The 2013 model year brings some updates for the Buick Regal sedan, namely a new automatic transmission option and the discontinuation of the 2.4-liter base model.

The new Aisin AF40 six-speed automatic with Driver Shift Control will be available as a no-cost option instead of the existing six-speed manual gearbox on the 270HP Regal GS. Buick says that acceleration matches the manual with an estimated 0-60 mph sprint time of 6.7 seconds.

General Motors' efforts to revitalize its Buick passenger and GMC truck divisions are not only limited to updating each brands vehicle lineup but also extend to refreshing their joint dealerships across the country.

The program includes a new exterior façade with updated signage, brighter and more comfortable showrooms with a customer greeting station as well as a lounge with free WiFi, while some dealers plan to go the extra mile and add a café or salon into the mix.

In Europe, the most popular model in terms of sales in 2011 was the aging Volkswagen Golf with 485,547 units followed by the VW Polo and the Ford Fiesta, while in the United States, Ford's F-Series took first place with 584,917 units and was trailed by the Chevy Silverado and the Toyota Camry.

In China, while the overall top sellers continue to be commercial microvans, the bestselling passenger model for 2011 was the Buick Excelle with 254,000 units, according to data provided by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Car manufactures always try to devise new ways to get the most publicity out of launching a new product. Sending a press release and some images, or pulling the wraps off at a motor show, is simply not enough.

For the all-new Buick Encore, GM chose to reveal pieces of a puzzle that completed an image of the vehicle. Yet, even though we could see most of it, the final piece that was missing fell into place today at the Detroit Auto Show.

The one thing we knew for sure after the manufacturing disruptions in Japan caused by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami was that Lexus wasn’t going to top the premium segment in the U.S. market for the first time in a decade. In fact, we also knew something else, the two contenders to the throne: BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

What we didn’t know up until Thursday is which of two brands was going to win, since both were caught in a neck-to-neck sales race. Going into December the gap was so small - less than 1,600 cars- that the win could go either way.

The soon-to-be launched 2013 Buick Encore showed its face today with the release of the third photo of GM's Facebook puzzle.

There's only one image left for the full reveal but for the most part (three-quarters to be precise...), we now know what to expect from the five-passenger model that will make its public debut at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit in less than a week's time.

Buick has released the second from a total of four teaser shots that will uncover the new 2013 Encore small crossover ahead of its world premiere at next month's Detroit Motor Show.

The two teasers confirm our suspicions that the Encore is based on a similar model being prepared by Opel and which our spy shooters caught testing in Europe earlier this year.

So you thought General Motor's second teaser of the 2013 Buick Encore would actually show us the CUV, did you? Well, it doesn't. All we get is a glimpse of the Encore's hood.

You'll have to wait a few more days to get a meaningful preview of the small crossover model when the Detroit brand reveals the second of a total of four pictures on its official Facebook page.

It was long overdue, but it was bound to happen: the company lawyers named Motors Liquidation Co. but which we came to know as "old GM" during the 2009 government bailout period, died on Thursday, December 15.

Though it had a very long lifespan of 103 years, no one really noticed its demise. After all, this was just U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerbert signing the death certificate. Giving birth to the “new GM” two years ago was a very painful process – and one that most of those involved would like to forget.

It meant the sacrifice of three of its brands (Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn) and getting rid of another (Saab, which ironically is now in a similar position), closing 13 plants along with 900 dealerships. GM also had to reduce its U.S. workforce from 91,000 to 68,500 employees, which either way, is a far cry from the 525,000 workers it had in the States and another 100,000 outside the country in 1955.

General Motors has just announced that its new Buick crossover model that will debut at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month will be named Encore, confirming previous speculations.

The company also published a cropped image of the 2013 Buick Encore giving us a glimpse of what’s to come, with the promise to release more photos over the next few weeks.

Oscar Wilde famously said that “to get back to my youth I would do anything in the world except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable”.

Sadly, the 19-century novelist and poet is no longer among us to reveal if buying a car to remind him of his youth, no matter how far behind the competition it is, would be one of the sacrifices he would or wouldn’t be willing to make.

A survey by TrueCar.com reveals that cars bought by people aged 65 and above in the States belong mostly to domestic brands they remember from their youth, such as Cadillac, Lincoln and Buick.

The annual list of Ward's 10 Best Engines of the year has been released. The magazine's editors chose the winners after spending October and November driving 36 vehicles with 34 of those featuring new or significantly upgraded powerplants.

To be eligible to participate in the competition, Ward's states that "each engine must be available in a regular-production U.S.-specification model on sale no later than first-quarter 2012, in a vehicle with a base price below $55,000".

As we're nearing closer to the 2012 edition of the North American International Auto Show [NAIAS], more details are coming out on the new models that will make their debut in the city of Detroit.

Last week, General Motors told us that it is preparing four-world premieres for Detroit including the 2013 Cadillac ATS premium sports sedan, but declined to elaborate on the other vehicles.

However, the Detroit Free Press is reporting today that GM spokeswoman Stephanie Rice said that the other three world premieres will be a "global production Buick crossover" and two never before-seen Chevrolet concepts.

With the press days over at the Tokyo Motor Show, automakers are now turning their focus on the next big automotive event, which is the 2012 North International Auto Show that takes place in Detroit from January 10 to 23.

Today, we learned that General Motors is planning four world premieres but for now, the company will only tell us about one of the vehicles it will bring to Detroit, the 2013 Cadillac ATS, which is aimed squarely at the entry-level premium sedan segment rivaling the likes of the new BMW 3-Series and the Lexus IS.

The first-generation of Buick's Riviera coupe series is considered by many to be a styling icon of the 1960s and one of the best creations made under the tenure of legendary GM head designer, Bill Mitchell, who had replaced Harley Earl in 1958.

General Motors launched the razor-sharp Riviera onto the market in late 1962 (as a 1963 model) to take on the wildly successful Ford Thunderbird, which it managed to compete but never surpass in sales.

As typical of the time, each year brought several design changes to the original body. This particular example found on eBay is from 1965, which was the last year for the first generation Riviera.

It’s one of the most famous engine series in the world with a history spanning close to six decades. We're talking about General Motors' small block that was first introduced by Chevrolet in 1955 and which celebrates today its 100 million production milestone.

Fittingly, the landmark small block is a hand-built, 638-horsepower supercharged LS9 V8 that will find its way under the hood of a Corvette ZR1. The force-fed LS9 is the most powerful engine ever to be installed in a regular-production Chevrolet or GM vehicle.

You'll have to look really hard to see what's conceptual about Buick's latest study that's based on the 2012 LaCrosse sedan and which will go on display at the Los Angeles Auto Show on November 16 through 27.

That's because the LaCrosse GL Concept is more of a luxed-up version of the standard model than anything else.

David Lyon, Buick's executive director of design explains: “The design cues that already distinguish the production LaCrosse – such as the premium leather-upholstered seats, ice blue ambient lighting and soft touch surfaces – are amplified in the GL and serve as inspiration for future Buick models.”

Consumer Reports has published its 2011 annual auto survey in which the main point of interest, as the report states, is a sharp decline in Ford’s so far “solid reliability record”: the Detroit carmaker dropped 10 places in the overall reliability ranks.

According to CR's survey, which is based on responses from 1.3 million vehicles owners, Ford’s drop from 10th to 20th place among 28 carmakers can be attributed to two main factors. The first is that all three of Ford’s new models, i.e. the Explorer, Fiesta and Focus, scored below average in reliability in their first year on the market.