Following the morning awards breakfast at the Las Vegas Hotel, things got cranked up in the adjoining North Hall of the Convention Center with the unveiling of five music-themed 2014 Kia Souls.

In this ninth year of the Scion Tuner Challenge, three custom car builders each received a stock 2014 tC, $15,000 and 90 days to complete the project. The judging panel included representation from Super Street, a magazine dedicated to covering high-performance customized cars and lifestyle. Tea earned a $10,000 grand prize for his efforts.

Unlike its sedans which are re-engineered with greater frequency, Toyota's truck-based sport utilities are on a seven year cycle. But seven years in the auto industry can seem like a design eternity so, this being the case, the Toyoda City-based manufacturer normally offers up a refresh somewhere in mid-cycle. For the mid-size 4Runner, which, along with the FJ Cruiser, is the last of the body-on-frame SUVs on the market, that time is now.

But aside from the slight price increase, the rest of the news is all good as Honda has made a number of enhancements to the hottest compact it sells here in the U.S.

I can't imagine anyone enjoying waiting around while their car gets an oil change. Fortunately, neither can Hyundai, otherwise how else would you explain the recently announced partnership with Shell Oil and the Quaker State brand of motor oils.

The result of this collaboration is the 2014 Ford F-150 TONKA truck - a limited edition model (only 500 will be made according to sales rep Ronald Bender) that will be sold and distributed through Ford dealers in North America beginning this month. Tuscany notes that interest and demand from Ford dealerships is strong and as a result, distribution will initially be limited to one TONKA truck per Ford dealership.

2014 marks the 20th year of WardsAuto World magazine's 10 Best Engines list. Not only is this the only award of its kind in the North American auto industry it is, according to WardsAuto, considered by many to be the ‘Oscars' for automotive engines.

while year to date sales of the Outback are up 12 percent, year-over-year sales in March were up just 2.9 percent - still a good showing considering Subaru is about to throw another log on the fire with the new 2015 Outback unveiled last week at the New York Auto Show.

Both automatic Abarth models as well as the Turbo will arrive at Fiat studios later this summer, possibly as early as July. Pricing has yet to be set, but we expect the automatic to carry a price premium of more than $1250 over comparably equipped manual versions.

Proving that there is, indeed, gold in them thar hills especially when it comes to special edition muscle cars in limited numbers, Chrysler's Dodge brand had no problem selling its dealers every single copy of the limited edition Mopar '14 Challenger it plans on offering.