Automotive News reports no longer plans to manufacture vehicles in China in the near future. The company had originally planned to begin building cars in the country by 2016, but has re-shifted its focus back toward North America. Subaru will now increase production at its Indiana facility while also investigating other ways to up capacity in NA. That could mean adding a new line in Indiana or building an entirely new facility.
It’s only been 10 months since Subaru announced it planned to build a manufacturing plant in China in just five years. Last year, the company said it planned to build 150,000 units per year in the People’s Republic and import an additional 30,000 vehicles. Those numbers have been slimmed to a more modest 100,000 units, all of which will be imports. While Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, the president of Fuji Heavy Industries, says he would still like to see Subaru have a factory in China, he doesn’t expect it to happen by 2016.
In the meantime, Subaru has also increased its North American sales targets from 380,000 units to 410,000.
The auto industry has long been a cyclical business, and though this last trough was a deep one, the coming boom has economists excited. According to Bloomberg, the auto industry’s comeback contributed fully half of the 2.2 percent national economic growth in the first quarter of this year. , the best pace in four years.
Production is up at all three domestic carmakers, which has a ripple effect throughout the economy. Bloomberg cites Chad Moutray, chief economist of the National Association of Manufacturers, who estimates that every dollar spent on a new vehicle leads to an addition $2.02 in economic activity. The industry’s share of gross domestic product for the quarter was 2.8 percent, which is nearly as high as it was in 2007, before the economic crisis that devastated the industry, according to the report.
Yet despite the rise in fortunes for carmakers, stock prices have yet to follow suit. A key automotive index is up just 1.5 percent so far this year, but is down 31 percent in the past 12 months, according to the report. The U.S. Treasury Department recently indicated that because of lagging stock prices, anytime soon.
Every time I travel to Maranello for a test drive, the three hours or so prior to turning the red key are driven in a U.S. Interstate-style straight line along Italy’s A1 autostrada in my 99-horsepower 2001 Opel Astra station wagon with five-speed manual. It’s just about the perfect antithetical setup for the unleashing of the hounds that awaits just over the hills south of HQ.
This trip over was for the midlife upgrade of the for our 2013 model year, a car that promises to weigh less, deliver more horsepower and torque, and go quicker.
We can now take an official, in-depth look at the new BMW M135i and the accompanying three-door range – and there’s much to see. Starting from the beginning, the Bimmer’s styling has inclined some people to grab their hatchets. Yes, there’s a whole lot of intensity and a slumgullion of deeply incised polygons mixed together in that little upright face, but we have no doubt there’ll be a whole lot more people grabbing their wallets when they see it.
Along with the 320-horsepower M135i, fresh engines and features are among the new treats, as well as Sport Line, Urban Line and M Sport Package trims. The new 102-hp 114i model establishes the base, followed by the 136-hp 116i, 170-hp 118i and 218-hp 125i on the gasoline side, the 116-hp 116d, 143-hp 118d, 184-hp 120d and 218-hp 125d on the diesel side. Six-speed manuals are the go-to, with two eight-speed automatic transmissions in the options column. The M135i and 120d can be had with xDrive all-wheel drive, a first-time application on the 1 Series.
The new body is 85 mm longer, 17 mm wider, with a 30-mm longer wheelbase and wider track front and rear. The enlarged dimensions mean more cargo and legroom in the back, and buyers will get the option of having either two or three rear seats. And the comfort and safety systems lists read like someting out of the Papa Bear , from Internet access to Lane Departure Warning and auto-braking cruise control.
Hop into the high-res gallery or head for the press releases that details everythingyou could want to know about the new three-door 1 Series.
We can now take an official, in-depth look at the new BMW M135i and the accompanying three-door range – and there’s much to see. Starting from the beginning, the Bimmer’s styling has inclined some people to grab their hatchets. Yes, there’s a whole lot of intensity and a slumgullion of deeply incised polygons mixed together in that little upright face, but we have no doubt there’ll be a whole lot more people grabbing their wallets when they see it.
