The Boxster Spyder has been hailed as one of the best handling Porsches in the automaker’s line-up. We flog it through the mountains of Malibu to find out.
In the realm of over-reaching tuners, Mansory takes the top spot. And its latest Panamera Turbo project is further proof 690 horsepower still can’t outrun ugly.
The Lexus LFA “Pitch” ad has garnered plenty of attention, so Toyota has released a making-of video to explain how it was done.
It took a full year for the to regain its pony car sales title versus the reborn , but show that the ‘Stang has finally regained its mojo. The far more powerful 2011 Mustang plays a huge roll in the comeback, but after originally reporting the upset, Automotive News is now pointing out a second factor that helped the Blue Oval bring the May pony car sales title back to Dearborn.
The Camaro has been selling so well that General Motors hasn’t had to pour any money into incentives.That’s zero denero, no super low financing… nothing. The tale of the Mustang’s May sales tally is a bit murkier. First, 4,376 of the Mustangs sold in May were 2010 models, and those coupes could be had with $2,500 on the hood and financing between zero and 5.9 percent – depending on the length of the loan. According to Edmunds.com, the 2011 Mustang has $1,500 on the hood for returning lessees and conquests alike, plus financing as low as zero percent for 36 months.
Does the fact that the Mustang has some cash on its hood mean that its 10,225 to 8,931 sales victory against the Camaro is tainted? We’re not inclined to think so because a win is a win no matter how you dissect it. But at the same time, we’re pretty sure GM is thrilled to be selling their pony car at a clip of 100,000 units per year without any cash on the hood. Not a bad consolation prize.
What it’s like to live the good life? We take the newest Roller for a spin to find out.
It’s the most recognizable movie car in the world and the lucky new owner gets rotating plates, guns, an ejector seat and more for the princely sum of just $5 million.
Mercury dies at the end of this year and Ford directs its efforts on revamping the Lincoln line-up.
Dodge explodes for 72.7-percent sales increase, domestics dominate
May 2010 was a crazy month of sales for the U.S. auto industry. Would you have expected Ford Motor Company, riding high on a string of successful monthly sales performances, to announce on the same day it posts nearly a 22% rise in sales? Would you have expected the four remaining “Core” brands of to outsell all eight of the company’s brands from back in May 2009? Would you have expected the brand to still be on the outs with customers, posting just a 3.6-percent rise in sales in comparison to (up 27.9 percent), (up 31.15 percent) and even (up 72.7 percent!)? And finally, would you have expected , something it hasn’t done since the Bowtie brand’s pony car arrived on the scene last year?
Check out all the numbers for yourself below in our handy dandy chart. A complete listing of our past By the Numbers charts can be found here.
*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 26 selling days in May 2010 and 26 selling days in May 2009, so the change in monthly sales volume will equal the change in the average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company.
seems to have found the special ingredients it needed for the to spank the in . Thanks to a heap of power from a range of efficient new engines, the Blue Oval’s pony car managed to top the Bow Tie’s bruiser in sales for the first time since the Camaro sauntered back onto the market last year. Last month, Ford managed to move 10,225 Mustangs off of dealer lots and into the hands of the power-crazed public. , on the other hand, saw only 8,931 Camaros drive off into the sunset.
While the Mustang tended to rank higher in comparisons against the Camaro even before the new engines hit the scene for 2011, American buyers responded to the big power numbers and menacing style of the muscle car. Now that the Ford is cranking out slightly more grunt and marginally better fuel economy, Chevrolet may find itself playing catch up for the rest of the year. Not to worry, Bow Tie fans. It won’t be long before GM’s spicing up the Camaro lineup with the likes of a and the oft-rumored may still be in the cards, too.
2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS – Click above for high-res image gallery
It looks like customers opting for the upper trim levels on the will have to pay a little bit more when the 2011 models roll into showrooms this fall. According to a posting on the from a dealer employee, the 2LT and 2SS models will see a $350 price increase to $28,075 and $35,145, respectively. The LS, 1LT and 1SS models will carry over the 2010 prices so the 2011 will retain a for the V8 models.
