The emergence of the V40 is arguably the biggest news to come out of since sold it to . Just as with any new car – European hatchbacks especially – the aftermarket will follow shortly with modifications, and in the case of Volvo, that means Heico Sportiv.
The German tuning house specializes in Gothenburg’s finest. The firm already has a new ECU module for the T5 engine in the V40 that brings output up from 237 horsepower to 266 and from 236 pound-feet of torque to 269. Heico has released a pair of renderings previewing what it plans to do with the outside of the slick new sport-wagon.
From the teaser renderings, we can see a new set of lightweight seven-spoke alloys, new bumpers front and rear, side skirt extensions, a relatively low-key diffuser and quad ovoid exhaust tips. In other words, the V40, only slightly more so. Unfortunately, since the V40 isn’t earmarked for American showrooms, this may be as close as we’ll get.
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.
The supermini market is a vital one for European automakers, and though its current Clio remains a popular choice, Renault is not about to rest on its proverbial laurels as its most popular model gets older and less relevant. So with that in mind, the French carmaker is apparently preparing to unveil an all-new Clio hatchback at the next major auto salon.
That show won’t be taking place until September when Renault’s home-market opens its doors at the Port de Versailles, but a pair of teaser shots have already surfaced giving us a tiny glimpse at what to expect. The images – reportedly leaked from internal documents – show the grille and a sliver of the rear 3/4. The front looks to take cues from the smaller Twingo, while the rear betrays an upward kink in the shoulder, more aggressive taillights and an altogether more sculpted shape.
Styling penned by Laurens van der Acker is expected overall to take its lead from the DeZir Concept. We’ll have to wait until after the summer to see it in full, though.
Ever wonder why the is so darn big? We’re not exactly experts on the ins and outs of officially recognized feats, but we’d have to say it’s because the organization will put its stamp of approval on just about anything imaginable. Like, for instance, the top speed of a toilet.
That’s right, folks. There’s a new World’s Fastest Toilet, and it hails from Australia. Piloted by Jolene Van Vugt, this motorized porcelain throne managed a two-way average of 46.6 miles per hour. Don’t worry – this record may have been claimed, but the World’s Fastest Kitchen Sink has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
If you think setting a world record on a toilet is crazy, perhaps you’re not familiar with Van Vugt. She’s a professional motocross rider, was the first woman to backflip a dirtbike and is one of the stars of the Nitro Circus television and live-action show.
Naturally, we have video of Jolene on the toilet , along with an image gallery of the self-proclaimed porcelain princess in the act before, during and after the flush.
is rapidly approaching its 100th anniversary, and the company is reportedly hard at work on an all-new model to mark the occasion. According to Auto Express, CEO Ulrich Bez says the new creation will be an all-new mainstream model. That means we can count out any special-edition version of the or a super-limited production vehicle like the One-77. As you may recall, our spy photographers recently laid their glass on what we originally thought was a . It’s entirely possible the machine was actually the new model Bez spoke of in his interview.
Either way, a 6.0-liter V12 will likely shuttle a full 550 horsepower or so to the rear wheels. Auto Express says the two-door ought to yield a 0-62 mph time of around four seconds flat. Sounds like an Aston Martin to us. With 2013 right around the corner, it’s only a matter of time before we see this all-new model in the light of day.
With the putting out 662 horsepower and 631 pound-feet torque, we’re guessing that more than a few owners of the new will be looking to even things up via the aftermarket. The speed-obsessed guys over at are already putting a few options on the table with a three new upgrade packages that boost the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 to anywhere from 630 to 700-plus horsepower.
Apparently, Lingenfelter was eager to prove the merits of its work, and just a couple weeks after taking delivery of an early production Camaro ZL1 had it out on the track putting down times. The test car, pushing out 720 horsepower, laid down a 10.79 second quarter mile pass at Muncie Dragway in Albany, IN, and later recorded a 202 mph top speed at Continental Tire’s proving grounds earlier this week. Coincidentally, that’s the same top speed that the 2013 Shelby GT500 reached during its high speed testing at the Nardo Ring in Italy last year.
You can read more about Lingenfelter’s upgrade packages for the 2012 Camaro ZL1 as well as more details on the high speed test in the press release .
We can’t tell you how many times we’ve asked an automotive executive about future product plans only to be given the default, “We’re investigating new options,” or, “Anything is possible,” write-offs. So, to that end, here’s another bit of grease for the ever-spinning rumormill.
Auto Express reports that could possibly launch a sportier version of its entry-level , dubbed – wait for it – Evoque Sport. The news comes after the British magazine sat down with Gerry McGovern, Land Rover’s design director, at the recent . When pressed about plans to expand the Evoque range, McGovern stated, “For the moment, we’re looking at the and – we could do a more overtly sporty one, for example.”