Along with the 320-horsepower M135i, fresh engines and features are among the new treats, as well as Sport Line, Urban Line and M Sport Package trims. The new 102-hp 114i model establishes the base, followed by the 136-hp 116i, 170-hp 118i and 218-hp 125i on the gasoline side, the 116-hp 116d, 143-hp 118d, 184-hp 120d and 218-hp 125d on the diesel side. Six-speed manuals are the go-to, with two eight-speed automatic transmissions in the options column. The M135i and 120d can be had with xDrive all-wheel drive, a first-time application on the 1 Series.
The new body is 85 mm longer, 17 mm wider, with a 30-mm longer wheelbase and wider track front and rear. The enlarged dimensions mean more cargo and legroom in the back, and buyers will get the option of having either two or three rear seats. And the comfort and safety systems lists read like someting out of the Papa Bear , from Internet access to Lane Departure Warning and auto-braking cruise control.
Hop into the high-res gallery or head for the press releases that details everythingyou could want to know about the new three-door 1 Series.
By all accounts, Marussia is just another exotic automaker hoping to sell a few supercars but just as likely to disappear into obscurity. Except that it hasn’t, and may not for some time.
Having potentially overextended itself by buying the majority of a Formula One racing team from Virgin, the Russian upstart needed its newest product – dubbed the B2 – to be the runaway success that the (relatively) less dramatically-styled B1 wasn’t. And so it appears it will be as reports indicate that Marussia has sold out its entire production run of 500 vehicles.
In order to keep up with demand, production is reportedly shifting from Marussia’s own facility in Moscow to Valmet in Finland, the same place where the is built now and the and were before it. Cosworth will then be shipping the 3.5-liter V6 that provides between 300 and 420 horsepower (depending on customer specification) to drive the 2,425-pound lightweight supercar to 60 in as little as 3.2 seconds.
Check out the pair in the fresh image gallery above for a closer look.
Typically when an automaker wants to roll out a new car, it does so at one of a dozen or so major auto shows held throughout the calendar and around the world. But with the bulk of the show season on break for the summer, rumor has it that Renault is planning a more glamorous location to unveil its latest.
Speculation has been mounting for years that Renault was preparing to revive the Alpine nameplate with a new sports car sometime soon. And with the 50th anniversary of the legendary A110 (pictured above in the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally) coming up, the latest suggests that is exactly what the French automaker has in store for the Monaco Grand Prix, scheduled to take place in short order on the streets of Monte Carlo.
Just what the new Renault Alpine will amount to, if anything, remains to be seen, however. Some forecast that it could be based on the same platform as the from allied automaker , while others anticipate an electric sports car of some sort.
One way or another, it won’t be the only Renault present for the most iconic of grands prix: eight out of the 24 F1 cars on the grid this year are powered by the same Renault RS27 engine that powered Sebastian Vettel to the last two world championships.
The American Le Mans Series headed to Monterey, CA this weekend for the third round of the season following Sebring and Long Beach. The annual race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is normally scheduled as the season finale in October, often leading to nail-biting finishes. More often than not, though, the team and drivers’ championships were wrapped up before the last event, meaning that the Laguna Seca was essentially inconsequential. The schedule change to an earlier spot in the year ensures that each and every team fights for points.
With a highly competitive GT field – perhaps more than ever – spectators were almost ensured fantastic racing from the likes of Corvette, Porsche, Ferrari, BMW and Aston Martin. We can’t wait until the new is thrown into the mix as well. BMW and Corvette split the first two races of 2012, although it seems that any team and any car could pull out a win at any time.
It’s a different story in the prototype classes, where the Honda HPD ARX-03a run by Muscle Milk Racing looks to be the runaway favorite in the P1 class. The team lost out at Sebring due to fueling problems, but had a dominating performance in Long Beach. Likewise, the Honda HPD ARX-03b of Level 5 Motorsports has swept the first two races of the season and look like the team to beat. However, the big news in Monterey for the prototype classes was the debut of Dempsey Racing’s new closed-cockpit Lola B12/87 running in the P2 class. Patrick Dempsey himself would be making his ALMS debut.
to read more about the American Le Mans Series race in Monterey.
Depth of Speed is Josh Clason’s video series that cosses the country looking for cool automotive stories to tell. He found another one in Utah at . They let Clason take one of their vintage Skyline GT-R projects out on track for some sunset lens time, and the result is nothing less than you’d expect from Clason.
