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If you have a phone, you’ve probably been offered a (last, final, only, etc.) chance to extend your car’s warranty. Hopefully you realized an anonymous caller from an unknown number had no idea what kind of car you drive much less when your warranty expired and promptly ended the call.

Way back in 2008, several state attorneys general teamed up to hang up on the auto warranty scammers, and the next year a federal judge ordered two companies to cease the annoying, probably illegal calls.

Finally, yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission slammed the hammer down on LA-based SBN Peripherals (aka Asia Pacific Telecom, Inc.). The FTC’s report says the company made more than 2.6 billion random calls in less than 20 months. Unfortunately, 12.8 million of those calls paid off with some consumer being scammed.

For their many, many, many telephonic transgressions, the company was ordered to pay $5.3 million. The company is conveniently unable to pay that amount, of course, so the FTC is claiming more than $1 million from a Hong Kong bank account, a $357,000 lien on a house, 50% interest in a Saipan office building, interest in seven tracts of land, a 2004 Corvette, a 2005 BMW X5, a 2004 Dodge Durango, a recreational vehicle and a partridge in a pear tree. We’re betting the extended warranties on those cars is not transferable. All defendants are also ordered to never, ever again engage in telemarketing. EVER.

But if you’re still in need of an extended warranty for your car, email us with your credit card number and we’ll get right back to you. (We’re joking of course! We prefer cash.)

You can read the full FTC report here.

FTC shuts down auto warranty robocaller

One of the postscripts of the travails of Saab Cars North America (SCNA) is this, a couple hundred 9-3 and 9-5 sedans left to the unkindness of coastal winds at a New Jersey port facility. According to the poster at Found Our Own Road, there are 900 cars in this Asphodel Meadows awaiting the resolution of the company’s fate.

Last we heard, SCNA is still fighting the involuntary bankruptcy filed in Delaware by its dealers and is trying to get the case moved to Michigan. Prior to that, SCNA had been trying to avoid the proceeding altogether in case a bidder was able to acquire the entire company.

While we wait to find out about that, you can head over to Found Our Own Road to see the rest of the photos of a Saab future that almost was.

Hundreds of new Saab models spotted rotting at New Jersey port

Just as mysteriously as it began, Chevrolet has removed the production hold it had placed on the 2012 Camaro ZL1. For those keeping track, the delay has lasted roughly three weeks, and we still don’t know what the “quality assessment issue” was.

According to Motor Authority, a letter has been sent to those who have placed orders on Chevy’s hottest muscle car, letting them know when they can expect their machines to arrive at the dealership.

Cars that had already been produced and had been held back from the waiting garages of buyers will begin trickling to owners in two to three weeks, while orders placed but not yet built will take a little longer. That said, Camaro ZL1 models built in the foreseeable future will very likely continue on with a 2012 model-year designation before the Oshawa plant switches production to the 2013 cars. Just how many 2012 ZL1s will be built remains to b seen.

We also can’t help but mention the newly announced Camaro 1LE, which gets some of the track-ready features of the ZL1 with a 426-horsepower V8 in place of the killer 580-horse supercharged engine, along with what’s sure to be a much lighter price tag. With choices like these, we’d say it’s a good time to be shopping for a Camaro.

2012 Chevy Camaro ZL1 back on sale, production hold removed

We’ve spilled equal parts ink and drool over the new Vintage Series wheels from HRE. The pieces invoke all sorts of bedroom poster memories from our misspent youth, and seeing them bolted to some of our favorite modern supercars is enough to invoke a guaranteed smile.

The guys at StanceWorks have featured a particularly moving combination. One Ferrari 458 Italia owner opted for a set of 505s in matte bronze as an homage to the legendary P4/5. The combination Ferrari red and those fat five spokes is absolutely sublime.

If you’re rolling your eyes at the thought of yet another garage queen getting a new set of shoes, take heart in the knowledge that this particular 458 is owned by a gentleman who isn’t afraid to put miles on the clock. In just three months, the owner has rolled the odometer up to 6,000 miles, which means this car has had the opportunity to stretch its legs on more than one occasion. Perfection.

Scroll down for a quick video of the car by our friends at eGarage, and be sure to crank the volume toward the end.

