2010 Harley-Davidson Forty-Eight – Click above for high-res image gallery
Harley-Davidson is looking to cut its labor costs any way it can, even if it takes leaving Wisconsin. The Associated Press is reporting that the 107-year-old company has gone as far as to scout out other (likely southern) states in an effort to reduce its labor costs. Company CEO Keith Wandell says that the company will likely come to a decision in the next month or two, adding that Harley is open to tax incentives that will help keep the motorcycle facilities in the state of Wisconsin. Among the chief concerns of Harley-Davidson executives is the production schedules at its factories. Harley corporate wants to align production with seasonal demand, but as of yet, the union isn’t too keen on the idea, so it’s possible that the threat to move is posturing.
Meanwhile, the city of Milwaukee is already struggling to keep jobs in a down economy and the loss of 1,630 high-paying jobs would be a monumental blow to the community. The city already lost the headquarters of Miller Beer back in 2008, and Schlitz left the city in the 1980s due in part to labor strife. Harley-Davidson also brings tens of thousands of visitors from around the world, bolstering the local tourist economy. But although management is looking into moving its factories, it will reportedly keep its headquarters in the beleaguered city.
That’s right. has taken the bold step of offering a lifetime warranty with all new Vauxhall vehicles it sells. Not surprisingly, the warranty is non-transferable and is only good for the first 100,000 miles on the odometer – apparently their definition of ‘lifetime’ is a bit different from . Unlike their crosstown rivals, however, the guarantee covers most of the vehicle’s major systems, including the engine, transmission, steering, brake and electrical components. Not too shabby. The company is even looking into a way to offer the remainder of the warranty to second owners, which shows a pretty sizable amount of confidence in the company’s build quality as of late.
Interestingly enough, we haven’t heard a peep about similar programs for Vauxhall’s twin, Opel, or any of The General’s other deserving children. Here’s hoping that GM is using the Vauxhall warranty as a testbed for the rest of the family. Few things help move cars quicker than the peace of mind that comes along with the knowledge that the dealer will take care of any woe you have down the line. Similarly generous warranties have helped both and establish themselves here in the States, and they’d probably go a long way towards rebuilding consumer consideration. A bigger and perhaps more interesting question is, will this same guarantee apply to the forthcoming Vauxhall Ampera?
for a look at the official press release. Thanks for the tip, Lesbert!
Gallery:
[Source: Vauxhall]
into the lifetime warranty business… with Vauxhall
2011 Ford Fiesta SES – Click above for high-res image gallery
Remember when economy cars offered few concessions beyond roll-your-own windows, rear window defrosters and AM radios? It was only a handful of years ago that features on our tester would’ve qualified it for premium car status – if indeed items like Bluetooth, SYNC, a capless fuel fill and knee airbags were even available.
There’s no denying the steady trickledown of luxury goods into workaday iron, and the Fiesta is rolling proof.
As you might also recall, back about 10 years ago, executives and those charged with its British outpost, , worked themselves into a froth over the possibilities offered by ‘The Democratization of Luxury’ – boldly and conveniently overlooking that when a premium feature becomes affordable to everyone, it ceases to be a luxury at all. And while this sort of marketing doublespeak was the undoing of the ill-conceived Jaguar X-Type – and perhaps the undoing of Ford’s ownership of Coventry’s favorite feline altogether – there’s no denying the steady trickledown of luxury goods into workaday iron, and the Fiesta is rolling proof.
Of course, any automaker can lash a bunch of features onto a car and call it a day, but it’s not a real value unless all of those baubles and braze-ons are bungeed to a platform and drivetrain whose creators have that whole engineering ’special sauce’ thing figured out. In other words, the democratization of luxury is one thing – but does the Fiesta deliver the democratization of fun? Click through to the jump to find out.
Anderson Germany Lamborghini LP550-2 Valentino Balboni – Click above for high-res image gallery
We have to wonder if we were given an expanse of resources and all the time in the world, if we could actually improve on the driving dynamics of the . The car was tailored specifically to the tastes of a man who knows more than a little about what the perfect driving car should feel like, so it would seem somewhat arrogant to assume to be able to improve on the recipe. Fortunately, the aftermarket world packs the kind of confidence we can only feign, and Anderson Germany has taken up the challenge of making Balboni’s ride even more lethal.
The company has added a few aesthetic additions to the car, including a set of hefty three-piece, 20-inch wheels and smoked tail lights. Meanwhile, Anderson Germany’s wrenches have managed to bleed an extra 40 horsepower out of the car – bumping the final figure up to 590 ponies. Otherwise, the only changes are a few interior updates. We guess it’s best not to mess with perfection. for the press release.
