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Memorial Day weekend could be a smashing three days for the auto industry, which is pushing for the highest level of sales this year since 2002, forecasters predict.

So far, new-vehicle sales to individual customers are keeping the industry on track for sales above 15 million this year. When all new-vehicle sales are counted in, the total could top 16 million for the first time this decade, LMC Automotive forecasts.

Sales this month could be the strongest since January. It’s being driven by sales of pickup trucks, which are back in favor as the construction industry and homebuilding rebound.

Because they are big, heavy vehicles that often command big prices, the auto industry is seeing customers paying more for vehicles on average at $28,921. It’s the highest ever for May and 3% higher than the same month last year.

Kelley Blue Book says pickup sales are contributing to a 6% gain in sales this month. “The Big Three will continue to benefit from a strong pickup truck market, with each domestic automaker anticipated to post gains slightly better than the overall industry average,” says Alec Gutierrez, senior market analyst, in a statement.

Pickups ares selling at an average discount of 20% this weekend, says consumer advise site NerdWallet. One of the best deals is a 2013 GMC Sierra, which comes with 0% financing over 60 months and is beign cleared out to make way for a new 2014 model.

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Slightly more travelers are expected to drive to their getaway destinations this Memorial Day holiday weekend, AAA reports.

While 31.2 million people will drive during the holiday, up 0.25% from last year, only 2.3 million will take leisure flights, down 7%. Reason: higher air fares and relatively stable, but still high, gas prices.

Gas prices average $3.66 a gallon Wednesday, down 2 cents from the same week last year, AAA reports.

While the economy has improved in the past year, AAA CEO Robert Darbelnet says the end of payroll tax relief could hold back travel. People are expected to spend $659 over the weekend, down about 6%.

The average journey over the weekend will be 690 miles, higher than last year’s 642 miles.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

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It’s hard to imagine a more painful mistake than accidently pumping gasoline into the tank of a diesel car, resulting in costly engine damage. Now Volkswagen is taking steps to make sure it never happens.

The leading maker of car diesels in the U.S. plans to retrofit 209,500 cars with barriers to make sure motorists can’t mistakenly pump gas into their tanks, Automotive News reports.The “service action” will cover 209,500 cars in the U.S. built between 2009 and 2012. It includes the diesel versions of Jetta, Golf and Jetta SportWagen.

The News obtained a memo from VW to its dealers in which its notes that more misfueling incidents have occurred ass diesels have become more popular. And it tired of being in the bad-guy role since such mistakes aren’t covered by warranty and can result in ill will with customers.

VW’s fix is a fuel filler cap and sleeve to try to keep out gas nozzles, which has a smaller diameter than diesel fuel nozzles.The report says the government has received about 160 complaints about the problem.

Diesel cars have gained popularity because they are fuel efficient and provide longer range than gas.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

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With summer on the way, we’re trying out a new video feature on Drive On that we call “Tell Us About Your Car.” Catchy, huh?

First up is this cool “rat rod,” a cut-down, stripped-out performance van built on a 1964 Chevrolet that was used by a telephone company. You can still faintly see the letters on the door.

We saw it at the weekly Saturday morning car show in Irvine, Calif., where owner Casey Moir was showing off the “blown Chrysler” engine that he says puts out 700 horsepower.

Yes, this rod, where even the driver’s seat is bare metal, pops wheelies, Moir says. Easy to see why it can, too, with that big engine sitting way in back. Moir calls his baby the “Street Sweeper,” and many of the students at nearly El Toro High School have signed their name to it.

We’ll have another cool car to talk about next week.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

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After rising since the recession and hitting record highs, used car prices are easing, and the trend will continue, experts say.

Overall, used-car prices fell 4.5% on average in April at the wholesale level, compared with the same month last year, reports Adesa Consulting. After shooting to peaks each spring over the last three years, “They had almost no where else to go but down,” says Adesa analyst Tom Kontos.

But the bad news for now is that prices for good, late-model used cars aren’t falling much, even though new-car sales now are booming and trade-ins are coming in. That’s because many consumers are trading in aging cars they nursed through the recession years — clunkers worth so little that dealers don’t even keep them around.

