The , the most popular hybrid in the world, was also the most popular plug-in vehicle in U.S. last month.
Compared to sales of the and the , which , respectively, the quietly sold 1,654 copies in April, reports PluginCars. With such strong name recognition and pent-up demand for a Prius with a cord, this shouldn’t really have been a surprise. But it still kind of is.
sold more Prius models in the U.S. last month than ever before in April (March 2012 was ), even though . The four members of the “Prius family” sold a combined 25,168 units, an increase of 126.9 percent compared to April 2011 (which was right after the Japanese tsunami). Overall, Toyota and sold 32,593 hybrids last month, 30,126 of them wearing the Toyota badge, 2,467 of them the upper-class Lexus models.
Last year, Toyota said it . Since Toyota doesn’t break out model numbers, we’re not sure what the total is for the year thus far, but 1,654 plug-ins a month is enough for the company hit that target. Scroll down for Toyota’s official sales results.
If you’ve gotten used to being centered around two model lines – and – based on the same platform, get ready to broaden your horizons as the Modenese automaker does the same. Maserati has a vast array of new products in the pipeline, including a pair of new sedans and a new SUV set to be built in Detroit, plus production of the 4C sportscar for sister-company Alfa Romeo. And now reports are emerging that its long-rumored plans to take on the with a new sportscar are coming to fruition.
According to the reports from Italy fueled by comments attributed to Maserati CEO Harald J. Wester, the model could revive the GranSport – a name last used on the ultimate iteration of the 4200 GT coupe that preceded the current GranTurismo. Only this time, it would be a mid-engined V8 supercar similar in approach to the .
If that sounds suspiciously close to the , the rumors suggest that it would undercut its big brother’s price at under $200k. After all, the sister brands didn’t seem to have any trouble bringing the Maserati GranCabrio and into the same arena, or to turning the Enzo into the MC12 – pictured above – the last mid-engined supercar the Trident marque produced. Which gives us hope that this particular product of the rumormill could amount to something. And when we’re talking about mid-engined supercars from Italy, that could be a very good thing indeed.
The sales figures you see below aren’t quite what they seem. If you look at just the left column where the battle between green and red cells is almost at a draw, you might think that April 2012 was a step backwards in terms of sales momentum for the auto industry. That column, however, is practically irrelevant this month.
Shift your head a little to the right and read the DSR (Daily Sales Rate) column. That’s the important column this month. People usually ignore this column because they don’t understand its purpose or because its data looks so similar to the left column, but this month it means everything.
Why? Because there were 24 selling days for the auto industry last month, versus 27 selling days in April 2011. Usually there’s only a single-day variance between months or no variance at all, but three selling days is a chasm to overcome and means that if you’re only comparing raw numbers like the left column does, the entire industry was at a three-day disadvantage last month compared to the same month one year ago.
The DSR column, on the other hand, shows the change in average number of vehicles sold per day during April of this year and last. This is the more accurate representation of how each automaker performed in April, and as you can see, nearly all continued their momentum of increased sales with the usual suspects occupying those bottom red cells.
Check out how the entire auto industry did in the monthly sales chart below, and visit our By the Numbers section to see all past months.
*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 24 selling days in April 2012 versus 27 selling days in April 2011, so there will be a difference between monthly sales volume and the average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company. Also, brands are combined and reported as companies only if their sales figures are released jointly.
Lists. Readers love ‘em, so everyone’s got one. (Heck, our show is even called .) And this is the Playboy list, packed with two-seat sports cars, muscle cars, obvious choices and even the original Beetle.
Before we get to the full 25, however, hear out our view. While you can always register your personal displeasure when, say, the MG TC (#14) or (#19) gets included, but not a single Alfa Romeo or classic Mopar muscle machine makes the cut, you should judge a list such as this based more on how it reflects the personality of the publication. Which is why “25 Greatest Rides” feels so, well, generic.
While we’re not suggesting that every one of the Playboy cars should be sporting Dagmars or have fully reclining seats like Nash models of the early ’50s, this list just seems a little light on the sex. Not that the GTO (#1) and E-Type (#4) aren’t voluptuous enough to act as stand-ins for the Playmate of the Month, but cars like the 2002 (#24) and GTO (#20), though legitimate performance cars, aren’t likely to inspire any backseat antics anytime soon.
Scroll down to read the full press release and then tell us in the comments which cars you think should get excised from the list, and what you’d replace them with.
