Sedan

What do you call the next coupe version of BMW's venerable 3 Series lineup? Hint: not a 3 Series. On Wednesday, the company released the first concept images of what will be the BMW 4 Series coupe when it comes to market in 2013. Though the car is entirely based on the latest generation 3 Series that we tested in early 2012 , BMW will now put the sportier coupe and convertible versions under the 4 Series banner. Thus you should expect a a base 428i to have the sedan's 2-liter, turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine making something in the neighborhood of 240 horsepower.

An SUV flipped onto its side and a car was engulfed in flames Wednesday after a police pursuit ended dramatically in Willowbrook . Police said the chase started less than four miles away, at a Ralph's grocery store, with an attempted kidnapping about 6:13 a.m. Details on the kidnapping target were not immediately available. Someone called police, and the suspect drove off with police in pursuit. The vehicle, which appeared to be a four-door sedan, collided with an SUV at 135 th Street and Avalon Boulevard.

Cadillac's all-new flagship sedan, the XTS, is apparently a little confused about the difference between intern and interim. You and I both know that someone in an interim role will temporarily yet capably fill a vacant position. Meanwhile, interns sometimes stumble through tasks that might seem straightforward. The 2013 XTS is an interim at the top of Cadillac's sedan lineup. What came out was closer to an intern. General Motors' luxury marque has been without a flagship sedan since 2011, when the DTS and STS sedans reached the end of their life cycles.

Nissan will recall more than 123,000 new Altima sedans after a spare tire blew out -- while locked away in the trunk of a car. The recall affects 2013 model year Altimas that were produced for about a yearlong period, ending on March 26. According to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Nissan had a faulty inflation gauge on an air pump that was either over-inflating or under-inflating spare tires. FOR THE RECORD: Safety recall: In the April 30 Business section, an article about a Nissan safety recall said that Maxxis - Nissan's spare tire supplier -- had a faulty inflation gauge on an air pump and was either overinflating or underinflating spare tires.

In a quiet, forgotten corner of the automotive landscape there is a segment of vehicle called the large sedan. These cars tilt toward luxury but have a foot firmly planted in practicality and economics. They are for cheap hedonists. Or penny-pinching gourmands. They are for people who fly coach but upgrade to the exit row, favor Macaroni Grill over Olive Garden or see movies only when they hit video on demand but then spring for the HD version. After several years of neglect, Hyundai is now paying this segment some attention with its 2012 Azera.

Few car enthusiasts would question that the BMW 3-Series has set the standard for small sport sedans since its introduction nearly four decades ago. But the competition has seldom been more fierce. The German automaker is responding at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit with an entry-level variant of the sedan, a turbo-charged four-cylinder 320i - with a base price of $33,445. The all-wheel drive version, the 320i xDrive, starts at $35,445. For the cost-conscious among the upwardly mobile, that should help the relatively stripped-down Bimmer hold off competition from the redesigned Lexus IS and Infiniti Q50 - two models also unveiled in Detroit and looking to take the 3-Series down a peg or two. FULL COVERAGE: 2013 Detroit Auto Show As with many models, the 3-Series has over time grown larger, more lavishly optioned and more expensive.

Base price: $14,495 (including destination charge) Price, as tested: $18,555 Powertrain: 1.8-liter, DOHC, inline four-cylinder engine; six-speed automatic transmission with manual shifting Horsepower: 138 at 6,300 rpm Torque: 125 pound-feet at 3,800 rpm Curb weight: 2,721 pounds Wheelbase: 99.4 inches Overall length: 173.1 inches EPA fuel economy: 25 mpg city/35 mpg highway ...

In a smackdown of South Korean sub-compacts, the Kia Rio EX outpointed the Accent from sister company Hyundai as the top-rated sedan of that size in Consumer Reports' latest tests. Chevrolet's Sonic, the American entrant in the magazine's ratings, as well as the Nissan Versa and Toyota Yaris, both from Japan, scored lower. "Subcompact cars were once collectively known as penalty boxes for their noisiness, rudimentary interiors, uncomfortable rides, and weak performance.

Honda provided a peek at what the next version of its popular Accord sedan will look like and it follows the curvaceous sculpted cues of some rivals in the family sedan part of the auto market, including the 2013 editions of Nissan's Altima and Ford's Fusion. This will be the ninth generation Accord, which for many years has been one of the best-selling passenger cars in America. It goes on sale this fall. "This car is the most sculpted and the most dynamic Accord yet," said Vicki Poponi, assistant vice president of product planning for American Honda.

