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Honda talks about bigger hybrids, Cash for Clunkers might have been a huge boondoggle, Infiniti will get an electric car, should DWT be punished harder than DUI? And we take you for a ride in the frustratingly fun Scion xB.

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• Should DWT being punished more severely than DUI?

• CNET drives the new 2010 VW GTI

• CNET review of the 2010 Scion xB

• World distance record claimed for driving an electric car on a single charge

• Wacky driving robot being developed at MIT

(Credit: Volkswagen Group of America)

If you're a person who would gladly relinquish the task of parking your car to a computer, there may be a Volkswagen in your future.

Last weekend, Volkswagen Group of America and Stanford University's School of Engineering hosted a dedication ceremony on the Stanford campus for the new Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Laboratory (VAIL) that included the "first ever" autonomous parking demonstration by a driverless car.

(Credit: Volkswagen Group of America)

The car, a VW Passat called Junior, was developed jointly by VW and Stanford and is the same one that finished second in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. Driverless cars have come a long way since the first DARPA race in 2004, when not one contestant made it over the finish line, much less parallel-parked itself.

VW donated $5.75 million for the new laboratory, which it called "the next step in the evolution of the two organizations' commitment to drive innovation in automotive development."

"When the new building opens early next year, VAIL will provide a home on campus for faculty and students from around the university to work on advanced automotive research," said Jim Plummer, dean of the Stanford School of Engineering.

The company also unveiled the Pike's Peak Audi TT-S, the latest iteration of driverless vehicles developed through the VW-Stanford partnership.

Five cars enter, one car leaves. Well, actually all five cars get to leave, but only one with the title.

(Credit: CNET)

Every year, for the past four years, Green Car Journal picks its Green Car of the Year at the LA Auto Show. Well, the LA Show will be here before you know it, so it's time to start thinking about this year's contestants, which have been narrowed down to five finalists.

The finalists include the Audi A3 TDI, the Honda Insight, the Mercury Milan Hybrid, the Toyota Prius, and the Volkswagen Golf TDI. That's two VW turbodiesels and a trio of hybrids; or four small hatchbacks and a small sedan. No matter how you look at it, there's not too much variation this year. However, three of the vehicles have taken our Editors' Choice award at different times this year and two of them have already done battle in a CNET Prizefight, so it will be interesting to see which is chosen as the overall winner.

A panel of jurors (which includes notables such as Jay Leno, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Carroll Shelby, Matt Petersen of Global Green USA and the Sierra Club's Carl Pope) will have to pick one of these vehicles to be crowned the fifth annual Green Car of the Year--which, by the way, is a very different thing from Greenest Car of the Year. There's apparently a bit more that goes into the choosing than just raw fuel economy and emissions numbers.

Last year, it was the Volkswagen Jetta TDI that walked rolled off with the 2009 crown by winning over the judges with its real-world performance and relatively low price. The year before that, it was the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid which was a really big hybrid that didn't return really big mpgs, but still managed to improve fuel economy by a massive 25-percent over the conventional model. Looking way back to the 2007 and 2006 winners, we can see that the Toyota Camry Hybrid and the Mercury Mariner Hybrid have also seen time in the winners' circle.

Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and financial director Holger P. Haerter have resigned from their positions "with immediate effect."

Wiedeking will receive 50 million euros ($71 million) in compensation, while Haerter will receive 12.5 million euros.

The German luxury automaker announced the shake-up after a meeting of its supervisory board that went on late into Wednesday night.

"The ultimate goal is to lay the foundations for creating an integrated car manufacturing company from Porsche SE and Volkswagen AG," Porsche Automobil Holding said in Wednesday's statement.

The news comes as Porsche and Volkswagen have been locked in a public power struggle concerning competing visions for a merger or possible takeover of one company over the other.

Wiedeking made no secret of his ambition to have Porsche increase its stake in VW, take over the company, and build it into a rival to Toyota in terms of global sales.

But there's been speculation that in an ironic twist of fate VW may in fact end up taking over Porsche, which has been financially struggling for the last year.

Porsche is estimated to be between 9 billion and 10 billion euros in debt from both a global decline in sales over the last year due to the recession and from its expenditures on VW stock over the years.