On a side note, while the current is totally awesome, we wish it had a bit more of this car’s cool vibe. for the video.
pretty much said it’s coming, and here it is: the new Mini John Cooper Works GP. It’s making an appearance at the Mini United Festival in France this weekend, and while Mini has yet to detail specific power numbers or show off the car’s interior, it has produced a Nurburgring time: 8 minutes, 23 seconds, which, , betters the last Mini GP (circa 2006) by 19 seconds.
Like its predecessor, the GP-spec hardtop loses its back seat for weight reduction, gets a full complement of power and suspension upgrades, including a race-spec suspension and brakes, and sports exclusive aero tweaks, wheels and graphics to differentiate itself from “regular” JCW models. Figure on a power figure north of the 214 horses the last GP produced (standard JCW Minis make 208 hp right now). Only 2,000 of the new Mini JCW GPs will be built and sold globally.
Given that the regular John Cooper Works models are fairly marvelous as is, the GP should be deliriously fun. No pricing yet, but since a loaded-up John Cooper Works easily runs into the high-$30K range now, we’d expect the limited-production GP to skip right past the $40,000 mark.
Clear your Monday nights. “World’s Wildest Police Videos” has officially returned to Spike TV. The show spent a brief spell on TruTV, but will now lay claim to a prime-time spot during Spike’s weekday lineup. The show airs footage from cruiser dash cams and the like to give the world a glimpse of what police face in cities across the country, from high-speed chases to armed bank robberies We wouldn’t exactly call “World’s Wildest Police Videos” intellectual entertainment by any stretch, but there’s something to be said for switching off your brainbox for 30 minutes.
“World’s Wildest Police Videos” comes from a long line of such noble shows. Paul Stojanovich Jr. helms the creation as executive producer. If that name looks familiar, it should. His father, Paul Stojanovich Sr. is the mind behind “COPS.”
Look for “World’s Wildest Police Videos” on Spike at 8:00 pm EST Mondays. In the meantime, click for a look at the show.
It’s darn near impossible to overemphasize the impact that has had on the automotive world as we know it today. Born in 1923, Shelby took part in his very first race, a quarter-mile drag, in 1952. Later that year, he’d go on to win his first road race in an MG-TC. By 1956, Shelby had garnered enough race wins to earn the title “Driver of the Year” from Sports Illustrated. He would win that award again in 1957.
Carroll Shelby was nothing if not a keen businessman. In early 1957, Shelby opened his first car dealership in Dallas, Texas. Bolstered by his success behind the wheel – Carroll won the 24 Hours of in 1969, driving an – Shelby went on to build the iconic using a chassis built by in England and powered by a V8 engine. Officially homologated in 1962, the Cobra Roadster won its first race in January of 1963.
Driven by legendary drivers like Phil Hill, A.J. Foyt and Dan Gurney, the Shelby Cobra and its aerodynamic Daytona Coupe sibling won the Sports Car Club of America’s A-production title and the United States Road Racing Championship in ‘63. The following year brought with it the big-block 427 Cobra, and the machine went on to deal serious blows to , the dominant sports car manufacturer of the time.
Shelby began his long-running relationship with the Ford factory in 1965, as the Shelby GT350 hit both the street and the race track. That year, Shelby secured the FIA World Championship of GT cars. In 1966, a Shelby-backed Ford team finished in first, second and third place at Le Mans; this was the first time an American team claimed victory in the historic race, but it would not be the last – Shelby’s team would go on to win Le Mans again in 1967. The Ford GT40 ended up in first place four straight years from 1966-1969.
The Shelby GT350 claimed the Trans Am racing title in 1967, and in that year, the very last 427 Shelby Cobra was built. In 1970, Ford ended its partnership with Shelby, and the man would remain mostly quiet in the automotive industry until the 1980s, when approached Carroll about building high-performance versions of products. The Omni and would Go Like Hell for several years, embarrassing V8-powered Mustangs and Camaros along the way.
Carroll Shelby received a heart transplant in 1990 and would go on to reintroduce Cobra 427 S/C continuation cars and 4000-series cars throughout the 1990s. Shelby was also involved heavily with both the and programs. No wonder why Carroll Shelby was inducted into the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.
Today, the name Shelby may be most often tied to the latest and greatest models from Ford, but it’s clear that the man has impacted the performance world for decades. While he may no longer be alive, there can be little doubt that Carroll Shelby’s influence will be felt by enthusiasts for as long as cars move us from one place to another.
