Ford design chief J Mays tells Automotive News that the controversial grille design that on the at the won’t necessarily be pasted onto the front of every model. Mays means something quite specific, though: the perimeter of the grille and headlight form will remain, but the “grille texture” – the horizontal lines on the MKZ – could be reworked on other models.
Says Mays, the split-wing outline “is what makes a Lincoln.” But with Lincoln commencing “a pretty long year journey,” his comments to AN give his design team latitude while the brand seeks its new, younger consumers instead of being “trapped” into one grille style.
It’s an interesting position to take – allowing the possibility of different faces – when the brand only has four models (we’re not including the aging stepchild Navigator in this discussion) and is devoted to rebranding itself and making an impression among groups who haven’t paid attention to it in some time – if ever. Of course, Mays isn’t saying that other models won’t have the MKZ grille, but we look forward to seeing how this plays out.
Last we heard, was to building the recently revealed sedan at the former plant in Delaware. A few years ago, Fisker announced that site would be the company’s new domestic production home (the extended-range plug-inhybrid is made by in Finland). Still, Fisker did say that any definitive statement on the Atlantic’s production location would not come until the end of the summer.
So we were interested to read new reports from local media that show more signs that the Atlantic might not ever be built in Delaware. On Friday, Delaware Online reports, 12 more workers – including engineers and maintenance technicians – were laid off at the plant, leaving “only a small maintenance team” left there. One of those let go was Jeff Garland, who had been working on community affairs and business development efforts in Delaware. He said the plant is currently “absolutely empty.” This is because Fisker has taken out the old GM equipment but has not yet installed the machines it would need to build the Atlantic. As Garland told Delaware Online, “I think what happened was the budget numbers are so tight right now and they’re working so hard to preserve as much cash as they can that something had to give. We’re not making a car in Wilmington right now, so given that situation it was an obvious place to make a cut.”
Fisker spokesman Russell Datz said that the company has flexible plans and will hire people when “we ramp up the project again.” Production of the Atlantic is being delayed, at least in part, because of issues with Fisker’s Department of Energy loan. You can read more about that .
In related , some of the components that Fisker and will use in hybrid and all-electric cars are now being made by Magna E-Car Systems in Michigan. The inverters Magna makes are used in the Karma and this new production does not in any way predict a shift of Atlantic production to Michigan.
In the market for a new luxury crossover? You could do a lot worse than the . But if the existing model isn’t luxe enough for your taste, has now announced the availability of a new trim level that amps things up a notch.
Called the Inscription edition, the gussied-up XC60 gives buyers a choice of special interior trims. Four colors of semi-aniline leather – white, black, reddish tan or beige – are on offer, with black or beige trim to coordinate. The headrests are also embroidered and the tread-plates embossed with the Inscription logo, the center armrest is trimmed in top-stitched leather, and the seats are upgraded with electrically adjustable lumbar support.
Charcoal headliner, a special shade of silver paint and unique 20-inch wheels are also on offer for the special edition of the model that Volvo says is its top seller. The model will be unveiled at the Leipzig Motor Show in June (oddly sales start in April), but you can peruse the special touches in the gallery above and check out the for more details. Pricing has not yet been released, but Volvo is promising “worldwide” availability.
General Motors has released pricing for the bi-fuel option for the and , and it’s a pill that probably won’t go down easy. Buyers who want their workhorses to suck down either compressed natural gas (CNG) or gasoline can look forward to ponying up $11,000 for the pleasure. That big chunk of change adds a Type 3 tank in the bed for CNG, and GM says that with both fuels, the trucks will have an effective range of 650 miles. The bi-fuel option is available on any heavy-dutytruck configuration, including four-wheel drive and extended cab models.
The automaker says the bi-fuel trucks are a way for business owners to safeguard themselves against volatile gas prices, and that the option could save anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 over the course of three years depending on fuel fluctuations. However, any option on a work truck that only might break even in three or four years seems like a tough sell in our book, especially given the reduction in useable bed area. for the full press release as well as a quick video.
