UPDATED--Ed Whitacre is stepping down as General Motors Co. CEO on Sept. 1. He will be replaced by Daniel Akerson, who joined the GM board in July 2009 after a long career in telecommunications.

Akerson, 61, has been head of global buyouts for private equity firm The Carlyle Group since July 2009. His career was highlighted by stints as chairman and CEO of XO Communications from 1999 to 2003. He was CEO of Nextel Communications Inc. from 1996 to 1999 and also was chairman of the company's board from 1996 to 2001.

Whitacre, 68, said he would stay on as chairman until Dec. 31. When he leaves, Akerson will become chairman as well, Whitacre said during a conference call with analysts and reporters on Thursday.

Whitacre said the GM board has been aware since he became CEO in December that he didn't want to stay a day longer than he had to. Whitacre was named GM chairman in June 2009 and took over as CEO after the Dec. 1 departure Fritz Henderson.

 

"Top Gear": irreverent, wacky, cheeky, addictive, English. Well, not so English anymore -- the U.S. version, after a stalled attempt by NBC to bring the show stateside, will be appearing on the History Channel this fall. And there's a shiny new trailer to prove it.

The three hosts -- stunt driver Tanner Foust, comedian Adam Ferrara and racing analyst Rutledge Wood -- manage more "dudes" in the two-minute-plus trailer than have likely been uttered in the past decade on the version seen by the Brits. They are younger than the British version's Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May -- then again, that trio has been on the air together for an incredible 15 years, so they weren't older men when they started the show, either. In any case, they seem to be having fun, and that's all that really matters. Well, that and ratings. And advertiser revenue. You get the idea.

Check out the action after the jump. 

A Buick LaCrosse hybrid sedan probably will join a new small car and new crossover as Buick expands its lineup in the next three model years.

The brand, which sells four nameplates now, eventually wants a six- or seven-vehicle lineup, says John Schwegman, Buick-GMC's top marketer.

Buick seeks to revive its reputation for performance and stylish luxury to appeal to middle-aged professionals who often buy Asian luxury brands.

Here are highlights of the brand's plan for the 2011-13 model years.

 

During the height of the Toyota unintended-acceleration scare, there was some speculation that the company’s problems were software-based instead of mechanical, as the automaker claimed. Everyone from TV pundits to lawmakers seemed to think that something in the electronics of those runaway Camry and Prius models had gone awry. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, those technophobic sentiments may have been misplaced. Federal investigators just presented their findings on 58 cases of unintended acceleration – none of which could be attributed to electronic malfunctions. 

Is Lamborghini preparing a four-door-fighter to take on the Porsche Panamera and the Aston Martin Rapide--perhaps along the lines of the Estoque? Maybe.

Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann again raised that possibility recently.

“A third model would fit Lamborghini very well,” Winkelmann, 45, told Bloomberg. “A four-door car would be a very feasible approach.”

Lamborghini most recently considered the concept of a four-door with the Estoque sedan, a prototype revealed at the 2008 Paris motor show. But since then, the Italian company has been mum about the car's fate, except for a statement last year indicating that no decision had been made either way for production. AutoWeek named it the Best in Show in Paris.

 

GMC, traditionally a home for rebadged Chevrolet trucks with more content, is preparing to jolt its lineup with a compact car aimed at young urban buyers.

General Motors Co. is expected to bring the GMC Granite to market in 2013. The Granite concept's front passenger seat pivots up and toward the console. With the seat up, a bicycle can be transported without removing its front tire.

GM gave the concept the turbocharged, 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine that's an upgrade on the Chevrolet Cruze.

Here are GMC's plans for the 2011-13 model years.

 

It's official: There's no mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette on the horizon. That's the word from General Motors' top global engineer.

As for a Corvette with a hybrid powertrain, that remains a possibility.

Karl-Friedrich Stracke, GM vice president of global vehicle engineering, on Tuesday discussed a wide range of topics--including the next-generation Corvette.

Over the past two years or so, countless Web and print stories have been written about the upcoming redesigned Corvette, and nearly all have speculated that GM was developing a mid-engine model. Speculation regarding the timing for the mid-engine car's debut was anywhere from the 2014 model year to several years later.

 

The sun is shining, the air is cool and some poor fools are wasting time out on the golf course at Pebble Beach.

Normally, of course, golf would be the thing to do at this California links mecca -- but for me, I'd rather ignore the "fore!" and focus on the four-wheeled wonders that are everywhere in the lead-up to the 60th Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Oh, and I happen to be riding around in quite the fine car myself, though one whose history lies ahead of it rather than behind: an all-new Saab 9-5 turbo, which won't hit dealer lots for another few weeks.