The more interesting news is the apparent confirmation from ‘ new VP of Global Vehicle Engineering, Karl Stracke to that the Z/28 will become a reality. Chevrolet officials have declined to comment on the matter, but we’re guessing that it might appear sometime next year as a 2012 model. Motivation will likely be provided by a variant of the supercharged 6.2-liter LSA V8 found in the , with around 550 horsepower being channeled through a six-speed manual gearbox.
products are no strangers to hydraulics, but models that get the height-altering technology usually go by names like Impala or Caprice, not – and they are usually decades old, not 2010 models.
We say ‘usually’ because apparently an Arizona lad has gone and thrown some extra pistons underneath his gunmetal gray Camaro SS, and the result is a pony car that goes from limbo to lofty in a couple of secs. It nothing else, we can’t help but think it’d make a great doppelganger Decepticon for Transformers 3. to check out the vid, but sadly, there’s no three-wheel motion on display
Tribute 2010 Chevrolet Camaro – Click above for high-res image gallery
It’s easy to forget that while we spend day-in and day-out banging on QWERTYs and chasing our tails as automotive rumors get confirmed, then denied, then confirmed again, that there are men and women all over the world working to keep us safe and protect our families and our way of life. It’s , so regardless of where you stand in the political spectrum, it’s worth taking some time out of your day to say in your life.
We’re fortunate enough to live in a country where military service isn’t mandatory, and we all owe a debt to the souls that that have volunteered to serve in our nation’s armed forces. So take some time between your burgers and beers to pay your respects those that have fallen in the line of duty and honor those that are serving right now.
For John Hennessey, too much is never enough. How else can you explain a 1,000 hp Camaro?
Pininfarina wants to set the tone for the future of electric vehicles, and its new Nido prototype is the yet another step towards a marketable electric city car.
Spies snag shots of the 2011 CLS before its big reveal at this year’s Paris Motor Show.
Also of interest:
means we can protect the V12“
Golf MkVII to get ‘Net-connected 8-inch touchscreen
2010 Hennessey HPE800 Twin-Turbo Camaro – Click above to watch the video
How much horsepower is enough? Many would say that the 725 horsepower in the should have enough oomph to quell just about anyone’s desires for straight line speed, especially for a street car. Then again, we’re talking about a car built by John Hennessey, who surely spends every waking minute concocting ideas on how to get every last horsepower out of cars. His latest creation, the HPE800 Twin-Turbo Camaro, puts out an amazing 815 horsepower and 788 pound-feet of torque thanks to twin turbochargers strapped to a 415ci stroker motor and a host of other upgrades.
Not enough for you? Hennessey will build you an HPE1000 version complete with a twin-turbo 427ci LSX block and just about their entire catalog of go-fast parts for Chevy’s musclecar. They recently strapped one down to a dyno, and the resulting numbers are just plain ridiculous: 847 horsepower and 801 lb-ft torque at the rear wheels. Watch the video to see for yourself.
Don Krusemark must have been that rare breed of person that just won’t stop giving. The 87-year-old great-grandfather from , Texas served in the Navy during World War II and was such a frequent blood and platelet donor at Carter BloodCare that he was awarded with a ride along at the Motor Speedway courtesy of the . A day later, Kruseman passed away as a result of a life-ending injury he sustained at the track.
Details are scarce as to exactly what went wrong, but according to The Dallas News, neither anyone from Kruseman’s family nor the Texas Motor Speedway is willing to speak about what happened. From what we can gather, the veteran was a passenger when some sort of accident occurred.
In a prepared statement, family members lamented the loss of their patriarch, noting that Kruseman was a wonderful father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
Historics auction at Brooklands – Click above for high-res image gallery
Between the likes of RM, Barrett-Jackson and Bonhams, there’s no shortage of auction houses for owners and buyers of classic cars to turn to for their next sale or purchase. Now we can count another among them.
