The passing of automotive legend Carroll Shelby has led to an , including a replay of a toe-tapping melody from country music great Mac Davis. Davis has enjoyed a long and successful career as both a performer and songwriter, with several number one songs including three written for Elvis Presley.
If you watch Mac’s tribute to the one and only Carroll Shelby, you’ll see his talent on display. Davis took the time to sing his Shelby song that he’d written years before, and you can view it yourself by . The lyrics are pretty amazing, and they can be a bit of an elaborated history lesson for enthusiasts who thought Shelby’s fame is relegated to a few models.
has already tipped its hand, revealing that it will introduce five new models over the next 15 months. Those five models include the , , , and . Of those, we’ve already spent some time with the Altima, and its improved performance, upscale interior and slightly larger dimensions once again had us wondering if there was still a need in Nissan’s portfolio for the pricier .
Apparently, there is. Despite the Max sharing the Altima’s basic platform and powertrains for some time now, Nissan says its most expensive sedan is viewed differently by consumers. Officials we spoke with at the Altima’s launch in Tennessee this week noted that the company sold about 59,000 examples last year, of which some 51,000 went to actual retail customers. For those keeping track of such things, Nissan says that actually makes Maxima America’s top retailing non-luxury V6 sedan, Number One in a catch-all segment that includes everything from the to the , , and (not to mention six-cylinder versions of cars like the , and ). The current Maxima has been on sale since 2008 and received a very minor facelift for 2012.
According to J.D. Power and its Power Information Network data, those purchases transacted at around $30,000, well above the Altima’s $24,000 sales sweet spot.
Add all this up, and you get a solid business case for the next-gen Maxima, on which work has just kicked off in earnest now that the company’s decks have been cleared of the Altima. Officials declined to nail down a timeframe for us, but given what we know about Nissan’s product cadence over the next 12 months or so, we suspect the eighth-generation Maxima will arrive for 2015. Given the current car’s quiet sales success, we don’t expect the next Maxima to radically change the formula, so exorcise any thoughts you have about a shift to rear- or all-wheel-drive architecture. The original Maxima arrived in 1980 as a RWD sedan but made the shift to FWD in 1984 and hasn’t looked back since.
Say what you will about the whole retro design trend that gave us such vehicles as the , the , the Ford GT and the , but it has been (neo Thunderbird notwithstanding) a rather successful formula for several automakers, chief among them. The German automaker is now on its third generation of , and is preparing to launch the new convertible version at the in the fall (previewed by the E-Bugster concept pictured above). And when it does, it is slated to go even more retro.
That much, according to Car and Driver, will come in three special launch editions. Each one will be dedicated to a specific decade from the original Beetle’s long history – tipped to center around the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Special touches will be period-specific, including unique colors, seat upholstery and even white-wall tires. We’ll have to wait a few months to see how many of these particular details pan out, but recent history has been replete with launch editions from Volkswagen.
If you’re wondering what the has to do with techno music… well, join the club – we have no idea. We’ll defer to an expert, musician Joshua Harrison:
“Techno music, by its nature, is very similar to the makeup of a car… In both cases, there are lots of little pieces mechanically put together. Just like a car, a Techno song has many elements that serve their own small purpose, and the masters of the craft are those who can put it all together and make everything work as one solid piece.”
Who are we to argue?
In any case, has used an old trick in a somewhat new way in conscripting artists to create techno tracks using sounds made by its Fusion, in this case a 2.0-liter Hybrid model. Listen to the three resulting tracks, then to watch a video explaining the process and showing the musicians working their magic.
Even if you don’t like techno, it’s at least interesting to hear how each track is so wildly different from the other two. And if you do like what you hear, maybe you should consider attending the in Detroit, May 26-28.
You can now add diamonds to the growing list of ostentatious and extravagant finishes being applied to cars these days. Longtime tuner Gemballa has announced a new automotive finish that literally uses diamonds to create its million-dollar sparkle.
The German-based company claims its new diamond finish is the first of its kind to ever use the actual gem rather than other reflective ingredients like metal pigments, glass fragments or crystals. The trick was grinding the diamonds down to a size small enough that they could be applied like paint, which Gemballa says also helps increase the refractive qualities of its shine.
There’s no mention of price or other specifics like how many precious stones are sacrificed per gallon of twinkle juice, but you can imagine as well as we can what kind of premium it will command. With any luck, .
Where automakers could once get by selling in a handful of specific markets, these days, they need to grab as much market share as they can around the world. That’s particularly true for a brand like Peugeot that’s missing out on one of the largest markets in the world – this one – and so it is ramping up its assault on developing markets with vehicles like the one you see here.
