We’ve seen plenty of discussion on the merits of pedestrian warning systems for hybrid and all-electric vehicles. From synthesized engine sounds to the noise of George Jetson’s flying car, automakers and the aftermarket industry have worked to come up with a way to keep people aware of a vehicle’s presence.
Now it looks as if is having some fun with a safe sound system for the company’s electric delivery scooters in the Netherlands. Using a human voice to replicate the sound of a small-displacement gasoline engine, the scooter is both hilarious and safe.
It also makes for good advertising, though we’d hate to be the guy behind the handlebars after a few hours on the job. Between synthesized revs, the “engine” exclaims “Domino’s!” and “Pizza!” in what can only be described as the perfect Netherlands accent. for a quick chuckle.
If you’ve got an hour to kill and an itch to watch some exciting Targa Newfoundland action, we’ve got good news for you. SPEED has been kind enough to stream the network’s one-hour special free online. The episode spends plenty of time following both the Modern and Classic divisions with barely a nod toward Open or Grand Touring. That’s a shame for plenty of reasons, both because the competition was incredibly tight across the board this year and because I hung out with in both the latter classes during my .
Still, the Flyin’ Miata guys get a little time on screen. The rest of the coverage details the fight between Scott Giannou in his and Bob Yuille in his . There’s also plenty of interviews with Ralph Gilles. You can check out the full episode by clicking .
Many privileges come with the title of CEO at one of the world’s top automakers. As top man at and Renault, certainly has his share of perks. Take for instance unfettered access to Nissan’s heritage warehouse in Zama, Japan where 400 Nissan and Datsun vehicles are stored.
Ghosn was given the special CEO tour of the place recently and met some of the engineers who worked on cars such as the 1000 Sports Deluxe. During the visit, Ghosn was treated to a driving tour of the massive warehouse in the 75-year-old Datsun 17 Phaeton seen above.
The impressive collection also includes the once owned by Ghosn himself, several rally cars and, as the narrator says, “a collection of classic Zeds.” Nissan staff and volunteers keep at least 70 percent of the treasures fully drivable.
The warehouse is closed to the public, but there are hints in the video that Nissan could be planning a museum to house the collection. Check out the video by .
In the pantheon of bad ideas and even worse ideas, capturing yourself on video gratuitously breaking the law and later flaunting your indiscretions to the local constabulary ranks right between and .
Funny thing is, people seem to make this egregious mistake rather often. Exhibit A: . Exhibit B: The video you’ll see below.
First off, it’s seriously stupid and irresponsible to risk your own life and the lives of others by riding at speeds of up to 185 miles per hour while weaving your way through traffic. But it takes even fewer brain cells to share video evidence on YouTube, especially considering that we can all see that you’re riding what appears to be a 2006 Yamaha R1 painted up in factory blue.
According to CBC News, Vancouver Island police are trying to track down the rider in this clip. Scroll to see the video for yourself.
Well lookie what we have here. We’ve been waiting for to pull the silk off its long-awaited compact sedan, and a brace of new concept car images have started leaking onto the Internet this morning as further proof that a production model is almost here. Dubbed Concept Style Coupe, or CSC, the showcar seen here is expected to debut at the next week. had this hot bit of hardware dubbed CLA, though that nomenclature could still be reserved for a production model.
Looking more than a bit like a that’s been run through a dryer after mating with the and , the rakish four door is expected to spawn a production model that will be available in North America.
According to reports, the CSC will roll onto the stage in China powered by a 208-horsepower, 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder that also sees duty in the new A-Class hatchback. Like the A-Class five-door that , the CSC is expected to ride atop Mercedes’ new MFA platform, scaled to take on models like the (which is also pegged to get a sedan variant) and .
We’re also expecting Mercedes to unveil a related concept in North America very shortly at the music and media festival that begins in LA on April 20, so keep your eyes peeled for that vehicle as well.
Our colleagues at Consumer Reports, when not for all things have recently . First they crowned the 2012 the top small sedan, while elevating the brand to the top of the 2012 CR ratings. Now comes this surprisingly entertaining “first look” video featuring the 2013 .
