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Tiny city cars are becoming a big business in overseas markets. Mercedes-Benz was a pioneer in the segment with the entire Smart brand, Toyota tackles it with the iQ, Volkswagen 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, snapped last month undergoing testing at the Nürburgring and released in this latest pair of “official” spy shots, promises to give General Motors 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 Ford Henry, Chevrolet Louis, Lamborghini Ferruccio and Porsche Ferdinand flooding showrooms in the near future. Before that, though, expect the Opel Adam to debut at the Paris Motor Show in the fall… hopefully without the camouflage.

Opel dubs upcoming city-car “Adam”

Exotic automakers from Italy come and go, and some are missed more than others. But while names like Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini have remained constant throughout, others have risen and fallen. Bugatti 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 Geneva Motor Show, 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 – sold the Nardo Technical Centre to Porsche. 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.

De Tomaso down for the count

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 Ford and Chrysler 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 Toyota have adjusted their yearly sales forecasts accordingly.

2012 U.S. auto sales on pace to be best in five years

Congratulations are in order: Saabs United has raised enough money to buy the last Saab 9-3, what is likely to be the last Saab 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 Saab 9-3 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 Pontiac G6, 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 historical Saab gallery.

Saab fans save the last 9-3

The good people at Cars.com have slogged their way through sales data from April and found something interesting. The Toyota Prius Plug-In managed to walk away as the third quickest-selling car in the U.S., spending just five days on dealer lots. That figure was good enough to land it behind the BMW X3 and X5, both of which take four days to find a new homes. The plug-in hybrid has only been on sale for two months, and took the honor of being the second-quickest selling vehicle in March, according to Cars.com.

The report also took the time to look at the slowest-selling models around. Surprisingly, the Porsche Boxster sits at the top of that list, taking a whopping 250 days to turn. The 2012 BMW 6 Series isn’t doing much better. The 650i Convertible took fourth place with an average of 128 days on the lot while the 640i Coupe rounds out the top 10 with 111 days. Perhaps even more shocking is the news that there are four vehicles selling slower than the Nissan Murano Cross Cabriolet at 120 days on dealer lots. Head over to Cars.com for the full report.

Toyota Prius Plug-In third fastest-selling car in America

Until the Chinese began producing the rather attractive MG6, the initials “MG” had been ill omens for at least ten years to all who approached them. The era of the Phoenix Four – former MG execs John Towers, Nick Stephenson, Peter Beale and John Edwards, who bought the company from its previous owners, the badly burned and hastily retreating BMW, for £10 – was just an especially nasty capstone. Their collective £10 investment turned into millions of pounds for each of them but nary a car made before they declared bankruptcy and closed up shop. According to a government report that cost £16.3 million to produce, however, the Phoenix Four didn’t break any laws.

After all that, there’s one more unsavory epilogue. There were 6,500 workers at MG’s Longbridge factory who left with nothing when Phoenix went bust. After everyone else took their share of the heavy amounts of cash that passed between boardrooms, there is £22,000 ($35,523 U.S.) for final payouts for the workers. That means they’ll each get a check for £2.50 ($4.04 U.S.) – it would have been £3, but according to the report at AOL UK the cost of the stamp needed to send the check comes out of the check.

Before the politics begin, yes we know this is how business works; the Phoenix Four only did what the laws of the land allowed, and that’s as far as you need to look for ruthless reason and rationale. Or you could paraphrase Hunter S. Thompson and say that some get rich and fat, others, well, don’t. Regardless, the MG trustees are appealing to the four directors to personally contribute to the worker payouts, but the odds on that are quite long.

Ex-MG Rover workers to get check for £2.50

When General Motors put down several of its brands in recent years, it also let loose thousands of brand-loyal customers who will eventually need another car.

R.L. Polk Associates estimates there are more than 18 million cars from 16 discontinued makes on the road today. Those “orphan owners” have sales-hungry competitors seeing dollar signs. GM is offering Saturn owners $1,000 cash toward a Chevy Cruze, Caddillac CTS or a GMC Acadia. Ford is giving its Mercury lease customers a chance to get out of their contracts with no early-termination penalty and offering to waive six remaining payments if they drive off in a Ford or Lincoln.

Edmunds.com research shows the efforts are paying off somewhat for GM, with 39 percent of Pontiac owners, 37 percent of Hummer owners and 31 percent of Saturn owners taking delivery of another GM-branded vehicle. But that leaves as much as 69 percent of owners going elsewhere. Ford, Honda and Toyota seem to be attracting many former GM owners.

As Forbes points out, if you’re driving an orphaned nameplate, you just might be able to use that to your advantage when shopping for a new vehicle.

