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Car and Driver is reporting that Lamborghini has trademarked the name "Deimos." One would naturally assume that the Italian supercar manufacturer plans to use the name for an upcoming vehicle, and the next one in line is the SUV concept that will debut at the Beijing Motor Show in just two weeks. Aside from that, the Gallardo has a replacement in the pipeline as well. Being Lamborghini, though, the name could be given to some unknown concept or one-off that's sprung on us unsuspecting enthusiasts at an upcoming auto show.

What – or more appropriate, Who – is Deimos? In Greek mythology, Deimos was the son of Ares and Aphrodite and the personification of terror, which certainly has us wondering what sort of Lamborghini his name will be attached to. One of the moons around Mars was also given the name. And Lamborghini could even be referencing the video game God of War that features a character named Deimos (above), though that one's a long shot.

The curious thing is that the magazine could find no connection between "Deimos" and bullfighting, the traditional sport of Spain that Lamborghini most often references with its vehicle names. That doesn't mean there isn't a connection, but it could be so obscure that no one figures it out before the name debuts on the back end of the next Lamborghini.

Hyundai has once again partnered up with Rhys Millen, this time to create a new 2013 Genesis Coupe fit to take on Formula Drift. The specially prepared two-door boasts more then 600 horsepower thanks to careful tweaking by the minds at RMR. That's a far cry from the 274 hp served up by the stock 2.0-liter turbo four, and so far, Millen is keeping the secret of how he pulled that much grunt from the four-pot to himself. We're guessing this machine has been touched by the gods of forced-induction in all the right ways.

While Millen and his track-bred heathen are out vaporizing tires, Hyundai fans will have a chance to pour over the company's other wares and compete for race gifts while at the track. This marks the fourth consecutive year Hyundai and Millen have partnered up, and this year, he'll be the exclusive driver for the company at all Formula Drift events. Last year, the RMR team took first place in Las Vegas and runner up at Irwindale. Hit the jump for the full press release.

The Koenigsegg Agera R recently took to the Nürburgring for a little fun. Not surprisingly, there were a few cameras on hand to see the 1,100-horsepower titan whomp its way around the course, including one lens stationed at the exit to the pits. At the end of the track's long straight, the vantage point allows viewers to see the vehicles on track at the peak of speed. For the Agera R, that means a flyby at somewhere around 250 mph. Now, we'll be the first to say there's no way of discerning just how fast the Koenigsegg is actually traveling when it comes by the pits. Sadly, "damn quick" isn't an acceptable unit of speed.

Check out the video after the jump to see what we mean. The first half of the clip shows the supercar simply cruising around. If you want to see the real action, we suggest jumping ahead to around 1:30.

The Official Car Of Beverly Hills Gets A Dramatic Rework



Generally speaking, I'm a pretty measured sort of guy. But when it comes to convertibles, I'm a bit of a lunatic. I've been known to motor with the top down in all conditions – including light rain and snow – much to the bewilderment of other drivers (and quite often the chagrin of my passengers). For the most part, it doesn't matter if I'm driving in a bare-bones roadster or a lux-lined GT. Thankfully for my hapless guests, however, advances in technology have done much to assuage discomfort in poor weather. These days, there are far fewer tradeoffs associated with top-down motoring: improved aerodynamics, wind blockers, enhanced ventilation, sun-reflecting leather and, of course, seat heating and cooling – all features that have done much to make me better company. What's more, modern underlying structures are stiffer and there's little in the way of the noise, vibration and harshness penalties that there used to be.

In terms of innovation, nobody has done more to advance the everyday livability of the convertible than Mercedes-Benz. They kept the faith back in the late 70s/early 80s when nearly everyone had gotten out of the convertible business. They brought back the folding hardtop. They came up with the pop-up roll hoop to augment rollover safety. They created Airscarf. Aircap, too. Hell, with this 2013 SL550, they've even invented a new windshield wiper fluid delivery system to prevent errant spritzing when driving with the top down (more on that in a minute).

On its face, a typically sober German engineering approach would seem to be at odds with the very idea of a top-down bauble, but Mercedes has taken a very logical approach to building something so frivolous. Amazingly, this philosophy works in the SL's favor... most of the time.

There are plenty of ways to test a vehicle's durability. You might hand the keys to your average teenager for a week or plop a journalist behind the wheel for an hour. Or you could simply enter the machine in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Nissan has opted for the latter option for the company's upgraded-for-2012 GT-R. The automaker's development team want to fully stress the supercar's systems by putting it through one of the world's most grueling endurance races. Of course, the fact that Nissan wants to one-up Porsche in its own backyard certainly doesn't hurt, either.

