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According to Automotive News, UAW President Bob King has his eye on organizing labor forces at the manufacturing facilities of German and Asian automakers here in the States. At this point, it’s unclear which automaker or which plant the UAW will attempt to organize first, though King has said that he has sent letters to the CEOs of the transplant automakers informing them of the union’s intentions. King says that the UAW is only interested in cooperating to improve operations, and that it will kick off the campaign towards organization in January.

In the meantime, the UAW has called off protests at Toyota dealerships around the country as a gesture of goodwill. The union began picketing the dealerships when the Japanese automaker decided to close its NUMMI assembly plant in Freemont, California after its partner, General Motors, pulled out of the endeavor. (the facility is now in use by Toyota partner Tesla Motors).

Automotive News reports that Toyota says that it will leave it up its workers to decide whether or not organization under the UAW is in their best interest. The company has been building vehicles in the U.S. for about 25 years, and in that time, workers have never sought organization – despite repeated drives by the UAW.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req. Image: Bill Pugliano / Getty Images]

Report: King pledges UAW to begin organizing transplants in January

In 1991, General Motors decided it wanted to build a truck not for utility but for speed. The GMC Syclone, with its 4.3-liter turbocharged V6 engine and all-wheel-drive setup, became the fastest truck on the planet and was able to shock many sportscars and exotics of its time. Ferrari 348ts? The Syclone was quicker down the quarter-mile dragstrip. Porsche 911 Turbo? The GMC bullet train was quicker to 60 miles per hour.

Production of the Syclone lasted one full year and 2,995 examples were produced. Three did come off the line for the 1992 model year, but good luck finding one of those. During its production run, there were two special-edition trucks produced by third parties; an Indy Syclone and the Marlboro Syclone.

Finding an example of either is quite rare, seeing as how just three Indy and 10 Marlboro examples were produced. That doesn’t mean you’ll never see one, however, as there’s a 1991 GMC Marlboro Syclone is sitting on eBay Motors waiting for a new home.

In 1992, Marlboro Racing held a contest and 10 winners were chosen and given the keys to a special-edition Syclone. The trucks were sent to Shinoda Design after getting a haircut from American Sunroof Corporation (the t-top roof panels are removable and easily stored in the bed). The custom wheels were designed by Boyd Coddington. The Hot Lick Red paint was devised by PPG and the side graphics were created by Graphik Concepts. Inside, the Marlboro Syclone features a Simpson five-point harness belt setup draped over Recaro seats, a custom Momo steering wheel and a Sony head unit. This particular Syclone is also chipped, dropped and has a Borla exhaust system. Better yet, it shows just 976 miles on the odometer.

Needless to say, this is a very rare, very fast truck. It currently stands with four bids at $26,300 and an unmet reserve. Head on over to eBay Motors and check out this red rocketship.

[Sources: eBay Motors, SyTy.org]

eBay Find of the Day: 1991 GMC Syclone Marlboro is period smokin’

There’s a right way to behave when pulled over by the police, and about a million wrong ways to act. We aren’t positive, but we’re pretty sure that attempting to stab an officer with your car keys falls into the latter category. Yet that’s exactly what 74-year-old Elizabeth Millonig tried to do after a pair of Flagler County, Florida deputies pulled her over for speeding. According to WESH-NBC, the ordeal started when Millonig was stopped earlier in the day. After shouted at the apprehending officers, Millonig simply drove away while they were running her plates from their cruiser. From there, the woman was stopped by a second officer, but pulled away from that encounter as well.

When finally stopped a third time, one deputy reached into the vehicle to prevent Millonig from fleeing again. At that point, the elderly driver began hitting the officer and screaming, and if you can believe it, things went downhill from there. After being asked to leave her vehicle, Millonig attempted to kick one deputy in the groin while being handcuffed. It’s unclear when the car-keys incident occurred during all of this, but the report says that after being placed in the back of a police vehicle, the elderly woman continued to kick the vehicle’s doors and safety divider.

Millonig was initially stopped for driving 40 mph in a 30 mph zone. She was later released on $7,500 bond.