“I’m not a doctor, but I play one on television.” So went the script for countless television commercials of yore, featuring the stars of medical dramas capitalizing on their on-air personae to shill for pills, HMOs and what-have-you. But one television doctor didn’t hesitate to jump into action when duty called – medical training be damned.
That actor is one Patrick Dempsey, who most might recognize for his role as Dr. McDreamy on the ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. He’s also a consummate race car driver – arguably today’s Steve McQueen or Paul Newman – competing in such events as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Baja 1000 rally raid. These seemingly disparate aspects of Dempsey’s life, however, converged when a kid flipped his in front of the actor’s house in Malibu last week.
Having rolled the three times, 17-year-old Weston Massett was trapped inside the wreckage when McDreamy came to the rescue, crowbar in hand, to get the kid out of the car, nursing him until the airlift arrived and following him to the hospital. Massett is expected to make a full recovery from the concussion and stretched optic nerve that were his only injuries to speak of. for the television report.
If you want a top-of-the-line SUV with serious performance capabilities, look no further than the Group. Its unit has had tremendous success with the , a vehicle that has doubled its sales all on its own – and that’s not even accounting for the or that share some of its underpinnings. Keen to capitalize on that success, the German auto giant is overseeing the application of the same formula to two of its other divisions: , which just unveiled its new Urus concept, and , which is working on an SUV of its own.
The British marque has been showcasing the EXP 9 F concept to preview what it has in store. It only hinted at powertrain possibilities upon its unveiling at the , but at the , it got ever so slightly more specific. Like the range, the production version of the Bentley sport-ute would pack a 600-horsepower, 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12, but offer the (relatively) more sensible 500hp, 4.0L twin-turbo V8 as well. The bigger news, however, is the V6 plug-in hybrid option which Bentley is planning for its SUV, enabling it to travel up to 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) on electric-only mode, while rocketing to 100 km/h (62 mph) in less than five seconds.
Bentley projects the variety of powertrain options will help it sell 3,000 units of the vehicle once it enters production in 2015 – the same figures sister-company Lamborghini is projecting for the Urus. To put that into context, consider that Bentley sold just over 7,000 vehicles (from its current and lines) around the world last year. That’s still a far cry from the number of Cayennes that Porsche churns out – it delivered nearly 13,000 of them in the United States alone last year – but then the EXP 9 F is expected to carry a price tag north of $200,000 (double the price of even the most expensive Cayenne Turbo) while sharing common components to make its first entrance into SUV market a lucrative one for the Flying B brand.
Scope out the fresh high-resolution images we’ve added to the gallery above for another look at the EXP 9 F (which is still expected to look different by the time it comes to production), and for the press release containing powertrain information.
“The past four months have been really tough for us,” admits CEO Dany Bahar to Autocar magazine. “We were working at a pace nobody had seen at Lotus for many years,” Bahar continued, alluding to the British sports car maker’s planned rollout of four models over five years that recently had recently hit the skids thanks to a 60-day financial freeze at Malaysian parent DRB-Hicom. “The shut-down, as I call it,” Bahar continued, “was very hard for us,” but the Lotus boss forcefully rejects media reports that his company is being shopped to potential buyers.
Production at Hethel is reportedly swinging back into action within the next few days now that DRB-Hicom has slid money across the table to re-start , and production. Lotus will also reportedly continue to develop the new and its V8 engine and automated transmission. Bahar went on to dispute reports that KPMG was looking for a buyer to take on Lotus, though there are likely to be management shuffles and continuing developments between Lotus, DRB-Hicom, , and who know what other parties, as the re-start doesn’t completely short-circuit the rumors of a possible sale.
In fact, resuming production could potentially even position Lotus more attractively for a potential suitor, rather than putting a shuttered, down-at-the-mouth boutique carmaker on the block.
has high sales hopes for its new rear-wheel-drive sports car. According to Ward’s Auto, Jack Hollis, Scion’s vice president, said that he anticipates sales as high as 20,000 units each year. “We’re confident we can sell every one we get our hands on,” Hollis stated.
The FR-S is slated to hit dealerships at the beginning of June and Scion projects that it will sell around 10,000 units before the end of the year, with an additional 20,000 cars finding homes in 2013. The automaker already has 1,243 pre-sale orders for the FR-S.
The nearly identical will also be sold in the United States, but parent Fuji Heavy Industries has less ambitious sales hopes. is only looking to move between 5,000 and 7,000 units annually. Hollis believes the FR-S, which is (not including $730 for destination) will sell in higher numbers largely in part to Scion’s larger network of dealers.
