Open-wheel racing is returning to the Motor City next summer. The Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix will be held June 1-3, the first of a three-year sponsorship deal between General Motors, Penske Corporation and the IndyCar series. The weekend of racing will feature not only an IndyCar race, but the first Grand-Am event ever held on Detroit’s island course.
The new Detroit race will take the place of another IndyCar event on the schedule, though officials did not say which one. IndyCar officials expect starting grids to have 25-28 cars next season. Other support races for the Detroit weekend include a V-Series Challenge and an Indy Light race.
Race organizers said they plan to spend $6 million to rehab the racing facility, which last saw action in 2008. Detroit has a long and tumultuous history of hosting open wheel racing events on city streets, dating back to 1982, when Formula 1 ran on a course through downtown. In 1989 the Detroit Grand Prix moved to the current location at Belle Isle, a public park in the Detroit River, where several races under different sanctioning bodies have been held intermittently over the years. for GM’s official release.
Maybe it was the Detroit Tigers decisive win in game three of the American League Championship Series, but something put the United Auto Workers and negotiators in the mood to compromise last night. The Detroit News is reporting that the union announced a deal just before 7:00 AM today.
Chrysler is the last of Detroit’s traditional “Big Three” automakers to come to terms with the UAW, as negotiations had been rockier than those with the other car companies. Last month Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne accused UAW President Bob King of playing favorites with General Motors, and putting his own political agenda ahead of the interests of union members. The UAW then to negotiate with , last week.
What effect this gamesmanship had on the contract remains to be seen, however, The Detroit News says that the agreement with Chrysler is expected to resemble those reached with GM and Ford. Those contracts call for replacing wage increases with a revamped profit-sharing system. But the Chrysler deal might have some substantial differences due to Chrysler’s weaker financial health, says the report.
Chrysler has 26,000 hourly employees in the U.S., but that number should go up under the new deal. The UAW says the agreement would add 2,100 new jobs by the end of 2015. Other sources told the newspaper that new workers are likely to be paid more, as well, with one of the key provisions of the contract being a raise for second-tier employees, to $19.28 an hour.
Looks like there was a good reason that dropped the “” tagline for its . That anti-EV phrase , and the reason why was announced this morning in Detroit. General Motors has revealed that in addition to selling its global Chevy Spark mini car in the U.S. next year, an all-electric version called the Spark EV will be joining it in 2013.
That GM is working on an all-electric Spark ; a version of the vehicle (also known as the Beat) earlier this year and GM CEO Dan Akerson said at the this past January that his company was working on an all-electric vehicle to be sold in the U.S. A Spark EV also fit the rumors that GM’s new electric car would be small and designed for urban areas, particularly in California, where it would be used to meet the upcoming ZEV mandate changes.
Official details released by GM this morning back this up. According to the automaker, the Spark EV will use nanophosphate lithium-ion battery packs from A123 Systems and be sold in “limited quantities in select U.S. and global markets starting in 2013, including California.” More specific details about power, range and overall performance will be released at a later date.
Late last year, confirmed that its seriously pretty concept , and our trusty spy photographers have now caught the first test mules out on the road near the automaker’s headquarters. Aside from the addition of some shapely new sheetmetal at the car’s hind quarters, not much is expected to change from the standard sedan range, and that’s just fine with us.
Expect Merc’s new twin-turbocharged 4.6-liter V8 to be the base engine at launch, with a Shooting Brake (be still our hearts!) coming down the pipeline. When Mercedes-Benz initially confirmed that the five-door CLS would go into production, we were told it would arrive sometime in 2012, and because these test mules appear to be nearly done with the development phase, we wouldn’t be surprised if the final car debuts at the next March (if not sooner).
Reuters reports that Pininfarina will lay off 127 workers as the company shuts down its manufacturing business to focus more heavily on design and engineering. The Italian company points to the declining automotive market as the reason behind the move. The layoffs are expected to cost the company around €2.9 million, or $3.96 million at current conversion rates.
Pininfarina recently ended a joint venture with to , leaving us to wonder where the model would be manufactured in the future. Meanwhile, Pininfarina is busily courting suitors to purchase a stake in the design firm as part of a debt restructuring agreement with the company’s creditors.
