The Ford Falcon is all Australian. It has always been driven by the rear wheels, and it has always been designed, engineered, and built Down Under. The automotive world is rapidly changing, though, and Ford is one of many OEMs that are driving towards global vehicle architectures and a less diversified corporate parts bin. What does that mean for the Falcon? Nothing for quite a while, as the once hot-selling Aussie special just received major rework in April, and another redesign is many years away. When it does go under the engineering knife it will likely have more in common with the Ford Taurus than anything native to the Outback.

Ford product chief Derrick Kuzak is working towards what the Blue Oval calls "One Ford." That means, for example, that there will be only one C-segment platform for like-sized crossovers, wagons, hatchbacks, coupes, and sedans, and that platform would be used in all regions around the globe. Ford will still have a rear-drive platform for performance vehicles, but the rabid push for fuel efficiency and weight reductions means that the chance of future Falcons being motivated by the rear wheels is slim. Plenty can change between now and 2015, so we'll keep our dimming hopes for a RWD Falcon for all alive, but the prospects look less rosy by the day.

Ferrari seem to content with cutting the roof off of everything these days. The F430 Spider remains the company's hottest-selling model, with the new California on the way. A roadster version of the 430 Scuderia is anticipated to make its debut at Mugello in November, and now spy shots have surfaced showing what sources suggest is a convertible version of the 599 GTB Fiorano.

Although the test mule in the spy shots has a fixed roof in place, reports note that the roof appears ill-fitting and mismatched in color to the rest of the body. If that's anything to go by, Ferrari could be planning a successor to the Superamerica version of the Fiorano's 575 predecessor and the 550 Barchetta that came before that. The former featured an intriguing Fioravanti-designed glass roof mechanism, however the 599 Spider would, in all likelihood, employ a similar folding hard-top to the clever mechanism found on the new California, to the possible inclusion of the Fiorano's aerodynamic buttresses. Following the revival of the GTB (grand touring berlinetta) designation on the existing 599, the convertible would likely take on the GTS (grand touring spider) nameplate, while installment of Ferrari's new quick-shifting SuperFast3 dual-clutch transmission could help mitigate the extra weight. Of course this is all pure speculation, so stay tuned.

The window sticker on a 2008 Navigator shows a mighty low 12 mpg in the city and only 18 on the highway, so Ford went back to the drawing board to improve on that number for this year. The Blue Oval's blinged-up luxury sled boasts a fuel friendlier average of 14/20 for 2009, a marginal improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. Ford says those numbers are good enough to put the Blue Oval at the head of the luxury SUV space that includes the Cadillac Escalade, Lexus LX570 and Nissan QX56. Ford was able to increase fuel economy by almost 15% on the big SUV by implementing some of the same engineering tricks employed on the 2009 F-150, which itself gets up to 15/21 in SFE trim. Changes were made to the idle speed and the transmission, as well as some fancy software engineering that regulates gas consumption by using aggressive deceleration fuel shut-off.

Ford also made standard several items that were previously only available as options, including a power lift gate, heated and cooled front seats, PowerFold third-row seats, cap-less fuel filler, Rear View Camera, flexible fuel-capable V-8 engine, SYNC and the stunning 14-speaker THX II-Certified audio system. The 2009 Navigator will also be available with Ford's new and improved navigation system with Travel Link. Ford hasn't announced any improvements for the Expedition, but we'd expect Ford's blue collar version of the Navigator will receive similar fuel economy enhancements.

Legislation that includes tax credits for plug-in electric vehicles has passed the Senate. Now the House gets a chance to look things over and put it to a vote. The tax credits allow buyers of PHEVs to receive a credit as high as $7,500 and as low as $2,500 depending on the capacity of the vehicle's battery. Toyota had raised concerns that the bill focused solely on battery capacity, as its currently announced hybrid plans do not include anything that would approach the maximum credit. In fact, the Chevy Volt sits alone as the only product that has enough battery capacity for the top tier. Chrysler's recently shown electric vehicles would theoretically qualify if they ever see the light of day.

Once 250,000 qualifying PHEVs are sold, the credits begin to get smaller until they go away completely. At this point, the legislation -- and the vehicles -- have a long way to go before anybody could actually purchasing a qualifying car, but the framework is now in place.

2008-'09 Kia Rondos packing four-cylinder engines are being recalled to fix a fuel pump issue that could lead to fuel starvation. Nearly 7,000 Rondos in EX and LX trim are effected, and will get an improved fuel pump to resolve the issue. The NHTSA has warned that the problem is unusually severe, and vehicle behaviors such as poor starting and hesitation could lead to a crash. If you own Kia's funk-tacular MPV with the 2.4-liter engine, get thee to a dealer, or call Kia at 800-333-4542.

