While the investigation of the that is not over, pundits have begun to weigh in. Automotive News has found a particularly credible one in Jon Bereisa, CEO of Auto Lectrification and the chief engineer of the General Motors EV1 and systems architect for the . And according to Bereisa, the poor packaging of the Karma’s internal combustion engine is what likely caused the fire.
“The engine is shoehorned into that bay, because they had to use a larger engine, because it was too heavy a car,” Bereisa told AN. “As a result, there’s no room for exhaust routing and heat shielding to route the heat away.”
The Karma uses a turbocharged, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine sourced from GM. In the Karma, however, the Ecotec does not drive the wheels, but acts as a generator to supplement and recharge the batteries. The report says that a fluid leak, combined with tight engine compartment confines and the resultant high heat from the gasoline engine’s exhaust and the would have been enough to cause the fire.
Fisker is maintaining that it is not the car’s battery pack that is at fault, and has pointed to other potential sources of the blaze, according to the report, telling AN that, “There are myriad combustible materials that could be in the garage, in the wheel arch, or picked up on the roadside.”
Jerry Seinfeld may be planning to stage a return to television. The comic and car fanatic has been dropping hints about a new project tentatively called “Comics and Cars.” Details are iffy at the moment, though the premise seems to circle around Seinfeld and his wealthy friends hanging out and talking about various vehicles.
Names like Alec Baldwin, Ricky Gervais and Larry David have all surfaced as potential candidates, though it’s unclear if Seinfeld will rely on a regular panel of hosts or a slurry of rotating guests. Seinfeld has tried his hand at reality television in the past, though without much success.
The comic’s last project, The Marriage Ref, bumbled along for two seasons on NBC before being canceled. There’s no doubt that Seinfeld is both funny and a genuine car guy, but if shows like Top Gear USA and The Car Show have proven anything, it’s that it takes more than those two elements to succeed.
Go back a decade or so – before Koenigsegg, SSC and the were on the scene – and the idea of a million-dollar, thousand-horsepowersupercar that could break the three-second barrier to sixty would seem out of this world. Posting those kinds of figures with an electric car? No way.
Way. That’s what the Rimac Concept_One is all about. It chews up and spits them back out into the Silicon Valley from whence they came. The electric motors mounted at each wheel give the electric supercar 1,088 horsepower of thrust and a 2.8-second sprint to 100 km/h (62 mph). Range comes in at a claimed 372-miles. All yours (if you’re one of the first 88 customers to call) for the low, low price of $980,000.
We could hardly believe it when we saw the show car in last year, and neither could the show-goers in Monte Carlo where it made its production debut. So to show the public that it was for real, Rimac put out this short video clip showing its Croatian creation laying down patches of its Giugiaro-designed Vredestein rubber on the tarmac. It’s brief, but it’s worth a watch. to check it out.
on an expansion to its Decherd, Tennessee engine plant and will start churning out powerplants for and models in about four years.
The plant already builds four-, six- and eight-cylinder engines for several Nissan models as well as the SUV. In 2011, the Decherd plant built 580,000 engines. The expansion will boost production capacity by as much as 250,000 units per year.
Nissan’s partnership with Mercedes-Benz, , has the Decherd facility supplying engines to Merecedes’ only North American plant in Vance, Alabama. The four-cylinder will be installed in the German company’s sedans.
“This is the newest milestone in our pragmatic collaboration and our most significant project outside of Europe so far,” said Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn in a January press release. “Localized capacity reduces exposure to foreign exchange rates while rapidly enabling a good business development in North America – a win-win for the Alliance and Daimler.”
Now that the title of world’s largest maker has become a clear and eager battle, we can expect more regular updates on the progress of the combatants. Bloomberg reports that snagged the #1 crown in Q1, taking it away from with 2.49 million units sold across its five brands compared to 2.28 million for GM. was just another tenth down at 2.19 million units sold.
What all three might appreciate even more than the crown – except for VW, who is monomaniacal about the No. 1 tag – is that sales volumes and profitability are up, at least in America. Toyota’s sales rebound from the catastrophes of last year (and indeed, the last few years) is being underlined by its performance here, where the is against a background of the nation’s . Even with double its usual fleet sales in Q1, Toyota expects this financial year’s .
The year isn’t over yet and it remains close, but for now it looks like there’ll be good news for everyone. Well, until 2016, when Volkswagen is all challengers at the top of the podium, two years ahead of its own ridiculously ambitious schedule.
When Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee, it will be a cause for celebration for her entire United Kingdom. But the Brits aren’t the only ones marking Her Majesty’s 60 years on the throne.
