is not an outfit that would miss out on the enormous opportunity presented by the Chinese market. Having won the grand prix there three times out of the first four it was held, the Prancing Horse marque launched a there in 2009, followed by an even more exclusive .
For 2012, Ferrari a special-edition to mark the year of the dragon, and to launch it, the local dealership in Nanjing rented out a section of the Great Wall. It’s what they did with it, however, that has local authorities seeing red in more ways than one.
Apparently at some point during or after the demonstration, an employee of the dealership got behind the wheel of the limited-edition V8 supercar and pulled some smokey donuts. The problem is that the stunt left tire marks burnt into the ancient surface, leaving authorities understandably upset. What repercussions will ensue remains to be seen, but we certainly wouldn’t want to be ticking off China’s notoriously strict government.
When asked SRT CEO Ralph Gilles about the Roadster, Gilles naturally demurred. The Internet, however, always provides an answer to every question, and German magazine Auto Bild has rendered its take on the droptop snake.
Unlike previously, when the coupe and roadster were rather dissimilar, this time the brotherhood will be more traditional… at least according to this artist’s take.
We won’t speculate on how close the rendering might be, but we will say we like it. With the coupe having already enjoyed its 600-horsepower burst onto the scene, it shouldn’t be long before the roadster begins leaking its way out.
Autoblog reader Ed sent us from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, showing that has apparently trademarked the name for use on automobiles. It’s no secret that the Riviera name resonates well with anyone familiar with Buick’s history, and since the production coupe’s death in 1999, the name Riviera has only been resurrected once for the 2007 concept car you see here.
So, why is GM registering the Riviera name again? Your guess is as good as ours. As , it could be nothing – automakers will, from time to time, trademark a host of words or alphanumeric sequences (, for example, has trademarked everything from MKA to MKZ for potential use). But then again, this isn’t the (or , or ) time that we’ve heard rumors about potentially adding a coupe to its lineup, and the Riviera name would certainly be appropriate.
has already sold over 84,000 minivans this year, but an unfortunate few were built with defective liftgate sensors. The 471 vehicles with the bad parts include both and models, all of them 2012s built in March, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recall report.
The power liftgates are supposed to stop during automatic closing if they detect resistance, but NHTSA says the recalled vehicles could malfunction, and “may close on an appendage.” Owners should keep their arms and legs safely inside the vehicle and look for notification from Chrysler this month. Dealers will be fixing affected vehicles free of charge.
When Lingenfelter Performance Engineering announced it had in its tuned , the man guiding the wheel was Hot Rod editor-in-chief Dave Freiburger. We of the run in the 702-horsepower – that’s at the wheels – coupe, but in the latest episode of Hot Rod Unlimited, Freiburger offers the long-form backstory of what it took to get to 202.6 mph exactly.
Continental Tire’s proving grounds in Uvalde, Texas aren’t Italy’s Nardo Ring (where the did 202 mph), and there was much more involved than keeping steady on the straights and hanging on the banks. for the video.
A judge has reversed a lower court ruling against over the automaker’s fuel economy claims. Heather Peters successfully in small-claims court in February, claiming her 2006 Civic Hybrid didn’t return the advertised 50 miles per gallon Environmental Protection Agency rating. Peters was awarded $9,867 in damages in the lawsuit, but now Judge Dudley W. Gray II of the state Superior Court in Torrence, California, has reversed the lower court’s ruling.
Honda has offered owners a settlement in a larger class-action suit, paying out either $100 or $200 depending on the vehicle and as much as $1,500 toward the purchase of a new Honda. According to The Detroit News, around 1,700 Honda owners have declined to participate in the class-action suit.
Last time we saw the non-AMG skin of the it was bathed in red paint and caked in Arctic snow and grime. Warmer times have brought new shots of a black car – which we’ll christen The Scarab – on standard wheels wearing nothing but a shine and a wisp of camo. Its shape has found a way to divide opinion, as the CLS-Class has always done, and we’ll admit that yes, perchance there’s something faintly Romulan about it, but we’re totally sold on the looks.