We’ve collected a couple of videos that we thought were a fitting tribute to Shelby’s unending legacy. Join us in watching them by .
When it comes to supercars, the sky is the proverbial limit. You can literally spend millions. And with vehicles like the , and , you can spend hundreds of thousands on a top-of-the-line luxury sedan, too. But when it comes to SUVs, prices seldom if ever breach the $100K mark fetched by the likes of the and the .
There are a handful of automakers aiming to break that barrier though. Like the upcoming SUVs from and , the on-again, off-again Spyker D12, and this, the FX Sebastian Vettel Version.
Based on the , the Vettel edition has had the output from its 5.0-liter V8 upped to from 390 horsepower to 414 for a 5.6-second sprint to 60 and a 186 mph top speed. The suspension is said to have been set up by the reigning two-time world champion himself, with the carbon fiber aero kit developed by his Red Bull Racing team. The only change we’ve heard of from the concept car pictured above to the production version will be a more conventional pearl white paint job instead of the matte white of the show car.
Only 200 examples will be produced, with 50 earmarked for continental Europe, and most of the rest likely heading to the Middle East. The price for such a high-end performance crossover? 120,000 euros, or about $155,000 in American greenbacks (if it were actually offered here). Of course if that still seems too slow and too cheap, you could always order a custom Juke-R from Infiniti’s parent company and smoke some supercars in the process.
As expected, the so-called auto bailout of 2009 has become a major talking point in the run-up to the 2012 Presidential Election. Somewhat surprisingly, however, both sides of the aisle are taking credit for the success seen by and since the two automakers were pushed through a structured bankruptcy process.
Presumptive Republican nominee for the resuscitation of the auto industry due to his suggestion of a managed bankruptcy of the two automakers. President Obama, on the other hand, points out that Romney was very vocal in his opposition to the auto bailout, frequently citing the editorial he wrote for the New York Times in 2009 titled “,” in which he said the auto industry was “virtually guaranteed” to fail if Obama’s bailout proceeded.
Building on highlighting the auto bailout of 2009, the Obama campaign has released two new videos touting the success of the automakers since the dark days of bankruptcy. to watch the videos for yourself.
and have spent the past two years becoming BFFs under the covers of their small cars. In addition to the production version of the Infiniti Etherea using the and Nissan in Tennessee, two years ago it was reported that the next Infiniti G would get engines from the German automaker. As the launch draws nearer, a report in Autocar indicates that Mercedes four-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines will be under the hood from the beginning.
Infiniti has been investing heavily in growing the brand across the world, especially in Europe. The G range had no four-pot in the lineup, and without that, few buyers would even consider it. Having economical engines right from the start will at least give purchasers a reason to cross-shop the G with the and , its target market. It will need that expanded consideration to move from 2011’s 145,000 global sales to the 500,000 sales it seeks in 2016.
If you’re wondering why Mercedes would provide engines and know-how to an entry-level luxury car that competes against the 3 Series, one of Mercedes main rivals, Renault- CEO Carlos Ghosn said . “People buying Infiniti or Daimler, they don’t cross-shop between the two brands…. We came to the conclusion that Mercedes collaborating with Infiniti will not be hurting each other.”
isn’t going anywhere, according to parent company Proton. Autocar reports representatives of Proton’s new owner, DRB-HICOM, stopped by Lotus HQ to reassure the company’s staff.
Dato Sri Haji Mohd Khamil Bin Jamil, DRB-HICOM group managing director, said his company “is not thinking about a sale.” While the executive said that he could never fully dismiss the prospect of sending Lotus off to another owner, right now such a move isn’t one of his company’s top priorities. Instead, figuring out a course for Lotus could take months. In the meantime, Dato Jamil said his company would continue to support Lotus financially.
Until recently, Proton was owned by the Malaysian government, but DRB-HICOM purchased the company three months ago. Since then, the future of Lotus has been anything but certain. All production and development stopped for 60 days after the deal was inked, but has now officially resumed. Even so, with no clear long-term decision from DRB-HICOM, it remains unclear whether Lotus will pursue the five-year plan laid out by company CEO Dany Bahar.
