is taking its new to the races in the U.S. rounds of this year’s Global RallyCross Championship with ESPN. Piloted by Travis Pastrana and built by SRT, the GRC challenger is a little different than the sedan you’d find at the dealership: it puts down 600 horsepower and more than 550 pound-feet from it’s 2.0-liter, four-cylinder to all four wheels.
The 2012 RallyCross season comprises seven rounds, two of which will be the X Games in Los Angeles on June 30 and July 1. It’s the second domestic season for the discipline that’s considered to be “motorcross with cars,” and the number of rounds has more than doubled from the three held last year. ESPN will be airing all of them, so follow the jump for the press release on Dodge’s entry and race info, and click the picture above to enlarge.
If there’s one thing nerds love more than obscure factoids, it’s the thrill of a good argument. MSN has set out to settle one of comic bookdom’s quintessential questions by attempting to discern whether the 1989 Batmobile is quicker than its 1966 predecessor. While we’d love nothing better to see the atomic-powered sire do battle with its jet-powered offspring, we’ll just have to make due with a couple of replicas. In this case, the ‘89 gets its power from a carbureted small block with an aluminum intake manifold and not much else.
Meanwhile, the 1966 uses a for its underpinnings, complete with a fuel-injected small block of its own. The ‘66 boasts an estimated 300-325 horsepower while the ‘89 serves up a more modest 285 ponies. Bets are made, flags are dropped an one vehicle stands above the other. We won’t spoil it for you.
We will say there seems to be some on-screen trickery afoot, however. Watch closely, and it’s clear the ‘89 holds onto left lane at the beginning of the race, only to swap places in the slow-motion replay. Something tells us this game was rigged from the start. to see the full episode for yourself, but be warned. Fair warning: the finale sequence may be Not Safe For Work for some of you. Maybe there’s something else nerds love more than arguing and flexing their trivia muscle.
It’s called “The Chase”, and on the surface it doesn’t exactly have anything to do with cars. In reality, we’re not so sure it has a lot to do with anything other than serving as promotional material for Philippe Gamer and the Space Patrol Crew, but that’s fine. It’s a fun video with four animated girls and a car chase scene unlike any other we’ve ever seen.
You’ll see about four minutes of animated insanity that includes what appears to be hundreds of police cars, a couple of log-toting semi trucks, some extremely unrealistic loops and lots of explosions. Oh, and four models, driven by the female lead characters. Apparently, the studio had previously done work for Nissan and the already digitally rendered vehicles were reused for The Chase.
Topping it all off is a plot twist worthy of M. Night Shyamalan. We won’t spoil it for you, but the director says it’s “a story about the art of aging.” We should also warn you that some language makes this one unsafe for work. See for yourself in the video .
Has the Angry Birds franchise jumped the shark and hit those dastardly pigs yet? The ornery feathered videogame stars have seen their mugs plastered across just about every retail good we can think of. We’ve seen everything from mundane merchandise like t-shirts, plush dolls and keychains to inflatable funhouse castles, streaming media players and gummy candies.
Thus, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Rovio Entertainment’s birds have slingshotted into the world of Formula One sponsorship, slathered on the brain bucket of Caterham racer Heikki Kovalainen. The Finn says he’s a big fan of the game – and not just because Rovio is from Finland.
Word has it that Angry Birds will get a racing-themed update sometime this summer (as well as even more branded merchandise), so fans of the flying fowl should keep their eyes peeled.
Samuel Hübinette, two-time Formula D champion, will not return for the 2012 Formula Drift pro championship season. “Two of our main sponsors changed their marketing direction, so we decided that the best thing to do with the SHR drift car is to focus on doing demos,” said Hübinette, driver and team owner of Team Samuel Hübinette Racing. But don’t think team SHR has lost its competitiveness. While drifting has been put on the back burner, Hübinette (the “Crazy Swede”) has refocused his team on rallycross and off-road truck competitions.
Born in Sweden, Hübinette earned an early reputation for pushing motorcycles, cars and snowmobiles to the limit. He worked for Volvo Cars as a test driver in product development and was on the company’s Touring Car racing team from 1997 through 2000. Since moving to the United States 2004, he has secured a bronze medal in the X Games, won two Formula Drift championships, and driven in the Baja 1000. He is also a working stunt driver in Hollywood productions.
Not only has Hübinette been one of the top names in drifting, but he maintains the record for most Formula D victories. “We will miss having a competitor like Samuel this season,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula Drift.
As we said when we first drove the Blue-e-motion, is . Given the tremendous ups and downs that electric vehicles and EV start-up companies are going through, maybe making sure you have a car where everything is working smoothly – to say nothing about - isn’t such a bad idea. And it now seems like VW is confident enough in its Golf EV, which is , to push up its estimated release date from 2014 to late 2013.
