Drivers in Japan have once again taken to the track in an effort to wring maximum mileage from their hybrids. According to AutoWeek, the resumed this year after a two-year hiatus.
Toyota officials said they have no plans to bring the hybrid competition to the U.S., but played up their .
Dealerships fielded teams at Fuji Speedway in Oyama, Japan, for a national championship race held on December 7. Puttering around the Formula 1 track at Fuji, at least one team managed an astounding 80 miles per gallon in their hypermiling efforts, according to the report.
But is it really racing when the drivers are attempting to maintain an average speed of 37 miles per hour and coasting up hills? We will give them credit though – at least they do turn both left and right.
is running deeper and deeper into social media, its latest reach-out to frienders and lurkers being a video contest called . More than 190 films from filmmakers in 32 countries have been submitted for the chance to have their effort aired during the 2012 Super Bowl.
On top of that, Chevrolet has partnered with to let you – that’s right, you – help decide which clip will reach the end zone. But wait, there’s more: by voting and scribbling an answer to the question, “If you could drive to any destination in your home country, where would you go?”, you’ll get the chance to win up to $10,000.
The contest is open to “eligible fans” from Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Mexico, the UK and U.S. So head on over to the link to get watching and ranking, and remembering which hidden locale in your homeland most calls to you.
But before you do that, be sure to check out the high-res gallery of stills from some of the submitted vids (pictured above is from “Generations”), and then head on to watch one of them, “Spy Thriller,” and to read all about the contest.
took to the , among them four variations on themes from the Z-Spec parts bin, the Super 4 Racer for the track, and a brazen red hatch called the Boom. Based entirely around a 4,000-watt Kicker sound system, the Sonic Boom contains a high-tech head unit controlling components designed with a jet theme, and a report on the Chevrolet Sonic forum indicates it’s headed for production.
There aren’t many details to share, other than that Chevy has reportedly applied for a “Sonic Boom” trademark, but ChevroletSonicForum.com says their GM sources tell them that a planned retail version will take a step down from its 4,000-watt progenitor. Chevrolet has already admitted it wants to create a model selection that puts the Sonic into niche markets, and with a deep trough of Z-Spec add-ons, even as a concept the Sonic Boom doesn’t appear to be too far from production-ready.
First, let’s put some salient numbers on the table: 5.5 million versus 2.7 million and $67.14 per hour versus $33.77 per hour.
The first set of numbers belong to , and represent the total number of vehicles built in 2010 and the average wage of an autoworker in that country. The second set of numbers are the equivalent figures from the United States. In other words, twice as many vehicles are built in Germany every year than in the U.S., and German autoworkers make double what their American counterparts earn.
Interestingly enough, all three major German automakers – the , and groups – operate facilities in both their home market of Germany and in the U.S. And, just as intriguingly, the factory workers in the southern states of America who work for German automakers aren’t paid wages that even come close to matching those of their German counterparts.
Why the disparity? According to an article from Remappingdebate.org, it has to do with an ongoing “race to the bottom” when it comes to wages in the U.S. and a mutually beneficial working relationship between German automakers and IG Metall, the German equivalent to the union in the States. In short, German automakers are paying Americans less because they can.
There’s an entire with commentary from industry insiders and other experts on the matter, and we suggest you read it for all the details on the great wage disparity that makes the U.S. a low-cost country for German automakers operating outside their home borders.
Deposed U.S.A. chief Ernst Lieb may be gone, but he won’t soon be forgotten. Lieb is suing Benz parent company Daimler for wrongful dismissal, with a German court date scheduled for March, according to Automotive News.
The automaker claims Lieb, 56 on his company-owned home in Mahwah, N.J., making “incomplete, inaccurate and manipulative statements” when questioned about the expenditures in an audit. “None of the accusations are justified,” said Lieb’s lawyer, according to the report.
The former CEO’s council reportedly plans to argue that Lieb was “one of dozens” of executives who were “fired unfairly” as part of a sweeping crackdown on ethics violations.
Lieb was , and eventually replaced by earlier this month.
sent Calvin Klein model Lara Stone out with a 2013 SL, and put photographer Alex Prager in charge of documenting the platform-heeled, Arcadian shenanigans. The project is called the 2012 Fashion Collaboration, Icons of Style, and will be shown in its entirety at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, February 9-15, 2012. Meant to be a modern take on film noir and, apparently, Storm Catchers, Stone uses the SL to outrun a tornado.
of the photo above, and for a behind-the-scenes video and more details on both models – the car and the woman – and Alex Prager.
shows off SL’s new curves with supermodel Lara Stone
Unlike most cities, Japan’s capital city plays host to two major automotive exhibitions: the and the . While these terms may be interchangeable when it comes to European expos, in Tokyo, they connote two different shows altogether. The first is the Motor Show, where new concepts and production models are unveiled by the world’s automakers. The Auto Salon is more of a tuner expo along the lines of the show in Las Vegas. So after made its long-anticipated splash at the Tokyo Motor Show with its new , now it’s heading to the Salon with some modified versions.