CR loved hot-shoeing the BRZ around the track, of course. As we’ve seen, this car is . But more importantly, the magazine answered a few important questions about the car’s suitability for the low-budget racing crowd. Those that might be interested in campaigning a BRZ in local autocross events or track days will be happy to know that a helmeted, six-foot-tall driver can fit inside the car with proper head clearance. Equally as important, the BRZ’s stability control can be switched entirely off, enabling the kinds of power slides that are great fun but sure to place you last in your SCCA Solo II class behind all the , and E36 ’s.
It looks as if the Mustang Club of Poland has inspired its South American counterparts to get in on a little movie-making action. The Mustang Club of Parana got together with a few local sponsors to commemorate the group’s eleventh anniversary with a brief flick starring some of Brazil’s most diehard fans.
Every generation of Mustang development gets at least a little time on screen, from less-loved members of the clan like the Mustang II to a few ever-popular Eleanor replicas. The video took its creators just over three months to produce, and the final product is clean and well-edited.
There’s plenty of engine note, smoky burnouts and sharp sheet metal to obsess over, too. So, is this better than the Polish original? We aren’t picking sides on this one. Both videos are a great way to blow a chunk of the work day. Be sure to check out Brazil’s ode to the Pony and for a look at the original inspiration behind the new film.
As we’ve reported in the past, one major issue confronting the U.S. auto industry is its ability to , home of and spiritual birthplace of and . According to the Detroit Free Press, advertising cooperative Commonwealth, a joint venture between San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and New York-based McCann Erickson Worldwide, isn’t having the same problem.
Commonwealth plans to embed itself in the middle of with 280 workers mostly imported from such marketing powerhouse cities as New York and San Francisco. The firm has already begun moving into the Palms Building which also houses the popular Fillmore Detroit performance venue. Says Todd Grantham, associate partner and Goodby’s managing director for Detroit:
“You just have to be the type that comes in here and knows, I can build something here. That’s how we attract people. What we want is the people who come in here and go, ‘Wow, this is a blank canvas. It’s all around me and now I can do something.’”
Whether or not the advertising firm will be successful in its ploy to bring more young professionals to Detroit remains to be seen, but Quicken Loans’ Dan Gilbert with his various operations. So far, there are at least three such willing transplants interviewed in the video . It’ll surely take a lot more than three enterprising transplants to succeed, but at least it’s a start. If nothing else, we’re certain that there are already a good deal of talented individuals already in Detroit waiting for a chance to prove their worth.
General Motors has released pricing for the bi-fuel option for the and , and it’s a pill that probably won’t go down easy. Buyers who want their workhorses to suck down either compressed natural gas (CNG) or gasoline can look forward to ponying up $11,000 for the pleasure. That big chunk of change adds a Type 3 tank in the bed for CNG, and GM says that with both fuels, the trucks will have an effective range of 650 miles. The bi-fuel option is available on any heavy-dutytruck configuration, including four-wheel drive and extended cab models.
The automaker says the bi-fuel trucks are a way for business owners to safeguard themselves against volatile gas prices, and that the option could save anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 over the course of three years depending on fuel fluctuations. However, any option on a work truck that only might break even in three or four years seems like a tough sell in our book, especially given the reduction in useable bed area. for the full press release as well as a quick video.
Earlier this month, Rhys Millen took to Formula Drift Long Beach to introduce his newly updated racer. After securing second place during qualifying and besting Nick D’Alessio in the top 32 battle, Millen spun on his second run of the top 16 contention versus Daigo Saito. Saito was 2011’s D1 Japan champion. The spin knocked Millen from a shot at the podium all the way to sixth place, where he tied with Tyler McQuarrie with a combined 64 points. With a total of six rounds left in the season, Millen and the crew still have a shot at nabbing a championship podium finish.
Road Atlanta is next on the schedule. The sideways action gets started on May 11, so stay tuned for the results. In the meantime, you can check out the rather excellent HD video of the team’s Long Beach effort, complete with about a thousand different camera angles.
When you think of major car auctions, you probably think of Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale. That’s the one that came to mind for us, which is why we sent Jessi and Patrick to experience its sights and sounds this past January.