Continue reading Daily dose of sexy brought to you by HRE Wheels, Ferrari 458 Italia [w/video]

Daily dose of sexy brought to you by HRE Wheels, Ferrari 458 Italia [w/video]

Audi’s customer racing program with the R8 LMS has been an unequivocal success. Since the delivery of the first race car in March of 2010, more than 40 examples have competed in 18 different championships worldwide, racking up more than 100 victories. In 2011 the R8 LMS captured important wins at the 24 hour races at Spa and Zolder, as well as claiming a GT3 class victory at the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Most recently the R8 LMS won the Bathurst 12 Hour race in Australia for the second year in a row.

One of the places the R8 LMS hasn’t had a big impact, though, is here in the United States. For 2012, Audi did finally homologate a version of the race car for Grand-Am, but it’s a version that’s significantly changed from the model that competes in the European GT3 series. The aerodynamics of the car are less aggressive to meet Grand-Am standards, the 5.2-liter V10 is detuned by around 75 horsepower, and driver aids like ABS and traction control have been removed.

With the R8’s success in motorsports internationally, Audi has hinted that it is currently looking at expending the car’s presence to other racing series stateside. One man, James Sofronas, isn’t waiting around for the good folks at Ingolstadt to take action, though. He got his hands on a pair of GT3-spec R8 LMS race cars and is in the process of homologating them for a racing series here in the United States. He recently invited us to take a closer look at the R8 LMS and learn more about the car’s domestic racing future.

Continue reading An inside look at the Audi R8 LMS and its future of racing in the U.S.

An inside look at the Audi R8 LMS and its future of racing in the U.S.

Those of us who are fortunate enough to have never suffered through cancer likely don’t realize how the disease can turn some of life’s simplest acts into huge hurdles. Just getting to treatment appointments can be daunting with the onset of symptoms and side effects. One cancer survivor in Austin, Texas has set up a network of exotic and classic car owners to make getting to the hospital a little bit easier and more fun at the same time.

Ken Adams noticed a large number of cancer patients who were forced to take public transportation or rely on friends and family to make it to treatments while he was waiting for his own doctor. Adams then hatched the idea for volunteers to help get those patients from home to the hospital, and Your Ride Is Here was born.

Patients get to ride in everything from vehicles like the Aston Martin Rapide to the Chevrolet Camaro and even the Ferrari Enzo. For patients who may be going through some of the darkest days of their lives, the chance to ride in some of the world’s greatest pieces of engineering is also a chance at a valuable smile.

We’ve been plenty guilty of balking at supercars in the past, and while they remain firmly out of grasp for the vast majority of the human race, they also represent just what mankind is capable of with the right motivation. We’re just glad to see some of their owners have a similarly impressive capacity for compassion.

If you don’t own a supercar but still want to help, Your Ride Is Here relies entirely on donations, which can be made here. They’ve also made an excellent video that best explains their purposes, which can be viewed farther down the page.

Continue reading Your Ride Is Here gives cancer patients a ride to treatment in style

Your Ride Is Here gives cancer patients a ride to treatment in style

Sure, you can enjoy the Aston Martin LMP1 race car, a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 and the deviously capable Jaguar XKR-S in the new April Alpinestars Pack for Forza Motorsport 4. But a little further down the list of ten cars are some delightful sleepers: the 1972 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 that would inaugurate AMG’s tuning and motorsports credentials (our personal favorite), the 1995 BMW M5 that cemented that model’s reputation, and the 1997 Volvo 850 R that was still glowing from the wagon’s racing campaign in the British Touring Car Championship.

The pack will be available for 560 MS points on April 3 (or free for those with a Season Pass), and is rounded out by the Maserati Quattosporte Sport GT S, 1985 Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE, 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible, and 2012 Scion TC. You’ll want to watch the associated video trailer, so click here for that.

Continue reading Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 the star of Forza 4’s April Alpinestars Pack

Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 the star of Forza 4’s April Alpinestars Pack

Car companies worldwide have had a terrible track record creating cars that attract hip, young buyers. Despite all their best efforts to cater to the cool cats, the 18-24 demographic prefers to defy categorization.

But now it seems car companies have a new, more vexing problem. The 18-24 crowd doesn’t want cars at all.

General Motors knows all too well about its aging demographics and has turned to a creative new marketing firm to have a shot at bringing down the age of their average buyer. The firm is called Scratch and is part of MTV (owned by Viacom). Ross Martin, 37, is executive VP of Scratch and says 20-somethings really don’t even want a car.

“They think of a car as a giant bummer,” Martin tells the New York Times. “Think about your dashboard. It’s filled with nothing but bad news.”

Research showed 60% of 18-24 year-old drivers would choose Internet access over owning a car. To the Autoblog staff, that’s like asking them to choose between air and water. And if your dashboard is all bad news, you’re doing it wrong!

