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Ford, General Motors and Daimler Chrysler launched new price breaks in mid-November to lure customers to dealerships, but it wasn’t enough to reverse consumer trends and a hangover effect of solid summer sales. Asian automakers saw steadier November business. They were shielded from the downturn because they sell fewer trucks and sport-utility vehicles and they didn’t offer employee-type discounts over the summer. Toyota is quickening its pace in a quest to unseat General Motors as the world’s biggest automaker, with plans to start manufacturing up to 100,000 Toyotas a year at a Subaru factory in Indiana. It will open a truck plant next year in San Antonio. This news came just days after GM said it will close l2 facilities by 2008, which will cut its capacity to one million vehicles a year. In addition, Ford intends to close five factories. Still, eight of every 10 cars sold in the United States are American-made. * * *

What’s in a name — Saturn has come up with a novel name for its all-new midsize crossover to debut in late 2006. It’ll be called — appropriately enough, in the terms of the auto industry — the Outlook.

Championship Off-Road Racing has increased its presence on the West Coast since Jim Baldwin has taken over leadership of the organization. Photo By Darrell Kinney

It’s one of three new vehicles to join the Saturn lineup for the 2007 model year, doubling the brand’s portfolio offerings to six. The others: a mid-size sedan called Aura and a Sky roadster that will be available in early 2006.

The Aura sedan will be powered by a standard 3.5L V6 engine with variable valve timing, with an optional, sophisticated DOHC 3.6L V6 VVT that produces an estimated 250 horsepower.

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More CORR — Since Jim Baldwin has taken over the midwestern Championship Off-Road Racing series and moved it mostly to the West Coast, he has increased to four the number of events to be held again in Chula Vista.

The first is set for May 20-21, followed by July 15-16, Sept. 23-24 and Oct. 28-29.

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Time off — Nextal Cup champion Tony Stewart was asked why he still raced sprint cars, midgets, modified and even road-racing prototypes on off days.

“So that I won’t complain about the long Nextal series,” he said. “It’s great to go out on a different track when you don’t have to worry about championship points or talking to the media or sponsor obligations.”

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Another top 10 — There always seems to be a top 10 list somewhere, and Automobile magazine came up with its list of greatest sports cars. The magazine’s picks were Alfa Romeo, Chevrolet Corvette, BMW 328, Shelby Cobra, Ferrari Spider, Jaguar XK120, Lotus Elan, Lotus Elise, Mazda Miata and Porsche 911.