Every week, Exhaust Notes will pick out an industry, technical or obscure term from the automotive world and give you the lowdown on what it means and how it’s used. Already know the answer? Congratulations, you’re ahead of the game.

If you’d like an explanation of an automotive term, e-mail us at autosblog@live.com

This week’s term: Turbocharged.

If you follow the automotive industry, you may now the name Mark Reuss, GM vice president of global engineering; in fact, his name is in the title of the AutoWeek post directly below this one.

If you've recently returned a GM vehicle as part of the company's "May the Best Car Win" promotion -- which allows buyers 60 days to return or exchange the vehicle for any reason -- you may know Reuss in a different way: He may be on the other end of your telephone. Ed Whitacre, the new GM chairman, suggested to Reuss and his team that they personally call such customers, to get an idea of their likes and dislikes, what went wrong, and a sense of how the company can improve its vehicles.

From 1960s Chevelles to modern Camaros, speedy Chevrolets have always been identified with two letters: SS.

But does the tradition-laden performance designation have a future in the new General Motors, which is under pressure to cut costs, make money and meet stricter fuel-economy regulations?

“Absolutely,” Mark Reuss, GM vice president of global engineering, told AutoWeek.

In fact, the SS line could be better -- or at least more clearly defined.

There's a great video and accompanying article over at CNBC.com: Correspondent Phil LeBeau got an early ride-and-drive in the current iteration of the Chevy Volt at the GM proving grounds in Milford, Mich. At about a year out from launch, the Volt that LeBeau drove was almost, if not quite, the very same vehicle we'll see on Chevy lots soon.

So, how did it go?

After a punishing 30 percent drop in sales in October -- and an even more brutal 39 percent overall slide through the first 10 months of 2009 -- Chrysler is looking to lure holiday car buyers with early and pumped-up incentives and deals on many models.

The incentives -- which begin today and run through Jan. 4 -- are grouped by brand, meaning that the deals you could get on a Chrysler 300 or 300C (such as zero percent financing for 60 months) are different from what you could expect when shopping for a minivan (lease discounts of $500 to $1,000) or a Jeep (an extra $1,000 in consumer cash on all models save the Wrangler).

So ... this is a bit scary.

First: What do you think of when you think "Ford Pinto"? What pops into my head is a big ball of fire -- the vehicle has a nasty reputation from the 1970s to today for bursting into flames during rear impacts.

Looks like there may be a new contender for "most likely to combust," however: the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Well, we can't say we're surprised by this development.

After being shut out of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety -- not a single Toyota vehicle earned a Top Safety Pick nod -- the company is striking back, calling the report "misleading."

Toyota's argument, in a nutshell, is that the report implies that all Toyota, Scion and Lexus vehicles were tested (around 38 models in all), when in fact only five were part of the survey -- its point being that zero-for-five is much different than zero-for-38.

The IIHS responds that automakers need to nominate vehicles for testing if they are released outside of the normal testing time frame at the start of the model year, in January. (The Institute tests early to give consumers looking to buy 2010 models the pertinent information.) Toyota did not nominate any additional vehicles, hence none but the five chosen by the institute were tested.

Italian businessman Gian Mario Rossignolo plans to revive the De Tomaso sports car brand.

The former Fiat S.p.A marketing executive aims to build 8,000 De Tomaso cars a year in a former Pininfarina S.p.A. factory near Turin.

Rossignolo, 79, who bought the De Tomaso brand from a Modena, Italy, bankruptcy court earlier this month, plans a three-model range of aluminum premium vehicles.