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As expected, Porsche announced today in New York that the 911 GT3R hybrid will be coming to North America later this year to race in the Petit Le Mans (PLM). When the new flywheel hybrid race car was first announced this past spring, Porsche told us that it would make a decision about running in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) after evaluating the new car’s performance during its early races in Europe. After coming within two hours of winning the 24 Hours of Nurburgring in May, it was clear that the 25-percent fuel economy boost and extra power was more than enough to make up for the added weight of the hybrid drive.

Since the Automobile Club de l’Ouest has yet to finalize the technical rules for hybrid GT cars, the Porsche will run unclassified at Road Atlanta on October 2. The Georgia race will be the North American round for the inaugural Le Mans Intercontinental Cup. Following the PLM, Porsche will take the car to Zuhai, China for the Asian round on November 7. No announcement has been made yet about running in the European round at Silverstone in the UK in September.

The 911 GT3R hybrid has a 480-horsepower flat-six driving the rear wheels and a pair of 60-kilowatt electric motors for the front wheels. The motors recapture kinetic energy during braking and store it in an electromechanical flywheel mechanism. The flywheel can release energy back to the motors automatically during cruising or the driver can press a boost button on the steering wheel for extra power on demand for passing.

[Source: Porsche]

Continue reading Porsche 911 GT3R Hybrid to run at Petit Le Mans

Porsche 911 GT3R Hybrid to run at Petit Le Mans

In span of about two-and-a-half years, Arizona’s highway speed camera program, run by Australian company Redflex, mailed 1,105,935 tickets, or close to 1,125 tickets every day. In 2009, a group called CameraFraud went to work to get the cameras taken down, and after a year of effort they’ve been successful: Redflex shut the 78 fixed and mobile cameras down at midnight, July 16.

The group convinced Arizona’s new governer, Jan Brewer, that the cameras were all about money. Brewer’s predecessor, Janet Napolitano, had cited the fact that the cameras would bring in $120 million every year for the state. But since tickets needed to be delivered by process servers to those caught speeding in order to be legally binding, 66% of the violations were never paid. Instead of reaping $120 million annually, only $78 million was collected over the entire 2.5 years.

There remain some Arizona municipalities with speed-detecting cameras still in use, and CameraFraud is now taking aim at them. Also, the shutdown doesn’t affect the red light cameras, a program run by American Traffic Solutions, which are still in operation.

[Source: The Newspaper]

Arizona’s freeway speed cameras snap their last speeders

Speaking outside its Electronics Research Lab in Palo Alto, California, Volkswagen chairman Dr. Martin Winterkorn reconfirmed the automaker’s commitment to bring electric vehicles to market in 2013, beginning with the eGolf compact and eUp! city car.

Drawing a faint parallel to the original Beetle, Winterkorn told the assembled media that “Volkswagen is working on the electric car for everyone.” And one of the first electrified V-Dubs will be its bread-and-butter Golf hatchback.

“The automotive industry is reinventing itself,” Winterkorn continued, “and Volkswagen will be the first automaker to mass produce the electric car for everyone.” VW believes that electric vehicles are the next great revolution in the automobile, and in order to achieve its goal of becoming the world’s top automaker by 2018, it believes it has to dominate the EV segment.

In addition to bringing two EVs to market in the next three years, the Touareg Hybrid (shown above) is being produced, with the hybrid Golf and Jetta due later that year and the hybrid Passat following in 2012. All of which VW considers to be interim products.

Although current battery technology has limited the eGolf to a 100-mile range when fitted with a 26.5 kWh battery pack, Winterkorn asserts that “Our customers are not willing to compromise. They expect the same thing from a standard [internal-combustion engine] Golf as they would from an electric Golf.” But until its partnerships with Samsung, Toshiba and other battery manufacturers pan out and develop lighter, smaller, less expensive and higher capacity batteries, they’ll have their work cut out for them.

When asked what VW plans to do about vehicle weight, Winterkorn rattled off a litany of advanced materials – from carbon fiber to magnesium – and told Autoblog that the next generation of Volkswagen products will undergo a weight loss program.

