2003 Yamaha Rx1 Left A Arm on 2040-parts.com

Mazda 3, Mazda 6 get customized for the SEMA Show

We like the look of Mazda's current lineup, from the basic 2 to the sleek 6. Kodo design language has a lot to do with it -- Mazda North American Operations design director Derek Jenkins says that, thanks that Kodo styling, "the Zoom-Zoom genetic code is further being embraced, not buried, through increasingly expressive vehicle design." (Ugh.-ED) We didn't know genetics had anything to do with it, but hey -- tough to argue with the results. Perhaps Kodo's effectiveness is why Mazda's SEMA show concepts are fairly...restrained compared to what other automakers are bringing to Las Vegas.

Porsche Panamera S Hybrid (2011) first pictures

This is the Porsche Panamera S Hybrid, the cleanest, most fuel efficient Porsche ever. On the official combined fuel cycle it manages 159g/km and 41.5mpg, a big improvement on the Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid’s 34.3mpg and 193g/km, and comfortably ahead of the best non-hybrid Porsche, the PDK-equipped Cayman (31mpg and 214g/km CO2). The new Porsche Panamera S Hybrid will be unveiled at the 2011 Geneva motor show in March.

The Petersen Museum isn't going belly up

I hate writing columns like this, the kind where one media outlet calls out another's mistakes. There but for the grace of God go I and all that… But the shrieking and hysteria over the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles going to hell in a handbasket -- that's what the LA Times reported -- is over the top, and it's turned into a fiasco. Here's the background.