Now this is what we call a closing bonus. If you have $4.4 million to drop on a new home in Malibu, we highly recommend . Not only does it net you 6,000 square feet of living space on a half-acre lot with expansive ocean views, but the homeowner is throwing in his Ferrari F40 to sweeten the deal.
The house features five bedrooms, five bathrooms and enough garage space to park 13 cars, one of which will be the aforementioned mint-condition F40. The car, valued at approximately $750,000, has under 800 miles on the odometer, and most of you will remember that the Ferrari F40 was the first street-legal production car capable of exceeding the 200-mph mark. It’s an icon, and we can’t think of a better housewarming gift. The catch? In order to secure the car, the home must be purchased before June 30, 2010. Get your checkbooks out.
2010 New York International Auto Show – Click above for high-res image gallery
At many auto shows there are usually several hundred – if not thousand – images that we’ve taken that don’t make it into our posts. Sometimes we categorize them and create several themed galleries, other times we create megagalleries of all of the random sites from the auto show and the surrounding soirees, sights and scenery. New York 2010 was such a case.
At the 2010 New York International Auto Show, we saw some cars that we’ve lusted after before but now saw in a new light, race cars that didn’t necessarily deserve a separate post but still revved our engines, models who smiled just long enough to give us hope… for the future of the industry at least, and just random sights that helped create the overall atmosphere of excitement we felt at this year’s event.
While the number of press conferences seemed down, the number of debuts actually seemed to increase (). There wasn’t the sense of gloom and doom we’ve felt at other recent shows, the parties actually felt like celebrations for a change and the announcements didn’t sound like words of desperation. Perhaps it’s the spirit of the city that never sleeps, but New York 2010 seemed like a signal that the industry is really starting to make a turnaround. Click below to get started on your tour of the rest of the show’s random impressions.
Porsche 918 Spyder at the track – Click above to watch the video
No doubt about it, the Porsche 918 Sypder was both one of the biggest surprises of the Geneva Motor Show and one of its most memorable vehicles. No surprise, then, that the German automaker has signaled its desire to .
Speaking of which, is once again hinting at its production goals for the 918 Spyder with a latest advertising campaign, calling the sportscar “The future of motorsport and series production.” Doesn’t get much more straightforward than that, eh? To go along with the new round of marketing, Porsche has released a new video that offers a bit more information about its showstopper, which you can find after the break.
In addition, there’s a second video highlighting Porsche’s new , which in its racing debut last weekend. Wanna see for yourself? to watch both videos from Porsche.
With a 2.4-liter four-pot under the hood, the 2011 LaCrosse stakes its claim as both a competent cruiser and a reasonable fuel miser.
Our love of wagons is well known, but are the newest crop of five-doors ready to be accepted by hatch-averse Americans? Eisenstein weighs in.
If there’s anything the Volvo C30 needs more of (aside from a stiffer rear anti-roll bar) it’s power, and Polestar has done just that to prepare the Volvo for the STCC.
Saabs through history: 1949 Saab 92 – Click above for high-res image gallery
There are some enthusiasts who feel very strongly that real Saabs have longitudinal engines mounted backwards with the clutch at the prow. Anything less, any power train layout where the crank is facing port or starboard and these people cry foul. We might even have one or two of these folks on staff here at Autoblog. One of whom might be in some sort of high-ranking . Another could even be typing the words you’re reading right now. Point is, the argument can be made that Saab – the real Saab – died with the 900. Of course if you go down that road, even harder core Saabophiles will claim that the last pure Saab was the 99. Hence the problem with orthodoxy.
At any rate, as we’ve known, there’s a new, post-GM in the works. We’ve long thought the new volume Saab would ride on some version of GM’s platform, the same set of components that underpins the , and Saab’s own 9-5. Instead, reports , the next 9-3 will be based on GM’s older architecture that makes up the Chevy Malibu and the 9-3 from 2003. However, Saab boss assured MT that, “It’s a heavily modified Epsilon I platform, but Saab now. So that’s the basis for the new 9-3. So we have no further restraints. So we don’t have to share it with anyone else. Which means we can knock ourselves out to make it the car we want it to be.”
