General Motors wants to take on all segments of the automotive industry. With the all-new making its way to dealerships later this year, GM will have a new player in the B-segment, and now, a tweet from the automaker has confirmed that the Chevrolet Spark minicar is officially arriving Stateside.
The diminutive Spark will allow GM to have a hand in all areas of the automotive cookie jar. As American car buyers begin to embrace smaller, more efficient modes of transportation, the Spark could be arriving at the perfect time. We got , and we were intrigued by the idea of a Chevrolet achieving a combined 47 miles per gallon. Now, it seems we’ll get to experience green machine for ourselves on U.S. soil, starting sometime in 2012.
Everyone knows that street racing of any ilk is a recipe for disaster. Pushing a machine on public streets is an easy way to end an innocent life, which is why we love the Need For Speed franchise so much. The games allow to take to virtual tarmac to scratch our persistent illegal go-fast itch. NFS has officially released a trailer for its next title, Need For Speed: The Run, which pits high-dollar metal against each other in a race from Los Angeles to New York. Gamers who opt for the limited-edition game can sink their teeth into three unique cars, too.
Those include the mighty as well as the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and the yet-to-be-unveiled . We even get a few quick shadowy glances at the Porsche during the teaser. The game looks to promise plenty of fender-to-fender action, crashes and death defying feats of driving skill. to check out the trailer for yourself.
The year was 1966. The muscle car era, which arguably began two years earlier with the introduction of the Pontiac GTO, was in full swing. In order to have a chance at attracting the young, affluent buyers so craved by American automakers of the day, a car needed to offer equal doses of style and horsepower. , with its brand new Charger fastback, offered plenty of both.
But it wasn’t until 1968 that the Dodge Charger truly hit its stride, earning it legendary status in the annals of automotive history. Coke-bottle styling, a full suite of powerful V8 engines – including the 440 Six Pack and 426 Hemi – and plenty of success on the NASCAR circuit meant that the Dodge Boys had a winner on their hands.
Sadly, the heyday of American muscle was nearly over by the time Dodge figured out the formula, and the car was just a shell of its former muscular self by the end of 1974.
The rest of the 1970s were not kind to the Charger, and sales slowly faded away until the model name was canceled altogether after the 1978 model year. We’ll gracefully skip over the front-wheel-drive years from 1983 through 1987 and move straight to the nameplate’s reintroduction in 2006. The Hemi was back in action, the new car’s styling was aggressive and generally well received and sales took off. But by 2010, yet again the reborn Charger was seriously showing its age, having received nothing in the way of significant interior or exterior updates during its five years back on the market and being saddled with a fully uncompetitive line of V6 engines and even an ancient four-speed automatic transmission in base models.
Dodge has finally given the “new” some attention with an update for 2011 that includes new looks, new engines and the complete absence of a four-speed transmission. Does this mean that Dodge is done letting the Charger nameplate wither on the vine? Without spoiling the rest of the review, let’s just say we have some good news to share.
will launch two new models for the 2012 model year, one focused on efficiency, the other on performance. The uses ‘ new mild-hybrid technology to deliver up to 36 miles per gallon on the highway (25 mpg in the city), and the ups the sedan’s performance prowess.
When it hits dealerships, the 2012 Regal eAssist will be priced from $29,530, including $860 in destination charges. The eAssist option is available as a $2,000 option on the base Regal, and GM will continue to offer both the standard 2.4-liter naturally aspirated engine in the car, as well as the 2.0-liter turbocharged unit.
The 2012 Regal GS will be the top model in the sedan’s range, with pricing starting at $35,310 (also including the $860 destination charge). For the GS, Buick has boosted the output of its 2.0-liter turbocharged engine, producing 270 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque in this application. The Regal GS will launch exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission, though a six-speed automatic unit will be available later in the model year.
Both the eAssist and GS models will arrive at Buick dealerships in the fall. for GM’s official pricing release.
General Motors has just announced the company’s financial results for the second quarter of 2011. The automaker enjoyed its sixth consecutive quarter of profitable operation with a net income of $2.5 billion. That’s an increase of 89 percent over the same period in 2010, when GM brought in $1.3 billion. Total revenue also increased over Q2 2010, up $6.2 billion to $39.4 billion. The company also reported that its EBIT adjusted was $3 billion compared to $2 billion last year. According to Dan Akerson, GM chairman and CEO, the improvements are thanks to the automaker’s focus on fuel-efficient and well-designed vehicle.
It’s true that the has seen significant success here in the U.S. over the past few months, and that momentum doesn’t look to slow down anytime soon. With set to launch the company’s new Sonic compact car as well as the redesigned , GM will be set to make advances two profitable segments throughout the remainder of the year. for a look at the company’s brief press release.
