We record Episode #277 of the Autoblog Podcast tonight, and we’re joined by of Autoline. Drop us your questions via our Q&A module below, and chime in to direct our conversation. Our main focus will be recapping what we saw at the New York Auto Show, but who knows where the conversation will take us! Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast if you haven’t already done so, and if you want to take it all in live, tune in to our (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.
Discussion Topics for Autoblog Podcast Episode #277
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There are many names you could associate with tuning, but few are as iconic as Steve Saleen. The American tuner extraordinaire made a name for himself tweaking the muscle coupe under the Saleen brand until he left his own company to start SMS Supercars. But now that the two have been , word has it that Saleen is moving ahead with plans to produce a new mid-engine exotic to follow in the footsteps of the famed S7.
Saleen, as you may recall, branched out of tuning pony cars with the S7 in 2000. The car packed a 7.0-liter V8 that was later twin-turbocharged up to 750 horsepower to make it good for a 0-60 run in under three seconds and a top speed of nearly 250 mph. The car endures as an American performance icon, but while an S5S Raptor concept (pictured above) was showcased four years ago at the , the schism between the two Saleen companies kept it from ever seeing the light of day.
With that ugliness now behind us, however, Autoweek reports that Steve Saleen is intent on picking up where the S7 and S5S left off. Getting to that point is expected to take Saleen a while, but in the meantime, he’s working at integrating the two operations. The SMS facility in California will continue building the cars – White Label for mild upgrades, Yellow Label for supercharged models and Black Label for the works – while his Saleen facility in Michigan will distribute the parts. Look for a tuned to come rumbling around the corner in the near future.
Fisker Automotive may drop plans to use a Delaware factory to build its upcoming sedan and is looking at “other options,” Automotive News reports, citing an interview with company CEO Tom LaSorda. The company, in an online meeting with owners of the extended-range plug-in sedan, spelled out some of the issues that have been plaguing the car.
Fisker will hold off on deciding on the Atlantic’s production site until the end of summer, which will delay the model’s debut. LaSorda maintains that Fisker will be able to produce the Atlantic with or without Department of Energy funding, according to Automotive News. Fisker’s director of corporate communications, Russell Datz, tells AutoblogGreen that the company remains “committed to Delaware” but admits that if the rest of the company’s DOE loan money does not come through, the plan to build the Atlantic in Delaware could change.
If you haven’t noticed, NBC’s The Office has really jumped the shark since Steve Carrell left the show at the end of last season. Or maybe the beginning of the end was Pam and Jim’s wedding during the sixth season. Regardless, the point is that the show is no longer very funny or edgy, nor does it ever make the audience uncomfortable in the way the brilliant original BBC version did. Rather, as the main characters in the American version of the show have become caricatures, The Office has grown predictable and formulaic.
And this is why can launch an ad campaign like its . Despite the brief, 30-second running times of the ads, the characters are instantly recognizable and the “plots” are easy to follow. Although the scenes set in a Chevy dealership play with the tropes created by the Emmy Award-winning series, they do so to little comic effect. Because comedy isn’t the point – these are ads, after all, full of ham-handed product information and designed to sell cars.
If anyone should understand that it’s , General Motors’ Chief Marketing Officer. Yet he told Automotive News at the New York Auto Show that GM has “talked about turning this into an actual show because we’ve got so much material.”
Well, that Chevy product line isn’t nearly the joke it once was, but if you say so…
Let’s just chalk this one up to Ewanick being a bit starstruck. “Under The Blue Arch” was created by Randall Einhorn, one of the directors of The Office, and it “stars” Wayne Wilderson, who appeared on the NBC show in 2006.
Cancer sucks. And pediatric cancer sucks the worst. Without hesitation, we would trade all the exotic cars in the world for a cure.
But you know what doesn’t suck? So it’s pretty cool that will auction off the first one to benefit the Austin Hatcher Foundation For Pediatric Cancer. The organization, based in Chattanooga, TN, is an official charity of the American Le Mans Series, which is presumably why it was picked. At the Viper reveal at New York, Chrysler also announced it would .
So the first 2013 SRT will cross the stage at Barrett-Jackson Orange County, which goes down June 22-24. It’ll be interesting to see what it brings in, considering the first 2013 427 convertible’s .
