Sponsoring most events is pretty straightforward for any company: fork over the right sum of cash and you’re the new official automaker/timekeeper/jelly donut of whatever the event is. But for , its status as Official Automotive Partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is a bit more complicated.
Even to fork over a massive fleet with 4,000 vehicles to the organizing committee wasn’t enough for the German automaker to secure its status. BMW also had to meet the committee’s stringent emissions requirements: while the average emissions of vehicles in the UK comes in at 138 grams of CO2 per kilometer, the automaker supplying these Olympic games had to come in below 120 g/km – which BMW did at 116 g/km.
To get there, a portion of the cars BMW is supplying are electric vehicles: 160 units of the and 40 of the Mini E, with another 40 of the . The rest of the fleet is comprised of the (1,550 vehicles), (700), (17), (10) and (200 vehicles), plus another 25 R1200 RT motorcycles and 400 BMW Streetcruiser bicycles.
Wondering what they’ll be doing with all those cars? They’ll be used for everything from shuttling around the athletes, officials, medics and journalists to hauling boats out of the water. for the full details.
Any time a parent’s poor judgment results in harm or injury to a child, it’s a sad case. This story, however, seems particularly tragic. According to The Telegraph, a British woman whose daughter was seriously injured in a car crash was found negligent and partially responsible for her daughter’s injuries because the girl was riding in an inappropriate child safety seat.
While the accident was judged to be entirely the fault of the other driver, according to the report, his insurance company insisted that part of the responsibility for the girl’s injuries fell on her mother. Despite having an appropriate car seat with a five-point harness in the vehicle, the three-year-old girl was riding in a booster seat designed for older children. The judge agreed with the insurer and ruled that the mother was 25 percent liable for her child’s head, spinal and internal injuries, which the report said will affect her for the rest of her life. The decision means the woman will receive less financial compensation from the insurance company.
While we’re sure that the woman – who was described by the judge as “an excellent and caring mother,” according to the report – feels no small measure of guilt, her case reinforces the necessity of proper seatbelt and child safety seat use. For more information about keeping kids safe in and around cars, please visit , provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Life can be tough for U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Post traumatic stress disorder must make everyday tasks hell to deal with.
Not the least of which is re-adjusting to American road rules. In Iraq, the goal of the morning commute is to reach the destination alive. The more speed the better, and anything not moving out of the way quickly enough gets plowed into the pavement.
Many returning military personnel find it difficult to forget the lessons they’ve learned on hostile foreign roads. Over there, smart drivers follow the center line to avoid IEDs on the shoulders. Turn signals only give the enemy advance notice of your next move, and stopping at intersections makes you an easy target. When back in the states, those tactics are still effective for negotiating traffic, but aren’t appreciated so much by fellow drivers.
A new study by insurer (which serves members of the military and their families) shows that on average, returning troops had 13 percent more at-fault accidents than before they left. U.S. Army personnel showed the largest change at 23 percent, with Marines showing 12.3 percent increase.
Fortunately, USAA says it has no plans to raise rates in response to the study’s results. It’s also sharing the data with researchers and traffic safety experts in hopes of finding a solution.
was in the off-road business before the cult classic LM002, on a military vehicle concept dubbed in the mid-seventies that it hoped to sell to the U.S. armed forces. The 4,500-pound, fiberglass-bodied troop carrier used a 5.9-liter, 180-horsepower engine mounted in back. Hardly Cheetah-like, the vehicle delivered lackluster performance and didn’t handle well.
Even worse, it was a of a by another firm, which landed MTI and Lamborghini in court when the Cheetah was revealed at the 1977 Geneva Motor Show. The U.S. military tested the sole prototype and totaled it.
Perhaps this is the worst part: the Cheetah was such an expensive failure for Lamborghini that it was one of the reasons the company was unable to follow through on its commitment to BMW for the M1 project.
And with that history lesson digested, you’ll get even more wry satisfaction from the narrator’s dialogue in the Cheetah promo video, which you’ll find .