Mark Reuss, North American President of General Motors, made official today what we already knew, that Cadillac’s lineup is growing by two new vehicles. The new models are the large XTS luxury sedan and compact ATS sport sedan. Reuss made the announcement at the Center for Automotive Research’s Management Briefing Seminars, where he also released this teaser sketch of the ATS’ profile that we made a little more revealing in Photoshop.
The XTS is based on the that debuted at the and will go on sale spring of 2012. It replaces both the and in Cadillac’s lineup and is expected to use the same Epsilon II platform that underpins the , which means both front-wheel and all-wheel drive will be offered. The new XTS also means a $117 million investment for GM’s Oshawa, Ontario plant where the company says 400 jobs will be created or retained because of its production. Currently the Camaro, Impala and Equinox are built in Oshawa.
The ATS, however, is the more exciting of these two cars. Slotted below the CTS in Cadillac’s lineup, this compact, rear-wheel-drive sport sedan is aimed squarely at the brand’s German rivals – mainly the , and . GM even calls them out in its press release. Word is that Cadillac has been using the 3 Series in particular as its benchmark. The ATS also means new investment, in this case for the automaker’s . The plant will receive a $190 million infusion of fiscal love and get to keep or create 600 new jobs. GM pegs the on-sale date for the ATS as summer of 2012.
Ah, the . The oddly shaped, curiously impractical crossover carries on for another model year, albeit with a slightly shortened name. That’s right, for 2012, has dropped the ‘‘ name from the Crosstour, meaning it will now have to stand alone in the automaker’s lineup (and on the company’s sales charts, natch).
Name change aside, there aren’t many big updates for the 2012 model year. Base EX models now benefit from standard auto on/off headlamps, rear-view camera, Bluetooth and USB audio interface. Add a few new colors to that list, and we’ve wrapped up the whole list of updates for 2012. Pricing starts at $30,340 for the entry level 2WD EX, excluding $810 for destination.
The Crosstour continues to be powered by Honda’s tried and true 3.5-liter V6, producing 271 horsepower and 254 pound-feet of torque, mated to a five-speed automatic transmission. Curiously, there’s still no four-cylinder option, though that may change after an updated inline-four debuts in the later this year.
for Honda’s full press blast about the 2012 Crosstour, and remind yourself of its not-so-pretty face in our attached high-res image gallery. If we’re honest, it’s still a little sad that we live in a world where the can , but the Crosstour continues to live.
When Japanese automakers crank out a supercar, it is, first of all, a rare occasion. And it usually wears the badge of its respective luxury division. Toyota’s is the . Honda’s was the Acura NSX (at least here in the States). But not . That company’s supercar – the – is a Nissan through and through. But that hasn’t always been taken for granted.
has long been rumored to get a vehicle based on the GT-R, but that scuttlebutt appeared to reach a dead-end a year ago or so. However, the gossip mill has now cranked back up thanks to a certain Monsieur Carlos Ghosn.
The Renault-Nissan CEO has reportedly gone on the record with the UK’s CAR, indicating that his luxury marque could – but won’t necessarily – build a luxury GT-R. Ghosn stopped short of confirming that a project was in the pipeline, but left the possibility open for the future. So there’s some hope. The question is whether an Infiniti supercar would have much room to improve over the existing beast we know as Godzilla, particularly when the above-pictured Egoist model already offers nearly all the trimmings you could ask for.
has done a heck of a job expanding its two model lines to suit a variety of tastes. Say, for example, you’re looking for a two-door grand tourer… then the is clearly your machine. More power? There’s the GranTurismo S. Even more hardcore? The is your beast.
The downside for overseas buyers is that, unlike the for the North American market, the European-market MC Stradale ditches the lauded ZF-sourced automatic transmission for the more hardcore yet much-derided older sequential gearbox. So for those looking for something a bit more sporty than the GranTurismo S but one step shy of the MC Stradale, Maserati’s British division has just announced the availability of a new Sport Pack.
Based on the GranTurismo S, the Sport Pack retains the same 434-horsepower 4.7-liter V8, but a new exhaust system has been fitted and the automatic transmission’s software has been recalibrated for a more sporting experience. There’s also a fresh aero pack and a series of cosmetic tweaks, all of which you can see in the gallery above and the press release after the jump.
Italians are very proud of their brands. From Panerai watches to supercars, Italian luxury brands are the epitome of style. Even smaller motorized products are stylish, from the Vespa scooter on up to the . It’s that last one that is once again partnering up with a major house of Italian fashion.
