Small cars score big in latest IIHS crash tests – Click above to watch video
Thirteen enter, six leave … with Top Safety Pick awards. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety spent some time driving (and smashing) a big group of small cars. Six of those cars received top honors from the IIHS by scoring a rating of “Good” across the board. The , , , , and are all the small-car place to be in the event of an accident.
This crop of small cars are also quite fuel efficient. All vehicles in the top six offer a version that gets at least 40 miles per gallon on the highway.
The rest of the vehicles tested faired well. Only the older and received “Mediocre” ratings in some categories. Every car tested, however, received multiple “Good” ratings. to watch the IIHS talk about about the small car crash tests. Also, be sure to .
Word on the street is that is developing a faster, more powerful version of its four-door, a rumor fueled by new spy shots snapped on Germany’s infamous Nürburgring. The camouflaged prototype pictured above appears to pack a revised front end and tail, with larger intakes up front and a lip spoiler and reshaped bumper around back.
Underneath the revised fascias, sources expect to find the 510-horsepower V12 from the to upgrade from the -spec 470-hp mill already in place in the “standard” Rapide. Couple this with carbon-ceramic brakes and revised suspension, and the Rapide S is starting to shape up as a real barnstormer.
In short, if the existing Rapide is a four-door DB9, expect the Rapide S to come in as a four-door DBS – suitable for carrying 007 and not just one, but three Bond girls to their next mission or exotic locale.
CEO Takes Us For A Spin In This Innovative One, Two, Three-Door
2012 Hyundai Veloster – Click above for high-res image gallery
“How about a ride in the Veloster?”
While the experience falls seriously short of taking a few orbits in the Space Shuttle, those seven words were enticing enough to motivate us to cross the dreaded Los Angeles basin during rainy rush-hour traffic last week. The Veloster is Hyundai’s latest addition to a rapidly expanding lineup that now encompasses everything from the modest $12,000 to the -fighting $58,000 . The new hatchback – uniquely configured with one driver door and two passenger doors – is parked on the low end of the model range, promoted as a compact coupe offering fun-to-drive chassis dynamics, a long list of standard innovative technology and hybrid-beating fuel economy in one cool-looking package.
isn’t letting anyone drive the Veloster yet, but like proud parents, they are more than willing to show us around the car, from top to bottom, and take us for an extensive drive around the block – as passengers.
However, this isn’t just a simple low-level meet-and-greet, as our host will be John Krafcik, CEO of Hyundai Motor America. Understandably, we had a slew of questions swirling around our minds before our ride: How comfortable is the cabin? Do tall adults fit in the second row? What does the engine sound like? How does it handle? Lastly, why does everyone keep comparing the new Veloster to the old CRX?
What you’re looking at is not the , it’s the . Yes, we see the badge. No, we aren’t kidding.
has, for quite some time now, sold a rebadged version of the Hyundai Accent in Mexico under the Attitude moniker. (Hyundai, as an automaker, is otherwise absent from the Mexican market). And while the was simply a rebadged version of the old sedan, it appears that the 2012 model doesn’t even go that far.
We got our first glimpse at the U.S.-spec Accent at the earlier this year, and while our market will benefit from the functionality of the five-door hatchback configuration, the Dodge Attitude will only be available as a sedan. A 1.4-liter gasoline engine is standard, with a 1.6-liter powerplant available as an option.
TAG Heuer Limited Edition Indy 500 Centennial Chronograph – Click above for high-res image
Many try, but few capture the racing spirit in watch form as well as TAG Heuer. So it’s only fitting that the Swiss watchmaker should be the one to celebrate the 100th anniversary of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” – the Indy 500 – as best it knows how: with a special-edition chronograph.
Based on TAG Heuer’s Formula 1 model, the Limited Edition Indy 500 Centennial Chronograph is distinguished by such special touches as a grey Brickyard-motif dial, Indy 500 logo in the small counter at 6 o’clock and the words Indy 500 engraved in red on the fixed bezel.
The 44mm steel case also features a full tachymeter scale, chronograph movement and water resistance to 200 meters, affixed to the wrist with either a rubber strap or steel bracelet. Only 1,000 examples will be made – including one to be presented to the race winner on May 29 – retailing for about $1,650. for the official press release.
Having spent an afternoon whooping it up in the 500C through the winding lanes of upstate New York, wallet aside, when compared to the hardtop model, the 500C is all gain and just a pinprick of pain.
As one enterprising Leaf driver recently found out, towing the vehicle using a tow bar actually quickly charges the batteries thanks to the vehicle’s regenerative braking.
Achieving liftoff at the Nürburgring, caught in pics.
Aston Martin V12 Zagato – Click above for high-res image gallery
Some concepts debut at an auto show and are never heard from again. Some make the rounds of minor local car shows. A small number make it into production. But it’s full speed ahead for the .
