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Lenders are increasingly saying yes to credit-challenged customers. During the first quarter of 2012, vehicle loans to subprime borrowers increased by 11 percent, according to Experian Automotive.

For Hyundai's U.S. dealers wrestling with tight new-car inventories, help is on the way from U.S. plants. But next spring, a new labor pact in South Korea could crimp Hyundai Motor Co.'s exports to North America.

Volkswagen Group is expanding the product range of all its brands at a ferocious pace as it fights to become the world's top-selling automaker.

After thriving for decades with an evolutionary model for product development, a struggling Honda has made the risky move of a clean-sheet redesign of its 2013 Accord sedan.

Even after Hyundai's best August ever, its dealers are painfully aware that they could sell many more vehicles if the automaker could provide them. Aside from that annoying reality, Hyundai dealers and the factory are thriving with lean inventories.

So how do Volkswagen and Audi figure to hit their much talked-about U.S. volume target of a combined 1 million sales by 2018? One key is a big push into fast-growing crossover segments that the two brands largely have shunned.

The Ford Transit Connect, which we've all come to know in this market, will be undergoing major upgrades in its 2013 version. The Ford Transit, which is the most likely replacement for the Ford E Series (Econoline,) will also be making its entry in the market in 2013. Here are a few tidbits of vital information about these two models.

Two engine options will be available for the North-American market: a conventional EcoBoost 3.5 liter V6, as well as an optional diesel power plant, with both motor combinations powering the rear axle, and offering a selection of wheelbases and overall vehicle height. The Transit Connect is available in either short or long wheelbase versions, the latter offering the largest cargo capacity in its class, along with numerous innovative new options.

These two Transit models will be available for delivery in the North-American market in the third-quarter of 2013. Pricing information has yet to be released.

2013 Ford Transit Connect (Photo: Ford)

Pete Shepherd III earned his third NASCAR Canadian Tire Series win in the Wahta Springs 300 Sunday at Barrie Speedway in Ontario last weekend.

Shepherd was running third at the start of a green-white-checkered finish on the tight .333-mile oval when race leader Steve Matthews and second-place J.R. Fitzpatrick got together. The contact allowed Shepherd to slip by into the lead.

Pete Shepherd celebrates winning the Wahta Springs 300 Sunday at Barrie Speedway for his first NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 win of the season. (Photo: Matthew Manor/NASCAR)

Two-time series' champion Andrew Ranger took second, followed by Noel Dowler.

Steve Mathews, who won the pole position in qualifying earlier Sunday afternoon, dropped back to fourth. Dexter Stacey rounded out the top five.

Points leader D.J. Kennington, who encountered mechanical issues now has a 14-point advantage over Ranger and 18 over Fitzpatrick with two races remaining.

Martin Roy (90) gets loose and spins while leading the Wahta Springs 300 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 race at Barrie Speedway. (Photo: Matthew Manor/NASCAR)

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series returns to the track Saturday, September 15 in the penultimate race of the season for the Wilson Equipment 300 at Riverside International Speedway in Nova Scotia.

From GMM

Lotus team owner Gerard Lopez has moved to silence the persistent rumours about Kimi Raikkonen's future.

Recently, the impressive F1 returnee and Finn was linked with a switch next year to his former title-winning team Ferrari.

And now amid the Lewis Hamilton rumours, some have mentioned 32-year-old Raikkonen as the ideal successor, reprising his five-year McLaren career of 2002-2006.

Lotus team figures have, however, revealed that Raikkonen is on a two-year contract.

But, in F1, contractual situations are usually complicated, with drivers and teams often only obligated in the event of certain performance-related criteria.

Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) fifth at Monza. (Photo: WRi2)

Lopez told Finland's Turun Sanomat that Raikkonen is staying in 2013.

"At least in the short term, Kimi is with us. We have an agreement that is based on performance, and it has been fulfilled," he revealed.

