If we told you BMW was planning a new car with more carbon fiber than any previous model, you might assume we were talking about a new project out of the “M” division. But take a look at that headline again. Yes, that’s right — BMW has announced the Megacity microcar will make substantial use of the exotic material.

Honda’s Acura division has always had a unique position in the marketplace, residing in the somewhat ambiguous ‘entry-luxury’ category, also occupied by Buick, Lincoln, Volvo, and others. But in recent years, the company signaled a move toward a more prestigious, Tier 1 image. Those plans, it turns out, will likely never come to fruition.

A new round of spy photos shows the production version of Buick’s “Business” MPV, complete with images of the nearly finished interior, plus some new exterior views. Monday’s snapshots follow 6 weeks after we published the first ever images of the prototype people-mover.

Ford on Monday reported a net income of $997 million for the third quarter of 2009, compared with a net loss of $161 million for the same time period last year. Perhaps even more significantly, Ford’s North American division reported pretax income of $357 million — its first profit since the first quarter of 2005.

Chairman David Cole of the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research told federal investigators that he believed General Motor’s and Chrysler’s dealership cuts will reduce market share in small to mid-sized markets. Cole said, “These cuts didn’t make any sense to me.”

As part of Chrysler’s bankruptcy restructuring plans, Chrysler planned to shutter seven US plants. Now the UAW is fighting to save several plants from closure – with one success already reported.

After leading the powertain and electronics team in developing the Chevrolet Volt, one of the most anticipated and crucial vehicles in General Motors’ history, Frank Weber will be leaving GM to take a senior management position at Opel. Weber’s official title at Opel has not yet been released.

Most traffic accidents are caused by bad drivers, but new scientific research finds that bad drivers may actually be caused by a genetic variation. UC Irvine neuroscientists have discovered a gene variant that could be responsible for creating bad drivers.

Yesterday morning, Houston lawyer and prolific car collector John O’Quinn was killed in a traffic accident. Reports indicate that O’Quinn, as well as his assistant, Johnny Lee Cutliff (also killed), were not wearing their seatbelts when their Chevrolet Suburban hit a tree.

McLaren has high hopes for its all-new MP4-12C supercar, but the Ferrari-rival is already off to a rocky start in the United States market. McLaren’s U.S. dealer body is reportedly getting cold feet about selling a single vehicle line, delaying the car’s American debut.

The Middle East has rapidly become the world’s premiere market for high-end supercars, so it should come as little surprise that Ferrari intends to open a performance-inspired theme park to showcase its automobiles in Abu Dhabi.

Ford’s plan to bring its labor costs in line with those at General Motors and Chrysler may be veering off course as two more United Auto Workers staffed plants have rejected the automaker’s contract for a new labor deal.

Toyota took the wraps off its long-anticipated Subaru joint-venture sports coupe at the Tokyo Motor Show, but the Japanese automaker could have at least one more trick up its sleeve for the 2+2. In addition to the coupe model, Toyota is said to be working on a drop-top version of the FT-86 concept.

General Motors announced on Friday that it will be setting up a new headquarters in Shanghai, China. The announcement of the new headquarters reflects the importance of the Asian market – particularly China – to GM’s global operations.

According to a Saab executive, the small Swedish automaker slowly emerging from under the General Motors umbrella will base its next-generation 9-3, the company’s volume model, on a non-GM platform.

Back in March, Nissan debuted the NV2500 full-size commercial van concept, and in July we showed you the first evidence that work on Nissan’s new van was well under way with a test mule wrapped in yards of heavy plastic sheeting. We’ve caught the “mule” once again – this time with the plastic wrap off – but still with the donor- Armada sheetmetal.

It’s been nearly two years since we first saw the Land Rover LRX in concept form at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show, but we now have our first visual evidence that the project is off the ground. Land ROver announced in late September that the LRX would be heading to production as a 2011 model.

Europe’s largest automaker, Volkswagen AG, has reported lower than expected profits for the third quarter due to an 81 percent decline in operating profits. VW maintains full-year earnings will drop year over year.

Despite previous promises to test the new fully electric Nissan Leaf in limited markets in Japan and the US before going global by 2012, Nissan has now inked a deal to bring the Leaf to Mexico’s capital in 2011.

Down and dirty – that’s the way trucks like it. Despite the presence of those persnickety owners who regularly wax and scrub their cherished pickups, the Ford F-150 FX4 was designed to be used the way haulers were intended.