is recalling a small number of models for concerns over the vehicle’s braking system. According to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the affected cars could have a power vacuum brake boost pushrod retention nut that may not have been torqued to the proper specification. This could cause the pushrod to separate from the brake pedal, which may result in a loss of braking ability. Yikes.
The recall, however, only affects 624 CTS models, all of which were manufactured between October 21 and October 26 of this year. Cadillac dealers will inspect the pushrod retention nut, and if necessary, re-torque it to the proper spec. Of course, this service will come at no cost to owners. for the official NHTSA report.
Even though there is plenty of evidence that the is a safe car (one just protected its occupants in a recent ), there are now new and seemingly legitimate worries about the safety of the 16-kWh battery pack after a crash. Bloomberg reports that a Volt that was parked at a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration test center recently caught fire, burning nearby vehicles. The Volt had been put through a side-impact crash test three weeks prior and an official told Bloomberg that investigators determined the battery was indeed the source of the fire. Apparently, NHTSA reps are talking with “all automakers” with lithium-ion vehicle for sale (or coming soon) about the safety of their battery packs.
On the one hand, this is bad news for people who already have worries about the safety of plug-in vehicle. On the other hand, a crashed car, whether powered by gasoline or lithium, isn’t exactly a safe item. Given that this fire follows (whose cause has not yet been determined), we expect a spike of “plug-in cars are bad” news soon. Whether this is warranted or not is another question. The NHTSA’s issued a statement to Bloomberg that said:
Based on the available data, NHTSA does not believe the Volt or other electric vehicles are at a greater risk of fire than gasoline-powered vehicles. In fact, all vehicles – both electric and gasoline-powered – have some risk of fire in the event of a serious crash.
Indeed. We’ll have more on this as details are released.
Those of us bumping around on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder may still be waiting for wealth to trickle down from the Reagan years, but at least technology is becoming more accessible. has just announced that the lowly will be the first vehicle in its humble class to be available with the company’s Around View monitor – a system that is typically found on high-end metal like the and the . Using an array of small cameras positioned around the exterior of the vehicle, Around View provides the driver with composite video of the the vehicle’s surroundings.
In our experience, the system is a huge help in tight parking areas as well as towing situations. Around View will be available on the 2012 Nissan Rogue SL, and the company is pitching the camera array as an alternative to self-park mechanisms on more expensive crossovers. We’re not sure we’d go that far, but we are impressed that the tech has arrived on a more accessible model. for the full press release as well as a video demonstration of the system in action.
The image above is a perfect example of potential energy. What we have is famed tuner John Hennessey’s own personal daily driver, a modified called “Hammer Wagon,” about to run down the quarter mile. Its twin-turbo V8 is producing upwards of 1,000 horsepower, but with the Christmas tree still glowing red, it’s got nowhere to send that energy.
to see the video’s subsequent frames in which the Hammer Wagon hooks up its ridiculously meaty rear tires and tears down the tarmac to the tune of 10.69 seconds at 134 miles per hour.
Hennessey is known for pushing his daily driver to its limits. Last month he while participating in the annual Texas Mile.
UPDATE: Hennessey wrote us to offer a point of clarification. His Hammer Wagon is not, as we reported, twin turbocharged, but instead features the company’s V700 upgrade package plus a 75-hp dry nitrous shot. Together they’re good for about 782 horsepower at the engine.
Think Your Job Is Stressful? Try Redesigning The 911
The world’s most iconic sports car, the , is redefined about every seven years. This is no easy feat, as each new model must not only conform to ever tightening emissions, fuel economy and safety regulations, but must be faster and more competitive in motorsports. The 911 remains one of the most successful racing cars ever built, and for many, it’s not just a sports car from – it is Porsche.
Now, an all-new seventh-generation Porsche 911 Carrera has been unveiled. While the rear-engine replacement lacks serious controversy (the move from an air-cooled flat-six to water-cooled powerplant more than a decade ago was dreadfully traumatic), the new Type 991 presents altered proportions to improve passenger comfort, handling and stability. But don’t think for a moment that the 2012 model has gone soft. It is much more dynamic and capable than its predecessor. To substantiate the fact, Porsche divulges that its all-new Carrera S is capable of lapping the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife circuit in just 7:40 minutes. Not only is that 14 seconds faster than last year’s 997, but it matches the time of the race-ready Type 997 GT3. And that’s just the start.
has officially announced that the droptop counterpart to its new will bow at the next week. We’ve , and aside from some minor tweaks to the suspension to keep the car from getting all wobbly after the roof was cut off, not much else is expected to change during the coupe-to-cabrio transformation.
