has started offering vehicles for direct sale via the internet for United Kingdom customers. Ford conducted its own research and found that almost 40 percent of buyers don’t even care about a test drive; they just want what they want with the click of a mouse.
Ford has set 50 dealers up to sell new and used cars and commercial vehicles on the web, and sales swung into action on June 29th. A new call center has also been opened to close the deal for customers that seek an alternative to the online purchase. The cars will be delivered to regional delivery centers; Ford has set up 12 facilities where customers will collect their cars and drive off.
The 550 traditional Ford dealers in the UK might understandably be miffed at this direct-sales move, but they’re still the preferred choice of sixty percent of buyers. Haggling is possible with either outlet, and cutting out a level of complexity and cost would make life easier and possibly more profitable for Ford. For now, all statements support both efforts running in parallel.
Jeff Zwart qualifies at Pikes Peak – Click above to watch the video
Life is filled with a number of paralyzing injustices. Chief among them is the fact that, by and large, the vast majority of humanity will never get to ride shotgun with Jeff Zwart as he raises hell on with his Cup racer. That’s a damn shame, too. Zwart just managed to set the Time Attack 2wd Class with a staggering 5:01.642, bending the laws of physics, time and space to his very will in the process.
Sadly, Zwart only has so much time on his hands, and while we’re sure he’s a nice enough guy, he’s got better things to do than ferry the common man up and down the mountain for the rest of his dying days. Fortunately for us, there’s Will Roegge and his continually mind-melting video abilities. Roegge was quick enough to throw a camera in Zwart’s cockpit as he ran a qualifying run up the mountain this year and has shared the footage with the world at large. Three words: stay on target.
Fiat 500 Ferrari Dealers Edition by Pogea Racing – Click above for high-res image gallery
Soon enough, we Americans will be able to feast upon the Forbidden Fruit that is the . Will we get the hotted-up models? That remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure, we’re super duper jealous of the hotter hatch that the folks at Pogea Racing have created – the 500 Ferrari Dealers Edition which boasts more power (a lot more power, actually) all wrapped in a too-cute (but still somehow menacing) package.
The Pogea team starts with a , which in standard form produces 160 horsepower and 169 pound-feet of torque. From there, a new turbocharger, exhaust system, downpipe and catalytic converter have been added, meaning that the tiny Fiat now cranks out a whopping 264 hp and 243 lb-ft. Staggering numbers for a car that’s smaller than a . To tame all of that extra grunt, larger brakes have been added that reduce braking distance by about six feet, though the new stoppers are identical in weight to the standard Abarth setup.
Yes, we want one. In fact, we’ll take two. Scroll through the gallery below to see dozens of high-resolution photos, and follow the jump to read Pogea Racing’s (translated) press release.
The new-for-2011 Bentley Supersports Convertible is the latest and perhaps final iteration of the Continental lineup. It’s also the world’s fastest four-passenger convertible.
Prestone gave some well-trained pyromaniacs high-powered blow torches and melted the aluminum engine block of a GM 3.6-liter V6. Don’t let overheating happen to you.
The 2011 Lexus CT 200h will be a vital product for Lexus. The Premium C-segment accounts for a large share of the European luxury market, and Lexus can afford to overlook it no longer. We flew out to Toyota’s European headquarters to see how development of the new CT 200h has been coming along and to let Lexus take us for a ride.
Also of interest:
hits the recall skids over dashboard safety issue
drawings reveal new Chevrolet small pickup… but is it for North America?
Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren crypt – Click above to watch video
Objects have a way of moving through time in a way that we as mere humans can only dream of. Given the proper storage environment, limited humidity, a little care and a lot of good luck, a car can sail through the decades without a scratch. While owners fade to dust and the powers that brought them from vision to reality wander from memory, the vehicles themselves continue on just as they were in the moments of their highest glory. If you’ve been very, very lucky, you just might have experienced something like the video after the jump.
While we doubt too many people get private tours of the storage center, it’s entirely possible that you’ve had a one-on-one moment with a special car of some kind. Maybe it belonged to an uncle, grandfather or parent, or maybe you reached out and touched a famous racer while the guards weren’t watching. Either way, it’s easy to feel the weight of years slip off so that you might make a connection with another point in time.
A new video has cropped up showing as they poke around in the McLaren garage, and what they find is something more than special. to see for yourself.
According to a official, a report suggesting that Carlos Ghosn is stepping aside after more than decade at the helm of Nissan “is not true!” A local news site in Cool Springs, TN (near the automaker’s North American headquarters) today that Ghosn, who is currently the CEO of both Nissan and French automaker Renault, plans to surrender the Nissan post to Carlo Tavares. Tavares is currently the Executive Vice President of Nissan Americas Operations.
Nissan spokeswoman Katherine Zachary emphatically told Autoblog that the report is “not true” but declined any further comment on the matter. Ghosn became Chief Operating Officer at Nissan in 1999 before later being named CEO. His leadership is largely credited with the brand’s product resurgence in the past decade and saving it from bankruptcy. More recently, Ghosn has pushed both Nissan and Renault to produce large volumes of mainstream electric vehicles.