Gerard Lopez acknowledged, however, that a team should not "force anyone" to race its cars "if they don't want to be with us".

In that case, "Kimi wants to be here, as does Romain Grosjean," the Luxembourgian entrepreneur insisted, "and we are happy with them too."

Lopez said he has not been surprised by the McLaren and Ferrari rumours.

"No," he answered. "This is F1. Sometimes the rumours are true, sometimes someone has just come up with it, based on nothing."

Robert Kubica's racing return in a italian rally this week end showed the extent of the Pole's injuries on his right arm.

Kubica, who entered the local italian rally Ronde Gomitolo di Landa driving a Subaru Impreza WRC, won the event with more than a minute over his closest rival.



But this return was also the occasion to see how much his right hand and arm suffered in the accident that put him away from racing last year.

Following local medias' report, Robert Kubica "does not have the full mobility of his right arm". The former F1 driver can steer the car with both hands, but the movements of his right arm are limited. Kubica held the winning trophy and the bottle of champagne only with his left arm, never using his right arm.

Davide Valsecchi wins race 2 at Monza, and pulls away in front of provisional classification, following his main rivals' troubles in Italy.

Valsecchi, who started from 3rd position on the grid, had a clean start and quickly moved in first position. He takes a brilliant win ahead of Fabio Leimer and Jolyon Palmer.

Valsecchi extends his lead in provisional championship classification, as Luis Razia, his main rival, took 16th position after he started 25th following a grid penalty after a collision with Fabio Leimer in race 1. Esteban Gutierrez went off the track in lap 3, while James Calado was only 14th.

The final rounds will be presented in Singapour on 22 and 23 September.

Davide Valsecchi, DAMS. (Photo: GP2 Series)

Monza - Race 2:
1 - Davide Valsecchi - Dams - 21 laps in 33'06"731
2 - Fabio Leimer - Racing Engineering - 0"444

3 - Jolyon Palmer - iSport - 7"873

4 - Stefano Coletti - Rapax - 10"787

5 - Johnny Cecotto - Addax - 10"953
6 - Max Chilton - Carlin - 11"418
7 - Marcus Ericsson - iSport - 11"606

8 - Julian Leal - Trident - 12"661
Etc.

Championship:
1. Valsecchi 229; 2. Razia 204; 3. Calado 160; 4. Gutierrez 152; 5. Chilton 144, etc.

Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato (Ferrari 458 No. 69) had the opportunity to clinch Grand-Am's GT title at Laguna Seca, and ceased it.

On top of their drivers' title, the pair brought home, thanks to their second place finish, the manufacturers title to AIM Autosport.

“As of right now the championship is clinched, but it certainly hasn't hit me yet,” Segal said. “It's certainly a tremendous accomplishment for our team AIM Autosport in their first year back in GT. With Ferrari in its first year back, it's just a tremendous day.”

Photo: Grand-Am Rolex

In front of Segal and Assentato, the race was won by Dane Cameron and Wayne Nonnmaker (Mazda RX-8 No. 43). Third place went to John Potter and Andy Lally (Porsche 911 GT3 No. 44).

In the Daytona Prototype category, Richard Westbrook and Antonio Garcia won, aboard their No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette, from Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette. It was strategy that put Westbrook and Garcia ahead when it mattered.

Photo: Grand-Am Rolex

As of right now, Ryan Dalziel and Alex Tagliani stand as third place finishers, but their No. 8 Ford/Riley, supposedly to wide, failed a post-race inspection. An announcement regarding a penalty is pending.

Photo: Grand-Am Rolex

Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has made it clear that engine supplier Renault had to solve the problem of the faulty alternators before the next Grand Prix in Singapore.

The alternator on Sebastian Vettel's car failed with just a handful of laps to run in Sunday's Grand Prix of Italy in Monza.

A lonely Sebastian Vettel walks back to his garage in Monza... (Photo: WRI2)

“A hugely disappointing race -- our first non-points scoring race since Korea 2010,” said Horner in a team press release.