Ex-engineer Richard Parry-Jones is now chairman-designate of the UK’s Network Rail. Having looked into the futures of both car and train development, he believes that by the end of this decade the most Earth-friendly internal-combustion engine cars will be about as polluting, on a per-passenger basis, as high-speed electric trains.
Parry-Jones says carmakers are targeting 40g/km of CO2 tailpipe emissions by 2020. If the “average” occupancy of 1.6 people-per-vehicle stays the same in eight years, that would equal 25 gm per person per kilometer and put such cars in the same environmental category as the cleanest mass transit.
Since the emissions of electric cars and trains is usually given as zero, we’re assuming he means diesel-electric high-speed trains; life-cycle emissions wouldn’t be a valid comparison since those aren’t factored into a car’s tailpipe number. According to of , right now you’d have to load four folks in a small diesel topped up with ultra-low sulphur fuel to get down to 42 grams per passenger per kilometer (gpkm), which would put you right with one of Virgin’s Voyager class diesel-electric trains at 75-percent capacity. If you want to go all the way low, though, you’ll need a 50cc two-stroke and a passenger: at that point you’re rocking just 19.5 gpkm. Slowly.
“The past four months have been really tough for us,” admits CEO Dany Bahar to Autocar magazine. “We were working at a pace nobody had seen at Lotus for many years,” Bahar continued, alluding to the British sports car maker’s planned rollout of four models over five years that recently had recently hit the skids thanks to a 60-day financial freeze at Malaysian parent DRB-Hicom. “The shut-down, as I call it,” Bahar continued, “was very hard for us,” but the Lotus boss forcefully rejects media reports that his company is being shopped to potential buyers.
Production at Hethel is reportedly swinging back into action within the next few days now that DRB-Hicom has slid money across the table to re-start , and production. Lotus will also reportedly continue to develop the new and its V8 engine and automated transmission. Bahar went on to dispute reports that KPMG was looking for a buyer to take on Lotus, though there are likely to be management shuffles and continuing developments between Lotus, DRB-Hicom, , and who know what other parties, as the re-start doesn’t completely short-circuit the rumors of a possible sale.
In fact, resuming production could potentially even position Lotus more attractively for a potential suitor, rather than putting a shuttered, down-at-the-mouth boutique carmaker on the block.
When rolled out their outrageously styled three years ago, car buyers took notice. It’s eye-catching exterior styling, well-appointed interior and affordable price was just what a lot of family sedan buyers wanted.
Few will admit it, but carmakers sat up and paid attention, too. However, Andy Palmer, executive vice president for global planning, doesn’t mind telling the world that his company certainly saw the significance of the midsize Korean sedan. So much so that they briefly halted design work on the 2013 .
“We even delayed development by a short amount just to check that the (new Altima’s) proportions were right, the (package) was right (and that) the product overall was right,” Palmer tells Ward’s Auto. “I’d say they (Hyundai) are our major point of reference.”
But with the Altima as the second-best selling car in its segment, Nissan is focusing not on the Sonata, but on and the No. 1 best seller: .
“If you keep coming with better cars and better communications, telling better stories, over a period of time,” Palmer says. “I guarantee you’ll be talking about Toyota and Nissan.”
You wouldn’t think $7.7 million is something to complain about, but then again, you’re probably not in the running to be CEO of General Motors. Despite the fact that GM is no longer the largest company in the world – or, depending on whom you ask, even the largest carmaker – it’s a big job. On most days, we imagine it’s a pretty thankless one too. So when you compare the salary of GM CEO Dan Akerson to that of his cross-town rival at , perhaps $7.7 million does seem like chump change compared to Alan Mullaly’s .
And according to a report in The Detroit News, GM apparently isn’t happy to see its CEO sitting in third place among Big Three CEOs when payday comes. GM’s proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday said that the company is having an “extremely difficult” time hiring qualified executives because of limits to compensation set by the U.S. Treasury Department. The Treasury has capped the amount Akerson and other execs can make as part of GM’s 2009 bailout.
