That massive hunk of steel in your driveway is slowly corroding into obsolescence -- both figuratively and literally. About the time that rust finally eats through the floorboards of your shiny new 2012 model, you'll be able to purchase -- no, afford -- a plastic car.

Given his long, storied involvement in motorsports and the performance automobile industry, any biography on Carroll Hall Shelby likely contains several dozen chapters. Sadly, the final chapter in his life has come to a close: Shelby died late Thursday night in Dallas, Texas. He was 89 years old.

"I love cars, American cars. I was born in Detroit."

Features such as air conditioning, power windows, locks, and mirrors were once considered luxury amenities; the idea of having a cool cabin with the windows rolled up came from the stories of tomorrow. But that was decades ago. Given how long these creature comforts have been around, one would think that most manufacturers have made such technological advances standard equipment across the board, but that's not the case quite yet.

One year ago, Porsche chief Mattias Mueller let it known that a compact, open-top, two-seater would make a useful addition to the brand. Only nine months later, however, Herr Mueller stated that the time may not yet be right for such a new entry-level model. Misunderstanding, change of strategy, red herring? A bit of everything, it seems. Having spoken to the vehicle line chiefs from Weissach and to representatives of the supplier community, we are confident that proposed mid-engined project 551 has not been cancelled.

New-car sales were again solidly over the 14-million-unit annual rate in April, in another sign that the auto industry's nascent recovery has taken hold. GM joined Ford and Toyota in raising its forecast for full-year sales to the low 14-million range. That pace is up nicely from last year's 12.8 million, 2010's 11.6 million, and to 10.4 million total from recession-wracked 2009. However, it's still not quite at pre-crash levels, which often reached 16 million units.

If there's a water cooler at your place of business, the people who gather around it are probably talking about the price of gasoline. We don't blame them. The average price of a gallon of regular gas sold on February 5th was $3.43 but came in at $3.92 two months later. In many areas, it's now over $4 a gallon.

Once Audi's new Q crossover range strategy is in place, the brand will offer no fewer than seven different Q models. Says chairman of the board Rupert Stadler: "The SUV segment keeps on growing. This is a trend not only in China and North America, but also in Europe. Because Audi wants a share of the action, we are going to expand our crossover line-up."

Three years doesn't sound like a long time, but that's exactly how old the Audi Q5 is. Seeing as an all-new model is due for another three years, the time is ripe for a mid-cycle update -- and that's exactly what was bestowed upon the 2013 Audi Q5.

Volkswagen has met with doubt and derision for pursuing "strategy 2018." No one, not even VW chairman Ferdinand Piech, can simply mark a date on a calendar when the company might end up as the biggest automaker on earth, certainly not when so many competitors are fiercely fighting over every percentage point of market share. In that respect, at least, the naysayers are correct. Volkswagen is not on track to take the number one spot in 2018, but rather, in 2016 -- two years ahead of schedule.

Lamborghini has taken the wraps off its much-anticipated full-size crossover. Although we're still not convinced that the Italian supercar maker has any business building such a vehicle, we can at least report that the Urus, as the concept is called, does not look hideous. In fact, it's rather nice.

200. That's the number of new and updated cars that are scheduled to debut over the next twenty-four months. You don't really want to read about every reskin or 5-hp bump, so we've filtered that list down to the twenty-five cars you most need to know about. Much of our information is hard fact, while some of it is educated guesswork or pure conjecture. We have included a "speculation meter" for each car to indicate what's what. Here, then, is the scoop on the cars you will be hearing a lot about over the next two years.

When it opened a new plant in Hungary to build the B-Class, Mercedes-Benz announced that the factory also would build a compact "four door coupe." That car is being previewed at the Beijing Motor Show by the Concept Style Coupe, which probably gives a strong indication of the new production car's design.

200. That's the number of new and updated cars that are scheduled to debut over the next twenty-four months. You don't really want to read about every reskin or 5-hp bump, so we've filtered that list down to the twenty-five cars you most need to know about. Much of our information is hard fact, while some of it is educated guesswork or pure conjecture. We have included a "speculation meter" for each car to indicate what's what. Here, then, is the scoop on the cars you will be hearing a lot about over the next two years.

