It’s your call, folks.  Is Yahoo trying to single-handedly save GM, Ford, and Chrysler, or does it just suffer from ridiculously bad timing?  Either way, something interesting’s occurred, as the company has seen fit to freshen Yahoo Autos.

Automakers foreign and domestic are coping with illiquid credit and declining sales, and search engine volumes reflect that. Over the past three years, the most popular car companies, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Ford have seen steady decline in search traffic.

Automakers foreign and domestic are coping with illiquid credit and declining sales, and search engine volumes reflect that. Over the past three years, the most popular car companies, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Ford have seen steady decline in search traffic.

Automakers foreign and domestic are coping with illiquid credit and declining sales, and search engine volumes reflect that. Over the past three years, the most popular car companies, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Ford have seen steady decline in search traffic.

Automakers foreign and domestic are coping with illiquid credit and declining sales, and search engine volumes reflect that. Over the past three years, the most popular car companies, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Ford have seen steady decline in search traffic.

Yahoo’s put out some amusing commercials, and we’ve had a good time making fun of Ask’s strange offerings.  Yet in all of this, where is Google?  The search giant almost doesn’t seem to believe in advertising.

A car commercial might last 30 or 45 seconds, and in most cases, only a tiny portion of it will discuss pricing.  I’m not complaining – high-def laps are more interesting than transferable leases – but this is all the more reason to turn to blogs, social networks, and other online resources for financial information.

If these products come to your local car dealerships, they’ll need to have a better name than “sustainable transportation solutions.”  But by issuing a $10 million request for proposals (RFP), Google intends to give the products an improved chance of making it that far.

While Chevrolet appears to be the official automaker of choice for both Google and Microsoft as they embark on their respective nationwide catch-humans-in-the-act photo scavenger hunts, Microsoft isn’t shy about letting Google know it’s bigger and badder.

Yahoo wanted to find the greenest city in America, and now it has: Hastings, Nebraska.  Hastings will receive $250,000 to be used towards various environmental endeavors, and has also earned “a Yahoo!-hosted Nebraska-style BBQ and celebration.”

Want to improve your car’s efficiency?  Maybe you should hand the keys over to Google; in conjunction with Hymotion/A123Systems, the search engine giant has developed “a small fleet of plug-in hybrids,” and the vehicles have demonstrated a striking ability to slurp less gas.

If you’re going to do some car research, odds are good that you’ll be doing it online.  A new study indicates that consumers are turning to the web more than ever – and they’re turning, more specifically, to manufacturers’ websites.  “Offline” resources, by comparison, seem to be dwindling in terms of importance.

SMM is of course Social Media Marketing. Social Media is the latest buzzword to describe the phenomenon whereby almost everyone is talking to almost everyone else via Internet websites such as YouTube, Flickr or MySpace. Now the marketing for the 2007 Volvo S80 from Volvo Cars is tapping into such media.

“This is my car. That’s where I spilled coffee. Oh, and this is where the dog vomited.” All right, so perhaps that wouldn’t be the best use of online video advertising. But according to a new report, automotive online video classifieds – and many other types of car-related, Internet-only videos – are on their way.

The Dash Electronics booth at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas will have a dash of Yahoo in its product, thanks to their partnership on local search.

The Slot Car Programming Challenge will do more than let coders experience the thrill of playing with 1960′s era toys; it offers the chance for people to learn more about the Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ).

Honda has announced it is adding in-car navigation systems powered by Google Earth, presumably the same systems Volkswagen has been reported to be developing for a little while.

Hunting down “homes for sale” through a typical Google search returns extra search boxes for location and listing type; using those search boxes brings up a mashup of Google Base and Maps with listings for available properties.

They are in Wired magazine in Pittsburgh.

My RSS reader this morning is full of posts about SXSW, the South by Southwest Festivals and Conferences taking place in Austin, Texas, from 11-20 March.

ZDNet reports that car maker Lexus denied that the Cabir wireless worm poses a risk to the Bluetooth-capable navigation systems featured in some of its vehicles …