I still don’t get why Dodge never built a two door Charger based on the LX platform. It seemed like a total no brainer. Heck, they could have done a nice low buck, two door Super Bee, too. Instead we had to wait around five years for the Challenger, which is cool and all, but like the last Challenger, it’s a bit late to the party. Is there much hope for the LX platform at this point, with Cerberus behind the wheel and gas prices going through the roof? Who knows. But I like this 2010 Charger design study by Michael Leonhard. It’s nice to dream… More pics over at Motor Authority.

Motor Authority reports that China’s Lifan Auto has appropriated the design of BMW’s Mini Cooper, creating an uncannily similar vehicle that they’re calling the "3-series" (sound familiar?). Chinese automakers’ penchant for copycatting is getting them kicked out of a lot of parties—but hey, if you’re looking for a reasonable facsimilie of a legitimate car that’s thousands of dollars cheaper than the real thing and will kill you in your first 10-mph collision, Lifan might be your new best friend.

Nissan and Chrysler are talking about cooperating to make cars. If I were Nissan, I might wait for Chrysler to sort out its turnaround a little better first:

• I’m all about making cars run on biofuels. It makes sense. I’m not sure I can get behind racing a biofueled boat around the world. Don’t they have sails for that? I also don’t care that it is also a great way to lose weight (you really just have to read the whole article): Autoblog Green 
• Jaguar and Land Rover will soon be owned by the company that also makes the $2,500 car. Now I just need to find a Tata emblem to affix to John’s Jag: Motor Authority 
• I know the EPA doesn’t think it can just rule that California can’t set its own emissions standards and expect that the freakin’ Terminator isn’t going to come after them: Leftlane News

But with only 1,500 coming to the States in the first year with an M.S.R.P. of $69,850, it seems like it’s gonna be tough. Still, Nissan is requiring dealers to be formally certified to even qualify to sell the car, and they are even announcing plans to sue UK resellers of Japanese market cars. Still, you know the first people to get their hands on one are gonna drive it for a week or two and then put it on eBay with the Buy It Now set at $120k. More at Motor Authority.

Ford just announced it’s going to offer a glass roof option on the 2009 Mustang. For privacy—and to keep the sun from broiling passengers on hot days—it will have a manual roller-blind for privacy. Personally, I think it looks pretty sexy, and I hope it prods more manufacturers into offering this option. I always buy cars with sunroofs, but never actually open them—I just like the open view of the sky. For pricing and more pics, head over to the Motor Authority. 

If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, Mercedes-Benz just doesn’t know how to take a compliment. The company is currently suing Chinese automaker Shuanghuan for ripping off the design of its smart fortwo, and as part of that process, they were granted an injunction keeping the alleged copy cats out of the Bologna auto show. But while M-B might have managed to keep their "competition" off the floor, their doppleganger did hold court in the parking lot. Now, I’m no legal expert, but I don’t know what’s riskier, flaunting an injunction by crashing the party, or giving the auto press a perfect excuse to use "Chinese car" and "crash" in the same sentence. Check out the full story at Motor Authority.

Sure, nobody likes Mondays. But it’s always good to see that someone had a worse commute than me:

• Wired has a gallery that appears to show some visually appealing electric cars: Wired
• This isn’t really news, plug-in hybrid conversion kits have been around for a bit, but maybe reporting on them every so often will make people give them the old college try. In this case, I specifically mean people who aren’t me: Motor Authority
• There’s no hope for people like me, who don’t know which Lincoln is the MK and which is the xD (What? That’s not a Lincoln? Really?). Ford is sticking with the Alphabits naming convention: Leftlane News
• JD Power put out a list of the best ways to keep your kids from actually enjoying the "road" part of "road trips:" LA Times

Tuners have just started getting their hands on new GT-Rs. Mine’s took delivery of theirs on December 1 and already brought it out to the Tsukuba track for some testing. Their best time of 1 minute 3.1 seconds was not quite up to par with the 57.7 seconds achieved in the Mine’s-prepped R34 GT-R, but, obviously, they are just getting started. Plus, the driver apparently had the VDC/TC set to "R" instead of off. From NAGTROC.com via Motorauthority.

If you’re tired of getting moderately better mpg in your Prius, it may be time to upgrade to this Audi. More newsings below:

• When a former traffic cop gets banned from driving, part of his or her punishment should be a full page ad in a local paper inviting anyone that got a ticket to come to the public square and taunt them: Motor Authority
• I’m not sure there’s a more fitting word to describe Pope Benedict than "Baller." Check out his new whip: Jalopnik
• Holy Michael Schumacher! Ferrari has put together a sweet prize package for the 200,000th visitor to the Galleria Ferrari: Winding Road
• English Russia has more evidence that you really need to be careful when choosing a cab in Russia: English Russia

The California Fuel Cell Partnership welcomed Chrysler into the fold, giving it a total of 34 organizations and nine car makers. It looks like things are going well for fuel cell technology, in Cali at least. Now for the news:

• Bad news hits GM again. The new K.I.T.T is going to be a Ford: Winding Road
• On the brighter side, the General is still doing big things in India, opening its first design shop there: DetNews
• OnStar is coming to China. Does that mean the government doesn’t think enough of the technology behind it to slap an export restriction on it? Jalopnik
• Tesla looks to be focused on getting their stuff together, begining with a new CEO: Motor Authority