The celebrations will apparently include delegations from around the world, including one mixed party of prancing horses old and new to represent Italy. Not only will several be represented at the first Concours d’Elegance to be held at Windsor Castle, but Ferrari is bringing the 4th Mounted Carabinieri to strut their stuff on the grounds of the palatial estate for Her Majesty’s enjoyment.
The event will form part of the Diamond Jubilee Pageant from May 10 to 13, but you can see a preview of what Ferrari and the Mounted Carabineri it supports have in store . The fancy dress makes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (which you’d otherwise be more likely to see in the other Windsor, where Sergio Marchionne – chief executive of Ferrari’s parent company – went to college) look sober by comparison, but it’s worth watching for the overly dramatic music alone.
With its screaming 4.5-liter V8 and its clever flip-top roof mechanism, we’d venture to say that the 458 Spider is pretty damn close to automotive perfection incarnate. But some owners – even Ferrari owners – will never be satisfied with stock. And that’s where Novitec Rosso comes in.
The Dutch tuning house specializes in Italian exotica, and for the have just announced a series of upgrades that aims to make their take on the flip-top prancing horse stand out that much more on the streets of Monaco or Abu Dhabi where they’re most likely to encounter others of the same.
Novitec knew better than to mess with the engine too much, so it forwent the addition of supercharger or turbo spools. Instead it limited itself to fitting the high-revving eight-banger with new breathing apparati and ECU that boost output up to 600 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque – a boost of about 40 hp and 20 lb-ft, respectively.
The engine mods have been supplemented by an upgraded, adjustable suspension with 22-inch wheels wearing ultra-low-profile Pirelli P-Zero rubber. And the entire package is rounded out by an aerodynamic body kit crafted from carbon fiber – a treatment that continues to the interior where customers can also find a special button on the steering wheel to open the exhaust flaps for a little moor burble. You know, just in case the weren’t packed with enough buttons already.
Some teams might give a promising young driver a second chance, but not . You only get one offer to drive for the Scuderia, and if you turn it down, that’s your last chance.
Legend has it that Ferrari made that offer to Jacques Villeneuve way back in the late 90s after he’d won the Indy 500 and the CART title in the same year, going on to place second in his first season in Formula One and clinching the title the following year. He was the hottest commodity in motor racing, after all, and Ferrari had been his father’s team. But Jacques turned it down, opting instead to build up the BAR- team for which he would drive for five seasons before bouncing around another three and eventually retiring.
JV never did get another shot at driving for Ferrari – not in F1 and not in any other form of motor racing, of which Jacques has contested many. Not until today, anyway, when he was invited to the firm’s private Fiorano test track. The reason was to pay tribute to his late, great father Gilles Villeneuve.
The occasion was of Gilles’ tragic death, which occurred behind the wheel of a Ferrari F1 car during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix on May 8, 1982. Gilles Villeneuve, for whom the grand prix circuit in Montreal is named, was regarded as one of the best drivers ever to have lived, and to see his world champion son drive his Ferrari 312 T4 – the same one in which he won three races in 1979 – was surely a fitting tribute. See for yourself in the vast gallery of high-resolution images above.
Sportsmen – whether you’d classify them all as athletes or not – are some of the wealthiest people in the world. And every year, The Sunday Times puts out a list of the richest among them. The list takes all their assets into account – including salaries past and present, endorsements and other investments – and ranks them by their net worth. So who comes out on top?
Golfers, if you can believe it. Tiger Woods tops the Top 20 list worldwide at £538 million (~$870M), joined by Arnold Palmer at No. 4 with £230M ($370M), Greg Norman at No. 9 with £174M ($280M) and Jack Niclaus at No. 11 with £158M ($255M). But just behind them are the racing drivers.
Michael Schumacher just trails Tiger with £510 million ($824M), making him the second richest sportsman in the world, by far the wealthiest racer, and within reach of becoming the first billionaire driver in the world. Little wonder, as he’s the most decorated driver the world has ever known.
Also on the list are Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, who tie for eighteenth place (together with baseball’s CC Sabathia) at £100 million ($160M) apiece. But in between these Formula One drivers sits one Dale Earnhardt, arguably the biggest name in NASCAR, who ties basketball star Kobe Bryant at sixth place with £185 million ($300M) in assets.
Now if only someone paid us that much to drive around in circles, well…we’d still probably be blogging about cars, only we’d be doing it from onboard our own mega-yachts somewhere a lot more glamorous.
As automotive enthusiasts by profession, there’s nothing we love here at Autoblog quite as much as cars. But a distant second for many of us comes watches. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of automotive-inspired timepieces out on the market, but the unfortunate reality for many is that the correlation is just too forced. That’s what we love about Officine Autodromo.