"If you want a Ferrari sedan, go buy a Maserati. " So said Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa this summer to dispel rumors that Ferrari would ever build anything with four doors. The closest you'll  get to a sedan with a prancing horse on the hood? Maserati's 2014 Quattroporte sedan, which the company announced Tuesday it would officially unveil at January's Detroit Auto Show. The new car is part of the company's ambitious global expansion plans. Photos: 2014 Maserati Quattroporte The previous version of the Quattroporte (which literally means "four doors")

If Mazda can't figure out a way to sell its excellent all-new sedan - the 2014 Mazda6 - the automaker should just give up selling cars altogether. Mazda has no problem building great vehicles. It just can't seem to sell them. The company has long failed to capitalize on critical acclaim and a track record for reliability with its mid-size sedan - a crucial segment for any automaker. Part of the problem is of Mazda's own making, with its "Zoom-Zoom" marketing. The automaker has cast itself as the fun-to-drive brand in a family sedan segment in which buyers don't care much about fun. Mazda has acknowledged as much and will seek to appeal to a wider array of car buyers with a more aggressive national advertising campaign for the new 6. PHOTOS: 2014 Mazda6 looks and drives the part The product should make the sales job easy.

Toyota Motor Co. plans to build Lexus cars in the U.S. when it completes an expansion of the factory in Kentucky where it makes the Camry and Avalon sedans. Toyota said Friday it will shift production of the Lexus ES 350 from a factory in Kyushu, Japan, to the Georgetown, Ky., complex, a move that will create about 750 new jobs at the plant. The automaker will invest $360 million in the factory and also receive $146.5 million in tax incentives from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority.

The small Maserati family w elcomed a new car to the lineup Tuesday, as the company announced the all-new Ghibli sedan. The midsize sedan is aimed at cars like the BMW 5-Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Lexus GS, and Cadillac CTS . It joins the larger Quattroporte sedan and the GranTurismo coupe and convertible in the Maserati fleet. The new addition is part of Maserati's goal to sell annually 50,000 vehicles worldwide by 2015. In 2012, the company sold 6,300 cars. The automaker hopes to reach this ambitious plan by moving into more volume segments, including the midsize class with the Ghibli, and the SUV segment with the forthcoming Levante.

Once the icon of stodgy sensibility, the Volvo station wagon went out of production after the 2011 model year. Now its back, as a “sports wagon” variant of the existing S60 sedan, the automaker announced at the 2013 New York International Auto Show. “The V60 builds on our wagon heritage,” Volvo Cars of North America Chief Executive John Maloney said in a statement. “And this time, we've added sophistication with the dynamic driving performance of a sedan.” PHOTOS:   Highlights of the 2013 New York Auto Show A high-performance version, the V60 R-Design, made its world debut Thursday at the 2013 New York Auto Show.

A decade after Cadillac first moved to ditch its image as stodgy purveyor of land yachts, General Motors Co.'s luxury brand is now poised to take on the world. It has long overshadowed Lincoln, its domestic luxury rival. Now Cadillac wants to crack into the premium market dominated by German heavyweights BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Key to that strategy is Cadillac's introduction Tuesday of a sleeker, more powerful CTS sedan at the New York International Auto Show, a move to better match up its lineup with the Germans.

Looking to capitalize on a wave of strong sales in the last year, Buick on Tuesday unveiled a pair of updated sedans at the N.Y. Auto Show. The refreshed midsize Regal and the larger LaCrosse each are hoped to increase the automaker's momentum. Buick has been on a bit of tear lately, with 10 consecutive months of increasing sales and 2012 ranking as the best sales year since 2006. The changes to each front-wheel-drive car are moderate, but important. The 2014 Regal, which is sold in Europe as the Opel Insignia, gets minor exterior updates including LED daytime lamps and LED taillights.

Though the Geneva Motor Show is still weeks away, Bentley got a head start on the world debuts expected in Switzerland by unveiling its all-new Flying Spur sedan Tuesday. Whereas the previous Flying Spur was based largely on the Continental GT coupe, this 2014 model has power figures nearly identical to the more powerful Continental GT Speed. This means the Flying Spur will have a 6.0-liter, twin-turbocharged W-12 engine that makes 616 horsepower and 580 pound-feet of torque.

Lexus on Wednesday unveiled the first official photos of its all-new IS sedan, ahead of the car's world debut at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show on Tuesday. The next-generation IS will be available as an IS 250 and IS 350, and will go on sale as 2014 models. Engine specifics will be released at the Detroit news conference. The IS is a rear-wheel-drive compact sedan aimed at the venerable BMW 3-Series, the Mercedes C-Class, Audi A4, and Cadillac ATS. It will also be a competitor to the all-new Infiniti Q50, another car making its world debut at the Detroit Auto Show.

Acura will voluntarily recall approximately 76,000 model-year 2004-2008 TSX sedans in 22 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. The automaker said Thursday that the recall will be conducted to install a water-resistant cover over the Electronic Control Unit at no cost to the customer. Acura said that in cold-weather states where road salt is heavily used to de-ice roads, it is possible for road salt and water from drivers' shoes to saturate the carpet under the vehicle dashboard that covers the metal case containing the ECU. If water containing road salt comes in contact with the metal ECU case, corrosion can form, which, according to Acura, can damage the ECU itself and potentially result in a vehicle stalling.