The New York Times story is full of tidbits about how GM and MTV are chasing the cool crowd, like how they’re trying to “General Motors with the same insights that made MTV reality shows like ‘Jersey Shore’ and ‘Teen Mom’ breakout hits.” Hmmm. Yeah, that oughta make recent college grads want to buy a Volt.

Whatdya think? MTV still got enough cool cred to help transform the old gray General?

GM turns to MTV to sell cars to younger generations

Even at a team like Ferrari (which has more grand prix victories to its name than any other team in Formula One – 217 to be specific), every win counts. Especially these days when they’re far more scarce than they were in the Michael Schumacher days of back-to-back championships. So when Fernando Alonso took home the checkered flag in Malaysia this past weekend, there was cause for celebration in Maranello.

After winning the second race of the season and taking the lead in the standings, Alonso swung by Ferrari headquarters for a nice long chat with chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, some training in the on-site gym and the traditional raising of the flag to mark the occasion, after which the two-time world champion apparently was gifted a brand-spankin’ new Ferrari FF.

Whether the four-seat, all-wheel-drive, V12-powered shooting brake was a bonus outlined in his contract or a simple gesture of appreciation from his employers is likely known only by Alonso, Montezemolo and very few others, but either way, we doubt Fernando is complaining. The FF joins a growing stable of cars the star driver has received since signing with Ferrari, including a custom 458 Italia, a Maserati GranTourismo Convertible, an Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari and a special edition Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. Nice work if you can get it.

Continue reading Fernando Alonso gets a Ferrari FF for winning the Malaysian Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso gets a Ferrari FF for winning the Malaysian Grand Prix

As impressive as the Shelby 1000 is, someone at Shelby apparently thought 950 horsepower wasn’t good enough. With a few clicks of the mouse, a photo of one of the muscled-up pony cars was given a little drama to boost excitement.

At first, Shelby’s official line was that nothing in the photo was altered except shadows and that, yes, the super Shelby’s front end did in fact lift several inches off the ground in the photo you see above.

But anyone with at least one good eye can see several problems. Apparently, that does not include the Autoblog staff. We totally missed it, but one of our attentive readers, ZeGerman, caught it well before anyone else.

First, there’s an odd blur just beneath the front passenger side tire and just a sliver remains of the tire that was airbrushed out. If you’re gonna fake a photo, show some skill.

Second, a wheelstand would be virtually impossible to do with that much horsepower on street tires.

Third, check out those rear tires. They’re standing stock still and, as another reader, gtv4rudy, points out, there’s light showing through the tread. The rear tires aren’t digging into the tarmac at all.

Shelby, rightly, now admits to Drive On at USA Today that the front wheels were lifted not by a super powerful engine, but instead by super powerful photo manipulation software. Why, Shelby, why? You had us at 950 hp!

Shelby caught Photoshopping drama into press images

The Subaru BRZ is off to an impressive sales start in Japan. According to Subaru, the two-door is besting the automaker’s sales projections by wide margins. As of right now, Subaru has sold 3,551 of the coupes, which is around four times the company’s estimates. Fuji Heavy Industries put out a very conservative number of 450 units per month as a sales goal for the BRZ before the vehicle hit the market.

Perhaps more interesting is the fact that a whopping 60 percent of buyers are under 40 years old, and two-thirds of all BRZ owners are opting for the six-speed manual gearbox. Those numbers are particularly impressive given the reports indicating a declining interest in cars and driving in Japan’s youth. According to the company, over a quarter of buyers are under 30.

BRZ sales kick off in the U.S. on April 20, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see similar demand levels in our neck of the woods, at least initially. We certainly want one.

Early Subaru BRZ sales running at 4x projections in Japan

Being a bus driver in China must be awful. Lots of traffic, lots of people, no tipping. And the job has just gotten worse in Jinghua, where a bus company has instructed its drivers to please stop hitting expensive supercars.

To illustrate the point, drivers were shown a poster with supercar logos to watch out for and how much the associated cars were worth. Hit a Lamborghini, you’ll be out 5 million yuan (almost $800,000 USD). And right there, the last vestige of fun was taken away from the under-appreciated Chinese bus driver.

The poster even includes the Shelby Super Cars logo, which can’t possibly be all that common in China. Odder still is the omission of the Porsche insignia, which we take to mean it’s open season on Boxsters and Caymans.

