2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK – Click above for high-res image gallery
The newest gasoline engines from feature cutting-edge lean-burn technology that leads to fewer harmful emissions and a 10 percent improvement in fuel economy. Well, the new engine tech, which requires a much leaner fuel-to-air ratio, is making its way into many mills, but apparently not the ones destined for these United States.
Ward’s Automotive quotes Daimler powertrain development vice president Bernhard Heil as saying that the gasoline in the U.S. contains sulfur at the rate of 95 parts-per-million; about twice as much as can be tolerated by the new engines. The problem? Excess sulfur apparently clogs the nitrogen oxide-capturing traps.
So, is the U.S. the only country lagging behind Europe in removing sulfur from its gasoline supply? Far from it. Heil points out that the gasoline in Africa and many areas of Asia also contain too much sulfur for the lean engines. The first engine to feature the technology is the direct-injected 3.5-liter V6 destined for the C350 sport sedan and the seen above. The 302-horsepower mill will not (obviously) utilize lean-burn tech here in the U.S.
Range Rover Sport Luxury Edition – Click above for image gallery
Most would view a sport-ute like the as luxurious enough already, but for those who disagree, has debuted a new special edition.
Called the Luxury edition, it slots in between the HSE and Autobiography editions. It’s distinguished by such special touches as a sun roof, heated steering wheel, contrast-stitched leather trim and a Harman/Kardon audio system. It’s available in Europe exclusively with the 245-horsepower, 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6, and can be ordered in white, black or bronze, offset by black trim and 20-inch wheels.
Pricing reportedly comes in at a princely €110,000 – equivalent to about $150k. Have a closer look in the gallery below.
Symantec spam graph – Click above to view press release
Getting spammed daily from all sides has become a fact of life. If you have an email address and use the internet, you will get spammed. Most likely numerous times throughout the day. In a recent study by Symantec, researchers found that the automotive business is the out there.
According to the study, fully 84.3 percent of emails sent relating to the industry are considered spam. That’s more than the global spam rate of 81.3 percent, and higher than the rate generated by any other industry.
Not only is the auto industry’s rate the highest, it’s growing. In January of this year, the level for the automotive industry was 82.8 percent. That might not seem like a huge spike, but when you consider how many billion emails spammers send, the number looks a little more impressive.
Other industries are almost as badly off, with spam accounting for more than 80 percent of emails in the financial, chemical and pharmaceutical, education, manufacturing, marketing, public sector, IT and retail industries.
has already announced big plans for its compact A-Class and B-Class vehicles. The platform that underpins these small cars will also form the base of a compact SUV and a four-door coupe, and according to a report from Automotive News’ European bureau, three more A-Class variants could be in the works.
During a phone interview with AN, Mercedes-Benz marketing chief Joachim Schmidt revealed that the luxury carmaker is mulling shooting brake, convertible and three-door versions of the next-gen A-Class. Such a move would no-doubt aid MB in its quest to win buyers in the budding luxury compact segment. At the same time, a comprehensive lineup of A- and B-Class variants could also help the German automaker reach ever-tightening European CO2 standards.
Schmidt stresses that the automaker hasn’t made any final decisions regarding these potential A-Class variants. The first B-Class is scheduled to be released to the European market by the end of 2011.
Mini Clubman Carmonica – Click above to watch the video
has come up with yet another trendy, interactive way of marketing its cars. The automaker’s team in New Zealand strapped 300 harmonicas in the key of G to a , drove it around, and created the Carmonica.
Now available on the Mini New Zealand website, you can take audio clips from the Carmonica’s adventures and make your own sweet electronic jam. The cuts are a little choppy, so we doubt the next dance club banger will come from a bored Mini owner, but it’s a great way to kill 15 minutes or so.
Check out Mini New Zealand’s website to make your own Carmonica jam. Mini promises you’ll be able to publish and share them with your friends soon, but that feature isn’t live quite yet. to see the Carmonica in action.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now looking into whether or not seat heaters pose an “unreasonable risk to safety,” according to USA Today. The government agency is currently shuffling through dozens of reports of burns associated with overactive heaters, and Johnson Clifton Larson & Schaler, an Oregon law firm, says that it knows of at least 150 people injured by the convenience feature.
