CAR magazine reports is hard at work on crafting the next-generation . When it bows, the machine is expected to carry with it an all-new nomenclature, doing away with the 1 badge in favor of a new 2 Series emblem. This we’ve heard of BMW filling in its model line with both 2 and 4 Series models, nor the first hint that the 1 Series Convertible will be reborn as the 2 Series. CAR does supply a few more details however, stating that the 1 and 2 will be separated largely by a few sheetmetal tweaks. That means we can expect to see more or less the same engine options behind the headlights.
Why bother changing the naming structure at all? According to CAR, BMW is attempting to get its fleet more inline with those of and , which use a hierarchical structure to differentiate less premium models from pricier hardware. The report suggests buyers can expect to see the new 2 starting in 2014, complete with a six-speed manual transmission or an optional eight-speed automatic gearbox.
has posted two teasers to YouTube, previewing M Performance versions of both the and . These look to be specially produced for the UK market, and limited to just 30 units of each model in either red, white or blue.
Little information accompanies the low-res videos, saving that each of the cars is being fitted with “an impressively high specification of standard equipment” and that the 30 cars will be split up into 10 of each color. All three hues will feature BMW’s “frozen” paint, the matte finish we’re familiar with from the .
to watch both videos and their accompanying dubstep soundtracks.
did quite a bit to differentiate the new from the old one, but arguably the biggest development in that department is the splitting of the model line. Because the new 3 Series is only the sedan and wagon. The coupe and cabrio are branching off as the 4 Series, similar to the (as distinct from the ), the old 8 Series (separate from the ) and what’s expected to emerge of the 2 Series from the new .
Following earlier spy shots of the 4 Series convertible with its roof up in the rain and in the snow, this is our first look at the upcoming new model being driven the way it’s meant to be driven: with its top down and the sun shining.
Unfortunately our view is a little obscured by all the swirly camouflage, so we’ll have to wait until its anticipated debut sometime next year to see the whole package. But you can check out the spy shots now for a sneak preview.
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-in hybrid 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.
The good people at Cars.com have slogged their way through sales data from April and found something interesting. The 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 and , both of which take four days to find a new homes. The plug-inhybrid 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 sits at the top of that list, taking a whopping 250 days to turn. The 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 at 120 days on dealer lots. Head over to Cars.com for the full report.
When 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 “ owners” have sales-hungry competitors seeing dollar signs. GM is offering owners $1,000 cash toward a , or a . is giving its 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 or .
Edmunds.com research shows the efforts are paying off somewhat for GM, with 39 percent of owners, 37 percent of 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, and seem to be attracting many former GM owners.
As 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.
has rolled out a new video for its vicious . The 510-horsepower machine spends a little time frolicking through an industrial complex before taking to an open stretch of track for a little more fun. The entire clip is appropriately shot in black and white and set to the riotous tones of the hefty 6.2-liter V8 banging off the limiter. Not a bad way to blow two minutes of your day.
As you may recall, Chris Harris recently lined the C63 AMG Black Series up against bruisers like Porsche 911 GT3 RS and the BMW M3 GTS for a little . Harris found the C63 to be a willing dance partner with appropriate levels of presence on the street, but still found the machine out gunned by the track-bred Porsche. to check out the Black Series video for yourself.
shows off the dark side of the C63 AMG Black Series coupe
When asked SRT CEO Ralph Gilles about the Roadster, Gilles naturally demurred. The Internet, however, always provides an answer to every question, and German magazine Auto Bild has rendered its take on the droptop snake.
Unlike previously, when the coupe and roadster were rather dissimilar, this time the brotherhood will be more traditional… at least according to this artist’s take.
We won’t speculate on how close the rendering might be, but we will say we like it. With the coupe having already enjoyed its 600-horsepower burst onto the scene, it shouldn’t be long before the roadster begins leaking its way out.
Autoblog reader Ed sent us from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, showing that has apparently trademarked the name for use on automobiles. It’s no secret that the Riviera name resonates well with anyone familiar with Buick’s history, and since the production coupe’s death in 1999, the name Riviera has only been resurrected once for the 2007 concept car you see here.
So, why is GM registering the Riviera name again? Your guess is as good as ours. As , it could be nothing – automakers will, from time to time, trademark a host of words or alphanumeric sequences (, for example, has trademarked everything from MKA to MKZ for potential use). But then again, this isn’t the (or , or ) time that we’ve heard rumors about potentially adding a coupe to its lineup, and the Riviera name would certainly be appropriate.
When Lingenfelter Performance Engineering announced it had in its tuned , the man guiding the wheel was Hot Rod editor-in-chief Dave Freiburger. We of the run in the 702-horsepower – that’s at the wheels – coupe, but in the latest episode of Hot Rod Unlimited, Freiburger offers the long-form backstory of what it took to get to 202.6 mph exactly.
Continental Tire’s proving grounds in Uvalde, Texas aren’t Italy’s Nardo Ring (where the did 202 mph), and there was much more involved than keeping steady on the straights and hanging on the banks. for the video.
Typically when an automaker releases a new car, we see it in a press release (whether embargoed for later release or not) before it pops up on their public-domain website. But not this time.