Gucci has linked arms with one more time, and the result is the by Gucci. The droptop subcompact gets an extra ounce of style courtesy of the company founded by Guccio Gucci. When Fiat revealed , more than 3,000 pre-orders came flooding into the automaker’s website.
The 500C by Gucci will be offered in two colors, white with satin chrome accents or black with shined-up chrome bits. On both, a black softtop covers occupants and wears the traditional Gucci color scheme down the middle. At all four corners sit 16-inch alloy wheels sporting the Gucci double-G logo in the center. Inside, a Gucci print adorns the seats and the fashion house’s moniker can be found sprinkled liberally throughout.
Every year, F1 teams design and build a new set of cars to start the new season. So what happens to the old cars? Well, that varies, but when the car in question just won the championship, it’s usually kept intact. Sometimes the team keeps it for posterity, sometimes they gift it to the driver who’d just won them the title, sometimes they end up in museum or private collections. But not this one.
After Ayrton Senna won his third and final title in 1991, McLaren dismantled the MP4/6 with which he did it and gave the parts to an artist named Jay Burridge, who in turn transformed the car into the art installation you see here. Looking like a giant model kit, it would be enough to turn heads on its own even if it weren’t such an historic specimen. And now it’s going up for auction.
Coys is the house that will handle its sale, the Nürburgring is the location and August 13 is the date. That’s when Coys expects it will fetch between £30,000 and £50,000 ($50k-$82k). Which on the one hand seems like a lot, but on the other seems like a bargain considering the car it was built from. for the press release.
For us, one of the few nice parts about commercial flight is being able to look out of the window shortly after takeoff and see just how small and genuinely insignificant we all appear from just a few thousand feet in the air.
One glance can swallow the whole of a thousand families and all of their innumerable multitudes of problems. It’s the difference between trying to make sense of a photograph by the pixel and stepping back to appreciate the whole. That and the fact that all of the cars and trucks look like Matchbox toys.
You may recall the kinetic sculpture by Chris Burden. The work, which took four years to complete, features 1,500 Hot Wheels diecast cars and a host of electric trains all bustling around a matrix of steel and plastic. If that sounds like a snapshot of your morning commute, you’re not alone.
Burden recently sat down with directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman for a quick chat on what’s behind Metropolis II and what it means to the artist. Those of you in Southern California may be able to see the exhibit in person at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the fall of 2011. For the rest of us, the mini documentary is well worth checking out and can be seen .
has no plans (at least, none that we’re aware of) that involve bringing a wagon to market. If those plans change, we think the automaker should look towards Theophilus Chin for inspiration. We’ve seen Chin’s renderings before, and his take on the 200 wagon suggests that the family hauler would also be a pretty decent looker, particularly as it forgoes the sedan’s awkward greenhouse in favor of a more traditional form.
Chin takes on the rendering from both front and rear angles, and you can take a closer look at each by clicking through the gallery.
Now that you’ve taken a look, we’d like to know what you think. Should Chrysler expand the 200 lineup with a wagon? Have a say in our informal poll below.
The documentary SENNA, about the life and racing times of Formula One legend Ayrton Senna is coming to U.S. theaters on August 12. Unfortunately, it’s very a limited initial release – just two theaters, one in L.A. and the other in New York City. The film will have a wider U.S. release in the following weeks, though will still only appear on a fraction of the screens that typical summer blockbusters do.
You can read our of SENNA in anticipation of the film’s release, and its makers have given us access to an exclusive clip to show you. In this clip, Ayrton and his arch rival Alain Prost are being interviewed. It’s the early days of their driving together for McLaren, and the inherent conflict of having the sport’s two best drivers compete on the same team is clearly evident, even in such a brief clip.
If the clip whets your appetite, you can check the for theaters and showtimes to see if SENNA is coming to a town near you. If you’re more the stay-at-home type, you can already from the Official F1 Store.
is furthering its investment in America. You already know that the German automaker builds the , and at its Spartanburg County, South Carolina assembly plant. Now, BMW is adding to that complex by introducing two new programs and hiring 100 new employees. Workers at its facility in Greer will soon have access to a brand-new family health center operated by an independent health care provider. Use of the health center will be made available to existing employees, eligible retirees and family members. In addition to the health center, BMW will begin a program called BMW Scholars, which allows area technical school students to work part-time in the assembly plant. Accepted candidates will receive tuition assistance, book money and first-hand apprentice training with a major automotive manufacturer.
Beyond the new programs, BMW is looking to bring 100 new team members on board to fill white colllar positions. These range from production managers and engineers to IT staff. The move to acquire 100 new employees is rather interesting after the negative attention from Teamsters when 100 distribution jobs were cut. Somehow, we don’t see the union to lay on applause for this one.