The collaborative effort between and Zagato was unveiled at the prestigious Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the original DB4GT Zagato. A stunning creation, the show car handily won the award for concepts at the Italian lakeside concours. The next step? Racing.
Right from the start, Aston announced that the V12 Zagato would be hitting the race track in no less rigorous a test than Germany’s Nürburgring. And so it will, starting this weekend and returning in tandem next month for a second outing. But before it does, Aston’s released these images of the car.
The car that debuted in Villa d’Este ditched the diamond-finish wheels from the advance pictures for blacked-out ones, but it has kept the front splitter, full roll cage and sliding plastic driver’s-side window. The image above shows an even larger splitter, along with a giant rear wing. Otherwise, the racecar looks essentially the same as the coupe that won the Concorso D’Eleganza Design Award at Villa d’Este, but it’ll likely feature a full competition livery when it makes its race debut this weekend. Check out the updated image gallery and the award announcement after the jump.
Electric vehicle label – Click above for more labels
Updated United States fuel economy labeling, unveiled on Wednesday, includes additional information on plug-inhybrid and electric vehicles, and highlights other advanced technologies aimed at reducing gasoline consumption and tailpipe emissions.
The redesigned window stickers, required on all 2013 models, enables consumers to quickly compare fuel savings for different types of vehicles, whether they rely on gasoline or some type of alternative fuel. For example, the labels display estimates of how much fuel or electricity would be required to drive 100 miles and how much time is needed to charge a plug-in vehicles like the and .
Lisa Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), says the reason for the redesigned labels is to give consumers, “the best possible information about which cars on the lot offer the greatest fuel economy and the best environmental performance.” The EPA developed the updated labels with assistance from the Department of Transportation.
Click (pdf) for a detailed look at all of the revised fuel economy labels and to view video on the labels’ Smartphone “QR Code.” Let us know your thoughts on the updated labels by voicing your opinion in the Comments, as well.
GM Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly – Click above for high-res image gallery
has announced that it will add two shifts and 2,500 jobs (both hourly and salaried) at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant. Currently, the facility builds the and its European cousin, the , but GM is expanding this plant’s capability to handle the production of the , as well as the next-generation sedan.
According to GM, most of the 2,500 new jobs will be filled by laid-off UAW members.
This latest move means that GM has invested $190 million in the Detroit-Hamtramck facility since April 2010. Last year, The General announced a $121M investment to support next-generation Malibu production, and now, an additional $69 million is being pumped into the plant for tooling and equipment that will be used on the future Impala.
GM’s efforts at Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly follow the investments that the company has recently made in other states, including the in Bowling Green, Kentucky, as well as facilities in Toledo, Ohio; . for GM’s official press release, as well as a video of a Chevy Volt being produced at the Detroit-Hamtramck facility.
Life is tough, ain’t it? We pay to see professional racing drivers hurtling around at breakneck speeds on the race track, but then give them tickets and even revoke their licenses for doing what they do best once off the race track. We see it all the time. has run into his share of trouble. So has . even got one during a Formula One demonstration on public streets. Even F1 team principals like and have run afoul of speed limits. And now, Kyle Busch is having his turn.
The front-running NASCAR driver was reportedly busted in Mooresville, North Carolina driving a yellow supercar at 128 miles per hour in a 45 mph zone. Carry the one, divide by pi… that’s nearly three times the posted limit. So did he get arrested and carted off to jail on the spot like the rest of us would? Not quite, but he did receive a citation and will have to answer for his illegal behavior, and could stand to lose his license. Fortunately, NASCAR doesn’t require its drivers to have a valid state license in order to race.
The LFA was reportedly on loan to Busch from , whose parent company’s stock cars he drives in NASCAR. This wasn’t the first time Busch has been busted for reckless driving in public, having pleaded guilty to performing a burnout in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant in Virginia back in 2006, and cited for going 55 in a 35 zone in 2008 in the same Irdell County, NC, where he was busted again yesterday.
For his part, Busch has apologized for the incident and reportedly acted courteously towards law enforcement throughout the ordeal.
2011 Hyundai Elantra – Click above for high-res image gallery
Labor strife can wreak havoc on manufacturing, even when the workers on strike are miles away from the facility. knows this all too well, as Automotive News reports that workers at supplier Yoosung Enterprise Co. occupied the production lines at a Hyundai assembly plant after failing to reach a deal on wages and shift systems. In fact, the sit-in became contentious enough that the police were called in to remove the workers; an action that led to the arrest of 500 disgruntled laborers.
