Elon Musk has felt the acute, and acutely painful, need to correct some of the erroneous statements being written about him and the divorce he is seeking from Justine Musk. Some of those erroneous details have been repeated here, so in all fairness the man should get his time at the mic.

Musk's main points of contention are that he did not "run off with" an actress as was reported in the New York Times, he never said he was broke, that it was neither Tesla nor his profligacy but the unexpected $170,000 per month in legal bills he had to pay his and his wife's divorce attorneys that led to his diminished cash position, among other things.

Based on how Musk ends his confessions it appears that this divorce, and his legal bills, are far from finished. But perhaps we can let the legal system deal with it from here on out. Top tip, Ethan.

[Source: Huffington Post]

A year ago, the White House led the effort to get automakers' Corporate Average Fuel Economy to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. Although the number was eventually pegged at 34.1 mpg, it will actually be slightly lower because of other non-automotive credits that will be applied. One might have thought automakers would still be grousing the work that needs to be done, but in fact they encouraged the federal government to go further, and so it has: the White House began working this week on setting CAFE standards through 2025.

The reason for this? The Golden State. Just after last year's 2016 CAFE numbers were announced, California said it would work on "a much more stringent standard" for 2017 and afterward. Automakers urged the feds to head the California Air Resources Board off at the pass in order to stay ahead of state initiatives, thereby quashing the chance that different laws would hit the books.

The EPA and DOT have just gotten to work on crafting new standards, so it will probably be another year before new numbers come out. For you folks with large-capacity, high-horsepower engines, you might want to take this chance to rev 'em if ya got 'em.

[Source: Detroit Free Press | Image: AFP/Getty]

In the Eighties, you wanted your MTV. Now that you're a little older and a lot richer, you want your naturally aspirated V12 Italian cars, and both Ferrari and Lamborghini plan to deliver. The raging bulls at Sant' Agata are incorporating more lightweight materials into their cars in order to get over emissions hurdles, but Ferrari has different plans, likely including a roadgoing iteration of its kinetic energy recovery system, as seen fitted to its 599 HY-KERS concept car at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year.

According to Autocar's quote from Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa, "Hybrid means we can protect the V12," suggesting Ferrari believes its unassisted 12-cylinder will live on. Autocar's theory is that the next Enzo could see its V12 paired with an electric motor to keep the government watchdogs happy. Of course, this contradicts Autocar's Ferrari piece from not even ten days ago when, after speaking with Felisa, it wrote, "Felisa also hinted that the new Ferrari Enzo will be powered by a direct-injection twin-turbo V8 when it is launched in 2012."

It could be that Ferrari will use a naturally aspirated V12, and only not in the Enzo – the F40 was a V8 while the Testarossa/512 received the big-engine treatment. Frankly, we're all for a hybrid Enzo, though. Provided they can keep the weight down, a silent supercar at low speeds with 600-plus horses that could bolt at a half-second's notice would make the most awesome getaway car ever.



Live Photos: Noah Joseph / Copyright ©2010 Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: Autocar]

You only have two more months to wait for the Mazda2 to appear in your local showroom, but you can start practicing your mixing and matching right now with the newly freed dealer order guide. The 2011 Mazda2 starts at $13,980 plus a $750 destination charge and goes all the way up to $16,980, including destination charges for the top-flight automatic Touring model. That last figure is actually $945 more than the larger Mazda3, so if you might want to crunch some numbers if you're pondering going high-end, but even if you do, you're still looking pretty sweet against competitors like the Ford Fiesta, Honda Fit and Hyundai Accent.

On top of the a 100-horsepower, 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine that comes with the car, you can play around with options such as fog lights, portable Garmin navigation, a Motorola hands-free device and a kayak carrier. Check out the guide in our gallery below and let the configuration games begin.




[Source: Mazda via Inside Line]

Along with eight-cylinder engines and manual transmissions, six-cylinder motors appear to be on the outs, relatively speaking. In the first quarter of this year, USA Today notes that four-cylinder lumps made up 46.5 percent of new car sales, almost a five percent jump over the same period last year.

This movement to fewer cylinders is likely to continue, as more and more mainstream models like the Hyundai Sonata, Suzuki Kizashi and Buick Regal are only being offered with four-cylinder powerplants. That's partially because modern technologies, including direct injection and forced induction, have closed the power deficit, and partly because automakers' need to raise their CAFE figures and play to growing consumer appetites for better fuel economy.

The trend has caused J.D. Power to raise its four-cylinder sales prediction for 2012 from 48 percent to 51 percent. If that ends up being the case, that will leave 35 percent for six-cylinder cars, and just 17 percent for V8s.