According to the report, those with lower-body sensory defects are in danger of being burnt by the seat heaters without their knowledge, and doctors have petitioned the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers to disconnect the feature on vehicles owned by those with the sensory issues.
In one case, a paraplegic man was severely burnt after sitting in a with the seat warmers on high for two and a half hours. He accidentally turned on the heaters while attempting to roll down the window.
, meanwhile, says that it began printing warnings on seat-heater operation in its owners manuals in 2010, and all 2011 vehicle manuals now have the warning.
Mini Seven – Click above for high-res image gallery
We’re a little torn on this one. You’re looking at what could possibly be the most awesome go kart ever crafted by human hands: the Mini Seven. Mini is a company that specializes in high-end electric golf carts that vary from a proportionally-correct Hummer resort vehicle to a lookalike. This, however, is different. The Seven was built specifically with children in mind, and Mini says that the pint-sized interpretation of Colin Chapman’s wonder is safe for operation on tarmac or in fields. Powered by a gasoline engine, the car has a top speed of around 19 mph.
Four disc brakes with a fully-adjustable proportioning valve are standard, as are a set of four-point harnesses to keep your budding speed demon firmly planted in the optional leather seats. Even the pedals are adjustable to keep up with a kid’s growth.
Unfortunately, all of this unbelievable kit comes with a similarly eye-widening price tag. Expect to fork over £6,995, or roughly $11,305. Awesome? Sure. That awesome? Probably not.
The Clean Air Act of 2007 gave the Environmental Protection Agency the right to regulate tailpipe emissions due to their . The law also gave states like California the ; a move that could force automakers to meet several different standards in the U.S. alone. That led the federal government to essentially adopt California’s standard, resulting in a mandate of 34.1 miles per gallon by 2016.
The Detroit News reports that Fred Upton, R-MI and Ed Whitfield, R-KY have sponsored a bill in the House Energy and Commerce Committee that would overturn the Clean Air Act. The proposed measure would remove emissions regulations authority from the EPA and individual states, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration instead having sole authority to set corporate average fuel economy standards. “We feel it is not right that California should be dictating standards for the rest of the country,” said Whitfield.
The move may be well-received by automakers, since the current regulations in place will cost OEMs billions of dollars. In fact, experts claim the stiff regulations currently on the books will cost automakers up to $52 billion over the next five years. That’s a lot of cabbage, but the Obama Administration claims fuel economy improvements will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil and save car owners up to $3,000 over the life of the vehicle.
The sponsored bill has been given the go-ahead by the Energy and Power subcommittee, and The Detroit News claims house Republicans plan to fast-track the bill through Congress.
Royal Enfield Bullet – Click above to watch the video
started out as a English motorcycle builder way back in the late 1800s. The company soldiered on well into the second half of the 20th Century in England, before finally succumbing to financial woes and closing up shop.
The name, however, survived through Indian-built versions of their bikes. A factory in Indian began churning out Royal Enfield Bullets in 1956, using parts sourced from the factory in England. By 1962, nine years before the English shop closed down, Enfield of India was building bikes from scratch using the original English design.
The Indian brand soldiered on after Royal Enfield officially died, and, in 1995, bought the rights to use the Royal Enfield name. Royal Enfiled Bullet 350s and 500s are still produced en masse in India, making Royal Enfield the oldest motorcycle brand still in production. Now, the Indian bike maker offers that only add to the brand’s desirability.
To celebrate its history and the perseverance of the Indian arm of the company, Royal Enfield released a video touting its Indian heritage. Check it out .
Gallery:
Photos copyright (C)2011 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL
We’ll have to wait to get one in the dry for a full slate of impressions, but from this unfortunately brief first dance, the Cayman R has all the earmarks of the Total Package. For the first time since its introduction, Porsche’s middle child has the potential to one-up its ass-engined brethren right from the factory.
A New Media Strategies employee dropped an F-bomb on Chrysler’s officialTwitter account. Now, Chrysler has relieved NMS of its social media duties.
Our elite squad of spy photographers has managed to nab a few photos of the 2012 Ford Taurus SHO splashing through the rain.
