The eBay Motors smartphone application has a clever new feature. Users can now take a photo of any car they see on the street and the app will find similar listings for them automatically. Want to know how much that in the parking lot is going for right now? Just point and shoot. We tested the app ourselves and found it to be fairly accurate. It had no trouble honing in on a , but struggled a bit with editor-in-chief John Neff’s 1991 Ford Taurus SHO.
The good news is that if the app gets confused, it just asks you for more information about the vehicle. Users can also be notified when they’ve been outbid on an item, share their auctions via Twitter, and watch special racing coverage with host Justin Bell. to check out the full press blast.
Perhaps the biggest reveal of 2012 for fans of luxury performance all-electric vehicles (or, perhaps, anyone automotively inclined with a pulse) is when pulls the shroud from its crossover at its new Los Angeles design studio. And now, we have been given a strong hint of what to expect.
The upstart California startup has just sent out a new version of its invitation to customers, and included on the summons is a partially silhouetted image of something seemingly very sleek and very sexy. Indeed, it must be the Model X. While there is some of the same design language used in the sedan, the teaser suggests a vehicle with a shorter hood, a taller roof and less-pronounced creases in its sheet metal.
We’ll have a presence at the event, but you can witness the unveiling in real time from the comfort of your own home. CEO has that the reveal will be shown live on the at 8:00 PM (we presume that’s Pacific Standard Time). He also adds, “Most cars are pretty blah. This is not.”
After seeing the image above and adding the “Quicker than a Porsche 911 and roomier than an Audi Q7″ statement we’ve heard previously to the equation, we’re going to give him the benefit of the doubt. For now.
The of Peugeot from the racing scene came as quite a shock, we know. But don’t count the inaugural FIA World Endurance Championship – or the famed 24-hour race at its center – out for the count before it’s even started, because another powerhouse is already gearing up to take Peugeot’s place. And that powerhouse is .
The Japanese auto giant to build and campaign a new LMP1 racer at Le Mans and the WEC back in October. Toyota Motorsport GmbH (which ran the company’s F1 team until its withdrawal in 2009) then set about designing the car, to help with the logistics of entering the pinnacle of endurance racing, and to, you know, actually drive the thing.
With all those pieces in place, the Toyota team began testing their new prototype racer last week at the Paul Ricard test track in France. Toyota itself didn’t release much in the way of details, but Alex Wurz was said to have led the shake-down, with his team-mates Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima on hand to share in the driving duties as well.
And while no “official” photos were “officially” released, Toyota PR rep Scott Brownlee a couple of snapshots to whet our appetites. The result looks, predictably enough, much like the latest LMP1 racers fielded by and the departed Peugeot, but as with most things, it’s what’s underneath the surface that will count the most. In Toyota’s sake, that would be a gasoline-electric hybrid drivetrain of some sort, but we’ll have to wait a little while longer – as the next round of testing and the car’s anticipated debut at Spa come May approach – to find out more.
Given a moment’s thought, it’s a little surprising that , a luxury brand that changed the game, has never run an ad during the Super Bowl. But the home of L-Finesse not only has nine new or updated cars coming out this year, led by the , it has a new attitude, which will be “uncontained” in a 30-second spot while the Niners play the Patriots the NFL champion is decided.
The ad will be supported by a campaign called “TweetDrive Engineered by Lexus,” and those with a Twitter account and a bunch of correct answers will have a chance to win a trip to that Bowl of Superness. The spot arrives on February 5. For now, you can watch the teaser trailer and check out the press release and contest details .
Pandora may becoming a standard on every major OEM infotainment system, but all-you-can-eat subscription music services haven’t gained the same momentum or widespread adoption. is aiming to change that with automotive partnerships with and , but its just-announced tie-up with extends MOG’s reach even further, and has wider implications, not just for the on-demand music service, but for Aha Radio as a whole.
The partnership with Aha Radio (now owned by Harman) is just the first of several MOG will be announcing in 2012. Aftermarket companies like JVC are also implementing the music service into their head units, but what’s more important is the usage of Aha Radio as the method of delivery.