Called 301, the approximately -sized sedan is intended for markets that we once considered the second or third world – markets like Russia, Africa and the Middle East. So not only is it positioned as a more budget-friendly proposition, it’s also been developed to deal with a greater range of climates and with poor road conditions that often exist in developing markets. Buyers in these markets will be able to choose engines ranging from 71 to 115 horsepower and benefit from similar levels of features and safety equipment you’d expect to find in wealthier markets.
Now if you’re thinking that the last 300-series model from Peugeot was the 308 and were wondering what the marketing gurus at PSA headquarters were planning to do when they got past 309, wonder no more, because they’ve modified their naming scheme. The first digit (3 in this case) represents the class of vehicle, the 0 (or 00 for crossovers and minivans) remains a constant, and the last digit will either be an 8 (for mainstream products) or a 1 (for emerging markets). Got all that?
The 301 will make its public debut at the in September, after which production will commence in Spain for rollout around the world. Scroll down for the pair of press releases and scope it out in the high-res image gallery.
Brands like built their empires convincing the world that the badge on the hood shouldn’t matter nearly as much as the bones underneath, but Japan’s cadre of luxury brands isn’t the only group peddling bang for the buck these days. Manufacturers from to now come with cabins packed with luxury amenities. Even the lowly can offer buyers high-quality leather seating and enough technology to put the subcompact into geosynchronous orbit. So why bother stepping up to the mid-level luxury league at all? What differentiates a nice car from a fine automobile beyond a little inflection and a lot of marketing?
European brands like and happily prattle on about pedigree and superior engineering, but at the end of the day, a luxury machine simply has to feel special. Foodies often speak of the fifth flavor, umami. Directly translated, the word means “good taste” with an element of savoriness, and automotive luxury is built on that same intangible sensation. Perhaps better than either or , Infiniti has become a master of that something special, offering its customers elegant style, well-crafted interiors, innovative technology and a superb driving experience. The 2012 Infiniti G25 looks to add superior fuel economy to that list, but can it do so without losing its luxury essence?
Vanity plates can be cool, fun to decrypt, annoying or expensive, depending on your perspective. They can be a creative way to show your willingness to pay higher taxes, but take care in making your choice.
One Florida resident’s choice of “” on her vanity plate has earned her $8,000 in parking tickets. Apparently, “NO TAG” is what gets written on a citation when an illegally parked car has no plate.
Soon after installing her plate, Carol Schroeder received notice of 135 overdue parking tickets worth almost $8,000. The tickets were written for several different makes and models, and some written before her car was even manufactured.
Ha ha, funny little mistake. Right? Not to the city of Jacksonville, which says the owner of the car owes the money and the city’s collection agency agrees. Surely someone will come their senses and make the situation right.
A few years ago, a man in Huntsville, Ala. that he owed $19,000 in overdue parking fees for a city he’d only been to once. His vanity tag, “XXXXXXX” is the exact thing Birmingham, Ala. cops write on citations for cars without plates. One Birmingham official he contacted said not to worry about it because they were broke and couldn’t afford to arrest him anyway. That’s comforting. We guess.
Edmunds has taken a closer look at which vehicles are most heavily favored by the federal government by evaluating percentage of model sales in 2011. Not surprisingly the topped off the list with a whopping 79.2 percent of sales going to government agencies, while the out-to-pasture Ford Crown Victoria took second with 57.2 percent of total sales. But that’s pretty much where the predictability comes to a close. The van takes a distant third with 10.7 percent. Like the , which came in fifth at 9.2 percent, we imagine that has more to do with the number of civilian models sold each year rather than any great number of government service vehicles on the road.
Other notable models include the in seventh place, the in eighth and the in ninth. Even the old made the cut with 5.3 percent of its sales heading off to government duty. That’s good enough to nab the machine 10th place. Head over to Edmunds to have a look at the .
The Men in Black duo have upgraded their machinery for the third installment of the franchise, adding traffic-crushing monocycles, jet packs and a blacked-out to their transportation arsenal.
is making the most of its hottest full-size sedan joining one of the summer’s hottest blockbusters, airing a 30-second spot with footage from the film that will air during American Idol. But since much of the movie takes place in 1969, we’ll be just as interested to see Josh Brolin’s blacked-out ’60s Ford sedan that has a few tricks it could teach the SHO.
to see some videos, the first with SHO cameos, the second a movie clip entitled “Have these in the future?”
What’s a fresh face worth? A lot when you’re talking about NASCAR. Because the styling is about all that links a stock car to the production vehicle it’s made to mirror. And for , the latest is the new .