[Source: WESH-NBC]

Report: 74-year-old woman pulled over, tries to stab police with her car keys

Nick Cave is a man among men. Aside from cranking out some seriously awesome rock as the lead man for bands like the Bad Seeds and Grinderman, the legend has also taken up saving British drivers from the nuisance of speed cameras. At least in Brighton. At this point, it’s unclear whether Cave intentionally took out the camera with his Jaguar or if the roles were reversed and the pole lashed out at the car as the rock star contends. At this point, we’re apt to side with Cave’s version of events.

Meanwhile, the rocker has become a local hero in the eyes of motorists that had been living under the tyranny of the speed camera. Apparently there’s no shortage of people willing to buy the man a drink, and for good reason. We don’t exactly support vigilante vandalism, but we aren’t huge fans of speed cameras either. Cave and Grinderman are set to play alongside Rammstein, Tool and Iggy Pop and the Stooges at the Big Day Out music festival around the world next year.

[Source: The Herald and Weekly Times Image: Thorsten Overgaard / Getty Images]

Rocker Nick Cave takes out speed camera, becomes local hero?

Hyundai is bringing its hotly anticipated sports coupe to the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, and it appears from a new teaser video and microsite that that the car will indeed be called Veloster, ending months of speculation that the affordable model could be named something else (Tiburon, FS, π, etc.).

Hyundai has also released a video of the Veloster, but it’s pretty low on the fulfillment meter and heavy on the teasing. The clip, which you can watch after the jump, tells us the Veloster will have a direct-injected engine, a dual-clutch gearbox, hit an estimated 40 miles per gallon and will come with Bluetooth connectivity. At this point we can only stare at the pretty blue LED lights seen above and continue to pour over camo-clad examples in spy shots.

UPDATE: Through some Photoshop wizardry, readers Brendon and APV have managed to provide a better look at the Veloster. Click to see Brendan’s image & APV’s image. Thanks to both of you!

[Sources: YouTube, Hyundai]

Continue reading Hyundai sports coupe officially named Veloster, new teaser vid and site released[UPDATE]

Hyundai sports coupe officially named Veloster, new teaser vid and site released[UPDATE]

Peak oil, according to the great and all-knowing Wikipedia, “is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline.” Regardless of your opinions on whether or not the planet has entered into its Peak Oil stage, it would seem that the United States has at least entered the stage of steady decline in usage.

Here’s the hard data according to the Associated Press: Americans averaged about 8.2 million barrels of oil, or 344 gallons, per day in 2010, which is an eight percent drop since the country’s peak in 2006. Experts seem to agree that gasoline usage in the States will continue to drop – as much as 20 percent by the year 2030, despite millions of additional cars on the roads – barring any unexpected periods of economic boom or another meteoric drop in fuel prices.

Before environmentalists get too excited, though, the falling trend of gasoline usage only applies to the United States, which is still by far the world’s largest consumer of oil. Demand from emerging countries, especially China and India, will more than make up for the declining usage in the U.S., leading to an expected record of 88.3 million barrels of oil produced in 2011. The more things change, they more they stay the same…

[Source: The Associated Press via Google Image: Farther Along via CC 2.0]

Report: Americans using 8% less gasoline than 2006 peak, will never go up again

Fewer nameplates resonate with the muscle-obsessed Mopar crowd more than the Cuda. Packing a 426 Hemi engine under the long, shaker-equipped hood, the classic ‘Cuda was potent enough to strike fear into the hearts and souls of more plebeian hardware… which was pretty much everything else on the road.

Now that the muscle car wars are officially back in full swing – and, perhaps most importantly, the latest Mustang, Camaro and Challenger have all proven to be hits with the American population – Chrysler has hinted that the ‘Cuda could once again terrorize the dealership lot.

According to Allpar.com, Chrysler has even registered the name Cuda as a trademark. As we’ve said in the past (and our readers seem to agree), we’d be more than happy to welcome back the Barracuda to the muscle car fold… just so long as it’s significantly different from the Dodge Challenger with which it will surely share its underpinnings.

Now would be a good time to point out that the ‘Cuda was historically a bit smaller than the Challenger, with a two-inch reduction in wheelbase when compared to its sibling. What we can say for certain is that a reborn ‘Cuda, should it ever see the light of day, won’t be wearing its old Plymouth name badge. Our best guess is that it would be sold as a Chrysler. In any case, consider our interest piqued.