Chinese bus companies tell drivers not to hit supercars

As a rule, Hurst used to be a company that was more than happy to partner with just about any automaker that walked through the door. While we’re plenty familiar with vehicles like the Hurst Oldsmobile 442, more obscure relics like the 1980 Hurst Shawnee International Harvester Scout and this Jeep Jeepster Commando also populate the pages of the company’s history books. Details like one very patriotic stripe package, a hood scoop and a hood-mounted tachometer all help set this Jeepster apart from its kin. Of course, a Hurst gated automatic shifter and appropriate badges are also part of the package.

This particular example is up for bid with only a few hours left on the auction. The price has inched up to $7,500 with the reserve still not met. With a shave over 73,000 miles on the odometer and one of the cleanest Jeepster bodies we’ve ever seen, this particular Commando is a little bit of work away from being a unique museum piece. Head over to eBay Motors for a closer look.

eBay Find of the Day: 1970 Jeep Jeepster Commando Hurst

If you think the Porsche 911 is the champ at incremental revisions through successive generations, then you should have a look at the Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen, whose features change on a scale of geologic, not automotive time. We’ve had a peek at the 2013 G-Class and its new LEDs and mirrors, and at a camouflaged AMG version on test. That AMG, however, will be getting more than new trimmings when it arrives later this year: the twin turbo, 6.0-liter V12 from the SL65 AMG will be tucked under its bonnet. It’s the first time the G-Class has gone with a dozen cylinders.

Since the G55 never got the 6.2-liter naturally-aspirated AMG engine, and so never switched to the G63 name, this could mean that it will stick with the same model name now that it’s getting the twin turbo, 5.5-liter V8 with 536 horsepower. However, Autocar indicates the name will be changed to G63.

That would leave a little less branding daylight between it and the G65, but the power should convince: the bigger boy will have 621 horsepower and 737 pound-feet to work with, mojo enough to move it as fast a Bentley Mulsanne from a stoplight to 60 mph. Both it and the G55 will also get the 7G-Tronic transmission, while the G63 will add stop/start and brake energy recapture.

Mercedes-Benz G-Class to get twin-turbo V12 AMG version?

Like other European automakers, BMW is keen to welcome visitors at its headquarters in Munich, and you don’t even have to buy a car to see it.

The Bavarian automaker’s principal visitors center is BMW Welt, a dynamic attraction that has welcomed some two million visitors every year since opening in 2007. BMW Welt (from the German for “world”) includes a delivery center where as many as 100 new customers pick up their new cars every day, as well as interactive exhibits showcasing the company’s operations in R&D, design and production, as well as concert venues and conference rooms and even a Junior Campus for younger guests.

Visitors to BMW Welt can also stop by the neighboring BMW Museum to check out the 120 original exhibits covering 90 years of BMW history laid out on a virtual roadway across 25 exhibition areas that some 400,000 visitors see each year. Finally, visitors can also tour the company’s main plant in Munich where BMW produces the 3 Series sedan and wagon as well as the bulk of its engines.

Planning a trip to Germany sometime soon? Follow the jump to read more in the full press release and scope out the enormous gallery of high-res images for an idea of what to expect.

Continue reading BMW highlights factory tour experience in Munich

BMW highlights factory tour experience in Munich

The ink is only just dry on the contract detailing the collaboration between General Motors and PSA Peugeot Citroën, and already there is talk of going further. GM purchased a seven-percent stake in PSA to form an alliance that would work together on platforms, small and midsize cars, and MPVs and crossovers, the aim being to strengthen the positions of PSA and Opel. Plans include moving the Opel Corsa to a Peugeot platform, while the Citroën C5 and Peugeot 508 move to GM platform technology.

Peugeot had announced the €220-million development of a dual-clutch transmission that was to be built at its Valenciennes, France factory but just shuttered the project saying it might get them from GM instead. The company also spoke of developing a new small car with GM for the Latin American market.

Another development has been the rearrangement of factory closures. When the deal was announced analysts said that the real issue for Opel and PSA was surplus plant capacity, but one report in Reuters said that plant closures wouldn’t be affected by the tie-up. Apparently that’s not the case, with an unnamed source telling Reuters in a second story that plant closures were a piece of the deal from the beginning. Peugeot has announced that it wouldn’t produce a new small car at its plant in Madrid, Spain, but it won’t detail its plant closures until after the French presidential election later this year.