Rather than going to an automaker, getting approval to use its API and then developing an app that only works with one infotainment system, MOG is integrating its service into Aha Radio, which delivers a range of content – from restaurant information to Facebook feeds – into a single app that’s ported and controlled through your in-dash touchscreen.
So Aha Radio is the platform – a one-stop conduit for content – and MOG, NPR, CNN, Twitter, Facebook and others deliver the substance.
Both and have announced partnerships with Aha Radio and plan to integrate the service into their factory head units beginning this spring. But you don’t need to buy a 2013 (pictured above) to get in on the action. Kenwood will join Pioneer to begin offering Aha Radio on its head units later this year. and even better, Aha Radio runs and integrates with both and devices, so no need to worry about connectivity issues. for the all the details.
Along with the of the , Ford brought something completely different – for the mid-size segment, anyway – to the this morning with the Fusion Energi plug-inhybrid. It’s the cleanest of the trio and it shows that Ford is ready to introduce a big change to the competitive (and somewhat staid) mid-size class.
Ford says it expects the Fusion Energi to get better MPGe ratings than both the (, EPA rating) and the (, but that’s on the European rating cycle). Ford won’t say for certain – the Energi isn’t due for another 8-12 months, after all – but the automaker is saying the plug-in should get “up to more than 100 MPGe.” That’s a convoluted way to say, “we think we win.”
Ford isn’t talking about all the details of this powertrain just yet, but we do know use the Fusion Hybrid’s 2.0-liter Atkinson-cycle engine at its core, matched with a lithium-ion battery. We’ll have to wait until later to learn about charging times, battery size and all-EV range.
In a short video about the different powertrains available in the 2013 Fusion, Eric Kuehn, chief engineer of Ford’s Global Electrified Vehicles says, “With a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, it allows the consumer to be a lot more empowered.” Given Ford’s emphasis on the whole “Power of Choice” thing, we’re glad powertrains were not excluded in the options matrix. Ford representatives are also answering questions about the car today on . Use the hashtag to join in.
Back in October, that the all-electric crossover from , the , would be revealed ahead of the ? Well, scratch that. That information was, apparently, inaccurate. Dubitable. Counterfactual even. Instead, it seems that February 9 marks the day the X is to be spotted.
The news comes courtesy of the enthusiasts over at the . A member read in a recent copy of Barclays Capital research report that the Tesla’s design studio in LA would be the setting for the Model X reveal. AutoblogGreen contacted Tesla to confirm, and was told that, “Yes, there will be a February 9th Model X event.”
The upcoming reveal won’t have been its first, however. The vehicle was shown to some institutional investor types just before Christmas and, going by a handful of tweets that went out across the internetz shortly thereafter, they were impressed. , they say. and this could get pretty interesting.
We wanted our Six Days of Giveaways to be our presents to you, the readers of Autoblog who make what we do even possible. And so we’ve saved our best gift for last.
The final prize is an amazing racing setup courtesy of the fine folks at (, ). They’ve given us not only a copy of their own fine work, but also a gaming console to play it on and a wireless wheel to control it. We’re particularly fond of this custom Xbox 360 console that not only comes with Kinect, but also features a custom Forza 4-themed case with the visage of a 2012 BMW M5 staring back at you.
We hope all of you follow the instructions below to enter to win our Day 6 prize package courtesy of Forza Motorsport 4. The chance to win (and actually winning for one lucky entrant) is our small thanks for your patronage this past year.
NOTE:Make sure to check your spam folder to see if you’re a winner of any of this week’s giveaways.
HOW TO ENTER
Leave a single comment on this post (if you leave two or more, all of your entries will be disqualified)
You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
Limit 1 entry per person during entry period
The entry period ends at 1:00 PM EST on Saturday, December 24th, 2011. We’ll randomly select 1 winner at that time to receive a Xbox 360 Wireless Speed Wheel ($59.99), Forza Motorsport 4 for Xbox 360 (59.99) and an Xbox 360 “Forza Motorsport 4″ custom console ($199.99).