Automakers tussle over owners of ‘orphan’ makes

Ferrari is recalling certain 458 Italia and California models around the world due to a problem with the crankshaft. Roughly 13,000 examples of these cars are currently roaming the streets, and 206 are affected by this problem.

According to Autocar, the recall has been issued due to an incorrect finish on the vehicles’ crankshafts. The British magazine states that the problem “causes unwanted vibrations which can damage the engine if it is not changed.”

“We are writing to all clients affected now, asking them to return the car to a dealer for the work to be done,” a Ferrari spokesperson told Autocar.

In the United States, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has yet to issue a formal recall notice about the affected vehicles.

Ferrari recalling 200 cars worldwide

Michael Bay’s Transformers were true enough (for a Bay production, at least) to the original articles in their car and robot states, but their transforming sequences were epilepsy-inducing explosions of cranks and gears that made no sense at all. Admittedly, it didn’t stop us from enjoying the first movie.

But the work of a Japanese modeler is what we’ve been looking for: his Transformer takes us all the way back to the original eightes series when Bumblebee was a Volkswagen Beetle. This is version eight, fitted with 22 servo motors – it even throws punches and does a jig – and we’re told that version nine is on the way. We’d like to humbly request that all research on flying cars stops, and every resource be poured into a production version of this right now. Scroll down to check out the video.

Continue reading Japanese man makes the best Transformers model we’ve ever seen

Japanese man makes the best Transformers model we’ve ever seen

Nevada has officially granted Google a license to test autonomous vehicles on public streets. The tech giant underwent demonstrations in both Las Vegas and Carson City to prove its vehicles are as safe or safer than those piloted by mere humans. The state requires two people to be in the test vehicles at all times, including at one occupant in the driver’s seat and another monitoring the vehicle via an onboard computer. If anything goes wrong, the human “driver” can take over by simply applying the brakes or taking hold of the steering wheel.

As of right now, Google has only applied to license three vehicles. Each one will carry a red license plate with an infinity symbol. According to Bruce Breslow, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles director, vehicles with autonomous capability could be on the road within three to five years. When that happens, the machines will wear green plates.

Google allowed to test self-driving car on Nevada public streets

Jeremy Clarkson did an 11-minute interview with a South African radio station that has a name to match its geographic location. Clarkson discussed what it took to make the Top Gear segment that had them drivng around the Monaco GP circuit on a race weekend, the coming Ron Howard movie Rush about the 1976 F1 battle between Niki Lauda and James Hunt and Top Gear Festival 2012 “with an array of cars that has never been seen anywhere.”

But what has caught everyone’s attention – everyone except for the radio interviewer, that is – was Clarkson saying that the festival would be “about the only time” he, Hammond and May would work together in 2012 because “there’s no Top Gear this year.” There’s video of the interview below, the bombshell at about 8:10. Since it’s all a bit confusing, Mr. Clarkson himself has set the record straight via his personal Twitter account, confirming that Top Gear will return in January of 2013, though there will be a Christmas special some time before that.

The reason petrolheads will be missing out on their BBC fix? Simon Cowell, apparently. “Sunday nights will be full of fat people singing,” said Clarkson. “Top Gear is a medium size van. Cowell is a juggernaut. When he has finished his singing competition, our new series will start.”

Continue reading Top Gear not returning until 2013 [w/video]

Top Gear not returning until 2013 [w/video]

All the Justin Bieber in the world doesn’t seem like enough for Fisker to catch a break. First it was a 2012 Fisker Karma spectacularly crapping out on Consumer Reports. Now a Texas fire investigator has said that a house fire originated with the plug-in hybrid, according to AutoWeek.

The fire consumed the car while doing “substantial damage” to the garage and spreading to the suburban Houston home, but nobody was injured in the blaze. According to the report, two other vehicles parked in the garage, an Acura NSX and Mercedes-Benz SUV, were also damaged. Estimates of the extent of the destruction were said to be $100,000, not including the damage to the other cars – and we’re assuming not including the Karma either, given that the six-figure car was a complete loss, according to the report.

The fire started within three minutes of the Karma being parked in the garage, after the owner said he smelled burning rubber. According to the report, the car had not yet been plugged in to charge. The Karma is said to be new enough that it was built after the battery recall, and the report indicates that the battery pack survived the fire intact.

Though the Fort Bend County chief fire investigator told AW that “the Karma was the origin of the fire,” and that it resembled a golf cart fire, something that happens roughly 50 times a year in the area, the incident is still being investigated.

When contacted for comment, Fisker’s response was to tell AutoWeek not to jump to any conclusions: “There are conflicting reports and uncertainty surrounding this particular incident. The cause of the fire is not yet known and is being investigated.”

