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Doesn't the EPA test the fuel economy of all new vehicles? Actually, no.

Last week, Hyundai and Kia announced that they had each made errors in the way they tested the fuel economy of their new vehicles. "Honest mistakes" and "human error" were made during their in-house process for determining fuel economy figures that overestimated the rate at which vehicles like the Veloster and Elantra burn fuel. While most models were off by one or two MPGs, highway numbers for the Kia Soul were revised down by six MPGs in one instance.

At this point, you might be saying, wait, automakers get to test their own vehicles? Doesn't the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) do that?

Actually, no.

Most new cars and trucks in the US never see the inside of the EPA's National Vehicles and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor, MI. Instead, they are tested by the manufacturers themselves, which often use pre-production prototypes in "a standardized test procedure specified by federal law," and then report those numbers to the EPA. Only 10-to-15 percent of all new models, or about 150 to 200 vehicles per year, are re-tested by the EPA to verify the automakers' numbers. Keep reading below for the full story.

Although there have been plenty of rumors about the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo being canceled, it looks like BMW might be planning some visual tweaks to the odd hatchback as a possible last-ditch effort to improve sales. Judging by these spy shots, BMW is updating the front and rear fascias of the 5 Series GT, but the camouflage does a good job of preventing us from seeing what changes are in store.

This could also be some sort of performance version of the car after checking out the stylish wheels wrapped in Pirelli Sottozero 245/50R18 winter performance rubber. On the other hand, this wouldn't be the first time a company has updated an odd-looking, poor-selling model only to kill it off... we're looking at you 2013 Acura ZDX.

Still, with more than one report indicating that this model is being dropped in lieu of a station wagon version of the new 5 Series, we'll just have to wait to see what BMW has planned for the 5GT.

We record Autoblog Podcast #307 tonight, and you can drop us your questions and comments regarding the rest of the week's news via our Q&A module below. Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes if you haven't already done so, and if you want to take it all in live, tune in to our UStream (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.

Discussion Topics for Autoblog Podcast Episode #307

• EPA says Hyundai/Kia mileage claims inflated
• TRD Supercharger kit for Scion FR-S
• Tesla Model S named one of 2012s best inventions by TIME
• Consumer Reports names top 10 most reliable American cars

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Can Hurricane Sandy's flood waters be blamed for the fiery destruction of 16 Fisker Karmas and a Toyota Prius? On Halloween we guessed saltwater had somehow led to a short circuit that overheated the cars' batteries and fire, which may be exactly what happened.

"We can't be certain exactly what happened at the port," Russell Datz, a Fisker spokesman, tells the New York Times Wheels blog. "But we think being submerged in 13 feet of saltwater had something to do with it."

Toyota spokeswoman Cindy Knight tells Wheels that the Prius likely went pyro because "saltwater got into the electrical system." Saltwater, as you probably know, is highly conductive and when it comes into contact with something like an electric car's battery, could cause a short circuit and a fire.

Daniel Abraham, chemical scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, gave the blog a more technical explanation. Salts in the water break into positive and negative ions that act as conductors and could have connected the batteries' positive and negative terminals. Next came a short circuit and then, possibly, a fire.

No one so far thinks the Karma batteries' lithium cores were to blame. Even though lithium will burn on contact with water, the metal used in hybrid batteries is pretty well protected and isn't likely the source of the fires.

So still no official cause of the fires, but an investigation is ongoing.

Herbie, that loveable Volkswagen Beetle that starred in a series of Disney movies, was at least ostensibly a race car. The latest Beetle special edition from Volkswagen, the just-for-Spain Beetle Edition 53, on the other hand, is all sizzle and no steak. The Edition 53 package carries stripes, "53" numbers, and is expressly not available with the turbocharged engine; you know, the engine that would actually lend an air of raciness to the Beetle's performance.

There is some actual substance to the Edition 53 apart from its spiffy appearance. Standard wheels are 17-inchers, and gears can be swapped by a six-speed DSG. Tire pressure monitoring and Park Pilot parking assistance system are also part of the package. Prices range from 22,090 euros for the Beetle Edition 53 with 1.2 liter TSI four cylinder, and steps through 23,770 euros for a 1.6 liter TDI, 26,150 for a 2.0 liter TDI and the 2.0 TDI with 6-speed DSG will set you back 27,980 euros.

Why Spain is the only market to get this neo-Herbie is a question that hasn't been addressed, but maybe Volkswagen felt that the George Bruns theme music for the original 1968 movie had an "Espana, Verano de Amor" feel to it.

