is having some pointed fun with its featuring the called “2012,” only the fun is pointed directly at , which finds it a little too sharp to be all that much fun. So on the eve of the big game, Ford sent Chevy a cease-and-desist letter to pull the ad and “pressured” NBC not to run the commercial, according to a report on blog. Chevy has released a statement in response, which you can read , indicating that the ad will run despite Ford’s protest.
Ford found no reason to chuckle at some of the commercial’s claims, “particularly around durability.” One in particular comes from a character that says of their now-deceased, F-150-driving pal, “Dave didn’t drive the longest-lasting most dependable truck on the road. Dave drove a Ford.”
Ford spokesman Mike Levine says his company has more trucks with 250,000-plus miles on the road than any other brand, which would appear to contradict the small print that appears in the “2012″ ad that reads, “Dependability based on longevity: 1981-2011 full-size pickup registrations.” Ford says its lawyers will decide what to do (if anything) after the ad airs during tonight’s game, but Chevy’s legal minions must have vetted the spot closely well before time.
Or Ford could take Chevy marketing honcho Joel Ewanick up on his offer and bide its time. Said Ewanick, “We can wait until the world ends, and if we need to, we will apologize.”
The eBay Motors smartphone application has a clever new feature. Users can now take a photo of any car they see on the street and the app will find similar listings for them automatically. Want to know how much that in the parking lot is going for right now? Just point and shoot. We tested the app ourselves and found it to be fairly accurate. It had no trouble honing in on a , but struggled a bit with editor-in-chief John Neff’s 1991 Ford Taurus SHO.
The good news is that if the app gets confused, it just asks you for more information about the vehicle. Users can also be notified when they’ve been outbid on an item, share their auctions via Twitter, and watch special racing coverage with host Justin Bell. to check out the full press blast.
Based on the of the , the public hasn’t gotten tired of Hyundai’s “fluidic sculpture” design theme. Based on this commercial for the , we admit that we haven’t either. The five-door sold in Europe and based on the Kia Cee’d platform shows us what we can generally expect from the upcoming replacement.
The last Elantra wagon didn’t get big play here three years ago, but neither the nor Hyundai were in the position they’re in now. In Europe, the i30 five-door will get a choice of four engines and three transmissions, but we shouldn’t expect to be so spoiled for choice. to see the video.
commercial gives good look at coming Elantra five-door
There are very few things that get the unanimous approval of everyone here at Autoblog. One of them is Icon 4×4, which makes impossibly expensive yet worth-every-penny reimaginings of history’s best off-roaders. For this year’s , Icon debuted something new that had nothing to do with off-roading, yet still had our whole team salivating.
Christened a “Derelict” by Icon founder and designer Jonathon Ward, this looks like an abused artifact from a time not worth remembering. Knowing Icon like we do, however, it’s anything but. The Derelict is fitted with a 6.2-liter V8 from producing 430 horsepower and an interior upholstered in gorgeous vintage briefcase leather, but the exterior is as original and rusty as it was when Icon found it. What we didn’t know at SEMA is that the ‘52 Chevy isn’t the first Derelict that Icon produced.
Our friends at have produced an excellent video about how the two Derelicts came to be, including how Jonathon Ward and his company made them. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t as easy as dropping a new engine into an old car and redoing the leather. The Derelicts were meant to be high-performance yet reliable daily drivers, which requires more thought and engineering than we ever imagined.
to be one of the first to watch this latest video from eGarage.
Most days, California must seem like Kazakhstan for the Big Three. Domestic products aren’t so popular out West, where and have long stood atop the sales charts. But not in 2011.
According to a report in Automotive News, both General Motors and managed to bump Honda from its silver medal position in 2011, though Toyota still holds a commanding market share lead. In a storyline we’ve heard before, the twin natural disasters in Asia curbed Japanese production, causing a 4.5 point loss of market share. Toyota’s market share dropped from 22.8 to 19.2 percent, while GM and Ford tied at 12.6 percent – ahead of Honda at 12.1.
Booming sales in the Golden State helped the domestics to their 1.8 point gain. New vehicle registrations in California were up 9.9 percent, according to the report. The biggest sales gains last year were made by and , which were up 53 and 49 percent, respectively.
continues its onslaught of Super Bowl ads released before this Sunday’s big game, clearly hoping that volume plays in its favor when the points are tallied by marketing analysts on Monday.
Today’s commercial, entitled “2012,” stars the in a post-apocalyptic world. In this ad, Chevy reminds us of its oft-repeated statistic that its trucks are the longest lasting, most dependable trucks on the road, and it does so by imagining that the Mayans were right and that 2012 is our last year on Earth.