“Just too old,” explains Allen Foster, general manager for Smart Motors, a Toyota dealership in Madison, Wis. Unable to resell them on his own used-car lot, Foster sends such trade-ins off to auction.

Minivans and full-size crossover vehicles took the biggest price declines over the past year, both falling more than 10% in average wholesale price. Cars overall were down 6.6%. In a sign that the economy, particularly, housing, is picking up steam, the only vehicles still seeing price increases are those typically used by workers. Full-size pickup prices rose 3.3%; full-size vans were up 8.1%

But for the sought-after late-model cars on lots at dealers affiliated with a major automaker, the average retail price was down a scant 0.5% in the first quarter from the quarter a year ago, to an average of $15,793, says car-buying advice site Edmunds.com.

Prices are “edging downward (but) they are still pretty high,” says Edmunds.com senior analyst Michelle Krebs.

With trade-in vehicles averaging 6.5 years, dealers aren’t getting the kind of near-new trade-ins that most buyers want as a cheaper alternative to buying a new car for reliable transportation. More than one out of five car sales at franchised dealers were “certified” used cars, the cream puffs of the used-car lot that often come with long warranties as part of the deal.

Kontos advises used-car shoppers to try to hold out as prices continue to ease. “It won’t hurt you to take your time and shop.”

As for new-car buyers, he says now is the time to act. “Take advantage,” he says. “Your trade-in is worth as much as it’s going to be worth.”

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

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Toyota is planning a giant increase in production of lithium ion batteries as prepares to use them in its flagship Prius sedan, Reuters reports.

Toyota plans a six-fold boost in it use of the batteries, which are substantially lighter and more powerful than the nickel-metal hydride batteries it uses in the current Prius.

The report comes from Japanese newspaper Nikkei, which, citing unnamed sources, says Toyota and battery partner Panasonic will increase lithium-ion battery output capacity to 200,000 units a year.

Nearly all plug-in vehicles depend on lithium-ion batteries. Nickel metal hydride, which powered the first generation of hybrids, are cheaper, but are clearly on the way out.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

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In case you haven’t been following AMC’s Mad Men this season, the big news is that Don Draper and his ad geniuses have landed the biggest plum account of all, General Motors. But if GM surfaces again in Sunday’s episode, will the brand get a lift?

Kontera, a firm that tracks the impact that media makes on viewers, says the big auto brand so far has seen any significant online buzz from its appearance on the show so far this season.

By contrast, consider Jaguar. The fictitious ad firm on the show made headlines for the automaker last season. When Jag figured prominently in the story line, Jag officials made it clear that they had nothing to do with it, but were clearly delighted about the mentions.

And that’s even though Jaguar cars were not portrayed all that favorably on the hit series, which is set in the 1960s.

Jaguar made a big impact. It experienced a 96.27% lift in “content consumption,” meaning how often people were talking about the brand on digital devices, from April 14 to 15 and a 32.22% bump from May 5 to 6, according to Kontera.

“We’re seeing significant visibility increases for brands that play a recurring and active part in the storyline,” like Jaguar and Heinz, says Kontera spokesman Stephan Pechdimaldji, in a statement. “If Chevy evolves from a faceless entity into one that figures prominently in the show, it should benefit similarly as Season 6 of Mad Men unfolds.”

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General Motors is still in the “early innings” of its recovery, but it won’t be long before it rejoins the S&P 500 largest companies and gets its bond rating back to investment grade, GM CEO Dan Akerson said Saturday.

Speaking at the commencement for business graduates at Notre Dame, Akerson noted GM’s 13 consecutive profitable quarters and progress since its 2009 bankruptcy filing.

In prepared remarks, he said recovery has been built on “pillars are to design, build and sell the world’s best vehicles, differentiate and strengthen our brands, maintain a fortress balance sheet and pursue profitable growth around the world.”

Akerson, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, says GM is benchmarking against the world’s best, especially when it comes to its Cadillac brand. GM has made Cadillac a priority in its four-year, $11-billion China capital program.