Rather than amp up their octane count with branding associations or glossy carbon-fiber components, Autodromo takes a deliciously understated approach with minimalist designs that take their inspiration from the tachometers on Italian racing cars from the 1960s and 70s and their names from famous Italian racing circuits.
We reported on Autodromo’s first collection upon its launch back in November, and now the upstart has followed up with a chronograph version of its slick Vallelunga timepiece. Upgrading on the simplicity of its lug-less case design, the Vallelunga Chronograph features the stopwatch and 30-minute counter sought by many drivers looking for more timing functions out of their wristwatch. It’s powered by a a Swiss-made Ronda quartz movement, housed under K1 anti-glare crystal, affixed to the wrist by a perforated leather strap and available with either a white face and brushed stainless steel case or in black on black.
You can find further details in the press release , but the high-res image gallery is worth checking out just for the photo shoot orchestrated in France behind the wheel of four classic Alfa Romeos and a vintage Eleven.
Bloggers we may be, but we’re still fans of good old fashioned long-form journalism – or what passes for it in this day and age. Yes, digital attention deficit disorder and the failing fortunes of print publishing have combined to largely neuter the art form, but there are still some publications willing to think high concept and go out and spend some shoe-leather on stories.
Here’s a good one: Car and Driver buys a used-up car to take to the auto recyclers, then traces the derelict vehicle’s progression through the process of being reduced to its elements.
The magazine’s choice, a 210,000-mile 1993 , is a brilliant way get us emotionally involved. The E36 is one of those cars that is just so likable, a product that was head and shoulders better than anything else in its time, that we can’t help but care what happens to it once it’s cast into the clutches of the salvage yard.
The story is fascinating in the way it focuses our attention on things we rarely think of when we ogle sheet metal and obsess over the performance profiles of new models. The numbers are all there too – who knew that a scrap catalytic converter was worth $250?
But enough with that, just go read it for yourself at C/D’s .
Tiny city cars are becoming a big business in overseas markets. was a pioneer in the segment with the entire brand, tackles it with the iQ, recently launched the Up! (along with the Skoda and Seat versions that came along with it), and soon Opel and Vauxhall will, as well.
The new city car, undergoing testing at the Nürburgring and released in this latest pair of “official” spy shots, promises to give a slice of the city-car pie. But its nameplate has left us scratching our heads. The project has at times been referred to as the Junior or the Allegra, but has now been officially confirmed to be called the Adam.
The name is an apparent nod to the company’s founder, Adam Opel, and in its invasion follows the same formula as the Ferrari Enzo – albeit and the complete opposite end of the spectrum. If this emerges as a new naming trend, we should be looking forward to seeing models like the Henry, Louis, Ferruccio and Ferdinand flooding showrooms in the near future. Before that, though, expect the Opel Adam to debut at the in the fall… hopefully without the camouflage.
Exotic automakers from Italy come and go, and some are missed more than others. But while names like , and have remained constant throughout, others have risen and fallen. was one such example – revived temporarily by Italian investors before Volkswagen stepped in to bring it back to Alsace – but another is De Tomaso.
Founded (not unlike Pagani) by an Argentine-Italian in Modena, but way back in 1959, De Tomaso produced legendary sports cars like the Vallelunga, Mangusta and of course the Pantera. It even owned Maserati and Moto Guzzi for a time, but it eventually petered off into bankruptcy. Along came a certain Gian Mario Rossignolo – a veteran auto exec in Italy – to scoop up what was left of the company in 2008.
The revival led to the debut of the Deauville concept at the 2011 , but a lack of interest and funds led to the program being sold to a Chinese automaker which appears to have done little with it. Meanwhile it looked for a time that Rossignolo was planning to continue development of a new Pantera, but those plans have reportedly lost momentum as the outfit struggled without enough capital to even pay its workers.
The most astute readers may recall Rossignolo’s name coming up in the news about a month ago as well, when his other business – Prototipo SpA – . Whether the proceeds from that sale end up giving Rossignolo enough to pay his staff and possibly turn the Pantera program around, however, or if they’ll only prove sufficient to repay his debts, remains to be seen.
Bloomberg reports that if U.S. auto sales continue at their current pace, 2012 will mark the best year for the industry since 2007. The news comes after word that both and have slimmed or entirely eliminated the traditional summer shutdown at their manufacturing facilities to keep pace with demand.
All told, sales may reach 14.3 million cars and light trucks, according to analysts, thanks to factors like a gradually improving economy and easier credit. If the pace continues, 2012 will mark the third year of 10-percent gains, which marks only the fourth time that’s happened since the Great Depression.
