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Build your Mini Cooper Hardtop

We suspect that your initial inclination upon the discovery of a new model's configurator is to throw gobs and gobs of equipment at a car to see just how high the price will go. After all, that's what we tend to do. It's especially satisfying with German automakers — notably Porsche and BMW — who seem to have turned option pricing into something bordering on absurdist theatre.

Obama calls for shared sacrifice in auto bailout

President-elect Barack Obama says he wants to keep tough conditions on automakers that get federal loans. The companies must develop sustainable business models because it would be unacceptable "to keep them on their lifeline through taxpayer dollars in perpetuity," Obama told The Washington Post. Obama said industry restructuring will require "everybody, from labor to management to creditors to shareholders, giving something up." His comments contradict suggestions that the new administration will relax federal loan agreements reached last month with General Motors and Chrysler LLC, possibly with softer demands on the UAW.

Ford Mondeo/Fusion unveiled at 2012 Detroit show

Ford unveiled its new 2013 Mondeo at the Detroit auto show - the new Mondeo is in fact now a Fusion in Euro drag. Under the One Ford rules, most major car projects are in fact global affairs, so the Mondeo follows in the footsteps of the Focus, also unveiled in Detroit two years ago and brought to Europe a year later. We'll have a similarly long wait for the Ford Fusion to make the leap to the European Mondeo, with a launch slated for spring 2013.