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The on-again, off-again Volkswagen BlueSport roadster is, well, on again according to EVO Magazine. The publication reportedly spoke with Uli Hackenberg, head of engineering with Volkswagen, who said the company’s dealers are mistaken when they say there won’t be a market for a vehicle like the BlueSport. Hakenberg said that the rise of hardware like the Toyota GT 86 and Subaru BRZ, alongside the upcoming next-generation Mazda MX-5 suggests buyers are once again willing to put down cash on an entry-level sports car. Throw in the fact that the dollar is regaining strength and European vehicles start to look even more competitive in the Land of the Free. Despite this, recent reports have indicated that the BlueSport’s planned sibling at Porsche has been delayed, and its other planned sibling, the Audi R4, is understood to have been canceled back in May.

As a result, Volkswagen is reportedly going to ask its dealers to once again gauge demand for a mid-engine convertible. The roadster will need to see sales estimates of at least 50,000 units worldwide in order to get the go-ahead from corporate. Even if that happens, it will likely be a good three years before we see the production model touch down. Maestro, cue up the sad trombone if you would be so kind.

Volkswagen BlueSport roadster still on-track after all?

The suitably rapid expansion of the Lotus Racing division is showing no signs of slowing down. The British marque has its own Formula One team, is supplying engines to the IndyCar Series, oversees both GP2 and GP3 teams, has competition versions of its road cars in various GT and rally championships, runs its own karting program, and offers enthusiasts top-notch trackday programs with the Evora GT and Exos/Type 125 single-seater. But that’s not enough: now Lotus is gearing up to take on Le Mans.

The company was planning to design its own LMP2 racer, and it had snagged the designer of the 908 HDi away from the now-shuttered Peugeot Sport racing program. But that apparently didn’t go quite as smoothly as planned, so Lotus has instead opted to back an independent team to run a second-tier Le Mans prototype on its behalf.

That team is Kodewa, headed up by former HRT F1 team principal Colin Kolles and his father Romulus. They’ll be running a chassis built by Lola and powered by a BMW V8 prepared by Engine Developments – the same arrangement by which Lotus is powering its Indy program. The car, as you can see, features the same iconic black and gold livery as other Lotus racers, penned in this case by Daniel Simon – a former Volkswagen Group designer responsible for the Tron:Legacy lightcycles and the livery run on last year’s HRT F111.

Look for the Lotus LMP2 to debut when the FIA World Endurance Championship kicks off here at Sebring in March, with a second car expected to join at Spa in May. Press release after the jump.

Continue reading Lotus headed to Le Mans with Lola LMP2

Lotus headed to Le Mans with Lola LMP2

Just when you thought you’d seen all the Super Bowl ads there were to see, Chevrolet is jumping in with a whole new spot for the Volt. The General Motors plug-in hybrid has been struggling to make sales headway for a number of reasons, including a now-closed government investigation into the vehicle’s safety. With negative press at its peak in January, Volt sales took a nosedive last month – GM managed to move a paltry 603 units. With some Chevy dealers refusing their allocations, the automaker is understandably keen to put the spurs to Volt sales. This Super Bowl ad features a host of very curious aliens attempting to comprehend the science behind the propulsion system in the Chevrolet Volt.

It would seem GM believes buyers are being scared off from the Volt because they simply don’t understand the mechanicals in the plug-in hybrid. If that’s the case, this new commercial should help clear up any mysteries surrounding the vehicle. Hit the jump to see E.T. in action for yourself.

Continue reading Chevy turns to aliens to pitch Volt in Super Bowl ad

Chevy turns to aliens to pitch Volt in Super Bowl ad

Kia has been spending big on Super Bowl advertising for a few years now, but its commercials have been hit or miss. Its ad for the big game in 2010 entitled “Joyride” was a hit for bringing toys from our childhood to life behind the wheel of a Sorento, but last year’s “One Epic Ride” was a definite miss. Kia’s ad for this year’s Super Bowl, called “A Dream Car. For Real Life,” will likely be a hit.