Just a few short months ago, to serve as the head of Renault for another four years. If we hear any more news on the matter, we’ll dutifully pass it along.
Toyota Ractis – Click above for high-res image gallery
Subaru sees a demand for 1.3- and 1.5-liter cars in Japan at the same time as it sees a void in its lineup of vehicles with that displacement. To plug that hole, is turning to for a supply of its subcompact, a five-door, five-seater that offers both of the relevant engine sizes and comes in two-wheel and all-wheel drive.
Toyota will ship roughly 10,000 models to Subaru every year, to begin once the Ractis, on sale since 2005, comes in for thorough revision. It’s the first time Toyota has agreed to supply a Japanese carmaker with finished products, perhaps aided in this case by the fact that Toyota owns 16.5% of Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru’s parent company.
Cummins: the largest independent diesel engine manufacturer. The QSK78: the largest engine they make. Mini: one of the smallest cars on the road. Oh dear, this could get messy.
The unfathomably large QSK78 was recently unveiled with 78 liters of displacement, eighteen cylinders (that’s 4.3 liters per cylinder!), a dozen turbochargers, 3,500 horsepower and over 10,000 lb-ft of torque. It’s used to power those enormous dump trucks seen schlepping heavy loads (try 360 metric tons on for size) around quarries and mines. And now it’s been installed in a vintage Austin Mini.
The Frankenstein-ain’t-got-nothin’-on-me monstrosity was, according to Cummins, commissioned by a customer, but we can hardly image it being actually drivable, let alone certified for street use anywhere this side of the Persian Gulf. It’ll be unveiled this week at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it’s sure to be the most powerful – not to mention the strangest – vehicle on display. Press release after the jump.
The man responsible for the has reportedly passed away at the age of 82 of heart failure. Nicholas Hayek was a savvy businessman who wanted to apply the success he had experienced in the watchmaking world to car universe. Hayek brought affordability to the Swiss watch market with his Swatch products, and envisioned an automobile that would be just as customizable and affordable as his then wildly popular time pieces. What would eventually become the Smart Car was originally a joint venture with that flew under the Swatchmobile banner.
But the VW partnership eventually hit the rocks, and stepped in to lend a hand. Oddly enough, Hayek left the Smart Car program after Mercedes-Benz balked at his ideas for a diesel-hybrid model. Now Smart is launching its all-electric .
While the Smart portfolio hasn’t exactly taken the world by storm – or made money for its owners – there’s no denying its impact. Nearly everyone knows what the quirky little cars are, even if they’ve never driven one. Hayek’s brief time in the automotive spectrum had a lasting effect that will likely continue on for years to come.
2010 SuzukiKizashi – Click above for high-res image gallery
Bad news for the loveable : the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has issued a recall on the Japanese sedan. Evidently, the lower glove box door can pop open during an accident, possibly coming in contact with the front passenger’s body at the same time. For those interested in such things, the news means that the Kizashi doesn’t conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 201. The standard deals with passenger protection from impact on pieces of the car’s interior, fittingly enough.
According to the NHTSA, will replace the offending door with a new piece free of charge on all 5,107 Kizashi models covered by the recall. There’s no word on how long the fix should take. For more information, owners can check out the or contact their local Suzuki dealer.
Gallery:
[Source: ] Photos by John Neff / Copyright (C)2009, Weblogs, Inc.
Pagani Zonda R – Click above for high-res image gallery
If you were blown away a couple of months ago when at the Nürburgring, then hold on to your hat, dear friend, because the Prancing Horse has just been bested by its own next-door neighbor.
Reports from the Old World indicate that a new Nordschleife record has been taken by the Pagani Zonda R. And by some margin, too: After lapped the ring in 6:58, its cross-town rival reportedly scrubbed over ten seconds off that time with a 6:47.
Now before you protest that the Zonda R isn’t road legal, we’ll point out that the 599XX with which Ferrari scored its time isn’t, either. Both these Modenese supercars belong to a new category of vehicle known as the track car, bridging the gap between street-legal and race cars with production-based forms. And the Zonda R, it would seem, is the new king.
Land Rover LRX spy shots – Click above for high-res image gallery
Even though ’s baby won’t make its public debut until this year’s , the automaker will be giving the world an early sneak peek at the production model during a web unveiling tomorrow at 19:30 GMT (that’s 3:30 PM for all of you in the Eastern time zone).
We’ll have the full raft of details at that time, but right now, we understand that both front- and all-wheel drive versions of the LRX will be available, as well as a forthcoming . What’s more, while the original LRX spy shots stayed true to the two-door configuration of the concept, we’ve also spotted a running around – an additional bodystyle that will doubtlessly expand the crossover’s attractiveness to potential shoppers.
We’ll know exactly what Land Rover has up its sleeve tomorrow afternoon, so stay tuned.