Judging from the we’ve seen recently, the BMW i8 is coming along nicely. With its more realistic bodywork, the hybridsupercar is beginning to look like something that actually belongs on public streets. Now Sonny Lim, former head of BMW DesignWorks, has taken a stab at what the finished product may look like via a handful of renderings.
With it’s shorter wheelbase and clipped length compared to the concept, the production vehicle is rumored to tip the scales at around 3,187 pounds, or just under the concept’s original weight goal. Much of that weight savings is thanks to the substantial use of carbon fiber reinforced plastic in the vehicle’s chassis.
With the combination of an electric motor and a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine, the i8 will reportedly offer buyers just under 400 horsepower and three driving modes. The driver will be able to pick between pure-electric, gasoline or a medley of both. All told, the i8 should deliver a 0-60 mph run of under 4.9 seconds with the help of both power sources.
is not going to take attacks on the electric car lying down – the closest he’ll come to that is . After spending for their attacks on the , he is switching to a positive message about how plug-in cars can help with American national security. It is not surprising that Lutz, a former Marine, co-authors the article with two former U.S. Marines commandants and the CEO of FedEx (the three are all members of Securing America’s Future Energy’s (SAFE) Energy Security Leadership Council). The gist? Well, here’s part of the opening paragraph:
When … threats exist because the United States is the protector of the world’s global oil supply lines, it is a clear illustration of how our nation’s over-reliance on a single, globally priced fuel impacts our national and economic security.
America’s addiction to gasoline costs the government billions of dollars a year, an estimated $80 billion, in fact, to guard the sea lanes, including one little area by Iran:
From a national security perspective, the U.S. military is forced to protect the world’s vital oil infrastructure. The single greatest chokepoint is the Strait of Hormuz, through which 17 million barrels of oil per day passed in 2011 – 20 percent of global supplies. Protection of the sea lanes of commerce has become an American burden and will remain so, costing the United States Treasury an estimated $80 billion per year while taxing our military, which is already engaged on multiple fronts.
It’s arguments like this that have made the recent right-wing criticism of the Volt such a mystery. If we use less gasoline, we can spend fewer lives and less treasure importing the fuel (of course, we don’t lose many lives at the Canadian border, which is where most of our imported oil comes from). The Army says that .
Lutz and his co-authors are quite clear that high gas prices are hurting Americans’ pocketbooks, “essentially” wiping out tax cuts that Presidents Bush and Obama put into place. That’s why, they say, “government action is needed to mitigate the risks of oil dependence, because there is no free market for oil.” This intervention contains both expanded domestic production and – surprise – plugging in our light-duty transportation fleet as much as possible and feeding our big trucks lots of natural gas. To that end, they write:
Regarding electrification, the beauty of plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt and the is that they are powered by electricity, which can be generated from many sources: nuclear, coal, natural gas, and renewables. Best yet, these are all domestic energy sources, meaning OPEC won’t be able to corner the market. And the retail price of electricity is far less volatile that the price of oil.
When a company like debuts a new model line, enthusiasts know it brings with it the promise of a high-performance muscle-beast to follow. And so is the case with the leading to the RS6.
The first RS6 packed a twin-turbo V8 good for 444 horsepower, and the second-generation model had a 571-horse V10. As is the general trend with German muscle, the new model pictured in these spy shots – snapped at the Nürburgring with telltale RS4-style intakes and widened fender flares – will likely downsize back to a twin-turbo eight. The smart money’s on Quattro GmbH taking the 4.0 TFSI from the and the , but tweaking it to its own specifications. Output is likely to hover around that of its predecessor, trading two cylinders for as many turbo spools.
As with past models, the new RS6 is likely to come first in Avant wagon form before the sedan comes along soon thereafter. Whether any RS6 models makes it Stateside, however, remains to be seen, but we can certainly hope.
