One Stop Motors

President Obama is on cruise control toward his party’s nomination to run for reelection, but Tim O’Brien is hoping to capitalize on Obama’s old cruise-mobile — a 2005 Chrysler 300C

AP – Ford Motor Co.’s 2011 profits at a glance

Reuters – Vice President Joe Biden took a rare public swipe at Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich on Friday, criticizing them for comments about the poor and about the federal government’s automaker bailout.

ContributorNetwork – 24/7 Wall St. analyzed a report commissioned by the United States Conference of Mayors that looked at how cities are faring economically and getting unemployed residents back to work. The news isn’t good for Flint, Mich. The former auto industry stronghold is in the top five of metropolitan cities ruined or nearly destroyed by the recession. Here are details from that report created by IHS Global Insight.

AP – California air regulators passed sweeping auto emission standards Friday that include a mandate to have 1.4 million electric and hybrid vehicles on state roads by 2025.

AP – FORD EARNINGS: Ford Motor Co. earned $1.1 billion in the first quarter, excluding a big accounting gain. North American profits jumped 33 percent. They fell elsewhere because of the European debt crisis and slower sales in China.

AP – For Ford, there’s no place like home.

Ford Motor Co posted a lower-than-expected fourth-quarter profit Friday due to disappointing results outside North America and rising commodity costs.

Am I the only one who loves getting a sneak peek at Super Bowl ads? I think not. Audi has just released a 60-second commercial it plans to air during the big game in one of the prime commercial blocks: the first break after kick-off.

Reuters – Ford Motor Co reported a lower-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on Friday as commodity costs shot up and results from operations outside North America fell short of expectations.

AP – Automakers expressed qualified support for California’s proposed rules to require carmakers to build more electric and other less-polluting hybrid cars and trucks by 2025.

ContributorNetwork – House Republicans railed against the Obama Administration Wednesday during an investigative hearing on General Motors’ Chevy Volt, after a probe conducted by the federal auto safety agency ruled that the electric cars’ batteries are not prone to causing fires. “The Chevrolet Volt is safe to drive and it has been safe to drive the whole time,” asserted David Strickland, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “Not only would I drive it, I would [take] my wife, my mother and my baby sister along for the ride.”

AP – A survey finds that retail gasoline prices across Texas have risen an average 2 cents this week.