Does that mean the engine will be flipped around backwards, slanted and hooked to the transmission via a chain? Most certainly no, but we do like the part about Saab being free to be Saab. Speaking of being Saab, it looks like modern version of the classic Saab 92 might be in the works. Mr. Muller showed MT’s Todd Lassa a rendering of the proposed 9-2 on the former’s Blackberry. Lassa comments:
The car is stunning. It’s retro-futurist, as J Mays would call it, an interpretation of early Saabs drawing obvious comparisons between Mays’ Volkswagen New Beetle, the new Minis and Fiat 500. In the best tradition of Saab, it’s a polarizing design – you will love it if you’re a Saabanista. Or you will hate it. There will be no middle ground.
Actually, come to think of it, “no middle ground” would make for a good Saab mission statement. Especially if we can get ‘em to put the parking brake back on the front wheels.
Just when we thought we were going to have to get an AMA Pro License to ride any new creations, an official press release from BRP, or , appears to have leaked out, spelling out the company’s plans to team up with Erik Buell and for the launch a new line of two wheelers called Bomber Motorcycles. Or so it would seem.
Many rumors have circulated recently pointing out the interest that BRP had shown in purchasing the Buell brand, however much to the chagrin of its many fans, Harley-Davidson would not concede in any talks of selling Buell, choosing rather to spend just over to pack up shop and cling to some sort of lingering pride. Well, that was all so last week. As the old saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way, and Erik Buell and BRP have supposedly come up with a way to make the merger happen. Although none of us are supposed to know this yet, BRP spokesperson Avril Foujour (uh huh, yeah) confirmed yesterday that the press release was in fact official and had been leaked ahead of it’s planned April 2nd release date. Apparently they didn’t want anyone to think this was some sort of clever April Fools gimmick… oops, I think they got us.
Though all indications are that this may be the World’s Most Elaborate April Fools’ Joke, let’s take a moment to consider just how much effort went into this prank. There’s a name for the new company and bike (Stratofortress), an estimated release date (fourth quarter 2010) and plenty of typically boastful press release copy. There’s a logo (see above), a , and even a . Someone has way too much free time on their hands, no?
See the complete and undeniably fake press release after the break.
The U.S. auto industry has been bottomed out since the fall of 2008; a fact that is reflected by the falling membership of the United Auto Workers. The Detroit Free Press reports that membership fell by 18 percent from 2008 to 2009, with current membership at 355,191 men and women. The job losses came courtesy of several plant closings around the country as domestic automakers struggled to right-size a footprint that was too big to sustain.
And the UAW isn’t just losing people, the labor organization is also losing cash and political influence. The UAW lost a total of $69 million in assets in 2009, as cash reserves are now down to $1.12 billion. The UAW is spending less money in Washington as well, as the rank and file spent $9.7 million on lobbying efforts in 2009, down from $10.6 million in 2008. Even long-time union boss Ron Gettelfinger took a bit of a haircut in 2009 as his pay was cut by $1,000 to $173,069.
So is the UAW on its way to oblivion? Probably not, but the U.S. auto industry is going to have to turn around before more union dues starts pouring into UAW headquarters again.
2011 Ford Edge – Click above for high-res image gallery
When is a dog a 2,700 pound projectile? When little Muffy is riding shotgun, big old fuzzy head stuck out the window, tongue lolling in the breeze and all of a sudden master crashes the darn thing into some unforseen obstacle. In the interest of keeping pets safe, , a pet travel safety organization, has some recommendations. Among endorsement of the and exhortations to take steps toward pet safety in the car, are some vehicular mentions. While pet safety is a laudable goal, this announcement leaves us feeling a little dirty, like it’s mostly a thinly-veiled ploy to sell stuff.