He says he also figured out that it didn’t make sense to outsource information technology when every level of the automaking business depends on being “wired and connected.” So GM is building a new data center — its second — and hiring 4,000 software developers.

When it comes to colleges, Akerson noted that GM continues to support scholarship programs promoting math and engineering. The Buick Achievers program has awarded nearly $12 million to more than 2,100 college-bound students since 2011, he says.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

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Making 1 million of anything is quite an achievement. But 1 million Jeeps is truly special.

It happened Friday at Chrysler Group’s Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio. As soon as the 2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 10th Anniversary Edition rolled off the line, there was a big celebration.

Symbolizing the cooperation that made it happen, the black Jeep was driven by a Chrysler Group vice president, Mauro Pino, and the United Auto Worker’s Jeep Unit chairman, Local 12, Dan Henneman.

After all, the Jeep Wrangler is a symbol of America. Its forerunner having played a crucial role in winning World War II, today’s Wrangler stands for blazing new trails and rugged American know-how. It’s a product of the heartland.

“Every Jeep Wrangler sold to customers around the world is born in Toledo, Ohio,” says Pino. “Since this facility opened eight years ago, the Toledo workforce has built every one of those million vehicles with pride, passion and a focus on quality. We all look forward to building the next million.”

The Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 10th Anniversary Edition — the name is almost longer than the vehicle — is aimed directly as off-roaders with features like steel winch-capable bumpers with removable end caps, additional ground clearance, new rock rails and off-road tires.

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For three years, Porsche has tantalized with its concept version of a plug-in hybrid supercar, the 918. Now comes the real thing, and what a significant car it appears to be.

The 918 Spyder combines a V-8 engine with two electric motors and a lithium-ion battery. It can run up to 18 miles on electric power alone around town, but when the big engine kicks in, it becomes a monster at the track.

Porsche says it will be accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than 2.8 seconds using full power — and 7 seconds using electricity only.

“There are a whole bunch of the hybrid supercars coming, and Porsche’s is the most extreme as far as the hybridness goes,” says Frank Markus, technical editor for Motor Trend who drove a 918 prototype in Germany. “You drive this thing on a racetrack and (when) you slam on the brakes, it’s shoveling a lot of energy back in the battery. The charge went up during my drive.”

Porsche says its goal with the 918 Spyder droptop was “the parallel improvement of both efficiency and performance without one being at the cost of the other.” It says the 918 Spyder “will act as the gene pool for the Porsche sports cars of the future.”

That future, as embodied in this single car due to come to market soon, will not be based on a single new technology, but several. Lightness from a body of carbon-fiber reinforced polymers. Separate electric motors on each axle. The latest V-8 engine that develops 608 horsepower.

When that raw engine power is combined with the electrical output, the result should be 887 horsepower. Top speed: 211 miles per hour, or 93 mph on electric power alone.

Yet, as a plug-in, the 918 is designed to be a pussycat in everyday driving. Its electric range is meant to be enough to make for a decent commuter range. It can be recharged from a standard wall socket in about seven hours.

Between its gas and electric power plants, the end result for the 918 should be amazing quickness. The Porsche 918 Spyder prototype was 20 seconds faster than a Porsche Carrera GT in completing the north loop of the famous Nurburgring race course in Germany.

Why so nimble? To keep the 918 pinned to the pavement, there’s a retractable wing to add to downforce. There are also shutters around the headlights that open for cooling at slow speeds and close at high speeds.

Despite the extra weigh of having to tote a hybrid battery, the car weighs only 3,715 pounds. The heaviest components are situated low to give the car more ground-hugging characteristics. Also, the rear axle is steerable to make cornering more precise. The car is all-wheel drive.

“It doesn’t feel heavy” when driven, Markus says. And “the engine sound is as feral and wild as any other supercar out there.”

Drivers will certainly know: “the exhaust is two feet from your ear,” he points out.

Only 918 of them will be built, starting on September 18, or 9/18. When it started taking orders a couple of years ago, the price was $845,000.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.