Ford future products: New vehicles get lighter, faster and move upscale

Ford Motor Co.'s future-product focus is on improved fuel economy by making its vehicles smaller and engines lighter without sacrificing performance, safety or luxury. It also wants to push the Ford brand more upscale to capture customers orphaned by the shutdown of the Mercury brand, and to attract new buyers with more product offerings. Ford has said 90 percent of its North American nameplates will be available with direct-injection turbocharged EcoBoost engines as standard equipment or as an option by 2013.

German car collector re-imagines Lancia Stratos

If German car collector and Lancia Stratos fan Michael Stoschek gets his way, there will be a new interpretation of the legendary Stratos rally car sooner rather than later. Speculation and spy photos have been circulating for a couple weeks, and now we have official photos. Italian design house Pininfarina did the prototype, which Stoschek originally had done for his personal use.

Automotive Suppliers Demo the Future at CES

There is no shortage of cool stuff at CES. Just wandering around the 2 million square feet of the Las Vegas Convention Center was like being in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory for technophiles. For instance, just inside the Center Hall was the ginormous LG wall o' TVs, all synched together and blasting incredible 3D images that looked like a Beetles short from 1967.