The automaker has not released any details about the XKR-S Convertible at this time, stating only that it and the coupe represent the fastest and most powerful Jaguar automobiles ever created. We were pretty smitten with the hardtop variant when we drove it recently, so we’re eager to see how the whole XKR-S experience changes with the wind in your hair.
Stay tuned for the full details live from Los Angeles next week.
has just confirmed that a two-door coupe version of the is coming, but pegging its debut at next week’s , the Korean automaker will be waiting until next February at the to do the reveal.
We’ve seen the car, and the Elantra Coupe looks much like your regular four-door Elantra but with two less ports of entry and a much more sporting flair. Hyundai hopes to differentiate the coupe from the sedan by giving it a different set of gear ratios for a more sporting driving experience. The Elantra Coupe will also get its own unique SE trim level, which as we know based on Hyundai’s traditional trim designations, is the sporty trim. The company expects the coupe to make up 20 percent of the Elantra’s volume, and its obvious target is the Coupe, as well as the that will share the same basic underpinnings.
In other Elantra news, Hyundai has also confirmed that a new five-door Elantra, heretofore called the , will arrive in 2013. We’ve already seen this model; it’s called the where it’s already debuted. The new five-door hatchback will not, however, retain the Elantra Touring name. Hyundai is keeping the new name close to its chest, but did tell us that the car will be called “Elantra something.”
is giving Korean small-car buyers something to smile about with the new Kia Ray subcompact. The vehicle looks to have taken a cue or two from its bigger brothers with stylized headlights and a very corporate mesh grille. We see plenty of in the design, but there’s more to the boxy machine than a quick glance would suggest.
Look closely and you’ll note that the driver’s side wears two traditionally hinged doors while the passenger side boasts a sliding rear door akin to what we typically expect to see on a minivan. Why abandon symmetry? Kia says that the company wanted to give buyers more flexibility when it came to ingress and egress in tight parking spaces.
The design is also expected to give the pint-sized Ray more versatility than buyers are accustomed to from the segment. Right now, Kia says that the Ray is only slated to show up on Korean dealer lots, which means we won’t be seeing the vehicle on our shores anytime soon. No engine specifications have been released at this time, either, but we can imagine that the Ray won’t boast eye-popping performance.
Now that has launched the as the official replacement of the , it’s time for the Italian automaker to wrap up development of the successor to the . While we previously spotted this car’s replacement , what you see here are the first photos that actually give a glimpse of the new car’s shape, camouflaged as it may be.
The 599 successor – rumored to be dubbed F620 – will likely be powered by Ferrari’s 6.3-liter V12, churning out over 700 horsepower. Unlike the all-wheel-drive FF, the 599 replacement will continue to use rear-wheel drive, sending its power to the back wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission with an F1-style electronic differential.
Our sources suggest that the F620 will be much lighter than the outgoing 599, due in part to a larger usage of aluminum in the body construction. As for design, it’s safe to assume that the coupe will take a large influence from the 458 Italia, with some cues from the FF thrown in for good measure. Then again, it’s a Ferrari, so we doubt the finished product will be anything but stunning.
Expect to see more of the F620 as it continues its development testing over the next few months. If things move along at a steady pace, we could see the production car debut as early as the in March.
The problem with most voice-recognition systems in modern cars is the stilted, unnatural commands required to execute even the simplest functions. is supposedly working on bringing more natural voice commands to market with , but Pioneer and its new Zypr voice-to-cloud platform aims to take it a step further.
Utilizing a tethered smartphone or embedded modem, the new system listens and acts on commands based on conversational direction. Say, “Play some music” and Zypr responses with “Which artist?” or “Which source?” Tell the system “I’m in the mood for Thai” and it will list off the nearest restaurants, provide Yelp ratings and allow you to get directions and email the address to your friends. Facebook and Google integration is also part of the package, and since it’s all handled in the cloud, the expansion of sources and options is infinite. And Zypr won’t just be limited to cars.