[Image: Sean Gallup/Getty]

Volkswagen reconfirms EVs for 2013, next-generation vehicles to reduce weight

According to Autocar, an admission by a Mercedes-Benz engineer proves that the company is working on a nine-speed automatic transmission. That isn’t exactly new, since talk of such a beast has been broached before. The difference this time is that Autocar’s sources says the gearbox will be “introduced on large-capacity engines.”

With no numbers for context we can’t be sure what’s meant by “large-capacity.” However, Motor Trend reported that the baby SLS would get a nine-speed double-clutch transmission for it’s twin-turbo-V6-hybrid engine, and Automobile said that all of the next generation S-Classes, arriving in 2012, would “have hybrid powertrains and a new nine-speed automatic transmission.”

We don’t expect any of those engines to be of particularly large displacement, especially now that the SSK AMG appears to have gone from a twin-turbo V8 to a V6 twin turbo with electric assistance. Still, we have no doubt we’ll see a nine-speed transmission somewhere. And when the Mercedes engineers opine that “nine ratios is the maximum that is technically possible, as well as being the most that customers will be able to cope with,” we believe they’re wrong. A company is really going to leave double-digit transmission bragging rights on the table? Uh, no. Can I get a ten-speed… anyone…?

[Source: Autocar]

It Will Never End: Mercedes-Benz reportedly working on nine-speed automatic

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that the 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid hails from a nation where Buddhism is one of the dominant religions. After all, this slippery sedan’s design is the gas-electric’s equivalent of The Middle Path – a road that the company hopes is truly the way to automotive enlightenment.

Say what?

In the still-young history of the modern hybrid automobile, there have been two prevailing schools of thought on design: As the less costly path, The Low Road to hybridization is already a crowded one – it’s a design route that basically calls for the electrification hardware to be buried beneath a familiar bodyshell that’s shared with a conventional internal combustion-only model (see: Lexus LS 600h, Ford Fusion Hybrid, Chevrolet Silverado, etc.). The driving philosophy here is to keep production costs in check while also appealing to audiences that might be otherwise reluctant to embrace “new” technology.

By contrast, The High Road calls for swoopier model-specific bodywork – if not an entire dedicated platform – enabling a “greener than thou” halo for its owners and parent company. Unfortunately, this high-visibility strategy also costs a boatload of cash, and the only such model that has managed to make a solid business case for itself is the Toyota Prius, a vehicle that’s become the de-facto postercar for the green movement.

But here’s the conundrum that Hyundai has keenly recognized: Despite being on the checklist of every politician, environmentalist and Hollywood glitterati, hybrids don’t sell in America – they account for less than two percent of new vehicles purchased in the U.S. every year, and their high technology bandwidth means that they require a disproportionate amount of money to develop. Basically, Hyundai knows that the Sonata Hybrid is a necessity for improving its technological capabilities, as well as for burnishing its industry-leading CAFE scores, but it also seems to understand that it is almost certain to lose money on each one it builds. Which is why they’ve taken The Middle Path.

In this case, the Sonata Hybrid tries to integrate the best of the other two hybrid strategies – create a distinctive new model with a unique look that says “I care more about the earth than you do” without incurring the cost of a whole new platform and all-new sheetmetal. Have they been successful? We flew all the way to South Korea to find out…

Continue reading First Drive: 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid looks to split the uprights

First Drive: 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid looks to split the uprights

An impact with an automobile will crack a human’s bones like lobster claws at a clambake; an outcome Volvo aims to fight with technology. Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake, a system that uses radar and cameras to stop the car and avert mauling pedestrians, makes its debut on the 2011 Volvo S60. While a visit to the recent Wellesley, Massachusetts stop of the Naughty Volvo Tour at Lee Imported Cars didn’t net us any wheel time, we got our first chance to get hands-on with the new S60 outside of a convention hall.

Make the jump for the full story.