Not only did they come away with what it’s like to be inside the big tents of Barrett-Jackson on the company’s biggest day of the year, they also followed the experiences of several sellers, all of whom were counting on six- and seven-figure prices for their precious pieces of metal. Did they leave the Grand Canyon State with smiles on their faces? Scroll down and watch the latest episode of The List to find out.
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has released the first commercial for the upcoming K9. The flagship sedan is set for a South Korean launch later this year, and details are beginning to emerge about the big four door. Power is said to come from either a 296 horsepower 3.3-liter V6 or a 3.8-liter V6 with 329 hp. The model will also be a showcase for new tech, including adaptive LED headlights that not only track with the steering mechanism but also adjust with the vehicle’s speed to give the driver a greater field of view.
Indoors, a full-color heads-up display provides plenty of pertinent information, and an epic 12.3-inch screen in the dash handles the entertainment interface. Judging from the three photos released alongside the new ad, the K9 will also feature a gear lever inspired by the likes of . Here’s hoping the Kia piece is a bit more intuitive. to check out the ad for yourself.
What would a superhero movie be without the fancy cars? Well, it would still be a superhero movie, we suppose, but we prefer the kind that has some flashy wheels. Like the upcoming Marvel flick The Avengers.
As you may have heard, signed a multi-picture deal with Marvel to have its cars featured in a series of superhero movies, and indeed several already have. But for The Avengers, Acura had to work up something special enough to replace Tony Stark’s . Since the old NSX was long out of production when they began shooting and the new one wasn’t ready yet, the Japanese automaker and the film studio put together something of a hybrid.
Not a hybrid as we tend to use the term in automotive spheres, but an amalgamation of the old NSX and the new one. They took a 1991 NSX and gave it a new roadster body to mimic the concept car that’s been making the rounds of the auto show circuit.
Our compatriots over at Inside Line got a behind-the-scenes look at the roadster, along with the crossover and a with a similar treatment. to watch the video clips they put together, and the .
We see tribute vehicles come and go. Most of the lot are slaves to every last detail of the original, offering little more than a few engine upgrades to the mix. Then there are beasts like the one above. Built as an homage to Parnelli Jones’ 1971 “Big Oly” Bronco Baja 1,000 bruiser, this machine uses a modern trophy truck chassis wrapped in larger-than life fiberglass first-generation Bronco body. With 723 horsepower on tap, the truck is fully capable of bashing the desert into submission. Owner Marshall Mardruga originally built the machine to tackle the Baja 1,000, but decided to turn it into a show truck instead.
Every visible component was then plated in brass or nickel and protected with a clear powder coat in preparation for SEMA 2011. If you like what you see, this machine can be yours for a heady sum. Available in San Diego, California via eBay Motors, the street-legal tribute commands a $535,000 Buy It Now price. You can see the auction or to check out a few videos.
Matt Ramsey from The Wall Street Journal claims that the next-generation will be ditching its ’60s-inspired retro styling. Citing people familiar with Ford’s plans who have seen the new Mustang, Ramsey claims the new model will look more like the and be a dead ringer for the that debuted at the last fall. The reason for abandoning the retro-inspired styling, says Ramsey, is Ford’s desire to appeal to Generation Y consumers – people born between 1980 and 1999.
It may very well be the case that the next Mustang, which Ramsey says will be a 2014 model (we suspect it will be labeled a 2015), will look a lot like the Evos concept, but we don’t buy some of the author’s reasoning for why the Stang’s retro look might be going away. He cites declining sales of certain retro-styled vehicles like the and Mustang itself, but having just experienced an economic recession, many models saw their sales decline during the past two years compared to prior peaks, not just ones with retro styling. In particular, he cites Volkswagen selling just 6,468 units of the New Beetle last year compared with over 81,000 in 2000, but last year was that generation’s final year of sales. It has been replaced with the all-new-but-equally-retro 2012 Beetle, sales of which are up 2,722 percent so far in 2012.
