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Ford, Toyota clean up in Best Car For The Money Awards

The U.S. News Best Cars for the Money Awards picks winners by looking at the average transaction price, five-year total cost of ownership, the regard a car has from the automotive press, reliability figures from J.D. Power and Associates and safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The result, according to the magazine, is "the best combination of critical acclaim and long-term value."
Ford nabbed six of the 21 categories that received awards this year, the Focus, Fusion, Fusion Hybrid, Taurus, Escape and Edge getting trophies. Toyota and its Lexus and Scion sub-brands took another five, the Tacoma and Tundra owning the two categories given to pickup trucks. The other ten awards were split between Honda with three, Buick with two, and one each for Subaru, BMW, Hyundai, Chevrolet and Mazda.
Follow the link to see all the winners and read about why they were chosen.

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey

If you can't wait for the next-generation Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, Hennessey says they will have you covered. The Texas-based company has announced it will offer a spate of upgrades for the 2014 Corvette ranging from a range of bolt-on options all the way up to a 1,000-horsepower, twin-turbo system. Buyers can start with a cold air intake, cat-back exhaust or stainless steel long-tube headers, but Hennessey says it will also offer up three stages of forced induction mayhem should those bits and baubles not provide enough thrust.
Those choices start with a supercharger system good for up to 700 hp, though Hennessey will gladly ditch the blower in favor of two turbos. Doing so will spin the crank to the tune of 800 horsepower all the way up to a certifiably ludicrous 1,000 ponies. There's no word on how much these tricks will cost you - or when they will be available, as we're guessing they haven't gotten their hands on the car yet - but you can head over to the Hennessey site to drop them a line if you're curious.

GM execs fired over fraudulent India emissions testing

General Motors hadn't had a recall in India since 1995. That changed when it was discovered that certain employees were playing tricks with local emissions testing in order to ensure passing grades for engines. More than ten GM Powertrain employees in India and the US have been let go over the ensuing emissions flap, including Sam Winegarden, VP of global engine engineering, a man who has been with the company since 1969, leading development of some marquee powerplants.
According to Automotive News, an internal investigation revealed that employees "violated testing procedures," sometimes swapping specially prepared low-emissions engines during testing regimes for the Chevrolet Tavera SUV equipped with the 2.0-liter and 2.5-liter engines. Employees were also manipulating weights in order to get vehicles placed into different emissions categories. The discovery has led to GM recall the 114,000 Taveras produced over an eight-year period and halting their production and sale.
The Economic Times of India reports that the issue is due to "a faulty component." GM has developed a solution to the issue, and once it is validated in testing and approved by the Indian authorities, the recalled vehicles will be fixed at dealers and production will resume.