It’s a well-done spot with lots of fun things to focus on – we’re even amused by the soundtrack, which isn’t what we’d immediately expect to hear as the backing music following life after an Extinction Level Event.
to view the end of the world through Chevy’s eyes.
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama visited the Washington Auto Show, and he even had time to get a closer look at a few vehicles. We’re guessing that the carmakers were more than happy to set aside some time to talk to the Commander In Chief, but not every automaker got the chance.
Bloomberg says that the Association of Global Automakers is upset because the president only spent time with the Detroit Three, even though other automakers reportedly flew in executives from around the world for the occasion. The executives were reportedly on hand and waiting in a “bullpen” in the event President Obama had any questions about specific vehicles, but The Pres stuck to American cars like the , , and the .
AGA CEO Michael Stanton voiced his disappointment about the perceived slight, adding that many members “bent over backwards to meet the request from the White House.” Stanton also points out that AGA members have invested $43 billion in the U.S. and employ over 80,000 workers here.
If you grew up in a sufficiently northern climate, you probably remember staying eagerly tuned in to the local radio or television station, praying on a cold day that enough snow would have fallen for them to close the schools. Well that’s what’s happened in the Modena area in northern Italy, but while the school children may be celebrating in their jammies, the racing fans among them will be disappointed to learn that the snow has caused the launch of the latest Scuderia single-seater to be canceled.
Enough snow, as you can see from the photo above, has fallen on Maranello to not only close down the team’s private Fiorano test track – which was supposed to be used for the car’s first demonstration run – but also all the roads leading to and from the site, preventing the motorsport press from getting there.
Ferrari will undoubtedly reschedule or make alternate arrangements to unveil the new car, but for now, the latest scarlet speedster will have to stay under wraps. Official announcements can be found .
Why is it that everything looks cooler in slow motion? And the slower the better, especially when you’re dealing with one of those new-fangled high frame rate super cameras. Case in point? When you add a MG Midget, a serious amount of explosives and a 1,000 frame per second camera and you have some very compelling YouTube footage.
Hit the jump to look on as Speed TV’s Stuntbusters lay waste to what looks like a rather tired (and likely non-running) MG. There is nothing but really slow demolition and some Mary Lou Retton-style tumbling, but it’s totally worth your 1:09.
Saying automotive journalists like diesel sedans is like arguing the color pink is going to do well with the 5-year-old-girl demographic this quarter. You’re not going to find too many dissenting voices. So, it should be no surprise that we love ourselves some BMW 335d. With plenty of power and impressive fuel economy, the outgoing diesel is a mechanical wonder child. And yet, thanks to the new F30-generation BMW 328i, with its 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine produces 240 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque, there’s some competition for the title of most fuel efficient 3 Series.
Admittedly, the 328i’s numbers are a far cry from the 265 ponies and 425 lb-ft of torque cranked out by the diesel-fueled 3.0-liter inline six in the 335d. Even so, the 2012 328i is considerably lighter and more aerodynamic. It also boasts a next-generation transmission, which helps the car get to 60 mph one tenth of a second quicker than the old 335d. That’s surprising, but not nearly as surprising as the fact that the 328i manages 1 mpg better than the diesel in the combined cycle. According to the EPA’s just-released figures, the 328i nets 24 miles per gallon in the city and an impressive 36 mpg on the highway. The 335i? 23 mpg city and 36 highway.
We’ll give you a moment to pick up your jaw from the floor. Now all BMW needs to do, as Automobile points out, is drop a diesel four-cylinder behind the headlights of the to go after even bigger green credentials. Fingers crossed.
The next will be chock-full of standard and optional technology features, but its all-new Modular Infotainment System has the potential to set a new benchmark for both high-end and entry-level navigation, entertainment and connectivity.
Three new systems will be available when the 2013 Golf goes on sale in Europe towards the end of this year, starting with a five-inch touchscreen and moving up to a 5.8-inch unit and finally a range-topping eight-inch system. Each unit will be equipped with a capacitive touchscreen, with the eight-inch version packing an 800×450 resolution screen, multitouch functionality and set to debut in future models, including the next . Making use of that high-powered chipset will be revamped 3D graphics for menus and mapping, with free nav updates available for three years and the ability to activate additional features after the initial vehicle purchase.
Handwriting recognition will also be included in the system, much like the system , which will allow users to skip the soft keyboard and write out destinations and point-of-interest searches. Additionally, VW is looking to include MirrorLink functionality (which essentially mirrors your phone’s screen on the navigation display), as expected, Internet-connectivity through smartphone tethering will be an option, along with the ability to create a WLAN hotspot.
