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Official: Volt production begins November 11

LA 2009: The World's Most Expensive Tesla Roadster

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors, LA Auto Show Upgraded Tesla Roadster - click above for high-res image gallery A Roadster doesn't come with Tesla logos on the headrests, but the folks at Al and Ed's Autosound in West Hollywood will gladly stitch the image into your special Lamborghini leather for you with yellow thread if you ask. This particular customization bit is just one of an amazing number of upgrades done to a Roadster on display in the basement of the LA Auto Show. digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/World_s_Most_Expensive_Tesla_is_a_Tricked_Out_Roadster'; Let's start with the paint. The owner wanted the car to be covered in Lamborghini Giallo Orion (pearl yellow), but Tesla Motors couldn't offer that. Undeterred, he took delivery of the car with nothing but the white primer on it and lets the shop do its work. they also added lots of carbon fiber to cover the roll bar, the door sills, and dash. Other interior upgrades include a Focal Utopia sound system that cost $12,000 (the speakers themselves are $6,000) and a 600W hidden amplifier. Even the floor mats are special black and yellow. If you're detecting a theme, yes, this Roadster was customized to match the owner's Lamborghini. Discover more details here. With all the work put into the car - about $50,000 worth - they're calling this the World's Most Expensive Roadster. We have no proof of this - Tesla told us that it would be possible to order $50,000 worth of options on a standard Roadster - the Sport package, executive leather, clear-coat carbon fiber accents, all the warranties, etc. - but until proven otherwise, we'll let this car claim that title. Now, if only Al and Ed's Autosound can add $50,000 worth of stuff to a Roadster Sport, we'd really have something. Looking for more custom Tesla goodies? Earlier this year, Al and Ed's Autosound customized a black Roadster.

LA 2009: 2011 Ford Fiesta unveiled by agents of the Movement

Filed under: MPG, Ford, LA Auto Show 2011 Ford Fiesta - Click above for high-res image gallery We've been hearing about the 2011 Ford Fiesta for so long that it's hard to imagine that the U.S. version of the car was just officially unveiled today. We gave you all of the official details and photos late last night, but we can now give you our first live impressions of the North American-spec version. Ford's own Mark Fields officially introduced the car along with numerous Fiesta agents on hand who helped pull the sheets off the various Fiestas on the show floor. Although just 60 percent of the parts on the U.S.-spec Fiesta are common with the European version, it seems that most of the charm of the car remains. Up front the grille has been revised to include the three-bar design (at least on the sedan), and the fog lights have been replaced by LED light strips surrounded by chrome. The interior design is relatively the same as well, although it's been tweaked to conform with U.S. crash standards and features soft touch materials, a four-inch LCD display, and available SYNC, auto climate control, leather seats, moon roof and more. Power comes from a 1.6-liter four-cylinder putting out a respectable 119 horsepower and 109 lb-ft torque. A 5-speed manual or new 6-speed PowerShift electronic dual clutch automatic will be the transmissions of choice, though the automatic goes without any manual controls. There's plenty of more details in the multitude of press releases after the jump, and we've included all of our live shots of the 2011 Fiesta in the high-res gallery below. Live photos copyright (C)2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

LA 2009: Bob Lutz keynote: "The automobile industry simply can no longer rely on oil"

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, GM, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, LA Auto Show The news from Bob Lutz's opening keynote address for the LA Auto Show was that GM would be working with some California utilities to test a fleet of 100 Volts. But there was a lot more delivered in that speech and, in the best Lutz-ian tradition, the message was clear and simple: the Volt is GM's most important product. Oh, and he would not be addressing the abrupt resignation of GM CEO Fritz Henderson. At times, Lutz sounded like a regular ABG reader, name dropping Fisker and Coda and saying he was thankful to Tesla Motors for "furnishing the proof that was needed by those of us who championed the Volt in the corporation that other people believed in lithium-ion technology as well." Now that pretty much every automaker has at least a small li-ion project, he feels vindicated for his early support of the Volt, even though he apparently took some heat for it back then. How confident is he? He said that he predicted that the market for plug-in vehicles would be about 250,00-300,000 in five years, with maybe half of those being GM vehicles. Read on after the jump to find out more about what Maximum Bob had to say.

LA 2009: Mitsubishi will bring an EV to U.S. in 2011, but it might not be the i-MiEV

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Mitsubishi, LA Auto Show Mitsubishi i-MiEV - click above for high-res image gallery Here's a line from Mitsubishi's press release dated April 9, 2009: Ending months of heightening speculation, Mitsubishi Motors North America President and CEO Shinichi Kurihara confirmed the i MiEV (Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle) is being developed for sale in world markets, including the United States. Reading that, doesn't it seem that Mitsubishi is saying that the i-MiEV will be for sale in the U.S. someday? That's what we thought. Turns out, that's not exactly what Mitsubishi confirmed eight months ago, according to David Patterson, Mitsubishi R&D of America's chief engineer of mobile emissions, regulatory affairs and certification. When we took a spin in an i-MiEV with Patterson today, he said that he wishes Mitsubishi would confirm that the i-MiEV would someday go on sale in the U.S., and he's been pushing the company to just say it already. "What we announced in New York was that we would bring an electric vehicle to the United States. That's the announcement that I was able to convince them to make," he said. Granted, in his speech yesterday, Masuko simply said that an electric vehicle would come to the U.S., and didn't say which model it would be."I think President [Osamu] Masuko wanted to make that [i-MiEV] announcement yesterday," Patterson said, but he believes that the company hasn't decided which electric vehicle they will sell here. At the very least, Patterson is confident that whatever vehicle we get, it'll be cool. "Trust me, it gets better than this [the i-MiEV]," he said.