In any case, Bark Buckle UP gave its Top Dog awards away at the New York Auto Show, and the has trotted away with the Pet Safe Vehicle of Choice Top Dog award. “The Ford Edge is perfect for those traveling with pets,” says Ford Edge marketing manager Brett Burin upon the Edge’s crowning. Bark Buckle UP agrees, citing the vehicle’s combination of space, ease of ingress and egress for Fifi and Fido, rear ventilation and adaptability to pet gear as reasons for the win. Ford vehicles took four of the award’s ‘choice’ slots for 2010, with the , , and also making the list. The other alternative is to avoid either having a dog altogether (they’re smelly, and they lick their butts) or don’t chauffeur your pooch around if you have opened your home to canis domesticus. If you’re a dog lover, though, you might want to check out the official press release after the jump.
Ah, the . Whereas we Americans are led to believe that 35 identical cars with different sticker packages, all running around in circles for 500 miles somehow constitutes “stock car” racing, our cousins in Europe treat themselves to something entirely different. They pit production-based cars from just about every automaker out there against each other on a slew of very demanding road courses. As you might expect, carnage ensues, but so does some of the best fender-to-fender action found anywhere.
The crew from Ray Mallock, Ltd. have released a time-lapse video showing exactly what goes into turning a body-in-white Chevrolet Cruze into something fit for competition. Weeks of hard work gets distilled into a little under two minutes worth of entertainment. Who doesn’t love technology? to see the video.
According to Auto International, is set to release the latest update its mid-size sedan at the upcoming Paris Motor Show. Further, the German automaker could have both the sedan and wagon versions already in European dealerships before the end of the year.
If there’s any truth to the rumor, the next Passat will get new bodywork but will share it basic structure with the current car, with major elements such as the roof going completely unchanged. In keeping with VW’s upscale theme for the Passat, the next-gen model is expected to offer such luxuries as reversing cameras, active cruise control and intelligent lighting.
Power will surely come from a number of gasoline and diesel engines, most employing some form of forced induction and displacing between 1.2 and 2.0 liters. In what appears to be a growing industry trend, larger V6 engines are said to be gone from the specifications list, although a hybrid and full electric model are supposedly planned for the next full redesign for the 2015 model year.
You didn’t actually think we’d heard the last of Crashgate, did you? The scandal that rocked the Formula One racing world last season and well into the post-season involved the Renault F1 team, its driver Nelson Piquet, Jr. and its top executives Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds.
For allegedly directing Piquet to crash on purpose during the , thereby handing the advantage to teammate Fernando Alonso, Briatore and Symonds were banned – permanently and temporarily, respectively – from the sport. Briatore eventually had the sentence overturned in French courts, and whistleblower/culprit Piquet found nothing but cold shoulders when it came time to find a new race seat.
As part of the ongoing debacle, the Renault team under Briatore’s direction issued a statement in September 2009 claiming that Piquet’s assertions were entirely fabricated. As a result, according to ESPN, Piquet and his three-time World Champion father are now suing the disavowed Briatore for slander, with punitive damages sought to the tune of £200,000 (about $300k). Considering how many millions the Piquet and Briatore estates must be worth, the six-figure sum seems like a drop in the bucket, but that’s still more than we could say for Nelsinho’s flash-in-the-pan career in F1 that didn’t even last two seasons.
2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe – Click above for high-res image gallery
has made it official: the 2011 C-Class Coupe is . The German luxury automaker has announced it will build the two-door C-Class at its massive Bremen plant, with production scheduled to begin in 2011. The addition of the Coupe gives Mercedes Benz three different variants of the C-Class, with a convertible almost certainly to follow. The impressively flexible Bremen plant, which employs 12,600 workers, also makes the C-Class sedan, wagon, GLK, two E-Class variants, the SL and .