Historics is a new British auction house dealing strictly with, you guessed it, classic cars, securing the exclusive rights to run its operation and events at Brooklands, the historic home of British motor racing. The upstart’s first auction is set to take place on June 2 at the Brooklands Museum, featuring some £2.5 million ($3.7m) in consignments.
Among the classics crossing the block at the upcoming event will be a million-dollar 1930 4.5-liter Vanden Plas Tourer, a rare DB2/4 Drophead Coupe and a flawless ‘68 Cooper S. 65 vehicles in all – from Camaros to Rolls-Royces – will be part of the docket early next month, but in the meantime you can check out the images in the gallery below and the press release after the jump.
2011 Boss 302R – Click above for high-res image gallery
Is it time for the to come back to the stable? According to the Pony-obsessed crew over at Mustang Heaven it is. The site reports that with the return of the mighty 5.0-liter V8, is seriously considering bringing the hi-po Boss 302 version back to the streets. And what evidence do they have to bank on? Evidently, Mark Fields, the president of the Americas for FoMoCo, dropped a pretty big hint at this year’s 2010 Ford Dealer Show.
Fields was speaking about the special-edition Mustangs in the company’s recent past, including the Bullit, Mach 1 and C/S, and said that while he couldn’t tell the crowd what was coming down the pike, he could give everyone a small hint. Supposedly a 1970 Boss 302 purred across the stage behind him as he finished speaking.
Back in the day, if you were one of the Ford faithful and wanted to tango with the big-bad Camaro bruisers, you ordered up a Boss 302. The car came with special V8 that featured a set of healthy Cleveland heads, a four-speed manual gear box and a competition-bred suspension. If we’re very, very lucky, we can expect a similar build program to crop up on the new generation.
Since we haven’t played it, we can only potentially file this under “Um, wut… ?”, but apparently has a new baseball app out for the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. When you’re not playing a game with teams like “Sil” () and “Cam” () or practicing your catching during spring training, you can head into the Chevy Dugout to learn more about the Bowtie’s cars.
Naturally, there is also a chance to win a trip to the 2010 All Star Game, which might make the enterprise worthwhile if you’re mad about MLB. Follow the jump for the press release or head over to the App Store to get downloading. Who knows, with seemingly the entire auto industry putting their advertising up for review, maybe there’s still some life in the old “” chestnut.
Is about to repeat the mistakes of and ? reports that Hyundai has been showing off a modified pickup at some consumer clinics to gauge interest in such a product. This wouldn’t be the first time the Koreans have looked down this road. A midsize pickup based on the new had been considered before being killed off two years ago. Tackling the full-size truck market could be an even more perilous endeavor.
Nissan never made a significant dent in the big truck segment with the six-year-old . The enormous resources that Toyota has poured into the development and production of the are considered by some analysts to be one of the causes of the automaker’s recent spate of quality problems and recalls. While many of Hyundai’s recent introductions have done well, not everything has been a hit. The hasn’t been particularly successful in the larger CUV segment and the , while getting good reviews, is still very much a niche player against the likes of the and .
Safety is expected when you’re Volvo, and when something goes wrong it’s particularly embarrassing. Such was the case this week when media were invited. to a demonstration of one of Volvo’s latest latest safety technologies.
Aston Martin has finally answering your prayers… assuming that you, like us, have been offering up daily supplications asking that Aston send over its V12 Vantage to those of us living in the States.
While we could usually care less about the comings and goings of Megan Fox, occasionally she wanders into our neck of the interwebs by getting dangerously close to cars like the new Bumblebee Camaro.
TF3 Bumblebee Camaro – Click above for high-res image gallery
If there’s one thing the paparazzi is good for, it’s stalking the likes of . And while we could usually care less about the comings and goings of the Xbox crowd’s favorite young starlet, occasionally she wanders into our neck of the interwebs by getting dangerously close to cars like the new Bumblebee . Fox is currently shooting the next installment of the explosion-rich Transformers saga, and was spotted parading around what appears to be the next iteration of everyone’s favorite plucky .