Here’s a thought: Maybe GM just needs to do a better job emphasizing all the benefits that come with working for the General, like getting to drive a gratis.
Looks like is finally getting a handle on this YouTube phenomenon. The French supercar firm has uploaded a trio of videos showing off its current and future cars; namely, the coupe and the 16C Galibier.
What Bugatti has clearly not figured out, on the other hand, is the definition of a teaser. While the slowly drawn out shots showing the upcoming super sedan from just about every angle are pretty impressive, aren’t teasers just supposed to whet the appetite? And if we’re honest, the narrative that goes with it is a bit… disarming. Finally, while most teaser videos are done and over with in a minute or less, this one is more than four times that length.
Oh well… nobody ever accused Bugatti of being subtle.
You can see the new Galibier teaser video by below, and if that’s not enough, we’ve also included two new videos showcasing the Bugatti Veyron and its most impressive bits and pieces.
To some residents of Midtown Manhattan, sex is a problem. Specifically, is a problem and they’ve asked the Community Board to ban weekend parking on their streets.
The board granted the request, citing chronic drug use, double parking and rampant sex. Unfortunately, the board has no power to enforce the ban and is awaiting a review by the Department of Transportation. If passed, the NYPD will presumably get involved and start asking frisky fornicators to get a room.
Half the problem could take care of itself soon. Patrons of two nightclubs in the area are being blamed for the illegal displays of public affection, medication and parkification: The Parlour Midtown and Rebel NYC. The Parlour’s liquor license is is under review due to “several violations.”
And, by the way, if you’re wondering how to properly do the backseat mamba, check out (kinda NSFW) for some helpful tips. Just stay out of Midtown.
Say what you will, but in this business you’re nobody until you have your own watch line. has several, teams up with Breitling, partners with Jaeger-LeCoultre, with Parmigiani Fleurier… the list goes on and on, and now includes one more: Carroll Shelby and David Yurman.
The collaboration was forged over the timepiece you see here, created to accompany the 950-horsepower unveiled at the just last month. The David Yurman Limited Edition Shelby 1000 timepiece features a Swiss-made Valjoux 7753 automatic chronograph in a 43.5mm stainless steel and rubber case with tachymeter bezel and guilloche racing stripes on the galvanized steel dial.
It’s affixed to the wrist by a rubber strap with snakeskin texture, and only 300 examples will be made: 150 in bare stainless steel and 150 with a black PVD coating. It’s the first of many Shelby-branded wristwatches that the David Yurman brand will be making for Shelby, and you can check it out in high-resolution by clicking the image above and for the full press release.
If you ask us, the whole “anything-ageddon” craze that has permeated the news networks is getting a bit old. Take last year’s “Carmageddon,” which turned a 10-mile Los Angeles freeway closure into a two month-long, End of Days-style scare-fest. By the time the dreaded weekend arrived, the entire ordeal turned out to be a .
But while traffic around the 405 wasn’t bad, it appears that couples might have been bumper-to-bumper back home. CBS This Morning reports that births appear to be up significantly the past couple weeks, which is noteworthy considering that Carmageddon happened a full nine months ago. We’re guessing you can do the math on that one.
Since the month isn’t even over yet, it’s difficult to get definitive proof of this phenomenon. But the CBS show managed to find a few parents who confessed to avoiding the traffic and staying home for a little private time that weekend. One couple was going to name their new baby Chevy, but when they found out it was a girl, the name idea turned to . What, Prius isn’t a manly name? to watch the CBS report.
No doubt has seen the light shining at the end of its turnaround plan for a while, but now The Blue Oval is getting so close to the daylight it might even be able to smell the fresh air. , Ford stock was rated so low by the three major ratings agencies that it was floating in the cistern below the basement of junk status. After Mulally came onboard, the company put up everything to get the money to work his plan, from the company logo to its real estate. In order to get it back, two of the three agencies need to rate Ford stock as investment grade, and one, Fitch, has just done so.