Photos by Dan Roth / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading 2011 Volvo S60 hands-on demonstration w/video

2011 Volvo S60 hands-on demonstration w/video

Aside from the recent dust-up over immigration law in Arizona, we’ve heard very little about America’s efforts on border patrol lately. Where once we heard all about fences, militia parties and night-vision, now the collective media consciousness is focused elsewhere. That doesn’t mean that the challenges facing border patrol have exactly evaporated, of course. The men and women charged with keeping an eye on the line between the U.S. and Mexico still face mile upon mile of some of the most grueling terrain on the planet, which is exactly why the Yuma Sheriff went ahead and ordered up a Ford F-150 SVT Raptor before the official government-issue fleet arrives.

Automobile Magazine’s Eszra Dyer decided to tag along with Major Leon Wilmot to see how the truck handles itself in an official capacity and just what this border patrol business is all about. As it turns out, the majority of the operation is concerned with large expanses of sand, moon dust, non-exploded ordinance and the cleverness of a people who want nothing more to outwit American law enforcement. If you’ve got a hot second, click over to Automobile for a quick read.

[Source: Automobile Magazine]

Automobile checks in for border control duty with Ford F-150 Raptor

The recently-crowned king of the United Auto Workers, President Bob King, has a monumental task before him: reverse the decades-long decline in UAW membership. To do that the UAW will likely need to make inroads at transplant automaker plants, and to accomplish this goal King promises to be more active in staging demonstrations than in the past, and an early target is Toyota and California. Automotive News reports that the UAW is organizing protests in front of several Toyota dealerships in the Golden State to draw attention to the recently closed NUMMI plant in Fremont, CA.

The facility, which was making the Toyota Corolla and Matrix until it was shuttered in April, was the only unionized facility producing Toyotas in North America. The closing of NUMMI, which happened in part because General Motors pulled out of its agreement with Toyota during its bankruptcy in 2009, left thousands of UAW workers without a job. Toyota has since sold the NUMMI facility to Tesla Motors, who will utilize only a portion of the plant and hire around 1,000 workers. Toyota did spring for a considerable severance package of nearly $300 million for the laid-off workers when the plant closed.

Of course the group most upset about the upcoming protests is the American International Automobile Dealers Association. AIADA president Cody Lusk claims that the protests will only hurt small businesses that supply plenty of American jobs, adding
“An assault on America’s auto retail industry will only serve to highlight the disconnect between the UAW and reality.”

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req. Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty]

UAW picketing at Toyota dealers to start in CA and NY says King

How could we forget about the fantastic 1980’s synthesizer-heavy hit “Cars” by Gary Numan? Not only is it an infectious tune, it acts as a sort of an ironic new-wave theme song for automobile enthusiasts. Now, some two decades later, Numan has paired up with the DieHard battery folks for a new ad showing just how powerful their car batteries are – a single one is apparently enough to handle Mr. Numan (who is looking moderately creepy in his old age) playing his oddly dispassionate hit on the horns of a whole fleet of cars.

See the commercial for yourself in the video after the jump, and if you’ve never heard the original song (or seen the original video), it’s available for your viewing and listening pleasure. Good luck not getting it stuck in your head. Thanks for the tip, Chris!

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading Video: DieHard keeps Gary Numan “stable for days”

Video: DieHard keeps Gary Numan “stable for days”

PSA Peugeot-Citroën already sells its wares in China and has a joint-venture with Dongfeng, but has now added another joint venture partner in a €395 million ($499M U.S.) 50-50 tie-up with Chang’an Automobile Group. The union will eventually have cars like the Citroën DS3 and the company’s engines and light trucks built in the country, using two current Chang’an factories, renovating one more and building another.

The difference in the two joint ventures is that Dongfeng makes and markets cars under the Peugeot and Citroën brands. Peugeot-Citroën and Chang’an, however, are creating a third brand together. What kind of vehicles that third brand will sell hasn’t been disclosed. With Dongfeng and Chang’an, Peugeot-Citroën will have 650,000-vehicle production capacity in China, but Peugeot is considering raising it’s 450,000-unit capacity with Dongfeng. The French company sold 176,000 cars in China through June, a 49% jump over last year.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

WSJ: Peugeot and Chang’an shack up for new vehicle joint-venture

Detroit may be one step closer to wiping the old Packard automobile plant off the face of the map for good. For years, the structure has stood derelict as a symbol of the city’s decay as lawmakers fought to figure out who exactly owns the property. Supposedly, the plant is currently owned by a company under the name of Biosource, Inc, and the only person on that company’s books is Dominic Cristini. Cristini is currently serving a prison term in California on drug charges, leaving the local government to try to decide how best to go about cleaning up the site.