French billionaire Vincent Ballore is one investor who has expressed an interest in purchasing part of the family-owned company. In the future, Pininfarina is expected to focus its efforts on contracted design and engineering work.
In addition to , a recent UAW release states that will be adding an “industry-leading small V6″ to its powertrain lineup. Car and Driver reports that, while the automaker has yet to confirm the development of such an engine, Ford stated that adding a smaller-displacement V6 would make sense based on its current powertrain strategy.
Ford has long said that it plans to offer EcoBoost engines in 90 percent of its North American products by 2013, so the safe bet is that this new V6 will be of the forced-induction type. C/D suggests that a 2.5- or 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 could produce around 300 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque, and that it could be used as a replacement for the naturally aspirated 3.5- and 3.7-liter V6 engines currently used throughout Ford’s product portfolio. Additionally, such an engine would make sense in a vehicle like the next-generation , or even a range-topping .
We’re in the heart of General Motors’ downtown Detroit headquarters for a press conference tied to the 100th anniversary of , and Chris Perry, the brand’s Vice President of Global Marketing and Strategy, has just confirmed a new . To be based on the company’s new global mid-size , the vehicle will be unveiled November 10 at the Dubai Motor Show.
Chevrolet officials have not yet offered word on where this vehicle will be built or in which markets it will be available, but given that the Colorado has recently been confirmed for the U.S., we wouldn’t be surprised to see a new TrailBlazer once again plying America’s roads.
Earlier this year, we received of a new mid-size General Motors SUV testing near the automaker’s headquarters, meaning development of the Colorado-based TrailBlazer could already be well under way.
More details as they become available.
UPDATE: General Motors has released an official teaser image (above) as well as a press release, available . The automaker confirms that the 2013 TrailBlazer will first go on sale in Thailand beginning in early 2012.
Cadillac’s Art and Science design ethos is easily one of the most ambitious in the industry. But hasn’t kept pace with its competition in a number of areas, including the realm of infotainment. That’s set to change when the XTS arrives next year and Cadillac introduces CUE – the Cadillac User Experience.
The all-new navigation, information and multimedia system is making its world debut at the CTIA Wireless show this week, but we’ve been given a sneak peak ahead of its coming out party in San Diego, CA. From what we’ve seen, Cadillac hasn’t just made a competitive system to battle the likes of BMW’s iDrive, Audi’s MMI and the (aging) COMAND setup from Mercedes-Benz – CUE portends another shift in how we interact with our cars, how we access information on the go and how we can adapt vehicles to suit our individual needs and tastes. But is it the right direction? .
We’re almost ready to record Episode #251 of the Autoblog Podcast. Check out the topics below and you can join us live via , as well. Thanks for listening!
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It seems we may never get enough of . The host always attracts loads of attention no matter what he does, and it doesn’t hurt that he always seems to surround himself with some of the most beautiful machines on the planet.
That doesn’t change for his new DVD, which is titled ‘Powered Up.’ Clarkson and his band of highly skilled photogs shot the DVD at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, and the post-jump trailer gives us a good idea of the automotive stars of this show.
to watch four minutes of Sir Clarkson as he takes on the McLaren MP4-12C, , Jaguar E-Type Convertible and plenty more. Even Formula 1 driver Karun Chandhok got in on the fun, if a high-speed spin-out in a is your idea of a good time. ‘Powered Up’ goes on sale on November 7.
took some time last month to put the upcoming ATS through its paces at the Nürburgring as part of the vehicle’s final development, and the company brought along a video crew to share the experience with the desk jockeys of the world.
The video after the jump is the first in a series orbiting around the newest model from Cadillac and its experience in Germany. We have to say that the machine looks plenty spritely busting through the apexes of the Nürburgring. Judging by the soundtrack, we’d say the four-door is rocking a well-exercised V6 under the hood.
That runs contrary to rumors that indicated that the ATS would arrive with a behind the headlights, though there’s nothing saying that a smaller displacement option isn’t still on the table. to check out the video for yourself, and head over to the page for more information on the upcoming clips.
Australian V8 Supercar races are , and here’s another look at what you might be able to expect at the end of six hours of racing.
This time, rookie Garth Tander in a ragged has to hold off veteran Craig Lowndes in a slightly better car if Tander is going to win, and… well, you’ll just have to flip for the last few laps to find out. If you like racing at all, it’ll be worth it.