Judging from the photos, the biggest changes to the car include a new stripe design that carries over onto the roof of the car, as well as a not-so-subtle rear wing. The next looks to retain its concept-car sideview mirrors, though a selection of carbon-fiber aero additions join the changes as well. If you look close, you can spot Autobot badges in all the right places, too.
Is this what the next Chevrolet Camaro Bumblebee Edition will look like? Given how closely GM is tied into the franchise, it wouldn’t surprise us.
Porsche 911 Turbo – Click above for high-res image gallery
The has been a boon for General Motors and its Chevrolet brand, with sales of 9,150 units in April alone. The is down a bit at 5,145 units for April, but that’s expected to change once the vastly improved 2011 models begin rolling into Ford dealers around the country. Even the Dodge Challenger had its best month ever in April. We can’t tell you how happy it makes us that the pony car wars have once again began to boil over, but a report by Edmunds’ Auto Observer correctly points out that the rest of the sports car market isn’t faring nearly so well.
The report shows that sports cars like the once hot , with only 106 sales in April, are now struggling for sales. sales are down 18 percent from a poor 2009, only 428 Mazda RX-8s have been sold in 2010 and Nissan failed to sell 1,000 copies of the fun to drive 370Z. Even the venerable , which saw 2007 production of over 40,000 units, is only at 3,522 units through four months of 2010.
Is the sports car on the permanent decline, or are we just hitting a big-time bump in the road? Take the poll below to give us your thoughts.
Porsche 911 Turbo – Click above for high-res image gallery
The has been a boon for General Motors and its Chevrolet brand, with sales of 9,150 units in April alone. The is down a bit at 5,145 units for April, but that’s expected to change once the vastly improved 2011 models begin rolling into Ford dealers around the country. Even the Dodge Challenger had its best month ever in April. We can’t tell you how happy it makes us that the pony car wars have once again began to boil over, but a report by Edmunds’ Auto Observer correctly points out that the rest of the sports car market isn’t faring nearly so well.
The report shows that sports cars like the once hot , with only 106 sales in April, are now struggling for sales. sales are down 18 percent from a poor 2009, only 428 Mazda RX-8s have been sold in 2010 and Nissan failed to sell 1,000 copies of the fun to drive 370Z. Even the venerable , which saw 2007 production of over 40,000 units, is only at 3,522 units through four months of 2010.
Is the sports car on the permanent decline, or are we just hitting a big-time bump in the road? Take the poll below to give us your thoughts.
2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS – Click above for high-res image gallery
When the debuted in production form, opinions on the design have been largely split between the interior and exterior. The exterior styling and execution has been almost universally praised while the interior has been deemed barely competitive with the . The last Ford Mustang.
The problem is that while that the Camaro was hitting the streets, Ford rolled out a revised ‘Stang with an all-new and vastly improved interior. Thankfully, Chevrolet wants to rectify things post haste, so the cheap plastic dash is likely to be discarded and hopefully a steering wheel with less canted rim will replace the current unit. Unfortunatel,y changes to the enormous A-pillars are unlikely, meaning that visibility will still suck.
Since we’re talking about changes inspired by competition with the Mustang, it appears that the Z28 will probably be removed from the cold storage shelf and put back on the road. Motivation is rumored to be supplied by a version of the supercharged 6.2-liter LSA used in the with about 550 horsepower, but we’re not going to believe that until one appears on the show stand.
May 2010 was a crazy month of sales for the U.S. auto industry. Would you have expected Ford Motor Company, riding high on a string of successful monthly sales performances, to announce on the same day it posts nearly a 22% rise in sales? Would you have expected the four remaining “Core” brands of to outsell all eight of the company’s brands from back in May 2009? Would you have expected the brand to still be on the outs with customers, posting just a 3.6-percent rise in sales in comparison to (up 27.9 percent), (up 31.15 percent) and even (up 72.7 percent!)? And finally, would you have expected , something it hasn’t done since the Bowtie brand’s pony car arrived on the scene last year?
