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For visitors to London and locals alike, the MINI Baker Street’s name will be synonymous with the address of a certain fictional hero. It is 125 years since Sherlock Holmes author, Arthur Conan Doyle, released his first story with the master detective in the title role.

Now playing on more than 18,000 movie screens nationwide now and at YouTube.com/Kia the spot, titled "Drive the Dream," features the 2012 Optima Limited, which races through a Gen X couple's wildest thoughts as they sleep, including: Victoria's Secret® Angel Adriana Lima waving the checkered flag at a speedway; an in-your-face Motley Crue concert; mixed martial arts legend Chuck Liddell battling in the ring; a heroine and hunk on horseback in a romance novel setting; champion bull rider Judd Leffew taming a bucking rhinoceros; and a fairy tale ending.

To appreciate the impact of the introduction of the two-seater from Mazda, you have to understand what the state of affairs of affordable, lightweight sports cars was in the late eighties. In fact, the list of small, affordable sports cars that followed the trail blazed by GIs returning home from World War Two in Europe and entertained American drivers from the early 1950’s had largely disappeared by the mid-eighties.

Courtesy of parent company Fiat, Jeep has managed to acquire two new very high-profile owners.

Winners to be announced at the 2012 New York Auto Show

Although the term “Mopar” as it relates to parts for Chrysler vehicles has been bandied about since the 1920’s, it appears as though Chrysler LLC officially recognizes 1937 as the year of the founding of the division. We know this because we’re good at arithmetic and the Auburn Hills-based company has announced that this year Mopar will mark its 75th anniversary.

Beginning next month, Ford new car dealers in the U.K. will be able to offer buyers the option of ordering a Focus with the Dearborn-based manufacturer’s smallest engine, a 1.0-liter turbocharged, direct injection gasoline engine.

The Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) presented Ford truck team members with the prestigious Truck of Texas trophy at an awards luncheon inside Reliant Center – home of the 2012 Houston Auto Show. TAWA named the 2012 Ford F-150 Truck of Texas after the annual Truck Rodeo in October. The nearly three-feet-tall trophy now travels to Kansas City Assembly Plant in Missouri, where the award-winning truck is built.

Honda delivered a 2013 Fit EV battery-electric vehicle to the city of Torrance on January 20th as one of the first major steps in the Honda Electric Vehicle Demonstration Program, a prelude to the retail market launch of the Fit EV with customers in California and Oregon this summer.

For 2012, Green Car Journal chose from a field of five vehicles: the BMW i3, Cadillac ELR, Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell, and Tesla Model S. Although all five have one thing in common, electric drive, they differ in the way electricity is delivered to their storage batteries - hydrogen fuel cell, battery electric, extended range electric, and plug-in hybrid power.