Wiedeking was appointed Porsche CEO in 1992 and turned the company around from a struggling entity into one of the most profitable car manufacturers in the world. Then in 2005, Wiedeking directed Porsche to buy a 20 percent stake in VW and continued having the company buy VW common stock with the intent of gaining a controlling interest.

By 2007, Porsche had overcome legal obstacles regarding its VW takeover ambition and Wiedeking joined VW's supervisory board. He also became chairman of the holding company, Porsche Automobil Holding, which currently owns both Porsche and a 50.76 percent stake in VW.

In Wednesday's meeting, Porsche Automobil Holding's board also approved Porsche management to finalize negotiations with Qatar to invest in Porsche. But financial analysts predict that the approved cash injection from Qatar will not be enough to help Porsche out of its financial problems.

Wiedeking's and Haerter's resignations are widely believed to be the first step in a planned VW takeover to save Porsche.

Michael Macht, a Porsche board member in charge of production and logistics, will replace Wiedeking as CEO. Thomas Edig, a Porsche board member in charge of human resources, will become Macht's second in command, according to Porsche Automobil Holding's latest statement.

(Credit: Automotive News)

Twenty years ago, Porsche was tempted to build a roadster to compete with the new MX-5 Miata. It never happened. Porsche CEO Peter Schutz finally declared one day, looking very much down his nose at the low-price market: "We're not going to build a Mazda."

But Porsche has gone in a variety of new directions in the past two decades, rolling out a lower-priced sports car (the Boxster), an SUV (the Cayenne) and--gasp--a four-door sedan (the Panamera). Now Porsche once again is considering a roadster with a relatively low price--by Porsche standards.

Company insiders tell sister publication Automobilwoche that there is room for a model below the Boxster, which has a base price of $65,287. Volkswagen--joined at the hip these days with the German sports car maker--is developing the midengine Bluesport concept. Sources say Porsche may create an entry-level roadster on the Bluesport platform, which is derived from VW Polo and Golf components.

(Source: Automotive News)

(Credit: Automotive News)

SAN FRANCISCO--Volkswagen Group of America is hoping Web access will heat up sales of its Routan minivan. VW will offer Uconnect Web, a mobile Internet router, as a dealer-installed option. The system receives Internet signals through cellular data networks, then creates a Wi-Fi hot spot in and around the car. Monthly subscriptions to Autonet's Internet service start at $29. The device sells for $499 in the aftermarket.

(Source: Automotive News)

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)

Volkswagen's new Jetta wagon delivers sporty performance in a practical package. But we're used to those characteristics from Volkswagen. Its secret sauce is the new cabin electronics package, which includes hard-drive-based navigation with advanced features such as traffic, along with iPod integration for the stereo system. Now if they could have just included Bluetooth phone support, it would be complete.

Read our review of the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen 2.0T.

So what kind of car are you going to get next? Perhaps, I might tempt your credulity by asking you to consider a new eco-car called the LEKO.

A Toyota? No, an IKEA.

A strange Web site has appeared, roulez-leko.com, on which a very relaxed, modern, eco-friendly chap, allegedly the great car designer Christophe Grozs, stands next to an apparent car draped with the word LEKO and the tagline "la voiture selon IKEA."

Yes, the car according to IKEA.

Looks like a perfect car dealership, no?

(Credit: Flickr/OiMax)

The LEKO (L'eco, get it?), allegedly has the backing of the World Wildlife Fund in France. Which might mean the fund has put money into the creation or that the car will have plastic panda-skin seats.

It also will save you untold (because unspecified) amounts of money on your expenditure. And it is humongously eco-friendly.

This is an ad, right?

If IKEA made a car, the doors might not fit quite perfectly into the body. Then you'd really have to work hard to use those tiny screwdrivers to make sure the engine didn't wobble. And just imagine the number of screws it would take to put in the cup holder.

There's the name too. Real IKEA product names never make sense. They always seem to resemble a fair to middling Scrabble hand--for example, KLIPPAN or LYCKSELE. LEKO is far too meaningful.

Is the Tokyo Motor Show kaput? The President's new high tech Cadillac; VW will bring a new mini car to the U.S.; Alpine gets in bed with GM, BMW, and Mercedes.

• Tokyo Motor Show on hiatus in 2009?

• The President's new Cadillac

• Alpine supplies car tech to three biggies

• Blaupunkt about to pull the trigger on in-car streaming

• VW Polo coming to U.S.