Photos copyright (C)2010 Drew Phillips / AOL

[Source: Allpar.com]

Chrysler registers Cuda nameplate, Hemi engine perks up in interest

General Motors has made some excellent cars over the course of its hundred-plus years of existence. As we’re all painfully aware, though, it’s also produced some horribly bad cars. It’s debatable as to when GM’s fortunes really turned south, but many critics point to the early 1970s, when a series of poor decisions led to the automaker’s eventual near demise in 2009.

And so it’s fitting that, when tasked with choosing cars from GM’s often illustrious, often horrendous lifetime, the crew from Top Gear USA chose three models built between the early ’70s and the late ’90s as examples of what the modern-day GM should consider reviving: a 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass, a mid-’80s Pontiac Fiero and a late-’90s Buick Roadmaster wagon. Interestingly enough, only one of those brands is still in existence…

After putting the three machines through a battery of tests, a clear winner was crowned, and it’s probably not the vehicle you were expecting. The car that General Motors should reintroduce: the Buick Roadmaster station wagon. Here at this link you’ll find the complete episode, where you can see what led up to the surprising conclusion (hint: it involved steep inclines, eggs and a few thousand gallons of water – challenges that should be familiar to Top Gear UK followers).

What we’re most interested in, though, is the show’s rendering of what a 2011 Buick Roadmaster might look like. We like the basics – a big pushrod V8 engine up front, six-speed manual transmission, rear-wheel drive, a cavernous interior with seating for you and your seven closest friends and their stuff, and, of course, portholes and Buick’s signature ’sweep-spear’ profile design language. Okay, maybe we can do without the vinyl wood siding… but maybe not. See for yourself in our image gallery below.

[Source: Top Gear USA]

What would a 2011 Buick Roadmaster look like? Top Gear USA takes a crack at it

As difficult as the past few years have been for the U.S. auto industry, automakers and analysts alike continue to hope for a better future. 2010 has been a vast improvement over 2009, with sales up 11 percent. Even better, the last three months have seen sales rise above an annualized rate of 12 million cars and trucks, and analysts see 2011 sales approaching 13 million units.

Nearly all automakers have benefited from customers’ renewed faith in the economy, but few have fared as well as Ford. The Blue Oval has seen sales rise by 21 percent so far in 2010, and the Dearborn, MI-based automaker appears destined to reclaim its spot as the number two automaker in the States. Ford analyst George Pipas points out to The Detroit News that the automaker has seen two consecutive years of market share increase for the first time since 1993, going from 14.2 percent in 2008 to an expected 16.8 percent for 2010. At the same time, Toyota has seen its share shrink to 15.2 percent due in part to the recall of 6.75 million vehicles in the U.S. alone and over 10 million cars and trucks globally. Should sales trends continue, Ford will overtake Toyota in sales for the first time since the Japanese automaker wrestled away the number two spot back in 2007. General Motors remains at the top of the U.S. sales food chain, stabilizing its market share at 19.3 percent despite shedding four brands during bankruptcy.

Ford had a fantastic 2010, and with the 2011 Explorer and 2012 Focus on their way to showrooms and continued momentum from cars like the Mustang, we’re thinking 2011 will be a winner as well. Meanwhile, Toyota will need some fresh product in its showrooms if it hopes to re-engage Ford and take back its place in line. And it will be tougher than ever to steal sales from GM or Chrysler, as both companies have stabilized market share and have new product for 2011.

[Source: The Detroit News Image: Paul Sakuma/AP]

Report: Ford looks ready to overtake Toyota for No. 2 sales position

Competing Against Edge More Than Other Luxury CUVs

With Mercury dead, hundreds of former Lincoln-Mercury dealerships will be forced to rely on Ford’s 93-year-old luxury brand to bring home the bacon alone. These dealers are nervous about their future, and rightfully so.

Every Lincoln on sale today is a gussied up version of a Ford. True, most mainstream automakers with luxury divisions, like Toyota/Lexus, Honda/Acura and Volkswagen/Audi, use a similar strategy of platform and technology sharing to save costs, but U.S. domestic automakers have never been particularly good at it. A Volkswagen is usually praised for being Audi-like, but a Lincoln is usually decried for being too similar to a Ford. Sharing can so easily become rebadging, and Lincoln dealers are wondering how they’ll live off a lineup of simply “more expensive” Fords.