A suggestion, Land Rover: Move the Evoque Sport above the cabriolet on your to-do list.
McGovern didn’t spill any more beans about what a Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Sport (what a mouthful) would be powered by, but Auto Express suggests it would likely be a boosted version of the 2.0-liter turbocharged four found in the current model. Of course, more visual aggression would be added in the way of larger wheels, a body kit and a lowered suspension. Beefier chassis and brake components would likely be added to enhance the drive experience, as well.
Assuming the Evoque Sport does come to fruition, we likely wouldn’t see it until the end of next year since the current vehicle is still a newborn in the market. So, for now, rumormill, keep on spinning.
How much would you pay for a derelict ‘67 with a 427? If you said about thirty grand, you’d be in the ballpark – but that would still be all the money in the world for a barn find like this ‘Vette. The owner admits the car hasn’t run in over 30 years and she (the car, not the owner) clearly needs to get involved in a serious relationship with a body man.
But what if we told you that Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, the hero of the NASA Apollo program, and by all accounts a genuine good guy, was the first owner of the car? How much would that make it worth? Better hope your guess has six digits in it, because bidding on eBay Motors for this derelict but potentially highly collectible car has already shot past $120,000 – and has yet to meet the seller’s reserve price.
Before readying the checkbook, however, we might suggest actually reading the seller’s ALL CAPS description. It’s a wonderful tale that starts with the car being provided by Rathman , the famed dealership that leased Corvettes to astronauts for $1 per year. A NASA employee allegedly bought the car after Armstrong turned it in and the seller claims he’s hounded that NASA employee for 30 years trying to buy the Corvette, but it was only two months ago that he claimed his prize. There’s a whole lot more to the story, including buying a carburetor in Texas and wanting to turn the car into a National Corvette Restorers Society “Survivor.”
The bottom line, however, is that the seller is now trying to flip the , without much in the way of evidence that the car belonged to Armstrong, at least that’s presented in the eBay Motors auction. Perhaps we’re just being skeptical, but before spending over $100,000 on a car for which the majority of the purchase price is for its provenance, we’d like to see more in the way of authentication than one Protect-O-Plate photo. Since Neil Armstrong is still alive, we hope that whoever winds up restoring this Corvette does a more thorough job of vetting and presenting its history.
Ford’s twin-turbocharged 3.5 liter EcoBoost V6 has proved popular with customers, with more than 180,000 finding homes in driveways and garages since launching in 2009. has but a single facility in the United States turning out this engine, Cleveland Engine Plant No. 1. Cleveland Engine Plant No. 1 is also home to the 3.7 liter V6 that kicks out over 300 horsepower in the and continues to sell at full tilt in the .
With two belles of the automotive ball under a single roof, Ford is adding 250 workers and a third shift of production at the Cleveland engine plant to keep up. “We are tripling production to meet customers’ growing need for fuel-efficient engines” said Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas. The manpower will largely come from Cleveland Engine Plant No. 2, which is being closed later this week.
General Motors initially wanted to buy one-third of Isuzu Motors Ltd, which would give it the right to veto board decisions, but has scaled back how much of the Japanese company it might try to buy, according to a new .
At current stock prices, GM would have paid more than $3 billion for a controlling share of the truckmaker, which specializes in small trucks and diesel powertrains. GM is now considering buying a 10 percent share, anonymous sources tell Reuters, which would make it the largest single owner of stock in the company. and both have smaller shares of Isuzu.
GM once owned nearly half of Isuzu but its last 7.9 percent of the company in 2006.
The GM/Isuzu partnership helped bring vehicles to the U.S. like the , , and . But there’s to expect a new small pickup for America this time around.
The , which sources tell Reuters is “very much preliminary”, could open up the Southeast Asia market, where GM is currently a bit player. Additionally, GM could help Isuzu develop a hybrid or other environmentally friendly vehicles. It’s almost enough to make us wonder why they ever sold it in the first place.
We so wanted to lead this post with a Jim Belushi joke. Alas, the press release announcing the launch of its rear-drive flagship in Korea today specifically clarifies that the K9 will be renamed for other markets.
While Kia says the large sedan rides on “its own platform,” we know enough about the auto industry to posit that much of that platform is shared with the underpinnings of corporate cousin Hyundai’s and . Like the pair, Kia is clearly hoping the not-called-K9-here will help the brand move upmarket, positioning the car as a premium product designed, in the words of Kia’s head of design Peter Schreyer, “to compete head-to-head with the European luxury brands.”
The Kia sedan will split the difference between the Genesis and the Equus, matching the 120-inch wheelbase of the latter, but with an overall length of 200 inches that’s three inches shorter than Equus and almost four inches longer than the Genesis. The Kia sedan will have the same 0.27 coefficient of drag as both the Hyundai models.
