has introduced a slew of 2012 special edition models, including unique variants of the , and . The rear-wheel-drive Lexus LS 460 Sport Special Edition offers buyers standard equipment that includes Brembo brakes, a sport-tuned air suspension and sport front seats in addition to 19-inch split-10-spoke wheels and a two-tone leather interior, among other amenities. Expect to hand over $77,000, excluding destination.
Meanwhile, the ES 350 Touring Edition comes laden with 17-inch 10-spoke wheels, a steering wheel and shift knob trimmed in leather and wood, navigation and saddle-tan leather heated and cooled seats. Additional equipment is also part of the package, and all that kit will bump the ES 350 Touring Edition MSRP to $40,475, excluding destination.
Finally, the CT 200h is getting the sport treatment as well with the F Sport Special Edition (seen above). The model is equipped with 17-inch alloy wheels of its own, along with an F Sport suspension that includes specific springs and sway bars. An F Sport appearance package is also along for the ride, and includes a mesh grille, larger rear spoiler, aluminum sport pedals and a perforated leather-trimmed steering wheel. Asking price? A cool $37,995. Lexus will politely ask for $875 for delivery on each model. for the press release.
It started with a four-cylinder, graduated to six and then eight cylinders, and now might be settling back down to six. The next-generation F80 , caught testing around the homeland, has let its voice be heard, and the suspicions are that a V6, not a BMW-traditional inline six, rumbles through those pipes.
Bimmerfile posits that a V6 could be “loosely based on the ′s S63 twin-turbo V8, but with even greater high-end power and efficiency.” Whatever is under that hood – and whatever is handling that lightning-quick gear change, don’t quite sound like anything that’s come straight from the factory before, at least to our ears. to watch and listen for yourself and make a guess in Comments.
Here’s a new one. According to AutoExpress, police in the UK are looking into scanners embedded into roadways that can detect the depth of a vehicle’s tire tread. If your rubber doesn’t meet a set of pre-determined parameters, you could eventually expect to see a fine show up in the mail. Currently, law enforcement says that the technology will only be used in checkpoint scenarios to alert drivers of a potentially dangerous situation, but given that the system costs somewhere around €50,000, or $67,500 at current conversion rates, critics are concerned that the depth-measuring device will be used as a cudgel to drum up revenue.
That concern is bolstered by the fact that Trevor Hall, a major proponent of speed cameras in the UK, is also behind the measure.
We’re all for improving road safety in any way possible, but if this new technology results in fines for motorists, we have concerns. After all, measures like the one proposed here would almost certainly target low-income drivers and unfairly position revenue generation on their shoulders. After all, if you can afford new tires, chances are better that you’ll buy them.
Automotive News is reporting that Co-CEO Steve Yang has resigned his duties at the Korean automaker for personal reasons. Yang helped pushHyundai to become the sales powerhouse it is now by improving the company’s image and carving out additional market share even in the midst of an industry-wide downturn.
Yang was responsible for both domestic and foreign operations, and AN reports that executives Kim Choong-hu and Kim Seung-tack will split Yang’s duties moving forward. Yang helmed the automaker’s day-to-day operations, and split CEO duties with two others, including chairman and founding family member Chung Mong-koo. A new CEO will be chosen by the company’s board at a later date.
The 58-year-old Yang is stepping down due to health reasons, according to Automotive News. He will remain as an advisor. Yang was the less visible of the automaker’s trio of CEOs, thanks in part to Chairman Chung’s reputation as a stern leader who has been instrumental in raising his company’s production standards.
LG Group has taken up legal arms against both and over a patent dispute. The technology company is reportedly aiming to have the sale of vehicles from both German automakers banned in South Korea over an LED patent dispute. According to Korea Times, LG Group is claiming that Osram, the manufacturer of LEDs favored by both automakers, is infringing on LG patents. Oddly enough, LG was once behind the patent game and had to pay Osram to use the company’s LED technology in LG products. Now LG has combined its relevant patents with those of a host of smaller companies, allowing it to skip paying Osram and sue the company for infringement.
Twisted.
Is there any chance of a court outright agreeing to ban such a large section of products from two companies that largely had nothing to do with the dispute? That seems unlikely, but Osram and LG Group may have to sit down and have a nice, lengthy chat with checkbooks in hand sometime in the near future.
The U.S. House of Representatives is investigating the motives behind the recent decision by to that’s critical of the government bailouts of General Motors and , only later to restore it. Representative Darrell Issa, R-California, has asked Alan Mulally, president and CEO of Ford, for a “full and complete explanation” of his company’s reasoning for temporarily pulling the ad. Earlier this week, Ford reportedly said that the ad was removed from the company’s YouTube page as part of a planned rotation, and that it would continue to run online (there’s no word on whether Ford will resume airing the ad on television, however).
