“You guys are obsessed with rear wheel drive,” Alan Mulally mused to the Australian press after a browbeating about which pair of wheels might propel the Falcon into the future. Try as they might, the Ford Chief would not be pinned down about the chassis architecture of future Falcons, saying only that the choice would be customer driven, and plugging front and all-wheel drive vehicles as “pretty spectacular.”

Mulally is right that Ford’s global push to put exceptional small cars in showrooms is what the automaker’s focus is and should be. The Falcon has long fallen off its sales peak from the halcyon days of two decades ago, and while Mulally agrees that it’s “an absolutely dynamite vehicle,” small cars in the future will prop up the more niche-y vehicles like the FG Falcon. Mulally went on to say that Australia will serve as an engineering and product development outpost for Ford, and the big-vehicle prowess in Oz will be useful regardless of layout. As Ford pulls its global platforms together, the Ranger and Focus will come at us from Australia, too.

The Ford GT went from concept to production in record time thanks to companies like ROUSH and Saleen that have niche manufacturing capabilities. Saleen handled the assembly of the GT in its 200,000-sq ft facility in Troy, MI, and whether it was part of the deal or just a thank you from Ford, Steve Saleen ended up owning a pre-production Ford GT, one of only nine built. There are some differences from the production version, including a 4.6-liter Mustang Cobra V8 that has been bored out to 5.4-liters, as well as a unique supercharger system made specifically for the car. The bad news is that its pre-production status means it can’t be registered as a street legal vehicle, so this Ford GT will most likely be relegated to a collector’s garage.

News flash: small cars like the Ford Focus are selling beyond expectations (ours anyway) while trucks and SUVs are sitting on dealer lots much longer than auto manufacturers would like. For this reason, Ford is moving as quickly as possible to switch a few of its truck plants into car plants, including its Michigan Truck plant where behemoth SUVs like the Expedition and Navigator were being built. The switchover is going to cost the automaker since these are not flexible manufacturing facilities, with the first bit of retooling ringing the registers to the tune of $75 million bucks — and that’s just for a new bodyshop. The total cost to retool the plant will be in the hundreds of millions. As they say, it takes money to make money. While the plant is being refurbished, workers will be shuffled to the nearby Wayne plant to build even more Focuses. The best bit of news, though, is that Ford will finally be building its small cars from Europe at its converted truck plant, the ones we’ve all been asking for since the Euro-Focus got a new platform and we didn’t. Not that we’re still sour or anything…

BMW made it official today, after we told you about it “unofficially” last week. As expected, the German automaker is raising prices across its model range an average of 2.1 percent for the 2009 model year due to “…significant structural and economic changes in the marketplace.” Regardless, the direct price increase of vehicle MSRP doesn’t tell the whole story. BMW has also increased pricing on popular options (the Sport Package is up $450 on the 335i sedan and coupe) and removed some standard features (the premium Logic 7 audio system is no longer standard on the 335i — now it’s an $875 option) driving the consumer’s cost even higher than it initially appears. If that isn’t bad enough news for those hoping to put a Roundel in their driveway, we are also hearing rumors that BMW’s latest lease residuals and money factors aren’t as sweet as they were over the summer.

Some of the more hard-core tifosi have been whining that Ferrari has gone soft with the new California. It’s pretty hard to justify that a car able to hit 60 mph in the three-second range is soft, but so be it. The nay-sayers point to the inclusion of a folding hard-top as a sign that Ferrari has grown more concerned with pleasing its poseur clientele than developing genuine performance vehicles. Never mind that the innovative rapid-deployment roof, according to Ferrari, actually weighs 5kg less than an equivalent soft-top and still only takes 14 seconds to raise or lower.