Right now, there’s nothing left to the imagination but the aft-most sliver of window – that final angle of chrome is an application. We expect all blanks to be filled in come the Paris Motor Show in September, which should see the reveal of the CLS550 and versions of the sleekest wagon this side of Rigel 5. The high-res gallery is above, and you should check it out.
A keen-eyed reader managed to snag a few photos of what looks to be the upcoming ahead of the vehicle’s debut at the . Like most manufacturers, is keen to offer buyers the small crossovers they demand. With a taller ride height, more ground clearance and a more aggressive front fascia than the , the XC40 should do just that.
Drivetrain details are still a bit murky at the moment, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see everything from a new diesel to turbocharged gasoline five-cylinder under the hood. The latter of those two should be good for around 254 horsepower.
If the V40 is any indication, the crossover will also boast start-stop technology and brake-energy regeneration in either manual or automatic transmission configurations. Expect to see both front and all-wheel drive variants as well.
The machine above was spotted in Flagstaff, Arizona while out for a little hot-weather testing, though we’re told the XC40 isn’t destined for the U.S. market. That seems a bit odd to us. The small crossover seems to be a perfect fit for Americans who can’t get enough stylish crossovers.
Bid farewell to the equipped with a manual transmission. The Korean manufacturer has discontinued the third-pedal in its midsize sedan for 2013, though buyers can look forward to more standard equipment on next year’s model. With such a small take rate, saw no reason to continue offering the six-speed manual in the base GLS model. That means the six-speed automatic transmission is now standard across the line, though the four-door will see an uptick in price as a result. The 2013 Sonata now starts at $21,670, including a $775 destination fee.
Consumers can expect to find the same direct-injection 2.4-liter four-cylinder under the hood as well as an optional turbocharged direct-injection 2.0-liter four. Heated seats are now standard in every trim with the exception of the entry GLS model. The Limited trim bows at $26,620 with the 2.4-liter, which marks a $600 price drop compared to 2012. The impressive, standard panoramic sunroof is now optional, however. If you want the extra glass, you’ll now have to step up to a $2,900 Limited Premium Package. for the full press blast.
Jeremy Clarkson did an 11-minute interview with a South African radio station that has a name to match its geographic location. Clarkson discussed what it took to make the Top Gear segment that had them circuit on a race weekend, the coming Ron Howard movie Rush about the 1976 F1 battle between Niki Lauda and James Hunt and Top Gear Festival 2012 “with an array of cars that has never been seen anywhere.”
But what has caught everyone’s attention – everyone except for the radio interviewer, that is – was Clarkson saying that the festival would be “about the only time” he, Hammond and May would work together in 2012 because “there’s no Top Gear this year.” There’s below, the bombshell at about 8:10. Since it’s all a bit confusing, Mr. Clarkson himself has set the record straight via , confirming that Top Gear will return in January of 2013, though there will be a Christmas special some time before that.
The reason petrolheads will be missing out on their BBC fix? Simon Cowell, apparently. “Sunday nights will be full of fat people singing,” said Clarkson. “Top Gear is a medium size van. Cowell is a juggernaut. When he has finished his singing competition, our new series will start.”
Baby Buick Makes Quiet Case As An Almost-Luxury Car
It’s no secret that is one of the most prominent automakers in , but the vehicle that’s leading the charge in the People’s Republic may come as a surprise. The top-selling car in the world’s largest auto market last year was the Buick Excelle, a C-segment sedan that just so happens also to be a version of the that’s now on sale here in the United States.