Nissan has thrown a bit more downforce at the vehicle's front end and the factory wing has been replaced as well, but the engine, transmission and suspension all remain unaltered from the factory Club Track edition. The competition vehicle will wear slightly wider tires, as well as safety cage and a larger fuel cell to accommodate the race regulations. The factory brakes have also been swapped out for more aggressive hardware.

Nissan says some of the changes may make their way to production in the near future as the company pushes the vehicle to break the seven minute lap time barrier at Germany's most famous track. Scroll down to see the video for yourself.

How much do hybrid drivers really, truly like their cars? According to R.L. Polk, not all that much – at least not in 2011.

Polk has released a new hybrid loyalty analysis that concludes that only 35 percent of people who bought a hybrid bought another one last year. The data comes from car purchases made in 2011, and Polk found that Toyota Prius drivers are the most loyal, both to the gas-electric technology and to Toyota itself. Sixty percent of Toyota hybrid owners bought another vehicle from the automaker, even if it wasn't a hybrid. A recent J.D. Power Customer Retention Study found that the average brand loyalty was 49 percent, but that doesn't take powertrains into account.

According to Polk, forty-one percent of Toyota hybrid drivers choose to buy another hybrid (from any brand). Interestingly, when Polk took out these Toyota buyers from their results, hybrid loyalty rates dropped to "under 25 percent. However, in our book that's kind of skewing the numbers, since most hybrids sold in the U.S. are built by Toyota. When looking only at Honda hybrid drivers, for example, 52 percent bought another Honda and "just under 20 percent" purchased another hybrid (from any brand). The in-brand loyalty, says Brad Smith, director of Polk's Loyalty Management Practice, shows that hybrids "can certainly give a brand a competitive edge when it comes to attracting new customers."

What's perhaps most interesting is that changes in gas prices, "had little impact on hybrid segment loyalty," according to Polk. In the company's quarterly hybrid analysis from 2008 through 2011, loyalty rates ranged from 26.4 to 41.8 percent, but spent most of the time in the 30s. See more details of the study in the official Polk press release by scrolling below.

Volvo is poised to rapidly inflate its presence in China, and it believes the way forward is through an $11 billion spending plan. "We want to revive Volvo and give the brand its strength back," says Li Shufu, Chairman of Geely Automobile Holdings. Speaking with German magazine Wirtschafts Woche, Shufu disclosed that Geely will put up $11 billion for a new engine factory, increased research and development and technology upgrades. However, Volvo's Per-Ake Froberg tells Reuters that Volvo itself will be providing the funds through borrowing and other means.

No matter where the funding comes from, the investment is meant to aggressively drive the Volvo brand in the Chinese market, where the Swedish brand sold about 50,000 cars last year. Geely wants Volvo to account for 20 percent of the premium car market in just three years(!) with a target of 200,000 vehicles for 2014. It's all part of an ambitious plan to double Volvo sales over the next ten years, and for its stewardship, Geely will get a new premium brand for China that uses Volvo tech and engineering. In addition, the two brands will be combining their purchasing power to get better deals from suppliers and small engine and electric vehicle development will also be shared between Volvo and Geely.

As the last Swedish brand standing, it's heartening to see that Geely has designs on increasing Volvo's sales. Here's hoping the recently voracious appetite for cars in the Chinese market doesn't shortchange American buyers looking for Nordic iron.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the United States Treasury has exercised its power to put a cap on executive compensation at General Motors by freezing CEO Dan Akerson's pay at last year's levels. Akerson brought home a total of $9 million last year including salary, stock and restricted stock.

The executive's $1.7 million salary will remain unchanged this year, with the rest of his earnings coming via performance-based stock salary. Meanwhile, some 25 of the company's most highly compensated executives will also see their compensation limited for 2012. All told, the Treasury says executive pay dropped by around 12 percent from 2011 to 2012.

GM has warned meddling with executive pay could result in a talent exodus from the company, but so far, The Detroit Free Press reports only two leaders have walked away from the automaker. GM says the cuts may also make it difficult to hire new talent moving forward.

GM currently owes the U.S. Treasury around $25 billion.

How does Akerson's pay line up with other auto executives? Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne takes home a combined $22.2 million for his efforts both at the American automaker and Fiat while Ford CEO Alan Mulally earned an impressive $29.5 million in 2011.

Group Lotus will no longer sponsor Lotus F1, according to Autosport.com. The manufacturer pulled its endorsement shortly after parent company Proton announced the sale of Group Lotus to DRB-Hicom. Additionally, Proton won't purchase 50 percent of the race team as previously agreed.