Come October of 2011, there will be a revised version of the available at your local dealership. For 2012, Nissan’s luxury arm has bestowed its flashy crossover with a distinctive new front fascia that draws clear influence from Infiniti’s latest design language first seen on the from the .
In addition to the new face, has also added a new 20-inch wheel design and a slightly redone instrument cluster. Finally, a new FX35 Limited Edition model hits the ground wearing an exclusive Iridium Blue exterior color along with blacked-out exterior finishes and unique 21-inch wheels. If you want one, we suggest you act fast; Infiniti plans only 550 LE models for North America.
Infiniti has left the powertrain alone for 2012, not that any changes were really all that necessary. The FX35 continues on with 303-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 while the FX50 boasts 390 horses from its 5.0-liter V8. Either engine comes mated to a seven-speed automatic gearbox that gets optional paddle shifters on the FX50. All-wheel drive is optional on the FX35 (base models get rear-wheel drive) and standard on the FX50.
Pricing doesn’t change much for 2012, with the base FX35 starting at $43,450 and the FX50 at $59,350. The new Limited Edition FX35, which comes only with all-wheel drive, will go for $51,550. According to the automaker, “popularly equipped” models wear the same price tags in 2012 as they did in 2011.
Want to know more? Check out our image gallery (note: the blue FX35 is the Limited Edition color) and then peruse the press release .
Racing fans eager for the return of Formula One racing may recall a last year that would have seen a United States Grand Prix run in New Jersey, just across the Hudson from the Manhattan skyline.
The project went belly-up when local activists against turning Liberty State Park into a racing circuit pressured Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy to put an end to it. In its place – or so it seemed – the return of the U.S. Grand Prix was moved to Austin, Texas, where America’s first purpose-built F1 circuit is currently being constructed. One might have assumed that the Austin project won out instead of the New Jersey one, but if the latest report from The Wall Street Journal is anything to go by, it may be too early to count the Garden State out of this particular race just yet.
A new proposal is reportedly being considered to hold an F1 race across the New Jersey townships of Weehawken and West New York, which would still provide the same spectacular backdrop and quick access to and from the city. The project’s financial backers are reportedly adamant that the race and all its related expenses be privately funded and require that no tax dollars be diverted towards its orchestration.
If it were to go through, the race would potentially be held in addition to, and not instead of, the race in Texas. It wouldn’t be the first time that the United States held two F1 races: parallel grands prix – dubbed East and West – were held at Watkins Glen and Long Beach in the 1970s, while additional races were held as well in Detroit, Dallas and Las Vegas in the 1980s.
Generally speaking, we prefer driving cars to building them. Still, you can’t do the former if the latter isn’t taken care of. And since one of the cars at the top of our “must drive” list is the , naturally we’re curious to see what it takes to put one together. Thankfully for us, then, brought a video crew into its Maranello, Italy factory, and we’re gifted a first-hand view of an engine coming to life.
The Prancing Horse’s 4.5-liter V8 produces 562 horsepower and 398 pound-feet of torque. That’s enough energy to move the 458 Italia from 0-62 miles per hour in around 3.4 seconds. Keep the gas to the floor and you’ll eventually see 202 miles per hour.
What does it take to bring that mill to life? to find out.
Chalk one up in the win column for . The has earned the title of Top Safety Pick from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. That’s a nice step forward over previous generations, which failed to achieve the honor. Now, however, any Durango built after May of 2011 can wear the safety crown proudly.
In order to get the Top Safety Pick award, the 2011 Dodge Durango needed to score a ‘good’ rating in front, side, rollover and rear crash tests. That’s precisely what it did, and in doing so, it joins seven otherChrysler models that also earned the title of Top Safety Pick. The Durango can stand alongside the , , , , , and (when equipped with available seat mounted side airbags).
Check out the video of the side impact test after the jump. Be sure to read the full press release from the IIHS , and check out the gallery of the particular 2011 Dodge Durango that was put out to pasture for the good of the model.
Danica Patrick is no stranger to NASCAR, but her regular ride is in the IndyCar series. That looks like it could be about to change, however, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants Patrick to join his JR Motorsports team as a full-time member. Running the entire 2012 Nationwide series will certainly take up the majority of her time, but it appears Danica will still be able to schedule seat time in her IndyCar racer.
The big question for Patrick is whether she can compete in the . It’s a time-consuming event that would require Danica to give up most of her May, yet the Nationwide series runs three races over the course of that month. Still, it seems that Earnhardt and his team are looking to accommodate Patrick’s desire to run at Indy, which would make her decision to sign on for a full NASCAR season a bit easier.