It’s not out of the question to think that Vauxhall could win a shootout for the best fuel economy. But you’d figure the honors would be taken by something like the Ampera plug-inhybrid or one of its models, not the VXR8 muscle sedan, what with its huge 6.2-liter V8 engine. But it’s precisely the VXR8 that took the prize at the end of the day.
The Fleet World MPG Marathon doesn’t just measure overall fuel economy, but how much of an improvement over its combined city/highway rating they can eke out of a given car. The goal is to demonstrate just how much a driver and his/her driving style can effect the amount of fuel consumed.
By that standard, the VXR8 was a shocker: the vehicle is rated (on the European cycle) at 21 miles per gallon, but with Top Gear online editor Chris Mooney behind the wheel and Vauxhall’s own Andrew Duerden coaching from the front passenger seat, they managed to squeeze out a much more pump-friendly 32.14 mpg – a remarkable 53-percent improvement.
Second place went to a likelier candidate in the Swift DDiS, which managed to get an astounding 86.4 miles per (diesel) gallon on a 67.3 mpg rating for a 28.3 percent improvement over specification. for both press releases.
On this day in 1901, Henry Ford took his home-built race car named “Sweepstakes” and entered a 10-mile race at the Detroit Driving Club against the favored Alexander Winton. Ford ended up winning the race and the victory garnered attention from investors that would help launch the just a couple of years later. Since that first race, Ford has achieved a multitude of successes in a variety of motorsports including wins at the Daytona 500, Indy 500, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Baja 1000 and more.
As part of their celebration of 110 years of racing, Ford will be bringing together some of their more historic race cars to display at the upcoming show in Las Vegas next month. The lineup is truly impressive, including the Le Mans-winning 1967 GT40 MkIV, Parnelli Jones’ 1970 Mustang Boss 302, Jim Clark’s Lotus that won the 1965 Indy 500, various John Force Funny Cars and the winning race car from this year’s Daytona 500 just to name a few.
Next month, we’ll bring you live coverage of the historic display of Ford Racing cars as well as the rest of the 2011 SEMA extravaganza. Until then, to read more about Ford’s 110-year racing history.
made its bones as an engine manufacturer first and foremost, so its latest problems getting the HondaJet off the ground must be frustrating. According to Bloomberg, recent testing revealed a susceptibility to ice damage, forcing a redesign of the HondaJet’s HF120 engine. This development means engine certification will be pushed back until the second half of next year, and the plane will not launch during 2012, as previously planned.
This is the latest in a series of delays for Honda’s highly touted foray into aviation. The HondaJet was , with hopes to launch in 2010. But by 2009, Honda had bumped that target to late 2011, Bloomberg reports. resulted in the anticipated 2012 launch. Now the best-case scenario would see the plane finally go on sale in 2013. The $4.5 million, 489-mile per hour HondaJet made its first flight last December with .
Bloomberg pegs Honda’s research and development investment in the project at over $1 billion. Honda officials wouldn’t quantify the financial impact of this most recent delay, although Honda Aircraft Co. President Michimasa Fujino did downplay the significance of the slipping schedule, saying, “The business-jet market is a little slow right now, so the impact on sales is minimal, because the market won’t recover until 2013.”
We record Episode #251 of the Autoblog Podcast tonight, and you can drop us your questions via our Q&A module below. Check out our discussion topics or chime in to help determine what else the crew chats about this evening. Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast if you haven’t already done so, and if you want to take it all in live, tune in to our (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.
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What We Like: Technically, this is the first ad shot by Fiat with Jennifer Lopez. The first airing of the J. Lo/Fiat partnership was last month when the Italian automaker began running a cut-down version of a new Lopez video that features the . That video drew fire from some of the blogosphere. One wag actually said it was the worst car ad he had ever seen. Really? We don’t think so. Fiat is chasing awareness, and fast. What better way than to link up with one of the hottest music, film and TV pop stars. The video and this ad don’t get into the performance or experience of driving a 500C, but this is meant unabashedly to drive pure awareness, curiosity and conversation. Based on online search data and YouTube views, the strategy is working. Since Lopez has a big crossover audience among both Latinos and non-Latinos, she is also a pretty logical medium through which to attract people. Latinos are also arguably more aware of Fiat as a brand than U.S.A. drivers since the brand has long been distributed in South America. Fiat has for years retained the top spot in Brazil’s auto market, which is among the world’s fastest growing.
