Word from Auto Express is that has given Vauxhall the go-ahead on a new coupe project based on the Epsilon II platform. That may mean that a similar model is headed to the land of the free under the Tri-Shield badge. After all, wherever Vauxhall goes these days, is sure to follow. In the old country, the upcoming coupe is rumored to pack a 2.8-liter turbo V6 under its pretty little bonnet, though there’s no telling what a Buick version would rely on for power. Auto Express reports that Vauxhall plans to offer varying levels of boost depending on trim.
All topped out, the two-door would offer a little over 320 horses at all four wheels, and engineers are said to be working on improving the vehicle’s handling dynamics by shortening the chassis. Design wise, the newcomer will borrow heavily from the GTC concept, though we would expect to see the corporate waterfall grille on any American iteration. Across the pond, the coupe will reportedly carry the Calibra moniker. Here in the States, we’d be satisfied with a big GNX badge on the rear deck should this sucker come to life.
BMW M1 art car by Frank Stella – Click above for high-res image gallery
In a perfect world, maybe the world’s top museums would have infinite space and infinite resources to acquire and display every significant piece of artistic creation they could get their hands on. But, as we are all at times painfully aware, this is an imperfect world. Which is why the Guggenheim Museum is forced to sell this unique M1 art car, in order to raise funds and make way for other works of art. And their loss could be your gain.
The original Bavarian supercar was painted by the celebrated artist Frank Stella in 1979. But while BMW has commissioned many art cars (including another ) since the program kicked off in 1975, this is the only one that was officially sanctioned by the factory for a private client, whereas all the others remained in the German automaker’s private collection. This, then, represents an extremely rare opportunity to acquire an original BMW art car.
The vehicle has been part of the museum’s collection since 1999, and will be auctioned by Bonhams this coming August at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, California, where it’s expected to fetch around half a million dollars, an estimate we can see it blowing right past. Us? We’re just hoping that BMW itself decides to bid on the car so that this Stella M1 can rejoin its celebrated relatives in the German automaker’s collection.
If you’re in New York and want to catch a glimpse at this one-of-a-kind rolling work of art, it’s currently on display outside Bonhams’ offices in the atrium of the IBM Building at 56th and Madison.
Follow the jump for the official press release and scope out the images in the gallery below.
The national average price of gasoline has hit exactly $4 a gallon, approximately a dime below its all-time high. According to a Lundberg Survey of fueling stations released on Sunday, pump prices rose 12 cents over the past two weeks. On July 7, 2008, the national average price of gas soared to $4.114 a gallon, a record-setting high, according to data from the U.S. Department of Energy.
If you’re hunting for bargain gas, and willing to drive to get it, then Tucson, AZ offers you the lowest average price among cities surveyed at just $3.62 a gallon. Meanwhile, drivers in Chicago suffered the most, having to dish out an average of $4.50 for a single gallon of the go-juice.
The U.S. Department of Energy will release its weekly survey of diesel and gasoline prices on Monday afternoon. Who’s willing to bet that prices will have come down by then?
Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Pikes Peak SE – Click above to enlarge
Ducati is planning to unveil a new special edition version of the company’s Multistrada at this year’s Quail Motorcycle Gathering. Officially branded the Multistrada 1200 Pikes Peak Special Edition, the bike is designed to pay homage to Greg Tracy’s win astride a Ducati mount at the 2010 hill climb and comes slathered in a host of drool-worthy goodies. Those include a Ducati Corse paint scheme and black-anodized passenger foot pegs with a matching engine cover. The Italian bike maker also threw in a set of unique wheels with red pin striping to boot.
The Multistrada 1200 Pikes Peak SE ships with a Termignoni silencer and a low windscreen in addition to the standard stock pieces. The parts are EU approved and hewn from carbon fiber to keep weight as low as possible. In addition, a CF front mud guard is part of the package as is a special seat with red stitching. Otherwise, the special-edition bike is mechanically stock.
The Quail Motorcycle Gathering kicks off on May 14. for the full press releases.
What’s a good way for a CEO to show that he supports his company? Buying stock is one way to do it, and CEO Dan Akerson has done just that.
Purchased as a personal investment, Akerson has reportedly spent nearly $1 million buying up 30,000 GM shares. Akerson paid $31.33 per share, for a total purchase of $939,000. According to The Detroit News, this move brings his total investment of General Motors stock up to an even 50,000.
Spirit of Ecstasy #1 (below right) and #2 (above) by Rankin – Click for high-resolution image gallery
Few marques are as encapsulated in their hood ornaments as is . (Which could be largely because Rolls-Royce is one of the last automakers still using hood ornaments.) Its iconic Spirit of Ecstasy, as we’ve been covering, this year. And as much as the Flying Lady has inspired over the course of the last 100 years, it’s being even more thoroughly re-interpreted as part of its milestone anniversary.