The automaker then went on to speculate about “fraud or malicious intent,” stating that “fireworks were found in the garage” and that “an electrical panel located in the garage… is also being examined,” according to the report. Fisker also told AW that it believes the car’s battery pack “does not appear to have been a contributing factor in this incident.”

Fisker Karma to blame for garage fire in Texas?

With an epic chassis and the lowest center of gravity in the business, there’s plenty for enthusiast to love about the Scion FR-S. Except, that is, for those who prefer to take their nimble, affordable sports cars with the roof down. Their choices are rather limited in this price category to the Mazda MX-5 and Ford Mustang, but if the latest reports prove accurate, the FR-S – which is, of course, virtually identical to the Subaru BRZ and sold overseas as the Toyota GT 86 – is preparing to throw its hat in the ring, as well.

Long rumored, a convertible version of the jointly-developed “Toyobaru” coupe could stand to boost sales figures and help the bean-counters justify the expenditure on the new platform. However while the speedster concept recently showcased at Long Beach lost its rear seats (along with most of its windshield), Car and Driver predicts that the FR-S convertible will keep the auxiliary pair in the back – though the addition of a folding roof mechanism would likely mean that would come at the expense of most of the trunk room.

We’re told to expect the FR-S convertible to arrive sometime late in 2013 or early in 2014, with a price tag that would tack a few grand onto the coupe’s $25,000 MSRP. Look for the same 2.0-liter, 200-horsepower boxer four to carry over with a choice of six-speed transmissions in either manual or automatic configurations. Beyond that, Toyota may be considering basing a larger four-door sedan and coupe off the new platform, which could stand to make the money men back at headquarters – to say nothing of the enthusiasts – even more happy.

Scion FR-S convertible coming by early 2014

The next-generation BMW Z4 roadster is slated to arrive in 2015, and according to new reports, it’s going to be a more dynamic machine. Well, slightly more dynamic, since the Z4 will still need to squeeze into the triangulated space between better driving chops and not looking too different than the current car. Buyers may want a better driver’s car, but they also want a timeless design that will still look good in 15 years.

Inside Line reports that the next Z4 will have a shortened hood and the lighter, N20 four-cylinder engine – as is found in the Z4 sDrive28i – which will mean better weight distribution. But with BMW aiming to ensure its cars maintain their image for 15 years, we look forward to seeing how engineers and designers collaborate on a harder car that won’t be, in any way, too hard.

Next BMW Z4 to be more dynamic

Get ready. The hype machine is revving up for the 2013 Ford Fusion. And it’s not going to slow down in the coming months, as Ford prepares to launch it’s most important midsize entry in 30 years.

Even with no pricing available, Ford has launched its Build Your Own Fusion website. The configurator will walk a curious customer through all of the variations of the new Fusion from a base S model to the fully loaded Titanium to the gas-electric Hybrid. (The only model missing is the plug-in hybrid Fusion Energi.)

The configurator, which Ford says on the website is for “survey purposes only,” will allow you to see the Fusion S in eight different colors (the Titanium model comes in nine – click through our attached gallery to see them all), list out each model’s engine choices, features and options, as well continue the buzz the Fusion created at the Detroit Auto Show.

After building the Fusion of your dreams, you can also sign up for email updates, which, over the summer, will be many.

2013 Ford Fusion configurator powers up

We at Autoblog, por supuesto, love us some behind-the-scenes car development videos. We also dig smart humor, and we think the two are gloriously combined in this German take on almost every dramatic engineering/track/shakedown vid that has hit the YouTubes. Until it gets a tad too absurd, at least…

Put together by the same gents who earlier made an aluminum-foil Porshce 911 bike, this time they’ve worked up a car they call the Fahrradi Farfalla FXX which is loosely based on a whole lot of other cars. When they give it the shakedown in a German tunnel, well, you’ll just have to see for yourself what happens. Scroll down to see what’s up.

Continue reading Power to the Pedals: Ferrari FXX gets the human-powered treatment

Power to the Pedals: Ferrari FXX gets the human-powered treatment

What can you even say to defend a financial decision like this one? According to a report by Detroit’s WXYZ television news team, the City of Detroit has been leasing a 2004 Dodge Intrepid since September 2003, over six years after the original two-year-lease expired. Since the City did not return the car, it has continued to make the $608 per month lease payments, even as it racked up miles well beyond the 40,000 in the original agreement, for which it now must pay 15 cents per mile. According to the report, the City has spent over $65,000 for the car, which it doesn’t even own.

