After several grueling stages, Citroen's Sebastien Loeb notched up yet another win in his record-breaking season. Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm came in 30-seconds behind Loeb to take second place. Subaru's Petter Solberg ran into a rash of mechanical problems and has fallen even further away from Loeb, putting him in a distant second place in the driver's standings — 27 points behind. With just 7 more countries left in the world tour, Loeb seems destined to win it again.

Audi's Q7 SUV has yet to hit the market and there is already word that a smaller sibling dubbed the Q5 is slated for production to battle the BMW X3. The Q5 will be based on the A4 platform and sport air suspension and hill descent control and offer 5 seats. Its version of Quattro will allow 100% of torque to be sent to any wheel in case of slippage. You can expect the Q5 to carry the design language used by Audi including the waterfall grill. Engines vary widely from the 2.0-liter FSI, all the way up to a 4.2-liter V8. Europe will see two diesel options, as well. Prices are expected to start around $35,000.

If Jaguar is to shed its losses and compete in the top echelon of performance car makers, the 2007 XK seems like the right approach. Edmunds has posted a video of the heavily camouflaged 2007 XK Convertible making the rounds at Nurburgring. The new car is made of aluminum and will sport a 300-hp 4.4L V8. Look for it this September at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Using the same 1.8-liter turbo, this Audi TT coupe adds 15hp, 29lb-ft of torque and loses 165 pounds. The result is a thoroughly satisfying coupe that's nimble and fun which we can't get in the US. Only 1,100 are expected to be built and will mostly end up in the UK and Germany. The car also gets carbon fiber Recaro seats, two-tone paint scheme, 18-inch wheels and stiffer suspension. By losing weight, such as the almost useless rear seats, and adding power, the 0 to 62 time drops to 5.9 seconds with the top speed maxing out at 155mph. Base price is estimated at 35,900 euros or about $46,700.

Someone at Saab figured out that trying to sell Saab-branded dog collars and bandanas isn't going to work. Saab decided to concentrate on safety devices to help the 40 percent of their customers who also ride with their pets on a regular basis – a smart move considering the slow sales of accessories. Interestingly, Saab decided not to product a doggie booster seat that would let smaller dogs look out the window and will not release pet accessories for the 9-7X.

Sure, the US Grand Prix was a farce and a blunder of monumental proportions for Formula One, but now, after providing no other recourse than withdrawal from the race by the Michelin-shod teams, F1 is threatening to punish those teams for breaking F1 rules. The FIA is claiming that the teams who pulled out just before the race broke at least one rule and potentially damaged the Formula 1 reputation. The charge is that the teams 'wrongfully refused to allow [their] cars to start the race.' BAR Honda is facing an especially hard time with this stance by the FIA since they are under a 12-month probation following the fuel-tank-within-a-fuel-tank violation earlier this season. If the FIA decided to punish BAR Honda, it could face a 6-month suspension. I would love to see this resolved in a reasonable manner that would err on letting people race. It would be ridiculous to suspend BAR Honda for following a course of action recommended for safety reasons.

I was planning on bringing you a preview of America's second oldest race, but this wasn't what I was hoping for. Henry Bresciani, 67, of Colorado Springs was killed when he was struck by driver Jay Stewart. Veteran race official Bresciani was struck while giving drivers the finish flag during the first practice session. The 83rd Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is expected to start on schedule this Saturday with about 150 racers.

The New York Times' foreign affairs columnist argues that Toyota's hybrid technology and other moves to reducing oil dependancy would be a strategic boon for the US. He frames his argument in very simple terms: that US should reduce it's dependancy on foreign oil by leveraging existing technology and reducing gas consumption by cars and trucks. It sounds as if he would like to see GM punished for creating Hummer. He calls government and business leaders to use more non-gasoline power sources including flexible fuel cars and hybrids that could also be charged overnight to run just on electricity. The multiple Pulitzer Prize winner believes this strategy, also called the geo-green strategy, would strengthen the dollar, reduce the trade deficit and put the US in the leadership position in green technologies while reducing climate changing pollutants.

In January, Scion forecasted that they would sell at least 120,000 cars. Now, they're revising that estimate to more than 140,000 although they believe it could be as high as 150,000. The only problem is that they can't build the cars fast enough. Last year, Scion sold 741 cars shy of 100,000 — the first year they sold nationally. Those kinds of growth numbers seem remarkable for such a new brand and accounted for more than half of Toyota's 10 percent increase in US sales. Scion's average sale price of $17,515 is thousands under the current average transacton price for a new vehicle ($24,520).

WorldCarFans.com has a press release and lots of photos from Fuji Heavy Industries. Torque has been boosted to 311ft-lbs. On the outside, two very noticeable design changes include a revised nose that's more in line with the corporate design and another airfoil atop the c-pillar for the STi. The interior has stayed pretty much the same as the 2005. (Thanks for the tip, Luis!)