We obsessively cover the auto industry…

Financial Times reports China may build more vehicles than Europe next year for the first time in the history of the automotive industry. All told, manufacturers in China are projected to produce 19.6 million light vehicles this year compared to the 18.3 million slated to be built in Europe. The numbers come from figures compiled from five analyst groups by Financial Times, including IHS, LMC Auto and PwC consultancies, as well as UBS and Credit Suisse banks. As the report highlights, Europe's numbers include countries like Turkey and Russia.

Those nations will help push Europe to produce around 20 percent of vehicles manufactured worldwide, down from 35 percent in 2001 and 50 percent in 1970. Meanwhile, China continues to enjoy a production boom, with the country expected to build 10 times the number of vehicles it did in 2000. In 2013, China is projected to account for 23.8 percent of global light vehicle production.

Hyundai's Blue Link and Kia's UVO infotainment systems will be adding three Google features: Send2Car, Point of Interest Search and Local Search by Voice. Send2Car lets travelers send destinations to their vehicle's navigation system from a computer or via a mobile phone app, and the POI and local searches are continuously updated in Google Places' database. The new data service integrations mean that drivers will have more access to more destinations and be able to find them more quickly.

Hyundai hasn't said when the new features will debut nor on what model. Kia buyers will find them introduced on the 2014 Kia Sorento expected to roll into dealerships shortly, with the Forte sedan following. You'll find a press release on the updates below.

After the turmoil of last year, 2013 is getting off to a much better start for Mazda. The company has issued a release indicating that the forthcoming plant in Salamanca, Mexico has had its production capacity raised even though it isn't scheduled to go online until March 2014. The original plans called for a 140,000-unit capacity, 90,000 of that allotted for the Mazda2 and Mazda3, the remaining 50,000 for a small car Mazda would build for Toyota that would be based on the Mazda2. The new plans call for raising that by 90,000 units to a total of 230,000 units within two years, by the end of March 2016, and it looks like it will all go toward Mazda production to satisfy growing demand for Skyactiv vehciles. The Mexican plant's opening will be the return of Mazda manufacturing to North America, after Mazda6 production was moved back to Japan last year.

More good news for the company is that it projects 10 billion yen ($114 million) in net income for the financial year that will end in March. That would be a welcome turnaround from the 100-billion-yen loss in the previous financial year, part of a series of three annual losses in a four-year span.

You'll find the press release with the factory update below.

With only 77 (or maybe 76) examples of the Aston Martin One-77 on the earth, the only thing rarer than the car itself are reviews or test drives of it. Evo Magazine, however, recently had the opportunity to slide behind the wheel of the limited-production Aston Martin supercar. In what it claims to be a world-exclusive, Evo not only got to drive the One-77, but it did so along some incredible roads in North Wales.

Coming in at a cool $1.87 million, we're happy to hear that the car drives as well as it looks. The video does a great job of providing plenty of in-depth information on the car as well as some killer driving shots that really let us hear the car's exhaust note. Considering that we usually only see this car gleaming under the lights of an auto show, the best part of the video might, in fact, be the closing shots showing the sea foam green, super exotic covered in road grime.

If you get jealous easily, you might want to skip this video, but everyone else should check it out below.

Watching a small fire that no one can stop from becoming a big fire is like watching a train wreck in Super Slo-Mo. That is the spectacle we get from a rural two-lane road in Poland when a transporter truck hauling seven Volkswagen Passat wagons catches flame.

The cause appears to be some sort of tire or axle failure on the trailer that starts a small fire under one of the cars. For unknown reasons, no one among the bystanders has a fire extinguisher, so they try to put the flames out with snow. That doesn't work, and then when it takes 12 minutes for the volunteer fire department to arrive in their vintage Mercedes-Benz pump and get the first stream of water shooting – almost five minutes before the state fire department – the conflagration is big enough to cook cattle and s'mores for Zeus.

The transporter inferno is on the long side at 23 minutes, but you'll find it all in the video below.

Other than the announcement back in September that the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series were merging, there have been precious few details as to how the newly combined series would shake out. Today, both entities helped clear things up a bit by announcing some of the new classification changes that will go into effect for the 2014 Rolex 24, changes that are confirmed through the 2015 season.

