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Last we heard, Fisker Automotive was still “committed” to building the recently revealed Atlantic sedan at the former General Motors plant in Delaware. A few years ago, Fisker announced that site would be the company’s new domestic production home (the Fisker Karma extended-range plug-in hybrid is made by Valmet in Finland). Still, Fisker did say that any definitive statement on the Atlantic’s production location would not come until the end of the summer.

So we were interested to read new reports from local media that show more signs that the Atlantic might not ever be built in Delaware. On Friday, Delaware Online reports, 12 more workers – including engineers and maintenance technicians – were laid off at the plant, leaving “only a small maintenance team” left there. One of those let go was Jeff Garland, who had been working on community affairs and business development efforts in Delaware. He said the plant is currently “absolutely empty.” This is because Fisker has taken out the old GM equipment but has not yet installed the machines it would need to build the Atlantic. As Garland told Delaware Online, “I think what happened was the budget numbers are so tight right now and they’re working so hard to preserve as much cash as they can that something had to give. We’re not making a car in Wilmington right now, so given that situation it was an obvious place to make a cut.”

Fisker spokesman Russell Datz said that the company has flexible plans and will hire people when “we ramp up the project again.” Production of the Atlantic is being delayed, at least in part, because of issues with Fisker’s Department of Energy loan. You can read more about that here.

In related news, some of the components that Fisker and Ford will use in hybrid and all-electric cars are now being made by Magna E-Car Systems in Michigan. The inverters Magna makes are used in the Karma and this new production does not in any way predict a shift of Atlantic production to Michigan.

More layoffs at Fisker; Delaware plant is ‘absolutely empty’

Judging from the spy photos we’ve seen recently, the BMW i8 is coming along nicely. With its more realistic bodywork, the hybrid supercar is beginning to look like something that actually belongs on public streets. Now Sonny Lim, former head of BMW DesignWorks, has taken a stab at what the finished product may look like via a handful of renderings.

With it’s shorter wheelbase and clipped length compared to the concept, the production vehicle is rumored to tip the scales at around 3,187 pounds, or just under the concept’s original weight goal. Much of that weight savings is thanks to the substantial use of carbon fiber reinforced plastic in the vehicle’s chassis.

With the combination of an electric motor and a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine, the i8 will reportedly offer buyers just under 400 horsepower and three driving modes. The driver will be able to pick between pure-electric, gasoline or a medley of both. All told, the i8 should deliver a 0-60 mph run of under 4.9 seconds with the help of both power sources.

Is this what the production BMW i8 will look like?

If Ford actually comes to market with a new GT, then we’ll be right there with them.

With the debut of its audacious 1000 horsepower GT500 at the New York Auto Show earlier this month, you might be wondering what direction Shelby will be headed in the future. After all, they can’t just keep adding more horsepower to the Mustang. Can they?

Shelby president John Luft tells us that while they will continue producing post-title Mustang packages (they have a product plan for the pony car through 2020), the company is also considering branching out to other vehicles in the Ford lineup.

“Our plans include everything from the Mustang to looking at future development of the EcoBoost motor,” he told us. “There could be a Focus or Fusion development in our future.”

The plans don’t stop there, though. Luft revealed to us that Shelby is considering producing another halo sports car like they did in the late 1990s with the Series 1.

“We always pose the ‘what if’. If you remember when the Series 1 was developed, that was a purpose-built halo sports car for the Shelby brand. We always put those things in the plan because maybe down the road we would want to readdress a purpose-built Shelby sports car. It doesn’t mean we’ll build it, but we always want to challenge ourselves to put it on the table and talk about the practicality of it.”

Keep reading for more insights into Shelby’s plans for the future.

Continue reading Shelby considering new halo sports car, Focus and Fusion models for the future

Shelby considering new halo sports car, Focus and Fusion models for the future

Bob Lutz is not going to take attacks on the electric car lying down – the closest he’ll come to that is doing push-ups on The Colbert Report. After spending a few of his Forbes columns laying into right-wing pundits for their attacks on the Chevrolet Volt, he is switching to a positive message about how plug-in cars can help with American national security. It is not surprising that Lutz, a former Marine, co-authors the article with two former U.S. Marines commandants and the CEO of FedEx (the three are all members of Securing America’s Future Energy’s (SAFE) Energy Security Leadership Council). The gist? Well, here’s part of the opening paragraph:

When … threats exist because the United States is the protector of the world’s global oil supply lines, it is a clear illustration of how our nation’s over-reliance on a single, globally priced fuel impacts our national and economic security.