Kia says its luxury sedan will be powered by two distinct versions of the corporate 3.8-liter , one making 286 horsepower and the direct-injection version rated at 329. The more powerful engine is said to be “joining the global engine line-up next year,” which we’d expect would coincide with the flagship sedan’s U.S. launch. Both engines will be mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission. Kia says the car will be available with a number of safety features including a lane-departure warning system and blind sport detection. A reclining rear seat with leg rest will also be available, just like in the Equus.
Today’s announcement raises an interesting possibility. While we wouldn’t expect Kia to send its flagship stateside with the less-powerful V6 – indeed, a V8 engine option is surely bound to accompany an official statement of the car’s U.S. sales plan – doing so would certainly allow Kia to bring the car to market at a more attractive entry-level price. Kia has a scant resume when it comes launching anything other than budget models here in the U.S., and the brand certainly has considerable work to do if it aims to catch up to Hyundai in pricier segments.
It will certainly be interesting to see where Kia tries to position its unnamed sedan – and whether its (*ahem*) dogged pursuit of the luxury dollar will succeed. Scroll down to read the full press release and check out our .
As far-fetched as it may seem, the owner of the Japanese Harley-Davidsonmotorcycle that has been found. Beachcombers sent photographs of the bike to Harley-Davidson, which managed to track the registration to Ikuo Yokoyama in Miyagi Prefecture. Yokoyama lost three family members and his home in the tsunami that struck Japan a little more than a year ago and assumed his bike was gone forever. But the beachcombers have extracted the bike from the remote shore, and at its own expense, Harley-Davidson reportedly plans to have the machine shipped back to Miyagi, where it will be restored and returned to its rightful owner. Yokoyama is still living in a temporary shelter.
The bike drifted some 3,100 miles across the Pacific ocean in the back of a cube van. Yokoyama was using the box as storage for the bike on his property. Harley-Davidson says that despite plenty of corrosion, the motorcycle is in surprisingly good shape given what the machine has endured.
Miyagi Prefecture was one of the hardest-hit areas of Japan, where the disaster left 11,000 people dead or missing. Click to watch a CBC report on the remarkable story.
It’s been fascinating to sample Audi’s new EA824 V8 in all of its various incarnations. Our first crack at the new TFSI powerplant was in Audi’s own 513-horsepower , and we then went on to try it out in the new . Most recently, we dipped into the 4.0-liter biturbo in the new before getting behind the wheel of the closely related S6 seen here.
Versus the previous S6 with its muy macho -derived 5.2-liter V10, everything is quicker, more efficient and lighter in weight. The new fourth-generation S6 Quattro with S-tronic seven-speed dual clutch comes in at a European curb weight of 4,178 pounds – about 30 pounds lighter than the previous V10-stuffed car with its automated six-speed. Yes, power is slightly lower now at 414 horses, but peak torque of 406 pound-feet is slightly higher and happens over a vastly wider range of 1,400 to 5,200 rpm. Audi’s 0-62 miles per hour sprint time is now listed at 4.6 seconds, a figure that compares favorably with the outgoing car’s official 5.2-second time.
For my test drive, Audi thoughtfully provided a couple of S6 four-door setups for me to sample: those with Dynamic Steering and the torque vectoring sport Quattro rear differential, and those without. You know which trim I went for already. So equipped, these S6 sedans were all painted Misano Red… an exterior color that Americans cannot get this time around. So, just visualize me thundering around Bavaria in a car painted shades of white, black, silver, gray, or blue, since those are the paint chips you’ll find on the order sheet at your local dealer.
From show floor to evacuation route, one concept vehicle got the chance to test it’s meddle in the real world.
The Super Duty Rescue Truck was created to demonstrate extreme rescue capabilities not actually use them. It first went on display in February at the .
But on April 3, with just two miles on its odometer, this concept vehicle found itself in the thick of a real-life rescue mission. A series of devastating tornadoes had ripped through Arlington, Texas, overwhelming every fire-rescue department in the region. Destruction was everywhere.
Worse yet, many of the neighborhood streets were filled with debris ranging from roofs to cars and the big fire trucks couldn’t maneuver through them.
That’s when Brad Snyder, vice president of marketing at in Grandbury, Texas, got a call the Arlington emergency services director for help. The director knew the local volunteer fire department had advised Snyder on building an extreme rescue vehicle for and now the city needed its help.
“When we proposed the truck to Ford, one of the things Ford required was that everything on the truck actually work,” Snyder said Tuesday. That’s not always the case with concept vehicles, which often could not even qualify to ride on a U.S. highway.