Hyundai claims the engine plant will soon be restarted, but the larger issue is likely whether a deal can be struck. Yoosung supplies 70 percent of all the piston rings used in Hyundai vehicles, and a prolonged strike could result in some supply chain issues, even in the States. While production at the Hyundai plant in Alabama has 60 days of parts in stock, the automaker still imports the 1.8-liter engine used in the . A spokesperson from Hyundai reportedly told Automotive News that he didn’t know if the engine used parts from Yoosung and he also wasn’t sure how many engines were in stock.
According to the Chosun Ilbo and Ward’s Auto, the disgruntled supplier could also cause disruptions well beyond the house of Hyundai – Yoosung is one of about a dozen companies that hold a 70 percent share of this particular auto parts market. Other companies that could face parts shortages include and .
While we’re not likely to feel the pinch of any piston ring shortages any time soon, this issue could get ugly if a resolution isn’t reached. Hyundai currently only has a 25-day supply of these vehicles, so any issue lasting more than a few weeks could result in decreased stock levels.
Manal al-Sharif’s campaign for women’s right to drive – Click above to watch video
The Arab Spring has brought a wave of change and reform to the Middle East, but that tide has seemingly stopped at Saudi Arabia. According to The New York Times, the Saudi government has effectively squelched a movement championed by Manal al-Sharif. The woman wasn’t campaigning for the overthrow of the government or the death of the country’s leaders. Instead, she was simply demonstrating for women’s right to drive in her country. Sharif posted videos of herself driving on YouTube and started Facebook and Twitter accounts that prompted other Saudi women to do the same.
That’s when the Saudi government stepped in. Sharif was arrested for her transgressions and her videos were removed from YouTube. Later, a Facebook page she had set up to instruct other women about how to get involved was deleted and a duplicate of her Twitter account began posting messages indicating that she had stopped her efforts.
But this is the internet, and nothing is gone forever. Copies of Sharif’s original message have reappeared on YouTube and an Al Jazeera report on her campaign is still available. You can check out the full report at Times and watch the videos .
Ferrari P4/5 Competizione – Click above for high-res image gallery
He hints they may create a very limited-edition street-going run of the sexy beast.
An awful lot of cars have made themselves famous while using just four tires. Formula 1 teams’ tire total per race is around 140 – i.e. 35 sets of Pirellis.
With Jim Glickenhaus’ featherweight Ferrari F430 GT2-based 470-horsepower P4/5 Competizione about to tackle the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring at the end of June in the new EXP1 class, the car’s tire sponsor Pirelli is bringing, according to Glickenhaus, 800 tires along, using the occasion to test like mad whether it be daytime heat sets, night sets, wet sets, semi-slick sets, you name it.
As the P4/5 Competizione has proven itself durable so far, looks like it may last the whole 24 hours, being hampered perhaps only by the plethora of pit stops it’ll be constrained to effect while Pirelli tests the various quartets of rubber.
If you’ve been counting down the days until Robert Kubica returns to the Formula One grid, you may want to stop counting for now. The latest reports suggest that the Polish driver is not likely to return before the end of the season, if at all.
Kubica, for those who may not recall, suffered a terrible accident during the off-season while contesting a rally in Italy some four months ago. His car was impaled by a dislodged guardrail and Kubica sustained extensive injuries to his right-side limbs. Now released from hospital and recovering at home, Kubica’s boss – Renault GP chief Gerard Lopez – reportedly says it is not likely the star driver will be back by season’s end.
Renault may give Kubica the opportunity to test drive during a Friday test session on a grand prix weekend at some point, but that should not, Lopez warns, indicate that he’d be ready to relieve Nick Heidfeld and take on a full race. Whether Kubica ever gets back into racing form remains to be seen – his doctors are reserving judgment until the summer – but we wish him the best for a suitably speedy recovery.
McLaren MP4-12C – Click above for high-res image gallery
Word on the web is that McLaren binned a new MP4-12C at the Nürburgring recently. According to Pistonheads, one of the early prototypes of the vehicle got up close and personal with some barriers at the legendary circuit, though the damage apparently wasn’t severe enough to put the model out of commission for good. The driver, who remains anonymous, wasn’t injured in the kerfuffle. McLaren hasn’t come out and said whether the incident was a result of driver error, mechanical failure or some other factor.
Officially, he MP4-12C was only out for durability testing, but since the accident occurred at the very end of a scheduled test session, some minds have begun to wonder whether or not McLaren was attempting to set a ‘Ring record time with their new lightweight. According to Pistonheads, the company says that while it may pursue such an adventure at some point down the line, that’s not what was going on when the vehicle left the tarmac. Of course, that would seem to contradict reports from the scene where witnesses were said they saw the MP4-12C traveling flat-out just before the impact.
The rotary rumormill continues to spin about as fast as a Renesis engine at redline (that’s 9,000 rpm, for those keeping track). Might the next rotary-powered RX from be a hybrid? It very well may, if you believe a report from Motor Trend.