First up is a version of the , packing some prototype carbon-fiber components, suspension upgrades, Brembo brakes and more. Subaru has also teamed up again with aftermarket tuner Prova (which shares its name with the traditional license plates carried by prototypes in italy) for a BRZ Black Edition. And you can bet there will be a handful or two of other tuners eager to show what they can do with the new rear-drive sports coupe, as well.
Subaru itself will also be showcasing an upgraded called the G4 STI with all manner of performance enhancements, and will, at long last, announce its return to a number of different motorsport disciplines. The Super GT300-spec BRZ, , will be displayed alongside the Legacy-based racer it replaces. But there will also be a WRX STI that’s slated to be fielded at the Nürburgring 24, and Subaru will also be announcing its return to professional rally competition, though not the World Rally Championship series it left years ago, it will contest the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Follow the jump for the full press release.
Despite major improvements, public perception still lingers that most American luxury sedans don’t quite approach the level of refinement and equipment offered by their imported competitors. And so it follows that models fall shy of and , especially because their pricing is less dear. But the latest announcement from Auburn Hills aims to close that perception – and pricing – gap ever so gently.
Whereas in the past, the Pentastar automaker may have tried to sell the buying public on terms like “Corinthian leather” to sell their luxury automobiles, today, all it has to do is call up its friends (read: corporate overlords) in Italy to get some top-quality Potrona Frau leather (usually found in and top-of-the-line Alfa Romeo models) and hand-sanded wood trim sent over. The new-for-2012 Luxury Series is visually distinguished as well by “platinum-chrome” trim on the grille, door mirrors and handles, plus 20-inch polished wheels and all the bells and whistles Chrysler can muster. Starting at $40,125, it’s also a good bit less expensive than other luxury cars its size cars with similar trappings.
Couple that with what Chrysler claims is the first eight-speed automatic transmission offered on a domestic luxury sedan and available all-wheel drive, and the 300 Luxury Series could just make luxury import buyers swing by their local Chrysler dealership for a closer look. Short of that, have a look at the high-res images in the gallery and the press release after the jump for a closer look.
For most of us, holiday travel is little more than a slight inconvenience, but an Amarillo, Texas family has found out just how treacherous taking to the road in winter can be. David Higgins, his wife and his five-year-old daughter packed into the family’s for a ski trip in New Mexico. Shortly after the trio crossed the state line, a severe snow storm descended, forcing Higgins off the road. The SUV quickly became mired in the white stuff, and it wasn’t long before the entire vehicle was encased in a massive snow drift.
The Higgins called 911 for help, but dispatchers told the family the weather was too bad for anyone to come save them. Two days later, rescuers located the stranded family and pulled them from the vehicle. Presumably fearing exposure to subzero temperatures, the Higgins’ stayed inside their vehicle, though it isn’t clear why they didn’t continually try to dig out a path to keep from being trapped inside. Fortunately, they brought along plenty of food and water, and huddled together to keep each other warm, but they say that they nearly ran out of oxygen. to watch an ABC report on the family’s harrowing ordeal.
We see the form versus function fight played out on a daily basis in the automotive realm. Designers, engineers and accountants lock horns on every model that ever makes its way to the street in order to come up with a suitable compromise that will successfully appease their respective masters. More often than not, a vehicle’s more stylish aspects are left by the wayside as aerodynamics, packaging and economics hammer automotive forms into the same uninspired mold. Anyone who remembers the muscular form of the concept need only look to the limp lines of the production model to see the process in action.
It’s something special when an automaker cries “Damn the torpedoes!” and drives an undiluted concept design off of the auto show stage and straight into production. Pupils dilate, cheeks flush and hearts flutter with primordial do-want. Such is the case with the . In an era when most automakers wouldn’t waste firing a single synapse on the personal utility segment, has kicked open the doors on an arena long thought forgotten. With its heart-stopping styling, powerful turbocharged four-cylinder engine and surprising off-road chops, the Evoque is exactly what we’ve been missing from this segment. But who’s going to buy it?
Corn-based ethanol is a controversial fuel in its own right, and a longstanding federal subsidy for blending the biofuel with gasoline has been an additional source of consternation over the last 30 years. According to The Detroit News, Congress has wrapped up its work for 2011 without extending the incentive, a move that’s drawn praise from environmental groups and taxpayer advocates.