“It was a repeat failure on Sebastian's car with the alternator and we need to look into it and work with Renault to ensure it doesn't happen again. It's already cost us a victory in Valencia and now a points-finish again here in Monza,” he said.

“We changed the alternator on Sebastian's car yesterday during FP3, but unfortunately we had the same failure in today's race,” said Cyril Dumonyt of Renault.

Remi Taffin, Renault Sport F1 head of track operations said in both cased, the alternator failed.

“We introduced a new spec' of alternator following the problems in Valencia and believed this would overcome the issues,” Taffin explained.

“We are still looking into why the part failed again here but we do know that even though the alternator was being operated entirely within the prescribed range, the part itself overheated and shut off the power supply. This is a priority between ourselves and our suppliers and we have to ensure we are fully on top of the problem before Singapore,” the engineer added.

Remi Taffin also explained that the failure is caused when the alternator's internal temperature gets too hot for it to be able to produce the electrical energy that the car requires.

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British driver Lewis Hamilton dominated Sunday's Grand Prix of Italy for McLaren, to score his first-ever win at motorsport's cathedral of speed and the team's third victory on the trot.

Behind him, however, Ferrari suffered the indignity of being beaten by a customer team on their home ground as Sergio Pérez got some payback for Malaysia with a superb drive which made the maximum of some excellent strategy by Sauber.

Photos: WRi2

A damage-limiting drive from Fernando Alonso saw the Spaniard survive an uncomfortable off-course moment in the Curva Grande which was deemed by the stewards to have been caused by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, whom Alonso was attacking at the time.

The Ferraris of Alonso and Felipe Massa finished third and fourth, garnering Ferrari 27 points to move them back to third place in the constructors' points table behind Red Bull and McLaren.

Jenson Button looked set for second until he lost drive on the back straight on the 33rd lap, the McLaren team diagnosing a fuel pick-up problem.

From GMM

Jean-Eric Vergne is unhurt after Sunday's incident at Monza.

Toro Rosso is investigating why the French rookie's Ferrari-powered car suddenly veered out of control at the end of Monza's front straight during the Italian grand prix.

The high-speed incident launched Vergne's car over a kerb, "And I count myself lucky that the car did not flip over", he said.

He did, however, land with a bump, and immediately complained on the radio of a sore back.

"I was taken from the accident to the medical centre," explained the 22-year-old, "but apart from a bit of pain in my back and my head, I am fine."

Jean-Eric Vergne aboard the flying Toro Rosso. (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM

Mark Webber's alternator survived the Italian grand prix because it was an "older" specification.

That is the claim of Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko, after reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel on Sunday suffered a repeat of his Saturday morning failure and failed to finish at Monza.

Sebastian Vettel, back to the Red Bull's garage, without his RB8. (Photo: WRi2)

"The part was from the latest specification (of alternator) that came after the similar failure in Valencia," Marko is quoted by Salzburger Nachrichten. "Webber had an alternator from an older specification that had no problem."

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport said engine supplier Renault, whose supply partner for the alternator is Magneti Marelli, is treating the problem as a priority.

"Since 2011 we have changed virtually nothing," said Renault's baffled Remi Taffin.

One glimmer of hope is that the Renault alternator used by Lotus' Jerome d'Ambrosio at Monza was showing early signs of failure, which could be useful for getting to the bottom of the mystery.

Arguably the bigger problem for Red Bull, however, is the recent lack of pace.

Former Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari said Monza was "the (team's) worst performance since 2008".

And yet another problem on Sunday was Vettel's penalty for driving Fernando Alonso off the track, even though a similar incident at Curva Grande a year ago was ignored by the stewards.

Was the FIA giving Ferrari a helping-hand at Monza on Sunday?

"I think not," Vettel, dismissing the conspiracy, told Bild newspaper.

