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Q&A | Luca de Meo, Alfa Romeo CEO

Those in the market for a hybrid SUV have yet another option with the 2010 Lexus RX450h, which was unveiled at the 2008 Los Angeles auto show.

Infiniti has replaced the G35, its BMW 3-series-fighting sedan, with the G37. As you'd imagine, the G37 uses the 3.7-liter V-6 from the sexy G37 coupe; in the sedan, it produces 2 hp less due to different exhaust routing. Still, at 328 hp, the new G37 four-door makes 22 hp more than did the G35's V-6, and its power output beats both the BMW 328i and the twin-turbo 335i. Infiniti's VHR (or very high rev) engine takes a page right out of BMW's book by using valve lift to do the job of a conventional throttle, and the resulting fuel economy dividend means that the extra horses are cost-free, at least at the pump: the 2009 G37 should receive the same EPA ratings as last year's G35.

What's good for the coupe is good for the Spyder. That's evidently the thinking at Lamborghini. Earlier this year, Lamboghini introduced an even more potent version of its five-year-old Gallardo. The new version earned the suffix LP-560, code for the V-10 engine's position (again at the rear with a north-south orientation, or Longitudinal Posteriore), output (560 horsepower), and drive wheels (four). Now the Spyder gets the LP 560-4 treatment.

Though its Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan cousins are treated to substantial makeovers for 2010, the 2010 Lincoln MKZ sedan, revealed today at the 2008 Los Angeles auto show, receives simply a mild nip/tuck.

Trickle down can be a wonderful thing whether you're talking wealth, wisdom, power, or Porsches. Less than a year after the 911 received a major mechanical pick-me-up, Porsche engineers passed the lessons learned to the junior members of their sports car family. The 2010 Porsche Boxster benefits from more power, higher fuel efficiency, quicker acceleration, and the latest automatic transmission technology.

We never wondered what a cross between the Honda CRX and FCX Clarity would look like, but we're betting it'd resemble the Honda FC Sport concept, which was unveiled this morning at the 2008 Los Angeles auto show.

Hyundai is showing a Tucson SUV with a fuel cell in place of a traditional gasoline engine for the Los Angeles auto show. If the Tucson looks familiar, you may have seen it on the street. Hyundai recently took part in the Hydrogen Road Tour, which was a 13-day drive across the country to demonstrate the feasibility of hydrogen-powered vehicles in real world driving conditions.

The current Mazda 3 is among our favorite small cars, and with more than 1.8 million units sold to date, one of Mazda's most important models. Rather than mess with a good thing, the Zoom Zoom company isn't changing much for the new, second-generation compact sedan. (Mazda has chosen to reveal the four-door sedan now at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show; a five-door hatchback, our favorite version of the 3, will be revealed later.)

Hyundai has a corporate initiative, dubbed Blue Drive, which is an attempt to meet the 2020 fuel economy standards five years early. That plan means an average of 35 mpg for all Hyundai vehicles by 2015. The 2010 Hyundai Sonata hybrid is the first major product for this initiative.

Debuting at the 2008 Los Angeles auto show alongside its Fusion cousin, the 2010 Mercury Milan wraps revised powertrain offerings in a sleek new wrapper.

It wasn't easy, but with a little help from Mazda, Ford managed to resuscitate its midsize sedan portfolio with the Fusion. With new styling, substantial powertrain improvements and a new hybrid model, we're expecting the 2010 Ford Fusion to be a similar success.

Although it's presently available in both V-6 and V-8 forms, a different type of powertrain will be installed in the 2009 Kia Borrego FCEV: a hydrogen fuel cell.

You know what some journalists do when we get behind the wheel of a test vehicle... we hammer the throttle, shift at redline, late-apex every corner, and hope the manufacturer doesn't measure tire-tread depth after the car is returned. Different behavior wouldn't be in-line with The Official Journalist Creed.

Delivering fuel to the fire was every early engine designer's worst headache. In the 1890s, Rudolf Diesel proved the merits of his engine during four years of research. But it was Robert Bosch who made diesels practical by developing the first fuel-injection system, a fifteen-year effort. On the gasoline side, when Henry Ford was anxious to get an experimental engine running on Christmas Eve in 1893, he assigned his wife carburetion duty. While Henry whirled the flywheel, Clara dripped gas into the intake pipe. Their collaboration worked: Ford's single-cylinder engine shot flames from its exhaust and shook the kitchen sink it was clamped to until Henry signaled Clara to cease fuel delivery.

Last year, after disputing Volkswagen Group design chief Walter de'Silva's assertion that Audi's A5 is his best-ever design, we went on to confirm that he had indeed created a beautiful car. Just how beautiful has been clarified by seeing A5s on the road, but no one really fully appreciates the quality of its total design before driving it.