Also of interest:
GLK Pikes Peak Hybrid [w/video]
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Nearly every has a Sport button, and the 2011 Cayman R is no different. It quickens the PDK gearbox’s shifts, tightens throttle response and allows a bit more slip. I should’ve paid more attention to those last two bits during our morning briefing.
On the rain- and occasionally hail-battered island roads of Mallorca, Spain, it took all of a quarter-inch of throttle travel to realize that the ultra-slippery tarmac partnered with the high-performance summer rubber were a match made in Hell. One minute, my co-driver (Motor Trend scribe and Autoblog alum Jonny Lieberman) was looking down at the route book; the next, he was staring at the sheer face of a rock wall. Whoops.
Bottpower BOTT XR-1 – Click above for high-res image gallery
According to The Kneeslider, the wrenches at Bottpower have been saddled with an interesting new project. It seems that a certain client has a soft-spot for the now aging Buell XB, but has grown tired of the bike’s, um, unique styling. In order to cure that ail, Bottpower has been conscripted into a plan to give the machine a new lease on life. The notion is to craft a chassis that could use the suspension, brakes, engine and swing arm from the ill-fated Buell but would also serve up a flat-tracker stance.
You have our attention.
The owner has a mind to complete the project himself, but that hasn’t stopped Bottpower from working up a few design studies of their very own. Even better, the company says that if there’s enough interest in the project, it will begin selling kits so that Buell fans can create their own heathens.
The bikes should weigh in at a feathery 375 pounds and pack a walloping 100 horsepower when the tires touch pavement for the first time. Score.
2011 Maybach 62 – Click above for high-res image gallery
Typically, when an automaker develops an armored version of one of their sedans or SUVs, the added weight taken as inherent has an adverse effect on the car’s performance. But with the new Guard, the top-of-the-line Daimler division says it has whittled this down to a minimum.
The negligible effect of the added protection on the Maybach 62 comes down to two factors: First of all, Maybach’s twin-turbo V12, brakes and suspension components were designed from the get-go to accommodate the reinforced armor, and are already burdened enough by the car’s massive weight that the extra heft is relatively negligible. Secondly, the steel and Kevlar reinforcements weigh less than 900 pounds all told – far less than if you took an existing model to an independent firm instead of specifying it so equipped from the factory.
As a result, Daimler claims the Maybach 62 Guard can still accelerate from 0-62 miles per hour in 5.7 seconds and reach a threat-evading top speed of 155 mph – the electronically-limited level adopted by most of Germany’s automakers.
The Guard model is also said to be virtually indistinguishable to the naked eye from an unprotected Maybach 62, so if you want to know what it looks like, check out the recently revised model range in the gallery below. Official announcement in the press release .
Next-generation Chevrolet Colorado teaser – Click above for high-res image
let a sneak peek at its new global-platform Chevrolet Colorado slip ahead of the truck’s official debut at the Bangkok Motor Show in Thailand. The show starts March 25, so GM is giving us just enough to get the gist of what our next-generation Chevrolet Colorado/ may look like.
The General says it picked Thailand for the truck’s debut because the Southeast Asian market is becoming a huge player for the automaker, and people in Thailand are buying pickups at an alarming rate. In 2010, pickups accounted for 43 percent of vehicles sold in Thailand.
The truck will be built in Thailand for global consumption, but will most likely carry over Stateside as the new Colorado/Canyon, and is being prepped by GM of Brazil for the American market. for The General’s official press blast.
Distracted driving is an ongoing problem. A new poll proves once again that the roads are full of idiots. One in five of the 912 drivers State Farm informally surveyed in November admitted to accessing the Internet on their smartphones while driving. The insurance company will conduct a deeper study soon, and the 19 percent who admitted to surfing and driving in this study may actually be low for certain groups of drivers. Teenagers and young adults are more tethered to their phones than just about everyone else, and they’re also the least experienced drivers, a recipe for danger on the roads with a likely higher percentage of smartphone use while driving.
