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Musk says Tesla 'definitely' won't recall Model S

Since early October, three Tesla Model S sedans have caught on fire, gained viral media coverage and received intense scrutiny, but Tesla's CEO and largest shareholder, Elon Musk, says "there's definitely not going to be a recall" of the Model S, Bloomberg reports. As of late October, the National Highway Traffic Safety administration (NHTSA) says it will not be launching a formal investigation into the Model S fire in Seattle, because there's no evidence to suggest that the fire was caused by a manufacturer defect and no government-mandated safety regulations were violated.
Though the fires are alarming, one must realize that hundreds of thousands of vehicle fires occur in the US every year. Electric Teslas, like any vehicle (including those with an internal combustion engine), are not immune to catching fire in certain situations. Here's Musk's take on the issue: "[The Model S] is about five times less likely to have a fire than an average gasoline car," he reportedly said Tuesday at the New York Times' DealBook conference in New York.
The first of the aforementioned fires occurred in Seattle and started in the battery pack after the Tesla hit a piece of road debris. The second fire occurred in Merida, Mexico, after the driver, who was speeding in his Model S, reportedly struck a raised pedestrian crossing, launched into the air and then crashed into a wall and tree. The third Model S ignition occurred after the driver ran over a tow hitch in Smyrna, Tenn., and - similar to the Seattle fire - damaged the undercarriage of the car where the battery is located.

Tesla poaches Renault-Nissan communications boss Sproule

Need another sign that Tesla is growing into a force to be reckoned with? Bloomberg reports it has just snagged high-profile communications boss Simon Sproule from Renault-Nissan to become the EV maker's vice president of communications and marketing.
Sproule is an industry veteran, having spent 20 years at Nissan (where he grew to become CEO Carlos Ghosn's right-hand man). In addition, he logged stints at Ford, Jaguar (when it was still a Blue Oval-owned brand) and Microsoft. Despite all that experience, Sproule is still young, at just 45 years of age, as Bloomberg points out, yet he's held positions in the US, Japan and France over the years.
This is all good news for Tesla, which is in need of a strong spokesman outside of company CEO Elon Musk. It's been battling with the state of New Jersey and its governor, Chris Christie, over direct sales in the Garden State.

Popular Science magazine's Best Of What's New 2012 all ate up with cars

Popular Science has named the winners in its Best of What's New awards, the victors coming in the categories of aerospace, automotive, engineering, entertainment, gadgets, green, hardware, health, home, recreation, security and software. The automotive category did not go wanting for lauded advancements:
Tesla Model S: the Grand Award winner for being "the standard by which all future electric vehicles will be measured."
BMW 328i: it's 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder gets called out for being more powerful and frugal than the six-cylinder it replaces.