The Saleen name is one of the best-known in the Ford tuning world, and despite his recent break with the Saleen, Inc. company he founded in 1983, Steve Saleen’s new SMS Supercars project is going strong with a new range of 2010 Mustangs. Dubbed the 2010 Signature Series SMS 460 Mustang, the new cars will feature massive power plus thoroughly upgraded components for handling and appearance to match.

All of the Signature Series Mustangs will be fully certified and street-legal according to SMS, despite offering outputs ranging from 475hp (354kW) to over 650hp (485kW).

Saleen Gurney Signature Edition Mustang

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The super-Focus Americans have been lusting after for years recently received an update to the all-new Focus platform, and now it has been priced for UK consumption. Previous estimates had the Focus RS going on sale in Europe at €39,000 (,200), but the official figures released today put the car at a much more palatable £24,995, or about ,100.

While the UK pricing won’t translate directly into every market in Europe, prices on the British Isles are typically roughly comparable to those on the mainland.

Ford Focus RS Concept

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The precipitous drop in new vehicle sales in the U.S. has hit SUVs and trucks the hardest with small cars and hybrids rapidly gaining market share. That up-tick in share isn’t enough to offset the overall slump in volume, however, as even Toyota has decided to put off U.S. production of the Prius due to the slowdown.

A plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi, currently under construction, will be finished anyway, since it is 90% complete. The decision has been taken to delay installation of the equipment required to actually build the cars, however, because there just isn’t enough demand to support the extra production, reports the Detroit Free Press.

“This likely means that start of production will be delayed.

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Though most of the world associates green with environmentally-friendly technologies, Mercedes and a few others use the color blue to denote their ecologically advanced vehicles and drivetrains. The latest development in the blue-themed line of Mercedes offerings will come at the 2009 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, where a trio of BlueZERO electric vehicle concepts will be shown. Today Mercedes has released even more info about the cars, including specifications.

Only the E-Cell has been revealed in pictures, but there will be three cars under the BlueZERO banner at the Detroit show.

Mercedes BlueZero Concepts

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BMW’s X6 has seemed to many observers - fans and foes alike - to be something of a car without a home. Not quite a sedan, and not quite an SUV, the X6 blends genres in a way that defies description. Now that MCCHIP has had its way with it, however, the X6, at least in ‘White Shark’ guise, is much closer to being described as a large sport sedan.

Boosting the diesel’s power to 340hp (254kW) and 487lb-ft (660Nm) of torque, the White Shark is 46hp (34kW) and 59lb-ft (80Nm) stronger than the standard BMW X6 xDrive35d.

BMW X6 White Shark by MCCHIP

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The Big Three Detroit carmakers are struggling right now, but their plans for the future are still bright, or at least optimistic - perhaps all the more so thanks to the focusing nature of the current crisis. As part of the Blue Oval’s future, the Fiesta small car will finally be making its way back to the U.S. as a 2011 model in early 2010, as confirmed by Ford today.

The new Fiesta is already off to a very strong start in Europe and the UK. “In the UK, the Fiesta’s market share for November was the highest since January 1998 for the nameplate, and the new Fiesta attracted 1,000 more retail British buyers than the previous model in November 2007,” said Ingvar Sviggum, vice president, marketing, sales and service, Ford of Europe.

Ford Fiesta Sedan

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The biennial Tokyo Auto Salon will feature a number of firsts from Mazda and many other carmakers, including a new range of ‘Circuit Trial’ track-ready concepts. The Tokyo show will be running in opposition to the similarly-timed Detroit Auto Show, explaining Mazda’s absence from the U.S. exhibition.

Mazda’s overall theme for the Tokyo show will be the rather ornate ‘Driving-oriented environmental technologies for endless driving pleasure’. The Circuit Trial cars, including the RX-8, Demio (Mazda2) and Atenza (Mazda6), will certainly land further toward the ‘endless driving pleasure’ end of the spectrum.

Only concepts so far, the Circuit Trial cars combine what Mazdaspeed’s tuners call “everyday driving comfort” with the right equipment for a fun and fast day at the track.

Mazda RX-8 Circuit Trial Concept

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Last week looked to be the week that the U.S. would come to an agreement on how to help bail out the auto industry, but the plans and funds evaporated amidst a flurry of political wrangling. In contrast, Canada’s lawmakers stayed on track, delivering a conditional CAD.5 billion (US.8 billion) industry aid package.

The .8 billion figure is exactly 20% of the billion that had been proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Canada picked that number because it aligns with the production percentage actually carried out in Canada, reports the Detroit Free Press.

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In a stunning development, the Bush administration released a statement late Friday stating that it was strongly considering using some of the money set aside for the 0 billion financial system bailout to help prop up America’s ailing automotive industry. Despite working through the weekend, however, President Bush this morning revealed that the plan wasn’t quite ready.

En route to Afghanistan from Iraq in a series of unannounced visits Bush told reporters aboard Air Force One, “We’re not quite ready to announce that yet,” according to a Reuters report.

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Nissan will be rewarding its commercial vehicle dealers with a number of vehicles that will not be available to dealers specializing solely in passenger vehicles. Apart from Nissan’s new range of light commercial vehicles, such as the NV2500-inspired truck that we reported on earlier, Automotive News reports that commercial dealers will likely get products such as small vans, wagons, pickups and even taxi models, expected to go on sale in 2010.

Joe Castelli, Nissan North America’s vice-president for light commercial vehicles stated Nissan will consider importing cars from Japan especially for commercial dealers, such as a van based on Nissan’s current small car platform that underscores models such as the Nissan Versa and Nissan Cube.

2009 Nissan NV2500 concept

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