Costs

Developing cars for different markets is very costly, and finding a way to unify regulations could dramatically reduce those costs.

A study from the Centre for Economics and Business Research and the company Inrix Inc claims to be the first to assess the "economic and environmental costs of U.S. traffic." It reports that cumulatively between 2013 and 2030 traffic congestion could cost the US $2.8 trillion.

It has been well documented that your car insurance rates are determined by a number of factors. These include your age, driving history, marital status, geographic location and credit history, to name a few. Your premium is also determined by the type of car you drive, though not in the way you might think, according to a new study from WalletHub.

While many GOP leaders bang the drum against government subsidies for both makers and buyers of advanced-powertrain vehicles, the Carnegie Endowment has just put out a new report that says more federal and local incentives will be needed to ensure electric-drive vehicle sales gain momentum.

Our most burning question – aside from how many licks it takes to get to the center of at Tootsie Pop – is, how much does a battery-electric vehicle's battery really cost? One analyst says that the price tag will be at about $250 per kilowatt hour by 2015, which spells good news for the EV industry.

Count Lux Research among the pessimists when it comes to the costs of lithium-ion battery packs.

The Chrysler Group is looking for advice from other DaimlerChrysler divisions on how to cut the cost of each vehicle it produces around $1,000 on average. DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche told CNBC in Paris that executives from Mercedes-Benz in particular were helping put together a plan to make the cost cutting happen. The group advising Chrysler CEO Tom LaSorda also includes execs from the company's commercial vehicle operations and some outside consultants.

With all the discussion about the domestic automakers' future lately, a few of our readers have left comments requesting some additional background on the situation; primarily, the history of the oft-touted "legacy costs" and how they affect the Big 3's survival.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger is apparently done being pushed around by the domestic auto industry. Despite having given landmark cost-saving concessions on health care to both General Motors and Ford, Gettelfinger indicated to Reuters the same offer would not be extended to The Chrysler Group. The UAW considers Chrysler to be in a better financial state than GM and Ford, and therefore has disregarded the time honored tradition of pattern bargaining and not accepted Chrysler's latest concession