And if you aren’t deep-pocketed enough to get in on the Viper hunt, helping out the Hatcher Foundation doesn’t require bidding – you can .
The stole the this week with its 640-horsepower 8.4-liter V10 and the promise of even better tire-melting performance. It’s the crown jewel in Chrysler’s Street and Racing Technology brand headed by Ralph Gilles, President and CEO of SRT, Senior Vice President of Chrysler Design and the man most credited with resurrecting this beast.
Discontinued in 2010, the Viper was always a brutal and unforgiving car. It was the baseball bat of supercars.
Autoblog got a chance to sit down with Gilles and ask him five questions. Always the gentleman, Gilles answered six.
Gilles and his team walked a narrow line refining the Viper to the point of Italian Boss Sergio Marchionne’s acceptance, but still remaining true to the car.
Before, the Viper was brutal, it’s transmission tunnel heated up so much, the sparse cockpit turned into a crock pot. It did not even offer stability control, now required by law, meaning one wrong move, one slip of the clutch and the Viper would be wrapped around a light pole faster than an airbag deployment.
Even getting out of the Viper, with its side-mounted exhaust pipes, could be a challenge, giving the car one last chance to leave its mark, literally, on your calf.
Autoblog got a chance to sit down with Gilles and ask him five questions. Always the gentleman, Gilles answered six.
AB: The new design is pure Viper, but it seems to have some influence from those Italian super cars. What’s the percentage of the Viper that’s American, percentage that’s Italian?
Gilles: Maybe five percent Italian. The seats, the seats are the same supplier as Ferrari. It’s all American. Done inside, done outside, it’s all all American.
There have been a number of iconic racing liveries over the course of history – JPS and Gulf spring immediately to mind – and every historic racing fan has his or her favorite. But few are as downright awesome as Martini. The Italian vermouth label has sponsored everything from Lancias to , but many of its very awesomest have been . Like this bitchin’ 917/LH.
This long-tail version (Langheck in German) of the all-conquering 917 racer was fielded twice at Le Mans: once by Porsche Salzburg in 1970, and once by Martini Racing (which gave it its enduring paintjob) in 1971. It qualified first and second at those respective runnings, but proved fragile over the course of the 24-hour race and failed to finish both times.
The overall results don’t mean that this isn’t a devastatingly beautiful example of motor racing history, or that it’s anything less than priceless. Better check it out in our gallery of images from the show floor before it’s secreted back off to Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.
We love Mini’s sense of humor, and its April Fools’ Day pranks this year were among . While we really, really wanted the Cowley camper to be real, actually went ahead and built the Amphibious “Yachtsman” – and then brought it to the , just as promised to in its fake April 1 press release.
Considering that some car companies have been known to release , we’re even more bemused by Mini’s antics.
Click to read the entire absurd press release, then go ahead and check out our of high-res images of the Yachtsman.
has over a hundred years of heritage from which it can call upon when the right marketing angle presents itself. Like, for instance, when it launches a for the 2014 model year, as it has just done at the 2012 . As such, the automaker has brought a mint 1966 Chevrolet SS 427 Convertible to display alongside its new family sedan.
We’ll get this right out of the way: the 1966 ‘Vert has nothing in common with the 2014 sedan, other than its nameplate.
Regardless, it’s always fun to ogle over a classic muscle car, and this ‘66 Impala is, perhaps, the very best of its full-size breed. The 427-cubic-inch V8 was factory rated at 390 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque – plenty more than necessary to turn those 7.5-inch-wide bias-ply tires into plumes of smoke, and the four-speed manual and 3.55:1 gears mean it’s properly equipped for 1960s-style stoplight showdowns.
Check out this classic Impala SS in our high-res image gallery, and before we all get too sentimental for the old times, remember two points: First, as awesome as this machine undoubtedly is, it could never be sold today due to safety and emissions reasons. Second, most of the millions of Impalas sold over the years were much more pedestrian models than this stunning blue SS.
Caveats aside, we want this car rumbling away in our virtual garage. Badly.
Anyone with an Xbox 360 and Forza Motorsport 4 will be able to get their hands on a virtual version of the all-new . As revealed at its debut, the hotly anticipated American supercar is headed to the game as part of an exclusive Viper Pack.
