Merrill Lynch upgraded General Motors stock from neutral to buy this morning before trading opened on the New York Stock Exchange. This must be some of the best news the General has heard in a long time. Their stock is already up 7% (as of 11:23 a.m. EST). The upgrade is based on the buyout package GM recently offered to 30,000 employees.

Somewhere Al Gore is cringing. The third largest car market is about to get a bit bigger. The Chinese government reports that by 2010, 40 of every 1,000 citizens will own a car, compared to 24 per 1,000 today. While that sounds like a drop in the bucket compared to the 700 figure here in the U.S., it still adds up because of the sheer size of the country's population.

There's a new way for the law to nail you with a speeding ticket. In the often ignored construction zones in Illinois, state police are setting up surveillance vans with high-powered cameras that not only take a photo of the license plate, but also the driver of offending vehicles.

The excellent article in this morning's NYTimes details a plan to help wildlife avoid freeways. If they can't avoid them altogether, plans are in place to create bear overpasses and cougar underpasses.

It's all a part of effort called Y2Y, or Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, or in other words, Keep Deer Off of The Hood of My Car.

According to a new study funded by Piaggio (makers of the Vespa) 30% of U.S. consumers would be extremely or somewhat likely to consider using a motor scooter for their everyday transportation needs. According to the survey conducted in the first week of May of 2006, these individuals indicted a willingness to transfer 35% of their weekly mileage to a scooter.

The survey found that 33% of Americans would be likely to use a scooter to reduce emission harmful to the environment, 35% would be likely to use a scooter to save $25.00 a week on gasoline.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Toyota wants to move production of its hybrid-electric superstar, the Prius, to North America. Norihiko Shirouzu's article on page two of today's paper includes comments from Toyota Vice Chairman Fujio Cho, who reportedly wants to improve the efficiency of the Prius and move its assembly to North America to "(keep) up its current momentum."

Toyota is looking to cut the size of the hybrid-electric systems in the car by as much as 75% in total area. Wow.

Most aftermarket receivers with an LCD screen are huge affairs that much up the flow of the dashboard and center stack. After browsing through the Sunday paper circulars we found two from JVC's EXAD line that fit a small, 3.5 inches, screen set right into the front plate.

Press releases aren't generally that interesting. In fact they're downright boring and offer little actual meat to fill any story, or blog post. But yesterday GM announced that they would introduce 19 new, or significantly enhanced, powerplants for the 2007 model year.

A study released today by automotive consulting firm AutoPacific summarizes the results of its 2006 model year owner satisfaction research. AutoPacific's VSA (Vehicle Satisfaction Award) study is an industry benchmark for objectively measuring how satisfied an owner is with their new car or light truck.