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Cash-for-guzzlers funds will run out before Nov. 1, dealer group warns

The cash-for-guzzlers program will run out of its $1 billion funding "well before" its Nov. 1 expiration date, a spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association said Thursday, after the government said dealers have already applied for 10 percent of the funds. As of 4 p.m.

SAIC wins LA Auto Show Design Challenge

China's SAIC, the parent company of Roewe and MG brands (yes, Morris Garages and what used to be Rover), took the top spot in the LA Auto Show Design challenge with its Mobiliant Concept, beating other contestants like BMW DesignworksUSA, Subaru, Mazda, Changfeng, Quoros, and others. The theme for this year's challenge at the LA Auto Show was "Biomimicry & Mobility 2025: Nature's Answer to Human Challenges." Entrants were directed to propose design concepts that integrated the concept of biomimicry into transportation concepts. Quite a challenge and quite an open theme, especially when you consider that last year's theme was pretty straightforward: "Highway Patrol Vehicles in the Year 2025." In 2012 the Subaru SHARC concept took the top prize.

Audi Quattro return planned for Frankfurt motor show

Audi is planning to return the Quattro to its lineup some 30 years after the original model first appeared, Autoweek sources say. September's Frankfurt motor show is shaping up as the likely backdrop for the reveal; the car looks like it could be one of the German automaker's most exciting cars in quite some time. Word is sales will start in 2014.