[Source: USA Today]

The Hyundai-Kia train and its full head of steam don't look likely to give out any time soon. To wit, the company has been adding style to its price and fuel frugality, and technology isn't being left out. The Sonata Hybrid is on its way for next year and will boast better mileage than the 35-mpg Elantra Blue, and now the company has announced it will be engineering stop/start ability into much of the H-K model line in America over the next two years.

We won't see those cars until "the next product cycle" in 2012, but when we do, the projections are that it will yield three percent better fuel economy. True, that might only take the Sonata Hybrid up to 38/40 mpg, but who knows how much a gallon of gas will cost by then – we're sure every little bit will count. CO2 reduction should be equally improved.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req'd]

Mercedes-Benz is throwing everything at the small car game in what appears to be a bid to keep up with BMW, with BMW working to keep up with/stay ahead of Audi, when Audi was only trying to catch up to BMW in the first place. The Audi A1 was developed with the Mini in mind, now BMW is reportedly developing a sub-1 Series car, a car that could wear the Roundel and Mini badges to compete with... the A1... as well as a Megacity EV, and now Mercedes is apparently developing a sub A-Class car to compete with the Megacity.

For Mercedes, this would be in addition to the coming Smart ForFour, sub-C-Class AMG on the sketchboards and the BLK aimed at the Mini Countryman and X1 crossovers. Not much is known about the little Mercedes, but an insider has suggested to Autocar that it will be the length of the original A-Class, which was about 15 inches (338 mm) shorter than the current car. To pull that off, the Mega City challenger could be built on the next Smart ForFour platform. Got all that? It's about to get really crowded at the shallow end of German pool.

[Source: Autocar]

We realize that Americans have a bit of a reputation for blaming things on others and letting lawyers sort it out. But when it comes to the UK government, we're starting to think that any negative car related finding will be blamed on Top Gear. A governmental report called "Full Speed Ahead: Maintaining UK Excellence in Motorsport and Aerospace" was drafted to show that two of Britain's most lucrative industries are being sidelined by those in charge. Within that report was the assertion that Top Gear has left the public with a bad taste concerning the environmental record of motorcars.

As reported by the Telegraph, "the committee blamed the ''Top Gear effect'' for associating high-performance cars and planes with irresponsible drivers." That means that not only is Top Gear at fault, but it now has a sickness named after it. Somewhere in the report, we're guessing, since we haven't read it, the dubious correlation is made between irresponsible drivers and a hatred of Earth.

We're sure that Top Gear is the most watched auto show around the world. It's a little more difficult to be sure that Clarkson, Hammond and May are keeping the non-petrolhead public (do non-petrolheads even watch Top Gear?) in the dark about the eco-mindedness of motorsports. Maybe auto racing just needs better PR...

[Source: Telegraph]

The American Automobile Association of America (AAA) has revealed its top picks in commuter vehicles, with an eyebrow-raising potluck of conveyances from which to choose. Judged on "practicality, safety, comfort, fuel efficiency and affordability" the Honda Insight comes in first, one of three Hondas in the top ten. They are joined by the Ford Fusion at number two, the Volkswagen Jetta TDI at three, and a Chevy, Mazda, Hyundai, and two Subarus to round it out.

The expanded list that includes vehicles that offer more than just commuting pleasure, namely the Chevy Corvette and Mercedes GL. Perhaps it isn't really surprising, but not a single Toyota appears on the list. You can read the entire rundown and the reasons in the presser after the jump, or check out the top picks in the gallery below.



[Source: Auto Remarketing]

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Norio Tomobe, chief engineer of the Honda CR-Z, said "The CR-Z is supposed to be an intelligent sports car." We can spend a fair bit of time debating the 'intelligence' of a sports coupe that gets from 0-to-60 in 9.7 seconds and has just two seats but gets worse gas mileage than a Toyota Prius. However, we won't really be able to decide on the issue until we drive it, and that is apparently what it takes to feel the love for it.

According to Automotive News, back when the CR-Z was being designed to house a traditional gasoline-only drivetrain, Tomobe said he and his team dug deep to come up with a new idea for the car, which ended up being a hybrid drivetrain and a six-speed transmission. But that wasn't until after they had tried to kill the project. Twice. And that didn't stop the president of American Honda Motor from repeatedly telling Japan the U.S. didn't need or want a sporty hybrid, which he thought would confuse customers. Until he drove it, and then all was go.

The hybrid's compromises remain a subject on everyone's minds. Tomobe wants more horsepower, and rumors began a month ago about a Type-R iteration. Even though Tomobe claims "We are not pursuing absolute maximum speed," we can't help but wonder if this first version of Honda's 122-horsepower future satisfies his own aspiration that "What we aim for is a car that is exhilarating to drive."

Gallery: Detroit 2010: 2011 Honda CR-Z

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Photos by Drew Phillips / Copyright ©2010 Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req'd.]