No real surprise here, but analysts have revealed that New Years Day is officially the worst day for drunk driving accidents. That includes the time the countdown ends on New Years Eve, when drunk drivers start the New Year off in idiotic fashion by getting into their car.

Half the fatal crashes that occur on New Years Day involve a driver that was considered drunk according to an analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The analysis is the result of reviewing and averaging statistics from 2005-2009. The Fourth of July came in second while March 18th – St. Patrick’s Day – was third.

New Years Day is also the most hazardous day for pedestrians with an average of 22 deaths per year. Halloween is second with 20.

So to all those out celebrating tonight, make sure to have a dedicated driver, get a cab or just stay over.

[Source: New York Times]

True Mustang lovers could never dream of the iconic muscle car without a GT badge and a burly V8 engine. Sure the V6 might have over 300 hp, but, well… it’s not the V8. So imagine what the legions of die-hard ‘Stang fans would say if Ford rolled out an electric Mustang?

Interestingly enough, reports – or rumors – are surfacing that Ford is doing just that. In fact, one source has confirmed that an electric Mustang prototype already exists.

As wild an idea as it seems, it’s really not that unbelievable. Many automakers are investing in all-electric vehicles, with some being variants of their current popular models. Audi‘s E-Tron and BMW‘s i-Series are great examples that electric vehicles could be stylish and sporty, while Tesla paved the way when it came to building an appealing electric sports car.

[Source: Car Driven]

Barrett-Jackson will be carrying on a tradition by selling the first Ford Shelby GT500 at the upcoming Scottsdale, Arizona auction on January 15-22, 2012.

In 2006, Ford sold its first Ford GT exotic supercar at a Barrett-Jackson auction and in 2007, the first Shelby GT500 was also auctioned off. The tradition continued in 2008 with the first Shelby GT500KR and in 2009 it was the first retail Shelby GT500 and two Mustang GT concept cars.

The new 2013 Shelby GT500 is a major upgrade to the GT500 line featuring a 5.8L V8 with 650-hp with a heavily updated chassis with excellent handling capabilities.

Five vintage Shelby vehicles will also be auctioned off at the same auction spanning from 1965 to 1969 model years.

[Source: Road & Track]

We may know McLaren for their exotic sports cars and race cars, but company founder and CEO Ron Dennis recently told the Wall Street Journal that McLaren is looking to expand its $1.5 billion company into other fields – including drugs (the legal kind of course).

As a technology company “first and foremost”, McLaren is looking to ”applying the technological savvy evident in decades of Formula One podium finishes to fields like pharmaceuticals and transport management.” And it looks like companies are already interested and are using McLaren’s services.

GlaxoSmithKline is looking into McLaren’s Mission Control center, what McLaren uses to monitor all their F1 races. GlaxoSmithKline believes that McLaren could assist in developing a similar control center for data modeling and high-speed process control.

Currently the United Kingdom’s National Air Traffic Services and California’s rail system utilizes McLaren’s telemetry and predictive ability. Ultimately though, McLaren wants to offer custom solutions in various fields including electronics, pneumatics, kinematics, fluid dynamics, material sciences and to implement their telemetry systems to monitor hospital patients in real time.

Us? Well, we just want to see what McLaren’s second vehicle is going to be in their new lineup.

[Source: Inside Line]

We won’t mind if you want to take a second to rub your eyes to make sure you’re not seeing things. This 1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle is quite possibly the cleanest classic Beetle in the world and with 445-miles on the odometer since it was fully rebuilt, it’s more than worth the $21,900 price tag.

This ’73 Beetle recently underwent a complete restoration from the ground up that likely cost more than twice the asking price. Admittedly the body isn’t perfect for an event like the Concours d’Elegance, but it is super straight and the brilliant blue paint finish is stellar. Much of the chrome and stainless steel components were replaced during the restoration process giving it a perfect, showroom shine.

Powering the Beetle is the vehicle’s original 1600-cc air-cooled, flat-four cylinder powerplant. When it was first introduced in 1971, it made just 50-hp and has been completely rebuilt. The engine bay has also been restored to showroom new, if not better. The engine is mated to a four-speed manual transmission.

Inside the Beetle there’s a bit of modern-age technology including a $2,000 sound system and a custom blue-LED lit interior. The driver and passenger seats have been swapped out with Procar by Scat buckets while the rear features a custom covered bench. The rest of the interior has been refinished with today’s finest upholstery and is truly like no other.