Sure, technically, that could be a difference of just one day, but we don’t think that’s what VW of America president Jonathan Browning meant when he confirmed next year’s U.S. release date with Automotive News. Late 2013 is also when the car will go on sale in Europe. A .
Even though VW is getting ready to move into electric vehicle territory, it is well behind other automakers. Perhaps that’s why it is also a bit less optimistic about the potential success of plug-ins. The automaker expects just three percent of its new vehicles to be EVs or hybrids by 2018. You can .
may be one of the smallest auto manufacturers, but it’s on its game when it comes to safety. The compact crossover joins Mitsubishi’s on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety list of Top Safety Picks.
The designation applies only to 2012 models, as Mitsubishi made changes to the roof design this year that helped the Outlander Sport score a “Good” rating on the roof strength test. It also earned “Good” marks on frontal offset and side impact tests, and with standard stability control it met all the criteria for the IIHS award.
The curtain’s been lifted on the ad campaign for the , and it’s all about the game of life via the boardgame The Game of Life. The first spot is called Malti-poo and in it’s ad-speaky way it targets “city-dwelling millennials” as it “demonstrates key vehicle attributes in a fun and approachable way.” It “embodies the youthful spirit of the vehicle and offers creative content that integrates this iconic childhood game” while it also “offers visual tools and easy ways to share digestible information and collect opinions.”
In English: it’s trying to hook first-time car buyers on the notable features of the Prius C in inventive ways. Case in point: the Malti-poo spot will be followed by one called “Dolphin Tattoo,” and platforms will include broadcast television, print, consumer experience and a YouTube channel that provides car buying and financial advice.
for the ad and the press release describing the campaign.
You can now build and price a little of your own, all of which can be done in a configurator that appears to have been designed by and Pixar. The latest and littlest memeber of the family comes in four stock grades, conveniently numbered One, Two, Three and Four. To get the game started you’ll need $19,710 in configurator money for the Prius C One – that’s an $18,950 base price and $760 for destination charges.
Even the least of the four comes with options like Bluetooth and remote keyless entry, the only conspicuous base-model giveaway being the 15-inch steel wheels. Head for the Prius C Four, as we did, and you’ll start at $23,990 and get all the trimmings. The single most substantive option at this height is a $1,150 set of premium, bladed alloy wheels to replace the standard alloys. They aren’t even an option on the One. The other exterior and interior options are mainly cosmetic, like protective film and side moldings, or convenience, like an ashtray cup and a cargo tray. Checking every box will set you back $26,287.
It’s pretty straightforward – for instance, there are nine exterior colors, one is black, then there are two variations on white, red and blue. But head on over to and see what you can make because after all, you can never run out of configurator money.
is turning to prime-time TV to introduce the . The vehicle will be front and center in “Escape Routes,” a new NBC reality show that pits six teams of two against one another in a road-trip competition with layovers in Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Miami and San Francisco. Viewers, meanwhile, can interact with the show’s contestants and participate via EscapeRoutes.com. Ford says the online community will even have a chance to impact the final outcome of the game, though it’s unclear exactly how.
Currently, NBC and Ford have chosen five teams for the competition, and four more duos are currently duking it out for the last spot. According to the automaker, the team that takes home the gold in the final competition will win $100,000 and two Ford Escape models. “Escape Routes” is set to air for six episodes on Saturday nights at 8 pm EST, starting on March 31. for the full press release.
It reported a record profit margin, but still wasn’t as profitable as its rival . According to a report in Automotive News, BMW booked an 11.8-percent profit margin, up from eight percent last year. Audi, however, managed 12.1 percent.
Both figures were calculated using the earnings before interest and tax method (EBIT).
Audi and BMW have had a blossoming rivalry since Audi began directly targeting BMW, both in the development of its products and in its advertising. The two ultra-competitive German luxury brands most famously clashed in a .
Analysts had forecast an 11.9-percent profit margin for BMW, according to AN. Despite this “mild disappointment,” as one analyst called it, BMW still led Audi and as the .
The company expects to set another annual sales record this year, besting the 1.67 million units it moved in 2011, thanks largely to it’s new-for-2012 F30 .
If you’ve never played Reckless Racing 2, odds are you’ve taken the helm of similar games in the past. Players are given control of a vehicle viewed from above as it bashes its way around a dirt track with other cars.
Sony Ericsson recently partnered up with noted car hacker James Brighton to create a real-life version of Reckless Driving 2 using a pair of droptop MG models and Sony’s new Xperia Studio smartphone. Sony and Brighton then invited Martin Noriander, the developer behind Reckless Racing 2, and journalist Hunter Skipworth to compete head-to-head with the real-life cars.