In addition, Ford says that it continues to support the automotive bailout on the grounds that the automotive industry is a tight-knit network of companies, unions and workers. According to The Detroit News, Issa is specifically concerned that Ford received undue pressure from the White House to . That’s an allegation that Dan Pfeiffer, White House communications director, staunchly denies. Nevertheless, Issa has asked Ford to turn over any documents that pertain to the discussion of the ad. If you still haven’t seen the ad for yourself, we’ve embedded it .
Our spy photographers have snapped a glimpse of the forthcoming . The Mondeo-based sedan looks to have lifted lighting inspiration from the Ford Evos Concept that the automaker debuted at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show. With thin, slit-like projection lenses and a very vertical grille, the 2013 Fusion looks to bring quite a bit more attitude to the table than the current model. Right now, the Fusion is built in Mexico, but there’s some indication that the model may shift to a U.S. plant in the near future as part of the current negotiations between Ford and the United Auto Workers.
At this stage in the vehicle’s development, it’s unclear exactly what Ford will offer in terms of powertrain options or what the inevitable hybrid variant will bring to the table when it arrives. We are told that Ford will likely show off the first real look at the 2013 Fusion at January’s . Stay tuned.
There’s something inherently satisfying about using a blunt force object for its exact purpose, be it ripping the cover off a baseball with a Louisville Slugger or bonking one of those animatronic pop-up varmints with a rubber mallet at the local arcade. At the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s something equally satisfying about using a precise tool designed for an exact purpose, be it a Montblanc pen or a pickle fork. With the introduction of its 2012 , General Motors is betting that law enforcement customers are willing to trade-in the former brand of satisfaction for the latter.
For decades now, an overwhelming majority of America’s policemen and women have relied on the four-wheeled equivalent of a blunt object, the , as a primary tool in combating crime. Stubbornly resistant to change since its introduction during the Carter administration, the Crown Vic proudly earlier this month, a victim of growing legislative hurdles and slowing sales. Yet despite – or perhaps because of – its antiquated technology and crude construction, precincts far and wide have been clawing over each other to secure the last few examples.
GM believes it has a better way: 2012 Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle. Company officials say they are so cognizant of the unique needs of law enforcement that they’ve designed and built this special pursuit vehicle specifically for their use. GM has divulged no plans to park a civilian version in your Bowtie showroom and you won’t be seeing them in New York yellow, either. This is a purpose-built piece of kit. Of course, the truth is a bit more complicated than that. The Caprice PPV is actually a lightly modified version of GM’s long-wheelbase Zeta sedans that are marketed in Australia as the Holden Commodore and in the Middle East as… well, a Chevy Caprice. GM recently offered ordinary U.S. consumers a shorter Zeta, in the form of the well liked but short-lived , but it expired when its brand was shuttered.
GM invited us out to its Proving Grounds to play cops and robbers on the very same day that the pilot light was going out at Ford’s Crown Vic plant. Coincidence? Rather than mull the question, we hightailed it out to Milford, Michigan to live out our childhood policeman fantasies and file this report.
Canada is opening its used car market to vehicles from Mexico to fulfill the obligations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). While vehicles 15 years old or older can already be imported to Canada, this move concerns late-model used vehicles. The only other country Canada accepts used vehicles under 15 years old from is the United States, and NAFTA stipulates that Canada should have already completed this bit of border opening by the end of 2010.
According to Canada’s Sympatico Autos, there’s not likely to be an immediate flood of Mexi-cars into the Great White North, however. Brian Osler, president of the North American Automobile Trade Association (NAATA) notes that when cars from the United States became available, “it took a long time for people to become aware that there was more than one buying channel.” Not only that, but vehicles will still need to meet Canadian emissions and safety standards, and the program is being phased in, starting with vehicles 10 or more years old. Every two years, newer vehicles will be allowed until the restrictions sunset in 2019 for all NAFTA signatories.
Global pressure on the economy and tight used-car values are likely to keep a damper on a buying bonanaza, at least in the short term. U.S. vehicles are also cushier and long-established in Canada’s used-car marketplace, though some Canadian dealers are already establishing supplier channels in Mexico, and some already buy vehicles from Mexico to send to Europe. One peek at the ravages of road salt on a vehicle, and the allure of a vehicle that’s lived closer to the equator becomes clear, and that’s likely to be one factor that spurs Canadian buyers to consider used vehicles originally from Mexico. Us? We’d be interested in some of the Mexican market’s forbidden fruit.
has made it clear that the automaker has no plans to dive into NASCAR, but that doesn’t mean that the company is turning its back on American motorsports altogether. According to TheDetroitBureau.com, Wolfgang Durheimer, head of Volkwagen Group motorsports, says his company is currently investigating a number of U.S. competition venues, including the American Le Mans Series and Grand Am, as well as Indy Car and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. As you may recall, took to Pike’s Peak last year to show off the company’s autonomous vehicle project, and Volkswagen has enjoyed good success in Colorado Springs with their diesel-powered race trucks.