The premise is simple: A fairy who visits bedsides with magic dust that guarantees good dreams accidentally trips over a slipper and spills his whole bucket of sprinkles on an unsuspecting, demographically targeted and non-threateningly handsome 30-something man. The resulting indulgent dream stars Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima, 80’s hair band Mötley Crüe (looking a little worse for wear, we might add) and UFC fighter Chuck Liddell. There’s also a school bus-sized sub sandwich being cut in half by lumberjacks and a roaring crowd of thousands of bikini-wearing beauties.

In the midst of all this REM-induced revelry is the Kia Optima, because what other car would your subconscious pick to impress Ms. Lima?

Kia has also published a five-hour-long video of Adriana Lima waving a checkered flag in slow motion on YouTube, because hey, if you’ve got her on set for the day, why not? Follow the jump to watch them both.

Continue reading Kia debuts Adriana Lima-infused Super Bowl ad

Kia debuts Adriana Lima-infused Super Bowl ad

Sport, Compact, Light? Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad

Sportlich, Leicht, Kompakt. If your German is as spotty as ours, that stands for ” Sporty, Light, Compact,” and it’s telling that those are the three letters used by Mercedes-Benz as an adopted moniker for the small hardtop/convertible coupe that it released all the way back in 1996. Thing is, it never really stood out as any of those things: Sporty, but certainly not powerful. Light, but, at a hair over 3,000 pounds, far from featherweight. Compact? Sure, a 94-inch wheelbase sounds about right, but the car has gotten bigger with every successive generation and has never seemed small behind the wheel the same way as, say, a Mazda MX-5 Miata.

If the Mercedes-Benz SLK350 isn’t a quick and nimble little sports car, what is it? It’s been a sales success for the most part, peaking in 2005 with 11,278 units sold in the United States, though those numbers have fallen in recent years. And it’s also been labeled time and time again as a so-called “chick car.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course, but those two words are a veritable death knell to the heads and hearts of driving enthusiasts the world over (though curiously the Miata has largely earned an exemption).

With keys to the latest 2012 SLK350 in hand, we pondered this latest compact roadster from Mercedes-Benz with a critical eye. Has the SLK grown into a proper sporting mount, or does it still wear the dreaded chick-car stereotype? As it turns out, the answer is a little bit of both.

Continue reading 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK350 [w/video]

2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK350 [w/video]

The fabulously wealthy face all sorts of dilemmas that the rest of us never have to bother with. If you can afford a Lexus LFA, for example, what color do you opt for? Red is clearly for the Ferrari in your stable. Black belongs on your hearse, and… copper? Well, that’s best left for your LX570. What you want is something that makes a statement. A color that kicks puppies and steals candy from kids on Halloween. Green. You want the kind of green that will make Lamborghini Gallardo owners look tasteful by comparison.

That’s exactly what the buyer of LFA number 250 went with. We aren’t entirely sure what the color is called, but our retinas won’t be the same for a week. The hue is almost a more violent version of the Emerald Green found on early ’70s Porsche 911 models. The paint might not look quite as at home as it does on vintage Porsche sheetmetal, but we still love it (something tells tells us there will be plenty of you who fall on the other side of the fence). What do you think? Have your say in Comments.

Screaming green Lexus LFA likely to split opinions

Some may beg to differ, but from where we sit, the acquisition Audi made of Lamborghini back in 1998 was a good thing, and remains as such. The resulting supercars to roll out of Sant’Agata Bolognese have been better than those made under prior owners by leaps and bounds. But who would have thought the relationship would benefit Audi as much as it has?

Not only did the partnership give Ingolstadt the sweet-revving V10 engine that powered the RS6 and S8 (until recent pressures necessitated a switch to a twin-turbo V8 instead), but it also gave Audi the underpinnings for the R8 … and a page or two out of the Lamborghini playbook.

The R8 has since grown to include two different engine specs, a convertible version and the hard-core R8 GT. But as if all that weren’t enough, it led to the crême-de-la-crême R8 GT Spyder. The limited-edition roadster packs the 5.2-liter V10 engine tuned up to 560 horsepower and unburdened of 187 pounds of excess weight, all without a roof to get between driver and the wind rushing rapidly by.