With the C-Class Coupe officially on its way to production, we’re more than a bit curious as to how Mercedes will differentiate the smaller Benz two-door from the larger, more expensive . See, the bi-door E-Class the C-Class platform, and the more expensive E Coupe is to the C-Class Saloon. But the E-Class coupe commands a price premium of $9,000 compared to a C-Class sedan with the same 3.5-liter V6 engine.
We suspect Mercedes will shorten the C-Class platform to better differentiate the C Coupe from the larger, more expensive E Coupe. But unlike the larger E Coupe, which is virtually the same price as sedan with the same name, the C Coupe may receive a bit of a price bump compared to its sedan brethren. It’s a good bet that we’ll know a lot of these answers by the time the Paris Motor Show opens its doors to the media in September. to read over the official press release.
We all have our favorite memories from childhood, and one of mine was piling into the back of the family station wagon, along with a passel of friends, to head to the Jersey Shore for my eighth birthday. Growing up as part of the “Leave it to Beaver” generation, the wagon was as essential a part of life as Tang, TV and my mother’s inevitably over-cooked pot roast.
By the time we Boomers began to raise families of our own, the wagon had largely vanished, replaced first by the minivan and then the seemingly ubiquitous SUV. Oh, there were the odd few “two-box” models left on the market, usually a European offering, and maybe the occasional Asian import, but for all practical purposes, the wagon was dead.
Here, in the U.S., anyway. In other parts of the world, Europe in particular, it has actually gained strength over the years, leaving global planners – and a few of us diehard wagon fans – scratching our heads and wondering if this most utilitarian of automotive designs might ever make a comeback here.
There’ve been a few false starts, promising new entries like the Dodge Magnum failing to gain traction. But if this year’s New York International Auto Show is any indication, a new era of the American station wagon may finally be upon us. Maybe.
Paul A. Eisenstein is Publisher of , and a 30-year veteran of the automotive beat. His editorials will bring his unique perspective and deep understanding of the auto world to Autoblog readers on a regular basis.
What’s better than a seven-figure supercar with 700 horsepower? How about a seven-figure roadster with 700 horsepower? Well, that may be a matter of personal opinion, but never shies away from the subject, churning out open-top versions of most of its range.
Along with the , Cygnet and the V12 Vantage (the eight-cylinder version available as a roadster), the One-77 is one of the only vehicles in Aston Martin’s range that isn’t available as a convertible. Not yet, at least. But that’s the beauty of the digital age: anything you can imagine in your mind can be imagined on the internet. In this case, we have to thank one Theophilus Chin, the self-styled “automotive manipulator” who has rendered what an open-top One-77 Volante might look like. And to our eyes, it looks enticing. Agree or disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
In a perfect world, we’d all be able to afford a Koenigsegg Agera. (Well, not everyone else, ’cause that’d ruin the fun, but each of us anyway.) Unfortunately, as we’re all to well aware, this is not a perfect world. But at least the magic of the Internet can bring us closer to the high-performance beasts we admire from afar.
In this case, Koenigsegg has launched the online configurator for its new supercar. The interface is simple, with few options to choose from, but prospective buyers and enthusiasts alike can tweak around to find their favorite combination of exterior color, rear wing, wheels and interior. Three spoilers, three rims, eleven shades and ten cabins gives you 990 combinations to mess around with, so follow and check it out for yourself.
Polestar Performance Volvo C30 – Click for the press release
Volvo has unleashed Polestar Performance on the lovable hatch to create a new prototype. If that name sounds familiar to you, odds are you spend a fair amount of time downloading footage of the Swedish Touring Car Championship. Polestar Performance has been banging fenders since 1996, and has campaigned a for two seasons now. But Volvo wanted to see exactly what the team could create without any pesky race regulations looming over them.