The car in question is the DBS Ultimate, a vehicle whose arrival we were . Like the Ultimate edition of the Vanquish that came before it, the Ultimate is a harbinger of the vehicle’s departure from the catalog. A new model is expected to arrive in celebration of the company’s centenary next year, but before it does, the last few customers will have the privilege of owning one of the few Ultimate editions of the DBS that will ever be produced.
We’ve yet to receive word on just how many those will be, or what they will cost, but we can tell you that each car will be individually numbered. They will also feature special badging, a painted rear deck-lid spoiler, carbon-fiber wing mirror caps, a darkened grille, smoked tail-lamps, Zircotec-coated tail pipes and a choice of yellow, black or red brake calipers.
The interior is decked out in diamond-quilted stitching on the leather seats and Alcantara headliner in either red or silver thread. Buyers will also be able to choose between three exterior paint finishes – Carbon Black II, Quantum Silver or Silver Fox – and order theirs in either coupe or Volante convertible body-styles and with either a manual or automatic transmission.
We’ll have to wait for that press release to come out to bring you more information – particularly on pricing and availability – by which time they’ll all likely to have been spoken for. But you can check it out now on the company’s or in the screen caps we’ve assembled for you in the gallery above.
With an epic chassis and the lowest center of gravity in the business, there’s plenty for enthusiast to love about the . 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 and , but if the latest reports prove accurate, the FR-S – which is, of course, virtually identical to the and sold overseas as the 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 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.
BMW Takes On Mercedes And Audi In The Profit Margin Wars
As the years go by, it’s become the Germans who are most closely watching what each other are doing over the backyard fence. So much so, at times, that it can almost seem like they’re freely swapping all their trade secrets unapologetically in full view.
Take this nicely executed new luxo-niche player, the . It’s no scoop, of course, that it was created specifically to not miss out on what both and are discovering for themselves with the and . And yes, that “nicely executed” modifier just used to describe the Gran Coupe could indeed ring with more enthusiasm.
The 640i Gran Coupe we sailed around in all over Sicily under a crisp sun is a generally good-looking machine. designers have taken the existing Big Bimmer language and successfully created a new dialect for the company, if you will. But these “four-door coupe” creations are curiosities for which many develop a love (or, occasionally, a distaste) for over the long run. Only the first-generation CLS in 2003-04 absolutely socked it to us at first glance, and since then, everything else in the genre has felt derivative. Well, they essentially are blatant derivatives, right?
is massaging the 2013 line with more modern gearboxes and trims to match its more modern design (the non-conceptual version of which still has yet to be seen). In addition to the six-speed manual replacing the five-cogger currently offered on four-cylinder models, the folks at the Temple of VTEC forum have found an order sheet indicating a CVT will be available on mid-range LX, EX and EX-L models. For the enthusiasts hoping for the manual to return to the V6 sedan, no dice – the 6AT is what you’ll get.
The sheet also omits the sedan’s current SE trim slotted between the LX and EX, and in its stead is a Sport trim. It can be had with either the manual or the CVT, but it’s not listed with the “navi” option. The coupe’s trims remain the same. When we can put these specs together with the actual 2013 car, then we’ll start to guess how it will far against its archfoe, the .
Ah yes, the Nürburgring. Where else would you expect to find the forthcoming Gran Coupe? Well, other than on the stand the in September or .
While of the big 560-plus-horsepower sedan, 6post.com has snagged footage of the M6 Gran Coupe squealing tires and clipping apexes with some of its siblings on everyone’s favorite German road.
Automobile’s Georg Kacher goes deep into the product plan, looking at the 32 models that the group’s ten brands will roll out over the next five years. These vehicles are expected to drive VW to the top of the mountain in 2018, where the flag for World’s Largest Automaker awaits.
The armada is based on three platforms: MQB for transverse FWD/AWD cars like the VW Golf, MLB for the longitudinal FWD/AWD cars in Audi’s stable, and MSB for AWD/RWD front-, rear- and mid-engined cars like the 960.
Said to be due in 2015, the discussed last year as a bridge model between the and 918, but Kacher has it listed with the MSB-M platform cars like the Porsche / and , not the front-engined MSB-F or rear-engined MSB-H cars. Yet the 960 is said to be a -fighting “four-door coupe” powered by a twin-turbo flat-six. We’ll wait for clarification on the number of doors, since in September of last year, posited the 960 as a mid-engined coupe priced “on the creepy side of €200,000.”
Other intriguing notes from the plan: for VW, a coupe is planned for 2016, the might get a coupe variant, the second-generation Scirocco “has the potential” for U.S. sales and the will be replaced; is desgining an even edgier third-generation , the will experiment with e-quattro, and the next-generation will break the same-sausage, different-lengths design mold.
Yes, it’s spring time in Indiana, and although ahead of the drop of the green flag, it’s time for another One Lap of America.