2011 Infiniti M56 – Click above for high-res image gallery
Automakers try their darnedest to keep future vehicles secret until they’re good and ready to reveal them. But more often than not, something leaks. One of the best sources of future vehicle information turns out to be government officials, who have been known – whether through regulation or by accident – to make public the private plans revealed to them by automakers. Vice President Joe Biden’s notoriously loose lips are one example; copyright offices are another.
In this case, potential plans for an upcoming new line from have been revealed under the name JX. According to Car and Driver, has applied to trademark the names JX20, JX25, JX25h and JX30 at both the US and Canadian federal patent and trademark offices. Just what these model names signify is a matter of speculation, but if the existing , and are anything to go by, we should be looking at a crossover.
The numeric designations suggest the potential availability of a 2.0-liter four, a 2.5-liter V6, a hybrid and a 3.0-liter V6 (potentially a diesel), indicating that the JX would likely be rather compact in size. Sources speculate on a possible premium variant of the quirky . But Nissan, for its part, reportedly claims the trademark registrations – like the XW35, PX35 and DX35 filed previously – are precautionary, registered in the event they should need them. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Nearly every major media outlet has pitted the against the best and brightest from the high-powered sports coupe segment, and thus far, the results have been predictable. Motor Trend brought the supercharged Caddy coupe to Germany for a against the and , while Car & Driver brought the three sleds together for a with ear-bleeding audio.
Road & Track have taken another tack with CTS-V Coupe, opting for an all-American drag-race of the 556-horsepower Cadillac against the 550-horsepower . The GT500 and the CTS-V Coupe are made within 100 miles of one another in southeast Michigan and two vehicles are within .3 inches of one another in overall length. The CTS-V Coupe has 41 more pound-feet of torque, while the Mustang is lighter. But which vehicle posts a better 0-60 time? How about the fastest quarter mile? to find out.
Exactly a year ago today, we got our first real-life glimpse of the , an American/Italian mash-up built atop the C6 and coated in custom carbon fiber coachwork. 365 days later and the dream has turned into a nightmare.
Joseph Viloa (aka Giuseppe Viola), a 58-year-old investment consultant based in San Francisco, CA and the man behind SV Motors, has reportedly been indicted by a federal grand jury on aggravated identity theft, mail and wire fraud. In the process, he allegedly bilked victims for around $7 million – two million of which went into the design and production of the SV 9. And this wasn’t the first time he’s run afoul of the law.
Viloa was previous convicted of fraud, serving five years in Arizona, and is currently behind bars in Maricopa County where he’s awaiting trial for another fraud case from 1990. His latest round of illegal escapades reportedly ran from 2004 to 2010, during which he may have defrauded at least 60 investors.
From what we can gather, only a handful of SV 9s were produced, so assuming the Feds get their conviction, the only time you’ll see a Competizione is at the occasional auto show and – yes – as Lafayette’s ride in True Blood re-runs. Top tippage Brian!
You can’t accuse the guys at Road & Track of lacking ambition. The magazine has announced plans to tackle the seemingly impossible by building a to do battle at Speed Week on the Bonneville Salt Flats. The crew will be shooting for not one, but two different land speed records. On the low end is the naturally-aspirated gas coupe record which, for some odd reason, sits at a lowly 103 mph. The plan is to unbolt the factory turbo and run the car as a naturally aspirated machine. That shouldn’t be so much of an issue considering that the stock Kizashi can knock off that kind of speed without so much as turning a wrench under the hood.
The really impressive feat will be seeing whether or not the Kizashi can topple the blown gas coupe category. That record sits at a more respectable 202 mph, which means the Road & Track team will need to work the little up to at least 203 mph. To do that, the crew turned to Richard Holdener – a man with plenty of experience pulling other worldly speed out of common cars. for a look at the first three in a series of videos about the build.
Gallery:
Photos by Zach Bowman / Copyright (C)2010 AOL
[Source: ]
Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari – Click above for high-res image gallery
How much would you be willing to pay for a Fiat 500? Fifteen grand? Twenty? Thirty? How about nearly $50,000. That’s how much the crème-de-la-crème is going for now that it’s reaching the market.
For a quick refresher, the special-edition 500 was . It packs a 180-horsepower 1.4-liter 16-valve turbocharged four-pot, beefed-up suspension, wheels and brakes and a special paint scheme inspired by its big brother, the 430 Scuderia. A scant 152 examples are being produced in right-hand drive for the British market, and each is carrying a whopping price tag of £29,600, or about $47k in American greenbacks.
