Jeep Wrangler Arctic and Liberty Arctic arrive in time for winter

First the Sahara, now the Arctic: Later this month, two new Jeep special editions will appear in dealerships--the Wrangler Arctic and the Liberty Arctic, inspired by the extreme conditions they're reportedly designed to attack. The Jeep Wrangler Arctic two-door, based ironically on the Sahara model, is available in winter-themed colors such as Winter Chill (a light blue), Bright Silver and Bright White. A four-door Wrangler Unlimited Arctic version also is available.

EyesOn Design Awards Winners announced

On the second day of the Detroit auto show, the traditional EyesOn Design awards took place in the newly-opened Atrium Stage of the Cobo Hall. For the first time in its eight-year history, the judges of the competition (who include present and retired design directors from almost every major automotive OEM) awarded the 'Best Concept Vehicle' award to two designs – the Ford Atlas and Nissan Resonance, beating the Hyundai HCD-14 Genesis and Lincoln MKC concepts to the award. In the production car category, the Cadillac ELR was a somewhat surprise winner, beating internal GM rival, the new Corvette Stingray to the award.

GM spending $336 million on plant upgrades for Volt production

General Motors on Monday said it would spend $336 million on upgrades to the Hamtramck plant near downtown Detroit to build the Chevrolet Volt hybrid car. The plant will begin building Volt prototypes next spring, using the Hamtramck plant's existing production line. Production of saleable vehicles begins next fall.