Was there no parting blog entry from Chris Paukert? How did all
of a sudden he just left Winding Road to work for AutoBlog again? Even
John McElroy was misinformed when Chris went on his live webcast on
Autoline Detroit's website. He originally stated "Chris Paukert from
Winding Road will be here," and I'm sure Chris corrected him on the
live webcast because he was saying he worked for AutoBlog. There was a
welcome blog on AutoBlog's website, but I'm wondering why Chris
Paukert left Winding Road. There was no indication that he was leaving

The end of the year is always a time for reflection on the twelve months that have just passed. Changing the yearly calendar gives a sense of refreshment and is a time for new resolutions and goals. In the automotive world, we journalists reflect upon the cars we've driven and reviewed throughout the year, and we at Winding Road came up with our list of the Twelve Cars We Loved In 2008.

Thus, as our final QOTD for 2008, we want to know what vehicle you loved the most this year. Let us know your choices, in comments, and let us know what you think of our choices, as well.

+ Winding Road's Dynamic Dozen: Twelve Cars We Loved This Year

Even though Toyota expects to post its first operating loss in over seventy years, it still looks to be on track to out-sell every other automaker in the United States for the second year in a row.

The Detroit Free Press reports that even if Scion's 109,777 sales are excluded, Toyota still leads the industry with 1.7 million car and truck sales through November of this year. Toyota first took over the Number One spot last year when it topped Chevrolet by 41,296 vehicles, for a total of 2.3 million cars and trucks sold.

When reached for comment, George Pipas at Ford notes that "In times like these, who's on first is less important than who's still on the team, meaning who's still selling cars and trucks." On the other hand, the Freep also reports that Toyota won't be flaunting its top honors, with Toyota's Mike Michels saying, "We don't find that it's a very strong motivation for customers."

+ Detroit Free Press: Toyota to stay top seller in U.S.

We told you yesterday that Ford will be unveiling its new Park Assist technology on the Lincoln MKS and upcoming MKT, but the folks at FoMoCo have now released a video showing their new Park Assist in action, hosted by Ford's chassis chief engineer, Ali Jammoul.

+ YouTube (via Jalopnik)

http://www.toyotainthenews.com/top-10-toyota-truck-accessories-for-the-holidays/

Don't ever do this.

That being said, check out this guy who did it.

While the peril of parallel parking may not make sense to a Honda Fit or Kia Spectra owner, it's not always easy to back up that seven-passenger crossover into the little street-side space. Lexus introduced a camera-assisted self-park system for the large LS sedan, and now more and more automakers are adding more cameras and mirrors to their products. Ford is no different, and they've come up with their own self-park system set to debut on the Lincoln MKS and MKT next summer.

Unlike the Lexus' cameras, Ford's system uses ultrasonic sensors placed around the vehicle. The sensors measure the distance between cars to determine if there is enough space and then the system operates the steering wheel accordingly, while giving instructions to the driver about operating the gas and brake, and moving from drive to reverse. Ford says that they believe this system will trump the Lexus system in terms of reliability.

Click through the post for Ford's press release and stay tuned for the Lincoln MKT's live reveal on January 12th.

Following last year's rather sedate (yet to-the-point) Super Bowl advertisements for the Genesis Sedan, Hyundai will be showing a new set of ads to promote the upcoming Genesis Coupe during this year's Bowl. The set of commercials will be titled "The Epic Lap," shot at Road Atlanta featuring some professional precision driving by Pike's Peak record holder Rhys Millen. The musical score for this event will be performed by none other than award-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma, performing Bach's "Cello Suite #3 in C, Gigue."

Hyundai reports that during the three total days of filming, the Genesis Coupe was in top form, saying that the only piece of equipment that needed replacing was a new set of tires. We're eager to get some drive time in the Genesis Coupe, ourselves, but in the meantime, we'll be sure to look for Hyundai's ads come Super Bowl Sunday.

Click through the post for all of the details in Hyundai's official press release.

Things are going to be rather quiet around the NextAutos office for the next few days, as we'll be taking some time off to relax over the holidays. Thus, don't expect to hear much from us for the rest of this week, unless some breaking news presents itself before Monday, which is always a possibility. In the meantime, be sure to read our review of the 2009 Nissan 370Z and scroll down through our news page to see the latest in Detroit Auto Show previews.

From all of us here at Winding Road Magazine and NextAutos, we wish you and yours a safe and cheerful holiday!

BMW of North America has issued a recall for 28,450 Mini Cooper S cars made in model years 2007 and 2008. Why? The tailpipes. Yep, the center exhaust on the Cooper S stick out too far past the rear bumper and may prove to be a threat to innocent pedestrians. If the tailpipe is hot and someone walks by, they could unknowingly burn themselves.

The whole thing seems a bit silly, but Cooper S owners will need to take their cars into their local Mini dealer to have the tailpipes replaced. The recall is set to begin in January of next year.

+ Kicking Tires: Recall Alert: 2007-08 Mini Cooper S