The award is among the most prestigious in the automotive industry, and it will provide Ford Motor Co. with an additional marketing tool to promote the sedan, which is the 10th best-selling vehicle in America and continues to pick up steam.

To be eligible for Motor Trend’s award, the vehicle under consideration must be totally new or substantially redesigned, and released within the 12 months before Nov. 1.

The Ford Fusion, first introduced in 2005, was refreshed this year with an upgraded engine, new transmission, better fuel efficiency as well as a redesigned front end and interior.

Want an economical midsize sedan that doesn't cost much, yet won't bore you to tears? Need to please your greener side with a high-tech hybrid? Fancy a near-sport sedan with AWD, 18-inch rolling stock, and the latest infotainment and electronics? Depending on which model you choose and how many option boxes you tick, the Fusion can be any of the above. Arthur St. Antoine calls the Fusion "a compelling sweep across one of the market's most hotly contested segments."

Unlike typical Black Friday sales where customers know exactly what they'll pay for an item, car prices are individually negotiated the day of the sale, so it's difficult for customers to know ahead of time they'll be getting a deal. But there's been a clear trend, Toprak said.

The average new car discount on Nov. 27 is projected to be 7.5%. The average discount the day before and after is expected to be just over 6%. On a typical day throughout the year, car shoppers usually pay about 4.7% less than the sticker price.

Truecar.com projected particularly large Black Friday discounts on certain models. For instance, consumers should be able to pay about 28% off sticker price for a 2009 Suzuki SX4 compact car, 26% off for a 2009 Nissan Titan or Ford F-150 pick-up or 20% off a 2009 Hyundai Sonata sedan.

The response to Levi Strauss put it at 83 on the customer satisfaction meter, up 6.4 percent from 78 a year ago. That's just below Levi's all-time high of 84 in 1994 — and the first time the brand has held that much appeal for the 100,000 people polled annually about their buying habits in the 15 years since then. The satisfaction index is pegged to a baseline of 100.

The classic denim brand has been lifted, in part, by its optimistic, youthful, pioneering "Go Forth" marketing message, said spokeswoman Erica Archambault. "It is a reminder that Levi's are jeans of people who work hard, are self-reliant and independent." Also clicking with shoppers, Archambault said, are "innovative" finishes, such as Levi's "rips and repairs, destructed look."

*****

Like Levi Strauss, Liz Claiborne received its best customer reviews since 1994, advancing 3.8 percent to score an 82 (versus 84 in the first-ever index). Affordable offerings in Liz Claiborne's Kate Spade and Juicy Couture collections, as well as the addition of Isaac Mizrahi to design Liz Claiborne New York, led consumers to "see more value" in the company's apparel, Fornell said.

GM notified the terminated dealerships of the decision on Thursday, GM spokeswoman Ryndee Carney said. All Saab dealers signed a termination agreement in June when GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The terms of those termination agreements will go into effect for rejected dealerships, Carney said.

Koenigsegg will operate the brand through a new entity, Saab Cars North America Inc. GM signed a deal to sell Saab to the small Swedish luxury carmaker in August, but the closing of the deal is contingent on Saab receiving loans from the European Investment Bank that are guaranteed by the Swedish government.

In October, the EIB granted Saab a 400 million euro ($600 million) loan -- a key component in the planned sale -- but the Swedish government must step in with a guarantee if the funds are to be paid out.

[I]n the 10-Q that footnoted frequent flyer Crocs (CROX) filed last week, there was an interesting new disclosure about Porsche, the German car-maker, suing Crocs, the Colorado-based shoe manufacturer over the use of the name Cayman. Here's the snip from the filing:

On May 11, 2009, Crocs Europe B.V. received a letter from Dr. Ing. H.c.F. Porsche AG ("Porsche") claiming that the Company's use of the "Cayman" shoe model designator infringes upon their Community Trademark Registration of the mark "CAYMAN" in class 25. Porsche is requesting that Crocs Europe B.V. immediately cease and desist use of the Cayman mark and pay Porsche's attorney's fees in conjunction with the issuance of the notice letter. On July 30, 2009 the Company was served with notice of an injunction against Crocs Europe BV's use of the Cayman mark in Germany.

Employees have until Nov. 13 to accept the offer, Chrysler said in a statement. Special programs are also being offered at factories that are being closed as part of the bankruptcy process. The dates for those programs vary. Separation dates are at the discretion of the company.

The buyouts come as Chrysler prepares to reveal its five-year product plan to the public during a press conference at its Auburn Hills, Mich.-based headquarters Wednesday. Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne is expected to address how Chrysler will survive while it attempts to deliver new products to the market.

Chrysler has been cutting thousands of jobs since late 2007 as demand for its Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge products fall amid an economic recession in the U.S.

The study by Cramer, a neurology professor at the University of California Irvine, might also help explain why there are so many bad drivers on U.S. highways: About 30 percent of Americans have the variant. Ordinarily, when a person performs a task, a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is secreted to the area of the brain that is associated with that activity. The protein helps facilitate communication among brain cells and helps retain memory. However in people who have the gene variation that Cramer studied, BDNF secretion is limited. "These people make more errors from the get-go, and they forget more of what they learned after time away," Cramer said in a statement.

Cramer and his team of researchers set out to find how the variant affected driving. They recruited 29 people to drive 15 laps on a simulated course with difficult curves and turns. Twenty-two of the participants did not have the gene variant; seven did. The researchers wanted to see how effectively the participants learned to navigate the twists and turns in each subsequent lap. Four days later, they repeated the test. The participants with the variant did worse both times. They also retained less the second go-round.

Many Americans have done it: gone outside to an ice-covered vehicle on a cold winter's morning, chipped just enough ice off the windshield to see through and driven away.

Peephole driving dramatically reduces a driver's field of vision, and it increases the likelihood that snow or ice can become dislodged and hit another vehicle or a pedestrian, according to police and safety advocates.

"Everybody is in such a hurry to get where they've got to go, they don't want to take the time to completely defrost their windows," says Sgt. Scott Kristiansen of the Buffalo Grove Police Department in suburban Chicago. "That puts everybody at risk.

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular was $2.655 as of October 23, said Trilby Lundberg, author of the Lundberg Survey. Since the October 9 survey, the average price per gallon has climbed by 17.82 cents. The current price is 12.3 cents less than the price a year ago.

The retail price of diesel fuel jumped a similar amount in the past two weeks -- 16.75 cents. The price of diesel fuel is $2.817, Lundberg said.

There has been no significant increase in the demand for crude oil, nor large decrease in supplies of crude that can explain almost a $9 per barrel jump in the past two weeks, according to Lundberg. Crude oil now costs $80.50 a barrel.