Fitch has certified Ford stock as BBB-, the first investment-grade level, and issued a stable outlook for the company and its finance arm. Ford remains just one step below investment worthy with both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, but with “a solid Q1″ predicted by and (they expect earnings in spite of European and Asia-Pacific sales doldrums), the final turn might not be far away.
When it does, Ford will have achieved what it for 2012. As well as getting its assets out of hock, Dearborn will also greatly reduce its borrowing costs. Ford’s head of investor relations, Michael Seneski, vowed in December that Ford would return to investors’ good graces by showing “authoritative and highly credible insight into our automotive business and Ford Credit.” We’re of the opinion that an increasing flow of good products haven’t hurt, either.
Toyota’s may be getting a bit long in the tooth, but it’s received a mild refresh for 2012, and a new “limited edition” package courtesy of in-house tuning arm, Toyota Racing Development. showed a preproduction TRD T/X Baja at last fall’s and at , with the real deal now poised to go on sale in May.
The Baja Series will start at $32,990, plus a delivery fee of $810. That’s for a Tacoma Access Cab model with a manual transmission – the price scales up for automatic-equipped trucks and Double Cab models. The Baja Series package carries an MSRP of $5,015, but you get to subtract $650 in a “factory credit” if you order it, since the Baja’s Off-Road Package is cheaper than the standard Tacoma Off-Road Package. Or to make things simpler, figure the Baja Series Tacoma is going to cost you $4,365 more than the same truck without it.
Besides the kit already included in the TRD Off-Road Package, which is required to get the Baja Series upgrades, the special Tacomas will feature BF Goodrich T/A KO tires (LT265/70R16) with bead-locking wheels, Bilstein shocks (front and rear), a TRD exhaust system, a two-inch front lift, and those snazzy Baja Series graphics.
Toyota has all the details in it’s press release, which you can see if you .
China’s middle class is predicted to mint up to 500 million new bourgeois comrades in the next 15 years, and not only will that mean new car owners, but more of those owners will be women. Along with rising incomes, that has put The Middle Kingdom into an SUV-buying boom driven by “tiger moms,” similar to the splurge that happened here in the 1990s but with big, striped cats replacing black-spotted white balls.
The trend has enough force already that SUV sales are expected to make up for other slumping segments, which is just about all of them. In addition to mothers wanting an SUV to haul their lone kid around there are other cultural factors at play, one being the fact that car ownership has only recently become a practical aspiration and having an SUV is a way to make a big splash in the new pool.
Carmakers obviously have no intention of denying the Chinese their desires, with Daimler declaring this “the year of the SUV.” It’s probably no coincidence that showed off its Jota in and its in , nor that every other automaker showed up to the Beijing Motor Show with plenty of high-riding hardware (see above). It probably is a coincidence that carmakers dreamed of selling squillions of SUVs just as Earth Day ended.
The facts are still coming in, but what is known is that on March 30 an armada of exotics, said to number from 25 to 30, was escorted by two New Jersey state troopers with their lights flashing down the Garden State Parkway at triple-digit speeds to Atlantic City. On top of that, all of the civilian cars had their license plates taped over. Among the drivers was supercar fan and NFL player Brandon Jacobs, recently of the New York Giants but now with the San Francisco Forty-Niners. According to NJ.com, Jacobs “told RidesMagazine in October that he often cruises with the Driving Force Club,” a car club out of New York, but it isn’t clear that this was a club outing.
One more established fact: someone has a lot of splainin’ to do. Authorities began receiving complaints that very day, with one beginning, “I had the great pleasure today of nearly being killed by, not one, but two, Lamborghinis traveling in excess of 110 mph in a (New Jersey State Police) escorted ‘caravan’…”. Others wrote in to say that the cars were weaving across all three lanes and that an elderly driver was so shocked she almost ran off the road. One motorist even labeled it “Death Race 2012.”