Hand-in-hand with the discontinuation of the tax subsidy, an import tariff on ethanol imported from Brazil has also been cancelled, which opens the tap for a source of ethanol that doesn’t have the reputation of being a dirty diversion of a food crop that corn-based ethanol carries. That means that while the blenders’ tax credit is no more, the 2007 legislation calling for a significant increase in the use of renewable fuels is likely not going anywhere if the abundant ethanol produced from Brazil’s sugarcane economy can be used instead.
The corn lobby is naturally not thrilled with the news, but it has put on a brave face. Tom Buis of , a group that supports and fosters the cause of domestic ethanol production, tells the DetNews, “without the tax credit, the ethanol industry will survive; it will continue to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, create jobs, and strengthen our economy.” That statement isn’t exactly at odds with the actions of Congress, since there’s now about $6 billion per year that could be plowed into further renewable fuel research and development that would ensure corn ethanol is indeed a stepping stone fuel, as it was sold in the first place.
The earthquake and tsunami in Japan wreaked havoc on the automotive supply chain. , and lost many thousands of units to the natural disaster, which meant that car buyers here in the U.S. sometimes had a difficult time finding and buying certain vehicles. We know how these disruptions hurt sales, but a study conducted by ALG shows that prices were also shifted because of the shortage of key vehicles.
ALG predicted that a 20-day production disruption would lead to 1.5-percent higher prices, and when production stoppage reaches 100 days, the anticipated spike in prices could be up to 10 percent. So, how’d it turn out in reality?
The study looked at the and the . ALG found that Rogue production was back up and running by May, and the CUV went up in price by three percent by June. That’s a significant margin, especially when compared to the overall CUV price increase of .3 percent during that time.
The was even harder to find between March and June, and the numbers bear this out. The price of the Fit jumped by 5.6 percent during that time. The compact segment as a whole jumped by a still significant 2.3 percent during that time frame.
Two bits of automotive movie history at a auction held earlier this month have drawn massive bids from collectors. As you may recall, costume from Le Mans was poised to go under the gavel with the auction house estimating the Gulf Oil suit would fetch between $200,000 and $300,000. Hemmings says that by the time the last bid came in, the suit had fetched a staggering $984,000, thereby proving that when it comes to celebrity auctions, few names can draw dollar bills quite like McQueen. The actor’s , which he drove in the film, recently sold for $1.25 million.
McQueen’s Le Mans suit wasn’t the only big draw, however. The same auction also saw a used in the filming of Back to the FutureIII pull sizable bids of its own. The flux-capacitor-equipped gullwing met the auction house’s estimates with a towering final bid of $541,200. Great Scot, indeed.
If you went to the movies over the holiday, chances are pretty good you saw the latest box-office-topping Tom Cruise vehicle. We’re not talking about the globetrotting explosion-fest it came wrapped up in, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol; we’re speaking of the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept car that (along with seemingly every other model in Munich’s arsenal).
But the Vision EfficientDynamics coupe isn’t just a flight of fancy for the world’s auto show circuit or for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character – it’s set for production , albeit . Snapped undergoing testing through a chain-link fence, the extended-range plug-in supercar looks ready for the street, if only we could peel away the Van Gogh camouflage. This 2+2 is widely expected to deliver a 0-62 mph time of 4.8 seconds, and we’re expecting the lightweight flyer to lose the unique lower glass door panels of the 2009 show car (a design change hinted at by this prototype’s swirly coverup).
Speaking of the doors, they also look to be more conventional in size and possibly operation – the concept car featured elongated butterfly doors that afforded accesses to both the front and rear seats. The prototype seen here would appear to have more conventionally sized apertures. We’re guessing that mundane real-world considerations like crash-worthiness and ease of operation had something to do with the transition. Another likely concession to the realities of production auto-making appear to be a pair of rather ungainly bumper-level nacelles in the rear fascia that weren’t present on the show car. We’re not sure if these are merely reflectors, actual taillights or if they’re simply clever camouflage, but we’re hoping for the latter.
While the concept was powered by both an electric drivetrain and a small diesel generator, our spies suggest that the production car may switch over to a more conventional turbocharged four-cylinder range-extender. Whether it burns gas or oil, however, the i8 is sure to be one of the most radical cars on the road… and it’s likely to carry an exotic price tag to match.
Art cars are becoming de rigeur once again, but while most automakers getting in on the action contract painters of some sort or another to spruce up their products, Renault has gone in a slightly different direction for its latest project.
To celebrate the arrival of its new Twingo hatchback, the French automaker has brought in a musician, a chef, a fashion designer and a product designer to give their take on the Twingo’s interior.