The Verano has only been on sale here for a few months, but as you might expect, U.S. buyers aren’t quite as excited about the latest Buick offering as our Chinese counterparts, at least not in the early going. March sales came in at a modest 2,497 units (the Excelle family scored 23,179 April sales in China), making the Verano the least-purchased Buick for that month, while April’s 2,989 units were just enough to beat the in Buick’s sales portfolio. Do Chinese buyers know something that we don’t, or does the littlest Buick just need time to win us over?
Our spy photographers have given us our first clear glimpse at the upcoming . While the test machine we see here wears some camouflage, there’s little hiding the small CUV’s roof line.
Based on the , the Macan will boast plenty of suspension tweaks by the minds at Porsche to put the crossover more in line with the sports car maker’s stable. Likewise, while the Macan will borrow a host of gasoline and diesel powerplants from the parts bin, each one will be tuned for more horsepower than we’ve seen so far.
There’s also some indication that Porsche may lift the hybrid system from the Q5 into the Macan’s bones, as well. That means buyers would see a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder coupled to a 44-horsepower electric motor.
Porsche may also look to offer a more athletic three-door version of the Macan later down the line to more effectively compete with the likes of the .
Turns out the federal government’s attempts to create enforceable oversight of cellphone use in vehicles has hit a Swiftian snag: it seems there isn’t a government agency specifically empowered with the authority to do so. The legislative boundaries of the Federal Communications Commission end at the phone itself, those of the end at the vehicle itself. Neither is equipped to address how people combine the two while driving.
So, according to a report in Automotive News, what NHTSA honcho David Strickland wants is to have Congress bestow the authority on some agency to make such laws. For now, the recommendations NHTSA drafts are only just that – recommendations. Automakers aren’t bound by them.
Not that it should or will stop Strickland’s minions, but 37 states and our nation’s capital already have laws – with teeth – addressing the use of phones while driving. If our time on the roads is any indication, those laws are almost universally ignored by police, and we can’t see how a federal fiat would change that, but such laws are on the books. Strickland has testified in front of Congress on the matter, however, no one expects movement on it anytime soon.
If you put us in charge of development, we’d have demanded more power, less weight and improved fuel efficiency. We now know that the new 265-horsepower, 2.7-liter boxer six is capable of producing 10 more ponies than the outgoing model, and overall tonnage was slashed by 55 pounds, so the base model is already two-thirds of the way toward our vision.
Car and Driver reports that the most affordable has completed the wish-list trifecta, announcing a significant fuel economy bump. The base 2013 Boxster will boast an EPA-estimated 22 miles per gallon in the city (up two mpg) and 32 mpg on the highway (up three mpg), but only when equipped with the PDK transmission. The manual-equipped Boxster will achieve still-impressive 20/30 numbers, up one mpg and three mpg, respectively.
Noticeably absent is any mention of Boxster S fuel economy. We’re suspecting the 315-horsepower, 3.4-liter flat-six will also deliver significant fuel economy improvements, but perhaps a number shy of the 30-mpg mark.
Watch out, , there’s a new hypermiling crew in town.
John and Helen Taylor – calls them “mileage experts” and “the world’s most fuel-efficient couple” – recently drove a stock 2012 Passat TDI SE all the way from Houston, Texas to Sterling, Virginia without refueling. That’s 1,626.1 miles from just 19.3 gallons. Bad with numbers? VW has done the math for you: it’s 84.1 miles per gallon (we came up with 84.2, but who’s counting?).
The three-day trip happened earlier this month, and it turns out that the Taylors are not new to the high mileage game. They have the “48 Contiguous U.S. States Fuel Economy Guinness World Record.” Still, the new Passat TDI record is impressive and it mimics some of the ways that Gerdes runs his hypermiling trips. As you can see in the gallery, the gas tank was filled to the brim with gas (see ) and there was a LOT of documentation going on during the trip. These sorts of things are important, since the Taylors often run workshops on driving efficiently and have, over the years, “collected more than 90 world fuel economy and vehicle-related records from drives around the globe.” They run the website .
