The New Cars [ tickets ], who earlier this year had to cut short their inaugural tour after original Cars guitarist Elliott Easton was injured in an auto accident, will rev their engines for a fall run on the US theater circuit.

The group has mapped an outing that launches Nov. 2 in Reading, PA, and stops are planned in about two-dozen cities before things wrap up on the West Coast in mid-December. The itinerary is included below.

The upcoming tour marks The New Cars' return to the road after the mid-June cancellation of the remaining dates on a summer co-headlining run with Blondie. The group pulled the plug on that trek after Easton suffered a broken clavicle when he was thrown from his bunk as the band's tour bus swerved to evade another vehicle, according to a statement the group issued at the time of the incident. Easton soldiered on through a handful of subsequent shows, but ultimately had to throw in the towel and undergo surgery due to the severity of the break.

Back in March, Easton and fellow original Cars member Greg Hawkes (keyboards) announced that they were hitting the road with a revamped version of the group that featured Todd Rundgren taking over for original vocalist Ric Ocasik, and longtime Rundgren collaborators Kasim Sulton (bass) and Prairie Prince (drums) filling in for late Cars bassist Benjamin Orr and drummer David Robinson, respectively. In June, the quintet released a new live set, dubbed "It's Alive," which includes three new studio tracks.

When the group returns to the stage in November, Sulton won't be on board due to a previous commitment with singer Meat Loaf, who also will be touring at that time.

"Let me begin by saying that Kasim Sulton is the bass player and second lead singer of The New Cars," Easton said in a late-August message posted at The New Cars' website. "He always has been and always will be. We all regret that he will be missing some shows, but we totally respect and accept the fact that he is honoring his commitments to Meat Loaf, for whom he has been musical director for 13 years, long before our band had been established. As soon as he is able, he will rejoin The New Cars, and will be welcome back with open arms by both the band and, I'm sure by our beloved fans.

"Really, The New Cars lineup is, more than anything, a combining of two great bands: The Cars and of course, Utopia, with Prairie being a long time associate of Todd's and Kasim's," Easton continued. "We fly under the flag of The New Cars, but are equally proud of the legacy associated with both bands, as well as all of the members' work in various other configurations, such as Todd's work under his own name and Prairie's work with The Tubes and many other artists. With this perspective in mind, there can only be one choice for bassist."

So far, the band hasn't announced who will be filling in for Sulton on bass.

During an interview earlier this year with LiveDaily, Hawkes noted that the group had been contemplating a reunion for some time, and explained that Ocasek, who is not involved in The New Cars project, has found a career niche that also doesn't leave room to think about touring.

"...For the last two years or so, we've been talking about [a reunion]. We of course talked to [original drummer] David [Robinson] and Ric [Ocasek]. After quite a while, it became apparent that Ric didn't want to be involved, or just wanted to concentrate on producing and other things that didn't have to do with The Cars, particularly," Hawkes said. "Ric was never big on the touring aspect, and we weren't one of those bands that toured a lot, really."