has the chap Bond, has its Avengers and now has its own movie vehicle, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. The computer-generated film from Universal will feature a “Seuss-ified” rolling through a forest of lollipop-like truffula trees.
It’s a slightly strange movie for a car company to call its own, since the original book was a enviromentalist tale and the Lorax – who spoke for the truffula trees against the industrial ambitions of the Once-ler – complained even more when trucks began rolling into the forest. The case is aided by the fact that Universal got rid of that storyline almost completely, and Mazda’s Skyactiv credentials are what’s really in play here.
for Mazda’s 45-second commercial for the CX-5 and the movie, as well as a press release on its donations to the National Education Association.
We checked driving a tank off our list of 1,001 Car Things To Do Before You Die in – or at least our hosts, , did. They performed this feat at the aptly named company in Kasota, Minnesota.
Drive A Tank offers a number of packages that include not only piloting up to three tanks in a day, but also history lessons on the usage of tanks in battle, a tour of their facilities and the chance to fire some historic military firearms. As Jessie herself experienced, there’s even a Car Crush package that lets you drive a Chieftain Main Battle Tank over an auto that’s past its prime.
But crushing a car may not be enough for you, which is why Drive A Tank just added mobile home crushing to its list of options. According to co-owner Tory Borglum, crushing cars has been a big hit with customers, but once the crush bug had bitten them, people wanted more. And so, Tony and company began intercepting mobile homes headed to the junkyard for one more fling on their tank course.
The Mobile Home Crush package starts at $500 and goes up to $3,495. Drive a Tank has also expanded its fleet of available military vehicles to drive with some non-treaded transports. New to the company this year are two M35 2½-ton cargo trucks and a GMV-spec military Humvee.
Despite tight budgets at all levels of government, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is still . According to a report in The Huffington Post, a small town in New Hampshire was set to receive an armored personnel vehicle before one local resident launched a petition drive to block the acquisition.
The Keene, NH, police department was going to get its own Lenco BearCat, a vehicle the town’s mayor reportedly described as a “tank.” However, citizens in the town of 23,000 revolted, according to the article, with nearly 100 of them packing a city council meeting in opposition. Critics said the vehicle promoted violence, and cited a promotional video for the BearCat that shows gun-wielding cops using one of the armored trucks to knock down the door of a house and spray tear gas inside. The issue is scheduled to come up again at next month’s meeting.
A $285,933 grant from DHS would pay for the eight-ton military truck. The Huffington Post cites a report from the Center for Investigative Reporting stating that $34 billion of similar grants have been issued since Sept. 11, 2001.
A Lenco spokesman criticized some of the citizens who spoke out against his firm’s vehicle, calling them “crazy” and saying, “When a Lenco Bearcat shows up at a crime scene where a suicidal killer is holding hostages, it doesn’t show up with a cannon. It shows up with a negotiator. Our trucks save lives,” according to the article.
Click to watch the Lenco BearCat promotional video, featuring AC-DC’s “Thunderstruck.”
is a topic that’s on everybody’s minds these days, and for good reason. Every new car and truck sold today is packed with more technology than every before, from touchscreen LCDs that offer myriad audio and infotainment options to voice-controlled applications and various forms of smartphone integration.
It comes as little surprise, then, that U.S. Department of Transportation head has announced a new set of proposed distracted driving guidelines for automakers that would limit the use of in-car tech solutions that are “not directly relevant to safely operating the vehicle, or cause undue distraction by engaging the driver’s eyes or hands for more than a very limited duration while driving.”
Specifically, DOT is recommending that automakers not introduce technology packages that require both hands to operate or that could take a driver’s eyes from the road for more than two seconds. Further, DOT wants technologies that require detailed input from the driver to be disabled while the car is out of park. That would include text messaging and internet browsing along with such tasks as address entry into navigation systems and manual phone dialing.
Future guidelines may include recommendations to manufacturers of aftermarket devices like smartphones, portable GPS units and tablet computers. It’s important to note that these guidelines are recommendations, not mandates. Feel free to read the entire press release, which includes specific guidelines, . The public will have 60 days to comment on this proposal before final guidelines are drafted.
When showed off the new SRT logo earlier this week, something struck us as odd. It looked familiar. A little too familiar. And not just in the Cobra Command way.