While the top four teams – you know, the ones that will be winning most if not all of the grands prix this year – have kept the same drivers, the same engines, the same sponsors and the same colors as last year, this year’s Formula One World Championship has seen plenty of changes on the grid.
and Caterham have finally solved their naming-rights dispute, and both changed both of their drivers – including former World Champion Kimi Raikkonen coming back to F1. Scuderia Toro Rosso also dumped both its drivers, as did HRT, and Williams axed one Brazilian (Rubens Barrichello) for another (Bruno Senna). Virgin changed its name to Marussia, and Force India sold nearly half the team to Sahara.
Can’t keep track of it all? Fortunately, YankeeF1 has provided us with spotter’s guide for easy reference, showing each of the teams, its car and its drivers, plus a calendar of the grands prix this season and the color-coded tires. Keep it handy next race Sunday and you might just be able to make sense of it all.
Cadillac’s and are two of the most distinctive designs to come out of a mass-market brand in some time, and we’re big devotees to both here at Autoblog. Predictably, the two models attract a much smaller slice of the North American market than the four-door sedan, but says it remains committed to offering both a two-door and a load-lugger in its lineup. However, that doesn’t mean such future models will wear badging.
According to Car and Driver, Cadillac is undecided, but one or both bodystyles could migrate to the smaller platform. While neither of the two CTS variants has been any great shakes sales-wise (Cadillac does say the wagon has outsold its equivalent), the models are seen as important tools to woo shoppers – conquest sales in particular.
We might add that since General Motors remains committed to the idea of making Cadillac a global brand, a smaller coupe and wagon model could give the marque entry into larger volume segments in Europe. For its part, C/D expects Cadillac to position a coupe between the ATS and next CTS, mimicking pricing and hierarchy strategies at and , . The publication also predicts that a wagon will stay in the CTS family, as it “better meets the needs of older, richer luxo-wagon buyers,” noting that ATS wagon intenders could likely be wooed into the anyhow.
What do you think? Leave your musings in Comments.
We tend to think of as a luxury automaker – and indeed it is – but overseas it’s a full-line brand, known as much for its trucks and vans as it is for its upscale passenger cars. And this is the latest.
back in February, the new Citan has just been revealed in Amsterdam ahead of its September debut at the IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hanover, Germany. Smaller than the existing Sprinter, Vario, Viano and Vito vans, the Citan is geared for use inside Europe’s crowded cities.
The compact panel van will be available in three lengths, with a choice of three turbodiesels ranging from 75 to 110 horsepower. There’s also a 115-hp supercharged gasoline engine mated to a five- or six-speed automatic transmission with an available BlueEfficiency package that includes a stop/start system.
Although the Citan by design won’t be as luxurious as we’d expect a Mercedes to be (hint: it’s based on the Renault Kangoo and will be built at the French automaker’s Maubeuge assembly plant), it does feature a more ergonomic cabin design than most vehicles in this segment and comes packed with all the electronic gizmos we’ve come to anticipate from a vehicle with a silver star in the grille. But while the (like Mercedes’ own Sprinter) has made the journey across the Atlantic to American showrooms, we wouldn’t expect the same from the Citan any time soon.
for the full press release and scope out the high-resolution images in the gallery above for a closer look.
Automotive News is reporting that is set to lay down $1.1 billion to purchase Ducati from the motorcycle manufacturer’s current owner, Investindustrial. The news comes courtesy of a source “familiar with the matter,” though neither Audi nor Investindustrial have officially commented on whether that price is accurate. As Automotive News points out, the price is around seven times what Ducati earned last year before interest, taxes and depreciation – even after subtracting any debt Ducati holds. Currently, the motorcycle maker’s liabilities are less than $262.6 million.
Most analysts view the purchase as a thinly veiled jab at rival , itself a longtime motorcycle builder. Last year, the Italian firm sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 42,000 bikes with a revenue of $630 million. While that’s technically more than either or , both brands, adding a motorcycle manufacturer to the VW portfolio probably won’t do much for the rest of the company’s brands. Longtime industry watchers may remember that VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech tried to purchase Ducati once before in 2008 before loosing out to Investedindustrial.
With over a billion people, the Indian market holds huge potential for any automaker. In fact, makes a dedicated range of vehicles on the subcontinent specifically for the local market under the Maruti banner, and this is their latest.
