saying, "We have a lot of cars that we're working on for the Cadillac brand. The XLR is not one of them right now."

Predictably, there was also talk of the gorgeous Elmiraj Concept. "I think Cadillac needs to be a full-line luxury brand. There are categories that we don't participate in, presently, that we will in the future," Welburn said. "We have more vehicles under development today than at any other time in the history of the brand. But I'm not going to tell you which ones we're going to do. There's a lot that we're working on. And we're certainly looking at that [points to the Elmiraj] for production."

You can read the entire interview over at Car and Driver. Meanwhile, we've put together a little poll for you below.

It hasn't yet been 12 hours since the hotly anticipated 2015 Ford Mustang has been let out into public view. After a series of evocative leaks over the course of the last days, we brought you a full deep dive of the sixth-generation pony car at the dawning of today. And yet, here we are rushing to bring you news of a new Mustang variant, already.

Be it part of a plan to keep the Mustang fervor at full boil, or a misunderstood email somewhere in the chain of command, Ford UK has unceremoniously tweeted a picture of the 2015 Ford Mustang Convertible. For a newly global Mustang, getting our first look at the droptop from the convertible-crazy British does make some amount of sense.

As for details, well, you're looking at them. Brandon Turkus reported yesterday that the Mustang 'vert would make use of a fully electric convertible mechanism, and that it would be of fabric construction rather than some kind of retractable hardtop. We see here that the fabric part is clearly true, and it does look as though Ford may still be employing the same kind of manually attached tonneau cover that exists right now. Of course, our view from this angle isn't great, and the particulars are still up in the air.

Overall though, the shape seems very crisp and tailored compared with the profile of the current Mustang Convertible. Here too we find the lowered, ground-hugging stance of the machine to be somewhat enhanced by the roofless look.

Expect to see details and a lot more images pop up in the near future. Until then, weigh in with your opinions of the 2015 Ford Mustang Convertible, in Comments below.

UPDATE: Video of the 2015 Mustang Convertible's reveal in Australia added below. We've also added a gallery of images from the video, and from Ford's new Mustang microsite – look for more and better pictures as the official set is release.

The other day, Porsche announced a new special edition of the Cayenne. We didn't pay it much heed because it appeared to be exclusive to Europe (or, at least, markets other than ours), but now Porsche has announced its availability in North America, as well.

It's called the Platinum Edition, and it's available exclusively on the entry-level models with either the 3.6-liter V6 or 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6. You can tell the special edition apart from any other Cayenne by the silver details (accenting the grilles, window trim and rear spoiler) and its two-tone black and beige leather interior. But what makes it a compelling choice is the long list of equipment, which Porsche has identified as the most requested options and fitted them as standard, including the eight-speed Tiptronic S transmission, Power Steering Plus, Park Assist, Convenience Package and Bose audio.

Pricing starts at $63,300 for the Cayenne Platinum Edition, or $66,900 for the Cayenne Diesel Platinum Edition. That represents a premium of approximately $13,000 over a bone-stock model, but actually saves you a few grand if you were going to select all those options anyway. Check out the press release below for all the details.

There is no shortage of distractions inside cars these days, but one new study suggests that the biggest drain on a driver's attention might not be what you think. According to The Telegraph, the Monash University Accident Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia has shown that children – not telephones – are more likely to distract people while driving.

For three weeks, the study followed 12 families with children ranging in ages ranging from one to eight. Using four cameras inside of the vehicles, researchers determined that out of 92 trips, a driver was distracted 90 times. Surprisingly, cell phone usage accounted for only 1 percent of these distractions, but kids in the back seat were a distraction 12 percent of the time. It is important to note that Australia has laws outlawing the use of cell phones without a hands-free device.

To qualify as a distraction for the study, the driver must look away from the road for more than two seconds, and some child-related kid distractions that were noted include playing with the child, passing food or drinks and, most commonly, watching the kids in the rearview mirror. The scariest piece of info is that the average parent looked away from the road for more than three minutes total during a 16-minute drive.

It'd be unwise to bet against the sixth generation of this legendary nameplate.

The 2015 Ford Mustang is assuredly the most anticipated new vehicle of the year. The redesigned Pony Car has been the subject of frantic gossiping and covert spy photos covering everything from the way it looks to the tech it will include, its performance, mechanicals and a bevy of other aspects of Ford's performance icon.

And now, we've had our first look at it. In a closed backgrounder at Ford's headquarters, we crawled over every inch of the new Mustang in an all-too-short look at the muscle car that will carry the company's performance flag through the rest of the decade. We've now witnessed what is arguably the most comprehensive refit of the Mustang in its 50-year history. We're still months away from our first drive, but after seeing it in the flesh and learning about its systems and mechanicals, it'd be unwise to bet against the sixth generation of this legendary nameplate.