And as for the Mustang, after enjoying a competition-free pony car market from 2002-2010, it’s now sharing that segment’s sales with worthy competition from both and . Its sales are certainly below their peaks from last decade, but again, a recession and new competition where there was none before will do that.
So while we have no reason to argue against Ramsey’s claim about the next Mustang moving away from its retro roots, we’re not sure we buy his evidence for the reason behind it.
We’ve seen the DeltaWing running shakedown laps, but now the bonanza of teaser vids will truly begin as the DeltaWing prepares in earnest for the . Since it has shown it can actually handle a track at speed, the latest step in the process is to verify how it handles the wind.
NissanEurope will be producing a video roughly every two weeks tracking the DeltaWing’s evolution, and after the race ’s sequel to will be joined by a documentary on Nissan’s isosceles racer. for Nissan’s take in words and video.
The enthusiast world typically falls into two camps: those who love rat rods and those that loathe them. As with every corner of automotive world, not all rats are created equally, but we tend to find ourselves firmly rooted in the former camp more often than not. That’s especially true when we catch a glimpse of something as perfectly blasphemous as this BMW 2002. Crafted by the twisted minds at , the car actually started life as a running, driving round-taillight 2002 that owner John Lee had owned since high school.
During a slow day at the shop, Lee rolled the car in, busted out the plasma cutter and got to work with parts just collecting dust in the garage. After crafting a frame from spare tubing, the suspension went together using coilovers from a , a steering rack from a Cobalt SS and control arms from a derelict Panoz racer. While not originally a right-hand drive car, Lee swapped things around to accommodate the newer components. The rat Bimmer even uses a roof-mounted shifter for reasons that remain unclear.
APF keeps the lights on with Corvette modification and small-block conversions, so it’s no surprise power comes from an LS1 V8 bolted to a TH350 automatic gearbox. Throw in a set of custom fabbed headers and you have the beast above. to watch a quick video of the BMW 2002 rat rod coming to life for the first time (Warning: there’s some brief foul language), then head over to the for the full build thread.
Some would say that the already looks like a car come to life when fitted with the factory installed 20- or 21-inch alloy wheels. But others – including the folks in this video, apparently – would say that those wheels simply aren’t large enough. Twenty-fours? Still too small. Twenty-sixes? You’re getting warmer.
No, the Camaro you see here is rolling on 32-inch wheels – in chrome, of course. We can’t even imagine how this hinders the Camaro’s drivability, but as for whether this modification is hot or not, we’ll leave that for you fine readers to discuss in the comments.
to see two videos starring the donked-out Camaro coupe, as well as a matching droptop model, as well.
Matt Hagan, the reigning NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car champ, kicked off this weekend’s Four-Wide Nationals qualifying session at zMAX Dragway in North Carolina with a bang. Hagan’s funny car dropped an intake valve into one of its cylinders about halfway down the track and exploded, launching bits of engine and funny car across three of the four race lanes.
Amazingly, Hagan suffered no injuries and managed to keep his car in its lane. Upon exiting the vehicle, he can be seen ripping a piece of the car off and throwing it on the ground in frustration. Turns out he has a right to be frustrated: This is reportedly the third year in a row that Hagan has been involved in an explosion at the Four-Wide Nationals.
to watch video of the explosion from a couple different angles, as well as gifs of the explosion and his memorable reaction.
Of all of the carsTop Gear host Richard Hammond has driven – and that’s a lot of cars – it is an oil-burning entry-level luxury sedan that has earned the plaudit, “possibly the best car ever made.” He’s referring to the 2013 320d in an article for the UK’s Mirror newspaper, further crediting it with “brilliant handling,” an easy-to-use infotainment system, “very accurate steering” and being “one of the nicest Threes to drive in decades.”
His conclusion does come from a lack of negatives just as much as the positives. However, even though it’s still a huge call, we’ve on BMW’s gasoline four-pot, the 328i, which trades a quicker sprint to 60 mph for a few mpg less than the 320d’s 52 Imperial mpg (43 U.S. mpg).
Hammond’s a fan of the styling, and in fact the only thing he doesn’t like is a stripe on his tester. Click the link to get the words straight from the Hamster’s mouth.
