#AmericanCars

The 2012 Chrysler 300 and its mechanical twin, the  Dodge Charger are both recognized as Top Safety Picks by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) after also earning a five-star safety rating from the NHTSA.

This is what 650 hp blowing through your hair looks like. To know what it feels like, well, you’ll have to buy Ford’s new 2013 Shelby GT500 Convertible… or wait for our review.

According to a statement by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), China’s monthly sales of passenger-vehicles suffered its steepest decline in more than seven years due to a Lunar New Year holiday season hiatus that deprived dealers of a week’s worth of sales. Figures indicated that sales fell to 1.16 million units in January, a 24 percent decrease from the year before. According to five analysts from Bloomberg News, sales were projected to drop 18 percent.

As planned GMC unveiled its refreshed Acadia SUV at the Chicago Auto Show this week, but the GM truck division also prepared a surprise.

Today we took a first-hand look at the most powerful of the four vehicles Mopar doctored up for this year’s Chicago Auto Show, the Mopar Chrysler 300 ’12.

When Cadillac aired its 30-second “Go To Green Hell” Super Bowl ad for the upcoming ATS sedan during the last two-minutes of the game’s last quarter, a total of 111.3 million viewers tuned in, effectively making this ad the most watched television commercial in U.S. history. Could the marketing department at GM have somehow foreseen the future and realized the game of the year would come down to the wire?

GM global chief marketing officer Joel Ewanick said, “Cadillac is expanding with new models challenging the world’s best luxury cars. This stunning viewership data proves that Cadillac’s big message reached the largest audience… When it comes to Super Bowl ads, everyone has opinions on their favorite, But its a fact that this Cadillac spot had the biggest audience during the game.”

While Ewanick’s quote suggests that the reception for the advertisement reflects approval for the product, these statistics are more representative of the time it aired. If the same ad had aired at any time other than 9:39:37 PM, the title for “most watched ad” would have likely gone to a commercial with more supermodels, pyrotechnics, and special effects.

Watch the ad after the jump.

Posting respectable 2011 sales numbers, the quietly successful Buick Regal outsold the Audi A4, Lexus IS250 and Acura TSX last year. For 2013, the Buick Regal has received some drivetrain upgrades. First, the performance trim Buick Regal GS will receive an automatic transmission. Second, the 2013 Regal will possess eAssist technology as standard.

Despite Ford’s efforts to stop GM, the apocalypse-surviving Chevy Silverado commercial aired last night during the Super Bowl.

According to  GM, the advertisement was intended as a “good-humored” spoof on the Mayan calendar predictions. Depicting a band of Silverado owners that are navigating across a “completely over-the-top, outrageous version of the devastation and destruction predicted to occur this year by the Mayan calendar,” the ad also features giant attack robots, meteors, and frogs that are falling from the sky. The punch line is when the gang of Silverado owners realized one of their friends did not survive because they drove a  Ford rather than “the longest lasting, most dependable truck on the road.”

Ford took issue with the ad and we now know what the company said in a formal letter sent to GM requesting for the ad to be pulled. Representing lawyer Lynne M. Matuszak wrote, “Ford demands that Chevrolet immediately cease and desist from making any unsubstantiated and disparaging claims regarding Ford’s pickup trucks.” Matuszak’s letter further demanded that GM, “permanently remove the commercial from its website, its YouTube and Facebook pages and any other internet sites.”

Ford’s letter then warned, “If Chevrolet does not comply with the above terms prior to the start of the Super Bowl, then Ford will take all appropriate steps to enforce and protect its reputation.”

Taking it a step further, Ford called out the Silverado’s safety record, noting that the 2012 Ford F-150 earned an IIHS Top Safety pick while the Silverado received less than impressive side impact, rear crash, and rollover results.

GM’s global chief marketing officer Joel Ewanick and GM are committed to broadcasting the ad and sharing it on YouTube. Joel Ewanick said, “We stand by our claims in the commercial, that the Silverado is the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickup on the road. The ad is a fun way of putting this claim in the context of the apocalypse. We can wait until the world ends, and if we need to, we will apologize. In the meantime, people who are really worried about the Mayan calendar coming true should buy a Silverado right away.”

Like Coca Cola versus Pepsi, the clash of Ford vs. GM will last for many years to come. We will be expecting a humorous and entertaining rebuttal ad from Ford soon.

[Source: Detroit News]

Why not watch the ad again below:

Toyota has launched a new social media initiative with a chance for participants to win a brand new 2012 Camry for themselves and one more for a friend. The opportunity will come tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 5, during a live NBC broadcast – we’re presuming Toyota means the Super Bowl, but the oddly worded press release mentioned no such thing.

To encourage engineers to push the internal combustion technology forward, Republican Congressman Dan Lungren has introduced a bill that will reward a handsome $1 billion in Federal prize money to the first U.S. automaker that can successfully sell 60,000 mid-size sedans that are capable of achieving 100 mpg on gasoline.

Plans for a new Jeep model below the Compass and Patriot have been pushed back as part of a larger financial reorganization within Chrysler parent company Fiat. The new model, code named B-SUV, was to be built at the automaker’s Mirafiori plant in Italy, but a $1.3 billion expansion of that facility has been pushed back a year.

In a January 2012 sales conference call, Toyota division group vice president and general manager Bob Carter reported some surprising results.

Ford knows it will take a lot of work to restore its Lincoln premium brand. Most recently, Ford created an elaborate booth with modern decor for Lincoln at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show only to see the MKZ concept go up in smoke. Furthermore, the Lincoln MKZ concept failed to garner the same level of attention as the parent company’s 2013 Ford Fusion, or its main rival’s new 2013 Cadillac ATS compact sedan.

Putting profits ahead of product, General Motors has reportedly decided to shelve production plans for a coupe version of the recently introduced Cadillac ATS.

While not cancelled, the model has been delayed as part of a larger plan by GM to slow spending and increase profits, helping bolster its slumping share price.

The ATS was long rumored to also get convertible and wagon versions, but those models have reportedly been dropped completely. One of the few variations of Cadillac’s 3 Series rival that will head into production is one with a diesel powertrain, although no announcement has been made as to when that version will join the lineup.

[Source: WideOpenThrottle]

See AutoGuide’s First Look Video of the Cadillac ATS below:

Unveiled before its 2012 Geneva Auto Show debut in March, the brand new Ford B-MAX mini-minivan (the term in Europe is mini MPV) showcases a couple new innovations from the American automaker.