How time flies. It's already been a decade since the Ferrari Enzo rewrote the sports car rulebook. Although its major elements -- a carbon-fiber structure, a 650-hp V-12, and active aerodynamics -- have hardly become commonplace, new supercars have challenged Ferrari's king-of-the-road status. Never fear. Ferrari will restore order come 2013 with a stunning high-tech flagship.

200. That's the number of new and updated cars that are scheduled to debut over the next twenty-four months. You don't really want to read about every reskin or 5-hp bump, so we've filtered that list down to the twenty-five cars you most need to know about. Much of our information is hard fact, while some of it is educated guesswork or pure conjecture. We have included a "speculation meter" for each car to indicate what's what. Here, then, is the scoop on the cars you will be hearing a lot about over the next two years.

200. That’s the number of new and updated cars that are scheduled to debut over the next twenty-four months. You don’t really want to read about every reskin or 5-hp bump, so we’ve filtered that list down to the 25 cars you most need to know about. Much of our information is hard fact, while some of it is educated guesswork or pure conjecture. We have included a “speculation meter” for each car to indicate what’s what. Here, then, is the scoop on the cars you will be hearing a lot about over the next two years.

918 Spyder: The New King Of The Hill

Barry Manilow’s 1970s hit song “Looks Like We Made It” wasn’t blaring from the loudspeakers on the Chrysler stand at the Javits Center in Manhattan today, but it might as well have been. There was no better way for Chrysler to announce to the world that it’s back from the brink, it’s made it through its bankruptcy and painful restructuring, and it fully expects to thrive than by taking the wraps off the 2013 SRT Viper at the 2012 New York Auto Show. After all, imagine how unlikely a new Viper was only three years ago, when Chrysler almost went out of business altogether. If the company survived, bread-and-butter products like family sedans, crossovers, and pickup trucks would, naturally, have to command the bulk of product-development dollars. How could there possibly be interest in something as indulgent as a low-volume, expensive, high-performance sports car?

Despite debuting just four short years ago, Chevrolet has seen fit to give the Traverse an extensive exterior and interior update for 2013. The 2013 Traverse will be making its debut at the 2012 New York auto show in April, alongside its 2013 Buick Enclave platform-mate.

If you thought the 2013 Shelby GT500 had too much power, wait until you hear what Shelby American has cooked up for the 50th anniversary of the original Cobra: the 950-horsepower Shelby 1000, and the track-only 1100-horsepower Shelby 1000 S/C.

Don't call it an MPV: Audi is preparing a new A4-based high-roof model that eclipses the current A4 Avant. It may be badged as A4 Sportback, or possibly as A4 Avantissimo, like the A8-based luxury wagon concept shown back in 2001. However, it will most likely be called the A4 Superavant because that's what it effectively is: a new type of estate car which is significantly roomier as well as more flexible but just as sporty, elegant, and driver-oriented as its more mainstream sister models.

Unreasoning passion is inexplicable to anyone who's not caught up in its throes, so it's essentially impossible to explain why a couple who live in the history-rich Three Musketeers region of southwestern France should be totally enthralled by the legend of America's "Mother Road." The now nearly extinct U.S. highway catchily described in Bobby Troup's 1946 song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" so inflamed the imagination of Robert and Gisele Mauries that they created a nonprofit organization in 2006 called, wait for it, the Route 66 Arizona France Association.

Mercedes-Benz is wasting no time showing off the full range of its all-new SL-Class. On the heels of the SL550 and the SL63 AMG is the mighty 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG, set to debut at next month's 2012 New York International Auto Show. Benz's range-topping, V-12-powered menace will be the fastest SL on the market once it arrives in showrooms later this year.

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class is selling in bigger numbers and the S-Class is earning bigger profits, but no other Mercedes is positioned closer to the core of the brand than the E-Class. An extensive reskin is slated for the 2013 model year and it eliminates most of the overly decorative styling cues while taking on numerous new technologies.