We never want to forget that many if not most auto enthusiasts have progeny, and while it’d be all too easy to blame your spawn for the simple fact that there is a Honda Odyssey instead of a Porsche Boxster in your garage right now, the truth is that you could be raising the next Ayrton Senna.
With that in mind, we want to help kick off your child’s racing career with his or her very first seat (, ): the designed for children 37 to 61 inches tall and weighing between 30 an 120 pounds.
As a bonus, we’re also going to include a few of those we last week.
NOTE:Make sure to check your spam folder to see if you’re a winner of any of this week’s giveaways.
HOW TO ENTER
Leave a single comment on this post (if you leave two or more, all of your entries will be disqualified)
You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
Limit 1 entry per person during entry period
The entry period ends at 1:00 PM EST on Friday, December 23th, 2011. We’ll randomly select 1 winner at that time to receive a Recaro ProBOOSTER child seat valued at $129.99.
The (, ) is a product we were introduced to just this year and have made great use of. We suction-cupped a Replay XD1080 to the side of a minivan to back in August. We’ve also been using the Replay XD1080 to take high-res images and HD video of new vehicles we’re reviewing, as well as .
Truth is, you can attach the Replay XD1080 to almost anything: racing helmets, hoods, doors, dashes, windshields, roll cages, etc. Once affixed, it’s simple to set up the camera to shoot high-definition video or snap stills of whatever action is happening in front of it.
Normally the Replay XD1080 , but for you we’re making one available at the cost of nothing if you follow the instructions below to enter our fourth giveaway and are randomly selected as our lucky winner.
NOTE:Make sure to check your spam folders to see if you’re a winner of any of this week’s giveaways.
HOW TO ENTER
Leave a single comment on this post (if you leave two or more, all of your entries will be disqualified)
You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
Limit 1 entry per person during entry period
The entry period ends at 1:00 PM EST on Thursday, December 22th, 2011. We’ll randomly select 1 winner at that time to receive the Replay XD1080 video camera valued at $299.99.
Eagle-eyed Autoblog readers may remember the (, ) that we . Since then, nearly every writer and editor on the Autoblog team has picked out his own favorite prints and added them to his Christmas list. What we didn’t realize is that Xander’s been busy since February and has expanded his offerings with more prints as well as apparel that includes T-shirts, ties and even sunglasses.
Fortunately for you, Xander’s as much a fan of Autoblog as we are of him, and he was more generous than we could’ve hoped when we asked him to participate in our Six Days of Giveaways. Not only does today’s prize pack include two of our favorite prints, and but Xander also included two T-shirts, two ties and two pairs of sunglasses.
Altogether the prize pack is worth over $350, though it’s hard to put a price on artwork this beautiful. It could all be yours if you follow the simple instructions below to enter.
HOW TO ENTER
Leave a single comment on this post (if you leave two or more, all of your entries will be disqualified)
You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
Limit 1 entry per person during entry period
The entry period ends at 1:00 PM EST on Wednesday, December 21th, 2011. We’ll randomly select 1 winner at that time to receive the Xander Walker prize pack valued at $358.60.
We considered putting together a holiday gift guide this year, but thought it would be much more fun to give gifts ourselves than recommend what should be given to others. So we rounded up some of our favorite products from the past year and will spend the following week handing them out to you in Six Days of Giveaways.
We’re kicking things off with the (, ), which includes Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax, ultra plush microfiber wash mitt & Water Magnet microfiber drying towel, Meguiar’s Ultimate Liquid Wax with a soft foam applicator and Supreme Shine Microfiber Towel, and Endurance Tire Gel & applicator. And we’ve got four of these kits to give away.
To enter, simply leave a comment on this post. See below for the complete rules and come back for our next giveaway at 1:00 PM EST on Monday.
HOW TO ENTER
Leave a single comment on this post (if you leave two or more, all of your entries will be disqualified)
You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
Limit 1 entry per person during entry period
The entry period ends at 1:00 PM EST on Saturday, December 17th, 2011. We’ll randomly select 4 winners at that time to receive a Meguiar’s New Car Kit valued at $26.99.