The Blue Oval automaker the race car “based” on the new Fusion back in January. But at the Roush Fenway Fan Day in Concord, North Carolina, this coming Thursday, fans will get their first chance to see the new stock car in full race livery.
The paint scheme in question bears the red and white colors of Motorcraft, Ford’s spare parts division, as it will be raced by the Wood Brothers team in this year’s Sprint Cup. But if you can’t wait that long and aren’t going to be near Concord this week, you can check out the full-size clay mock-up put together by the Ford Design Center in Dearborn in the pair of high-resolution images below.
may have once been a form of motorsport in which only domestic automakers competed. And that’s largely still the case, with one notable exception: . The Japanese automaker faced some difficulty breaking into the Good Ol’ Boys racing series, but though some purists may still malign it, Toyota is in NASCAR to stay. And this is its latest car.
“Based”, in design anyway, on the latest , the new stock car from Toyota Racing Development is set to compete in the Sprint Cup next season, alongside the new (among other competitors from and ). The result of “an aggressive redesign”, the new racer was developed with input from the company’s Calty Design studio to look more like the road-going Camry than ever before.
Yes, it does bear a resemblance to its road-going cousin, especially in the fascia. That said, it’s still a composite body over a tube frame powered by a V8 engine driving the rear wheels. In other words, this is a Camry in name only.
Of course it doesn’t hurt Toyota’s case that the Camry is built in America with more American components than most “domestic” vehicles, and now the stock car looks more stock, too. Keep reading for the full press release.
Moody’s upgraded Ford’s credit rating to investment grade today, the final step for the company to be able to reclaim its Blue Oval. had offered its globally recognized trademark as part of a 2006 loan package. According to the Detroit Free Press, the collateralized logo and the rest of Fod’s assets and intellectual property would not return to the automaker until it achieved an investment-grade credit rating with at least two of the three major agencies. Last month, Ford’s credit was .
At the time the loan was issued, the move was viewed as bold and risky, as Ford literally bet the farm that it could pay back the $23.5 billion. But as it turned out, the automaker’s head start on restructuring allowed it to weather the financial crisis and resultant industry downturn in 2008 without declaring bankruptcy and needing government intervention like its cross-town rivals.
The upgrade from Moody’s is said to potentially help Ford by lowering its borrowing costs, and certainly having its assets back should allow everyone in Dearborn to sleep peacefully tonight.
Episode #283 of the is here, and this week, Chris, Dan and Zach chat about the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500, the Chevrolet SS, and Kia exploring diesels for the U.S. market. Your questions and comments power the end of the ‘cast, and for those of you who hung with us live on our , thanks for taking the time. We’ve embedded our Q&A module for you to scroll through and follow along, too. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #283:
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Runtime: 01:08:54
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We’ve noticed that 2013 has been updated with dollar values for each of its four models, however, we’re not so sure the pricing is that black-and-white. has also updated the disclaimer at the bottom of the page, to read, “Prices and features are for survey purposes only and are subject to change and features may become unavailable at the time of vehicle introduction.” In other words, don’t get too fixated on the numbers, as they’re not locked down yet. And by playing with the configurator, you’re likely serving as a FoMoCo lab rat – after all, this is the company that never met a focus group it didn’t like.
It’s worth noting that Ford has not issued an official press release on pricing yet. But for now, it seems like the base Fusion S will start at $22,495, though we’re not sure whether that includes destination or not. Stepping up to the SE at $24,490 will upgrade the steel wheels to alloys, add heated, lighted mirrors with turn signal indicators, and get you body color rocker panels. Inside, the SE has a power driver’s seat and a better stereo, and backseat passengers get an armrest and their own HVAC ducts. The SE also allows you to order other stuff, including navigation and start/stop, or opt for a different engine than the base-spec 2.5-liter four-cylinder with automatic transmission.
The 1.6-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder is available with a manual or automatic on the SE for $25,290, while the start/stop-equipped version (automatic only) is $25,585. The 2.0-liter EcoBoost with automatic is $26,745 when ordered in SE trim. Ford lists a number of different packages and options, but they seem to be offered on a sliding scale, such that the packages are more expensive on the lower-priced models. For instance, the Luxury Package with leather and heated seats, among other equipment, is $1,505 on the 1.6-liter EcoBoost but only $1,050 on the 2.0-liter EcoBoost.
On the SE Hybrid, which starts at $27,995 and is equipped with a non-EcoBoost 2.0-liter four-cylinder and a CVT, the same Luxury Package is listed at $2,000. Apparently if you’re saving all that money on gas, you can afford to pay double the guy with the most powerful engine.