Clearly, we weren’t the only ones who spent the better part of their childhoods building all manner of strange and wonderful Lego vehicles. We’re pretty sure we had this design knocked out back in the early 80s, but as far as we know, exactly no one has figured out how to fit easily removable tracks to a conventional vehicle in real life. We’ve , mind you, but they’ve always required a fair bit of work and the removal of a vehicle’s wheels. But not the Track N Go.
This creative solution for foul-weather-mastery comes from AD Boivin, a company better known for marketing products for powersports vehicles like motocross bikes and snowmobiles. The company says that this is the world’s first wheel-driven track system, and judging by the video available , it appears quite capable when fitted to what looks like stock and 4×4 pickups blasting through the snow.
The video indicates that the system is a prototype, and it doesn’t show how easily the tracks can be secured to the vehicle’s wheels (though it does briefly show that you drive onto the tracks before locking them in place – no jacking required). AD Boivin doesn’t say if and when the Track N Go will actually come to market, let alone what sort of fitments will be available and how much the system will cost. While we’re waiting, we’ll just one more time…
Have you ever bought a brand new cars only to forget where you put it? How about 300 of them? Probably not – unless you’re Miami-Dade County, which was recently reunited with 298 vehicles it bought brand new between 2006 and 2007.
The county “discovered” this fleet of no-mileage vehicles after reading about them in a there (see the source for more images). Most of the misplaced motorcade is made up of hybrids whose warranties either expired with very few miles on the odo or will very soon.
Looking to save some face, the county has rushed at least 123 of the hybrids into service. The warranty covered the hybrid bits for eight years or 100,000 miles, but we’re not sure if that covers cars parked for five of those eight. We’re also not sure what that much time in Miami heat and humidity does to an unused hybrid powertrain, but it can’t be good.
The county, as you probably guessed, is looking into how it lost so many cars. The leading theory is that they might be part of Carlos Alvarez’s time as mayor. He was the mayor during the period the Toyotas were purchased, but a 2011 recall election successfully removed him from office. Apparently the voters “felt, among other reasons, that he had been behind multiple acts of misappropriation of funds.”
We’ve tried to contact Toyota to see what kind of warranty support these cars will get but haven’t had any luck so far. We’ll update with their response.
No doubt has seen the light shining at the end of its turnaround plan for a while, but now The Blue Oval is getting so close to the daylight it might even be able to smell the fresh air. , Ford stock was rated so low by the three major ratings agencies that it was floating in the cistern below the basement of junk status. After Mulally came onboard, the company put up everything to get the money to work his plan, from the company logo to its real estate. In order to get it back, two of the three agencies need to rate Ford stock as investment grade, and one, Fitch, has just done so.
Fitch has certified Ford stock as BBB-, the first investment-grade level, and issued a stable outlook for the company and its finance arm. Ford remains just one step below investment worthy with both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, but with “a solid Q1″ predicted by and (they expect earnings in spite of European and Asia-Pacific sales doldrums), the final turn might not be far away.
When it does, Ford will have achieved what it for 2012. As well as getting its assets out of hock, Dearborn will also greatly reduce its borrowing costs. Ford’s head of investor relations, Michael Seneski, vowed in December that Ford would return to investors’ good graces by showing “authoritative and highly credible insight into our automotive business and Ford Credit.” We’re of the opinion that an increasing flow of good products haven’t hurt, either.
Details on the pair of Dear Qin concepts that unveiled at the this week are sparse, but they do hint at something interesting coming to every market where the Japanese automaker sells cars.
Calling them “global-strategic concepts,” Toyota says the sedan and hatchback versions of the Dear Qin models have “a design aiming to attract more people to the user base.” With that curious statement in mind, the first promotional video for the Dear Qin models (which you can watch by ) is both language- and information-free, emphasizing the design of the cars for a global audience. With explosions and lightning, of course.
Reports have said that Toyota is working on a new global, front-wheel drive model that is supposed to be launched in 2013. We can imagine these concepts foreshadowing those cars, and hope we get a pair of highly efficient compacts out of the design process. We’ll skip the explosions and lightning, though.
Dreamworks was founded by three Hollywood titans as an independent studio with the aim of making good, and profitable, movies. That didn’t happen. Now the Paramount-owned Dreamworks just wants to make money the Hollywood way: opportunistic copying. It is in talks with Electronic Arts to make a Need for Speed movie, perhaps because it wants its own Fast & Furious franchise, certainly because it is bankrupt of ideas. In either case, Dreamworks is not alone.