America’s addiction to gasoline costs the government billions of dollars a year, an estimated $80 billion, in fact, to guard the sea lanes, including one little area by Iran:

From a national security perspective, the U.S. military is forced to protect the world’s vital oil infrastructure. The single greatest chokepoint is the Strait of Hormuz, through which 17 million barrels of oil per day passed in 2011 – 20 percent of global supplies. Protection of the sea lanes of commerce has become an American burden and will remain so, costing the United States Treasury an estimated $80 billion per year while taxing our military, which is already engaged on multiple fronts.

It’s arguments like this that have made the recent right-wing criticism of the Volt such a mystery. If we use less gasoline, we can spend fewer lives and less treasure importing the fuel (of course, we don’t lose many lives at the Canadian border, which is where most of our imported oil comes from). The Army says that today’s soldier uses an average of 22 gallons of gasoline a day.

Lutz and his co-authors are quite clear that high gas prices are hurting Americans’ pocketbooks, “essentially” wiping out tax cuts that Presidents Bush and Obama put into place. That’s why, they say, “government action is needed to mitigate the risks of oil dependence, because there is no free market for oil.” This intervention contains both expanded domestic production and – surprise – plugging in our light-duty transportation fleet as much as possible and feeding our big trucks lots of natural gas. To that end, they write:

Regarding electrification, the beauty of plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf is that they are powered by electricity, which can be generated from many sources: nuclear, coal, natural gas, and renewables. Best yet, these are all domestic energy sources, meaning OPEC won’t be able to corner the market. And the retail price of electricity is far less volatile that the price of oil.

Hard to disagree with that. There’s more at Forbes.

Bob Lutz praises Leaf and Volt, says national security requires going electric

While the top four teams – you know, the ones that will be winning most if not all of the grands prix this year – have kept the same drivers, the same engines, the same sponsors and the same colors as last year, this year’s Formula One World Championship has seen plenty of changes on the grid.

Lotus and Caterham have finally solved their naming-rights dispute, and both changed both of their drivers – including former World Champion Kimi Raikkonen coming back to F1. Scuderia Toro Rosso also dumped both its drivers, as did HRT, and Williams axed one Brazilian (Rubens Barrichello) for another (Bruno Senna). Virgin changed its name to Marussia, and Force India sold nearly half the team to Sahara.

Can’t keep track of it all? Fortunately, YankeeF1 has provided us with spotter’s guide for easy reference, showing each of the teams, its car and its drivers, plus a calendar of the grands prix this season and the color-coded tires. Keep it handy next race Sunday and you might just be able to make sense of it all.

Spotter’s Guide makes sense of the 2012 Formula One grid

Cadillac’s CTS Coupe and Sport Wagon are two of the most distinctive designs to come out of a mass-market brand in some time, and we’re big devotees to both here at Autoblog. Predictably, the two models attract a much smaller slice of the North American market than the four-door sedan, but Cadillac says it remains committed to offering both a two-door and a load-lugger in its lineup. However, that doesn’t mean such future models will wear CTS badging.

According to Car and Driver, Cadillac is undecided, but one or both bodystyles could migrate to the smaller ATS platform. While neither of the two CTS variants has been any great shakes sales-wise (Cadillac does say the wagon has outsold its BMW 3 Series equivalent), the models are seen as important tools to woo shoppers – conquest sales in particular.

We might add that since General Motors remains committed to the idea of making Cadillac a global brand, a smaller coupe and wagon model could give the marque entry into larger volume segments in Europe. For its part, C/D expects Cadillac to position a coupe between the ATS and next CTS, mimicking pricing and hierarchy strategies at Audi and soon, BMW. The publication also predicts that a wagon will stay in the CTS family, as it “better meets the needs of older, richer luxo-wagon buyers,” noting that ATS wagon intenders could likely be wooed into the SRX anyhow.

What do you think? Leave your musings in Comments.

Future Cadillac coupe and wagon models may not be CTS variants

We tend to think of Mercedes-Benz as a luxury automaker – and indeed it is – but overseas it’s a full-line brand, known as much for its trucks and vans as it is for its upscale passenger cars. And this is the latest.

Previewed back in February, the new Citan has just been revealed in Amsterdam ahead of its September debut at the IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hanover, Germany. Smaller than the existing Sprinter, Vario, Viano and Vito vans, the Citan is geared for use inside Europe’s crowded cities.

The compact panel van will be available in three lengths, with a choice of three turbodiesels ranging from 75 to 110 horsepower. There’s also a 115-hp supercharged gasoline engine mated to a five- or six-speed automatic transmission with an available BlueEfficiency package that includes a stop/start system.