At the top of the Fusion price list, of course, rests the Titanium, which offers a lot of the optional stuff standard for $30,995. It’s also the only way to get all-wheel drive, which will set you back $32,995. Note that the Titanium is exclusively powered by the 2.0-liter EcoBoost and is not available with a manual, so you won’t be configuring your Fusion as a dual-use weekend rally car.
But then again, Ford will likely change this all tomorrow.
The good old boys at Motor Trend got their hands on not only a , but a Ford Police Interceptor and a Dodge Charger Police Pursuit, as well. Like any good, upstanding group of hooligans, the crew set to playing cops and robbers in the shadow of Detroit’s vacant factories. With the big 662-horsepower, supercharged V8 Mustang left with no long spans of asphalt to stretch its legs, the two pursuit vehicles have a clear advantage. Watching the three go at each other is a decent way to blow five minutes of your work day.
Of course, this reminds me of a pearl of wisdom served up by my grandfather on the subject of evading the long arm of the law. He always said, “You can out run one, you might even out run two, but you’ll never outrun that radio.” Amen.
In the latest release of its BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study, market researchers Milward Brown have given the highest ranking of any carmaker, according to Automotive News. – last year’s winner – finished second, followed by , and , according to the report.
BMW had last finished atop the rankings in 2010, according to the report, with Toyota taking the crown from 2006-2009. The highest-ranked American brand was at seventh, trailing sixth-place . The top ten was filled out by , and . Toyota’s drop was attributed to its production interruptions due to the natural disasters that affected all of the Japanese automakers last year, according to AN.
BMW’s win among auto manufacturers was only enough to place it 23rd in the overall brand ranking, with an estimated brand value of $24.6 billion. Apple, the overall winner, according to the report, had a $182.9 billion valuation, ahead of IBM ($116 billion) and Google ($107.9 billion). Toyota’s valuation was $21.8 billion, with Mercedes-Benz and Honda far behind at $16.1 billion and $12.7 billion respectively. No other carmaker had a valuation over $10 billion.
The fourth installment of Ken Block’s Gymkhana series was aptly subtitled We know Ken needs to sell some to pay for these lavish drifting productions, but the sales pitch stole the spotlight from the action in Gymkhana 4. Ever wonder what the video would have been like without the special effects and clothing commercials?
It took them the better part of a year, but DC Shoes has finally released a bonus edit that removes the “Hollywood” parts of the video, leaving just the gymkhana parts that we all clicked Play to watch in the first place.
Cutting out the special effects and infomercial aspects shortens the video from a weighty 9:16 to a lithe and focused 5:11. The difference between the two vids is most apparent by comparing when the Ford Racing rally Focus leaves the starting line. Original video: 1:25. New edit: 0:09. Over a minute was saved just by cutting the clip of Ken Block on fire and nixing the opening credits for his wardrobe. Another two minutes was saved at the end by leaving the Bollywood dance on the cutting room floor.
to watch the new bonus edit that lets the viewer better appreciate the skill required to perform such stunts, as well as the original version. You can also to watch a YouTube Doubler of the videos playing side-by-side.
The is officially on its way to dealerships. Outlets in California, New Jersey, and New York – 67 in all – are going to be the first to receive the electron-fueled Focus, with about six cars each winding up on lots. To help dealers build more excitement for what’s likely to be a slow-starting sales story, the dealers will hold one of the Focus EVs as a demonstrator.
Even if fewer than 5,000 Focus Electric models find buyers this year, Alan Mulally won’t be disappointed. While Ford ultimately expects electrics and hybrid vehicles to account for up to 25 percent of its sales volume by 2020, the company is moving deliberately. Rather than develop and tool an entirely new platform, Ford’s move to modify the Focus for electric propulsion is said to allow some semblance of a profit margin, but it’s going to take time for consumers to warm to the idea of a $40,000 Focus, even if a third of that price is the battery, and Ford appears to be keeping this in mind.
After the initial 350 or so cars are delivered to the pilot stores, the rest of the Ford dealers across the nation will start getting the Focus EV before spring turns into summer.
While these supposedly leaked patent images aren’t as sexy as those of the Acura NSX convertible , they do point to an interesting new look for the homely .
As the pedestrian delivery van is in need of a massive upgrade in the aesthetics department, adopting more of a “ face” like what’s found on the and forthcoming seems like a great idea. We’re not sure, however, what to make of the buttresses at the base of the pillars, which reminds us a bit too much of the .
While we haven’t heard much about when a new Transit Connect might be headed to our shores, according to Left Lane News, Ford may show an almost-production-ready concept at the in September.
In the latest release of its BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study, market researchers Milward Brown have given the highest ranking of any carmaker, according to Automotive News. – last year’s winner – finished second, followed by , and , according to the report.
