The automotive industry isn't back on the upswing yet. 2007 may prove to be a nine-year low for sales at 16.2 million units, with Detroit automakers taking the biggest hit. CSM Worldwide, leading auto industry analysts, released a report recently indicating that U.S. light-vehicle sales would drop 1.2 percent from the 16.4 million units expected to leave dealer showrooms by the end of this year.

As a woman, I find the various gadgets making it easier to operate your everyday automobile fascinating. A sensor to check your blind spot for you? Brilliant. Adaptive suspension? Perfect for more sophisticated drivers. But even more fascinating, however, is the subsequent impact upon the "guy things" about operating the automobile.

It's not a new topic in the automotive industry -- women influence and even directly account for around 80 percent of automotive buying decisions, yet dealers still reportedly look over the woman's shoulders for a husband or father. Despite the industry's best efforts to recruit women salespeople to increase the odds of good communication, almost half of the auto dealerships in the country have no women on staff, and women only make up 8 percent of the sales force,

Some guys get off on rock climbing. Others sky dive, bungee jump, spend exorbitant amounts of money in the stock market and more, just to experience a thrill or two. Danish-born eco adventurer Hans Tholstrup gets his kicks from going green in ways no one has gone green before. Fans of the World Solar Car Challenge, for example, can credit the race's founding to Tholstrup, and he was originally made famous when he circled the continent of Australia in a 16-foot open

OPEC wants gas prices at the sweet spot which looks a little like this: "high enough to justify its investment in future production capacity but low enough to allow economic growth and deter a flood of alternative fuels," or roughly $2.25 a gallon, according to Fox News. Good business sense or a case of irritating exploitation?

Did you hear the one about the train trips GM VP Larry Burns took with chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner? Here's how it went:

The Greenbrier retreat hosted by the Society of Automotive Engineers is known as something of a boondoggle in the industry, but with all the doom and gloom, we're hard-pressed to deny the automotive bigwigs a little fun. The tone of the confrence is light, with industry execs spending more time creating comedy routines than doing any actual work. Last year's event saw Bo Andersson search high and low for a Dracula costume after an opening skit referred to him as a b

Those crazy folks in the Windy City... they shot not one Oldsmobile Cutlass off the top floor of the Marina Towers' parking deck into the Chicago River, but two. The staged accident was really part of a recreation of the famous scene from Steve McQueen's "The Hunter," remade by marketing agency Leo Burnett for Allstate Insurance. Leo Burnett engaged Phil Joanou ("The Gridiron Gang," U2 music videos) to direct the action-packed ads that are rem

More powerful than a locomotive? That's what the folks over at Diesel Power are predicting for the future of trucks. Cars and trucks have become more powerful over the years, with today's torque figures dwarfing the 420 ft.-lbs. of torque figures commonly seen in trucks in the mid-1990s. While many factory numbers hit above 500 ft.-lbs. and aftermarket parts can launch drivers above 1,000 ft.-lbs., we have to be nearing the threshold of how big and bulky the transmi

Audi is getting set to hike its prices up as it makes an attempt to move the brand more upscale and on par with other German luxury marques. In additon to an increase in status, the move should also make some more money for Audi, which has had profitability issues in the past, not the least of which can be attributed by a weak currency exchange.

While our guys really liked the Peugeot 908 RC and Nissan Qashqai and thought the Audi R8 was a little overrated (check out the Autoblog Podcast recapping the show), the editors of MSN Autos have come back with their list of favorites from the Paris Show with picks that were a little more predictable. Kicking it off is a car that, at least visually, would grab almost anybody's attent