You might want to bookmark this site if you plan on attending an automotive-themed trivia contest (or if you're an auto journalist who worries about running out of things to talk about at this week's International Motor Press Association "Track Days" dinner.) Turns out Toyota has 40% of the market in Botswana, but Mazda is big in Israel. Here's the kicker, though. In Hugo Chavez' Venezuela the top car isn't Yugo, but Chevrolet Aveo! Ouch. Well, okay, it's kind of technically a Daewoo, but still, it's no fluke. Ford's Fiesta is second.

P&G is courting Hispanic shoppers by tweaking products, retargeting its marketing, changing its mix of celebrity spokeswomen and making greater use of Spanish on its products. Hispanics, broadly speaking, are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population and families are younger and larger, thus a good fit for brands like Pampers diapers and Tide detergent. Some tweaks: adding exotic fragrances to its Febreze air fresheners; touting Gain for hand-washing dishes over dishwasher detergent Cascade; a lavender-scented Downy. P&G's popularity among Hispanics lags in products like toothpaste, where Colgate-Palmolive has pole position. Hispanic households tend to spend more …

Snickers, which has used such celebs as Betty White, Roseanne Barr and Joe Pesci in ads, now has former Dallas Cowboys tackle Leon Lett in a campaign where people are asked to forgive Lett for a classic mistake, which occurred on Thanksgiving Day in 1993 and cost the Cowboys a win against the Miami Dolphins. If 25,000 people indicate at a dedicated Web site that they do forgive him, Snickers, an official partner of the NFL, said it would honor him during this year's rematch between the Cowboys and Miami Dolphins on Thanksgiving Day.

Toys "R" Us is cutting back on the number of temporary holiday stores it opens this year compared with last, but is expanding exclusive-product offers. Jerry Storch, chairman and CEO, thinks Animal Planet's Air Swimmers line (helium-filled, radio-controlled flying fish) will top Christmas lists. The toy will be available only at Toys "R" stores and via its website. Storch said Toys "R" Us has not yet determined the exact number of holiday pop-ups it will open. It will be more than the 90 temporary locations it opened in 2009, but not as many as the 600 pop-ups it …

Springfield, Mass.-based Big Y Foods will eliminate self-checkouts in all of its stores by the end of the year. The privately owned company, which operates 61 stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts, said it had hoped the self-checkouts would speed overall checkout time when the machines were introduced in 2003, "but that has not always been the case." "After extensive research, Big Y has concluded that these self-checkout lanes not only do not save their customers time but usually take them even more time to check out than customers in standard checkout lanes," the company said in a prepared …

The United Football League, which in August delayed its season a month and seemed on the verge of collapse, today vowed to come back with an "enhanced "product that will entertain fans and attract investors and marketing partners. The league has no national TV contract and few marketing partners but UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue said, "The messaging we have taken from the first two seasons is one of resilience and fortitude. We have been a league of quality talent in terms of players and coaches. For us, there is excitement that we have built on the first two …

Auto scribe Scott Burgess starts off implying that the term "icon" is as overused these days as "awesome" and applies to just about everything. But the Jeep Wrangler, he points out, probably deserves it. It's a prelude to his review of the 2012 model, which, he says, hasn't lost what makes it an iconic vehicle, while gaining amenities that make it acceptable for those of us who don't dream of taking a detour over the Red Rocks to get to work. "Now the Wrangler has made room for everyone else, including the people who don't care for dust," …

The 2011 NFL season is just one week old, but league partner Visa is eyeing Super Bowl XLVI with marketing and activation that will culminate with one consumer and ten friends going to Indianapolis in February to watch the game at Lucas Oil Stadium. "Visa's You & 10 Super Bowl Sweepstakes" will be the anchor of a season-long integrated marketing campaign unveiled today by the company that will include national advertising, social media executions, client and merchant activation programs, new NFL team relationships and Financial Football, an educational program to promote financial literacy in high schools nationwide. …

Flat employment and limited income growth restrained demand in August, stagnating retail sales. July saw a 0.3% rise in sales, smaller than previously estimated per the U.S. Commerce Department. Retailers are saying a struggling job market has hurt consumer confidence, and that is hurting sales. Household spending is 70% of the economy, and if that doesn't turn around the recovery will stall. "Consumers are being more cautious, given all the economic headwinds," said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. "Policy makers have to be focused on growth because growth seems …

Blogger Ellen Davis, who is also VP at the NRF comments on a presentation at the Shop.org Annual Summit by Columbia Sportswear's EVP Mick McCormick, which she calls "One of the best case studies of reinvention I've heard since, well ... maybe Apple." McCormick discussed how the decades-old company had reinvented itself through new products and marketing, and showed a series of videos for Columbia's newest line, Omni-Heat Electric. The ads feature daredevil adventurer Wim Hof, an extreme-cold extreme athlete who evidently ran a marathon with no shoes or shirt in the Arctic.