Peugeot suggests expansion of ties with GM into other segments and technology

Having trouble keeping track of which watchmaker is producing timepieces for Ferrari these days? It can get a little confusing. Girard-Perregaux held the license for many years, after which a lackluster partnership was formed with Panerai. Then Cabestan was contracted to make one very fancy-looking watch for the Prancing Horse marque, before Hublot got the nod. And that’s not including the more affordable watches marketed less to Ferrari owners than to the Scuderia’s tifosi. Now, Maranello has formed another partnership with a different watchmaker.

That watchmaker is Movado, the Swiss firm best know for creating elegant and simply styled timepieces that look just as much at home in a museum showcase as they do on a wearer’s wrist. Movado also makes watches under the Ebel, Concord, ESQ, Coach, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Juicy Couture and Lacoste labels, and will now be adding Ferrari to its roster of brands.

The collection is set to draw its inspiration from Ferrari’s road and racing cars, and is set to be launched next year at the Watch & Jewelry Fair in Basel, Switzerland, after which they will go on sale at Ferrari stores around the world and online with prices peaking at 1,500 euros (around $2,000). Follow the jump for the official announcement.

Continue reading Ferrari contracts Movado for new line of watches

Ferrari contracts Movado for new line of watches

There’s nothing quite like witnessing an automotive race in person. The sights, sounds, smells – it’s a magical experience for anyone with petrol flowing freely through their veins. But it’s just not possible to personally attend every race on the planet, and sometimes, television coverage leaves much to be desired.

Enter GoPro, maker of those little clear-plastic-housed cameras you see all over the place. The crew attached its HD Hero2 cams all over a couple of ALMS cars driven by Gunnar Jeannette and Ken Dobson as they battled the field at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

There are helmet-cams, shots up high and down low, from the front and toward the rear, all catching fender-to-fender racing at its finest. There’s even some views showing what life is like for a mechanic in the pits. See for yourself in the video after the break. As an added bonus, you can also watch raw footage of each driver’s laps in separate videos.

Continue reading Watch an American Le Mans race from all angles thanks to GoPro

Watch an American Le Mans race from all angles thanks to GoPro

We couldn’t fault you if it came as no great surprise that BMW was the main automotive sponsor of this summer’s Olympic games in London. The Bavarian automaker has, after all, done its homework to promote the partnership, launching special edition 1 and 3 Series, a pair of special edition Minis, a commercial using the new M5, and a video series profiling specific athletes, all to highlight the point. But the biggest way BMW will be participating in the event is with the massive fleet of vehicles it is providing to the organizers.

All in all, BMW will be furnishing the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralymic Games (LOCOG) with a whopping 4,000 vehicles. The fleet is made up of diesel, hybrid and electric cars, plus motorcycles and bicycles. And because LOCOG has set a low CO2 target for the big event, each vehicle averages less than 120g of CO2 per kilometer.

The first 40 specially liveried vehicles, BMW announced, have now been delivered, including examples of the 520d and 320d. All the German automaker has left is multiply those a hundredfold and it’ll be ready for the big games.

Continue reading BMW delivers first 40 of 4,000 vehicles destined for London Olympics

BMW delivers first 40 of 4,000 vehicles destined for London Olympics

New Technology Aims To Take Your Hands Off The Steering Wheel

The biggest hurdles to autonomous cars will be legal, not technical.

Most car enthusiasts hate the idea of cars that can drive themselves. But autonomous cars will get here faster than most people realize. Slowly but surely, automobiles are doing more of our driving for us. It’s only a matter of time before they take over completely.

Just look at how much control we’ve already ceded to the computers under the hood. Anti-lock brakes, which are consistently better at threshold braking than mere mortals, are pretty much standard equipment. So are traction control and stability control. We now have blind spot detection, lane departure warning, active lane control, and even self-parking.

Now comes the next step. Mercedes-Benz and Audi recently demonstrated Traffic Jam Assist, which uses adaptive cruise control and automatic steering to completely take control of a car up to 60 kilometers an hour (about 37 mph). Google has racked up tens of thousands of miles on its fleet of fully autonomous Toyota Prius hybrids on California roads. The technology will be showroom ready before the end of the decade.

The biggest hurdles will be legal, not technical. For example, who’s at fault when one of these cars gets in an accident? And how will the police pull over an autonomous car if they need to? But we’ll resolve those issues, and when we do, autonomous cars will have a bigger impact on society than when the first horseless carriages appeared over a century ago.

John McElroy is host of the TV program “Autoline Detroit” and daily web video “Autoline Daily”. Every month he brings his unique insights as a Detroit insider to Autoblog readers.

Continue reading How autonomous cars are about to change our future

How autonomous cars are about to change our future