Even though cars are getting safer every year, the number of vehicles that are earning Top Safety Pick nods from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHA) are growing fewer thanks to tougher criteria. Spotlighting new advances in technology, those vehicles who don't offer the newest safety features simply don't make the cut.

The pick-up truck market has never been hotter, thanks to a rebounding economy. Tradesmen are reinvesting in new equipment, and the housing business is booming again. Most truck sales seem to be full size though, since the price difference between a compact pick-up and a full-size truck is very small. Buyers feel they are getting more value by choosing a full-size for only a little bit more than the cost of a smaller truck. This trend actually promoted Ford to get out of the small pick-up market completely, abandoning the North American Ford Ranger completely, and Chrysler has given up on it's Dakota successor. Trucks offer manufacturers very large profit margins, so they pay a lot of attention to this market. About 1.9 million full-size pick-ups will be sold this year in North America. General Motors isn't abandoning the #small pick-up truck market though. With less competition in the field, they are pushing hard, and giving Toyota a run for their money.

Each year, Ward's magazine offers their list of the 10 best engines of the year. For 2014, Chrysler is proud to have two of it's powertrains appearing on that list. First there is teh 3.0-litre V6 Ecodiesel engine. With an output of 240 horsepower, this engine is offered in the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee and the RAM 1500. Moreover, the RAM is the only full-sized light truck that offer a clean diesel engine anywhere in the North American market. "Quiet, strong and as smooth as the diesels we’ve been testing in luxury cars, the Ram 3.0L V-6 works in perfect harmony with Chrysler’s standard 8-speed transmission to deliver an unbeatable combination of power and efficiency," said Drew Winter, editor-in-chief of WardsAuto Worls magazine. "Thanks to advanced emissions-control technology, its exhaust is ultra-clean, making this engine available in all 50 states. If you’re planning serious work or play, the Ram EcoDiesel really makes sense."

Back in the summer, we talked about the rumours swirling about concerning a replacement for the Honda Ridgeline. In fact, some of the rumours suggested that the Ridgeline would not be replaced at all, something that Honda denied at the time.

Automakers go to great lengths to hide upcoming models before they are ready to present them to the world. Most development work is done indoors, and testing is done in remote locations away from prying eyes and cameras. Often when a prototype is caught on film, the vehicle is heavily disguised.

Quebec automotive engineers have always wanted the province to have it's own automobile industry. Not only to build a cars for others, but to design a completely new model that would be assembled there. Do you remember the Manic GT that was built in Quebec in the 70's? How about the HTT Plethora from a few years ago? Now there is another local project in the air.

Honda is well known for their work in robotics, most famously for bringing ASIMO to life. Last week they showed off their newest creation, the UNI-CUB, a vehicle that is seemingly controlled by the user's mind.

Chinese automaker SAIC Motor Corp has walked away with top honours at the 2013 LA Auto Show Design Challenge, it's "Mobilant" concept inspired by... an ant.

We already know that the Chevy line-up includes more performance cars than any of it's U.S. rivals. However, the RWD performance sports sedan segment is almost entirely dominated by Chrysler's 300 SRT and Charger models.

Expected to make it's official debut at the Detroit Auto Show in January, the track-focused Chevy Z06 has some lofty goals. Spokespeople at the Detroit automaker have said that they are taking aim at the Porsche 911 and Nissan GT-R.

This week the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) announced the winners from each category of the automotive industry. You may recall that the #AJAC Test Fest, held every year in late October brings together all new (or significantly updated) vehicles over a five day period. Every journalists tests all of the vehicles in each class, consecutively and on the same day under the same conditions. This year, 80 journalists attended the event and evaluated 174 vehicles.

#Honda is well known for it's success with small cars and hybrid vehicles. We know a little less about Honda's talents as a hydrogen car manufacturer. At the recent International Auto Show in Los Angeles, Honda introduced their FCEV concept, a vehicle that is anticipated to be the next fuel cell vehicle to arrive in the United States and Japan in 2015, and arriving later on in Europe.