But things got a little clearer recently when Biosource sued Detroit’s 555 Nonprofit Studio and Gallery. The name on the lawsuit wasn’t Cristini’s. Instead, one Romel Casab was behind the move. It had been assumed that Casab was tied to the Packard property in some, but officials had difficulty proving it. Evidently, the parties behind Biosource became upset when the 555 gallery removed artwork by famous UK graffiti artist Banksy from the property (you can see the art and its relocation here).

Now that there’s a clearer target in Mr. Casab, it’s possible that Detroit will be able to lean on him to either demolish the 3,500,000 square-foot facility or allow the city to take over the former Packard plant altogether. Casab, for his part, denies having any ownership of the property. That’s somewhat predictable considering that if the city moves forward with its attempts to clear the property, Casab could be held accountable for the related costs.

[Sources: The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press Image: Spencer Platt/Getty]

Detroit still hunting down Packard plant owner

Drop a couple of cylinders, add start-stop technology, slap a turbo on, drop it in the Fiat 500 and call it a day. That’s exactly what Fiat Powertrain Technologies has done with its newly-introduced two-cylinder TwinAir 85-horsepower engine. The engine has found its first home in the cuddly Cinquicento, but we expect the mill to expand to additional Fiat models soon.

The gasoline-fueled, 0.9-liter two-cylinder motor features a pint-sized turbo, Fiat’s revolutionary MultiAir technology and so much more. When dropped in the Fiat 500, the new engine performs better than the company’s existing 1.2-liter mill and on par with its 1.4-liter while offering a 30-percent reduction in fuel consumption. When equipped with the new TwinAir, the Fiat 500 can reach a top speed of 108 miles per hour and can hit 60 mph in under 11 seconds. Fuel consumption works out to a handy 57 miles per gallon (U.S.) and emissions drops down to just 95 grams per kilometer of CO2. With max torque sitting at approximately 107 ft.-lbs. at a low 1900 rpm, this little mill figures to offer enough low-end grunt too.

We know that the vast majority of American car buyers will not wax ecstatic over a puny 0.9-liter two-cylinder powerplant, but boy does this little thing show signs of rockin’. Follow the jump for more technical info on Fiat’s breakthrough two-cylinder TwinAir engine. Here’s hoping this gem finds its way Stateside at some point…

[Source: Fiat]

Continue reading Fiat debuts two-cylinder, 85 hp TwinAir engine in Fiat 500

Fiat debuts two-cylinder, 85 hp TwinAir engine in Fiat 500

Tesla has, if nothing else, crafted a unique automobile in the Roadster. It’s electric, very attractive and highly desirable. Up next, assuming all goes according to plan (a rather big assumption, granted), the Model S sedan will be equally special in the global automotive marketplace.

Such machines deserve an equally unique buying experience and the Silicon Valley firm has hired former Apple and Gap Executive George Blankenship to turn that idea into reality as Vice President of Design and Store Development.

Blankenship will go right to work, with his initial projects said to include opening Tesla Stores in Tokyo, Toronto and Washington, DC. For his part, Blankenship sounds ready to take on the project, saying:

Joining Tesla allows me to work with some of the boldest and brightest people on the planet while changing the world for the better. I’m excited to create a retail experience that is as thrilling as my first drive of the Tesla Roadster.

Judging from his past efforts, we are expecting big things from Tesla’s retail developments… and it sounds like Elon Musk got a head start on his wish to make his Tesla Stores “a cross between an Apple Store, a Starbucks and a good kitchen.”