Pioneer wants the technology to find its way into every consumer electronics device on the market (for obvious licensing reasons), and with Apple’s Siri functionality on the iPhone 4S putting a new emphasis on natural speech recognition, consumers will be demanding similar tech in almost everything they own within the next few years.
launched its mind-boggling in 2008, but aside from the addition of a and a battery-laden hybrid (the latter of which has ), not much has been done to the high-riding, not-so-practical crossover. Even now, with the X6’s refresh coming into clearer view, it doesn’t appear that BMW will be making drastic changes to its most expensive CUV.
From what we can see in these spy shots, the usual nip/tuck treatment is being given to both the front and rear fascias, with revised lower air intakes making up the majority of the changes in front. The foglamps have been repositioned, the shape of the headlamp surrounds appears to be tweaked slightly, and that’s about it. Around back, expect a slightly different taillamp treatment, likely with LED bulbs, but not much else.
It’s possible that some enhancements have been made to the six- and eight-cylinder powertrains, but mum’s the word on exactly what’s happening underhood. Regardless, expect to see the refreshed X6 make its official debut in the coming months.
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles has rejected a proposal by the Sons of Confederate Veterans for a license plate bearing the Confederate battle flag, according to The New York Times. Members of the governing board for the Texas DMV unanimously voted against the design after nearly two-hours of testimony from both sides of the issue. The Sons of Confederate Veterans had hoped to used funds from sales of the plates for memorial and history projects, but opponents said that the Confederate battle flag is a symbol of Texas’ racist past. Shortly after rejecting the plate, the DMV governing body voted for a plate for the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans, meanwhile, say that the group will likely sue to have the plates issued. The group has won similar lawsuits in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.
The first diesel has arrived in the United States. But it’s not destined for a showroom, and it’s not headed to a waiting customer. No, Jaguar has slightly more ambitious plans for this particular oil-burning sedan.
The 2.2-liter diesel four will propel this XF on a cross-country journey that will take it from New York to Los Angeles – a trip across eleven states covering 2,800 miles – over the course of seven days. The goal is to see how far the car can travel on a single tank of fuel, and follows a similar exercise undertaken in Europe that took a different XF diesel across 816 miles from Castle Bromwich in the UK to Munich, Germany, on a single tank, returning an average of 57 miles per gallon on the EU cycle.
Observers can track this trip’s progress on the company’s and , and we’ll be sure to report on the venture’s results once it’s reached the Pacific coast. Details in the press release .
We hate to be the ones to tell you this, but there’s a scant chance most of us will ever exceed 200 miles per hour here on planet Earth. Sure, you can hop in a commercial jet liner and easily best that figure in the comfort of coach, but its not quite the same as skimming along mere inches from the ground in an hurling ball of aluminum, glass and fury. Maybe that’s what makes the Speed Demon’s latest run on the salt so impressive. As you may recall, the team behind this particular Streamliner recently pulled off a .
They recently headed back out to try their hand at another pass, and the result was a standing mile of 458.189 mph with an exit speed of 462.345 mph. This time, the crew strapped enough ReplayXD cameras to the Streamliner to catch every aspect of the high-speed run, and the finished video gives us a pretty good idea of what it’s like to clip along at ludicrous speed. to check it out for yourself.
We were intrigued when we learned that at next week’s . Why would The House That Mario Built be hanging around an auto show? What sort of tie-in could Nintendo with have four wheels?
It was fun to speculate, but a press release issued today might clear things up. Nintendo of America President COO Reggie Fils-Aime and founder of West Coast Customs, Ryan Friedlinghaus, will be appearing on stage together during the second press day of the LA Auto Show to unveil an “exclusive collaboration” between their two companies.
The easy guess is that they’re going to unveil a Nintendo-themed custom car of some sort. More specifically, Mario Kart 7 for the Nintendo 3DS is launching on December 4th, so perhaps West Coast Customs will be pimping the Italian plumber’s ride.
If that’s it, color us disappointed. We’d be surprised if Nintendo is going to all this trouble just to unveil a crazy custom car with WCC. We’re still holding out hope that the announcement is more substantial, perhaps involving a consumer product of some sort.
We’ll let you know what we find when Nintendo takes the stage next Thursday.
Every year luxury retailer Neiman Marcus picks one car and commissions a lot of them for sale in its holiday catalog. Past examples have varied wildly – from a and a to a and a – the one common trait being that they’d all be welcome items to find under the Christmas tree. And they always sell out as fast as they can accelerate.