Despite the guilty drivers acknowledging the dangers of paying attention to a device instead of the road, none seem too repentant. “I’m not saying it’s the smartest thing in the world,” says Sean Black, a 38 year old Illinois resident, “but I guess I just do it anyway.” As with texting and driving, or even concentrating more on a phone call than piloting your automobile, many feel that only a near-accident or actual crash is going to modify this behavior. Even then, it will be on a case-by-case basis, and it puts the lives and well-being of innocents at the mercy of those too indolent to change their habits.
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone seems to believe he has a recipe to make his sport a bit more entertaining, and it involves heaping buckets of artificial rain. That’s right – no longer content to simply play with KERS and points systems, Ecclestone has reportedly turned his attentions towward bending weather to his will.
The F1 honcho says that overtaking in the dry is nearly impossible thanks to marbles on the course, but the instant things turn wet, the racing gets more exciting by the second. Some tracks are already outfitted with systems to water down the tarmac, and Ecclestone says that it would be relatively simple to fit other courses with irrigation.
While speaking with the official F1 website, Ecclestone said that he could imagine flooding tracks for 20 minutes during the middle of a race or for the last 10 laps with a two-minute warning.
Why not just drop Sebastian Vettel and the rest of the F1 gang in row boats and make them paddle around the Seine? We’re sure that would be plenty entertaining, and probably a good bit safer. Thanks for the tip, Andre!
And… we’re spent. Over the past three days we’ve tried to make you feel as if you were at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show with us, and in doing so showed you 76 production and concept vehicles that were unveiled or on display here. For those counting, that’s a new record for the number of vehicles that Autoblog has covered at one auto show, and you can find every single one below.
But now we’re done. Most of us are power napping right now so that tomorrow we can return to the normal business of Autoblog. It’s been fun and we hope you enjoyed the coverage. See you next month in the Big Apple for the 2011 New York Auto Show.
Lucas Ordonez is a 25-year-old Spaniard who began competing in and Playstation’s GT Academy when it first got started back in 2008. Of the initial 25,000 participants, Lucas weeded himself out as the quickest and was given the chance to take his skills from Gran Turismo to a real race track. Three years on, Lucas is preparing himself to take on a full LeMans Cup schedule in 2011.
Lucas’ season begins in March, behind the wheel of a Signatech Nissan LMP2 machine at the 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida. From there, it’s on to the holy grail, the 24 Hours of LeMans, followed by five more LeMans Cup races across the globe.
There are likely to be more people like Lucas coming down the pike: the European GT Academy will start its fourth installment on March 4, and Nissan and Gran Turismo recently started the American version. More details can be found in the official release after the jump. Thanks to everyone for the tips!
We’re up to 62. That’s 62 cars we’ve covered at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. And no, we’re not done. Our all time record is 72 vehicles covered in one auto show, thanks to a bountiful Frankfurt Motor Show in 2009. Will we beat our record tomorrow? Um… absolutely, because we’ve still got a lot more cool cars from Switzerland to show you. See you tomorrow morning when the fun continues. Until then, check out our updated batch of Geneva cars below.
Jaguar B99 Concept by Bertone – Click above for high-res image gallery
has been mulling the idea of taking another stab at the venerable after its last attempt, the underwhelming , failed in spectacular fashion. This is the other stab.
The Jagaur B99 concept is a team effort between Jag and Bertone and serves as way for Bertone to celebrate its 99th Anniversary. The new compact Jag’s name is a melding of the company’s first initial and its age.
Bertone says the concept is a design study in what it calls “dynamic imbalance” between parallel lines and “leaping forms.”
It represents not only Bertone’s new direction and a possible answer to the ubiquitous 3 Series, but a big leap in terms of technology. The B99 is powered by an all-new extended-range hybrid drivetrain designed by Bertone to run on two electric motors whose batteries can draw a charge from a small onboard engine. Bertone says they’ve been looking into sustainable energies for the last two decades and the B99 is the top of that evolution chain.
Bertone also presented a race car iteration of the B99 Concept (inset, right), saying it is working on a GT2 version of the B99 in hopes of proving the car is not just a pretty face.
Gallery:
Gallery:
Live photos copyright (C)2011 / AOL
[Source: Bertone]
2011: Jaguar B99 Concept by Bertone is a futuristic 3-Series challenger