The answer may lie in the 2011 Lincoln MKX, which is the lux version of the Ford Edge. Since the latter received a significant mid-cycle freshening for the 2011 model year, so has the former. With their first significant update since 2006, the duo is poised to upset the status quo in the premium mid-size CUV segment. We’ve already told you how impressed we are with the 2011 Edge, so you won’t be surprised to learn we feel much the same about the new MKX. The difference is that the Lincoln has a lot further to go to be competitive within the luxury CUV set. Does it succeed? Will we now praise the Edge for being Lincoln-like?

Continue reading…

Photos copyright (C)2010 John Neff / AOL

Continue reading Review: 2011 Lincoln MKX

Review: 2011 Lincoln MKX

The beauty of the BMW 1 Series M Coupe isn’t that the bean-counters let their best performance engineers have at the smallest car in the range. The real beauty is that the car goes back to the very roots of the M division, before the M3 went all V8 on us and took a hefty weight penalty in the process.

To illustrate the point, BMW took the new coupe out to the track, and brought along its spiritual predecessor, the original E30 M3. Fortunately for us, they filmed the encounter – all 11 and a half minutes of it. And while half of it is stock promotional footage, there’s a good few minutes of on-track action spliced in for good measure. Check it out in the video after the jump.

Continue reading Video: Over 11 minutes of BMW 1 Series M Coupe and E30 M3 hotness

Video: Over 11 minutes of BMW 1 Series M Coupe and E30 M3 hotness

Chrysler has unveiled a new no-cost maintenance program for certain Dodge Journey and Durango models. Buyers who opt for the Durango Citadel or the Journey Lux will be treated to free maintenance for three years or 36,000 miles that includes oil and oil filter changes every three months or 3,000 miles as well as scheduled and recommended maintenance at 6,000 mile intervals. The program also throws in $1,000 worth of trip-interruption coverage, towing and roadside assistance up to $100 and $35/per day car rental should you get into an accident. All told, Chrysler says that the program has a retail value of around $1,100.

We’re guessing that no-cost maintenance is an effort to lure buyers to deeper ends of the Durango and Journey option pools. Of course, knowing that you won’t have to shell out a dime for routine work on your vehicle is likely to be a big selling point when either the newly reworked crossovers are lined up against their competitors. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Photos copyright (C)2010 Drew Phillips / AOL

[Source: Chrysler]

Continue reading Dodge announces 3/36 no-cost maintenance on select Durango and Journey models

Dodge announces 3/36 no-cost maintenance on select Durango and Journey models

The good ol’ Diamond Star Motors plant in Normal, Illinois – where such well-regarded vehicles as the original Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon and Plymouth Laser were built, among others – is apparently getting a new lease on life now that Mitsubishi, the United Auto Workers and laborers at the plant have all approved of a new contract.

At this point, it’s unclear what Mitsubishi plans to build in its only North American plant, and the present output of Eclipse, Endeavor and Galant are likely not long for this world. Would it be too much to ask for an Eclipse that hearkens back to the good old days of turbocharged engines and all-wheel drive? Probably, but we’ll settle for a new nameplate or two that escapes the automaker’s current mire of drab, dated and slow-selling sedans and coupes.

In any case, we’re told to expect a detailed product plan from Mitsubishi that will lay out the steps it will take to become relevant in the United States once again. And, incidentally, the Japanese automaker apparently has no intentions whatsoever of leaving the U.S. market… which means whatever it’s cooking up at the moment had better be rather impressive.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req.]

Mitsubishi, UAW reach Illinois plant pact – but what will they build there?

Getting ready to fire up Gran Turismo 5 this morning? Polyphony Digital would like you to wait a few moments, because there is a patch that needs to be downloaded… and it’s 608 megabytes. Don’t fret though, According to Eurogamer, this update brings a few new interesting features:

- Seasonal Events: Fresh racing events that allow GT5 users to compete against each other to win rewards and experience points. Leader boards will allow you to see where you stand compared to the rest of the world.