The hard-core, tire-burning attitude, however, is not all the R8 GT Spyder got from its Italian cousins. It also picked up a Lamborghini’s price tag, as Audi USA has just announced the sticker on the exclusive roadster: $210,000. That doesn’t include the $1,200 destination charge, taxes or optional equipment like carbon-ceramic brakes or Bang & Olufsen sound system.

That may seem mighty steep, but if you’ve got the cash to burn, don’t hesitate for too long, because with only 333 units to be built in total and just 50 earmarked for the United States, they’re bound to go fast. Like, Lamborghini fast. Follow the jump for the full press release, and seeing as how Audi has released a whole mess of new photos since the car’s initial launch, we’ve put those together for you in a fresh high-res image gallery.

Continue reading Audi prices R8 GT Spyder at a top-dropping $210,000*

Audi prices R8 GT Spyder at a top-dropping $210,000*

If you’re about to embark on an off-road driving expedition, you’re going to need the right co-pilot. Someone with good knowledge of how a car works, good survival skills and – most important of all – a good sense of humor.

This according to a recent study carried out in the UK by Continental Tires ahead of the launch of the Conti 4×4 Trophy, in which respondents ranked humor as an over-arching qualifying trait for the right person to ride shotgun.

So who did the British respondents choose? The blokes went with a pretty face in glamor model Kelly Brook, while the ladies elected Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame. But it’s the least favorite picks that caught our attention.

According to the study, the worst person to have riding shotgun on such an off-road trip would be Jeremy Clarkson. Joining Jezza in the top ten least favorite co-pilots in the study were Katie Price (another “glamor model” like the aforementioned Kelly Brook who goes by the name Jordan), Prime Minister David Cameron, fashion model Kate Moss, TV show hostesses Carol Vorderman and Christine Bleakley, parliamentarian Nick Clegg, pop idol Madonna, Idol host Simon Cowell and F1 driver Lewis Hamilton.

For our part, we’re not sure the Top Gear host (or for that matter the McLaren driver) would be at the very top of our list, but he certainly wouldn’t be at the bottom. This after a similar study placed Jezza as the top choice for a house-sitter, one of the top five Brits that men would like to have a date with, and, most contradictingly, the country’s top pick for a passenger on an on-road trip.

Continue reading Jeremy Clarkson voted worst off-road trip partner in UK survey

Jeremy Clarkson voted worst off-road trip partner in UK survey

Things are shaping up nicely for next week’s Chicago Auto Show, key among them this new Kia concept called Track’ster. Riffing on the Korean automaker’s hit Soul compact, the Track’ster keeps much of the small car’s boxy style, but turns the wick up considerably by scrubbing the rear doors, fitting a gaping front end, substituting massive showcar wheels and dramatically lowering the right height.

This isn’t the first time Kia has toyed with the idea of a Soul spinoff – at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, it presented the Soul’ster, a rough-and-tumble concept vehicle with a small pickup bed. Thanks to a strong response from the public, the Soul’ster was understood to be under consideration for production, but its hopes reportedly fizzled due to the economic meltdown.

Despite being on the market since 2008, the Soul continues to pick up momentum in chunks. Thanks in part to a refresh for 2012 that addresses hopes for more powerful drivetrains, the Soul has emerged as one of Kia’s best sellers – last month, it was only slightly outdistanced by the Optima midsize sedan, and it’s outpacing Sorrento, which was Kia’s best-seller last year.

Will Kia finally pull the trigger on a Soul variant? We should know more after the Track’ster makes the show circuit rounds.

Kia renders Track’ster concept for Chicago

It shouldn’t be surprising that, during the Super Bowl, the biggest single U.S. sporting event, automotive and beer companies spend the most on advertising. What might surprise you – before you give a thought to your Super Bowl diet – is the fifth biggest advertiser: tortilla chips. Ratings agency Nielsen broke down the advertising numbers over the past five Super Bowls and found that automakers cumulatively spent $172.2 million, versus beer companies investment of $126.9 million over the same period.

The increased cost of Big Game ads, even against a backdrop of decreasing first-quarter primetime advertising, hasn’t slowed anything down. The cost of Super Bowl ads rose nearly 40 percent from 2007 to 20011 (to $3,100,000 on average) while primetime television advertising in the first three months of the year dropped nearly 10 percent to $96,807.

