News item from The Bee:
"American car buyers turn to Japan"

For the first time, Toyota has surpassed General Motors in sales for a qaurter. The rise of Toyota has been tracked for some years, and most observers have felt it was only a matter of time before GM's 70-year run as the world's leading automaker ends.

News item from the Detroit Free Press:
"U.S. cars show no fuel-efficiency gains in 2006"

The fuel efficiency of the U.S. fleet was stuck at 25.4 miles per gallon in 2006, unchanged from the year before, and lower than it was 20 years ago.

The Free Press reports: "GM's domestic car fleet averaged 29.2 mpg, the same as a year earlier, while its truck fleet fell 0.1 to 21.7 mpg Ford Motor Co.'s averages declined for both cars and trucks, with a 0.4 mpg drop in cars to 28.2 and a 0.6 mpg drop in trucks to 21.1."

And this: "Toyota had the most fuel-efficient North American-built cars of any automaker, averaging 34.7 mpg, an increase of 0.3 from 2005."