Who came out on top? We won’t spoil it for you, but we will say there was a good bit of carnage as the duo tried to manipulate their chariots around the course. to check out the quick video for yourself.
Nine times out of ten, if the Autoblog crew isn’t talking cars, we’re discussing cameras. Or cat videos. But mostly cameras. We love shooting the world’s newest vehicles almost as much as we enjoy driving them, and odds are we aren’t alone.
If you’ve ever wondered how the real pros manage to get their best photos, wonder no more. The crew at FStoppers.com tagged along while Blair Bunting trained his lens on the . The shot you see above was crafted using around $60,000 in lighting equipment, a full staff of assistants and a professional retoucher.
Bunting says he actually uses Forza Motorsport 4 to plan his shots before the vehicle ever arrives. Using the game’s Free Look mode allows him to spot interesting aspects of the car that would otherwise be missed by viewing the stock photography.
But the pro lets us all in on another little secret toward the end of the video. Amateurs and enthusiast photographers like ourselves can get a very similar effect with a small light box and a lightbulb on a stick. Now we just need a car worth shooting in the middle of the night. to watch the video yourself. It’s a long one, but completely worth it.
Turn 10 Studios made some big waves when the video game developer announced it had finally come to an agreement with and EA Games over a licensing deal that would see the German sports cars make it into the Forza Motorsport 4 universe. Autoblog recently sat down with Dan Greenawalt, the director of Turn 10 studios, for a quick chat about the Porsche DLC, Forza Horizon, the new level cap for Forza Motorsport 4 and the relationship between Forza and Gran Turismo.
Autoblog: Porsche has been pretty territorial about licensing their products in terms of video games. How did the Porsche expansion pack play out? How did you make it happen?
Dan Greenawalt: Well, many many years ago Porsche and EA Games signed a long-term deal regarding how Porsche was going to be licensed. That deal has been resigned many times over the years. Because of the nature of that deal, EA has the exclusive rights and the discretion to sub-license Porsche as they see fit.
Porsche has been in the last three Forza Motorsports through a sub-licensing deal with EA. For Forza Motorsport 4 we were not able to find terms that were agreeable to all parties, but we stayed at the table. It took some time to value the brand in such a way that everyone agreed.
Porsche, and are kind of like the holy trinity of auto brands. They pull in a lot of people. They have prestige around the world. Finding that value and agreeing on that value is really what it came down to.
Now that Forza Motorsport 4 developer Turn 10 Studios and finally “found the right terms,” you can have in your Forza. The Porsche Expansion Pack will be available for 1,600 MS points or $19.99, and will reward you with 30 products from the Stuttgart maker including the 2010 . Turn 10 says that seven of the 30 will be completely new to the series, which probably means you can expect the return of classics from Forza 3 like the 962.
The pack isn’t included in the game’s Season Pass, but your Porsche Expansion Pack won’t just get cars, either: there will be 20 new events, 10 XBox Live achievements and a Rivals Mode all based on Porsches as well. The pack is scheduled to be available on May 22 and will take FM4’s car count (with DLCs) to 625. The licensing deal isn’t long-term, so if Porsches are your thing you should mark May 22 on your calendar.
The other two new events on the Forza 4 horizon are that level caps have been raised from 150 to 999, and a new game called Forza Horizon is on the way. It’s being developed by an outside studio called Playground Games and no one seems to know anything about it beyond Turn 10’s assessment that “it’s a fast-paced pick-up-and-play racing game.” There’s a video trailer for Horizon which won’t tell you anything more than you already know, but sounds pretty cool.
Another month, another pack of downloadable content for Forza Motorsport 4. This month’s DLC car pack, called the March Pirelli Car Pack, features 10 new cars that could potentially find their way into your Forza garage. Why call it the March Pirelli Car Pack? The team from Turn 10 Studios responsible for developing Forza Motorsport 4 says that actual tire performance data from Pirelli helped them dial in the most realistic handling possible for each car.
This month’s car pack includes some true gems, most notable of which is the Aston Martin V12 Zagato. As the was just revealed less than a month ago and won’t make its official debut until next week at the , the car in the game is the on which it’s based, though you’d be hard pressed to tell any differences between the two.
The most peculiar car in this month’s car pack is definitely the 1966 Ford Country Squire. The giant woody wagon comes from era of Country Squires that featured the Magic Door Gate, which both flipped down like a tailgate and swung open from the side. An interesting factoid, though Turn 10 says it doesn’t make a difference in the game.
We’re also excited to try the Ultima GTR, versions of which have set all sorts of world records related to speed and quickness. The version in the game is less powerful than those headline-makers, being powered by a Corvette engine producing 565 horsepower, but it still weighs just 2,200 lbs.
