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Lexus has trademarked yet another interesting name, according to LexusEnthusiast.com, staking claim to "RC 350" in Australia. What could Lexus have in mind for the nameplate? The car may be the production interpretation of the LF-CC concept we saw at the Paris Motor Show. Given the numerals in the name, there's a good chance the two-door coupe will feature the company's 3.5-liter V6 engine currently found under the hoods of models like the IS 350 and GS 350. Beyond that, details are as scarce as hen's teeth.

As you may recall, Lexus also recently laid claim to "NX 200t" and "NX 300h." Those names are likely to be applied to a new family of crossovers powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine.

We've reached out to Lexus for comment on the RC 350 trademark, but have yet to hear back. We'll update this post with more information as it becomes available.

We may have to make due with the Focus ST here in the United States (note: we are not complaining), but an even hotter version – the Focus RS – has historically been quite a hit in Europe. And according to a report in Auto Express, the next-generation RS should be one hot little number when it launches in 2014.

Rather than simply turning the ST's 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four up to 11, Ford's European performance division – Team RS – will likely use a larger-displacement mill for development of the hotter-than-hot Focus. The most likely candidate is a new 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine – rumored to be shared with the 2015 Mustang – that will produce around 350 horsepower.

Ford will likely offer the Focus RS with a six-speed manual transmission, but engineers have not ruled out the possibility of using a version of the company's PowerShift dual-clutch 'box. The main concern from Team RS is that using a DCT will add weight, though the engineers understand that the trend in this segment is to use dual-clutch gearboxes.

Auto Express reports that the new Focus RS will retain its front-wheel-drive architecture, but Ford is already working on new technologies to reduce the sort of squirreliness that comes with sending that much power to a car's front wheels. An active limited-slip differential – an E-diff – would "really optimise traction in all situations," according to Team RS powertrain engineering manager Len Urwin.

It's unclear whether or not the Focus RS will come to the US, despite the company's One Ford global product strategy. When it launches in Europe, Auto Express expects the RS to retail for about 25,000 pounds – just shy of $40,000 based on current exchange rates.

Desert Bus is one of the worst video games of all time. Actually, Desert Bus is an intentionally awful mini-game that was part of a never-released Sega CD game called Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors. (We won't go into detail about Smoke and Mirrors here, but suffice it to say that it is one of the most interesting concepts for a video game that we've ever heard of, and is well worth the time it takes to read the full Wikipedia entry, here.)

The goal of Desert Bus is decidedly simple and completely horrible: the player drives a bus from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada, on road that is completely straight, in real time and at a maximum speed of 45 miles per hour. That endeavor takes eight hours of continuous play to accomplish since the game cannot be paused. And, though the road is perfectly straight, the bus is programed to pull ever so slightly to the right, meaning that the player must pay constant attention or crash the bus. Oh, and if you should crash the bus, you'll find yourself being towed back home, also in real time. Great game, right?

Back in 2007, Canadian comedy troupe LoadingReadyRun thought that the duller-than-dirt game would make a perfect vehicle (heh) for raising money for the charity Child's Play. (Child's Play donates toys and games for use by sick kids in hospitals around the world.) The premise was simple: the more money that was donated for the kids, the longer the funny men would be forced to drive the bus. In that first year, Desert Bus for Hope raised some $22,805 for Child's Play, while last year the amount had skyrocketed to more than $376k.

This year, the bus is going back on the road, with hopes for yet another record-breaking charity haul. Check out the official website, and get in on the good cause before the boys head out for Vegas, on November 16. Oh, and for a little taste of the, err, action, scroll down and watch the video.

Vilner has pulled back the curtain on its newest creation: the Bulldog. A modified Triumph Speed Triple, the Bulldog features a number of aesthetic tweaks to set it apart from its more staid siblings. A new single headlamp now rides in place of the factory bug-eyed dual-lamp unit, and designers swapped out the stock wheels for a pair of flashy OZ Racing pieces. The stock pipes were also ditched in favor of the blacked-out examples you see above. With custom leather work both on the saddle and along the bike's body work, there's no mistaking this machine for a standard Speed Triple.

While Vilner typically focuses its attention on four-wheeled transportation, the company has recently turned its eye toward bikes as well. As you may recall, the design house cranked out a wild version of the BMW F800R a few months ago, and, though it's not our cup of tea, the similarly sinister Bulldog fits right in line with the family aesthetic. You can check out the quick press release below as well as a video of the Bulldog in action.

Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic storm in US history, and its total economic impact is just now coming into view. According to Automotive News, Toyota, Chrysler, Nissan and Honda are set to scrap around 15,000 new vehicles ruined by the storm. Nissan alone accounts for about 40 percent of those, with 6,000 Nissan and Infiniti models deeded "un-saleable" due to damage. The company saw 56 dealerships shuttered due to the storm, but 51 of those have since reopened.