- Online Car Dealer: A new dealer lot that will focus on popular and rare used cars. This is a nice change of pace from the constant stream of odd JDM Civics and Suzuki 360s that seem to wind up in our Used Car lot.

- Online Race Rewards and Experience: Just like it sounds… this adds rewards and experience points for races won in online competitions.

- Mechanical Damage: It was made available for online races but has now made its way to the offline races as well.

- HUD: You can disable the HUD display for a full-screen view of the action.

- Improved Rewards: The rewards for certain challenges, such as the AMG Driving Experience, have been increased.

We are still learning more with regards to what exactly is included in this mega-update, but word on the virtual street is that this ought to be a solid early Christmas present for Gran Turismo 5 fans.

[Source: EuroGamer.net]

Gran Turismo 5 gets big 608MB patch

When General Motors showed some hardcore Camaro fans an early version of the convertible, they apparently received some less-than-favorable feedback. It turns out the Camaro faithful weren’t all that smitten with the old-fashion whip antenna (not to be confused with the shark fin antenna for XM satellite radio and OnStar transmissions) protruding out of the topless muscle car’s boot. The retro antenna was deemed to be a necessary evil due to the fact that, like most new vehicles, the hardtop Camaro hides the antenna in the rear window. And we all know that just won’t work if the rear window can be stowed with the rest of the top, so engineers and designers had no choice, right? Well, as it turns out there was an option B.

The General turned to Antenna Performance Engineer Don Hibbard, a “lifelong Ham radio enthusiast,” to shed the ungainly appendage. This was no easy task, though, as GM insisted that whatever the solution, it needed to perform every bit as well as the unit embedded in the hardtop’s rear glass. To make matters a bit more interesting, Hibbard and his colleague, Gregg Kittinger, didn’t exactly have all the time in the world to get the job done.

In a span of only 10 months, Hibbard was able to work some magic. The new Camaro Convertible will feature an AM/FM antenna that is built into the Camaro’s rear spoiler. The embedded receiver will reportedly work as well as the rear window antenna from the hardtop, but without the retro eyesore. Now, if only they cold solve for the awkward trunklid combo of the CHMSL, satellite radio and lip spoiler…

Hit the jump to check out a video of GM’s clever antenna solution and to check out the official press release.

[Source: General Motors]

Continue reading Ham radio geekery fixes Chevy Camaro Convertible’s antenna [w/video]

Ham radio geekery fixes Chevy Camaro Convertible’s antenna [w/video]

Meet the Sonata 2.0T’s Evil Twin

By this point, you should know all about the excellent new turbocharged, direct-injection four-cylinder engine from Hyundai and, by extension, Kia. We’ve spent plenty of pixels gushing about the engine’s power and efficiency when lodged in the nose of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T, and judging from our time behind the wheel of the 2011 Kia Optima 2.0T, the engine is no less at home lighting up the tires of the newest sedan from Kia. Buyers looking for a four-door with a little more edge than the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry or even the embiggened Sonata will be happy to see that the newest interpretation of the Optima wears some seriously aggressive sheetmetal outside to go with some of the best power and fuel-efficiency in the mid-sized sedan class.

Kia says that the Optima 2.0T was built to be the Sonata’s more menacing cousin, and in addition to the sedan’s brawny lines and 274-horsepower four-cylinder turbo, the company’s engineers folded in a firmer suspension and reworked power steering system for a more athletic driving experience. The changes may not be enough for us to call the 2011 Optima 2.0T a sport sedan, but they do serve to give the vehicle a significantly different flavor compared to the 2011 Sonata. We jumped into the driver’s seat of the 2011 Kia Optima 2.0T SX to find out just what those changes meant on the road.

Continue reading…

Photos copyright (C)2010 Zach Bowman / AOL

Continue reading First Drive: 2011 Kia Optima 2.0T

First Drive: 2011 Kia Optima 2.0T

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. No, we’re not going anywhere, but there’s a race on. After Ben Collins revealed himself to be The Stig, there will be a new one to replace him. And once he, she or it is in place, the speculation of The Stig’s real identity will start afresh.