But that’s not all. WXYZ says that Detroit has 110 of these expired lease agreements on 2004 through 2007 models, and all of the cars are still on the road, wasting money with every tick of the odometer. And remember, the City still has to turn in all 110 cars, and pay for excess wear and tear. An estimate of the city’s losses incurred by this leasing scheme is well over $4 million, according to the report. The cars are all being used by the Detroit Police Department, and though they’re not quite full-zoot police cruisers like the 2002 Intrepid pictured above, they see action for undercover work. That means it’s not just the taxpayers who are getting a bad deal here, but the cops themselves, as we’re pretty sure none of them are particularly happy to be out risking their lives in an eight-year-old Dodge.

If we can attempt to find the faintest silver lining to this epic thunderstorm of mismanagement, it would be that perhaps in the publicity sure to follow, a few of Detroit’s residents might better understand why and how leasing can cost more than financing a new car purchase. And at least the City of Detroit has been using these cars, rather than leaving them in a parking structure to sit and rot. Scroll down for a video report from WXYZ.

Continue reading City of Detroit paying $608 per month to lease 2004 Dodge Intrepid [w/video]

City of Detroit paying $608 per month to lease 2004 Dodge Intrepid [w/video]

Ford is crying foul over Japan’s desire to join a proposed free trade agreement among Asia-Pacific countries. The Trans-Pacific Partnership aims to reduce regulatory hurdles among its participants, but Steve Beigun, Ford vice president for international government affairs, claims the Japanese auto market is “the most protected automotive market in the developed world,” and that the industry is unnecessarily dependent on exports to survive. Beigun’s solution? Force the Japanese auto industry to restructure before allowing Japan in on the TPP. In industry speak, that means closing down factories.

That’s an odd claim given that Japan can’t possibly have a lower tariff on imported cars: zero percent. For comparison’s sake, importers looking to bring vehicles into the U.S. face a 2.5 percent tariff. But Beigun says Japan uses non-tariff barriers and currency manipulation to discourage imports. Beigun declined to elaborate on what those “non-tariff barriers” are. William Duncan, the director of the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association, has been quoted as saying Beigun’s assertions are “rather bizarre.”

If Japan is guilty of currency manipulation, it’s doing a poor job. The yen is currently at a near all-time high against the U.S. dollar, and Japanese manufacturers have steadily worked to move production out of their home country over the past two decades. All told, 70 percent of the machines Japanese automakers sell in the U.S. are built on American soil. So, why is Ford up in arms over Japan? It could be the manufacturer wants to put the country, and its manufacturers at a disadvantage in the markets covered by the TPP.

Ford says Japan should reduce size of auto industry before trade talk participation

The folks at Motor Authority snagged some spy video of the new 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 hitting the Nürburgring. Unfortunately, rain hit the ‘Ring first, so while there are still some potent exhaust noises emanating from the 662-horsepower ‘Stang, there isn’t a lot of tearing it up on the slick surface.

Let’s talk nemesis, namely the 580-horsepower Camaro ZL1. The battleground established, the Chevrolet folks turned their verbal turrets on the Shelby and fired high-impact rounds – see Exhibits A and B – on their way to setting an 11.93-second drag time and a “Holy smokes!” 7:41 lap at the ‘Ring. Since there’s no reason to dawdle round the ‘Ring, we have to expect that Ford’s fly-by has some sort of recon purpose.

As many will bring up once the time is set, the Shelby has a mess of advantages on paper: more horsepower, more torque, less weight. No matter, for as Cormac McCarthy wrote, there will be blood. We still don’t know whose blood it will be, but oh yes, one of these cars is going to bleed. Embedding of this video has been disabled, so follow the YouTube link to watch the Shelby in action.

2013 Shelby GT500 caught testing at the Nürburgring

Even though Toyota’s unintended acceleration debacle is as ancient as Jurassic fleas for most of us, the California Distric Court of Judge James Selna is still chainsawing through a massive docket of claims. Judge Selna had been considering whether plaintiffs in California, New York and Florida could sue Toyota for economic loss related to the claims of unintended accleraton – the plaintiffs wanted Toyota to reimburse them for the alleged decline in value of their cars.

According to a report in Bloomberg, Selna issued a final ruling that the New York and Florida plaintiffs can’t sue for economic loss if they didn’t experience unintended acceleration, or if they didn’t experience “a measurable loss” when selling their cars. California plaintiffs, on the other hand, can sue even if there was no unintended acceleration event or perceived depreciation.

The ruling could remove millions of owners from of plaintiffs and make an economic-loss class action lawsuit more difficult, but plaintiffs attorneys have said they’ll try to get the cases tried in New York and Florida courts. However, the ruling doesn’t affect other plaintiffs suing over the same issue in other states. This doesn’t affect the unintended accleration cases, though; three litmus-test trials are scheduled for next year.

Judge dismisses most Toyota economic-loss claims from New York, Florida