Italian electronic company Magneti Marelli used the paddock of Autodromo di Monza last weekend to reveal some of their new hardware destined to run the new 1600cm3, V6 turbo engines in 2014.

Photo: WRI2

Magneti Marelli engineers started by showing their new ERS system -- an engine boost coming from the recovery of kinetic energy during braking associated with the energy coming from exhaust gases, both aimed at feeding the electrical motor-generators hooked up to the engine shaft).

Heat exhaust recovery system (Photo: WRI2)

Then, they unviled their new fuel systems (injectors and pumps for GDI engines with fuel pressure of up to 500 bar) as well as their two-way WI-FI systems for data transmission from vehicle to infrastructure (i.e., exchange of a much larger set of data and of different types of signals between machine and pit).

Different KERS components (Photo: WRI2)

In their press release, Magneti Marelli writes that the technology and methods used in developing the KERS system are a source of solutions and technological spin-offs for systems and components aimed at mass-produced hybrid and electric engines (moto-generators, electronic control systems, inverters, battery control, etc.).

An ever-increasing array of electric-vehicles are working their way into just about every auto-show, with this year's Mondial de Paris playing host to the e-XIV (electric-eXciting user Interface Vehicle) which has been developed by Korea's SsanYong Motor. The Korean automaker presented different versions of this same model in Frankfurt and Geneva last year.

This class electric B crossover is a range-extender hybrid: it utilizes a small gas-powered engine to re-charge the batteries, thus extending the vehicle's range. The e-XIV is equipped with an exclusive glass-paneled roof that offers a brighter passenger-compartment, while capturing all the available solar energy to further power the batteries.

SsanYong Motor has yet to release any further details about their concept vehicle; we will have to wait for the Mondial de l'auto de Paris to learn more.

e-XIV concept (Photo: SsangYong Motor)

e-XIV concept (Photo: SsangYong Motor)

In the automotive industry, the term “badge engineering” means multiplying versions of the same vehicle by simply changing a few appearance elements and slapping another badge on it.

When General Motors had up to nine divisions to feed simultaneously, it embraced badge engineering more than any other carmaker. Ten years ago, the GM group included Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Saab, and Saturn. They also had Geo and -- briefly in Canada -- Asuna.

Photo: General Motors

How can you sell products from nine divisions all at once? That's a lot of marketing efforts, advertising budgets, parts production, and dealer support. Quite a few divisions inevitably overlapped each other in regards to target audience.

Back in the '80s, I remember the Chevrolet Cavalier, the Pontiac J2000 and Sunbird, the Oldsmobile Firenza, the Cadillac Cimarron and the Buick Skyhawk as being more or less the same car ,but with different trim, equipment and logos on the grilles.

More recently, the Chevrolet Uplander, Pontiac Montana, Buick Terraza, Oldsmobile Silhouette, and Saturn Relay were easily identifiable as being near copycat minivans with distinct badging.

Today, the Chevrolet Traverse, Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and (now retired) Saturn Outlook differ only by unique front and rear fascias, however, their powertrains and equipment levels are virtually comparable.

In Canada, all GM products are now sold under the same roof. Would you choose a Chevy Silverado or a GMC Sierra? A GMC Yukon Denali or a Cadillac Escalade? A Chevrolet Equinox or a GMC Terrain? What's the difference?

Wait. All these examples include a GMC product. If there's a division that still overlaps the others, it's GMC. Either scrap it, or make it the exclusive truck division.

In fact, when you look at the product lineup, the distinction between models that share similar platforms and powertrains, such as the upcoming 2013 Chevrolet Trax and Buick Encore mini-crossovers, boast a different look and feel. The buying public may never notice the similarities, and we can't really call that badge engineering. That's good.

The problem is still the number of models offered on one showroom floor. GM's 2013 model range will be composed of no less than 31 nameplates, and I'm not counting the various body styles. Many of them compete against each other. That's bad, not as much for the buying public, but for GM and its shareholders.