Speaking as someone who has driven more than his fair share of Bentleys, I can say that although the brand's Continental series is the way of the future, the more expensive and stately Arnage is still a benchmark to be respected. Bentley has announced that it will debut the Arnage Final Series at next month's Paris Motor Show, thereby confirming for the first time that the current model's ten-year run is about to end. Only 150 of these special Arnage models will be built, and all are powered by Bentley's legendary twin-turbo 6.75-liter V8 producing 500 bhp and 738 lb-ft of torque, which also happens to be celebrating its 50-year anniversary in 2008. Bentley says the Final Series combines the performance of the Arnage T with the refinement of the R, and a few odd features are thrown in like a rear cocktail cabinet with a Final Series stainless steel flask and two shot glasses and four Bentley umbrellas mounted in the trunk. Like any special edition, there are also Final Series badges on the exterior and interior, as well.

So if the Final Series marks the end of the Arnage, what's next? We asked Bentley outright, and they of course couldn't comment on future product, but say that work is well underway on the brand's next flagship model and hinted that it may move even further upmarket. We take that to mean the Rolls-Royce Phantom should consider itself put on notice. We also asked if Bentley's iconic V8 would be retired in these times of strict emissions regulations and maybe replaced with something from the VAG parts bin. Again, while they could neither confirm nor deny anything, we got the impression that there's life left in this 50-year motor.

Believe it or not, the Aston Martin you see above is really a previous generation Ford Mustang. Built by Canada-based Exclusive Motor Cars, the extensive conversion included stretching the wheelbase, widening the track, fitting a custom interior, and adding 34 composite body panels to convert the coupe into one of the most believable replicars we've ever seen.

Look familiar? You might remember seeing the car when we discovered it back in January, but it has since received some upgrades straight out of James Bond's V12 Vanquish in "Die Another Day". Of course, the hood-mounted machine guns and the rocket launcher in the grill won't be blowing up Bond villains any time soon, but you have to admit they're pretty cool. They even retract neatly into the bodywork with the simple touch of a button. The good news is that you can have one of your own through the car's distributor, Hillbank Motorsports. The bad news? It will cost you somewhere north of $100,000. We were fortunate enough to see the car in person, and took plenty of photos and a video showing the trick hide-away weapons. Hit the jump to see it in action.

Kia's will have at least two new tricks at the Paris Motor Show, one of them being the Kia Soul. The other will be a Kia cee'd gas-electric hybrid. Already available in coupe, 5-door hatch, and sportwagon variants, a hybrid addition based on the five-door would be a perfect addition to the line. So far, the only details we have is that the c'ee hybrid isn't planned for sale until 2010, when it will join a train of new hybrids from other makers. Kia apparently decided that is when they'll be able to sell enough of them to make a profit. But we will get the complete scoop on it at next week's Paris Motor Show, so you won't have to wait that long.

Considering that automakers today are racing to develop complex electric drive and alternative fuel technologies, it's amazing to realize that the biggest technological hurdle to overcome back in 1967 was getting wiper blades to operate intermittently. As it turns out, the history of how the intermittent wiper came to be is actually a dark tale in automotive history. Invented by college professor Robert Kearns in the late '60s, the technology was shopped around to every major automaker and Ford was the first to adopt it. Except the house that Henry built screwed Kearns out of not only the money he was due, but also the credit for developing what automakers themselves couldn't. That story has now been turned into a major motion picture called Flash of Genius that stars Greg Kinnear, Lauren Graham (the mom from Gilmore Girls), Dermot Mulroney and Alan Alda. We wouldn't have thought a movie about windshield wipers would be very interesting, but the preview after the jump has us hooked. It's slated to open in theaters on October 17th courtesy of Universal.

Last year, many people got their first glimpse of Hyundai's new Genesis luxury sedan as the Giants beat the stuffing out of the Patriots during Superbowl XLII. Pleased with the results of that effort, Hyundai is coming back to the big game, this time with the Genesis Coupe. Outgoing creative agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners is handling two 30-second commercials featuring Hyundai's sporty new rear-drive two door. While the agency change has raised some eyebrows, Hyundai insists that it will continue to work with Goodby for quite some time, even as it transitions creative duties to World Marketing Group, already handling media buys for the automaker. We'll have to tune in for all four quarters to see if the jilted ad folks mailed it in, but judging from the quality of Goodby's work on the Genesis Sedan - and the target-meeting 8,000 units sold - the pigskin-centric effort will likely meet with success.