A Podcast to Sing About -- Especially for Auto Makers and Flying Cars

The auto industry is singing these days -- and so are we -- because car sales are soaring, with the annual rate moving toward the rate seen during the best days.

Subaru had great sales, and got a nice boost from Consumer Reports when it earned a top pick in the annual auto issue.

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Most of us look back on our first cars with fondness, and now Subaru has launched FirstCarStory.com to have folks share their car love.

Auto makers aren't looking back on the last few years with fondness, but all of them will be putting back-up cameras in their vehicles in a couple of years thanks to a coming government mandate.

Honda sales rebounded and a new study shows that the brand's perception is on the rise after slipping in recent years. 

Ford has had strong brand recognition and now it's hoping to garner more "likes" by making its cars more social with connections to Facebook.

Finally, car sales might be soaring, but we don't think the flying car will reach great heights, because it's really just ugly.  

The Terrafugia flies, but it ain't pretty.

Ford's Facebook Launch May Be More Efficient Than Podcasting With a Glass of Water

GM's Chevrolet is all set to let the cat out of the bag with the pricing for the Volt extended-electric vehicle. We'll update the site with the details as soon as possible.

Mike Rowe and Alan Mulally launch the Ford Explorer

But can they trump the big news from Ford, which virtually pulled the wrapper off it's 2011 Explorer via Facebook this week. And garnered some big coverage and big kudos for trying something new. We're still absorbing the news and critiquing the design, but Mathew may put it on his list.

In looking for ways to get people to improve their fuel economy even more, Toyota has launched a site that encourages drivers to hit the streets as if they had a glass of water on their dashboard. Not a real glass of water, but they do have an iPhone app that we will test out.

We are also going to test out the Nation of Go, a new Web community designed to get drivers to share their favorite routes.

GM may have hit a speed bump with its plan to buy a portion of lender AmeriCredit and get back into the auto-lending business. But one senator is wondering whether GM should have paid back the U.S. Treasury first.

Finally, Audi unveiled its A7 Sportback, a gorgrous new design that slot below the big A8 sedan and has the look of some much higher-end sport sedans from Jaguar and Porsche.

GetThisShowOnTheRoad July 28, 2010.mp3