In August of last year, a 19-year-old pickup driver received 11 texts in as many minutes while traveling down a Missouri highway outside Gray Summit. The truck rear-ended a stopped tractor trailer at speed, which was then struck by not one, but two school buses, resulting in a massive, multi-car pileup that left 38 people injured and two dead – including the serial texter and a 15-year-old student riding in one of the buses.
The crash made national news and gained even more press after the driver’s phone records were released. Today, the National Transportation Safety Board is recommending a nationwide ban on using a mobile phone while driving.
The key word there is “recommending.” The NTSB doesn’t have the power to enact legislation; it can only persuade lawmakers to pass a bill making it illegal for the driver to operate a mobile phone unless it’s an emergency. But the NTSB is taking it a step further. The government group doesn’t want drivers to use any electronic or Internet-connected device in the car, and that could include some of the newest ‘Net-enabled infotainment systems embedded into vehicles. Further, the proposed ban means even using a Bluetooth headset to take calls could be illegal.
Currently, mobile phone bans are enacted by states, with nine states and the District of Columbia prohibiting their use while behind the wheel, and 35 states banning texting while driving. Those figures doesn’t include the other states that ban novice or bus drivers from using a mobile phone while driving.
The NTSB’s hearing was held earlier today, but the official text of the recommendation has yet to be released. We’ll update this post accordingly when the NTSB offers us more than and .
UPDATE: The text of the NTSB’s recommendation is available , and as suspected, it’s a sweeping suggestion for all States and the District of Columbia to not only ban mobile phone use, but any electronic device while driving.
It’s been 50 years since introduced the P1800, and the Swedish automaker has chosen to mark the occasion by releasing a few sketches of what a modern interpretation of the sports coupe would look like. Christopher Benjamin, chief designer with Volvo, just so happens to be a big fan of the P1800 and worked up the sketches as part of a Twitterchat with fans of the brand. Needless to say, the sketches have created a serious stir among the Volvo faithful, but the company has made it clear there are no plans to bring a modernized P1800 to market.
That’s a real shame, too. We can imagine such a vehicle would give the a serious run for its money depending on final driveline decisions.
Unfortunately, Volvo is still too busy shoring up its core products to worry about branching off into low-volume niches, at least for the moment. If you like the look of Benjamin’s sketches, head over to the to let him know.
I’ll be honest – I don’t love our . It’s a perfectly fine luxury sedan, but as a daily driver, it has about as much personality as the new sofa I bought last month. Autoblog Editor-in-Chief John Neff, on the other hand, is quite fond of our long-termer, and in my conversations with him, the vast majority of his praise was concentrated around the Hyundai’s behavior on really long road trips – something that, even after our team collectively put nearly 20,000 miles on the car, I had yet to experience, aside from a few quick jaunts between Detroit and Chicago.
Earlier this month, I needed to make a trip from Detroit to southern Illinois and back – 1,200 miles in total that would be covered over two 9.5-hour stints. And since my route would only take me along the hardly scenic, decidedly boring interstates of the midwest (looking at you, I-75, I-70 and I-57), this was clearly a job for the .
Keep your eyes locked on the official for the majority of our updates, as well as the official Autoblog Twitter account (, look for the hashtag).
Android owners with a USB-equipped vehicle might not get all the connected benefits of their iPhone-touting friends, but at least they could plug in to access their tunes. Now it seems that Google’s latest flagship won’t even do that.
Speaking , Android engineer Dan Morrill confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus can’t support USB mass storage. Unlike other Android devices equipped with an SD card, your vehicle’s infotainment system would mount your smartphone and recognize it as a drive. That’s not the case with the Galaxy Nexus due to a new partition setup.
Thankfully, other devices upgraded to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) won’t be affected by the issue, so Nexus S owners can sleep soundly. Of course, Bluetooth playback will still be supported, so that long drive to Grandma’s house on Turkey Day won’t be a tunes-free affair.