Dubbed Ertiga, it’s essentially a lengthened Swift hatchback “Life Utility Vehicle,” or what would conventionally be called an MPV (Multiple Passenger Vehicle).
Call it what you will, Maruti Suzuki has managed to fit three rows of seating into the stretched Swift for seven-passenger accommodation. Launching locally in India prior to export to neighboring markets like Indonesia in the aim to take market share away from the Avanza and Mahindra, the Ertiga takes advantage of huge economies of scale by sharing basic components with the Swift and the Dzire sedan which Maruti builds on the same platform.
Buyers in India will be able to choose between three trim levels, two engines (gas or diesel) and seven colors, but they’ll have to justify spending six or seven times the price of a Tata Nano to do so – but then again, that’s true of most cars. Take a closer look in our gallery above and for the official press release with more information.
There’s an old newspaper adage that dictates: “Dog bites man” is not news. “Man bites dog,” now that’s news. In other words, the subversion of the usual order of things is what sells papers. And you might say the same about . A Caddy getting bigger, by that logic, is hardly news, but a Caddy getting smaller sure is.
That’s what makes the new such a big step for the top-end of the brand portfolio. Occupying the place once taken by the Catera (which led to the ), that model now has to kick up a size to make room for its new baby brother. And so it appears to be doing.
These spy shots show what our intrepid auto paparazzi say is the next-gen CTS, applying the same Art & Science design language to a slightly larger form that’s expected to switch from the Sigma II platform to a stretched version of The General’s new rear-drive Alpha architecture.
In between the camouflage we can make out a new grille, projector headlamps with LED daytime runners, with radar sensors aplenty and dual exhaust tips around the back. Sources expect a 2.0-liter turbo four to come in with 270 horsepower as the base engine in the new CTS, with the 3.6-liter V6 also expected to be on offer as well as a turbo six sometime after production kicks off at Lansing Grand River Assembly in September 2013.
has released the first commercial for the upcoming K9. The flagship sedan is set for a South Korean launch later this year, and details are beginning to emerge about the big four door. Power is said to come from either a 296 horsepower 3.3-liter V6 or a 3.8-liter V6 with 329 hp. The model will also be a showcase for new tech, including adaptive LED headlights that not only track with the steering mechanism but also adjust with the vehicle’s speed to give the driver a greater field of view.
Indoors, a full-color heads-up display provides plenty of pertinent information, and an epic 12.3-inch screen in the dash handles the entertainment interface. Judging from the three photos released alongside the new ad, the K9 will also feature a gear lever inspired by the likes of . Here’s hoping the Kia piece is a bit more intuitive. to check out the ad for yourself.
Rumor has it may produce a performance version of the upcoming Macan. Autocar reports the German manufacturer is working on a Macan Turbo that may be good for as much as 370 horsepower thanks to an all-new twin-turbo V6 engine. The article suggests the 3.0-liter mill will borrow heavily from the 3.6-liter unit found in the base and . That would mean the cylinders will be arranged in a 90-dergree V configuration. Torque output would likely be in the neighborhood of 400 pound-feet.
Autocar also hints that the vehicle will be available with either a seven-speed PDK gearbox or a new seven-speed manual transmission converted from the piece found in the . We certainly like the idea of a row-your-own crossover, but we’re not entirely sure how that will work given that the Macan rides on the Volkswagen large front-wheel drive platform. Even with a Torsen differential shuttling power to the rear wheels, that’s a significantly different configuration than the company’s rear-engine sports car.
Of course, all of these whispers come without so much as a hint of a source attached to them, so it remains to be seen exactly how much is true. Look for the Macan to touch down in October.
Drivers of 2010-2011 models and several models with turbocharged engines need to get their vehicles to their dealers. The cars are being recalled for a potentially hazardous defect that could turn their high-end autos into smoldering hunks of less luxurious melted plastic and steel.
The says the circuit boards on the cars’ water pump could overheat and possibly catch fire.
The 2011 BMW models are the and . 2012 models are the , , and . All affected models have either the turbocharged V8 or V12. NHTSA says the number of BMWs affected is 2,846. About 60 Rolls Royce Ghosts will be .