Turn 10, the studio behind the game’s development, has revealed that the Viper Pack will be available this summer, and in addition to a drivable version of the Viper, will also include a Viper Autovista experience that lets players inspect the car very closely using their controllers or the hands-free Kinect system. Pricing for the pack has not yet been mentioned, and though not confirmed, we hope the that debuted alongside the production car will also be digitized for the game and included in the pack.
to watch the official 50-second teaser video of the 2013 SRT Viper in Forza Motorsport 4.
While the 2014 may have many charming qualities and boast a plethora of engine options, one feature it reportedly won’t be offering is all-wheel drive. According to GMInsideNews.com, reps have said all-wheel drive is not part of the short-term or long-term plan for the new large sedan.
While the Impala will share a platform with the Cadillac XTS and – both of which do offer AWD – apparently General Motors wants to keep the Impala front-drive-only to help differentiate it from the and . While it remains to be seen whether the lack of all-wheel drive will hurt the Impala’s chances of competing with the and , which both offer it, Chevy’s people have reportedly called all-wheel drive a “very slim piece of the full-size sedan market.”
If you’ve attended major international auto show in the U.S. this season, you’ve likely seen this car: Edsel Ford’s 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster. We last August, then again in January at the . It is, frankly, a most beautiful specimen, and since we hadn’t yet taken the opportunity to capture it with our own lenses, New York seemed like the perfect place to hold an impromptu shoot.
The Speedster has a very long history going back to 1932 when Edsel Ford, then president of , returned from Europe and asked design director E.T. Gregorie to pen a sports car similar to the ones he saw running around Europe. It started out as a 1934 Ford, but was radically altered to make a low slung, two-seat sports car with technology that wouldn’t appear on production Fords for many years. It originally weighed 2,100 pounds and was powered by a 75-bhp Model 40 flathead V8 that was later replaced by a 100-bhp Mercury V8.
Edsel Ford enjoyed the car until his death in 1943, at which point the car began a journey of many ownerships, ultimately vanished and then resurfaced in 1999 when it was sold to a collector for $1.76 million. When the collector died, the Speedster was given to the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House who oversaw a complete restoration of the car. It now travels the auto show circuit, on display in a place of honor within the display.
Despite having a media center that’s plagued with bad coffee and prone to , the is one of our favorite automotive expos. It’s not an all-out automotive blitzkrieg like , but the vast majority of New York debuts are actual, honest-to-goodness production cars rather than spiffy concepts that only show what could be possible. And if you’ve paid attention to , some mighty big nameplates had some show-stopping debuts here in the Big Apple. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
We’ve walked the show floor, sipped some free coffee, shook hands with plenty of executives, and after two days of New York madness, we’ve come up with our picks for the five best reveals here at the show. Which of the took top honors? You’ll have to to find out.
If there’s any place a SUV can feel at home, surely it’s Manhattan. Only fitting, then, that the updated has debuted at the .
The revised luxury crossover has been treated to a mild facelift, but as with so many things, it’s what’s inside that counts with the new . The cabin has been updated with a series of cosmetic and functional changes (new steering wheel, new shifter, etc.), but the bigger news is its fresh electronics. Cadillac has imbued the angular high-rider with its new CUE infotainment and connectivity system, complete with an eight-inch capacitive touchscreen. Other additions include the Safety Alert Seat system and active safety features like automatic front- and rear braking, adaptive cruise control, and so on.
In short, it looks to be a better SRX than the one it succeeds, and you can check it out in our gallery of live shots above and the stock shots from the manufacturer below.
The streets of Gotham are about to look a lot different. After being inundated with legions of bulky Ford Crown Victoria and the occasional or for years, New York City’s hack pool is slated to get a fresh crop of yellow ugly thanks to its “Taxi of Tomorrow” program.
Chief among those vehicles figures to be the , also unveiled at this week’s , but the Japanese automaker isn’t the sole manufacturer to be in the good graces of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. The seen here has also gained approval, and its maker, the snappily named Vehicle Production Group, notes that this is the first purpose-built vehicle to gain the board’s approval since the Checker Cab.
And not only is the MV-1 purpose-built for taxi duty, it was designed with the Americans with Disabilities Act in mind – the square-rigged design is built around a 56-inch by 36-inch door for wheelchair access, and VPG will fit MV-1s with either manual or power ramps as requested. The American-made, body-on-frame MV-1 will also be available powered by Compressed Natural Gas.