Lending credence to the story is a that would have the Zoom-Zoom company licensing the technology that makes the tick. At the time, Mazda indicated that its first hybrid using technology would hit the market in 2013. Will it be in the form of an RX-9?
Motor Trend reports that the successor to the will eschew reverse-opening rear doors for a standard coupe format with an architecture based on the platform of the next-gen . If true, we may be talking about the world’s first real rear-wheel-drive hybrid sportscar for the mass market.
It’s worth noting that a hybrid powertrain may very well cure what has forever ailed the rotary engine: low torque (electric motors make gobs of the stuff at low rpm) and high fuel consumption. We like the idea of Mazda forging forward with the rotary engine, especially one that’s tuned to make a ton of horsepower at stratospheric spinning speeds like a proper rotary should.
One potential weakness, though, is that Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive technology uses a complicated continuously variable automatic transmission, and those have typically failed to provide the excitement of a proper row-for-yourself manual gearbox, or even a dual-clutch. In any case, we’re content to adopt a wait-and-see attitude on this latest rumor.
Saab 9-3 ePower assembly – Click above for high-res image gallery
Despite , Saab is doing everything in its power to try and push forward. The is reportedly the , but it seems another is also coming to life. A fleet of are being put together for testing.
Hand-assembled in a room just off the main assembly line, , and the automaker will be establishing a test fleet of 70 vehicles. The battery system is said to be good for a 124-mile range with a top speed of around 90 miles per hour. Fleet testing is scheduled to begin later this year.
2011 BMW 1 Series M – Click above for high-res image gallery
Did you pick up your ? If not, you may be paying a lot more for one down the road. The $46,135 German sports coupe will be produced through the end of this year… and then it’s done. According to , admits that its latest sex toy pumped-up two-door will have a very limited run of one model year.
That’s not to say we won’t see another version on the future. However, it could be several years before that happens, which should make the current (and only) crop of BMW 1 Series M cars quite collectible.
After reading TDB’s report, we pressed BMW for some more insight into the matter, and received confirmation that the current 1 Series M is only sticking around for the 2011 model year. The next generation 1 Series is at least two-and-a-half to three years away, which is too much time to speculate on a future 1 Series M. Curious as to how many 2011 1 Series M coupes will be produced? So are we, and BMW can only share that “less than 1,000 units” will be produced in 2011.
Ferrari 458 Challenge at Laguna Seca – Click above to watch video
The Ferrari 458 Challenge made its , and the spec race car appeared for the first time here in the U.S. a few weeks later at California’s Infineon Raceway. While we couldn’t make it out to Sonoma for the latter, we did get our first look at the 458 Challenge this past weekend at the at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
As with its road cars, somehow manages to vastly improve the performance of each generation of race cars, and the 458 Challenge is no exception. Ferrari says that the 458 Challenge can lap the Fiorano race track about two seconds faster than its predecessor, and that difference translated to Laguna Seca. The fastest 458 Challenge cars were turning in times more than three seconds quicker than the top 430 Challenge cars. Even the fastest 430 driver, who set a new class qualifying lap record of 1:31.630, was half a second behind the slowest 458.
You can see our photos of the 458 Challenge at the Ferrari Racing Days in the high-res gallery below, and to watch a video of the cars tackle Laguna Seca’s famous Corkscrew.
Most motor races take place over a weekend, but the Indianapolis 500 is not most races. “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” plays out over the course of weeks, with numerous practice sessions, extensive qualifying heats and finally the race itself. And with qualifying completed, Alex Tagliani has emerged on top.
Hailing from Montreal, Quebec, Tagliani is the first Canadian to take pole position at the Indy 500 in its one hundred year history. Of course, he wouldn’t be the only Canadian to win the race, following the notable victory of his countryman Jacques Villeneuve in 1995. But as surprising as Tagliani’s pole position was, converting into a win will be another matter. Over the course of seven years in Champ Cars, Tagliani’s won just a single race (at Road America in 2004) and has yet to notch up a win since moving over to the IndyCar Series in 2008.
The coveted pole position was expected to go one of Ganassi drivers (Scott Dixon, a previous Indy 500 winner, or his teammate Dario Franchitti, a two-time Indy 500 winner) or one of the Penske boys (three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves or current series frontrunner Will Power). Newman/Haas driver Oriol Servia put up a good fight too, but when the times were finalized at the end of the “fast nine” session, it was Tagliani and his Sam Schmidt Motorsports team who set the fastest qualifying speed in the #77 Bowers & Wilkins Dallara- with a four-lap average of 227.472 mph.
Dixon qualified second and Servia third to line up beside Tagliani on the first three-car row. Sunday’s “bump day” session, which gives ambitious drivers a shot at one of the top positions, was marred by heavy rain, preserving Tagliani’s position at the front of the pack for when the race gets underway this coming Sunday.