Finally, tells Autoblog it plans to integrate proximity sensors into the head unit – similar to system – switching over from “display mode” to “operating mode” when it detects the driver or passenger’s hand moving towards the screen. The proximity sensors could also detect which side of the screen your hand is placed and then highlight specific features for easier selection.
Naturally, pricing for each system won’t be released until the Golf goes on sale in Europe this fall and hits the U.S. sometime in 2013, but VW representatives made it clear that these systems will be priced aggressively in order to compete with other feature-rich competitors.
During the automaker’s Quality Forum, reporters were told that had reduced “nonconforming deliveries,” a euphemism for bad batches of parts from vendors, by 85 percent from 2007 to 2011. Yet problems remain, according to a report in Automotive News, with suppliers in North America – both the U.S. and Mexico – who account for 70 percent of Nissan’s global nonconforming deliveries.
That statistic presents another challenge to Nissan’s North American expansion plans. The company built a quarter of its global production here last year and it just announced a , Mexico. Additionally, it has already confirmed a deal to and it has already suggested that it and Daimler will do .
Nissan hasn’t named suppliers, nor did it get into the kinds of issues it was having. It also isn’t immediately clear what – if any – of these “nonconforming” parts are being assembled into vehicles that are shipped to dealers without getting flagged at a quality checkpoint somewhere along the assembly process. Even if all of the bad parts are caught ahead of delivery to customers, remedying the problem is likely to be costly and time-consuming.
Even so, Nissan is on the case, with AN reporting that the Japanese automaker has already cut the rate of nonconfirming deliveries by 85 percent globally since 2007.
has released an extended version of its Super Bowl ad ahead of the Big Game, and it may not be what you expected. While the automaker’s teaser hinted toward yet another Star Wars-themed spot after the success of last year’s “,” the new commercial focuses instead on a pudgy puppy named Bolt. The advertisement’s tagline is “Back and better than ever,” and Bolt enters into a fitness montage set to some excellent James Brown tunes in order to slim down and chase after the .
There isn’t a single Star Wars reference throughout the whole clip, which may leave fans wondering exactly what that whole to the Empire’s theme in the Volkswagen teaser was about. We won’t spoil the twist for you, but we will say the 2012 Super Bowl ad heads toward a wretched hive of scum and villainy pretty quickly. for the video, as well as the full press release.
Indiana Democrats fought it for weeks by not showing up for sessions, but eventually the Repblican-led House of Representatives was able to pass a measure to make Indiana a Right-to-Work state. That bill will go to the State Senate where the Republicans have an even larger majority, and observers expect it to be signed into law by governor Mitch Daniels before the Super Bowl takes place in Indianapolis on February 5.
Assuming nothing stops that from happening, Indiana becomes state number 23 among the nation’s Right-to-Work faction, but the first in the upper Midwest, known so well for its wide and heavily unionized manufacturing base that it’s called The Rust Belt. According to a report in Automotive News, Governor Daniels points to VW’s decision to build its plant in Tennessee as the reason for the legislation. In fact, he said wouldn’t even return phone calls. “Why would that one company not even talk to us? I think I know.”
Indiana’s strong union presence didn’t stop other manufacturers from setting up plants or maintaining plants there, such as , and . But it appears Daniels took the VW snub especially hard and wants to sure that, if the threat of unionization really was the problem in that case, that it is never a problem again.
If you’ve been enjoying Forza 4 on your Xbox 360 but have been clamoring for some new cars to try out, you’ll want to mark February 7 on your calendar. That’s when Microsoft is releasing the new American Le Mans Series pack, complete with ten new cars in digital, downloadable format.
The February ALMS Pack includes some serious race machinery, including the Audi R18 TDI that reigns as current champion at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Mazda 787B that was the last Japanese car to win the race back in 1991, the new Panoz Abruzzi “Spirit of Le Mans”, and the iconic 1986 Sport Quattro S1. Also included are the Platinum Motorsport , Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s , the 1992 Alfa Romeo 155 Q4 touring-car-for-the-road, the 1995 Cobra R, the Holden HSV GTS and, for when a little hatchback is called for, the Volkswagen Polo GTI.
The downloadable content pack is included in the Forza Motorsport 4 Season Pass, or can be bought for 560 MS Points (worth $7). Check out the new additions in the and the image gallery above.
The has just picked up a doppelganger in China. According to CarNewsChina, Jianghuai Auto Corporation has just unveiled its new 4R3 pickup, and sure enough, the vehicle looks to be a near carbon copy of America’s best-selling truck. JAC reportedly wants to provide buyers in China, Africa and South America with a larger, inexpensive work vehicle. While the appearances of the Ford F-Series and 4R3 visuals differ ever so slightly, the similarities far outweigh the incongruities. According to CNC, JAC is a fairly small automaker in the People’s Republic that specializes in rebodied cars, SUVs and pickups.
