Wheelies - The Burgeoning Supply Edition - NYTimes.com Mike Blake/Reuters With gas prices the lowest they have been all year, demand for small cars has dwindled, leading to a spike in supply. ■ As of Dec. 1, the supply of new cars sitting on lots awaiting sale reached the highest it has been since March 1996; about 1.8 million units. With gasoline prices lower than they have been all year, demand seems to be lower for fuel-efficient cars. ■ With its Chinese website operational, Tesla Motors has begun taking orders for its cars there. Reservation fees will cost about $41,000, and The China Daily reported that the Model S in China would cost from $146,000 to $200,000. Tech Crunch ■ With Alan R. Mulally, the chief executive of Ford, likely to step down within the next year, the company could pass toexecutives who have spent their careers there. With the luxury Lincoln brand flagging and bugs plaguing Ford's quality ratings in the United States, the company faces many challenges as it prepares for a change of command. ■ Stu Hilborn, an early experimenter with fuel-injection systems, died Sunday at the age of 96. Having begun building hot rods set up for speed-run trials on dry lake beds before World War II, Mr. Hilborn developed a mechanical fuel-injection system after the war that helped him break the 150-mile-an-hour mark on the salt by 1948. ■ The Porsche Macan S and Macan Turbo are already scheduled to make their debut in the United States in early 2014, but they will not be alone. Porsche announced last week that the Macan S diesel - powered by a 258-horsepower version of the 3-liter V6 used in the Cayenne diesel - will arrive here later, although it will not be accompanied by the gasoline or diesel 4-cylinder models. Car and Driver ■ BMW announced last week that the 2 and 4 Series coupes and the new 3 Series sedan will be introduced at the Detroit auto show next month. The i3 and i8 electric cars and the X1 crossover utility vehicle will also make appearances at the event.