The names for the new classes (or the new series as a whole) have yet to be released, but the breakdown goes like this:

• The ALMS P1 prototype class (pictured above) has been eliminated
• Grand-Am Daytona Prototype and ALMS P2 classes will be merged
• Nissan Deltawing will compete in this merged class
• ALMS Prototype Challenge will remain a separate class
• Grand-Am and ALMS GT classes will continue to run separate cars and classes
• The future of the Grand-Am's new GX class sounds unsure after this year, with it either becoming part of the ALMS GT class or becoming its own separate class

Right off the bat, this suggests we will no longer see LMP1 cars like the Audi R18 TDI or Lola racecars in the US, though we still don't know what sort of rule changes there will be for the Prototype and GT classes (and we wouldn't be surprised to see these competitors end up in a different class). Despite losing the LMP1 cars (which currently runs hybrid and diesel racecars), both organizations look to include more "green technologies." We already know the new ALMS GX class will feature 2014 Mazda6 with a Skyactiv-D diesel engine under the hood.

For more information about the newly combined road racing series, check out the press release by scrolling below.

The all-electric 2013 Fiat 500e probably won't turn a profit, but that doesn't mean Fiat and Chrysler engineers haven't done a good job ramping up the hatchback's fuel economy numbers. Chrysler has just announced that the little EV has been rated at 116 Miles Per Gallon Equivalent (MPGe) combined. The EV will get 122 MPGe in the city, and highway efficiency is rated at 108 MPGe. As for range – which of course varies greatly in the real world – the official number is an impressive 87 miles.

To compare, other small EVs have been rated this way (combined/city/highway):

• 2013 Smart ED: 107/122/93 MPGe and a 68-mile range
• 2013 Scion iQ EV: 121/138/105 MPGe and a 38-mile range
• 2013 Honda Fit EV: 118/132/105 MPGe and a 82-mile range
• 2013 Mitsubishi i: 112/126/99 MPGe and a 62-mile range
• 2012 Nissan Leaf: 99/106/92 and a 73-mile range

That means that the 2013 Fiat 500e has (for now, at least) more range and highway MPGe than any other vehicles in its class. Some larger EVs can go further, of course. The official EPA fuel consumption rate is 29 kilowatt hours (kWh) per 100 miles thanks to an efficient 111-horsepower electric motor. Charging the 24-kWh battery should take less than four hours from a 240-watt Level 2 source. The EV goes on sale, in California, at least, in the second quarter of 2013, and we already know the car will get a sexy introduction to the masses.

In a move likely to cause an uproar across Portland-area coffeehouses, Oregon's state legislature is again considering instituting a per-mile tax on super-fuel-efficient cars and electric vehicles. The state is looking to recuperate revenue lost because more fuel efficient vehicles on the road result in fewer dollars being collected from gas taxes.

According to the Associated Press, Oregon may write a bill that would apply a mileage tax to vehicles getting at least 55 miles per gallon. Lawmakers would track a car's mileage with technology such as a smartphone application or GPS data. No rates have been proposed, and lawmakers may simplify things by offering a flat annual fee instead of vehicle tracking, the AP says.

Oregon has been proposing such a measure for the past decade or so, though the most recent attempt at such a law was rejected in 2011. One bill proposed applying a 1.2-cent per-mile tax. That would equal out to $144 a year for 12,000 miles a year of driving. A few years ago, Oregon tested a GPS-based system that was accurate and reportedly did not encroach too deeply into personal privacy. It collected data all the time, but only connected to a network to transmit data when the vehicle was refueled.

Next door, Washington State's electric-vehicle owners will start being assessed a $100 fee tacked onto their vehicle's registration this year. National mileage taxes have been discussed, but never very seriously.

Not too long ago, the idea of doing a backflip seemed almost impossible on two wheels let alone four, but now the stunt is routinely performed using everything from dirtbikes to monster trucks. Now Mini is getting into the game by attempting to perform a backflip with French stuntman Guerlain Chicherit behind the wheel of a highly modified Countryman, which it claims is the first-ever attempt at doing so with a car.

Another unique element of the jump that Mini is claiming is in regards to the ramp. Past automotive backflips, including Rhys Millen's 2009 jump to ring in the New Year, have used special ramps that help rotate the car, but the ramp Chicherit uses is "unassisted" and the backflip is attempted using only "a gas pedal and a prayer" according to a Mini spokesman for the event.

The video posted below is only a teaser showing the car launch up into the air, but while we have to wait until February 10 to see the final result, it sounds like the landing was a success. According to the Chicherit's Facebook page, practice for the stunt took 18 months of work with "lots of crashes."