Check out the full list of 10 cars in the March Pirelli Car Pack below and for the official trailer. The pack will be available on Tuesday, March 6 for 560 MS points ($7) or is free for those who have already purchased the Season Pass.
As you might remember, we were left unfulfilled by the 2012 GS. , which is why when we read about the possibility of a tuner version of the GS from SLP Performance Parts on Inside Line, we got on the phone posthaste.
SLP is best known for building the Firehawk and SS versions of fourth-generation F-body Firebirds and Camaros for General Motors, and owning the “ZL” trademark that both it and GM have used on the current-gen . But the company is also the rights holder of fabled monikers “Grand National” and “GNX,” names that it intends to put back into play.
An SLP spokesman confirmed the report that a 300-plus-horsepower Buick GNX based on the GS is in development, saying that it should have a final mock-up based on the above sketch by the middle of this month. But SLP also told us that it has plans to revive the Grand National name, which would presumably fall somewhere between the GS and the GNX on the performance scale.
But before we get too lathered up about this, remember that SLP has dipped its toes in the performance Buick game before, with middling results. The company rolled out a Buick GSX back in the early part of last decade, based on the supercharged, 3800 V6-powered Regal GS. This dealer-installed kit was a good idea applied to the wrong car, as the front-drive, fourth-generation Regal just wasn’t enough of a performance machine out of the box to bother with.
The current GS, on the other hand, offers a much more intriguing proposition for a little bit of aftermarket improvement. As long as SLP does the full-blackout treatment that was a hallmark of the original GNX, we’d be willing to take it for a spin.
Luxury used to be so simple in this country. Life was demarcated by a series of vehicular gradations from to Oldsmobile, Oldsmobile to and finally, when one had clambered up every last rung of the socioeconomic ladder, Buick to . But that was generations ago, a time before German automakers like and quietly brushed aside makes like and Cadillac to establish themselves as the pinnacle of luxury. It was before names like , and elbowed their way up to the luxury buffet as well.
These days, buyers with an eye toward a comfortable, well-equipped vehicle have more options than nearly any other customer thanks to the careful segmentation of the luxury market. has long positioned itself as an automaker that knows how to give buyers heaps of content for their dollar, and vehicles like the and have proven the Korean company can play on the luxury field with the rest of the rear-wheel-drive bruisers out there.
For 2012, the company has sharpened its nearly forgotten to give front-wheel-drive luxury buyers something else to chew on. With its new exterior, gorgeous cabin, V6 power and a host of standard equipment, the sedan is a natural alternative to hardware like the , and .
Seventeen days after the Super Bowl and we’re still talking about the commercials. Crazy, we know, but that’s how significant these ads are, and why the $3.5 million price tag for airtime during the game seems almost justified… almost.
Yesterday we reported that YouTube had crowned Chrysler’s “Halftime in America” as the most watched car commercial from the Super Bowl (an M&M’s ad nabbed the #1 most viewed overall spot). But YouTube views don’t mean much to automakers that are trying to sell cars. They want to know if their multi-million dollar Super Bowl ad directly increased interest in the vehicles they’re selling.
To answer that question we have this infographic from car-shopping website . While we wouldn’t blame you for guessing that and Clint Eastwood drummed up the most car-shopper interest, you’d be wrong. According to the numbers crunched by CarWoo!, received the highest lift in consideration after the big game at 61 percent. Chrysler was second with a 26-percent lift and third at 25 percent. Brands with big ads like , and , however, saw no lift in interest after the Super Bowl.
Chevrolet’s performance here can be partially attributed to the volume of ads it ran before, during and after the Super Bowl. It was by far the most prolific auto advertiser. But not all of its ads were winners. While commercials for the , and contributed positive lift, the ad for the did nothing to help raise the bottom line of consumer interest.
Also interesting to note is the back-of-the-pack performance of , which, despite boasting that its ad for the was the , only saw a six-percent lift in interest.
It’s been seen by millions of viewers on television and the internet, it’s been on both sides of the aisle and it’s been . And, according to YouTube, staring Clint Eastwood has been named the top Super Bowl car commercial of 2012.
For those keeping track of such things, Chrysler’s commercial has over 10.5 million views on YouTube, though we do feel the need to remind everyone that the video was , which we’d imagine is one of the highest traffic times for such advertisements.
The only other commercial from an automotive company that made YouTube’s top five Super Bowl commercials was – itself controversial due to before it aired on the worldwide stage.
The number one ad, you ask? That would be M&M’s “Just My Shell” commercial. Guess there really is no accounting for taste… we prefer our M&Ms to be green, just like everyone else. Feel free to watch Chrysler’s winning ad one more time .