As fans of twisty mountain roads, it looks like this Norwegian mountain road near Trollstigen would be an absolute blast. Eskil Ronningsbakken seems to agree, but rather than opting for a Mazda MX-5 Miata or an E30 M3, he tackled the steep, winding fjord road on a bicycle... sitting on the handlebars while riding it backward, no less.

Balance issues alone would spell disaster for us, but Ronningsbakken also had to contend with rain-slicked roads, steep drop offs and passing cars – this is a public road after all. In the video, he describes Trollstigen as being almost three miles long with a 10-percent grade allowing him to reach speeds of close to 50 miles per hour going downhill. And after he reaches the bottom, the brave cyclist turned around (the bike, not himself) to tackle the same route going uphill.

Scroll down for Ronningsbakken's death-defying stunt, and be sure to check out this great stretch of road on the embedded Google Street View below.

While many roadside tributes include crosses, signs and flowers, the friends and colleagues of Daniel Toops found a more unusual – yet seemingly fitting – way to honor him. Toops, the owner of Toops Performance in London, Ohio, passed away early Thanksgiving morning as the passenger in a single-vehicle accident, and on their way to his viewing, a convoy comprised almost exclusively of tuned diesel trucks stopped in front of Toops' shop with a soot-spewing, tire-smoking tribute which was all caught on video.

According to mydailyregister.com, Toops was a self-taught diesel mechanic with a flair for innovative solutions, and his shop's Facebook page shows that he was competitively involved in truck pulls. The 13-minute video is posted below showing more than 50 trucks laying rubber on a stretch of rural Ohio backroad, along with a second, more conventional tribute video. Note: There's a brief bit of explicit language right at the end of the first video.

It was the perfect storm: three Model S fires in six weeks were enough for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to start an investigation into the two US fires in mid-November, but as it turns out, the German government was paying attention too. According to Tesla, Germany's Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA), or Federal Motor Transport Authority, already has completed an investigation into the two US fires and the one in Mexico, found no manufacturer-related defects and will not take further measures.

According to a statement issued by Tesla, the automaker says it was contacted by the KBA about the post-crash fires, and it "provided the KBA with data and additional information regarding each of these incidents." The KBA subsequently sent a letter in German to Tesla saying the investigation was complete and that no manufacturer-related defects could be found. (Take a look at the letter here.)

With the arrival of the new X4 in March, BMW will expand its crossover portfolio by one more model. But while some enthusiasts may have been disappointed by the news that the Bavarian automaker isn't likely to authorize an M version of the compact slantback crossover, this latest development could help bridge the gap.

Although the line used to be quite clear between standard BMWs and M models, Munich has been blurring it with the M Performance treatment. Those have included models like the M135i hatchback and M235i coupe, the diesel-powered M550d sedan and wagon and X5 and X6 M50d crossovers. Now word has it that BMW could follow a similar formula with the X4, creating a sub-M performance model.

What's more is that the X4 M Performance model could go diesel, following a similar formula that Audi undertook with its first performance crossover, the SQ5 TDI. The major difference here is that when Audi brought the SQ5 to these shores, it ditched the diesel for a gasoline engine. Could BMW do the same?

It looks like Lamborghini is going to need a new executive to run its North American operations, as the man who's held the job until now has parted ways with the exotic automaker.

That man is Michael Lock, who has held the position of Chief Operating Officer at Automobile Lamborghini America LLC for nearly two years now. We don't know what the reasons are for his departure, or for that matter whether the departure was instigated by Lamborghini or Lock. However, Lamborghini's official notice released yesterday does state rather flatly: "as of today the collaboration with Michael Lock, COO of Automobili Lamborghini America, is terminated" even as it thanks the executive for his efforts and wishes him the best moving forward.

For the moment, Lock's post will be assumed by Thomas Felbermair, Commercial Director at Automobili Lamborghini, while site operations will be handled by Renè Sueltzner, who is also in charge of after sales at Automobili Lamborghini America.

Prior to joining Lamborghini, Lock (pictured above at the opening of a dealership in Vancouver) ran the US offices of Ducati and Triumph, and served more recently as chief marketing officer at the now-defunct EV producer Think.

Prices for most goods and services have risen substantially since 1967, but apparently monthly dues for the United Auto Workers union have stayed exactly the same. All that might change, however, as Reuters reports that UAW members could soon pay a little more for their union representation.

Though still in the discussion phase, the union is faced with dwindling membership and cash, so a rise in dues could help the latter. Presently, union dues are equivalent to 2 hours of wages per month, but officials are considering raising the rate to the equivalent of 2.5 hours. Reuters says that for an auto worker making an entry-level $15.78 an hour, dues would climb from the current $31.56 per month up to $39.45. A veteran worker making $28.125 per hour would get a bigger hike from $56.25 to $70.32.

In 1979, UAW members totaled close to 1.5 million, but recent numbers show that America's largest union is comprised of only about 382,500 members – a 30 percent decrease since 2005 alone. According to the report, union membership across America's workforce is down to just 13.1 percent overall – lower than it's been in over three-quarters of a century.