The man responsible for creating the sleek 2010 Nissan Ellure Concept you see above is now the design director for Infiniti. Alfonso Albaisa (shown at right) has been a member of the Nissan design team for 25 years, but was recently promoted to executive design director for the Infiniti brand.

His past roles at Nissan have included design director for Nissan from 2004 to 2007, vice president of Nissan Design Europe from 2007 to 2011, vice president of Nissan Design America in 2011 and, most recently, he held the title of Nissan's global design director. Aside from Ellure, Albaisa was also responsible for designing the 2012 Nissan Xtrem Concept, "key strategic production vehicles soon to be launched" and he's even contributed to a handful of Infiniti designs.

Scroll down for the official press release.

One driver in Portland, Oregon, USA should make a hefty donation to his or her local wildlife conservation group after a family of ducks got the person out of a speeding ticket. A Portland police officer clocked a car going 83 km/h (52 mph) in a 56 km/h (35-mph) zone, but when the officer went to pursue the speeder, a mother duck and her two ducklings ran some unintended interference.

Rather than just going around the ducks, the officer blocks the street to usher the waterfowl from the road. While the speeder got away, it's nice to see some compassion from the authorities. Besides, the gesture might've saved more than just the ducks from an unfortunate accident on the rain-slicked road. Scroll down to watch the video taken from the patrol car's dash cam.

What do you do if you have enough money to buy a Lexus LFA but can't get the car safely to your house? Get local government involved, of course. Rune Berge Vik, of Stavanger, Norway, did just that after he bought a Lexus LFA (the only LFA in the Nordic region according to tv2.no) last year only to find out that it could not clear a speed bump in his neighborhood.

To remedy the situation, Vik got in touch with his city, which had the speed bump removed. Talk about your tax dollars hard at work. On the other hand, it's commendable that the man actually uses his supercar as a daily driver, and besides, doesn't a street-legal car have the right to access said public streets?

Click through to watch an LFA attack the racetrack.

Despite initially launching in just the Crew Cab configuration, the lineup of 2014 GMC Sierra and 2014 Chevrolet Silverado trucks will eventually grow to include three cab sizes and three bed lengths. Oddly enough, our first look at the Regular Cab bodystyle has arrived in a General Motors press release discussing the aerodynamics of the new truck, with an image showing a Sierra Regular Cab testing in the wind tunnel. GMC's website says that Regular Cab and Double Cab models will be available by summer.

While it really didn't take too much imagination to figure out what the two-door version would look like, this Regular Cab Z71 looks pretty sharp with its standard-length 1,981 mm (6.5-feet) bed – a longer bed will also be offered. In regards to the aero tuning of the 2014 Sierra, these images show just how far GM has gone in maximizing the truck's fuel efficiency and reducing its noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) levels. Interestingly, the press release shows visual evidence that keeping the tailgate up is best for aero – there's always been some Mythbusters-level contention about such things –but GM also says that adding tonneau covers (preferably soft) and running boards can also help improve the overall aerodynamics. Scroll down for all of this aero info in the official press release.

No, you didn't read our title wrong. This is a 2013 model year Trans Am, and yes, that is a Pontiac logo affixed to the front of the car. But don't bother dialing up your local General Motors dealership just yet. This is the new Hurst Edition Trans Am created by the Trans Am Depot located in Tallahassee, FL. Having spent a number of years restoring early Trans Am models, the crew at Trans Am Depot finally did what many Pontiac enthusiasts wish GM would have done – create a modern Trans Am using the fifth-generation Chevrolet Camaro.

As the former owner of a 1977 model, I've been wanting to check out Trans Am Depot ever since I first saw the company have American Choppers build a trio of motorcycles inspired by its Pontiac remakes. So I jumped at the chance to head to Florida's capital city to visit the shop and drive its latest creation, the new Hurst Edition Trans Am. As a collaboration with Hurst, this car made its debut at the 2012 SEMA Show and then popped up again on our radar with a cheesy yet perfectly fitting video back in March.

Click here to read our full driving impressions after spending some time behind the wheel of this "new" Trans Am.

We're not sure what's gotten into Jaguar recently, but we really like it! After adding the R-S designation to high-performance versions of the XK and XF, the British automaker upped its own performance abilities even more by unveiling the XKR-S GT earlier this year at the New York Auto Show. Now, Edmunds is reporting that Jaguar is looking to create an entire R-S GT line of vehicles in a similar fashion as the Mercedes-Benz AMG Black Series, which could include the XF and F-Type.

Speaking with Jaguar's design studio director, Wayne Burgess, Edmunds says that all R-S GT models will be hand-built, limited-production vehicles. In the case of the XKR-S GT, Jaguar said that it would bring 30 units to the US (no word on Canada yet), but more recent reports indicate that it might actually bring 50. In other Jaguar news, the badges that come on the sport R-S cars had to be redesigned due to a dispute with Audi, and moving forward, this new badge will be used on all R-S and R-S GT models.

Vehicle customization has played a huge role in car culture in North America, and Dean Jeffries was perhaps one of the most well-known builders, painters and customizers of his time.

Hemmings is reporting that Jeffries died on Sunday at the age of 80. He leaves behind a legacy in the automotive world that includes a paint job on the very first Shelby Cobra ever made, the Ford used on the cover of the 1963 Beach Boys Little Deuce Coupe album, a custom GTO for The Monkees called The Monkeemobile and even some paint work on James Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder. A signature Jeffries' custom car called the Mantaray was on display at the Peterson Automotive Museum in LA for a time.