It took until this morning and a tip from our friend John to make the connection. Look at the new Viper logo, then look at the Flying Lizard Motorsports on the right. Coincidence? Surely. But still, there’s got to be more than one way to draw a nice asp…
can attribute much of its uptick in sales last month to fleets. While the automaker saw its sales leap by 7.5 percent compared to a year earlier, Newsday.com reports Toyota sold 47 percent more cars and trucks to fleet customers in the U.S. than in January 2011. Without the fleet sales, the improvement would have been less than one percent. All told, rental companies accounted for 93 percent of the automaker’s fleet sales in January, with the remainder going to other organizations.
Toyota and other Japanese automakers have always been reticent to embrace fleet sales. Doing so is not only generally less profitable than individual consumer sales, but can also lead to degraded brand image and resale value. Last month, was cited for having of the company’s going toward fleets.
Toyota, meanwhile, says the news isn’t the start of a trend. When Toyota factories were hobbled by earthquake and tsunami activity in Japan last year, the automaker put a stop to fleet sales altogether to keep its dealerships fed. According to Bob Carter, Toyota U.S. sales chief, the company promised to make up deliveries to its fleet customers, and January represents the automaker fulfilling that promise. Carter also said that while fleet sales will be high once again in February, things should return to normal once again in March.
Life is not fair. That’s about the only rational explanation we can offer for this little fact of life: A low MSRP is likely to mean big insurance payments.
Citing information from Insure.com, MarketWatch says the average price to insure a sedan, for instance, is about $2,353 per year, while a 2012 will run only $1,111 annually. The least expensive vehicles to insure tend to be relatively large vehicles, like minivans, trucks and SUV’s, according to the report. Even though those vehicles tend to be much more expensive than compact cars, they also tend to be driven by older, safer drivers.
Don’t think this is just a case of the rich getting richer, however, as expensive luxury and sports cars are none too cheap to insure either. The 2012 Spyder topped the Insure.com list of most expensive vehicles to insure at $3,384 per year. The Sienna had the lowest average insurance cost in the study, followed by the and .
Insure.com’s editorial director, Amy Danise, told MarketWatch that the savings some people think they’re getting by buying small could evaporate because of the higher insurance premiums. Her advice to keep premiums low? “Buy the minivan, move to the farm, only drive it locally and make sure you never have an accident or kids,” she said.
I think we’ll just keep writing those checks to AAA instead.
Radio-controlled cars and trucks truly are a labor of love. An expensive hobby no matter which way you slice it, the costs get exponentially higher the more scale accurate you try to make your machines. And when you’re talking R/C construction equipment, we’d wager that hundreds of dollars quickly turn into thousands of dollars.
Now that we’ve established that R/C machinery is an expensive hobby, let’s talk about its impact as a time-sucking activity. After all, not only must you completely assemble and perfect your radio-controlled creations, you’re certainly going to get them out to play with them. Or, if you’re a particular Joe from Saskatchewan, you’re going to do real-life work with them.
According to a massive , every morning Joe gets to work by loading his scale R/C excavator onto the back of a specially made R/C semi truck, then pilots the not-so-heavy equipment into his basement construction site. And by every morning, we mean every morning since June of 2005. Now that’s dedication to the hobby. At the end of each day, all the newly excavated dirt and rubble is driven up a spiraling ramp and out the basement window.
Fortunately, Joe has documented his small-scale R/C basement construction project, so we can all gawk and gander at a full suite of photographs and videos showing how it’s all been done. Check out the attached image gallery and the videos to see for yourself. We see only one problem… this leaves no way to eventually .
has been hitting on all cylinders of late, adding the and , the and the upcoming . That’s a lot of new metal for one calendar year, and it appears the Korean automaker is just getting warmed up.
Fox News reports that Hyundai USA CEO John Krafcik hinted to a new entry into the six- and seven-passenger crossover segment. The affable exec pointed out that Hyundai needed to do a better job of attracting families to the brand, adding “it’s probably fair to say we need more presence in the six and seven passenger crossover segment where we have the Veracruz now.”
Hyundai is also expected to unveil a at the , so the automaker’s CUV offerings are definitely looking up. As we , we expect Hyundai to eventually offer a long-wheelbase three-row version of the new Santa Fe to replace the slow-selling Veracruz, though the automaker has yet to confirm this development.
But while Krafcik hints that some new CUV metal is coming, fans of the Italic H shouldn’t hold their breath in anticipation of a pickup truck. Krafcik reportedly told Fox News that the automaker could build a truck if it wanted to, but the brand will instead focus on more efficient vehicles.