GALLERY: 1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle

[Source: RK Motors]

Insurance.com has published a report on DUI citations in the nation’s largest US cities with California playing home to three of the top five. San Diego and Los Angeles topped the list at first and second respectively, while Indianapolis, Jacksonville (Florida) and San Francisco rounded off the top five.

It’s worth mentioning though that these cities with a high-percentage of DUI citations doesn’t necessarily mean there’s more drinking and driving occurring. It could also mean that there’s less public transportation or a police force that’s good at doing their job – or really the more densely populated a city is, the more people there are to do stupid things.

Nationwide in 2010, there were 1.4 million DUI arrests according to the FBI. This is also the second year in a row that San Diego has topped the list in the study.

Despite the study supposedly listing the top 20 cities, the website only publishes 19 – see it after the break.

[Source: Insurance.com]

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For the first time since 2007, just prior to the US economy tanking, and with things still spluttering along on many fronts, the new numbers are very encouraging from America’s second largest automaker.

As for where the biggest gains have been, Ford is reporting healthy demand for small cars, such as the B-segment Fiesta and the larger C-class Focus (shown), which look to post sales increases of some 20 percent for the year.

Light trucks have also been doing well, with the breadwinning F-150, along with the outgoing Escape and Explorer looking to post strong gains (current estimates predict around a 30 percent increase by the time all’s said and done), according to an official statement released by the company.

According to Ford’s US vice president for sales and marketing, Ken Czubay, “the industry sales rate has exceeded 13 million in each of the last three months.” He also believes that “the current momentum is not an aberration.”

Let’s hope he’s right. So far, following the announcement, investors seem to agree, as Ford stock rose 0.5 percent to $10.73 today, reversing a trend that has seen shares fall more than 30 percent so far this year.

[Source: The Detroit News]

Kelley Blue Book has announced the winners of their 2012 Best Resale Value Awards with Toyota being the best resale value brand and their luxury counterpart, Lexus, topping best resale value luxury brand.

Coming out on top of the list of this year’s top 10 best resale value vehicles however is (In order from first to last): Audi‘s Q7, Chevy‘s Camaro, Honda‘s CR-V, Hyundai‘s Tucson, Infiniti‘s FX, Jeep‘s Wrangler, Lexus’s RX, Nissan‘s Frontier, Toyota’s FJ Cruiser and their Tacoma.

Resale value is always important to those spenders hoping to get the best bang for their buck for their vehicle down the road. But oftentimes these are just estimates and market changes should be taken into consideration as that can impact resale value of vehicles.

[Source: Kelley Blue Book]

The lane-departure warning system will soon be found in a mainstream American family sedan as Ford introduces the new 2013 Ford Fusion at the upcoming 2012 Detroit Auto Show.

The 2013 Fusion will feature a digital camera mounted on the windshield that will detect lane markers and position itself between them. If the driver allows the Fusion to cross a lane, then the steering wheel will vibrate to alert the driver with a “rumble strip” sensation. If the Fusion drifts across the lane a bit too frequently, a chime and a coffee cup icon appearing on the instrument panel will politely suggest the driver pull over for refreshments.

Ford will bring its lane-departure warning system to other models in the line-up as well, starting with the Explorer SUV and will also include the technology on some new Lincoln models.

Ford Development Engineer Michael Kane said, “We’ve put a lot of effort into ensuring the accuracy of the lane-detection and the smoothness of the assist.”

The NHTSA has estimated that drowsy drivers have caused 100,000 crashes every year, 1,500 of which were fatal, 71,000 of which resulted to injury. These accidents also cost about $12.5 billion in losses.

GALLERY: Ford Fusion Lane-Departure Warning

With court appointed administrators having taken over the remnants of Saab following the automaker’s bankruptcy, exactly what to do with the company’s assets is still very much an ongoing process.

Recently, Bloomberg reported that among the suitors interested in acquiring Saab assets, which so far have been Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. Ltd  and the Turkish government, Mahindra & Mahindra, the giant Indian conglomerate, has now also stepped forward.

Reportedly, talks are underway between Mahindra & Mahindra and Saab’s administrators. So far, as to which Saab assets are up for grabs, little has been revealed with Mahindra & Mahindra in particular remaining very tight lipped on the matter.

In addition, the same sources have reportedly said that despite these discussions, talks between the administrators and the Turkish government remain ongoing as well since Turkey has expressed interest in launching it’s own domestic vehicle brand. At present, acquiring Saab assets in order to do so appears to be the most logical step for the Turkish Government.

[Source: Bloomberg]