Valencia, a tight marina circuit, and Abu Dhabi, a flowing marina circuit, are annually among the top spots for the most boring Formula 1 races of the year. This year, however, during a season in which nothing has gone as usual – seven different winners in the first seven races, eight different winners throughout the year, just two races to go and both the driver's and constructor's championships still not decided – of course it is Valencia and Abu Dhabi that would provide two of the best races of the year.

What happened in the Emirates this weekend wasn't just a race, it was a melee, a medieval battle scene where everyone is thrown into the scrum and everything happens. Men clashed, men crashed, one man went flying and another was sent to an early grave retirement; one warrior did more with his weapon than many thought possible, another was pounded into the ground but fought his way back to the front, and an old warrior that we haven't heard from in a long time rose from the sands to claim the day.

And when the sun went down in the desert, the titanic clash for the World Championship honors still hadn't been decided.

Love it or hate it, the Toyota Prius might be the most recognizable car on the road these days with its slippery, wedge-like design. Originally used to optimize aerodynamics, the unique shape of the second-generation Prius quickly made the car an icon, so Toyota kept the same basic look on the latest, third-gen model. According to an interview with Chris Hostetter, group vice president for strategic planning of Toyota Motor Sales USA, in Bloomberg, Toyota might be looking to alter the Prius' signature shape in the name of increasing sales across the model's lineup.

It sounds like a replacement for the current model is still at least a year away, but the next design could be a stark departure from the Prius we know today. While there is no indication as to what direction Toyota could take, the report does rehash the Toyota NS4 Concept sedan that was displayed earlier this year in Detroit. Whatever it looks like, the next Prius will certainly be tasked with not only keeping existing hybrid customers interested but also drawing in new ones as well.

Since growing the Prius to include the Plug-In, C and V, sales have almost doubled this year with 200,114 Prius-branded cars sold in the US through October. Bloomberg says that on a global scale, the four models accounted for almost 700,000 units through September eclipsing the previous Prius record of 509,399 units sold back in 2010. With Toyota expecting the Prius to be its top-selling car by the end of the decade, this recent trend could easily continue upward for the with a more mainstream design.

Automotive News reports Toyota saw a sizable jump in third-quarter North American sales and has adjusted its global forecast accordingly. All told, the Japanese automaker sold 598,000 units in North America during the last quarter, marking an increase of 45 percent over the same time period last year. As a result, operating profit in the region also increased to $807.1 million, though Toyota also credits much of that figure to additional output. The company stepped up North American production by 42 percent in the third quarter.

Last year at this time, the automaker was still reeling from the earthquake and tsunami disasters that struck Japan that March, and with its supply lines crippled, Toyota was forced to cut back production.

Like other Japanese automakers, Toyota has seen its sales in China plummet. Sales in the region fell off by some 49 percent in September compared to the same month a year prior due to anti-Japanese protests in the country.

That's it? You may be expecting something a lot more heroic for the 2013 Emergency Refresh of the Honda Civic, but from what we can make out in these new spy photos, the changes are more detail than drastic. It looks like the taillamps, front grille and headlamps are the most drastic changes, and the front fascia and trunklid have also been given attention.

The interior is probably more important than any nips or tucks done outside. To get a good look at that, we're going to have to wait until the refreshed Civic hits dealer lots, reportedly just a couple weeks away. In any case, consumers will probably (and not without good reason) go on predictably banking on the Civic as a paragon of automotive virtue, regardless of whether auto critics love or hate the changes Honda has wrought.

Back in May, Renault rolled out the bright blue Alpine A110-50 concept, suggesting an exciting revival for the historic Alpine name. Today, the automaker has announced a partnership with UK-based Caterham to build high-end sports cars at Renault's Alpine plant in Dieppe, Normandy, in France. Caterham will own a 50-percent stake in the partnership to be called the Societe des Automobiles Alpine Caterham (SAAC).

"This innovative partnership with Caterham embodies a longstanding ambition: the creation of a sports car with the Alpine DNA," said Renault Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn in a press release. It carries both opportunities for the Dieppe plant and the development of its historic know-how."

The two companies released few details of the new venture's products, but the Future Caterham website features the silhouetted outline of a swoopy coupe that very closely matches the A110-50 concept. The two brands expect to release a model each within four years and produce "several thousand vehicles a year," according to Ghosn.

At the press conference there was also Formula 1 talk. Renault no longer directly competes in the series, but does provide engines to four teams including Caterham F1. At the meeting, Caterham Chairman Tony Fernandes said, "If you look at Formula One, there's only Ferrari and McLaren, which are extremely expensive. We'll produce a car that many more people can afford with F1 technology."

Will an Alpine be sold in the States? It seems every European automaker is busy trying to offset sales declines in their traditional markets, so we'd have to say definitely maybe. Stay tuned.