Now the 695 Tributo Ferrari may be the ultimate manifestation of the Fiat 500 to date. It may even be the next best thing to a Ferrari, though we doubt it. But is it worth $47,000? Fiat will surely sell the entire production run, but then “value” isn’t the objective value it once was. Check out the press release after the jump, images in the twin galleries below and weigh in with your own thoughts.
board member has reached the ripe old age of 72, and as such, he is no longer eligible for re-election to the company’s controlling body.
Kresa originally came to GM after retiring from Northrop Grumman Corp. where he helped lead the aviation giant through troubled waters of its own. Kresa joined ‘old GM’ in 2003 and served on the board until the company’s bankruptcy in 2009. You might best recall that Kresa stepped into the chairman slot left vacant when former CEO left the company just prior to The General entering into Chapter 11. When ‘new GM’ formed its board, the executive was there to lend his experience in leading a company through difficult financial decisions.
Kresa was also instrumental in bringing in a wide array of new talent onto the GM board, including the company’s 13th board member, Cynthia Tulles. Don’t expect Kresa to be spending his days playing shuffleboard, though. He also serves on a number of other corporate boards, including Fluor Corp in Irving, Texas and MannKind Corp in Valencia, California. for the GM press release.
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 chromed by Laureus – Click above for high-res image gallery
Is nothing sacred? We’ve seen all manner of chromed-out Mercedes, from the to a (and more than we care to remember in between), but some things ought to be left alone. If the weren’t enough to warrant exclusion from this most Middle Eastern of practices, we’d have hope at least that the would be. We’d hope, but we’d be wrong.
The example you see here was rolled out by the , an organization that promotes athletics as a remedy to youth issues. The foundation is supported by Mercedes-Benz, among other sponsors, and the livery is also featured on a DTM C-Class touring car. Offset by the red accents, the bright finish “mirrors” that of McLaren’s F1 cars, which remain powered by Mercedes engines, though the automaker has switched its patronage to its own team this season.
The car was displayed during the a couple of weeks ago at Hockenheim, the only place where it stood a decent chance of not standing out. At least it was for a good cause.
is nothing if not ambitious. The Korean automaker announced today that it will continue its efforts to be the most fuel-efficient automaker in America through the next two decades, with plans to achieve a Corporate Average Fuel Economy rating of 50 miles per gallon by 2025 for its entire vehicle lineup.
The cornerstone of Hyundai’s approach is its Blue Drive strategy, which incorporates a range of engine technologies – from turbocharging and direct-injection to lightweight materials and both traditional and plug-in hybrids – to reduce consumption and improve overall efficiency.
Hyundai points to the as the first in a wave of new products to utilize its new and improved drivetrains, available with either hybrid, turbocharged and naturally aspirated engines. And Hyundai appears to be in a better position than other full-line automakers to reach its lofty mpg goal, as it doesn’t offer any pickup or body-on-frame SUV models. for the full blast and read our for details on its gas-electric system.
2011 Volvo S60 – Click above for high-res image gallery
Geely isn’t wasting any time in shaping up its newest acquisition’s product line. The Chinese automaker officially to purchase from earlier this week, and already the Swedish brand’s new chairman is making noises about a new large luxury sedan to go toe to toe with the likes of the and . Li Shufu, Volvo chairman and co-chair of Geely, said that the brand already competes with luxury German carmakers in most markets, but lacks all of the hardware to do so effectively. To remedy the problem, Li wants to put the rush on a new saloon to take the fight to the Bavarians.
According to the Financial Times, Volvo repeatedly ran into roadblocks when it attempted to develop a large four-door under Ford. Evidently the Blue Oval was concerned about a long-wheelbase Swede nabbing sales from – another brand Ford owned at the time. A new Volvo sedan is far from a done deal, though. Li says that the thought of a range-topping sedan is his, and he’ll have to convince the company’s new board to give it the green light. With an ambitious goal to double Volvo to 600,000 units in five years primarily through growth in large-car loving China, a D-segment player sounds like a good bet – at least for select markets.
Epson papercraft Honda NSX build – Click either image for high-res gallery
We were never the kinds of kids who could sit down and crank out a plastic model with any sort of aplomb. In fact, we have a stack of half-finished kits in the hall closet that fire disapproving glares at us every time we go for a fresh towel. Paper models, on the other hand, we can do. Few things are more entertaining that transmuting a flat piece of heavy stock paper into a 3D interpretation of, say, a Honda/ NSX racer.
You may recall that the printing gurus at Epson rolled out a full-scale cardboard replica of the halo beast at the Tokyo Auto Salon earlier this year. Now a gaggle of photos detailing the construction process have surfaced via the web-scouring folk over at Jalopnik.