Recent takes on the theme have seen a New York dealership the ornament out of $200,000 worth of diamonds, a sculptor artistic reproductions for home and office, even a for the Phantom electric prototype. Now Rolls-Royce has commissioned the celebrated photographer Rankin to give his take on the Spirit of Ecstasy with a series of 100 photographs.
The photos will be gradually revealed over the coming months, but Rankin and Rolls have already revealed the first two, which you see pictured here. To create them, Rankin used his muse, model and wife Tuuli Shipster. And as you can see, the results are quite dramatic. Have a closer look in our high-resolution image gallery, for the full press release and watch for more as the collection goes live.
Part of the reason that survived its recent bout with bankruptcy is that . Now, more than 100 former GM executives are suing because they feel the automaker owes them dough.
General Motors has a plan administrator that examines all the claims made by the retirees. It states that all claims were reviewed and rejected in accordance with the requirements that the automaker needed to .
The retired executives disagree.
Brian Koncius, a lawyer for the former GM employees, stated that his clients believe GM is incorrectly calculating retirement benefits, and that General Motors is cutting costs the wrong way. Rather than reducing the benefit by 2/3 of the amount over $100,000, GM is simply lopping off 2/3 of the entire executive benefit. That adds up to a huge difference in benefit payouts.
In most segments, chances are the transmission was developed and manufactured by the same company that built the rest of the car. Some are made by independent suppliers like Borg-Warner, Getrag or ZF. But at the top end of the market, where exotic supercars roam, a disproportionate share of the high-performance gearboxes come from Graziano.
The Italian company – part of Oerlikon since 2007 when it merged with Fairfield – has built the transmissions in countless , , and , to name just a few. That new-fangled seven-speed transmission in the new ? Also Graziano’s. But before that project, Graziano developed the clever gearbox in the McLaren MP4-12C.
The Sequential Shift Gearbox developed for McLaren, as you may be aware, takes the dual-clutch transmission to a new level by allowing the driver to pre-select the next gear and load it onto the second clutch before engaging it, reducing shift times to practically nothing while engaging the driver in a way lost on many paddle-shift transmissions.
In an apparent nod to the clairvoyant siblings in Minority Report, Graziano and McLaren dubbed the system “pre-cog,” but that’s not the extent of the transmission’s advances. It’s also said to be the lightest, most compact, most refined and most durable gearbox of its type, while capable of keeping its fluids pumping at extreme levels of multi-directional loading. Want to read more? for the full press release.
Tony Stewart and Lewis Hamilton – Click above for high-res image
It’s been several decades since Formula 1 has visited Watkins Glen, but the high-pitched scream of a modern grand prix racer is set to return there this summer for a special demonstration.
As we back in February, Lewis Hamilton and Tony Stewart will be swapping keys for the day, the Formula One World Champion taking the wheel of the No. 14 Chevrolet Impala stock car while the two-time wielder of the NASCAR Sprint Cup will slink into the cockpit of the , the car which Hamilton drove to the world championship in 2008.
The initiative is being undertaken by Mobil, which sponsors both drivers in their respective series, and will take place on June 14 at the 3.4-mile road-course in upstate New York – one of the few locations (alongside such notables as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal) that has played host to both F1 and NASCAR over the course of its storied history. It’s also where McLaren locked up the first of its many world championships, with Emerson Fittipaldi behind the wheel at the 1974 United States Grand Prix.
It ought to be an interesting experience for both drivers, each of whom has mastered his respective motorsport discipline as well as the feeder series’ that led them to where they are today. for more details in the full press release.
If you’ve been living in a house with no TV or internet connection, you may not have heard that Osama bin Laden was found and killed. Actually, even if you have been living in such a house, you still probably know about bin Laden. Teams of analysts are combing through a mountain of data recovered from bin Laden’s compound, and one nugget of information they’ve found is a bit surprising; bin Laden was against a proposed plan for U.S.-based Al Qaeda operatives to weld blades to the grilles of pickup trucks and run down pedestrians.
This plan was laid out by Inspire, an English-language magazine by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The magazine stated that drivers of the customized trucks could look for crowded areas, then motor onto the sidewalk and cause major carnage. It’s a sick plan, and apparently bin Laden felt the same way. He called it “indiscriminate slaughter,” and felt it wasn’t in line with what Al Qaeda does.
Yes, seriously. And no, we’re not making this up. Read more about this aborted plan and the way bin Laden managed the terror organization from his secluded home .
Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson gets a push in a Nissan Leaf – Click above to watch the video
It would seem that the guys from Top Gear are back to giving electric vehicles the what-for. According to The Lincolnite, James May and Jeremy Clarkson were respectively spotted piloting a Peugeot iOn and a through England during a cross-country trek (which is exactly what electric cars are for, right?).
The duo stopped by Lincolnshire County to ask about the nearest place to charge their alternative-fuel steeds, only to find that the entire municipality is bereft of chargers. Apparently May and Clarkson then set about driving around the city until their vehicles died and they were forced to get a tow.
If this all sounds familiar, that’s because Top Gear rustled up a mess of snakes the last time Clarkson jumped behind the wheel of an EV. After depicting the Tesla Roadster as suffering a brake failure and running out of power, Tesla shot back refuting what happened as . That little dust-up has .
The truth is that the vast majority of people come to Top Gear to be entertained, and most viewers probably realize that there’s plenty of editing that goes into each segment. We seriously doubt that most EV buyers use the UK show as a go-to resource, but that doesn’t stop the constant ragging on alternative fuels from growing trite.
This tester is clearly sporting larger brakes and a quad-exhaust setup, leading us to believe that this isn’t just another S-Line suspension and badge job.
Jalen Rose to auction of ‘69 Dodge Charger General Lee – Click above for image gallery
Jalen Rose, former NBA player and member of Michigan’s Fab Five, is looking to help out a charitable organization founded in his name. It’s called the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, and it’s a preparatory school for students in grades 9-12, located in Detroit. The JRLA is slated to open in September of 2011, and 120 students will enter the halls as ninth graders. Rose has chosen to offer up his 1969 Dodge Charger General Lee at auction, and all of the proceeds will be put towards the new school.
Rose took the liberty of making a few changes to this particular car. The Confederate flag has been removed from the roof and the numbers on the doors have been changed to show “05″ in honor of Rose’s playing number.
This is not simply a Dukes of Hazzard replica, however, as this Charger is one of the few surviving cars used during filming of the television show. Jalen Rose’s signature can be found under the hood, along with the John Hancock of Bo Duke himself, John Schneider.
The auction will get underway on May 23rd, and the car will be listed with an opening bid of $45,000. This is a no-reserve auction with the proceeds going to a good cause, so pegging the final hammer price is rather tricky. for more information on both the car and Jalen Rose Leadership Academy.
A company by the name of Rocky Mountain Tracking is out to make sure that car buyers never forget another payment so long as they live. The GPS manufacturer has developed a new device that can be remotely activated to generate a loud buzzing noise should a delinquent consumer forget to make their payment. The appropriately-named Smart Tracker Payment Reminder Buzzer can immediately be deactivated once the borrower is caught back up and on schedule. While the Smart Tracker has been on the market for a while now, the buzzing feature is a new option.
Car dealerships frequently install devices like the Smart Tracker to keep tabs on the location of vehicles sold to high-risk customers. The device can accurately locate the vehicle should a visit from the repo man become necessary, making the dealer’s life considerably easier. In addition, the devices protect both the owner and the dealer in the event of a theft. Head over to to see the rest of the company’s wares and for a full press release.
1969 Ferrari 365 GT Speciale – Click above for image gallery
If one name is synonymous with in North America, it’s surely Luigi Chinetti. The Italian-American was Maranello’s first importer and dealer in the United States, and was also the founder of the North American Racing Team (NART) that campaigned Prancing Horses on American circuits. And in case that wasn’t enough to prove his credentials, he also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans no less than three times.
Chinetti’s considerable influence with Ferrari also led to a handful of road cars built to his specifications. The convertible version of the iconic 275 GTB/4, for example, was known as the NART Spyder. Chinetti also had a pair of these 365 GT Speciales built to his specifications by of Modena, and one of them is now up for sale out of Seattle.
Given the 80s styling, we’d venture that the conversion was undertaken years after the vehicle’s production. And while its coachwork may be divisive, it is consistent: one look at the NART’s later 512 BB LM and you’ll immediately see the family resemblance. Based on the 365 GT 2+2 (not to be confused with the Daytona that replaced it), it packs a 4.4-liter triple-carb V12 and independent suspension.
According to the seller, this unique example (chassis 12611 in red over black, as opposed to the second example in black over cream) was featured on the cover of the April 1989 issue of Automobile Magazine. Ferrari of Seattle is , which may seem like a big chunk of change, but for such a rare example of American Ferrari history – one which sold for $314k in Tokyo way back in 1991 – this could worth it.