Interestingly, one automaker should be immune from the issue: Ford. The automaker’s SYNC 1.0 and 2.0 infotainment systems supports MTP (Media Transfer Protocol), which the Galaxy Nexus uses to transfer files with Windows machines. And as you’ll recall, Microsoft co-developed SYNC with Ford. However, representatives from Ford haven’t been able to confirm if the new Nexus works with their system, and we’ve yet to receive word from other automakers about the issue.
The first diesel has arrived in the United States. But it’s not destined for a showroom, and it’s not headed to a waiting customer. No, Jaguar has slightly more ambitious plans for this particular oil-burning sedan.
The 2.2-liter diesel four will propel this XF on a cross-country journey that will take it from New York to Los Angeles – a trip across eleven states covering 2,800 miles – over the course of seven days. The goal is to see how far the car can travel on a single tank of fuel, and follows a similar exercise undertaken in Europe that took a different XF diesel across 816 miles from Castle Bromwich in the UK to Munich, Germany, on a single tank, returning an average of 57 miles per gallon on the EU cycle.
Observers can track this trip’s progress on the company’s and , and we’ll be sure to report on the venture’s results once it’s reached the Pacific coast. Details in the press release .
This isn’t really shocking news – we’ve known that has been working on a of its new for quite some time – but it’s nice to have official confirmation directly from CEO John Krafcik and via a live announcement at SEMA. The highly anticipated 2013 Veloster Turbo will debut at the in January, reportedly alongside a refreshed .
The Veloster Turbo will – surprise, surprise – be powered by Hyundai’s new 1.6-liter inline four-cylinder engine that was in Korea. That engine’s previously announced spec is 204 horsepower – 66 more horsepower than the standard Veloster’s naturally aspirated inline four. Assuming the model gets some other upgrades along with it, the turbocharged hatchback should be a pretty enthusiastic steer.
As for the updated Genesis Coupe, Car and Driver says that Krafcik has confirmed the base 2.0-liter turbo-four and naturally aspirated 3.8-liter V6 will get power increases (the V6 will likely get the same 333-hp treatment that the received), and from the we’ve seen, we can expect the coupe’s styling to be more akin to that of the smaller Veloster. We’ll have the full details come January.
Back on October 17th, IRL driver Graham Rahal about auctioning the helmet, gloves and shoes he wore in Las Vegas Indy 300 race that claimed the life of fellow driver in a 15-car wreck, with the proceeds going to a trust for Wheldon’s family. Those three items from the rookie driver have turned into a cascade of memorabilia from athletes, celebrities and companies alike.
There are currently 68 items up for auction, the most popular being NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson’s tribute helmet; which he’s currently wearing in the 2011 Sprint Cup Chase. The helmet’s visor features a tribute to Wheldon. The current bid is $20,000, and the winner will actually have to wait until Jimmy’s done with the helmet at the end of the Chase to collect it.
The auctions, as we speak, will send 100% of their proceeds to the Dan Wheldon Family Trust Fund. You can get more information and on the site, or head and place your bid.
Touch – the Euro-spec version of Entune – is gaining one more functionality in the Toyota (not ) : Toyota Touch Life.
The system is the first to use the Car Connectivity Consortium’s (CCC) MirrorLink technology, which can port an exact replica of a connected smartphone’s display to the iQ’s seven-inch touchscreen.
The first platform supported by Toyota Touch Life comes from Nokia – a key partner in the CCC – and its Car Mode app, which can be download from the Nokia Store for devices running Symbian Belle (which, ironically, is about to be phased out in favor of Windows Phone 7).
Apple iPhone users aren’t left out of the mix and will be able to download the Application Launcher app from the App Store, allowing them to access the Garmin StreetPilot app, Stitcher radio and Facebook and Twitter integration through a clean and supposedly distraction-free interface. However, functionality in U.S. models remains an open question, something which should be cleared up in the coming months. Full details in the press blast .
![469cb was3311348 628 Breaking: NTSB wants to ban mobile phone and electronics use in cars across the country [UPDATE]](http://theautoblog.ru/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/469cb_was3311348-628.jpg "Breaking: NTSB wants to ban mobile phone and electronics use in cars across the country [UPDATE]")
