Automobiles

It's THE world's fastest handbag. Meet the Bugatti Veyron Fbg par Hermes, a $2.4-million, 253-mph, 1,001-horsepower hypercar, a collaboration between Bugatti and Hermes' elves on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore.

The flaming-hot weather earlier this month gave motorists in Southern California a reminder of how a car can become a kitchen oven. Leave a car parked in the sun on a 90-degree day with the windows up and the doors safely locked and the interior temperature can shoot up to 140 degrees. Is it asking the auto industry too much to give consumers a car that doesn't bake them? Apparently, a navigation system, alloy wheels and leather seats are supposed to be good enough.

As the cost of putting a tiger in the tank keeps going up, drivers are opting for a smaller cat under the hood. Small-car sales have been a rare pocket of strength for the slumping auto industry in recent months as Americans sought relief from sky-high gasoline prices. But many buyers are sticking with mid-size or larger vehicles and choosing a smaller engine instead -- saving money on the sticker price and at the pump without downsizing their ride.

Not everything you've heard about increasing gas mileage is true. There are plenty of legitimate ways to stretch your mileage: slow down, keep tires at proper inflation, avoid quick acceleration, don't pile luggage on a roof rack, use a properly fitted gas cap. But at this time of skyrocketing gasoline prices, several myths are circulating. The claims were tested by car experts at the Automobile Club of Southern California and Consumer Reports magazine.

General Motors Corp. told dealers Monday that it planned to raise prices on 2009 models by an average of 3.5% despite a tough market that is forcing the automaker to cut production and discount its 2008 models. Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of North American sales, said in conference calls to dealers that the increases would enable GM to recover only part of the rising cost of steel and other commodities and the cost of safety and other features on the new models.

One of my jobs here at the newspaper is to carefully monitor behavioral changes in the people of Orange County and then attach profound insights to them. To answer your question, of course it's difficult work, but I'm not complaining. I knew what I signed on for and am handsomely compensated for it. With that in mind, let me ask you this: Why are you people honking your horns so much? Let me state it more forcefully: What is up with that? Don't tell me you're not honking more, because you are.

The auto leasing business is crashing, with major carmakers and leading banks bailing out of what was once a lucrative line. But that could be a good thing for small leasing companies, experts say. "It has been nuts this week," said John Blair, chief executive of Santa Barbara-based Automotive Lease Guide, which establishes baseline lease values. "There have been nonstop moves and countermoves by everyone." On Thursday, General Motors Corp.

Chrysler Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda said Wednesday that his company would invest $1.8 billion to expand a Detroit assembly plant and retool it to make a new car-based sport utility vehicle. LaSorda said the money would go for tooling and a flexible body shop at the Jefferson North Assembly Plant. That plant now makes the Jeep Grand Cherokee. LaSorda said the investment would add 285,000 square feet to the plant and keep more than 400 jobs in Michigan.

The Environmental Protection Agency says another arm of the Bush administration may be low-balling the economic benefits of increasing fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. Echoing criticism previously voiced by Democrats and environmentalists, the EPA said in comments filed with the Transportation Department that the department would have been better off using higher estimates for future gasoline prices when it proposed increasing the average fuel economy of all vehicles to 31.

The slumping price of oil has given carmakers a real head scratcher: Is this good or bad news? "It's a tough question," said Aaron Bragman, auto industry analyst at Global Insight. "Do you hope for gas prices to go down so you can sell a lot of trucks again, or do you hope for them to remain high so you can justify your investment in fuel economy?" Costly gasoline has pummeled vehicle sales in the U.S. this year and forced automakers to dramatically rejigger their lineups.