The result sounds mighty tasty to us. Polestar’s wrenches managed to pull around 400 horsepower from the car, though so far the team is keeping engine details to themselves. All that power goes to the ground via an all-wheel-drive system, and judging from the grainy rendering, it looks like we can expect a substantial amount of work on the suspension and aero package. The proto should see the light of day for the first time at the Gothenburg Motor Show on April 22.
Rhys Millet gets drifty with his Hyundai Genesis Coupe – Click above to
2009 was a less-than-stellar year for Rhys Millen and the debut of his . The Genesis is an eminently driftable car as was demonstrated during the media launch a year ago. But despite Millen’s considerable skills, the defending champion finished the Formula Drift season in 19th place.
With the 2010 season set to kick off next weekend in Long Beach, the Millen Racing crew has been working on improving the car and Millen spent some time practicing recently at El Toro. While the car is certainly generating plenty of tire smoke thanks to its 650 horsepower, we have no idea at this point if it will move Millen further up in the rankings this year. Millen did tell us that he will have more to announce soon on additional race programs. Perhaps a GT2 Genesis Coupe? ? Check out the video .
For the foreseeable future, the will remain the flagship of the lineup, so at first glance, it might seem peculiar that is adding a seemingly modest inline-four cylinder engine to the sedan’s powertrain list. However, at the time the LaCrosse was being developed in 2007-2008, gasoline prices in the United States had spiked to their highest levels ever, topping $4 per gallon. General Motors product planners were understandably working on the assumption that fuel prices would remain high and continue an upward trend in the coming years.
Although Buick officials won’t say so explicitly, another factor that likely played into the decision to offer the 2.4-liter EcoTec four-cylinder engine was the underwhelming response to the new 3.0-liter direct injected V6. While the new smaller V6 is a smooth runner and produces similar power to the company’s earlier 3.6-liter port injected V6, it was lacking in torque compared to its larger counterpart and actually got slightly inferior fuel economy. We recently had the chance to sample the new four-cylinder-powered LaCrosse CX in rural Virginia. Read on to find out if less is indeed more when it comes to Buick’s handsome sedan.
Gallery:
Photos by Sam Abuelsamid / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
2010 Bentley Continental Supersports Coupe – Click above for high-res image gallery
We’ve come to expect the ultimate in customization from . If you’ve got the scratch, the company will be more than happy to custom tailor its products to fit your tastes – right down to the color of your car’s seat belts. It should come as no surprise, then, that the company is now allowing potential Supersports Coupe buyers to order their cars with a back seat.
One of the coolest parts of the 612-horsepower coupe is the fact that, for its part, tried to trim the car’s fat. Weight got ditched wherever possible, including the cabin. Those hefty, infinitely adjustable, heated, cooled and massaging front buckets were swapped for lightweight carbon fiber-backed units, and the two rear seats were scrapped all together. In their place? A sexy piece of carbon-fiber bracing. We like.
But evidently, buyers would prefer their two-door to have more seats. To help boost Supersports Coupe sales, the company has decided to offer the back thrones as a stand alone option. Checking the box will put the standard front seats in, ditch the rear bracing and re-install the rears. There’s no word on exactly how many pounds that will add to the car’s waist line, but it can’t do the coupe any favors. Boo to this.
Mini Cooper S Convertible – Click above for high-res image gallery
Attention all workers at the Cowley plant in Oxford, England: Do not report to work today unless you know how to repair a door press. According to the Witney Gazette, the historic Mini factory is currently on standby due to a dead door press that has all workers at home early for the Easter break, which lasts until Wednesday, April 7. While we’re sure workers are happy for the extra time off, they will have to use vacation time to make up for the lost production. We’re guessing that solution wouldn’t fly at United Auto Workers headquarters, but then again, union membership here in the States isn’t exactly flourishing.
The vehicle assembly plant doesn’t even make the door panels; that job falls on the Swindon body panel factory. There is no word at this time whether the unscheduled shutdown will affect Mini production long-term.