“We never intended to put it into service,” Snyder said. But put it to work they did. Keep on reading to find out how.
sales are up 10 percent already this year, after ending 2011 on a 20-percent uptick. With its Alabama assembly plant , something had to change. In response, the Korean automaker will be adding 877 jobs at its Montgomery assembly plant to begin a third shift, starting in September 2012.
Hyundai said the plant is now responsible for creating over 3,000 total jobs, with the latest expansion adding some 20,000 units of annual capacity. Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama builds both the and sedans.
While this move will work as a short-term solution to Hyundai’s capacity restraints, if the company continues to grow sales as it has in the past few years, it will soon be faced with the necessity of building another new production facility, for months.
has made it clear that it is hard at work on a successor to the automaker’s bread-and-butter . Word has it we’ll get our first glimpse at the next-generation Mini toward the end of next year, and when it debuts, Sonny Lim believes the machine will be smaller, more mainstream and far less gimmicky than the current creation.
Having served as the senior designer with DesignWorksUSA, Lim knows a thing or two about BMW styling. His sketches show a modern three-door hatch that’s still easily-identifiable as a Mini thanks to bulging fender arches pushed far to the vehicle’s corners, pie-plate headlights and a traditional Mini grille.
Lim says the next-generation Cooper will be more true to the concept of the original Cooper. Measuring in at just 140.6 inches from stem to stern, the Mini Zero Concept is shorter than the current hatchback and just slightly longer than the the now deceased . The clipped size means the Zero weighs in at 1,851 pounds, which should help it yield better fuel economy and performance with minimal changes to the drivetrain. Head over to for a deeper dive.
Not long ago, embarked on an epic trans-continental road trip that sought to retrace the route taken by a similar expedition in 1956 and raise £1m for the Red Cross. And after 8,000 miles traveled through thirteen countries – starting in Birmigham, England and ending in Beijing, China – they finally made it.
The was celebrated with the production of the millionth , the arrival timed to coincide with the . Along the way the rugged motorcade swung through Switzerland for the , hit some of Europe’s oldest cities, traversed a wide variety of terrains and climates, rolled through Chernobyl as the first private vehicles to tour the disaster site since the nuclear meltdown there 25 years ago, visited an array of museums and toured a former Soviet submarine base.
But before it could complete the final 72-hour leg into China, the crew had to detonate a controlled avalanche to clear an alpine pass. In other words, it was not your average road trip. Read more about it in the press release and scope out the high-resolution images in the gallery for a closer look at what the convoy encountered along the way.
German automakers display something of a fetish when it comes to turning ordinary vehicles into performance models. does it with its AMG line, with its M range, has its S and RS models… even has its R brand. Formidable vehicles all, but not everyone is willing to pony up the big bucks to get their hands on one and all that entails. So, each automaker also offers a line of accessories that give their stock models most of the visual attitude without the mechanical fortitude to back it up – or the sticker price that goes along with it.
The latest such cosmetic upgrade comes from Volkswagen and its R GmbH division, which have given the Polo a bit of a makeover. The Polo R Line benefits from sportier bumpers front and rear, side sills, a gloss-black grille, tinted windows, upgraded fog lights and an interior with sports buckets, leather-wrapped three-spoke wheel, aluminum pedals and black headliner. Of course, the requisite R badges appear throughout so buyers can at least pretend they got the performance model when all they’re packing is a 1.2-liter four with 105 metric horsepower that’ll take nearly ten seconds to get them up to 62 from a standstill.
for the press release and scope out the high-res images in the gallery above for a closer look.
How can you not be excited to see getting back into with a modern-day interpretation of the classic E-Type? Well, there is that one little issue with the that Jag announced during the . In this day and age, a 380-horsepower V6 just doesn’t cut it, supercharged or not. At least not when .
Yes, we know the horsepower wars , but if Jaguar wants the F-Type to be taken seriously, it just plain needs a V8. And according to Car and Driver, it’s going to be getting one. At least, eventually.
C/D says the F-Type will eventually get a version of Jag’s 5.0-liter V8, although it doesn’t know which one. Speculation says the supercharged variants in 470- and 550-horsepower states of tune are the most likely, as the base V8 only makes five more horsepower than the planned V6. The report also surmises that the initial roadsters will be six-cylinders when they debut in 2013, with the V8 models appearing further on in the production cycle.
sales are up 37 percent through April, and has already sold nearly 50,000 units in 2012, placing the flagship model ahead of all other Pentastar vehicles, save for the .
That demand will be keeping the Jefferson North assembly plant in Detroit open through the July 4 holiday period, according to The Detroit News. Big Three plants have traditionally shut down for two weeks in July to facilitate model-year changeover, though that process will be accomplished with the lines running this year, according to the report.
Jefferson North is already running overtime including some Saturdays to keep up with demand for both the Grand Cherokee and the . Sales of the model are up seven percent this year.