If you read the owner’s manual of your car you’d begin to realize how much of your own vehicle you didn’t know about. If it’s a car made within the past few years, then the owner’s manual covering the dirty bits will be joined by an even thicker manual that covers just the infotainment system. , however, has a better way for buyers to learn the CUE-powered mysteries of the $44,995 XTS: give owners an iPad with the car, loaded with tutorials on how to get the most out of the system.
Yes, when the was introduced it installed with a multimedia version of its owner’s manual. Based on Wired’s discussion with Cadillac, however, this is much wider implementation, with each Cadillac dealer required to have two “certified technology experts” on duty, plus a CUE call center for owners, an online media team looks for CUE questions to answer, and a mobile CUE specialist who makes house calls. The point seems to be that this isn’t about getting an iPad with your car, it’s about understanding ever tech thing your car can do. If you still don’t know how to access the full power of your XTS, it will only be because you don’t want to.
In 2011, commenced its People’s Car Project in China to create crowdsourced concepts of the VW of the future. More than 33 million people visited the site, and three concepts were created from the inputs: the Music Car, the Hover Car and the Smart Key.
The Music Car is a wrapped in LEDs that change colors to match the driver’s choice of music. The Hover Car is a zero-emissions two-seater that, no surprise, hovers over electromagnetic road networks. The Smart Key is Big Brother for your car, in your pocket: the high-def touchscreen on the nine-millimeter key can track the status of your car and keep an eye on it via “satellite transmission.”
The project is continuing, so you can still post your thoughts to VW’s future. In the meantime there’s a video and a couple of press releases for more on the story.
’s People’s Car Project in China has produced three concepts [w/video]
If you’ve never laid eyes on a Vespa ACMA, allow us to introduce you. Manufactured for use in World War II, the scooter came equipped with a small cannon designed to launch rocket-propelled grenades.
Soldiers found an advantageous firing position, deployed stabilizers, plucked a grenade from a stylish wicker basket and fired upon the enemy, which, we should point out, was probably rolling happily along in a tank. Vespa ACMA, thy name is David. For obvious reasons, ACMA examples are plenty scarce. You can still find them, though, and if you want one to call your very own, we have good news for you.
The ACMA-obsessed crew over at Hemmings found an original example stored at a Messina military camp for the past 30 years. While the cannon has been deactivated, the rest of the Acma is in original and complete condition right down to the khaki green paint. If you like what you see, you’d better get your check book ready. This particular version is up for auction with an estimated final bid of $16,000 to $20,000. Head over to the for more information.
We knew the three-door Volkswagen Up! was going to shape-shift into other variants, one of them being a that’s due later this year. According to word in German newspaper Handelsblatt, the well-received Cross-Up!, which provided clues to the styling of the five-door Up! could actually be the follow-up.
Crossovers remain popular and their sales are on the rise in Europe, so it’s no surprise that manufacturers are finding ways to create market-specific versions. According to the preliminary numbers, the The Cross Up! would slot in at $6,000 less than the larger . And like every other tiny Euro crossover – – we shouldn’t ever expect to see it here.
The crew at MotoMan has rolled out the second episode of its Targa Newfoundland coverage. This time around, Brandon Fitch and I spend plenty of time talking with the guys about the challenges of Day One, how the supercharged handles some of the more technical stages and joy of hauling ass through a subdivision. Meanwhile, team MotoMan gets a few valuable lessons on competition in targa from veterans of the race like Rob Pacione and learns a little about Newfoundland hospitality at the same time. As the week continues, competitors are forced to overcome a variety of challenges, from an entire engine swap in a Lotus to a water-logged 911.
Part Two gives us all a better idea of what it’s like to compete in Grand Touring, where the goal is to hit a specific time and speed, rather than simply beat a time like in Targa class. Both competitions are challenging in their own right, but we have to sympathize with MotoMan’s frustration at being forced to limp a along at 40 miles per hour with an open road ahead of you. to check it out for yourself.