Although the Citan by design won’t be as luxurious as we’d expect a Mercedes to be (hint: it’s based on the Renault Kangoo and will be built at the French automaker’s Maubeuge assembly plant), it does feature a more ergonomic cabin design than most vehicles in this segment and comes packed with all the electronic gizmos we’ve come to anticipate from a vehicle with a silver star in the grille. But while the Ford Transit Connect (like Mercedes’ own Sprinter) has made the journey across the Atlantic to American showrooms, we wouldn’t expect the same from the Citan any time soon.

Scroll below for the full press release and scope out the high-resolution images in the gallery above for a closer look.

Continue reading Mercedes-Benz goes to work with new Citan van

Mercedes-Benz goes to work with new Citan van

When you think of major car auctions, you probably think of Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale. That’s the one that came to mind for us, which is why we sent Jessi and Patrick to experience its sights and sounds this past January.

Not only did they come away with what it’s like to be inside the big tents of Barrett-Jackson on the company’s biggest day of the year, they also followed the experiences of several sellers, all of whom were counting on six- and seven-figure prices for their precious pieces of metal. Did they leave the Grand Canyon State with smiles on their faces? Scroll down and watch the latest episode of The List to find out.

Click here to watch The List #0041: Attend A Major Car Auction.

• Have an RSS feed? Click here to add The List.
• Have an idea for The List? Click here to tell us what would be on yours.
• Click here to learn more about our hosts, Jessi and Patrick.

Continue reading The List #0041: Attend A Major Car Auction

The List #0041: Attend A Major Car Auction

With over a billion people, the Indian market holds huge potential for any automaker. In fact, Suzuki makes a dedicated range of vehicles on the subcontinent specifically for the local market under the Maruti banner, and this is their latest.

Dubbed Ertiga, it’s essentially a lengthened Swift hatchback “Life Utility Vehicle,” or what would conventionally be called an MPV (Multiple Passenger Vehicle).

Call it what you will, Maruti Suzuki has managed to fit three rows of seating into the stretched Swift for seven-passenger accommodation. Launching locally in India prior to export to neighboring markets like Indonesia in the aim to take market share away from the Toyota Avanza and Mahindra Xylo, the Ertiga takes advantage of huge economies of scale by sharing basic components with the Swift and the Dzire sedan which Maruti builds on the same platform.

Buyers in India will be able to choose between three trim levels, two engines (gas or diesel) and seven colors, but they’ll have to justify spending six or seven times the price of a Tata Nano to do so – but then again, that’s true of most cars. Take a closer look in our gallery above and scroll down for the official press release with more information.

Continue reading Maruti Suzuki stretches Swift into new Ertiga

Maruti Suzuki stretches Swift into new Ertiga

Rumor has it Porsche may produce a performance version of the upcoming Macan. Autocar reports the German manufacturer is working on a Macan Turbo that may be good for as much as 370 horsepower thanks to an all-new twin-turbo V6 engine. The article suggests the 3.0-liter mill will borrow heavily from the 3.6-liter unit found in the base Panamera and Cayenne. That would mean the cylinders will be arranged in a 90-dergree V configuration. Torque output would likely be in the neighborhood of 400 pound-feet.

Autocar also hints that the vehicle will be available with either a seven-speed PDK gearbox or a new seven-speed manual transmission converted from the piece found in the 911. We certainly like the idea of a row-your-own crossover, but we’re not entirely sure how that will work given that the Macan rides on the Volkswagen large front-wheel drive platform. Even with a Torsen differential shuttling power to the rear wheels, that’s a significantly different configuration than the company’s rear-engine sports car.

Of course, all of these whispers come without so much as a hint of a source attached to them, so it remains to be seen exactly how much is true. Look for the Macan to touch down in October.

Porsche Macan to get 370-horsepower turbo model?

Drivers of 2010-2011 Rolls Royce Ghost models and several BMW models with turbocharged engines need to get their vehicles to their dealers. The cars are being recalled for a potentially hazardous defect that could turn their high-end autos into smoldering hunks of less luxurious melted plastic and steel.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the circuit boards on the cars’ water pump could overheat and possibly catch fire.

The 2011 BMW models affected are the 5 Series and 5 Series Gran Turismo. 2012 models are the 6 Series, 7 Series, X5 and X6. All affected models have either the turbocharged V8 or V12. NHTSA says the number of BMWs affected is 2,846. About 60 Rolls Royce Ghosts will be recalled.

The recall is nearly identical to one announced last November that recalled 2010 Rolls Royce Ghosts. This campaign seems to address the same problem that plagued 2011 models.