Pop singer Nicola Roberts installed a mobile recording studio and a dressing trailer’s worth of equipment in hers. Fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac turned his rolling canvas into a stately presidential city car. Designer Nils Holger Moormann made his Twingo into a mobile “reading room.” And chef Davide Scabin drew inspiration from pasta in his interpretation.
Intriguing ideas, all, if a tad impractical. But the photos speak for themselves, so check ‘em out in our high-res image gallery and follow the jump for the full press release.
News doesn’t travel fast in Poland. In fact, very few things travel all that fast in Poland. Sure, the emergence of Robert Kubica on the Formula One scene has shown well for the Eastern European country, but when he tried his hand at rallying, well… . (His hand, we mean.) So you can imagine our surprise when we caught wind of a Volkswagen Polo rally car being developed in Poland.
Apparently nobody told a guy named Paul Dytko that was already building a Polo-based rally car to challenge the World Rally Championship. Or that sister-company Skoda had turned its Fabia (which shares its underpinnings with the Polo) into an S2000 rally car, too. Not that we’re complaining, mind you – there’s always room for another fire-breathing, 400-horsepower hatchback in the world. We’re just surprised, is all.
Dytko is reportedly trying to raise funds to continue development on the project, and potentially take it to Pikes Peak to prove what it can do. In the mean time, the Polish Polo will be taking on hill climb events across Europe in the coming season, now just weeks away. But if you can’t wait that long, there’s a good six minutes of rather artfully shot footage of the prototype drifting sideways around what looks like an abandoned airfield . Check it out.
Ward’s Auto reports the European Commission is pushing new measures that could burden automakers with stiff noise regulations for cars, buses and trucks. Under the proposed legislation, automakers would need to curb vehicle noise levels by two decibels two years after the legislation’s wording is agreed upon by EC member countries. Another two decibel reduction would occur three years after the first installment. Trucks, meanwhile, would be forced to reduce noise by one decibel in the first wave of reductions and two decibels in the second wave. Officials behind the proposed rules say the change will slash road noise by 25 percent and greatly improve the health and quality of life of European citizens.
Automakers are busily lobbying for amendments to the proposal, saying they have issues with the timing, levels and legal categories contained within the noise-control measures. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association says that while the first step could be implemented immediately, the second step could take as many as six years to accomplish. Head over to Ward’s to read the full report.
for Windows, Android and iOS has been around for a while, but the most recent update for the iPhone allows you to view all the OBD-II-sourced data directly on your Pioneer AppRadio.
As we’ve said before, the real draw of the AppRadio isn’t just its 6.1-inch, capacitive multi-touch screen, it’s the ability for third parties to integrate their apps into the display. In the case of DashCommand, you can port over 229 different data points through your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch using an OBDII connector. A maximum of 27 customizable gauges show you everything from coolant temps to check engine lights, and using the built-in accelerometer and GPS systems, you can also display an inclinometer, G-forces and even race track mapping. Get all the details in at .
A German tuning outfit called has put the on , and the numbers returned were 444 horsepower at the wheel, 553 at the engine, and a “corrected number” of 574 hp. Max torque came in at 532 pound-feet (721 Newton/meters).
Compare those figures to the official numbers of 560 horses and 502 lb-ft. If the 444 number is accurate, then no matter how you slice it on horsepower – whether you use the numbers from or PP-P’s figures – you’re losing around 20 percent from the engine to the wheels. However, adjusting for driveline and twin-turbo losses, that puts things right about where they should be. The 30-lb-ft surplus of torque, on the other hand, is the kind of surplus no one would complain about – again, assuming it’s accurate.
for video of the dyno run, and for another vid of the being taken to 293 km/hr (182 mph). And with that second vid, try to ignore the fact that the terminal velocity attempt is being conducted on an engine with just 40 kilometers on it…
bet big on the combination of light duty pickup trucks and boosted V6 power, and it appears the gamble has paid off. The Detroit News reports that Ford has already reached 100,000 F-150 sales in 2011, just as the automaker .
Overall EcoBoost models accounted for 40 percent of all sales, which is impressive considering that the boosted mill comes with a $895 price premium compared to the very capable 5.0-liter V8. Still more impressive is the fact that Ford also sold plenty of 3.7-liter V6 models as well, and the overall take rate of V6 engines is over 50 percent on the year. Ford hasn’t sold this many V6-powered F-150 models since Doc Brown turned a into a time machine (1985).
With V6-powered F-150 models selling this well, we’re expecting General Motors and to follow suit with their own six-cylinder offerings. It seems truck buyers would be more than okay with the decision.