Outside of customization, Jeffries also worked as a stunt driver in films like The Blues Brothers, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Die Hard With a Vengeance. Scroll down for a couple videos showing some of the cars that will ensure that Jeffries' name will forever be enshrined in the automotive community.

Looking to highlight its unique and sporty mindset, Mazda is getting ready to launch its biggest advertising campaign since "Zoom-Zoom" became its tagline in 2000. The new campaign, entitled "Game Changers," will begin in May, and rather than focusing on its sporty past – like it did with Zoom-Zoom early on – the new ads will look at recent advancements made in building its future, including Skyactiv technologies and its new diesel race program, both of which involve its excellent new Mazda6 sedan.

As a part of the ads, Mazda will showcase game changers from the sporting world, including Dick Fosbury who changed how competitors perform the high jump and Laird Hamilton, who redefined how surfers attacked big waves. It doesn't sound like Zoom-Zoom is going away, but "Game Changers" will definitely feature heavily in the Japanese automaker's marketing moving forward. A few examples of the new ad campaign are posted in our gallery, and the press release is available below.

While most automakers are clawing and scratching for every possible sale, it sounds like Ferrari is content in losing a few potential customers in the name of better exclusivity and higher profits. Autocar reports that Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo recently stated that the Italian automaker hopes to sell fewer than 7,000 units globally in 2013 compared to last year's tally of 7,318.

As a part of this plan, Ferrari will be slowing its production lines and trying to create a balanced market for its cars in the North America, the Middle East, Europe and China – the latter two being the automaker's biggest markets. Montezemolo also said that Ferrari would not be expanding its model lineup with SUVs, sedans or small cars.

Click here to watch what happens when a few kids get the keys to a Ferrari from their dad.

Proving that speed is fun in any language, Nissan's German arm recently pitted a GT-R up against an ex-Swiss Air Force fighter jet, called the Hawker Hunter. Now the idea of a car-versus-plane drag race is nothing new, but this is the first time we can recall a GT-R being involved.

While this Nissan video is almost a month old, we're pretty sure you won't be disappointed by the action, which shows the two high-speed machines racing along the two-kilometre runway. We don't want to ruin the suspense, so scroll down to watch the latest match-up of sports car versus fighter jet.

As BMW prepares to introduce the all-new 2 Series coupe and convertible, the 1 Series name definitely won't be going away. We know new sedan and hatchback models are in the works; including the GT shown above. According to Car and Driver, though, the future of the 1 Series nameplate in North America could be dependent on rival premium small cars like the Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class and Audi A3.

In an interview with C/D, BMW's North American head of product planning and strategy, Paul Ferraiolo, said that pricing might be the biggest deterrent to offering the third-gen 1 Series in North America. As he points out, BMW currently prices the 1 not too far from the 3 Series, but Mercedes-Benz and Audi will have their new small cars aggressively priced for far less. BMW's Mini brand will also factor into the consideration since the 1 GT will share its underpinnings with the next-gen Cooper lineup.

Just imagine for a moment that you're driving across a long stretch of secluded desert highway, and suddenly you see a hand waving at you from inside the vehicle in the rearview mirror. While this might seem like the stuff of scary urban legends, it is exactly what happened to a man last week as he was driving his Nissan pickup through California's High Desert.

According to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, a motorcycle rider rear-ended the man's pickup at a high rate of speed, throwing the rider into the bed of the truck. Since it was a rough stretch of road that was under construction, the driver mistook the impact for road debris. Witnesses claim the motorcycle rider was traveling "in excess of 209 km/h (130 mph)," and while the rider sustained "minor to moderate" injuries, we imagine that things would likely have been much worse if he hadn't landed in the back of the truck...

Click through to watch a video showing how a motorcyclist survived a high-speed crash.

Over the last decade or so, competition in NASCAR has led to some pretty funky looking racecars. And when the sport was still up and coming, the tight competition actually led to some interesting production cars. The Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird are perhaps the most well-known cars of the sport's "aero wars" era but the Ford Torino King Cobra might have been the most memorable of all, if not for some different homologation rules established in 1970. The Torino King Cobra never made it to production and never competed in NASCAR, but three examples exist including this one now for sale on eBay.

Designed as a successor for the aero-tuned Torino Talladega, the Torino King Cobra has a sleeker front end with hidden headlights and a sloped nose. As the story goes, NASCAR made a rule change in 1970 requiring 3,000 of the vehicles to be produced, which was substantially more than the 500 units required by the previous rule. One of the three prototypes ever built – and the only one built with the Boss 429 engine – is now for sale on eBay with a starting bid of US$500,000. With a little more than three days left on the auction there are still no bids, but in the grand scheme of things this seems like a relatively fair price for a rare piece of automobile and racing history.

Click here for additional photos.

With a new boss at the helm, Ford is looking at new ways to improve its vehicle launches in North America to prevent recent issues that have popped up with models like the Lincoln MKZ, Ford Escape and Ford Fusion. Speaking with Automotive News, Ford's new president of the Americas, Joe Hinrichs, revealed a few ways the automaker plans to avoid early build issues such as the engine fires on certain 2013 Escape and Fusion models and months-long delays for customers to receive their MKZs.

It sounds like the root of the problems may have been Ford's relationship with suppliers compounded by the fact that the product surge came on the heels of the recent industry-crippling recession, and in the AN article, Hinrichs says improvements are being made to reduce problems during the launch of new or redesigned models. Three such improvements that were implemented during the first quarter of this year including more rigorous quality comparisons, better use of computer technology to catch major problems sooner and hiring engineers to work closer with suppliers.

Click here to watch an interview with the workers of the Ford Louisville assembly plant, where the new Ford Escape is being assembled.