Not that long ago, analysts talked about how the American automotive industry was heading for certain doom. Pressure from Japanese and European automakers had sent sales of Chrysler, Ford and GM on a downward spiral, and quality and satisfaction studies were not showing favourable results for the American automakers either.

Things have changed now, within the time span of just a few years. Despite the massive job cuts and factory closures by American automakers, the American automotive industry has been picking up slowly, but with jobs provided by foreign automakers instead of American ones. What has changed is the increase in localisation for cars sold in the United States. More and more automakers are bringing factories to the US instead of shipping parts or whole cars from all over the world.

In today's race to find alternative fuel sources, one alternative that seems to have gained popularity is a biofuel called Gasohol, or FlexFuel (its name changes depending on its composition and country of use).

It is composed of ethanol and gasoline; the former is a renewable energy source, and not something drilled out of the ground that can dry up one day. This is different from biodiesel — something our government has started dabbling in, which is diesel derived from non-petroleum sources. Think of Gasohol as biopetrol.

Three popular mixes are E85, E20 and E10. E85 is made up of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, and is widely used in Sweden, and becoming more common in the US. E20 contains 20% ethanol, and is popular in a few countries like Brazil. In fact, the South American country has taken it up to another level — it uses E100, which is pure ethanol with up to 4% water.

In Malaysia, we purchase cars either by cash or via hire purchase from a financial institution. It's quite simple: pay a downpayment, and then pay monthly repayments on the remainder plus an interest that can be as low as 1.38% or up to 7%, depending on the car and your financial status.

In countries like the United States, vehicles are obtained through three different ways – cash purchase, financing, or leasing. The method of leasing used in vehicle purchases is called closed-end leasing, which means you pay a certain amount every month to use the vehicle but you do not own it. At the end of the predetermined lease period you may choose to purchase the car at a certain value, or simply return the car.