But as Chevrolet will tell you, you just can’t beat a huge global audience: it’s “Wild Ride” ad last year had 119,628,000 viewers, making it the most watched ad of all time, according to Nielsen. Follow the jump for more details on Nielsen’s breakdown.

Continue reading No one advertises more during the Super Bowl than autos

No one advertises more during the Super Bowl than autos

Fiat has finally tipped its hand on the 500L. After months of watching painful renderings of the five-door hatchback float to the surface, the company has dished a few official details ahead of the vehicle’s debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show in March.

The 500L is 162.9 inches long, a smidge over 70 inches wide and 65.3 inches tall. Fiat says the four-door 500 combines an SUV driving experience with B-segment fuel efficiency and could easily serve as a first car for those who like the 500 but need a little more functionality. The Fiat 500L will begin production in Europe in the last quarter of this year. When it does, two gasoline engines and a turbo-diesel will find their way behind the headlights.

The Italian automaker isn’t saying much about the company’s plans for the 500L in the U.S., but we’ve previously heard American buyers will be able to sample the five-seater soon. Believe it or not, a seven-seat version is also planned for Europe. Follow the jump for the full press release and stay tuned for the unveil on March 6.

Continue reading Fiat 500L previewed ahead of Geneva Motor Show

Fiat 500L previewed ahead of Geneva Motor Show

Heather Peters sued Honda in small-claims court in Torrance, California over the gas mileage she was getting in her Honda Civic Hybrid, which was around 20 miles per gallon less than Honda had advertised. After two days of testimony, Commissioner Doug Carnahan sent his 26-page decision to both Peters and Honda, with a ruling in favor of Peters and $9,687 awarded in damages. That’s just short of the $10,000 maximum that can be won in small-claims court.

In the decision, Carnahan wrote “At a bare minimum Honda was aware … that by the time Peters bought her car there were problems with its living up to its advertised mileage.” He went further, indicating that he found Honda to have committed fraud, but not intentional fraud.

According to a report in the Associated Press, Honda’s EPA certification engineer said Honda “was required to post a sticker with the Environmental Protection Agency’s estimate of the highest mileage the car could get.” (In a previous report from Automotive.com he was characterized as saying that “automakers had no option but to adhere to the federal testing procedures.”) While that claim was shot down by earlier precedent where it was shown that automakers had cited lower fuel economy numbers than the EPA in their advertising and marketing, it will be interesting to see whether this line in Carnahan’s decision comes up again: “Honda’s own testing should be the guideline for how it advertises its vehicles’ mileages, not the generalized work … done by the EPA.”

And we can be certain it will since Honda has already stated its intention to appeal. And because the appeal will be held in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the way has been cleared for Honda to get its lawyers in the courtroom.

This gives other plaintiffs in the class action suit over Civic Hybrid mileage an option as to how to proceed. The last day to sign onto the settlement of that earlier suit is February 11, however, even if that case remains unfinished; a judge in San Diego won’t rule until March on whether that settlement, which would see plaintiffs get a $100 to $200 and $1,000 discount on a new Honda and trial attorneys get $8.5 million, is fair.

California woman wins Civic Hybrid lawsuit against Honda

If you, like us, were wondering how MG managed to snag Jason Plato away from Chevrolet in the British Touring Car Championship, well you had good reason to wonder. The racecar driver and Fifth Gear co-host had, after all, driven the factory-backed team to both titles in 2010 and landed himself third and his team second just this past season. But you can wonder no more, as the latest news from the BTCC paddock is that Chevrolet has withdrawn from the popular saloon racing series.

The news arrives as a bit of a surprise coming from the front-running team, particularly at a time when the grid has expanded enormously in the past couple of seasons. The reason? According to Autosport, Chevrolet wants to focus its energies on the World Touring Car Championship, where the same outfit RML that ran the BTCC team fields similar Cruze touring cars – driven by Yvan Muller, Rob Huff and Alain Menu – with considerable success: The RML Chevrolet team has claimed both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles for the past two seasons running, making it something like the Red Bull Racing of touring cars.

A longtime competitor in the BTCC, RML reportedly hopes it won’t be long before it is back on the grid in the British series, and given that most of the cars in the championship are fielded by privateer teams, we wouldn’t be surprised to see them return as early as next year. In the meantime, General Motors will be well represented in the series by Vauxhall.

