Auto News 5

Where I live, the prices at the gas station all start with the number 4, and the alarmist local TV station is speculating that gasoline could reach $5 a gallon by this summer. All of that means demand for small cars should remain strong; but some small cars are likely to benefit more than others, as I expect that buyers will increasingly scrutinize EPA numbers, and those small cars that can post big digits will be the biggest winners.

Buick has a surprisingly efficient and smooth-driving machine in the LaCrosse eAssist. The LaCrosse's large size doesn't do much to change the perception that Buick is for older customers, but there's a reasonably up-to-date infotainment system inside, and the exterior styling is far more radical than Buicks of a few years ago.

The Maxima is a storied nameplate, at least at Nissan. It's actually older than the Nissan name in the United States, as it dates back to the Datsun days. For a long time, the Maxima enjoyed a reputation as a fast, comfortable, sporting machine, back when most Japanese sedans were depressing econo-boxes. Years ago, it was advertised as "the four-door sports car." Recently, Nissan has resurrected that claim. But is that still the case?

Fuel economy is typically a sore subject when it comes to pickup trucks. These beasts of burden have typically been sold based on their towing or payload capacities, with fuel economy hardly entering the discussion. Now that fuel is back in the $4 per gallon range, you can bet truck ads will be prominently displaying fuel economy figures. And Chrysler promises to have the best fuel economy in this segment with the 2013 Ram 1500.

Rumors about the return of the seven-passenger Hyundai Santa Fe have been floating around for quite a while. While we expected the 2013 Santa Fe midsize crossover to grow in just about every dimension to better fit a third row, Hyundai is also debuting the 2013 Santa Fe Sport, a smaller five-passenger model with an optional turbocharged four-cylinder engine.

According to Lexus, customers have been asking for an edgier and sportier version of the popular RX crossover. With the 2013 Lexus RX F Sport, their wish, so says the automaker, has been granted.

The current Acura RL may technically be Acura's largest, most expensive offering, but as the midsize TL range has grown in terms of size and sophistication, the supposed flagship of the Acura brand hardly offers anything its more mainstream sibling doesn't.

The Volkswagen Alltrack concept is a raised, all-wheel-drive station wagon, and you're correct in thinking we've seen this recipe before. The Subaru Outback is also an all-wheel-drive wagon that tries to bridge the gap between sedan and SUV. Volkswagen's take on that idea, the Alltrack concept, makes its debut at the New York auto show.

Nissan paved the way for mass-market electric cars with the Leaf hatchback, and now luxury division Infiniti will launch a more powerful and more refined electric sedan based on the Leaf. Shown in concept form at the 2012 New York auto show, the Infiniti LE closely foreshadows a production electric car.

Barry Manilow’s 1970s hit song “Looks Like We Made It” wasn’t blaring from the loudspeakers on the Chrysler stand at the Javits Center in Manhattan today, but it might as well have been. There was no better way for Chrysler to announce to the world that it’s back from the brink, it’s made it through its bankruptcy and painful restructuring, and it fully expects to thrive than by taking the wraps off the 2013 SRT Viper at the 2012 New York Auto Show. After all, imagine how unlikely a new Viper was only three years ago, when Chrysler almost went out of business altogether. If the company survived, bread-and-butter products like family sedans, crossovers, and pickup trucks would, naturally, have to command the bulk of product-development dollars. How could there possibly be interest in something as indulgent as a low-volume, expensive, high-performance sports car?