The good news, however, is that Lotus F1 will continue to compete. Team owner Genii Captial has said it believes in the name, and that while it would prefer to not have to fund the team completely by itself, it is prepared to do so. The team has already signed Unilever and Microsoft as sponsors, though there's still room for a title sponsor to step through the door.

If that happens, Lotus F1 will have more cash flow than the team has ever had in the past.

As Autosport.com points out, Gerard Lopez, Genii Capital owner, had previously expressed interest in owning Lotus. Now that the company has a new owner, that seems to be more feasible. Even so, Lopez says he's not certain what the new owners intend to do with the brand.

We already had reason to believe that the next generation of the Infiniti G is poised to add a few new variants, including a diesel model, thanks to recent Nissan trademark filings. But now our spy shooters have caught some Infiniti development mules out in the wild, cars they say sounded like diesels.

There's not too much that can be seen in these photos, as the mule uses a modified current-gen body. But the car definitely looks like it has a wider track, which could point to the next G being a bit larger (or at least meaning it's not going to shrink). We can also see two extra air intakes in the front bumper, just under the grille.

The photographers tell us that the cars were snapped near a Mercedes-Benz test facility in Northern Sweden, leading us to assume that a diesel G is likely to be powered by an engine developed out of the Daimler-Renault-Nissan partnership that was announced two years ago.

Check out all the high-res spy shots in our gallery.

In a tire manufacturing landscape thick with companies that are over a century old, the world's biggest tire maker is a relative upstart with just fifty years under its belt. The Lego Group, yes, Lego, makes more rolling stock than anyone, molding 381 million wheels each year, with sizes as small as a half inch and going up to 4.2 inches in diameter.

It turns out tires are an integral part of the Lego success story. Lego had been producing kits for more than a decade before the 1962 debut of set #400. That kit included the first version of the now-familiar Lego tire and quickly became a best-seller, accounting for 820,400 sales all on its own in 1967. Before the Lego wheel arrived on the scene and kicked off its revolution, cars in the Lego realm were pre-molded affairs, and some clever children created 8-bit-looking wheels with the Lego bricks themselves.

With such a long history of building beloved toys, you'd think Lego would tie up with a manufacturer of car tires and put the Lego brand on tires we can put on our daily drivers. Make ours Z-Rated, please.

Tesla Motors is close to rolling out the first Model S electric five-doors from the company's Fremont, California plant, and customers who reserved the Model S Signature Series are already sending in their specification requests, indicating that the company will likely hit its July deadline for first deliveries.

Tesla has also added three colors – Piano Black, Lacewood and Banana Leaf – to its interior options and Internet connectivity will be an option on all cars, the company said in a letter to prospective customers that was posted on its blog last week. Tesla also said it would personally deliver the cars to the location of the customer's choice.

The Model S, the second model from Tesla after the Roadster, will be priced starting at $57,400 for a version with a 160-mile single-charge range before the $7,500 tax credit goes into effect. A 300-mile-range version goes for about $77,000. Read here for Autoblog's "First Ride" impressions.

Earlier this year, Tesla said 2012 sales may triple last year's revenue of $204.2 million and forecast Model S sales at 5,000 units for this year. That's more than double the 2,100 of the $109,000 Roadsters that Tesla sold over the past four years.

Canada's SR Auto Group likes to take a car, any car, and make it wilder. The Audi S4 they did looks intriguingly evil. The wheels they've created for the Lamborghini Reventon are amazing.

Their latest canvas is the Scion iQ, which became Project Pryzm. "The objective behind Project Pryzm was to create a car that would leave you speechless," says SR Auto. Let's just say they're getting really close, but we still have a few things to say about it.

These guys apparently took inspiration from the Mitsubishi Evo and one of the pigs from Angry Birds, and we think they've come up with mixed results. We like the idea of a more aggressive iQ, we're just not sure we're fans of one with this much going on. Passengers are treated to an upgraded interior with leather seats and diamond-stitched suede inserts on the seat centers and door panels.

Check out our gallery for more images, then let us know what you think of this pint-sized mouth-breather.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Association has announced on its website that Ford is recalling 140,000 Focus models built between August 1, 2010 and October 18, 2011. The defect in question is a seal in the wiring harness connector to the passenger side wiper motor that may be missing.

If the seal is AWOL, water can build up in the connector, which could over time render the passenger-side wiper useless. And if that happens, visibility could of course be altered, resulting in a higher probability of a crash.

To fix the issue, affected Focus owners need to take their vehicles to a Ford dealer for a free inspection of the wiper connector. A technician will clean and seal any connector that needs it, and any wiper motor that no longer works will be replaced free of charge. Hit the jump to read over the NHTSA press release.