It’ll be a landmark running for the Indianapolis 500 later this month, as the event celebrates its 100th anniversary as the premier open-wheel racing event in America. All of which only gave some fans more reason to be ticked off when Donald Trump was announced as this year’s pace car driver.
Annoyed by political implications detracting from the spirit of racing, many fans were up in arms when Trump was announced as the official pace car driver, evidently prompting the celebrity businessman and possible presidential candidate to change his plans. In his place, organizers at the Speedway have invited none other than A.J. Foyt to drive the . As a four-time Indy 500 winner, Foyt is among the most decorated drivers ever to lap the Brickyard, and his nomination will surely come as more welcome news to the legions of open-wheel devotees.
In related news, two drivers better known for their formula racing activities overseas will make their Indy debuts at the 500 this year. One of them is Scott Speed, the last American to race in Formula One. Speed shifted over the NASCAR after things didn’t pan out in F1, until Red Bull dropped his sponsorship last year. Given his experience in open wheels and oval tracks, Speed may find a new home at Indy.
Also making his Indy debut will be , who will become the first Chinese driver to contest the Indianapolis 500. Tung is a reserve/test driver for Renault F1 this season and has contested such feeder series as GP2, A1GP and Superleague Formula. Both he and Speed will be driving for Jay Penske’s Dragon Racing team and will be eligible for the $5 million bonus available to drivers from outside the series should they overcome the insurmountable odds to claim the checkered flag and drink milk in victory lane.
Like their body-on-frame SUV cousins, full-size pickup trucks are more prone to roll over than a standard passenger car. That’s exactly why it’s so important to have a vehicle that earns good marks in roof-strength tests. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has just released the data on its recent volley of tests on full-size pickup trucks, and both the and earned the coveted Top Safety Pick designation. The vehicles earned the highest possible rating of ‘good’ in the institutes crush test, where a large steel plate is pressed against one corner of the roof to calculate a strength-to-weight ratio.
Meanwhile, the took home an acceptable rating in the rollover evaluation while the , and 2011 Ram 1500 netted marginal scores.
IIHS says that the roof on the Toyota Tundra stood up to 4.5 times the truck’s weight while the F-150 handled 4.7 times the pressure. A vehicle must withstand 4 times its weight before five-inches of crush is detected before being awarded a Good rating. for the full press release.
has posted a solid first quarter, with earnings jumping to $103 million. That’s nearly double the Q1, 2010 totals, in part due to continued strong demand for its crossover. The Geely-owned automaker expects the revenue to continue to flow throughout 2011, as the automaker is hoping to increase sales by 70,000 units on the year to 450,000 units.
Volvo has also announced total earnings for calendar year 2010. The automaker says it earned $370 million on the year, again in part because of strong XC60 sales and the successful launch of the . High commodity prices weighed down earnings a bit, but the automaker says strong net pricing largely offset the rising price of energy and steel.
2011Volkswagen Jetta – Click above for high-res image gallery
has made a big deal about the 2011 Jetta’s $15,995 starting price. After all, how many times have you seen those commercials that show to afford the new , only to find out that it’s starting price had been lowered. And then there’s the baby-holding dad that after checking out the German sedan’s bargain-basement MSRP.
At any rate, you can pick up your cup and get back to work, because the starting price of the Jetta has now been increased by $500. The VW website clearly shows that the S model, which comes equipped with an anemic 2.0-liter four-cylinder with a scant 115 horsepower, now starts at $16,495.
This isn’t exactly great news for Jetta-loving budget shoppers, but we hear rising commodity costs is making it more expensive to build vehicles these days, so it isn’t totally unexpected. On the bright side, only the entry S model has been given a price bump. The rest of the Jetta lineup is unchanged.
Pagani Huayra on track at Adria International Raceway – Click above to watch the video
Like a child has two parents, so does a Pagani. One is the niche automaker based in Modena whose name it bears. The other is AMG. The latter develops and manufactures the engine, while the former does just about everything else. In the case of the new Huayra, you might say that Pagani disappointed in the styling department (though having seen it up close, we’d beg to differ) and threw us a curveball with the nameplate it chose. But there’s no arguing with the work those German engineers have undertaken at Affalterbach.
Don’t believe us? You don’t have to take us at our word. The videographers over at Marchettino, who regularly supply us with a stream of footage depicting Italy’s finest running at full bore, have sent us a clip of the new Huayra doing its thing at the Adria International Raceway, one of eight FIA-certified circuits in Italy. The footage is all shot attached to the rear bumper so you get the full aural sensation. Check it out . And for a more comprehensive perspective on the symbiotic relationship between Pagani and AMG that has produced the Huayra, head on over to the .