Read the full press release below.

Ford is unveiling three commercials this week that attempt to show how the new Fusion stands out from the crowd. The first one, called Disappearing, can be watched below.

"The competition is fierce in this segment, and it's important that we tried something different," said Amy Marentic, marketing manager for cars and crossovers for Ford. "We tried to use design and technology to stand out in a very crowded midsized market." Its commercials will also reflect something a little different, she said.

Prior to the new television campaign, Ford hired Chinese artist Liu Bolin, known as "The Invisible Man" for his ability to camouflage himself in plain sight in almost any situation. Bolin hand-painted cars parked along the side of a street, making the Fusion stand out as the only car visible in this series of clever print ads.

The second of three TV ads will show a Fusion driving off a cliff, demonstrating the one thing the new Fusion can't do. Chevrolet once tried showing a car flying through the air in an ad directed by Guy Ritchie that showed a young kid daydreaming that he was driving a Corvette that was airborne. It was pulled off the air after consumer groups complained.

"The overall message is, this car cannot do this," said Toby Barlow, advertising company Team Detroit's chief creative officer. "We hope common sense and reasonableness will take hold."

The third TV ad shows the new Fusion moving forward while other cars are going backwards. The ads will all air this week in prime time on the networks and during sporting events.

Touring Michigan's Wine Country In The Biggest Of Benzes



Mercedes-Benz builds a beautiful GL-Class SUV with top-spec luxury amenities that is perfectly suited for the daily driving needs of a dad or a mom (68-percent dads, according to 2011 figures) and with what we can only believe is a very nice 362-horsepower V8 engine. What the company sent our way, however, was a heavily blinged, huge-wheeled, 429-horsepower pleasure wagon that is just as well-suited to creating babies as toting them around, should your amorous instincts be triggered by the pimp-level of your whip. The GL550 is the real deal, if the deal you're looking for involves carting kiddies and/or hauling ass. We really only had need of the latter during our one-week loan of the thing, sadly.

And so, while the GL and all seven of its seats is clearly designed for the needs of a family with children, we found ourselves slightly lacking in the kids department for the time of our test. (Your author is not a dad, though he does have a suite of corny jokes stashed away for when the time comes.) What we did have, what we always have, is a load of adult friends who like to be driven around in a big, "sweet" Benz.

In this case the adults numbered a total of six. A full four of them lived about 150 miles from our Metro Detroit base of operations, in the western corner of Michigan called St. Joseph. All of them were interested in finding a sucker buddy to drive them around on a tour of some local wineries. This would also prove an entertaining time to test the performance boasts of this remarkably rapid V8 sport ute, we thought. Plans were made, a weekend was selected and the GL550 showed up just in the nick of time for our fall tour.

Word has it BMW may be planning to bring a new electric vehicle concept to the Los Angeles Auto Show. A report in the French magazine l'Automobile suggests the German manufacturer will show up with a sportier version of the i3. BMW has made big waves about shifting its naming structure to brand coupes, convertibles and sports cars with even-number designations, leaving odd digits for base models and hatchbacks. That means the concept could theoretically wear an i4 badge if and when it rolls across the stage. The report suggests the i4 will offer buyers a lower, more attractive roofline and come with a steeper price tag if it makes production.

Both the i3 and the i4 will presumably make use of the same carbon-reinforced plastic chassis, and odds are the sportier variant will benefit from the same 170-horsepower electric motor found in the five-door. Expect more details as we get closer to the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month.

Following up on its report on which carmakers it found to be the most and least reliable, Consumer Reports has released its predicted reliability ratings based on vehicle type. Those at the top are a varied crew but mostly adhere to one theme: they're small, or small for their segment. Hatchbacks with good fuel economy (like Toyota's Prius C, the most reliable single model this time out), "compact" sports sedans and pickups and "small" SUVs take the day. The one exception to the size qualifier among the most reliable cars is wagons, which also make the cut. The nine hatches and ten wagons included in the survey are further distinguished by the fact that every one of them achieved average or above average reliability.

At the other end – the service-bay end – are luxury SUVs, minivans and "upscale" cars. Upscale is a different category than "luxury" – in a 2009 test of upscale sedans prices ranged from $33,660 to $40,880 and included wares like the Pontiac G8, Lexus ES, Hyundai Genesis and Jaguar XF (none of which is referred to in this predicted reliability report), while luxury cars are "usually more opulent and costly."

Small cars were the last vehicle type above the line before upscale compact SUVs dipped into the negative numbers. Out of ten upscale cars in the survey only half were reliable, and CR said minivans took a hit by dint of the paucity of options.