The recall is nearly identical to last November that recalled 2010 Rolls Royce Ghosts. This campaign seems to address the same problem that plagued 2011 models.
Ward’s AutoWorld is well known for its annual list, but the trade publication has been compiling a second list for interiors for a few years now. Formerly known as the competition, Ward’s rebranded the list last year, naming the coolest cockpits under the “10 Best Interiors” moniker.
This year’s winners are a relatively diverse lot, with hatchbacks, sedans and crossovers all making the list. While Ward’s lists them in alphabetical order rather than crowning a single winner, we’re choosing to present them with the lowest as-tested MSRP first:
($15,925)
($18,745)
($21,485)
($25,195)
($30,415)
($36,875)
Luxury ($44,855)
($49,745)
($54,800)
($67,430)
The first thing we noticed then is that while fully half the models carrying base sticker prices under $25,000, Ward’s was clearly not testing the base models of any of these vehicles. The Chevy Sonic, for instance, starts nearly $5,000 below the price of the car Ward’s drove. Even so, that half of the cars on the list could be legitimately called “affordable” is impressive.
Ward’s says 40 vehicles qualified for the competition by having “new or significantly improved interiors,” and while 13 of those were luxury vehicles, they only made up half of the winners. Ward’s says it judged the interiors based on design, fit-and-finish, comfort, ergonomics, safety, material selection, overall value, aesthetics, and human-machine interface.
Check out all the award winners in our high-res image gallery above.
The finally rolled out for North American buyers at the earlier this month, and the oil-burning V6 that we’ll be able to purchase this September musters 240 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque shifted through an eight-speed automatic. The more important numbers are 28 miles per gallon, a 740-mile range, and a 7,716-pound tow rating when you need to realign the Earth’s crust.
Our friends across the water have been enjoying this model for three years already, and while we’re getting used to our first taste of torquey Porsches, the Europeans appear set to receive a second helping: a new report in Car and Driver asserts that will add a V8 diesel to Euro markets “in the near future.” Naturally, don’t even think about it coming here.
C/D posits two options for which diesel it will get called up: the 4.2-liter diesel V8 used in the or possibly a brand-new diesel that Porsche could share with .
We see tribute vehicles come and go. Most of the lot are slaves to every last detail of the original, offering little more than a few engine upgrades to the mix. Then there are beasts like the one above. Built as an homage to Parnelli Jones’ 1971 “Big Oly” Bronco Baja 1,000 bruiser, this machine uses a modern trophy truck chassis wrapped in larger-than life fiberglass first-generation Bronco body. With 723 horsepower on tap, the truck is fully capable of bashing the desert into submission. Owner Marshall Mardruga originally built the machine to tackle the Baja 1,000, but decided to turn it into a show truck instead.
Every visible component was then plated in brass or nickel and protected with a clear powder coat in preparation for SEMA 2011. If you like what you see, this machine can be yours for a heady sum. Available in San Diego, California via eBay Motors, the street-legal tribute commands a $535,000 Buy It Now price. You can see the auction or to check out a few videos.
Well… look who lives! Our spy photographers have managed to snag a few photos of what may very well be the next interpretation of the . Long thought to be a casualty of the General Motors bailout, the biggest member Club SS was reportedly shelved a few years back. The Impala line hasn’t offered an SS performance variant since 2009, and the more aggressive grille, front fascia and tweaked head- and taillight arrays on this prototype hint at something more sinister than any topped-out LTZ model could offer. Our spy shooter’s supplier sources indicate GM is, in fact, still working on an Impala SS, and they suggest the sedan may bow with a new LF3 twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 under the hood.
If true, that means the brawny Impala could scoot down the road with a heady 380 horsepower. As far as we know, no vehicle since the limited production 350-hp Ford Focus RS500 has tried to push anywhere near that many ponies to the front wheels, which begs the question: will the Impala offer all-wheel drive despite ?
Doing so would seem to position the Impala SS quite well against the freshly updated . Either way, we’re excited to give this big boy a go.