[Source: Tesla]

Continue reading Tesla hires former Apple retail strategist to revolutionize buying experience

Tesla hires former Apple retail strategist to revolutionize buying experience

The typical U.S. auto worker makes around $30 per hour, plus benefits. In China, a worker would be hard-pressed to earn $250 in a month. That makes the Land of the Great Wall a very attractive location to build automobiles, but a recent rash of strikes by workers at Toyota and Honda facilities has lead to rising wages, a trend that Automotive News reports is leading to more automation.

China’s traditionally inexpensive labor meant that automakers could afford to utilize humans where the same task would be accomplished by a robot in higher cost countries like the U.S. or Canada. Both strikes and the anticipated rise of China’s currency are but a couple of reasons automakers have increased by a reported 20-30 percent spending on robots, sensors, frequency converters and conveyors. And companies like Siemens in Germany and Rockwell Automation here in the States are reaping the rewards of the increased spending on automation as AN reports that stock prices at those companies are steadily rising.

AN quotes Wenjie Ge of Nomura Securities as saying that wages in China will double in only five years, adding “the pace of automation in Chinese factories is faster than Japan in the 1980s.” Some analysts feel that China’s economy is growing so fast that lower cost nations like Vietnam will soon take some of China’s manufacturing jobs. But since China has quickly become the largest market in the world for auto sales, there’s still a lot of vehicles built in China for many years to come.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req. Image: AFP/Getty]

Increasing Chinese labor unrest to spur faster automation?

There are plenty of reasons to get excited about the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The annual shindig is a mecca for metal from all over the world – old and new. Motorsports events from across the go-fast spectrum make it onto the schedule and there’s even plenty of auto-themed art to keep the masses entertained when they aren’t huffing tire smoke. In a word, the event is bliss for anyone with even a passing interest in the automobile.

But the grand daddy of it all has to be the Hill Climb. At 1.16 miles, the course features nine turns, a looming stone wall and enough hay to feed all the cows in Wisconsin for a week. Last year brought out a rash of new high-dollar supercars, including the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and the Lexus LFA, and as a result, there were plenty of manufacturers on hand to show off their newest hardware. While we were lurking the grounds and looking at all the shiny conveyances, drivers were blasting across the grounds and recording their exploits. We’ve rounded up 10 of the best videos from the hill and arranged them in no particular order. Sure, some of them are more entertaining than others, but all of them are better than what you’re doing at work, right? Hit the jump to get started.

Continue reading Video: Goodwood 2010 – Taking the hill

Video: Goodwood 2010 – Taking the hill

As we headed down the A 283 on our way to the Goodwood Festival of Speed on Saturday morning, my co-driver looked over at me and said, “sometimes life just deals you a flush.” He couldn’t have said it better. In this particular case, the perfect hand came in the form of a vintage 190SL loaned to us by the good people at Mercedes-Benz for our drive to the Earl of March’s estate and perhaps the most perfect weather Southern England has ever seen. We were joined by a host of other classic Benzes, including more than half a dozen 300SL coupes and convertibles driven by fellow journalists, generating quite a bit of havoc among motorists and bystanders.

Driving along the beautiful, winding country roads with the warmth of the sun on our backs and a cool breeze providing natural air conditioning, I realized that I was in the perfect car. Of course, in reality the 190SL is far from a flawless automobile. The steering is vague, the suspension easily upset, heat can radiate into the cockpit from the exhaust pipes below, and it doesn’t even have seat belts. But for that hour drive it was the perfect car. It allowed us to enjoy everything about our trip – the sights, the smells, the sounds and even the people – in a way that no other car could have. I’ve happened upon this phenomenon just a few times before, when a particular car blends with a unique situation to create something so incredibly memorable. It was an experience that I’ll likely never forget, and one that I wish upon every car enthusiast. What an incredible start to a wonderful day.

Let the Goodwood fun begin…

Photos by Drew Phillips / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

Goodwood 2010: Arriving in style in the perfect car

The first internal combustion-powered automobile was not invented by an American (thank you, Karl Benz). But we did invent the motorcycle (coal-powered), air brake, AC motor, stop sign, tractor, assembly line, automatic transmission, muffler, tow truck, bulldozer, car radio, tracked amphibious landing vehicle, stock car racing, cruise control, carbon fiber, the integrated circuit, satellite navigation, airbags, catalytic converter, The Mars Rover and even the Segway. In other words, we didn’t invent the automobile but we did contribute much of the technology that makes it what it is today.