Toyota, meanwhile, had some 4,000 vehicles at its Newark port facility, and of those, 3,000 may be scrapped. An additional 825 were dealer inventory when they were ruined. Honda and Acura dealers are reportedly sending 3,440 vehicles to the salvage yard. By comparison, Chrysler weathered the storm fairly well with 825 units destroyed, while Hyundai suffered only 400 lost units and Kia scrapped around 200.

As you may recall, Fisker also suffered some losses, and Automotive News reports the manufacturer saw 320 Karma models damaged beyond repair. Ford and General Motors have yet to come up with estimates, and no automaker has commented on the full cost of replacing the vehicles.

Meanwhile, NADA said the storm could claim as many as 200,000 personal vehicles.

It seems that Ford has let slip the official order guides for its 2014 Mustang lineup. The changes for the upcoming model year are fairly minimal, as the car was just recently refreshed for 2013, and is expected to get an entirely new model in 2015.

Sadly, for us and anyone else that has had the pleasure of driving it, the biggest news here is that the Mustang Boss 302 will not be carried over for next year. This news runs according to Ford's stated plan of offering the track-terror for just two seasons, but it pains our enthusiast hearts, nevertheless.

As for the rest of it: there are a couple of new colors (Oxford White and Ruby Red Metallic with Tinted Clearcoat) and three colors that will go away (the Boss 302's School Bus Yellow, High Performance White and Red Candy Metallic). A couple of new exterior appearance packages have been added to the options sheet, as well.

The 2014 Shelby GT500 will now get heated front seats as standard (not with the optional Recaros, however), and will also be available in the two new colors. Check out the full 2014 model year ordering guides in the galleries below.

Toyota has announced a voluntary recall of 11,200 Scion iQ models from the 2012 and 2013 model years. According to the manufacturer, the problem with these pint-sized hatchbacks concerns the front passenger Occupant Classification System (OCS) weight sensor cables.

The OCS sensors in the front passenger seat control the operation of things like the airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioner. In these affected models, the cables for these sensors located in the seat track can become damaged as the passenger seat slides forward and backward. And if the cables are damaged, the airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioner may not function properly.

No injuries or crashes have been reported in conjunction with this issue.

Toyota says that owners will be notified by mail beginning in early December, at which point the vehicles will be repaired – free of charge – at dealerships. The automaker has also confirmed that this recall only affects vehicles in the United States, and that no other Toyota, Lexus or Scion products are involved.

Scroll down for the official press release.

Life To The Car, Death To The Slusher



Miss Part I of Project Ugly Horse? Read it here.

Daniel was not happy. The melting frost had turned the dirt/mold mixture on the Mustang's rear quarter panel into a sort of frog-sweat slime, and his right hand was now covered in the goo. He stopped pushing, looked at the contagion and glared.

I'd decided my new life goal was to pass a 911 on the track with this car looking exactly as it does right now.

"You need to wash this thing, Bowman."

Asking a friend to ride four hours north in a standard-cab Ford F-250 to pick up a crappy car was one thing. Asking him to risk his life against a thin coat of psychomagnotheric goo was something else entirely.

I had already made it clear I planned to preserve the, um, patina on the Mustang, mold and all. After all, you can't recreate the kind of personality this car has going on. With its surface rust, grime and general air of dereliction, the machine looks like it would be happier rotting in a field somewhere than tearing up a road course. Which is why I love it. By the time I talked Daniel into rolling the car onto the U-Haul trailer, I'd already decided my new life goal is to pass a 911 on the track with this car looking exactly as it does right now.

The term, kids, is fugly.

Up above is the new MV Agusta Brutale 800. It is, as you can plainly see, beautiful, and it will be powered by a 798cc three-cylinder engine offering up 125 horsepower and 60 pound-feet of torque. With a claimed weight of 368 pounds, this stunner will boast an impressive power-to-weight ratio. Price ought to come in around $10,000 when it comes Stateside.

To the right is the first sketch of the MV Augusta Rivale, called by company CEO Giovanni Castiglione "a new concept" in motorcycles. Tucked in the trellis frame is the same 798cc triple used in the streetfighter-styled Brutale 800, which is a bored-out version of MV Augusta's 675cc engine.

Function is said to be a combination of supermoto and enduro, while styling is a combination of MV Augusta's can't-miss cues like the triple exhaust and detailing from bikes of fellow Italian motorcycle maker Ducati – such as the rear end features reminiscent of the Diavel. The Rivale being revealed at the EICMA show in Milan, alongside the production Brutale 800, will be a concept. The production version of the bike is not scheduled to go on sale until September of next year.