It remains to be seen how many taxi companies are eager to buy vehicles from a startup automaker, but VPG says it has approval for up to 13,000 units. We imagine much of the MV-1’s success will come down to pricing and reliability, as well as acceptance of the vehicle’s unusual appearance. Of course, Nissan’s new NV doesn’t look like it will be contending for any design laurels, either…
The brand celebrates its 100th birthday this year, and the 1912 is where it all started. To commemorate the occasion, ‘ utility brand has created special Heritage Edition packages for both the Sierra pickup and Yukon sport-ute, and both make their public debut here at the 2012 New York expo.
An option group priced from $1,820 to $2,645, the Heritage Edition package adds cosmetic upgrades like new paint colors (including the Heritage Blue you see here), embroidered headrests and floor mats, large chrome wheels, chrome door handles, a power liftgate and an original GMC logo.
to read the full details in GM’s press blast and see the Heritage Edition package from all angles in our attached high-res image gallery. Oh, and happy hundredth, GMC!
The has officially vomited on its shoes, stumbled out of the bar and taken a seat on the subway between a homeless person and RuPaul impersonator (actually, it might really be RuPaul). That’s right folks, the party’s over, and the Big Apple has told us that we don’t have to go home, but we can’t stay here.
Like a wasted hipster on his hands and knees scrounging loose change off the floor, we’ve gathered together all of the cars and concepts that debuted at this year’s show. Enjoy perusing our while we pop a Tums and concentrate on surviving the cab ride to LaGuardia.
We know what you’re thinking: You’d love to buy a new , but only if it were more… black. Fortunately, dear friend, the division has answered your prayers with a raft of special editions called Altitude.
The name was selected by online poll, and the vehicles were previewed by a series of “production-intent” concepts at successive auto shows. Now approved for production, includes a , a and a , all distinguished by their blacked-out trim inside, out and upside down.
Check ‘em out in the trio of galleries with the high-res shots we snapped for your viewing pleasure here on the show floor in .
climbs to higher Altitude with murdered-out specials
has treated its high-performance to a refresh for the 2013 model year, rolling the controversial bad boy out during the for its first official appearance. Unfortunately, the changes are so subtle that we required an official BMW tour guide to point them out. In lieu of such a service for each of our readers, the next paragraph will have to suffice.
Most obvious is the new ‘power bulge’ hood, borrowed from the . Less visible are the cosmetic changes to the BMW-signature kidney grill and the new optional LED headlights (active HID bulbs remain standard). Peer inside the 20-inch wheels to spot the painted calipers, now in a distinguished “M” blue (vehicles with optional carbon/ceramic brakes have gold calipers). Lastly, inside the cabin, BMW’s active sport seats are now standard.
Unchanged – and rightly so – is the gobsmacking twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 boasting 555 hp and 501 pound-feet of torque. Mated to a six-speed paddleshift automatic and permanent all-wheel drive, the hunchbacked hero will easily crack 60 mph in under than five seconds. By the way, you’ll have to make your own arrangements to get the gaudy Olympic sponsorship graphics seen on the vehicle above.
Move over, Batmobile, and make room in the geekosphere for the latest comic book superhero ride.
, as you may be aware, signed a multi-picture deal with Marvel to have its carsfeatured in a raft of superhero movies. The Japanese luxury brand’s cars were there at the end of Captain America, they were there in Thor, and they’ll be there in full force in the highly anticipated upcoming superhero spectacular, The Avengers.
Most prominent of these will be the NSX-like roadster Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has been on set, but that won’t be the extent of it for the Honda brand. Feast your eyes on the MDX which Acura has prepared for the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division – the fictitious government agency that brings the gang together.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. with the Sentinel Package is, according to its , packs the same Palladium-powered titanium engine, nine-speed transmission and diamond quartz brakes as the Stark roadster, albeit packed into a more capacious form. It’s got an aerial drone stored in a briefcase in the back, a cloaking device, bulletproof body, repulsor cannon and advanced targeting system.
So what would a fictitious vehicle like this set you back? MSRP (with destination and Sentinel package) is pegged at a nearly $6 million. Suck on that, .