Chevrolet pulls out of British Touring Car Championship

When you’re young, no one tells you marriage is really about finding some one to have, hold and torture ’til death do you part. From playful infractions like forgetting whether your significant other hates pickles, onions or both to more serious matters like who uses more paper towels, matrimony puts a relationship and those parties involved into the world’s most powerful pressure cooker. Even so, few of us get the chance to delight in the suffering of our significant others in quite the way Rolex Sports Car series driver João Barbosa does. The driver recently took his beautiful wife around Daytona International Speedway in a two-seater Daytona prototype. At 185 mph.

Mrs. Barbosa doesn’t appear to take to the experience all that well. Throughout the duration of six-minute video, it’s difficult to tell whether the high-pitched wail is her screams or the whine of the race car’s gearbox. Impressive. In fact, it’s the most fun we’ve had watching a racer’s wife get a peek into their husband’s office since racer Riccardo Patrese’s better half got a little animated in the passenger seat of a Honda Civic Type-R a few years ago.

Hit the jump to check out the video for yourself, but just remember; what goes around comes around. Especially in marriage.

Continue reading João Barbosa’s wife no longer wonders what he does for a living

João Barbosa’s wife no longer wonders what he does for a living

Don’t believe anyone who tells you “they don’t build ‘em like they used to.” Not even us. Because they do, in fact, build them even better, with the benefit of a century’s worth of automotive development. Styling, however, is a matter of taste, and beauty is in the proverbial eye of the beholder. So you could certainly make the case that cars were more beautiful back in the day.

That, you see, is where the Huet Brothers come in. Several years ago, the Dutch fraternity rolled out the HB Special, a retro roadster based on a Triumph TR6, designed for use in classic rallies organized by the Huets but also available for sale in limited quantities. Now Tino and Paul are back with a fixed-roof coupe design they’ve been working on.

Still in the development phase, the classically proportioned HB Coupe promises to offer the comforts and reliability of a modern car with the style and charm of a classic. Weighing in at little over 2,400 lbs, it packs a 3.0-liter inline-six of unspecified origin – presumably BMW – mated to either a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual clutch transmission. So equipped, the drivetrain is said to be good for 306 horsepower, an anticipated 4.3-second run to 62 mph and a 155 mph top end. A 2.0-liter, 204-horsepower diesel four (with six-speed manual or automatic) is also scheduled to be available for a 5.6-second sprint.

HB is also planning a more performance-oriented version as well as a racing model in the future, but the brothers are taking things one step at a time. In a novel approach to raising capital, HB is selling wristwatches and other gear to help get the project off the ground, and it has two timepieces currently on promotion in a group deal you can check out on their website. There’s no word yet on pricing, so watch this space for more. In the meantime, you can scope out the video and details after the jump and the design renderings in the image gallery above.

Continue reading Huet Brothers returning with handsome new retro coupe [w/video]

Huet Brothers returning with handsome new retro coupe [w/video]

With six cars joining the grid this year in the DTM series, BMW is sure to present wildly different liveries – largely determined by the sponsors brought on board – for each one. And this is the first.

Based on a sponsorship deal with BP, this particular M3 DTM is decked out in the bright green color of Castrol Edge motor oil and the light blue of German gas station network Aral. This car’s unveiling is the first time we’re seeing the new touring car in anything but flat black or BMW’s trademark striped white color scheme.

To pull of its entry into the competitive German racing series and take on its rivals at Mercedes-Benz and Audi, BMW is bringing in four of its proven factory drivers (including three-time World Touring Car Championship winner Andy Priaulx) and has poached longtime Mercedes AMG driver Bruno Spengler and Audi’s reigning DTM champ Martin Tomczyk.

All eyes will be focused on Hockenheim where the season kicks off in late April.

Continue reading BMW sharpens its Edge with first M3 DTM livery

BMW sharpens its Edge with first M3 DTM livery

Good news has been in abundant supply for the domestic automakers the last twelve months, and nowhere is that more evident than in the headline to this press release: “Chrysler Group Reports Full Year 2011 Net Income of $183 Million.” Now, $183 million isn’t exactly a king’s ransom in the auto industry (or elsewhere – Apple made $25.92 billion last year). But if Chrysler is making money again for the first time since emerging from bankruptcy, well, perhaps the U.S. auto industry has finally recovered from 2009.

