Cars are a representation of the time and place they were made. More than simply transportation, they are manifestations of culture and technology. But, first and foremost they are a business; one that’s heavily regulated by government around the world; one that takes some well-placed spin and the occasional juicy incentive—all of which are on display in today’s Daily Drive-Thru.  First, we’ll start with an essential part of every business: mergers and acquisitions (or in this case, a lack thereof).  Thanks for starting your week the right way, with the Daily Drive-Thru.  Whether automakers like it or not, vehicle sharing is now an essential part of their industry. General Motors, fully aware of this fact, has taken some steps to prepare for the future: It purchased the failing ride-hailing app, Sidecar and launched Maven, a regional car-sharing service, last year. This past week, the automaker took things a step further when it attempted to purchase Lyft, Uber’s biggest competitor in the States, outright.  GM invested half a billion dollars into Lyft earlier this year in a deal that gave the automaker a seat on the startup’s board of directors and made GM the preferred provider of short-term-cars for Lyft drivers. The two also announced plans to launch a self-driving ride service by the end of the year. Now, tech industry blog The Information is reporting that the Detroit manufacture made an unsuccessful attempt to acquire the company in full.  It’s an interesting proposition for both parties: Though General Motors likely is has the cash for the acquisition on hand—seeing as it’s had steady growth since the bankruptcy/bailout of 2009—it would be paying handsomely for an unfinished product that sits firmly in second place in a still-niche market. Meanwhile, for Lyft, the deal could bring in a flood of new resources that could enable it to make a legitimate push to catch Uber, but it would also likely bring a loss of autonomy, a valuable commodity in Silicon Valley.  Sources: The Information via Autoblog  The latest Autopilot-related crash has apparently forced Tesla Motors to drop self-driving in China—well, at least from its website.  Last week, dashboard camera footage surfaced of a minor crash involving a Model S using Tesla’s Autopilot semi-autonomous driving mode on a highway in Beijing. The driver of the car, like other Tesla customers, blamed Autopilot for the accident. Per usual, Tesla said it was the driver’s fault for not having his hands on the wheel, but the driver countered by saying he was told explicitly that the car was fully autonomous by a salesman who at one point removed his hands from the steering wheel during the test drive.  After the crash, Tesla dropped the term “zidong jiashi,” which translates literally as “self-driving” (though it can also mean autopilot) from its Chinese website. The change would indicate that Tesla is backing away from its strategy of marketing the system as autonomous while insisting that it isn’t after things go awry. However, a Tesla spokesman told Reuters the deletion was part of a weeks-long effort to better translate the site and it had “nothing to do with current events or articles.”  Volkswagen got the OK from German regulators on a proposed fix for nearly half a million diesel cars outfitted with emissions test-cheating software this weekend. The approved fix applies to 460,000 subcompact cars sold under the names Volkswagen Polo and Seat Ibiza throughout Europe.  The vehicles are not sold in the States and, thus far, U.S. regulators have taken a more hard-nosed approach to Volkswagen’s illegal software than their European counterparts, but perhaps this fix will move the automaker one step closer compliance with American clean air laws.  Nissan is clearly feeling confident in its 2017 Titan pickup line, as it’s offering a five year/100,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty. Nissan’s warranty is by far the most comprehensive bumper-to-bumper policy in the full-size pickup class, beating the industry standard by two years and 64,000—even most powertrain warranties are capped at five years and 60,000 miles.  Nissan is clearly making a push with the new-and-improved Titan as it guns for the segment-leaders Ford and Chevrolet. While this new warranty is sure to grab some eyeballs, it will take more than that to wrestler loyalists away from the F-150, Silverado and even the Ram 1500.  It was a bit of slow news weekend in the automotive world, so I’ll use the fifth and final spot in today’s Daily Drive-Thru for some shameless self-promotion. Those who follow Daily News Autos religiously (as you all should) might have noticed that we’ve be cranking out a series of car buying/leasing advice articles in our Buyer’s Guide over the past several months. Well, now that series is complete and we can safely say that we are the one-stop-shop for everything a prospective car buyer needs to know.  Whether you want know why you should buy a new car versus a used car (or certified pre-owned), or if you just want to know how to keep your monthly insurance rate low, we’ve got it all covered.  I suggest you start here, with our complete guide to buying a car you will love.  Check the Daily Drive-Thru every weekday morning to get the latest on the most important news and trends in the automotive world.  You can find last Friday’s installment of the Drive-Thru here and view the rest of our archives here.  Got a news tip or a comment? You can find me on Twitter where I go by @ByKyleCampbellor email me at kcampbell@nydailynews.com.  Did you find this article helpful? If so, please share it using the "Join the Conversation" buttons below, and thank you for visiting Daily News Autos.
We've also got news about a diesel engine fix for Volkswagen, the warranty on the 2017 Nissan Titan, and more in today's Daily Drive-Thru.