Now, here’s the really cool part. The whole build process is nearly identical to what you’d expect out of stitching together a much smaller papercraft model. How identical? Printer company Epson was kind enough to supply so that the rest of the world can crank out its own version of the car. Now if you’ll excuse us, it’s time to bust out the X-Acto knife.
Singer 911 production car debut – Click above for high-res image gallery
We first spotted Singer’s 911 Concept in Monterey last year at the historic races at Laguna Seca. From afar, it just looked like another classic 911, but a closer look revealed much, much more. We for a photoshoot and were astounded at the creativeness, attention to detail and absolute beauty of the car. Singer told us that they were hoping to build a production version, but with a targeted selling price of a little under $200,000, we feared that the concept might be the only one ever built.
Thankfully, as it turns out, there are at least a few wealthy car enthusiasts with a taste for a hand-built, vintage 911 with carbon fiber bodywork, custom interior and a modern Porsche flat-six power. Singer completed its first production 911 late last week and delivered to its lucky new owner at their facility in Sunland, CA with a small gathering of those who helped make the car happen.
The car is finished in Singer Racing Green with a Grow Green and Terra Cotta striping package and is heavily optioned with a 410 horsepower 3.82-liter flat-six, Brembo brake package, Bilstein coilover suspension, RSR steering wheel, Heuer chronograph clock, leatherweave seats and more. Building of the second production car will start later this month with a third beginning in October. Check both the mean green machine and the stunning orange Laguna Seca model in our high-res galleries below.
Remember the Ford Explorer/Firestone tire debacle from a decade ago? Thousands of the ‘utes rolled-over and much of the blame fell on insufficiently inflated tires, costing the Blue Oval billions of dollars to replace the tires on just about every Explorer still left on the road. The other fallout from Explorer-gate (or Firestone-gate) was institution of the Tire Pressure Monitoring System that’s now a legal standard on every car and truck built since 2008.
TPMS sensors constantly measure the pressure in all four tires, and when one or more tires is more than 25 percent below the recommended amount, a light illuminates on the gauge cluster. Most of us know the light (on right) and if you do, you’re among the 54 percent of drivers who know what it means. But more importantly, less than half of the population doesn’t.
TPMS maker Schrader recently surveyed drivers to see if there were knowledgeable about all things TPMS, and the results had to be a bit disappointing. First, the good news: 96 percent of all drivers surveyed felt that under-inflated tires were a serious safety problem. Now the bad news: Only 44 percent of drivers polled regularly check their tire pressure. Furthermore, one third of drivers surveyed didn’t know what TPMS was or what it was used for. Another 44 percent were unaware what the symbol was supposed to represent, while still another 14 percent thought the symbol identified a problem of the non-tire variety.
In order to combat some of the ignorance among motorists about one of its main products, Schrader has introduced its website. While it’s not exactly riveting stuff, the site is chock full of information about TPMS, including what to do when that (apparently) inscrutable warning light in your gauge cluster illuminates (Hint: check your tires) and the economic benefit of properly inflated rubber, including improved fuel economy and longer lasting tires. to become a TPMS expert.
The fifth-generation (1996-2005) Volkswagen Passat was always a bit of a problem child for the German automakers and its vehicle owners. While it was both handsome and a pleasure to drive, it was afflicted by numerous mechanical maladies, including engine sludge and an issue with a heat shield that could contact the exhaust system and potentially trigger a fire in the engine compartment. In 2007 and 2008, into the various problems that were reported, which later led to a recall to install a new heat shield and adjust fuel lines.
Among the body of complaints that didn’t result in a recall were potentially defective ignition coils which could lead to stalling and/or engine fires. Now NHTSA has reportedly opened a fresh investigation into those ignition coil packs which have reportedly caused at least 10 fires in the past two years. Prior to the earlier investigation, there were 78 complaints of crashes resulting from engine stalls or fires.
Up to 199,000 vehicles built between 2000 and 2003 could be involved if this investigation precipitates another recall.
Social networkers are winning all kinds of rides. Ford’s on Facebook and Citroën UK just launched a game called DS3 StreetSeekers that will be gift three of its new superminis. During each five-day round of the treasure hunt, go to the marque’s and a little bit of snooping around the Google Street View map will yield a piece of a DS3. Every day there’s a new clue about where the another piece can be found, and when someone collects four pieces they get the clue about where to find the complete car. Track that one down, and you could win it.
There are three rounds to the competition and the first one ended last week. The second round runs from August 17-21, and the third from September 7-11. Happy hunting…
Remember the Ford Explorer/Firestone tire debacle from a decade ago? Thousands of the ‘utes rolled-over and much of the blame fell on insufficiently inflated tires, costing the 