However, Maranello has not finished development of the California and intends to pacify those malcontents with some new features. For starters, Ferrari says that about 10% of its customers still demand a manual transmission, and so they will have one ready for the California by the time it actually goes on sale about half a year from now. Around the same time, Ferrari will also unveil a new HGTC handling package, like those offered for the 612 Scaglietti and the previous 575 M Maranello, to tighten up the California’s suspension. A new set of lightweight wheels is also in the works, anticipated to shave some 10-12kg off of the unsprung weight. A 430 Scuderia it is not – that’s why Ferrari makes both – but don’t mistake the California for a lazy boulevard cruiser.

Blame gas prices. Blame the housing market. Blame the dollar for being worth much less than it was in 2005. But ultimately, you’ll probably need to blame the Chinese for the total lack of MGs being sold in the U.S.

Despite initial plans by MG’s new owner, Nanjing Automobile Group Corp., to sell a U.S. version of the TF roadster, the company now says conditions are just wrong here in the States. “The U.S.A. isn’t on the short-term radar as an anticipated market for us, but with the right product, it would be good to return there,” Gary Hagen, marketing director of NAC MG, says in a story on Austin Rover Online. Of course, with the car also goes any hopes of a U.S. assembly plant in Oklahoma. The final twist of the knife is Hagen killing any hope of the company shipping Chinese-made kits to the U.S. for assembly.

Buck up, MG fans. You’ve waited 20 years. What’s another 20? Right?

Employees at Jeep’s factory in Toledo, Ohio reported back to work this week after two months of mandatory downtime. The good news is that they still have their jobs; the bad news is that they’ve been told to expect another four weeks off before the end of the year. This time, however, the shutdowns will be scheduled in week-long intervals instead of covering an entire four-week period. The slowdown of SUV sales has been widely covered and the Jeep brand has not been immune, including its bread-and-butter Wrangler model that had proven extremely popular a short while back when the first-ever four-door version was unveiled. Of course, back then gas was below $3 a gallon. Besides the Wrangler, Jeep also makes the Liberty and Dodge Nitro at the Toledo plant.

Is it possible to buy a car that’s both inexpensive and ultra cool? Can a $22,000 Toyota Prius really get you the same respect from the valet as a $70,000 BMW? That’s what “Wired Magazine” wants to know, and they’re asking readers to decide which of five relatively cheap cars they would feel coolest driving.

So far, the most expensive of the bunch, the Prius, is in third place with only 18% of the vote. Behind it with 11% is an early-’90s Volvo and a 25-year-old Mercedes 300 SDL. In first place, with a big lead over a used Ford Mustang, is a 1995-1997 Jaguar XJ6.

Really? Those are the only choices we get? For the price of that 2005 V6 Mustang, you could get yourself a real tire-smoking, V8-powered 1966 Mustang. Sure it’ll need some paint, probably some fresh Bondo and maybe a transmission overhaul, but that builds character in both owner and car.

Or if you’re not into power, don’t even think about that wheezy Volvo. Go German instead, and get a classic VW Beetle. You’ll pay more than what that boxy sedan cost, but the cool factor of the Bug will more than make up for it.

So what say you, Autoblog fans? What cheap transportation would you choose for its cool-boosting properties? Or is “Wired” right on the money?

While Russia’s auto industry is certainly not known for the beauty it produces, the country’s stock of fashion models seems limitless. Standing next to each vehicle on display at this year’s Moscow Motor Show was a maiden who, as you can see in the gallery below, was usually more attractive than the metal against which she was leaning.

The Moscow Auto Show is underway and Damon’s on site with camera in hand. The car you see here is the Lada C-Cross Concept, which looks kinda like a Chinese knock-off of a last-gen Euro Ford Focus with added ground clearance. The C-Cross show car presumably gives a sneak peek at what a future AvtoVAZ car-based crossover might look like, and if we had to guess, a production version probably isn’t too far off. We’ll pass on it, though. Our hearts and minds forever belong to the Lada Niva, whose old-school looks are like visual comfort food. Plus, something tells us that this C-Cross thing wouldn’t do nearly as well underwater.