Wildfire Motors is a vehicle company based out of Steubenville, Ohio. They sell scooters, motorcycles, ATVs and dirt bikes. Some of their vehicles are road-ready, too, but that doesn’t mean anyone should drive their three-wheel offerings. 

According to research firm Urban Science, a “normal” year for the amount of running car dealerships in the U.S. is losing two percent of all dealers. I don’t understand how that’s normal, especially in a country obsessed with growth, but I’ll take Urban Science’s word.

But 2011 was anything BUT normal. Last year, the number of dealerships jumped from 17,659 to 17,767, a ridiculous, off-the-charts 0.6% increase. Fiat contributed the most to the increase, with 135 new car emporiums. Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep added 50 of their own. Sales per dealership increased too, rising to 719 new cars sold off the lot. If this trend continues, 2012 will be the best year ever for auto dealerships.

Right now (thanks, Van Halen, for making that phrase musical every time it starts a sentence), this is a state-level issue, but it’s one that may be taken up federally, as electric vehicle use increases on our roadways. 

Our northern neighbors have been exporters of cannabis for some time, with their more liberal and open ways, their extensive natural space, and lack of anything to do other than play hockey and smoke pot. (It’s a terrible cliché, but has some truth, like most clichés.) So It’s not surprising that a Canadian research team from Dalhousie University has conducted a study on marijuana’s potential to cause accidents.

What the heck is going on with 2007 cars? Investigations were opened last week into Toyota Camrys and RAV4s from 2007 stemming from consumer complaints about driver’s side door fires. Only six customers have complained so far, but if the investigation uncovers a real threat, up to 830,000 vehicles may be affected.

I don’t think I’m tip-toeing out on much of limb here in assuming that if you’re reading this, you’re probably not in the market for a Bentley.

But it is a safe assumption to think that we’d all like to drive or own one of those finely-crafted Bentleys at some point. (If you disagree, you are lying directly through your teeth.) They look awesome. They drive awesome. They make you think of Charles Dickens. Even if you hated English class (or the English now), there’s something to the cars. Is it all about to change, though?

 Who knew? It only took a few short years to adapt Staples fictional “Easy” Button for real-world purposes. Evatran, a little company in Wythville, Virginia, has developed a Plugless Power (that’s the brand) wireless electric charging product for electric vehicles. There’s two components to the product; a little receiver that gets mounted on the underside of the electric vehicle, and the Plugless Power Easy Button:

When the federal government and its Department of Energy shell out $529 million to develop an eco-friendly plug-in hybrid vehicle, it’s wise to abide by those little rules and milestones in the loan agreement. Mostly because the government has an uncanny ability to create bad financial karma whenever they deem it necessary.

Chances are you watched the Super Bowl and saw how clutch the New York Giants’ Eli Manning is. Eli won the M.V.P, helping to pierce the heart of New England by ripping a tight-spiral bulls-eye right through Boston, Cambridge, Worcester and Portland, and further tarnishing the Belichick/Brady veneer. They are, without doubt, the most despised head coach/QB duo in NFL history. And quite the juxtaposition to the red-faced Coughlin and Eli Manning-faced Eli Manning.

New vehicle sales in the U.S. in January 2012 rose 11.4% from January 2011, signaling a whole bunch of things. The industry’s annual selling rate climbed above 14 million, indicating that maybe, maybe, the U.S. will sell 14 million new cars this year. Which would be a considerable giraffe-sized improvement from 2009 annual sales of 10.4 million. 

According to independent research by MSNBC, the Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time. 37.5 million of those 4-cylinder sedans have made their way around towns and cities, traveled on highways and frost-heaved avenues, and driven through little German villages and Pennsylvania suburbs since 1966.