Continue reading BMW, Rolls-Royce issue recall over smoldering circuit boards

BMW, Rolls-Royce issue recall over smoldering circuit boards

Economies of scale, globalization and production efficiencies continue to exacerbate any disruptive incident in an automaker’s supply chain. The latest snafu is due to a fatal explosion at Germany’s Evonik Industries, which arrested that company’s ability to produce cyclodecatriene (CDT). In turn, the production of the resin Vestamid Polyamide 12 (PA-12) is threatened by the loss of CDT, one of its key components. And a crimp in PA-12 supplies threatens the manufacture of crucial components like brake-line coatings and flexible hoses.

Auto-industry analysts have described the issue as “serious,” but no one, including automakers and suppliers, is sure of how grave the issue will be. Michigan-based Tier One carmaker supplier TI Automotive is hosting a conference later this month with competitors and carmakers to discuss the issue. The major car manufacturers have said they are monitoring the situation, but no disruptions have been planned for yet.

Resin shortage could snarl auto production

What would a superhero movie be without the fancy cars? Well, it would still be a superhero movie, we suppose, but we prefer the kind that has some flashy wheels. Like the upcoming Marvel flick The Avengers.

As you may have heard, Acura signed a multi-picture deal with Marvel to have its cars featured in a series of superhero movies, and indeed several already have. But for The Avengers, Acura had to work up something special enough to replace Tony Stark’s Audi R8. Since the old NSX was long out of production when they began shooting and the new one wasn’t ready yet, the Japanese automaker and the film studio put together something of a hybrid.

Not a hybrid as we tend to use the term in automotive spheres, but an amalgamation of the old NSX and the new one. They took a 1991 NSX and gave it a new roadster body to mimic the concept car that’s been making the rounds of the auto show circuit.

Our compatriots over at Inside Line got a behind-the-scenes look at the roadster, along with the kitted-out MDX crossover and a TL with a similar treatment. Scroll down to watch the video clips they put together, and the corresponding article here.

Continue reading Inside Line snags drive of Acura NSX Roadster from The Avengers

Inside Line snags drive of Acura NSX Roadster from The Avengers

We’re not so sure how scientific its poll was, but an online dating service that calls itself the U.K.’s largest for married people says that men who cheat on their wives are twice as likely to drive a BMW than any other brand of car.

According to NineMSN.com, Illicit Encounters points to the “intrinsic link between success and cheating” to explain the connection between Bimmers and adultery. Some 19 percent of the dating website’s members drive a BMW, including 11 percent of the women who responded to the survey, according to the report. Coming in second on the survey was Audi, with Mercedes-Benz a close third. While BMW may not be outwardly proud of this “victory,” we’re sure at least someone in Munich is glad to have bested its German rivals.

Speaking of which, scroll down to watch a classic Mercedes commercial about a “happily married” couple.

Continue reading BMW owners twice as likely to be adulterers as drivers of other brands

BMW owners twice as likely to be adulterers as drivers of other brands

Ward’s AutoWorld is well known for its annual “10 Best Engines” list, but the trade publication has been compiling a second list for interiors for a few years now. Formerly known as the “Interior of the Year” competition, Ward’s rebranded the list last year, naming the coolest cockpits under the “10 Best Interiors” moniker.

This year’s winners are a relatively diverse lot, with hatchbacks, sedans and crossovers all making the list. While Ward’s lists them in alphabetical order rather than crowning a single winner, we’re choosing to present them with the lowest as-tested MSRP first:

• Hyundai Accent ($15,925)
• Chevrolet Sonic ($18,745)
• Dodge Dart ($21,485)
• Volkswagen Beetle ($25,195)
• Mazda CX-5 ($30,415)
• Hyundai Azera ($36,875)
• Chrysler 300 Luxury ($44,855)
• Range Rover Evoque ($49,745)
• Infiniti JX35 ($54,800)
• Audi A7 ($67,430)

The first thing we noticed then is that while fully half the models carrying base sticker prices under $25,000, Ward’s was clearly not testing the base models of any of these vehicles. The Chevy Sonic, for instance, starts nearly $5,000 below the price of the car Ward’s drove. Even so, that half of the cars on the list could be legitimately called “affordable” is impressive.

Ward’s says 40 vehicles qualified for the competition by having “new or significantly improved interiors,” and while 13 of those were luxury vehicles, they only made up half of the winners. Ward’s says it judged the interiors based on design, fit-and-finish, comfort, ergonomics, safety, material selection, overall value, aesthetics, and human-machine interface.

Check out all the award winners in our high-res image gallery above.