In fact, we’d argue that while the Industrial Revolution began in the textile mills and iron foundries of Great Britain, the entire world went mobile when we Americans got our hands on the automobile. When Henry Ford introduced the assembly line (with conveyor) in 1918 1913, he put the world on wheels. Before the Model T, cars were conveyances for the wealthy, but the assembly line brought down costs to the point where car ownership became attainable to all. Ol’ Henry’s assembly line was so successful that the model was applied to almost every other area of manufacturing the world over, driving down the cost of goods and making life better for all.

[Image: rogerimp CC 2.0]

Continue reading America, the automobile and the 4th of July

America, the automobile and the 4th of July

According to the scribes at Automobile Magazine, Volkswagen isn’t planning to offer its diminutive Up! city car here in the United States. Boo! Interestingly enough, though, the electric version, imaginatively known as the E-Up!, is said to be earmarked for select U.S. markets.

What those U.S. markets may be is unknown, but we’d imagine it would be something like the five markets where Nissan plans to initially offer its Leaf Stateside… and you can bet Southern California (as always) will be on the list.

Last we heard, the E-Up! being developed for America wold likely be a bit larger than the model sold overseas and wouldn’t be offered for sale for another few years. Sure, you may want your zero-emissions goodness earlier than that, but we can stand to wait a little while longer for the “Beetle of the 21st Century,” right?

[Source: Automobile]

Report: 2013 Volkswagen E-Up! city car headed for select U.S. markets

Apparently the product planners at Mercedes-Benz and AMG have decided that both cheaper and more expensive derivatives of the gull-wing SLS coupe would be too problematic and have instead opted for something completely different. AMG is now reportedly developing a mid-engined SLM to take on the likes of the Audi R8 and a possible BMW supercar.

While reusing components from the SLS would have been preferable from a purely financial perspective, it could cannibalize the SL, while something even more upmarket from the SLS might prove too hard to sell in the current economic environment.

The SLM is expected to focus on light weight and a smaller boosted engine, possibly paired with electric motors. The front wheels could be driven by the same motors used in the battery-powered SLS E-Cell while the engine would drive the rears. If this hybrid configuration is utilized, the SLM would also theoretically be a direct competitor to a production version of the Porsche 918 Spyder.

[Source: Automobile]

Rendered Speculation: Mercedes-Benz SLM, possibly plug-in hybrid

Porsche Doubles Up, Domestics Swing for the Fences

Our fearless Editor-in-Chief is off galavanting around the Northeast on vacation, so I’ve been tasked with coming up with this month’s By The Numbers. Since I’m more obsessed with driving than number-crunching, there’s a good chance I screwed this up. I’m sure you’ll let me know, so let’s just get this party started…

Porsche was June’s biggest winner, with a whopping 137% increase in sales compared to 2009. Not a single automaker came close to that triple-digit figure, but Jaguar took the number two slot with an increase of nearly 73%, undoubtedly helped by the release of the all-new XJ. Dodge’s continued success has extended through the first half of the year, while Buick shows signs of life with a 53% increase in sales compared to the previous year.

With Hummer, Saturn and Pontiac all going the way of the dodo, General Motors’ zombie brands fared predictably poorly in June, although Mercury continues to soldier along with a 26% increase compared to June 2009, despite Ford’s announcement that the badge-engineered brand will cease to exist this time next year.

Also, this is one of the first months that Saab Spyker Automobile has begun reporting sales, so from here on, we’ll combine last year’s Saab sales (under GM ownership) with this year’s sales (under the Spyker regime).

Check out the full breakdown below and compare previous sales data by checking out our BTN archives – if you’re into that sorta thing.

*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 25 selling days in June 2010 and 25 selling days in June 2009, so the change in monthly sales volume will equal the change in the average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company.

By the Numbers – June 2010: Not Without My Neff Edition