In fact, TDB reports that Durheimer wasn’t even completely against the notion of a NASCAR effort. Instead, the executive merely said that going full-bore into America’s favorite motorsport would require too large of an investment and that those funds could be more successfully applied elsewhere. Of all of the options on the table, Durheimer has only completely nixed drag racing as a suitable Volkswagen venue. The executive is expected to bring his proposals before the automaker’s top management soon.
When announced that , we knew that the triannual celebration of the marque wasn’t something to be missed. We made sure our calendars were clear for the third weekend in October. Now that Rennsport is less than a month away, we have even more details about what’s in store for the event.
The last timePorsche was the featured marque at the Monterey Historics, . We thought that was a lot, but it will be nothing compared to when Porschefiles from around the world descend on Laguna Seca for Rennsport. According to the organizers, no less than 350 Porsches will take part in the on-track racing, and an additional 50 historic models will be on display in the paddock, many shipped over directly from the Porsche museum in Stuttgart. In addition, the newly released 2012 Porsche 911 will be making its first North American appearance.
We’ll be in Monterey for Rennsport in just a few weeks to provide you with daily live coverage, but until then you can read more about the Porsches that will be on display .
General Motors will be offering up a new version of the next year. The Texas Edition Silverado 2500 and 3500 will offer buyers all of the standard equipment associated with LT trim, plus additional interior and exterior flare.
Outside, 20-inch polished aluminum wheels, unique badging and a slathering of chrome over the door handles and side molding help distinguish the truck from the rest of the mall parking lot. It’s worth noting that a trailering package and locking rear differential are also a part of the kit, and that 3500 HD buyers will have to cope with 18-inch rollers on single-wheel models and 17-inch wheels on dually trucks.
Inside, both 2500 and 3500 models are packed with dual-zone climate control, a six-way power adjustable driver’s seat and a Bluetooth-capable CD player with MP3 input. Power camper mirrors with integrated turn signals are also included. for the full press release.
As recent rumors suggested, is, in fact, growing its hybrid offerings, though battery power may not be headed to the just yet. The German automaker has just unveiled a new production . The vehicle is based on the 535i, and pairs the company’s turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine with a 55-horsepower electric motor and an eight-speed automatic transmission. A lithium-ion battery pack provides electricity storage. All told, the system produces somewhere around 335 horsepower and allows the driver to whir along on all-electric power at speeds of up to 37 mph, but it can only push along in all-electric mode for around 2.5 miles at average of 22 mph. Early guesses say that the system will afford a “double-digit percentage improvement in fuel economy over the 535i,” yet it will also propel the ActiveHybrid to 60 mph in around 5.7 seconds.
That’s plenty quick by any account, and BMW says that the vehicle will be available in U.S. dealerships by as soon as March of next year. So far, there’s no indication as to exactly how much BMW will ask for the vehicle or what sort of fuel economy buyers can expect. Is this a suitable replacement for the short-lived ? We certainly think so, but we aren’t exactly fans of high-riding hybrids, either. for the press release.
In 2001, returned to Le Mans after an absence of more than 70 years with a machine known as the Speed 8 (pictured above), eventually winning the 24-hour race in 2003. Bentley hasn’t been involved in motorsports since, although a new report indicates that could change soon.
In a recent interview with Autocar, Bentley CEO Wolfgang Durheimer stated that a new LMP1 race car could be in the works to compete against and the . Interestingly, all three automakers are part of the VW Group. “There is nothing saying the same brands can’t compete against each other – the only important thing is that the racing activity supports fully the brand identity,” he said. “The three brands of Bentley, and Audi could race in different regions and come together five or six times a year for the world sportscar championship and then once per year in France. It’s not decided, but it is possible.”
In addition to the usual marketing benefits of a racing program, Durheimer indicated that the main motivation for getting Bentley back into motorsports would be to develop a connection with the race team and the company’s production facility in Crewe. “I am also keen that people from the road car side sample the racing side – I saw at Porsche that one or two years with the race team can really change how people work.”
Motor Trend is reporting that and are working on creating a new 10-speed automatic transmission. The dual-headed Korean automaker unveiled a new eight-speed automatic gearbox in the . Along with revisions to the 3.8-liter V6 engine, the transmission helped the model generate up to two miles per gallon better on the highway than its predecessor.