“When am I going to get my flying car?” It’s one of the more annoying questions we get asked on a regular basis, and the answer is quite simple: Something that’s designed to do two things is rarely good at doing either. Particularly when you’re talking about motor vehicles.
So that flying car won’t be particularly good for either flying or driving. And the same goes for amphibious vehicles – that is, vehicles designed to drive on (or off) road and float on water. By and large the history of these vehicles dictates that if you want a boat, you’re better off buying a boat, and if you want a truck, you’d better by a truck. Just don’t expect one to do both.
Gibbs Amphibians – the same outfit behind the Aquada amphibious sportscar and Quadski ATV/jet-ski – aims to change that with a pair of vehicles called the Phibian and the Humdinga. Both are designed to drive at highway speeds on the road and travel up to 30 mph (a respectable clip for a boat) on the water, with retractable wheels allowing it to switch between the two in seconds.
The 30-foot-long Phibian (pictured above) looks something like a Coast Guard patrol boat on a trailer packs a 500-horsepower turbo diesel that can drive all four wheels (selectable) or a pair of water jet drives, carrying up to 15 passengers. The Humdinga (pictured at right), meanwhile, measures 21.5 feet long and packs a 350-horsepower supercharged V8 to carry up to seven people.
Both are designed to make the transition from land to water and back to land, enabling rescue and supply duties to be carried out with ease and efficiency. We just wouldn’t expect either to be particularly adept in either environment. Check ‘em out in the high-res image gallery and press release for a closer look.
Competition versions of the have already been prepared for the Ferrari Challenge, Grand Am, and the GT3 and GT2 classes at Le Mans and its various associated series around the world. Now you can add one more to the roster: the FIA GT1 World Championship.
Ferrari had previously left GT1 racing to the MC12, but Vitaphone Racing is switching from the Maser to an upgraded version off the BMW Z4 GT3. No announcement has been made identifying which team will field the GT1-spec 458, but whoever takes up the mantle faces a tough field tough field that includes the new McLaren MP4-12C GT3, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, Audi R8 LMS Ultra and . The , and Aston Martin DBR9 all follow the MC12 out of the series this season.
Series organizer SRO also announced that it has struck a deal with Pirelli to provide all the rubber for both the GT1 and GT3 series. Follow the jump for the official statement.
The was commonly known for years as a truck show, with automakers using the McCormick Place to show off their sport-utility vehicles and pickups. And while trends have indeed shifted in the automotive world (SUV is a dirty word these days), some companies still take time to debut a special truck or two here in the Windy City. , Chrysler’s pickup truck arm, has brought its new to Chicago, offering full-size truck buyers a host of upscale standard amenities in a decidedly classy package.
The Ram Laramie Limited’s exterior is attended to with the addition of big alloy wheels and chrome accents, while inside, there’s a smattering of leather upholstery with contrast stitching, deep berber carpets, heated seats, a heated steering wheel, unique gauges, LED ambient lighting and navigation, among other amenities.
The Laramie Limited is available in 1500, 2500 HD and 3500 HD configurations, and will hit dealerships later this year.
The shows that the rivalry between and still . But is there room for another brand or two to mix it up in the battle for pickup supremacy? Not according to marketing chief Joel Ewanick.
Fox News reports that Ewanick said during a web chat on that “the two big players are Ford and Chevy.” Ewanick added that it’s like a presidential debate, saying “We want to have it with the other strong candidate – and we want to engage them and want them to engage us.”
A quick look at the numbers shows that Ewanick has a point. The was the top dog in 2011, with 584,917 trucks sold. The came in second with 415,130 sales, but if you add the nearly identical , General Motors makes the battle much closer with 564,300 unit sales. That’s more sales than the , and combined (even without the Sierra.)
The Ram, also an excellent pickup, finished a distant third with a reported 244,763 sales. Still, Ram brand spokesperson Dave Elshoff insists that Ram trucks remain part of the equation, adding “across much of the west – where trucks are worked hard – it’s Ram that’s either number one or two in market share.”
We’re not so sure that the truck battle is Chevy versus Ford and then everybody else, but it sure is nice to see GM and Ford getting a little chippy. It’s a good bet that the chatter grows louder as the next generation Silverado and F-150 hit the auto show circuit in about a year.
has the . ? The Family Vehicle of the Year. And for 2012, the winner is the .
While we must have missed last year’s inaugural winner – it was the , by the way – we did catch this year’s award presentation. The Passat beat out two other finalists, the and , in the voting of 68 automotive journalists. Those car scribes all belong to the Midwest Automotive Media Association, or “MAMA,” as the Chicago-based group is affectionately known.
