Many expectant parents prepare for the birth of their child by buying an SUV. So what’s rapper Jay-Z looking to buy to transport his little bundle of joy? An amored Dartz Prombron.

Built to withstand AK-47s, rocket launchers, screaming fans and pushy paparazzi, the Dartz is an amored SUV that offers plenty of protection. It even comes with a few stylish choices that make it feel less like a tank and more like a family vehicle.

The Dartz Prombron comes with ten interior treatments, which include snake, crocodile, whale, chameleon, or elephant skin, as well as a variety of carbon fiber or matte trims. To see everything around you, the Prombron comes equipped with eight cameras – so you can see impending missile strikes or photographers getting ready to take a shot.

Do you think Jay-Z is going a little overboard protecting his growing family or is he justified shopping for an amored SUV? Let us know in the comments section below.

[Source: Top Speed]

Audi‘s expansion plans are materializing to the tune of €13 billion by 2016, heralding growth that enthusiasts are sure to cheer for and that will provide new jobs for German students.

That €13 billion will mostly go towards new technology, but the company is also looking to add about 1,200 new specialists to their team in 2012. That number is in addition to the 3,500 new employees the company added this year. Audi plans to find the fresh blood by offering permanent contracts to students from vocational academies and StEP program (Study and Experience in Practice) students once they finish their training.

Despite bringing so many new hands on deck, the company plans to spend €10.5 billion on new hybrid and electric vehicles.

“To maintain our profitable growth, we will step up investment spending on new products,” said Axel Strotbek, Member of the Board of Management for Finance and Organization at Audi AG.

On the more immediate horizon, the automaker also confirmed new models for 2012: the A8 hybrid that uses a 2.0-liter turbocharged four cylinder and the next generation A3. Along with that, the company also confirmed the 2013 A6 allroad Quattro and fully electric R8 e-Tron (pictured above).

GALLERY: Audi R8 e-Tron:

Kanye West once rapped that the Mercedes G550 was “his favorite toy”, but West, along with other rappers and oil shieks, will be sorely disappointed to learn that the new AMG versions expected to debut will make their lowly G550 look dated.

The G55 will get an updated twin-turbo 525-horsepower 5.5L V8, similar to other Mercedes AMG cars, to replace its supercharged V8. A mild facelift will also follow. But what’s really making news is the rumored G65, which should come with a twin-turbocharged V12 engine and a pricetag of $327,000. The V12 will put out 612 horsepower and roughly 738 lb-ft of torque. The excessive price tag and power figures are in play thanks to an ultra-exclusive run of only 250 cars.

Gallery: Mercedes-Benz G55 and G65 AMG

An iconic car from an iconic movie just sold for a pretty hefty price. The Delorean that was featured in the movie Back to the Future III (that’s the one where they travelled back to the Wild West) was auctioned off for $541,200.

The sale, which took place last weekend at the Icons of Hollywood auction in Beverly Hills, is only one of three Deloreans from the series remaining and the only one of those three held privately. The estimate on this car was $400,000 to $600,000, so its going price was no surprise to bidders. In actuality, if this car wasn’t a star, it would have only been worth about $30,000.

There’s no word if this Delorean is in working order, but we’re pretty sure that if it does run, the fabled flux capacitor won’t help you avoid present day traffic jams; Even if you do hit 88 miles per hour.

[Source: Jalopnik]

According to Chris Lee, a spokesman for General Motors, the automaker is planning a 21-week suspension at its assembly plants that build full-size trucks and SUVs, namely Fort Wayne Indiana, Flint, Michigan,  Arlington, Texas and Silao, Mexico.

The reason, is to allow time for the General to re-tool these facilities so they can switch over to the updated 2013 full-size pickups, of which production is scheduled to begin during the latter half of next year. The idle is slated to begin at the Fort Wayne plant in January, with a seven week idle schedule planned through October, while the Flint and Arlington facilities will start their idling process in June, with seven and five weeks planned through November and December respectively. As for the Silao facility that produces full-size trucks and SUVs, GM has said it will announce that plant’s idling schedule in the new year.

In preparation for the changeover and to ensure adequate supply for dealers, GM has been ramping up production of current Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra models, aiming for around 200,000 pickups inventory by the end of the year, giving dealers around 90 days supply of 2012 models.

[Source: The Detroit News]

The Tata Nano was supposed to be a cheap, simple car built for the people, but so far it has caused nothing but problems for the Indian automaker.

First it was an electrical issue that caused the Nano to catch fire which was the catalyst for a recall of 70,000 Nano’s. Now a faulty starter motor that the manufacturer says needs to be replaced is plauging the Nano.