The smallest of the Big Three automakers reported sales of 1,369,114 vehicles in 2011, up 26 percent from 2010. Chrysler led all automakers in percentage sales gains last year, and finished fourth in U.S. sales, behind General Motors, Ford and Toyota. To read the full press release, click past the jump.

Continue reading Chrysler posts $183M profit for 2011

Chrysler posts $183M profit for 2011

Volkswagen has the honor of being this year’s top producing North American automotive manufacturer by a wide margin with its Puebla, Mexico facility. The factory managed to produce 510,041 units last year, beating out second-place Nissan and its Aguascalientes, Mexico plant by a staggering 149,245 units, according to Ward’s Auto. Nissan jumped from third to second place after Toyota and its Georgetown plant dropped from the top five. Toyota and Honda both saw themselves ousted from the leader board after a year pockmarked by disruptions from earthquake and tsunami activity in Japan and flooding in Thailand.

The Japanese automakers’ vacancies made room for Hyundai and its facility in Montgomery, Alabama with 338,127 units to take fourth place. Ford, meanwhile, moved from fifth in 2010 to third in 2011 with 344,446 units from its Dearborn Truck plant. Nissan rounded out the top five last year with the company’s plant in Smyrna, Tennessee taking the automaker’s second spot on the list.

Ward’s Auto reports Volkswagen enjoyed a boost from the popularity of the Jetta. That model alone helped push the company’s Puebla facility to a 75,356 unit gain over last year’s figures. Head over to Ward’s to see the full report.

These are North America’s top producing auto plants

We know what you’re thinking: Another day, another BMW bodystyle. Except this one’s different.

The Bavarian automaker, much like its fellow German marques Audi and Mercedes-Benz, has exploded its product offerings with spinoffs of its established models. So the two-door 6 Series has bred a four-door GranCoupe version. The 5 Series, in addition to the sedan and wagon, has given us the oddly proportioned 5 Series Gran Turismo. But the upcoming 1 Series Gran Turismo is another kettle of fish in that it is not expected to share the small rear-drive platform with its recently revised namesake, but rather pack a new front-drive platform.

According to BMW Blog, the long-rumored 1 Series GT will finally make its debut next fall at the Paris Motor Show. When it does, the tall hatchback will be targeted directly at the Mercedes-Benz B-Class, slotting (in form at least) in between the existing 1 Series hatchback (pictured above) and X1 crossover. But if front-wheel drive isn’t how you picture your BMW channeling its power, an all-wheel xDrive version is also tipped to be in the cards, as well as a hybrid model.

BMW 1 Series GT tipped for Parisian debut

If you’re in the market for a new car and diesel’s among the options you’d consider, your local Audi showroom should be among your first destinations. The German automaker has made burning oil a cause célèbre right up there with Quattro all-wheel drive, but it’s not about to sit on its proverbial laurels and let the competition catch up. To that end, Audi has just announced its most powerful V6 TDI yet.

Called the BiTDI, the 3.0-liter, six-cylinder twin-turbo-diesel packs 313 metric horsepower (309hp on our scale) and a whopping 480 pound-feet of torque. It’s being rolled out initially in the UK on the A6 (sedan, Avant wagon and Allroad high-rider) and A7 Sportback, but we’re told to expect its arrival soon as an option on the Q7 crossover.

In the A6 sedan, the BiTDI is said to be good for a 5.1-second dash to 62 mph, with top speed (as per usual) limited to 155 mph while returning a 44.1 mph rating on the combined UK cycle. But if that’s not full enough a package for you, Audi has also fitted a sound actuator to give its throaty new diesel the exhaust note you’d expect from a hi-po gasoline engine. But you don’t have to take our word for it – just click through the jump to listen to a sound file of the new engine, as well as read the official press release.

Continue reading Audi pumps out new twin-turbo TDI 3.0L V6 [w/audio]

Audi pumps out new twin-turbo TDI 3.0L V6 [w/audio]