A Toyota engineer who died in 2006 was killed by too much work, a labor organization in Japan has ruled.

The Associated Press reports that in 2006, an Toyota vehicle engineer died of ischemic heart disease. (The engineer's name was not reported at the family's request.) The disease, his family argued, was brought on by excessive work--as much as 80 hours of overtime a month at the worker's office in Toyota City.

The news agency reports the engineer worked nights and weekends to get a vital car ready for the 2006 North American International Auto Show in Detroit--the same show that saw the world debut of the latest Toyota Camry as well as the new Lexus LS sedan. The 45-year-old had been working on developing the Camry Hybrid for the show, but died before the car made its way to Cobo Hall.

The ruling allows the man's family to collect work benefits.

READ MORE: AP Wire Stories

Armchair quarterbacking about GM shutting down another brand is just rumor, says GM's Mark LaNeve, who told dealers in a letter that Saturn, Buick, Pontiac, and Saab are only being studied, not yanked from the GM corral.

In the letter to dealers--obtained by Dow Jones reporters--LaNeve says to dealers that GM is merely trying to improve its business--"that is the extent of the 'examination' that is going on at this time for Saturn or any other GM brand," he writes.

LaNeve explains that the company's trying to find way to make the brands profitable--in rough agreement with the Wall Street Journal's assertion earlier this week that Saturn never has turned a profit.

GM shares have fallen to 50-year lows and sales dropped dramatically in June, though less than analysts expected--and less than Japanese automaker Toyota's sales fell. In recent weeks, GM has confirmed it's put its HUMMER brand under "strategic review," which has been understood in Detroit to mean either a range of small new HUMMERs has to be developed, or the brand will be sold or joint-ventured with a foreign automaker.

READ MORE: GM Sales Chief Says No Plans to Ax More Brands - WSJ.com

Could more brands join HUMMER on the chopping block? The Wall Street Journal says Saturn has stopped work on the next Aura, and that Saab and Buick are being vetted for possible sale or shutdown.

Toyota's planning solar power for the new Prius--but only to run its air conditioning.

Suzuki's testing a fuel-cell version of its SX4 compact on the road.

Volvo wants to push its products upscale--even while Ford's still looking at potential partners for the Swedes.

Nissan's delivered the first GT-R in the U.S. to a lucky California customer. (Stay tuned this week as we write about our exclusive drive of the GT-R, too.)

Meanwhile, in South Carolina, Christians will be able to proclaim their faith on a license plate.

Finally, the long-awaited deal between Sirius and XM could be on the final leg to approval.

It's possible her campaign is finding a speck of hope in the weeks before the Pennsylvania primary--and now, Sen. Hillary Clinton's trying to turn that faint hope brighter by appealing to Rust Belt voters in a promise to bail out the Big Three.

The Detroit News reports that Clinton's offering a government-backed bailout for the Big Three automakers to prevent any of the trio from going out of business. The News quotes the Senator's interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Monday, in which she says she wouldn't let General Motors, Ford, or Chrysler go out of business without a fight. But a government bailout wouldn't be free: The money wouldn't come "unless they change their direction," Clinton said with no small amount of imprecision.

The fly in the campaign ointment? None of the three companies involved is asking for any federal money to stay in business. But GM and Ford spokespeople were appreciative nonetheless, in one of the few signs of outreach from the Presidential campaign to Detroit's auto industry. A GM spokesperson was "pleased that the senator recognizes the importance of the domestic auto industry," while Ford's PR said they appreciated the Senator's support.

The comments are in sharp contrast to statements from Sen. Barack Obama, who railed against Detroit's automakers in their own backyard rather famously last year--and even to President George W. Bush, who said two years ago that Detroit should "build a product that's relevant."

A new survey finds a result that won't surprise anyone following the 2008 Presidential campaign: auto execs favor John McCain in the general election coming in November, reports the Detroit News.

McCain's no friend of the auto industry, as TheCarConnection.com has reported throughout the year. Not only has he adopted global warming as a campaign issue in an attempt to defang Democratic control of the climate change debate, McCain's also shown solidarity with Calif. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in his state's battle to set its own carbon-dioxide emissions rules. McCain, according to many Detroit insiders, could be a crapshoot as a president, in terms of industry politics.

As the News reports, from a recent survey by law firm Dykema Gossett PLLC, McCain's seen in Detroit as the candidate with the best chance for a positive impact on the auto industry. Some 70 percent of the 46 execs polled by the law firm in their 2008 Global Automotive Survey named him in that respect, but none of the three candidates -- McCain, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and Sen. Barack Obama -- were tagged as "pro-automotive."

Mainly, the study suggested, execs chose McCain only because the other candidates were seen as markedly anti-automotive. Almost 57 percent of those polled tagged Obama as the most negative candidate for the industry.

In addition, 87 percent of the polled had a negative outlook for the industry in the year ahead.