There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned brouhaha between automaker marketing departments and the latest fracas takes the Ford-GM rivalry from the drag strip to identity politics for the internet age.

On one side, we have the provocative poolside Cadillac ELR ad that aired during the Sochi Olympics. Depending on your political views, it was either an unapologetic paean to the American Dream or an annoyingly smug screed on American exceptionalism. Cadillac’s advertising director Craig Bierley told Advertising Age that the spot was aimed at those who earn $200,000 or more and have a “little bit of grit under their fingernails” that might be shopping for a $75,000 plug-in hybrid-electric luxury vehicle.

This week Ford retaliated with a shot-for-shot remake (parody?) of the ELR ad called Upside: Anything is Possible. The ad features a Ford C-Max Energi, the blue oval’s own compact MPV plug-in hybrid targeted at the plebeian masses and ringing in at a more affordable $33,745.

Instead of Neal Mcdonough, the video stars Pashton Murray, founder of Detroit Dirt, a Motor City startup that gathers organic waste such as food scraps and zoo manure, composts it, and uses the resulting soil to grow locally sourced vegetables. The tone is clearly aimed towards those who fall at the bluer end of the political spectrum, and those most likely to have been turned off by the Cadillac spot.

Not since the great Mercedes-Jaguar donnybrook of 2013 have we had a such an entertaining war of the words. Watch both videos below.

Add another 662,000 more vehicles to GM’s list of recalls, the sixth such announcement this month. The vehicles in question this time around consist of 490,000 full-size trucks and SUVs, along with 172,000 Cruze compacts.

The latest batch comes hot on the heels of the announcement Friday of an additional 824,000 cars recalled in the expanding faulty ignition switch case. That particular scenario has earned GM an NHTSA investigation for delaying fixes linked potentially to at least 31 accidents and 12 deaths.

According to Automotive News, this latest safety notice has nothing do with the ignition switch issue. Instead it addresses a transmission cooler line fitting that could leak transmission fluid onto a hot surface, which may cause a fire. The recall affects 2015 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 pickups, Chevy Tahoe and Suburban and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL SUVs.

GM said it is aware of three “incidents” but no injuries. There has been at least one reported case of a the newly launched Yukon catching fire in spectacular fashion during a test drive, but it is not known at this time whether the transmission cooler line fitting was the culprit.

The announcement also addresses the mysterious sales halt of the Chevy Cruze. Some may have an interconnecting bar on a half shaft that, according to GM, “may not meet GM specification and could fracture and separate.” If that happens while driving, the vehicle could lose power to the wheels. Or it could cause the vehicle to roll away if parked on an incline without the parking brake applied.

The latest round brings the total number of GM vehicles recalled this month to 4.8 million.

Photo by Mark Elias.

Wyoming and Idaho have respectively announced plans to raise the speed limit on certain stretches of freeway from 75 to 80 mph starting on July 1st.

Both states will conduct a separate study this spring to determine where the speed limit should be raised and what effect the measure will have on traffic. The studies haven’t started yet, but both states admit the speed limit will primarily be raised on rural stretches of multi-lane highways.

“In the Boise [Idaho] area 80 mph isn’t appropriate, and possibly in other congested areas in urban spots,” affirmed Senator Jim Patrick in an interview with television station KMTV.

Although Wyoming has made it clear that two-lane highways will not get a speed increase, some lawmakers are nevertheless worried that raising the speed limit will increase the number of accidents because the de facto speed that most cars travel at will become 85 mph.

Last September, the Utah Department of Transportation raised the speed limit from 75 to 80 mph on 289 miles of interstates 15, 80 and 84. The state has not reported an increase in accidents since the new limit came into effect, and state officials admit many Utahns have barely noticed the new limit because they were already driving 80 in 75 mph zones.

“People are driving the speed they are comfortable driving and it brings them into compliance with the law” explained John Gleason, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Transportation.

America’s Autobahn

Texas made national headlines about a year and half ago when it opened State Highway 130 with a posted speed limit of 85 mph, the highest in the United States. Designed to bypass I-35, SH 130 is a limited-access toll road that costs over $8 without a toll transponder.

Photo by Ronan Glon.

Designed to take on similarly stretched variants of the BMW 3-Series, the Audi A4 and the Volvo S60, the C-Class L will be 2.3 inches longer than its regular-wheelbase counterpart. The extra space will benefit the rear passengers, and the interior will undoubtedly be marginally more upscale than the one found in the standard C.

Technical details haven’t been announced yet but expect the long-wheelbase C to use the same four-cylinder engines as its standard counterpart. All models will come with an automatic transmission, and a diesel engine will not be offered because oil burner sales are dismal at best in China.

Both the long- and regular-wheelbase variants of the 2015 C will be built in Beijing by a 30-year old joint-venture between Beijing Automotive and Daimler called Beijing Benz. The factory currently builds regular- and long-wheelbase variants of the E-Class, the last-gen C-Class and the GLK-Class crossover.

Mitsubishi has announced plans to wind down production of the Lancer Evolution performance sedan.

The According to Japan’s Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun (Automotive News Daily), Mitsubishi will cease building the tenth iteration of its halo sports sedan, the Lancer Evolution X, by the end of this year. Sales since the model’s 1992 debut have totaled 92,000 domestically and 154,000 worldwide.

The Lancer Evolution was created when engineers from Mitsubishi’s rally program shoehorned the turbocharged 2.0-liter engine and all-wheel-drive system from the Galant VR-4 into a compact Lancer model (sold in the US as the fourth-generation Mirage). With performance befitting of sports cars costing tens of thousands more, the “Evo,” as it came to be known, instantly garnered a dedicated enthusiast following at home.

Mitsubishi never intended it for export, but tales of its sport sedan bona fides soon spread beyond Japan’s borders, feeding a booming gray market in the UK and Australia by the mid-1990s. From 1996-99, the Lancer Evolution won a then-unprecedented four consecutive World Rally Championship titles, further cementing its performance credentials. By the time the Lancer Evolution VIII was finally offered for sale in the US in 2003, it had already developed a rabid enthusiast fan base thanks to its superb spec sheet.

The automaker acknowledged the model’s role as an image leader for the brand when performance was a key component of its marketing plans. However, in the face poor sales in recent years Mitsubishi has decided to rebrand itself as an eco-friendly car company. As such, it intends to concentrate its resources towards developing electric and hybrid vehicles.

It has been reported that a future Mitsubishi flagship might utilize a hybrid-electric drivetrain. However, it will likely not be based on the Renault Megane platform that will underpin the next-generation Lancer, and thus the Evolution name may be dropped altogether. In any case, it is believed that such a car would be at least two years away from production.