Having been part of the timing and scoring team for well over a decade, we tend to see a lot of the same faces and sheetmetal year in and year out, though there’s always a steady stream of newcomers. Every few races, however, there seems to be a bumper crop of new cars that show up as old ones get tired and drivers find something different to play with. This is clearly one of those times, perhaps brought about by the dominance of the over the last several years. As a result, there are a glut of the Japanese supercars in the fold, along with other noteworthy new models including an , a and , not to mention a factory-prepped . As ever, there’s a brace of and models of various vintages, along with a or two and a 430. There’s even an and an incredible sounding , also running with factory support.
Unfortunately, one key classic will be notably absent from the paddock this year: Brock Yates. Father of One Lap Of America and the legendary Cannonball Run that spawned it, Yates’ health has been deteriorating due to Alzheimer’s. Yates’ son, Brock Jr. has been ably running the event for many years, but this is the first time that .
As has become the usual, this year’s event kicks off in South Bend, Indiana at title sponsor Tire Rack’s massive headquarters with a wet skidpad event. The motley crew of madmen and their motors will then jog down the road a few miles to the South Bend Motor Speedway (a paved oval) before hoofing it over to Autobahn Country Club’s road course in Illinois. After that, it’s off to a string of road courses starting with scenic Pacific Junction, Iowa, for the Mid America Motorplex, then on to Oklahoma’s Hallett Motor Racing Circuit before heading to High Plains Raceway in Colorado. After that, it’s off to Motorsports Park Hastings in Nebraska followed by a northwestern jog to Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota. Then it’s over to Wisconsin’s legendary Road America before the sleepless and bedraggled horde stumble back into South Bend next Saturday, April 14 for a final dry skidpad event. Got all that? If you don’t, you can check out a map .
As we’ll be working the event, we won’t have the ability to give you daily updates on the rally’s progress, but if you’re interested in keeping tabs on the action, check out and , both of which figure to have live updates as the race gets underway this morning. In the meantime, you can check out our massive gallery above. It doesn’t have every one of the roughly 75 that are scheduled to race, but if you are new to One Lap, it’ll give you a good idea of the automotive diversity on display.
Europe’s financial situation is, well, bad. So no one was surprised to see analysts’ low expectations for German carmakers. But the numbers are out, and whaddya know? Three German auto companies have reported better results than predicted.
reported this week that its first quarter profit rose 19 percent. BMW said sales jumped 20 percent, which helped the company deliver a record total of 425,528 vehicles in the first quarter.
Last week, and blew past analysts’ expectations with VW increasing profit 10 percent and Daimler making 4.9 percent more that last year’s first quarter.
Much of the profit and sales boost is due to growing popularity of German models in U.S. and China. A couple of analysts quoted in a Bloomberg report are split on what the future holds. One says he expects BMW and VW to raise their second quarter forecasts. Another sees China’s market cooling off and gives BMW a neutral rating while rating VW and Daimler as good buys. So far this year automotive companies (including suppliers) are the best performing stocks in Europe.
We’ve taken the bone-stock down the quarter-mile drag strip at Bondurant in Arizona . The very first pass we made netted us a time slip in the mid-12-second range. That’s an impressive performance for a car wearing road-legal radial tires with zero preparation and a driver familiarizing himself with the car.
We instantly knew this car was capable of more, and wondered how long it would take before we saw our first elapsed time in the 11s. Turns out the wait is over.
itself is the perpetrator of the blazing-fast quarter mile. engineers took two completely stock ZL1 coupes to Milan Dragway in Michigan – one automatic and one manual – and recorded a best pass of 11.93 seconds at 116 miles per hour. That was with the automatic; the row-your-own model managed 11.96 at 117 mph.
Those looking to drag their new Camaro ZL1 ought to be pleased with this news. But even if your race track aspirations lean more toward a curvy strip of asphalt, the baddest production ever made has you covered. Consider its as proof of its prowess.
Likely sensing that there would be plenty of Ford fans skeptics demanding proof of its quarter mile performance, Chevrolet has released a video showing off its drag strip exploits at Milan. for the video, along with the related press release… and join us in waiting for a from .
*UPDATE: We’ve placed a call to Chevrolet inquiring whether these times were recorded on stock tires, as the press release indicates, or on drag radials. We’ll add another update as soon as we hear back.
We’ve taken the bone-stock down the quarter-mile drag strip at Bondurant in Arizona . The very first pass we made netted us a time slip in the mid-12-second range. That’s an impressive performance for a car wearing road-legal radial tires with zero preparation and a driver familiarizing himself with the car.
We instantly knew this car was capable of more, and wondered how long it would take before we saw our first elapsed time in the 11s. Turns out the wait is over.
itself is the perpetrator of the blazing-fast quarter mile. engineers took two completely stock ZL1 coupes to Milan Dragway in Michigan – one automatic and one manual – and recorded a best pass of 11.93 seconds at 116 miles per hour. That was with the automatic; the row-your-own model managed 11.96 at 117 mph.
Those looking to drag their new Camaro ZL1 ought to be pleased with this news. But even if your race track aspirations lean more toward a curvy strip of asphalt, the baddest production ever made has you covered. Consider its as proof of its prowess.
Likely sensing that there would be plenty of Ford fans skeptics demanding proof of its quarter mile performance, Chevrolet has released a video showing off its drag strip exploits at Milan. for the video, along with the related press release… and join us in waiting for a from .