Candidates for the FVOTY must be new or updated vehicles that have four doors, have base prices under $50,000, and “appear at one of MAMA’s two annual rallies.” Other models considered in the 2012 voting included the , , , , , , , , and .
Are you a U.S. automaker? Do you want a billion dollars? Have we got a deal for you! Just build 60,000 cars that get 100 miles per gallon and the government will send a truckload of cash to your office doors (or, perhaps, mail a check).
H.R. 3872 – the – was just introduced by Representative (R) of California’s 3rd Congressional District. If passed, the legislation would have the Secretary of Energy “establish a program to award a prize in the amount of $1,000,000,000 to the first automobile manufacturer incorporated in the United States to manufacture and sell in the United States 60,000 mid-sized sedan automobiles which operate on gasoline and can travel 100 miles per gallon.”
That’s right, no cheating with subcompacts toys or fancy all-electrics, it’s for adult-sized gasoline-burners only. It’s unclear whether plug-in hybrids such as the or upcoming might be eligible, but we doubt it since OpenCongress the subtitle is, “To provide a prize to the first manufacturer of highly-efficient mid-sized automobiles powered by gasoline,” and the Volt already .
While established automakers couldn’t be lured in by the measly $1 million offered by the , we’re sure they’d be more than happy to accept a check with the big B on it. The question this proposed law begs, though, is would they make an extra effort to achieve this sort of sky-high efficiency goal under other circumstances?
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.”
There’s something inexplicably mesmerizing about watching a factory in action. Seeing the innumerable complex mechanisms mesh in perfect harmony to create the products we know and love is part of what makes shows like National Geographic’s Ultimate Factories so interesting. Now the program is headed to Dearborn for a look at how the and come together on the line in crystal-clear HD video. The show will also spend time with both trucks out on the company’s proving grounds, which means there’s a good chance we’ll see the Raptor bashing over various obstacles.
Consider us excited. Last year, the Ford plant in Dearborn produced 344,446 vehicles, making it the third most productive plant in North America behind the facility in Aguascalientes, Mexico and the plant in Puebla, Mexico.
The show will air on Saturday, February 4 at 8 p.m. Eastern on the National Geographic Channel, but you can get a glimpse of what to expect in the video .
be built on Ultimate Factories this weekend [w/video]
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.
The annals of automotive history are filled with nameplates that weren’t quite able to survive the boom and bust nature of the business, especially here in the United States. One of the most successful orphaned automakers was , for such design gems as the bullet-nosed post-World War II Starlight and trend-setting fiberglass-bodied .
Sadly, Studebaker officially ceased producing automobiles in 1966, though a small portion of its legacy lives today in the form of the ex-Kaiser . But if a Colorado-based business has its way, the Studebaker name will once again appear on vehicles sold in America. Somehow, we’re far from convinced any of its conceptual designs will ever see the light of day.
Looking over the proposed revival, we see a range of so-called Studebaker cars, trucks, motorcycles and scooters. Half the motorcycles are actually Hyosung models from Korea with Studebaker scripting on the fuel tanks, and the other half are nothing but poor renderings. As for the cars, well… there isn’t a single shred of Studebaker DNA in any of them. In any case, the company is reportedly looking for “qualified investor/partners”. We wish them the best of luck… they’re gonna need it.
has the honor of being this year’s top producing North American automotive manufacturer by a wide margin with its Puebla, Mexico facility. The factory managed to produce 510,041 units last year, beating out second-place and its Aguascalientes, Mexico plant by a staggering 149,245 units, according to Ward’s Auto. Nissan jumped from third to second place after and its Georgetown plant dropped from the top five. Toyota and both saw themselves ousted from the leader board after a year pockmarked by disruptions from earthquake and tsunami activity in Japan and flooding in Thailand.
The Japanese automakers’ vacancies made room for and its facility in Montgomery, Alabama with 338,127 units to take fourth place. , meanwhile, moved from fifth in 2010 to third in 2011 with 344,446 units from its Dearborn Truck plant. Nissan rounded out the top five last year with the company’s plant in Smyrna, Tennessee taking the automaker’s second spot on the list.
Ward’s Auto reports Volkswagen enjoyed a boost from the popularity of the . That model alone helped push the company’s Puebla facility to a 75,356 unit gain over last year’s figures. Head over to Ward’s to see the full report.