The ad features Lopez driving the 500C through the Bronx where she was born. It has a bit of the feel, in terms of the way it was shot, of the “Imported From Detroit” ads Chrysler is now running with gritty looking shots of Detroit.
What We Don’t Like: The opening of the video has J. Lo saying, “Here… this is my world…” Lopez was born in the Bronx in 1969. And while we have no doubt that she has a soft spot for the Bronx, she has, according to online reports, been living in a gated house in Long Island and just recently bought an $18-million place in the Hamptons. These neighborhoods – pickup basketball games, break dancers, barbershops and graffiti – may be in the veins of Lopez, in her roots, but they aren’t much a part of her life today. The closing scene of the ad with kids running after her car? What’s up with that? How about pulling over and hanging out? She does get out of the car and hug a few kids in front of what we are led to believe might be the building in which she grew up.
We figure Lopez exerted script approval before shooting the ad, but we might have suggested writing more honest sounding prose – and maybe just a little something about the car – for her to say in the voiceover.
Strategy: Fiat has been out of the U.S. for 25 years, and is unknown to most U.S. car buyers – unless they are from or have spent a lot of time in Italy and Latin America – under the age of 40. The company is about and . The company was , so it is behind in meeting its U.S. sales target. With a high-profile media buy on the NFL, and getting 500s into rental fleets, it is trying to jumpstart its awareness.
The Fiat 500 has a lot of potential. The engine is a little under-powered, the backseat a bit cramped, and the fuel economy under-delivers a bit on expectations for a car this small. But the design of the car inside and out is just plain fun. And the 500C, the cabrio, is a blast to drive with the cloth roman-shade-style top retracted. Fiat did a nice job of preserving the elements of the 500 that make you feel like you are driving a cool little European car, which, of course, you are.
When UK announced that the company planned to build a design study using the body of a and the running gear of , we knew the automaker’s engineers had some serious work cut out for them. Now Nissan is giving the world a glimpse into exactly what it will take to bring the Juke-R to life with a series of . The company isn’t simply cramming a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V6 into the CUV and calling it a day. Instead, a donor GT-R will lend its full all-wheel-drive system and all of the tech necessary to keep the car planted on the road to the effort.
Nissan has already started by shortening the wheelbase of a standard GT-R to Juke dimensions (see above) to ensure that everything will still work once workers begin swapping floor pans. The whole project looks deliciously maniacal. to check out the video for yourself.
What do John Entwistle, Rutherford B. Hayes, Hugh Jackman and Hennessey Performance Engineering all have in common? Very little, we imagine, outside of celebrating October birthdays.
HPE is turning 20 this month, giving the Texas-based tuner the perfect excuse to build a celebratory . The company blog tells us the 20th Anniversary Edition HPE650 Camaro will be limited to 20 black over black examples, and yes, that “650″ in the model name is an indication of horsepower. The lofty number is achieved by fitting a supercharger, new heads, a new cam, headers, and intake and exhaust upgrades. HPE says their mods are good for 655 horsepower at 6,300 rpm, which is enough to push the Camaro to 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds.
Other upgrades include custom wheels, front splitter and side skirts, embroidered headrests, and a coilover suspension system. Of course, floor mats and the obligatory numbered dash plaque are yours as well, so long as you’re willing to pay the $79,500 asking price for a coupe, or $84,500 for a convertible.
It looks as if is closer to giving the C63 AMG Sedan the Black Series treatment, judging by the shots our spy photographers nabbed of the menacing four door frolicking around the Nürburgring.
Word has it that the C63 AMG Black Series Sedan will pack the same 510-horsepower6.2-liter V8 as found in the two-door as well as an identical seven-speed automatic gearbox. It’s worth pointing out that the cog swapper is no standard slusher, however. The seven speed is an AMG SpeedShift MCT capable of changing gears in as little as one tenth of a second. Let’s see your left foot do that.
Expect to see a volley of suspension tricks lifted from the meaner coupe as well as a larger oil cooler and brakes capable of bringing planetary bodies to a screeching halt. So far there’s no word on when we’ll see the vehicle debut, but we’re guessing it won’t be too far down the line. Stay tuned.