An NBC New York report indicates that Jacobs called a sergeant in the NJ force that he’s friends with and requested the escort. That sergeant and another officer have been put on leave without pay, the station commander has been transferred while his role is investigated. And speaking of investigations, they’re coming from everywhere, with looking into the matter. At least everyone involved can use history as a guide: police on the same road with a different supercar group two years ago. Check out an NJ Today video on the story by .
Cadillac’s new XTS isn’t just headed to China, it will be built there. The forthcoming full-size luxury cruiser had already been earmarked for production in General Motors’ Oshawa, Ontario Assembly Plant, but the automaker has just announced in that it will also be built in China with its joint venture partner Shanghai General Motors.
is still a relatively small player in China’s premium segment, with just 68 dealers and 30,000 sales last year. However, it’s growing quickly, with March sales up more than 35 percent year-over-year to 2,745 units. Better still, General Motors says Cadillac’s average buying age is very young – just 35 – and it expects to have 120 dealers online by the end of this year to meet growing demand.
The idea of local XTS production strikes us as a smart one, as China is enjoying a swell in demand for luxury cars, and it has always maintained a strong demand for vehicles with large rear seats. Cadillac already has a solid track record building in the communist nation, as it first began assembling the China-only SLS Executive Sedan – essentially an extended wheelbase – back in 2006.
The upper end of the Chinese market is all about chauffeured luxury automobiles, and given the prevalent Anglophilia in the Far East, would be remised not to jump at the opportunity being seized by so many of its competitors. So it is only fitting that the stoic British marque chose the to announce what is billed in every sense as the Ultimate version of the sedan.
One of two products launched in Beijing by the new Engineered To Order division of Jaguar (alongside the ), the XJ Ultimate packs everything a pampered passenger could desire: individually adjustable rear seats with power everything (separated by an illuminated and leather-trimmed center console), motorized fold-down tables, chilled champagne bucket and flutes, iPads with keyboards mounted to the backs of the front seats and a 20-speaker Meridian sound system. Exclusive finishes like Herringbone veneer, machined aluminum and LED lighting round out the package.
All that gear is set in motion by Jaguar’s 510-horsepower supercharged V8, riding on an adjusted suspension and 20-inch wheels. While the Chinese market may be the target for luxed-out limos like this one, the XJ Ultimate isn’t exclusive to China. In fact 30 examples (all in black) are earmarked for the United States, with price tags pegged at $155,000. for the pair of press releases on the XJ Ultimate and the Engineered To Order department.
Bulgarian tuner Vilner has some kind of Luxo-Ray that fires munitions packed with at least two tons of quilted leather and Alcantara, then aims it at just about everything as soon as it can be reloaded. The latest target is the Defender Wood, making this in a year that the Defender has come into Vilner’s sights.
Last time they only hit it with one barrel and left the floorboards and cargo area covered in black carpeting. This time they unloaded both barrels, so in addtion to black-and-brown Nappa leather and Alcantara wrapping everything from the sport seats to the third brake light, Vilner’s added leather arm rests, wood paneling underfoot and a new treatment for its 600-watt “Ground Zero” sound system that all but eliminates usable cargo space.
Oh, and the whole thing is soundproofed. So that no one can hear you scream at your passengers to remove their dark-soled shoes and not eat, drink or touch anything.
Former Chairman and current investor Ray Lane is blaming Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for the delays in procuring federal loans that have been earmarked for the maker of the extended-range plug-in and the upcoming Atlantic, according to Delaware Online.
In an e-mail, Lane said Romney is mistakenly grouping the Fisker loan from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with money given to failed companies like solar-panel producer Solyndra. Lane, managing director at venture-capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, said in the alleged e-mail that he’s planning to contact Romney, whose father George Romney was once president of American Motors Corp.
The Fisker issue is particularly acute in Delaware, where the automaker had planned to expand employment and build a production version of the (a.k.a. Project Nina) shown above at a former General Motors factory. Those plans have been as Fisker sorts out its financial situation. Delaware Online reported late last week that Fisker had at the factory, which was characterized as “absolutely empty.”
The company was set to receive $529 million in federal loans but has only received a fraction of that and hasn’t received funding since last year.