Word was that a deal should have been done already, but nothing has been announced. That deal is said to already have a script for the film written by George Gatins, whose borther wrote Real Steel. If the deal doesn’t come off as planned, it’s been said that other studios are waiting in line to chat with EA about the same thing.
If you want to a glimpse of a Hollywood vision of Need for Speed, for Need for Speed: The Run last year. To extrapolate the movie, imagine that trailer being fifty times longer, fewer sound effects lifted from Transformers, actors who look like their in-game counterparts but can’t act nearly as well, and explosions. And even more hot women. for the vid.
The facts are still coming in, but what is known is that on March 30 an armada of exotics, said to number from 25 to 30, was escorted by two New Jersey state troopers with their lights flashing down the Garden State Parkway at triple-digit speeds to Atlantic City. On top of that, all of the civilian cars had their license plates taped over. Among the drivers was supercar fan and NFL player Brandon Jacobs, recently of the New York Giants but now with the San Francisco Forty-Niners. According to NJ.com, Jacobs “told RidesMagazine in October that he often cruises with the Driving Force Club,” a car club out of New York, but it isn’t clear that this was a club outing.
One more established fact: someone has a lot of splainin’ to do. Authorities began receiving complaints that very day, with one beginning, “I had the great pleasure today of nearly being killed by, not one, but two, Lamborghinis traveling in excess of 110 mph in a (New Jersey State Police) escorted ‘caravan’…”. Others wrote in to say that the cars were weaving across all three lanes and that an elderly driver was so shocked she almost ran off the road. One motorist even labeled it “Death Race 2012.”
An NBC New York report indicates that Jacobs called a sergeant in the NJ force that he’s friends with and requested the escort. That sergeant and another officer have been put on leave without pay, the station commander has been transferred while his role is investigated. And speaking of investigations, they’re coming from everywhere, with looking into the matter. At least everyone involved can use history as a guide: police on the same road with a different supercar group two years ago. Check out an NJ Today video on the story by .
Cadillac’s new XTS isn’t just headed to China, it will be built there. The forthcoming full-size luxury cruiser had already been earmarked for production in General Motors’ Oshawa, Ontario Assembly Plant, but the automaker has just announced in that it will also be built in China with its joint venture partner Shanghai General Motors.
is still a relatively small player in China’s premium segment, with just 68 dealers and 30,000 sales last year. However, it’s growing quickly, with March sales up more than 35 percent year-over-year to 2,745 units. Better still, General Motors says Cadillac’s average buying age is very young – just 35 – and it expects to have 120 dealers online by the end of this year to meet growing demand.
The idea of local XTS production strikes us as a smart one, as China is enjoying a swell in demand for luxury cars, and it has always maintained a strong demand for vehicles with large rear seats. Cadillac already has a solid track record building in the communist nation, as it first began assembling the China-only SLS Executive Sedan – essentially an extended wheelbase – back in 2006.
Starting with the , Nissan will be launching in the United States over the next 15 months. And while the sedan you see here is initially heading to China as the Nissan Sylphy, it’ll be heading to our shores as the later this year, albeit with a few market-specific tweaks.
For now, Nissan has released a short video teaser of the North American-spec 2013 Sentra, which you can view . The video shows the new compact sedan in its SR trim, which Autoblog has learned is only a North American-specific trim package. The rest of the Sylphy’s styling appears to carry over largely unchanged, with new details like LED running lamps and taillamps rounding out a design that’s essentially a downsized version of what we see on the new Altima.
In China, the Sylphy will be launched with a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine mated to Nissan’s next-generation Xtronic continuously variable transmission. It might not be an all-new powertrain, but remember, this is the same strategy that Nissan is using with the new Altima – one that has paid big dividends in fuel economy. The engines themselves haven’t changed, but with an improved CVT, we should see gains in not only performance but fuel economy, as well.
We’ll see the North American-spec 2013 Sentra this summer with the car officially going on sale this fall. to watch a teaser video of the Sentra SR, and to read the full press materials about the Chinese-market Sylphy.
The upper end of the Chinese market is all about chauffeured luxury automobiles, and given the prevalent Anglophilia in the Far East, would be remised not to jump at the opportunity being seized by so many of its competitors. So it is only fitting that the stoic British marque chose the to announce what is billed in every sense as the Ultimate version of the sedan.