Word has it the 4R3 will be powered by a 2.8-liter diesel four-cylinder engine generating just 108 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque. There’s no word on cost at this point. The JAC 4R3 is set to debut at the Beijing Motor Show in April, though there’s no telling how long the vehicle will be on the market before the company gets a call from the lawyers in Dearborn. Head over to for a better look at the F-150 twin.
Domestic automakers have much to be happy about, with , and General Motors all gaining market share last year for the first time since 1988. Yet according to Bloomberg, 2012 won’t be as good to Detroit. Total sales are projected to grow from 12.8 million vehicles last year to 13.6 million, according to the report, but increasing competition from Korea and a Japanese recovery from the natural disasters of 2011 mean those extra sales aren’t likely headed to the Big Three.
The news agency spoke to five analysts, and predictions have the U.S. automakers losing 1.3 percentage points this year. The analysts estimate that GM will drop 0.6 of a percent, Ford will lose 0.5 percent, and Chrysler will be down 0.2 percent. is seen gaining 0.9 percent, with grabbing an extra 0.5 percent, while and are only projected to see their combined market share improve by 0.01.
If all this comes true, GM would have the top market share in the U.S. at 19 percent, with Ford in second at 16.3 percent, followed by Toyota at 13.8 percent, Chrysler at 10.5 percent, and Honda at 9.5 percent.
Saab North America acknowledged that the chances were exceptionally slim, but it long enough to give another company a chance to buy it. Shortly after Saab NA appointed a third-party administrator, McTevia & Associates, it was decided there was no way to save the company short of liquidation, and on January 23, the administrator announced bankruptcy.
But Saab NA was beat to the filing by a group of 162 out of the 188 Saab dealers, who filed for involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware. The dealers said last week they were going to file for Chapter 7, but instead chose Chapter 11 because of its lower costs and or for Saab NA’s parent succeeds and they want to restart operations here. The document was filed in Delaware because the dealer body feels they’ll get better hearing “further away from Detroit.” Dealers also wanted the force of court orders to back up any decisions made, not that of a third-party administrator.
Underneath all the legal machinations, though, if estimates from Saab NA dealer attorney Leonard Bellavia are accurate, then the parties could emerge without getting financially kneecapped. When McTevia announced its plan to file, that Saab NA’s liabilities were $10.5 million and assets at between $75 million and $125 million. With no more parts on the way and 2,400 cars on lots, McTevia had earlier said that the parts distribution business is “the only meaningful asset.”
When is a not a Nissan Juke? When it’s the 480-horsepower, Godzilla-powered Juke-R, that’s when. Then it’s a supercar-beater. And to prove the point, Nissan UK took its one-off super-crossover down to Dubai for a little street racing action.
So what did Nissan pit its Juke-R against? No, not other crossovers, but a pack of the leanest, meanest supercars on the market: the , and . We shot from the sidelines a couple of weeks ago, but since the publicity stunt proved so popular, Nissan responded by releasing an official, high-quality version, complete with in-car footage and plenty of tire squealing. to check it out.
For 15 years, McLaren was the F1 team of choice for , enjoying a near-works level of support and collaboration from the German automaker. But as you may recall, Daimler bought its own team three seasons ago: the outfit that started out as British American Racing, then became before branching out as Brawn GP, was rebranded Mercedes GP under its latest management and now rechristened Mercedes AMG Petronas. And ever since, McLaren has had to deflect speculation that it was looking for a new engine supplier.
Back in November, those rumors, somewhat ironically, centered around Honda, the company that once owned the team now owned by Mercedes-Benz and which was once McLaren’s most victorious engine supplier. The Woking-based outfit scuttled those rumors at the time, and has now had to deny another set, this time involving PURE.
The new engine supplier established by former Jacques Villeneuve manager and BAR-Honda team principal Craig Pollock (with considerable technical know-how from former Peugeot, Renault and engineers) is hard at work designing a new engine to be used from 2014 when the new turbocharged V6 engine regulations come into effect. There’s no telling which teams PURE will power at that point, but one thing McLaren is adamant about is that it won’t be theirs.
Instead, the brass at Woking is insistent that it is perfectly happy in its relationship with Mercedes-Benz, whose racing engine operations are linked to its eponymous racing team by little more than name and common ownership. McLaren, then, is expected to stick with Silver Star power at least through the end of 2015, if not longer.