Ten years ago, Rolls-Royce opened its Goodwood manufacturing facility and handed over the keys to the very first Phantom. Back then, parent company BMW was cranking out Phantom sedans at the blistering pace of one unit per day. By the end of 2003, that number had tripled, and today, the Goodwood plant builds a total of 20 Phantoms in sedan, coupe, drophead and extended-wheelbase models during a single day's working hours. Originally, there were fewer than 400 workers on staff responsible for hand-building the big cruisers, but now the plant boasts over 1,400 craftsmen, with 100 of those positions added in 2012 alone.

Rolls-Royce boasts one of the lowest staff turnover rates of any brand in the industry, thanks in part to a successful apprenticeship and internship program, and the company notes 80 percent of its workers live within 15 miles of the facility. You can read the full press release on the 10th anniversary of both the Phantom and the Goodwood plant below.

Tesla has been facing resistance from dealer associations with its factory-owned dealerships since the start-up automaker first started selling cars, but it won another big case in Massachusetts when a judge dismissed a lawsuit brought on by the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association (MSADA). According to Automotive News, the case was dismissed after the judge said the association "lacked standing to sue" despite the fact that MSADA executive vice president quotes the state law as saying, "A factory cannot own a store."

The latest lawsuit follows a similar suit from back in October where the MSADA attempted to prevent Tesla from opening a store in a suburban Boston mall; the electric car maker received approval to open another store in Natick, MA, which brought on this second lawsuit. It's unlikely this is the last we've heard about this issue in Massachusetts and in other states, but Tesla seems to be coming out victorious in each case so far. While laws pertaining to dealerships vary state to state, factory-owned dealers are usually noncompliant with state law – a lesson Chrysler learned back in 2011.

The best-selling vehicle in all the land last year was, of course, the Ford F-Series pickup. If our math is correct, that makes its string of sales crowns 31-years long. While last year's performance of 645,316 units sold is far from the 900,000+ sold in 2001, 2004 and 2005, it was still enough to best the F-150's main competitor and second-best-selling vehicle of 2012, the Chevrolet Silverado, plus that truck's twin, the GMC Sierra, combined.

This year's list of the top 10 best-selling vehicles in the US doesn't hold a lot of surprises, but there are a few items to note. Look closely and you'll see that the Toyota Camry, long America's best-selling car, nearly overtook the Silverado for the list's second spot. Last year was probably the Camry's best shot, as an all-new Silverado and Sierra will go on sale soon and likely put first runner-up honors out of reach.

There were two vehicles bumped from the list year: the Ford Fusion and Chevrolet Cruze. The Cruze made its first and only appearance on the list in 2011, but strong competition from redesigned competitors like the Honda Civic, which reappears on the list for 2012, kept its sales flat. The Fusion's absence is also likely due to its fiercely competitive segment. Redesigned for 2012 and with more production capacity than ever before, however, could see it on next year's list.

Scroll down to see the rest of this past year's best-selling vehicles.

General Motors may see a loss of $918 million should a bankruptcy judge rule certain hedge funds were favored over other investors during the automaker's 2009 restructuring. A trust representing a number of unsecured creditors has sued to undo a lock-up agreement that saw hedge funds receive around $367 million while other creditors were left to recover a slim fraction of their original investments. The creditors claim the agreement was unfair and that it took place after after the bankruptcy filing. That means the deal would have been subject to scrutiny by bankruptcy courts.

But both GM and the hedge funds maintain the lock-up agreement was sealed before the bankruptcy took place, meaning it isn't subject to judge approval. Judge Robert Gerber held several days of trial between August and October and a ruling is expected early this month. Should Gerber rule in favor of the trust, GM will have to pay up on a loan of almost $1 billion owed by GM Canada to a Nova Scotia lender.

Mazda is getting serious about showing off the Skyactiv-D turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine in the Mazda6. The automaker has just announced it will campaign three diesel Mazda6 racers in the Grand-Am GX class of the upcoming 2013 Rolex 24 at Daytona in a quest to walk away with the company's 24th class win. Mazda partnered with SpeedSource to develop the race version of the new sedan, with Japanese and American engineers lending a helping hand where needed. Meanwhile, Freedom Autosport and Visit Florida Racing/SpeedSource/Yellow Dragon Racing will helm teams of their own.

Each car will make use of a five-driver team for the 24-hour race on January 26. In the interim, you can check out the full press release below for more information as well as the full driver roster. Mazda says we can expect to see the No. 70 SpeedSource car under the lights at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show later this month, as well.