Check out an official press release announcing the new Brutale 800 below.

It seems that retailers are bringing out the Christmas decorations earlier each year, but Mini's premature holiday spirit could be one for the record books. The day after Black Friday, the "Mini Goes to Santa Claus" adventure will depart from BMW headquarters in Munich, Germany and head up Rovaniemi, Finland (just outside the Arctic Circle) to deliver Christmas letters to Santa Claus –he must have an mail outpost here for his North Pole workshop. Guinness World Records is also getting involved with this trek, by competing for a for the longest-ever wish list to Santa.

Mini has assembled teams of vehicles from 16 countries consisting of all of its current models to drive the almost 1,900 miles. Although it won't be a part of the convoy, the Mini Paceman will be in Rovaniemi to welcome the groups along with former rally driver Rauno Aaltonen who will "demonstrate his unequalled talent" while driving the Paceman. We're not exactly sure what this means, but snowy climates and rally drivers always seem to be a recipe for great entertainment to us.

Scroll down for Mini's press release, but we'll have to wait until later in the month to see what should be some pretty cool pictures of the trip.

The rumor has been that Lexus will soon have a motorsports-only LFA to supplement the mostly stock LFA it has been using in races like the Nürburgring 24-Hour. This past summer the Internet happened upon a couple of photos of this supposed LFA GTE prototype (right), an endurance racer that could perhaps be seen at next year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. That prediction could be boosted by the Japanese company informing the site Lexus Enthusiast "We have no plan to use the LFA for the 2013 Nürburgring 24 Hours race."

Without providing any details, Lexus race driver Akira Iida tweeted a photo of an LFA racer on a rolling road, and it is almost a dead black ringer for the car from a few months ago. While we scrounge for more info, it's nice to start imagining another top maker battling through the pack of Corvette, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren and Mercedes models already in the series.

Apple's iPad mini has not been on the market very long, but some aftermarket shops are already installing the tablet into a car. We saw this practice with the iPad and iPad 2, but the 7.9-inch version of the Apple product could be ideal for automotive integration.

Florida-based "Soundwaves of Tampa" has become the first outfit that we know of to install the iPad Mini in a passenger car. The vehicle of choice? A 2012 Toyota Corolla. The iPad Mini was worked into the center console of the compact sedan by replacing the stereo DIN with a custom mount. It slides out of the side, and has a seamless appearance when installed.

So what will it take to bring the iPad's functionality to your car? According to the Soundwaves of Tampa YouTube page, the tablet can be installed in most cars for $800, not including the $329-659 price of the iPad Mini. The company is quick to point out that the installation price will vary based on the vehicle in which the tablet would be installed. Check out the video below to let one of the creative individuals from Soundwaves of Tampa best describe the product.

This Little VW Just Went Premium



The fortunes of Volkswagen in the United States are moving steadily upward in direct correlation to how serious Wolfsburg has become about our market, a market it frankly neglected badly for about three full decades. The era of neglect is over now and the Germans are focusing especially hard on North American drivers who may have never owned a VW.

For many in the US, a first Volkswagen will be either a Jetta or Passat, both of which have pretty good trunks. But we just drove this all-new seventh generation Golf and it needs to be on that same consideration list because it is a nearly perfect, sensibly sized trunkless car.

The numbers for the Golf since its invention in 1974 are staggering. By the start of 2013, the Golf (called Rabbit for many of those bleakest years here in the States) will have sold nearly 30 million units worldwide. The Golf Mk VI, which is still offered in many markets including the US, remains the dominant best-selling car in all of Europe at the end of its life cycle. VW didn't really need to update much to keep the sales ball rolling.

Remember the 16 Fisker Karma plug-in hybrids that were burnt in the wake of Superstorm Sandy? They're not the only bad news for the luxury green automaker: more than 300 Karmas, worth over $30 million, were sitting at Port Newark when it flooded and got destroyed. In all, over 10,000 vehicles were damaged at the port when the waters rose. In other words: fire bad, water really bad.

Reuters is reporting that the Karma shipment was insured and Fisker spokesman Roger Ormisher said the company expects "no impact from a business or a financial point of view." He also said that Fisker will be able to meet US demand despite losing the 300 vehicles.

As for the fire – which started in one car and then spread to nearby vehicles – Fisker has issued a statement saying that it was a problem with a low‑voltage Vehicle Control Unit, "a standard component found in many types of vehicles and is powered by a typical 12V car battery," in a Karma. Because the cars were "submerged under five to eight feet of seawater for several hours," salt in the water corroded the VCU, Fisker said. The Karma's advanced lithium-ion batteries did not play a role in causing the fire.