General Motors stock has been , failing to climb past $30 per share since July of last year. Trading at around $22 per share today, the optimism that surrounded the company’s emergence from bankruptcy and in November 2010 has all but vanished. So it’s no wonder that the United States Treasury has decided to sit on its GM shares, with no plans to sell of its remaining 26 percent stake in the automaker.
According to The Detroit News, the Treasury believes that GM is underpriced given the changes that have happened at the company. Assistant Treasury Secretary Time Massad told the News, “Our perspective is that the company has made real progress, but the market hasn’t given them as much credit for that as it might.”
The government stands to lose $15 billion on the bailout at today’s stock prices, according to the report. Of the $49.5 billion spent on the bailout, the government has already recouped roughly $23 billion in reducing its stake in GM from the 61 percent it once held. GM shares would have to more than double in value to $53 for the Treasury to break even in liquidating the 500 million shares it still owns, according to the report.
CAR magazine reports is hard at work on crafting the next-generation . When it bows, the machine is expected to carry with it an all-new nomenclature, doing away with the 1 badge in favor of a new 2 Series emblem. This we’ve heard of BMW filling in its model line with both 2 and 4 Series models, nor the first hint that the 1 Series Convertible will be reborn as the 2 Series. CAR does supply a few more details however, stating that the 1 and 2 will be separated largely by a few sheetmetal tweaks. That means we can expect to see more or less the same engine options behind the headlights.
Why bother changing the naming structure at all? According to CAR, BMW is attempting to get its fleet more inline with those of and , which use a hierarchical structure to differentiate less premium models from pricier hardware. The report suggests buyers can expect to see the new 2 starting in 2014, complete with a six-speed manual transmission or an optional eight-speed automatic gearbox.
Sportsmen – whether you’d classify them all as athletes or not – are some of the wealthiest people in the world. And every year, The Sunday Times puts out a list of the richest among them. The list takes all their assets into account – including salaries past and present, endorsements and other investments – and ranks them by their net worth. So who comes out on top?
Golfers, if you can believe it. Tiger Woods tops the Top 20 list worldwide at £538 million (~$870M), joined by Arnold Palmer at No. 4 with £230M ($370M), Greg Norman at No. 9 with £174M ($280M) and Jack Niclaus at No. 11 with £158M ($255M). But just behind them are the racing drivers.
Michael Schumacher just trails Tiger with £510 million ($824M), making him the second richest sportsman in the world, by far the wealthiest racer, and within reach of becoming the first billionaire driver in the world. Little wonder, as he’s the most decorated driver the world has ever known.
Also on the list are Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, who tie for eighteenth place (together with baseball’s CC Sabathia) at £100 million ($160M) apiece. But in between these Formula One drivers sits one Dale Earnhardt, arguably the biggest name in NASCAR, who ties basketball star Kobe Bryant at sixth place with £185 million ($300M) in assets.
Now if only someone paid us that much to drive around in circles, well…we’d still probably be blogging about cars, only we’d be doing it from onboard our own mega-yachts somewhere a lot more glamorous.
As automotive enthusiasts by profession, there’s nothing we love here at Autoblog quite as much as cars. But a distant second for many of us comes watches. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of automotive-inspired timepieces out on the market, but the unfortunate reality for many is that the correlation is just too forced. That’s what we love about Officine Autodromo.
Rather than amp up their octane count with branding associations or glossy carbon-fiber components, Autodromo takes a deliciously understated approach with minimalist designs that take their inspiration from the tachometers on Italian racing cars from the 1960s and 70s and their names from famous Italian racing circuits.
We reported on Autodromo’s first collection upon its launch back in November, and now the upstart has followed up with a chronograph version of its slick Vallelunga timepiece. Upgrading on the simplicity of its lug-less case design, the Vallelunga Chronograph features the stopwatch and 30-minute counter sought by many drivers looking for more timing functions out of their wristwatch. It’s powered by a a Swiss-made Ronda quartz movement, housed under K1 anti-glare crystal, affixed to the wrist by a perforated leather strap and available with either a white face and brushed stainless steel case or in black on black.
You can find further details in the press release , but the high-res image gallery is worth checking out just for the photo shoot orchestrated in France behind the wheel of four classic Alfa Romeos and a vintage Eleven.