According to Motor Trend, news of the 10-speed transmission comes courtesy of unnamed sources inside Bloomberg, and the technology could show up in a production model as soon as 2014. Beyond that, details are notably scarce. Two extra cogs would likely help improve fuel economy at a moderate cost to the company and consumer, especially if engineers were able to translate much of the design of the eight-speed into the new gearbox. Stay tuned.
Team Lotus of Formula One confirmed it will extend its F1 engine deal with Renault through the end of 2013. The team, headed by entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, announced at the Singapore Grand Prix that it will employ a Red Bull-developed starting in 2012. Fernandes said the Team Lotus-Renault-Red Bull deal will put the team on a more even playing field:
We have done the very best job we can this year but without that extra power we are always competing on a different level to the teams ahead, so to give our drivers that boost is a key element of helping us catch the cars ahead, and compete with them when we do so.
Renault Sport F1 head Jean-François Caubet said KERS – a system that transforms kinetic energy into useable power, providing Formula One racers with a six-second, 80-horsepower boost – is essential to competitive performance in F1.
has rolled out a new trailer for the company’s . Those who are easily tired by flashy cuts and metaphor may want to skip this one, as it pits the supercharged V6 hellion against a boxer. No, not a or boxer engine. An actual boxer, as in, a pugilist.
Our brows may be a bit too low to understand the concept at work here, but we appreciate a good advertisement when we see one. With plenty of tire smoke, lots of doughnuts and dramatic shots of the black body work on the , the clip hits all the right notes.
The Lotus Exige S packs 346 horsepower in a 2,380-pound track-bred package. The supercharged 3.5-liter V6 mounted mid-ship delivers 295 pound-feet of torque. Given that the old Exige S could clip off 0-60 mph runs in the 4.1 second range, we wouldn’t be surprised to hear that the 2012 model can do the deed in the high three-second range. to take a look at the video.
Google co-founder Larry Page sat down with the Internet giant’s former CEO, Eric Schmidt, for a Q&A session during this week’s Zeitgeist 2011 event, and when the topic of increasing processor speed came from an audience member, Schmidt went into the infinite possibilities afforded “when you have all the computing power and all the telemetry and everything going on in the world in real time.” Not surprisingly, Page made the leap right to autonomous cars.
“The automated car stuff is a good example of this possibility,” Page told the assembled masses. “It seemed pretty practical. You think that driving a car is hard, but it’s actually not that hard… for a computer. If the computer has good data about what’s around it.”
And then Chairman Schmidt jumps in with this gem: “Our computers drive our cars better than you do when you’re drunk. That’s our starting point.”
That’s not a very high bar Mr. Schmidt, but we digress…
Check out the conversation starting at around the 29 minute mark in the video .
After our , we described the three-door hatch as an ‘eco-sport’ rather than an ‘all-out performance car’. The 1.6-liter four-pot under the hood produces 138 horsepower and 123 pound-feet torque, which provided ‘adequately entertaining’ acceleration. In other words, we wouldn’t mind one bit if the Veloster got an extra dose of power.
The folks over at ARK Performance were thinking the same thing, and are set to debut a custom Veloster at in November with an extra dose of oomph under the hood. The additional ponies – 210 in total – comes courtesy of intercooled turbocharger system and a high-flow exhaust system. ARK has also worked over the rest of the Veloster with six-piston front brakes, coilover suspension system, custom Alcantara interior and a widebody kit with green and grey graphics.
You can check out the full list of upgrades , and be on the lookout for live coverage of the car at the SEMA Show come November.
Car thieves are adopting depressingly creative ways to clone cars.
When it comes to car theft, the good news is that law enforcement has become so good that theft rates have dropped for a decade. The bad news is that this is forcing car thieves to become far more clever and daring than they ever were in the past.
Not long ago, chop shops were the favorite fence for car thieves. They’d drop off a stolen vehicle where it would get “chopped” into its most lucrative parts and sold off for big profits. But today, chop shops are practically passé. Now car thieves find it faster, safer and more profitable to “clone” a car.
Cloning is not a new practice, but it’s becoming more and more popular. It involves stealing a car, then creating a new title and VIN for it, but doing it in a way that makes it very difficult for law enforcement to track. And car thieves are adopting depressingly creative ways to clone cars.
John McElroy is host of the TV program and daily web video . Every month he brings his unique insights as a Detroit insider to Autoblog readers.
John McElroy is host of the TV program and daily web video . Every month he brings his unique insights as a Detroit insider to Autoblog readers.