This year’s chosen car was no exception to that trend, as all ten examples of the sold in less than an hour. Fifty minutes, in fact, was all it took, despite a a $395,000 sticker price. For the extra $95k premium over list, the ten buyers each got an individually-numbered in Grigio Caldo and a trip to – and they’ll get them a good couple of years earlier than it would take to wait on the list like everybody else.
We expect the Jaguar X-Type to be making an appearance in an episode of AMC’s Walking Dead, since the sedan that simply will not, well, die. Or rather, its successor won’t die. Autocar has a detailed report on the work being done to engineer a new entry-level , and it is hypothesized that we’ll see it in 2015.
Summer of 2010 was full of news about an that would be wrapped around a . That, however, appears to run contrary to Autocar’s assessment that “The car’s closest conceptual rivals in the showroom are expected to be the upcoming Audi A3 and Mercedes-Benz CLC small saloons.” What’s more, the mag asserts it will be motivated by not just 1.8- and 2.0-liter four cylinders, but also a 1.5-liter three-cylinder.
That latter engine would probably be a go-to in markets like India and China where Jaguar wants to make an even bigger mark, and not slated for U.S. sale. But combined with the revelation that the new sedan will be front-wheel drive, it’s clear that even in the U.S. we can forget about any 3 Series comparos and instead look at this as a frugal baby Jag for young social climbers and CAFE mongers.
Oh, and it won’t be cheap: £22,000 was given as an estimate. As a base price, that puts it about halfway between the and . Whatever’s coming, it should be interesting.
is on a role right now, and management in Wolfsburg hopes that winning streak results in the company becoming the largest automaker by volume by 2018 or sooner. Those ambitious sales goals stretch to VW’s many brands as well, including .
The Detroit Bureau reports that Porsche is looking to double sales by 2015, with new products and emerging markets leading the charge. The numbers involved are taking last year’s 97,000 vehicles sold worldwide and hitting a nice, round 200,000 by mid-decade. The new products that will help spur sales are the recently released , the forthcoming and perhaps the entry-level Porsche that we’ve been hearing about for years.
Those models would likely help improve sales here in the U.S., which is still the number one market for Porsche. But the performance and luxury car maker is also hoping to make inroads in the world’s three biggest emerging markets: China, Russia and India. Those markets are clamoring for luxury autos right now, and Porsche is all too happy to help fill the void.
Porsche board member Wolfgang Hatz added at a preview of the new 911 that profitability will remain a major focus. Porsche has long boasted a ridiculously good 15 percent Return on Sales number, and Hatz and company want to keep that advantage as sales improve.
Maybe racing would stand on its own merits in an ideal utopia, but in the real world it has to make a business case for itself. So while the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix may have been a success in the purest sense of the term – bringing IndyCar, ALMS and several other series to the city’s harbor front – financial woes could relegate it to history even faster than it came about… or the race cars that made it the spectacle it was.
The trouble, it seems, is between Baltimore Racing Development, which organized the event this past Labor Day, and the city in which it was held. Apparently BRD failed to pay all that was required by the municipality, and now city officials are demanding it pay up or get out of town.
According to reports, organizers owe city coffers some $1.5 million for services rendered, taxes and other expenses. Combined with the estimated $1.8 million it owes third parties, the Baltimore Grand Prix is looking at a huge debt that could take years to pay off, but if it doesn’t get the chance to hold the remaining four races for which it’s contracted, that debt could prove insurmountable.
There are few things in this realm or the next that can’t be cured with the judicious application of forced induction. Just ask the engineers at the Hyundai Technical Center. They were able to take the and wring more than 450 horsepower from the vehicle’s 3.8-liter V6 engine. The result is the Genesis Hurricane SC we saw at this year’s SEMA show, and has turned out a new video of the high-performance coupe to show off every last detail.
As you may recall, the Hurricane SC is more than a blower. The vehicle features a liquid-to-air intercooler, Bilstein monotube shocks coupled to adjustable ride control springs and Brembo six-piston calipers squeezing cross-drilled rotors. The vehicle also received a full aesthetic makeover to go with its impressive innards: a new front bumper, grille, hood and side skirts.
If you like what you see, you’re in luck. Hyundai says that Rhys Millen is planning to produce a range of aero pieces for the Genesis Coupe similar to what’s on the Hurricane SC. to check out the video.