One of two products launched in Beijing by the new Engineered To Order division of Jaguar (alongside the ), the XJ Ultimate packs everything a pampered passenger could desire: individually adjustable rear seats with power everything (separated by an illuminated and leather-trimmed center console), motorized fold-down tables, chilled champagne bucket and flutes, iPads with keyboards mounted to the backs of the front seats and a 20-speaker Meridian sound system. Exclusive finishes like Herringbone veneer, machined aluminum and LED lighting round out the package.
All that gear is set in motion by Jaguar’s 510-horsepower supercharged V8, riding on an adjusted suspension and 20-inch wheels. While the Chinese market may be the target for luxed-out limos like this one, the XJ Ultimate isn’t exclusive to China. In fact 30 examples (all in black) are earmarked for the United States, with price tags pegged at $155,000. for the pair of press releases on the XJ Ultimate and the Engineered To Order department.
Delaware may be joining , , and other states in cracking down on drivers who use the left lane for more than passing. A bill in the Delaware legislature would institute fines of up to $230 for drivers who camp out in the left lane on roads with at least two lanes in each direction, according to USA Today.
Delaware’s current law requires drivers to keep right only when going slower that the flow of traffic, according to the report. The new measure would resemble nearby New Jersey’s law – the Garden State currently fines left lane dawdlers up to $200, though a recent proposal would raise that to $300.
The Delaware bill is supported by AAA Mid-Atlantic and the Delaware Police Chiefs Council. For what it’s worth, we think it’s a good idea as well, but don’t take our opinion for it, let us know what you think by voting in our poll below.
Okay, so maybe this isn’t much in the way of confirmation, but M division president Friedrich Nitschke told Car and Driver that the company was “considering” building an M Performance version of the . While that’s not quite an M7, it’s close.
Remember, that BMW has created to offer a higher performance version of its vehicles to slot between the standard models and the full-blown M cars. M Performance will also allow BMW to create performance diesel and all-wheel-drive models without sullying the M badge.
Of course, enthusiasts looking for a full-size BMW performance sedan can already have an like the one pictured above, but there’s something alluring about a real M-badged 7-Series. Given that BMW has already , it only seems fair that the 7-Series gets some love too, even if it’s just in M Performance form.
Nitschke’s interview revealed a few more interesting details about BMW’s product plans, namely that turbocharged engines are here to stay. He said BMW has no plans to use superchargers for its M products, and it sounds like naturally aspirated M engines are a thing of the past as well. Manual transmissions will continue to be offered, as according to Nitschke, new models will be equipped with transmissions that use software and electronics to “protect” the tranny from mismatched shifts. We won’t be seeing a hatchback M135i here in the U.S., however, nor are any of the diesel M Performance models headed towards our shores.
has been kind enough to give us all a glimpse of the company’s ahead of the super SUV’s debut at the 2012 Beijing Motor Show. A 5.5-liter AMG-built twin-turbo V8 engine lurks behind the updated face, complete with a heady 544 horsepower and 560 pound-feet of torque. The direct-injection engine is also laden with fuel-saving gear, including a start/stop system and an intelligent alternator that only charges the vehicle’s electrical system when needed.
We’re guessing the tech may help move the boxy Geländewagen’s fuel economy from supremely abysmal to merely exceptionally atrocious. Mercedes-Benz hasn’t released any solid estimates beyond saying the numbers have improved by around 13 percent on the EU cycle. Keep in mind, that’s with 44 more horsepower than the outgoing G55 AMG. A seven-speed automatic transmission handles shifting duties.
If the G63 AMG doesn’t provide enough power for you, there’s always brawny . With its twin-turbo 6.0-liter V12 engine, the monster delivers 612 horsepower and 737 pound-feet of torque. For perspective, that’s more thrust than vehicles like the with a Duramax turbodiesel, the or the . This dog will surely hunt.
European G-Class buyers can look forward to shelling out €137,504 (circa $180k USD) for the G63 AMG, including Value Added Tax. The G65 AMG, meanwhile, starts at a breathtaking €264,180 (roughly $347k). Mercedes-Benz suggests we should see the G63 AMG in the States beginning in August, but it’s remaining mum on the G65’s prospects, and it has not disclosed U.S. pricing. Learn more in the official release .
The sales figures you see below aren’t quite what they seem. If you look at just the left column where the battle between 