Ward’s selects the 10 best interiors of 2012

It turns out Jay Leno shops for classic cars just like the rest of us do: by wasting untold hours drooling over occasionally perusing BringaTrailer.com. The comedian and host of The Tonight Show recently took a shine to a memorable 1963 Ford Falcon Sprint shown on the site, and it wasn’t long before a few phone calls were made. Now the previous owner can say he sold a car to one of the world’s most well-known collectors, and Leno will have a very-cool Falcon in his Big Dog Garage.

So, what made this particular coupe worthy of such admiration? The ‘63 had undergone significant revision at the hands of the previous owner and builder, including a substantial weight reduction, suspension tweaks with input from the gurus at Koni, along with a fully blueprinted 302 V8. With an aluminum intake and heads as well as a lightweight T5 transmission, the seller claims to have plucked around 200 pounds from the vehicle’s nose.

The idea was to build the car in the image of the Holman Moody Falcons that once competed in the legendary Monte Carlo Rally. Head over to BaT for both the initial sale listing story and the tale of Leno’s buying.

Jay Leno’s garage grows by one thanks to BaT

The 2013 Porsche Cayenne Diesel finally rolled out for North American buyers at the New York Auto Show earlier this month, and the oil-burning V6 that we’ll be able to purchase this September musters 240 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque shifted through an eight-speed automatic. The more important numbers are 28 miles per gallon, a 740-mile range, and a 7,716-pound tow rating when you need to realign the Earth’s crust.

Our friends across the water have been enjoying this model for three years already, and while we’re getting used to our first taste of torquey Porsches, the Europeans appear set to receive a second helping: a new report in Car and Driver asserts that Porsche will add a V8 diesel to Euro markets “in the near future.” Naturally, don’t even think about it coming here.

C/D posits two options for which diesel it will get called up: the 4.2-liter diesel V8 used in the Audi A8 or possibly a brand-new diesel that Porsche could share with Bentley.

Porsche Cayenne Diesel to get two more cylinders, albeit not in U.S.

So is it time to start the Suzuki dead pool? Automotive News seems to think so. While the newspaper doesn’t go as far as suggesting that Suzuki is not long for the American market, it has compiled a depressingly long list of signs that the company is on its last legs here.

Among the many signs that Suzuki is hurting, the most damning might be what’s happening with its dealer body. The report says the brand dropped 32 stores last year, roughly 12 percent, and that it is down to 246 total dealerships in the States. But of those, 150 sell five or fewer cars per month. That would explain why Suzuki only sold 26,618 cars last year, according to AN.

Other signs of distress include sluggish sales so far this year, not exhibiting at the most recent Detroit and Los Angeles auto shows, cutting off their deal for J.D. Power customer satisfaction data, and a lack of marketing leadership or initiative, according to the report.

While Suzuki’s product lineup is among the smallest and oldest in the industry, that seems to be the least of the brand’s troubles. Heck, even we kind of like the Kizashi.

Trouble signs keep piling up for Suzuki

We see tribute vehicles come and go. Most of the lot are slaves to every last detail of the original, offering little more than a few engine upgrades to the mix. Then there are beasts like the one above. Built as an homage to Parnelli Jones’ 1971 “Big Oly” Ford Bronco Baja 1,000 bruiser, this machine uses a modern trophy truck chassis wrapped in larger-than life fiberglass first-generation Bronco body. With 723 horsepower on tap, the truck is fully capable of bashing the desert into submission. Owner Marshall Mardruga originally built the machine to tackle the Baja 1,000, but decided to turn it into a show truck instead.

Every visible component was then plated in brass or nickel and protected with a clear powder coat in preparation for SEMA 2011. If you like what you see, this machine can be yours for a heady sum. Available in San Diego, California via eBay Motors, the street-legal tribute commands a $535,000 Buy It Now price. You can see the auction here or scroll below to check out a few videos.

Continue reading eBay Find of the Day: Parnelli Jones 1971 “Big Oly” Ford Bronco tribute [w/video]

eBay Find of the Day: Parnelli Jones 1971 “Big Oly” Ford Bronco tribute [w/video]

For a car that still hasn’t donned its new body yet, not even under copious camouflage, there’s been chatter about the 2014 Lexus IS for an awful long time. We saw the first mule 18 months ago, and it was about that time that intel predicted Lexus’ next-generation small sport sedan would run on a four-door version of the Scion FT-86 chassis and be followed by a coupe.

The snappers at CarPix caught a modern mule out on test, the only change so far from 2010 being the panels obscuring the front intakes and a roll of packing tape applied to some panel gaps. The car we eventually see will continue the sportification of the Lexus brand in both appearance and capability. As well, the IS-F begat by this IS, having been planned for and developed from the beginning, should really show us what an M3-fighting Lexus can do.

Next-gen Lexus IS mule caught circulating