Tata says that this recall is not actually a recall at all, as it was not spurred by customer complaints, but rather by Tata engineers designing a better starter which they feel all early model Nano’s should utilize. The recall will affect over 140,000 vehicles and is the largest recall in Tata’s history.

The struggles of the electric car are well documented, and it appears that the struggle is not going away anytime soon.

According to the latest news, the Federal Government will pull its funding to ease the cost of buying an electric vehicle charger. Up until now, the Fed’s have been discounting these units as an incentive to get the public to buy an electric vehicle. In 2010, the deductions covered 50% of the cost, and in 2011 it was reduced to 30%. Now it seems that from 2012, no deduction will be offered to those buying these charging units.

If you use electric vehicles for commercial use, the savings were good for up to $30,000; but that will no longer be the case either.

Genevieve Cullen, the vice-president of the Electric Drive Transportation Association said that: “The timing of this couldn’t be more unfortunate”. Cullen and her supporters have been urging congress to extend the tax deduction, but it doesn’t appear to be working at this moment. However, if you buy an electric car now, you will still get the $7,500 tax credit offered by the government. So if you are thinking of buying an electric car, buy it before the government pulls its support from that program.

In 2011, the electric car and plug-in hybrids accounted for less than 2% of new car sales in the States.

[Source: Left Lane News]

After the Chevrolet Volt’s battery fire hazard debacle, electric vehicles have received intense scrutiny over the integrity of battery cells. To answer these concerns, Nissan has stepped forward to address the strength of its Leaf electric vehicle without the direct mentioning of controversies.

Nissan reported that while approximately 20 Nissan Leafs were damaged during the Japan earthquake and tsunami in March, some destroyed beyond recognition, none experienced a battery fire.

In a written statement, the Japanese Automaker said, “The Leaf battery is installed in a triple layer safety structure to mitigate the battery’s exposure in a crash.” The first layer of protection is the Leaf’s turtle shell-like vehicle body. What’s more, the battery is located under the floor. The second layer of battery protection is a battery case frame structure that surrounds the battery case. Lastly, a steel battery case wraps around and encloses the battery modules and controls.

After the much publicized Chevrolet Volt fires, authorities raised questions and concerns on whether the Volt is adequately protected. While GM assures customers that the Volt is safe to drive, training for emergency workers are offered as a precaution so that electricity can be drained in the event of an accident. In contrast, Nissan says its batteries do not have to be drained after a crash. “The Leaf is designed with battery systems that disconnect the high voltage from the vehicle in a severe crash.”

Currently, Nissan is heavily invested in plans to expand its EV offering. Nissan is set to have a Tennessee facility to assemble the batteries as well as to produce a great volume of cars beginning 2012.

[Source: Forbes]

Dodge‘s announcement that the Caliber’s production has ended was no surprise, and now the Nitro SUV has also been confirmed to share the same fate as the Caliber. Nitro monthly sales had continued to be dismal with its lowest in July 2009 with just 1,115 vehicles sold.

The Nitro at its best selling month was 7,532 vehicles and last month Chrysler sold just 1,661 of their outdated SUV. While other Dodge vehicles continued to get makeovers and receive technological improvements and enhancements, both the Caliber and Nitro sat stagnant, featuring underpowered engines and poorly designed four-wheel-drive systems.

Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne has been quoted as saying that a replacement for the Nitro was “under consideration”. We already know that the Dart will be replacing the Caliber, what Dodge decides to do for the Nitro SUV remains unknown.

[Source: Automotive News]

Toyota‘s upcoming Prius c is known in Japan as the Aqua hybrid, and Toyota of Japan is reporting that they’ve received 60,000 orders for the compact sedan as sales start rolling on the new hybrid.

The latest hybrid model from Toyota looks to have a promising start as Toyota hopes to have a monthly sales rate of 12,000 vehicles. Toyota hopes that the Aqua hybrid will help the brand regain sales after taking a dive due to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and Thailand’s floods.

Out in Japan though, Toyota is anticipating customers will have a four month wait before they can take possession of their ordered Aqua hybrid. The overwhelming orders in Japan makes the upcoming model seem promising as it prepares for its global debut next year.

Toyota plans on selling the Prius c in 50 different countries and currently its priced very competitively in Japan at about $22,000 based on today’s conversion rates. The Prius c is anticipated to get 50- to 60-mpg with a 1.4L four-cylinder with 74-hp and 82 lb-ft of torque while the electric motor will provide 61-hp and 125 lb-ft of torque for a total of 100-hp combined.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]