Car sales stalled in 2008, and 2009 saw manufacturers move just 10.4 million units. As Bloomberg points out, that’s the lowest number since 1982, but buyers took home 11.6 million vehicles in 2010 and 12.8 million in 2011. The industry saw a 10.3-percent increase through the first four months of this year. As a result, General Motors, Ford and have adjusted their yearly sales forecasts accordingly.
Host Adam Ferrara has confirmed Top Gear USA will be back for a third season. The comedian-turned television personality broke the news during an event in New York City last night, according to Inside Line. The show is slowly gaining momentum in the U.S., and this season saw its best ratings yet. One episode drew an impressive 2.1 million viewers. Of course, that’s a small figure compared to the legions who tune in or download the original “Top Gear,” but with the U.S. hosts getting more comfortable with each other every episode, we’ll hardly turn down more car-oriented programming.
Then again, Top Gear USA may be your only TG fix over the next few months. Jeremy Clarkson just confirmed the original show won’t . According to Ferrara, production on season three starts this weekend.
wants you to know that the is smart and sexy and has enlisted the aid of Marissa Miller to help get the point across. The redesigned crossover seems more distracting than anything when Miller’s in the picture, but we’ll assume that’s in a good way. And since we don’t expect she comes with the car, buyers should be able to focus on the smart and sexy part.
To of the Enclave and Miller behind the scenes, you know where to go.
German car magazine Auto Bild is planning build a sedan that will slot below the and compete directly with the . Citing no sources (so a grain of salt is recommended), the magazine claims the four-door, codenamed Pajun, will cost no less than $84,000 and be ready for production no later than 2017.
In September 2011, the Pajun could spawn coupe, convertible and even a shooting brake variant. Back then, rumors swirled about powertrain options that included a 550-horsepower V6, 600-hp V8, plug-inhybrid and an -sourced diesel.
Hopefully, Porsche is also working expeditiously to find a better name than Pajun, which in Korea is a , in Finnish it means willow, and, according to , in Welsh it means – wait for it – Cajun. That’s the name Porsche was using to refer to its smaller-than-Cayenne SUV before to Macan in February. Clever coincidence.
Every single Cadillac XTS post ends up with comments deploring the sedan’s FWD – even a post that speaks of nothing more than the with the car. For those folks especially, Car and Driver has loaded the hopper with news on the possible treats coming from the Wreath and Crest. Examining uses of the Omega platform, C/D says “a proper rear-drive sedan” will arrive in “a few” years and take the top spot in the lineup. Predictions are that it will have a rakish roofline and the 310-horsepower, 3.6-liter V6.
GM’s Omega platform is said to have been engineered to accommodate this new RWD flagship, though the chances of it actually coming to fruition are about as likely as winning the Mega Millions. The only trifles, according to C/D, are that the program hasn’t even been approved, and if it is, would Cadillac have an engine good enough to serve in such a car or would it need to develop one. But said flagshp does, we repeat, it does, have a platform. Still, since the Cadillac Sixteen concept is from a time when “Gaga” is what babies said, you should probably stick to the Mega Millions for now.
Automotive News reports will turn to Magna Steyr to build a new compact car in 2014. The Austrian manufacturer will assemble the vehicle as part of the luxury brand’s efforts to grow in western Europe and other global markets.
So far, Nissan and Infiniti have been tight-lipped about what the vehicle will bring to the table, but earlier reports have hinted the model will be designed to compete directly with the likes of the and Mercedes-Benz A-Class. Speaking of , the new Infiniti will likely ride on the same underpinnings as the current A and B-Class models.
The report says Nissan is set to use a number of Daimler components in the new compact, including Mercedes-Benz four and six-cylinder engines. Expect to see both gasoline and diesel variants as well. Magna Steyr is expected to produce between 50,000 and 60,000 Infiniti units per year. The two companies are currently finalizing the details of the agreement.
Congratulations are in order: Saabs United has , what is likely to be the last of any sort ever produced. The group will be installing the car in the Saab Cars Museum on a permanent loan, as well as donating the additional money it raised during its fund drive.
Forgive us for being just a bit cynical here, but it’s really a shame this particular car is so mundane. It’s a Aero Griffin, a run-of-the-mill sedan that’s a direct descendant of the 2003 model year 9-3. Based on the global General Motors Epsilon platform that also spawned the similarly extinct , the 9-3 is arguably the car that killed Saab – or at least failed to save it – as GM was never able to sell enough of them or derive enough profit from the ones it managed to move in the U.S. to make a go of the brand.
We’re sure all Saab enthusiasts agree that the marque certainly deserved better treatment than it got from Detroit, and when we look back in fond remembrance on Saab, there are any number of models that will come to mind before we think of the final 9-3. Most of them are included in our .