So who’s set to be the new Stig? According to a report from the UK’s Daily Mirror, it’s Tiff Needell. Now, well-informed fans will point out that Needell is host of rival program Fifth Gear (the same show that picked up Ben Collins after he left Top Gear), so clearly something’s amiss here.

The story is that Needell – who co-hosted the old Top Gear before the current format was installed – offered to help out his rivals and old friends at Top Gear in one specific capacity: namely, to help the show’s latest Star in a Reasonably Priced Car – Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle – learn his way around the test track, a job usually undertaken by His Royal Stigness.

Will this have been a one-time deal, or will Needell be hanging out regularly with Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond? That depends on how long it takes the blokes at the BBC to find a long-term replacement. But don’t count on Tiff donning the white suit for long.

[Source: Daily Mirror]

Some Say He’s Tiff Needell: Fifth Gear host back at Top Gear to fill in for The Stig?

It’s becoming harder and harder for manufacturers to hide from the all-seeing eye of the internet. A user with a quick lens over on Ford Forums managed to lay his aperture on a nearly completely uncamo’d example of the new Australian Ford Territory. While the Aussie Blue Oval has been showing off shadowy, stylized photos of the high-rider ahead of its debut, this is probably the best look yet at the new crossover. According to CarAdvice, the next-generation Territory will get its power from a turbo-diesel 2.7-liter V6 engine borrowed from the Land Rover Discovery 3 (a.k.a. LR4). A six-speed automatic transmission will handle shifting detail.

There’s also some indication that buyers will be able to opt for an inline six-cylinder gasoline mill if the oil burner doesn’t quite suit their wallets. At this point, it’s unclear whether Australian buyers will get to play with the new MyFord Touch system that American buyers have been jockeying with in products like the 2011 Ford Edge, but it’s a good possibility.

Ford Australia is the midst of a serious product barrage with 85 percent of the company’s products receiving significant updates over the next 18 months. Head over to CarAdvice to see the full photos. Thanks for the tip, Andrew!

[Source: CarAdvice]

Spy Shots: Next Ford Territory caught nearly naked

Judging by what we’ve seen on the web, driving through Iraq is a few notches tougher than dealing with Southern California during rush hour. It appears to be the old “Anything Goes” method when moving from Point A to Point B. Iraqi authorities are looking to change that by introducing a licensing system that aims to instruct drivers on correct procedures while hoping to also cut down the madness seen on the roads around the nation.

According to an AFP report, the number of cars on the Iraq’s streets has doubled since Saddam Hussein’s regime collapsed. Prior to the 2003 US.. invasion, there were 1.25 million registered vehicles, and now an additional 1.5 million have been imported into the country. With that many new vehicles hitting the road, authorities are working to implement a system to ensure that motorists understand how to legally operate their own vehicle.

Since the program was launched on October 21, some 8,000 drivers licenses have been issued. As the officials get more familiar with the procedures and computer systems, that pace is expected to pick up. The ultimate goal is that in just two years time every driver on the road will be one carrying a legal license to do so.

[Source: AFP via Yahoo! Image: AFP/Getty]

Report: Most in Iraq drive without licenses as gov’t. works to institute new permits

What A Difference A New Face Makes

The needle is finally pointed in the right direction.

The original 2007 Jeep Compass was the first production Jeep that wasn’t. Beyond its “Jeep” badge and trademark seven-bar grille, the Compass was a compact crossover derived from the front-wheel-drive Dodge Caliber, a product that lacked the hardware and personality to provide the foundation for a genuine Jeep.

Hampered by ungainly styling, modest power and no transfer case, the Compass never achieved much success on trails or in showrooms. Compass sales always lagged behind the Caliber and its closer platform relative, the Jeep Patriot. In short, the Compass didn’t accomplish its mission of being an attractive entry-level Jeep for shoppers who aspired to own a Grand Cherokee but couldn’t afford a real Jeep.

Chrysler improved the Compass’s interior for 2009, but given the national economic climate and the company’s bankruptcy, it’s likely that even more substantial product changes wouldn’t have moved the sales needle. Things should be a bit different for the 2011 model year.

Continue reading…

Photos copyright (C)2010 Rex Roy / AOL, Jeep

Continue reading First Drive: 2011 Jeep Compass

First Drive: 2011 Jeep Compass