Mitsubishi‘s diminutive i electric vehicle is undergoing some fairly substantial changes when it makes its debut on our shores, the most significant being a slight increase in length and a 5 inch bump in width, with the extra size added to help the car feel better during high speed highway driving. While Japanese drivers experience...
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It’s only a matter of time before the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG gets adopted by the Ed-Hardy-and-hair-gel crowd as the official car of the Flash and the (steroid-fueled) Furious, but Mercedes has at least put out a video showing some decent b-roll footage of the car being driven at speed. The 451-horsepower coupe is arguably the...
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Famed auction house Bonhams will offer up a Ferrari driven by Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button, but the car for sale isn’t one of the contemporary mega-buck supercars, but a more archaic model that has never attracted much fanfare from the Ferraristi. Button’s ride, a 1978 Ferrari 512BB, is a model known mostly to...
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The hybrid engine that first appeared in the Lotus Evora 414E concept is supposedly attracting interest from 3 major manufacturers, according, according to a Lotus official. Chief project engineer Lee Jeffcoat told Inside Line that there is interest from “several OEMS in 5,000-10,000 units annually, for a potential annual output of 30,000 engines,” as well...
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An old finance maxim states that “by the time you’ve read about it, it’s already too late”, but that hasn’t stopped used car dealers from eagerly snapping up any 4-cylinder or hybrid vehicle as gas prices continue to climb. With one dealer calling the sudden trend a “panic”, values of previously undesirable cars like the...
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General Motors has halted production at their Tonawanda, New York engine plant, due to a parts shortage that has affected another factory in Louisiana. The New York plant builds engines for the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, which are assembled at the Shreveport, Louisiana plant. While GM has acknowledged that the closure is due to...
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Lawyers for a group of plaintiffs in the Toyota unintended acceleration case are challenging a NASA report that found the automaker was not at fault for the alleged issues that led to a massive recall of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. The plaintiffs lawyers filed papers in a California court last week stating they intend to disprove the...
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When dealing with an authoritarian state that exercises substantial government control of the economy, you generally know whose rules you’re playing by – and everyone from automakers to tech companies are happy to capitulate to the demands of the Chinese government, with car companies establishing joint ventures with local automakers for the sake of being...
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With the Chevrolet Cobalt SS being a critical (if not commercial) success, General Motors has been pushing for an SS version of their new Chevrolet Cruze small car, and the program looks like it’s a go, with much of the work being done by their Australian Holden division. While details are still preliminary, a more...
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Donald Trump is set to join the illustrious list of Indy 500 Pace Car drivers when he slides behind the wheel of a 2011 Chevrolet Camaro SS at the quintessential American motorsports event. The Camaro SS Pace Car, announced earlier this year, will be a convertible model, and that gives us extra incentive to tune...
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Despite being an ultra-niche vehicle, interest in the Nissan GT-R always remains strong, and car enthusiasts have been fretting about whether Japan’s natural disasters have impacted production of the revised GT-R. According to an interview with David Reuter, Nissan Americas vice president of communications, supplies of the GT-R are safe, with roughly 70 percent of...
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NASCAR star Jeff Gordon will appear in the upcoming Pixar film Cars 2 as Jeff Gorvette, a Corvette C6.R, and his role will be more than just a cameo. The Gorvette character (if it can be called that) will be positioned as a rival to protagonist Lightning McQueen. While the connection between NASCAR and Corvette Racing...
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The Insurance Institute For Highway Safety awarded the Mazda 3 with its Top Pick honor in the small car category. The Mazda3 met the criteria by scoring a “Good” rating in all crash test categories (front, side, rear and rollover) and has electronic stability control. The Mazda3 is the first car from the automaker to...
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With the New York Times erecting a “pay wall” around their online section, many web enthusiasts are crying foul at the venerable paper’s decision to abandon the online modus operandi of making information free. But 200,000 of the Times’ best customers will be eligible for free access (worth about $150) thanks to Lincoln, which is...
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While Italian sports cars get a bad rap for being fickle, nobody has ever accused the Porsche 911 of having major reliability issues, and J.D. Power, publisher of the legendary reliability rankings, seems to confirm that, having named the 911 the most reliable sports car and Porsche as the top German manufacturer. While some of Porsche’s newer...
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Hyundai may arguably be the hottest mainstream brand in the auto industry, but when it comes to dealer profitability, Hyundai dealers seem to lag behind their less popular rivals. In a report by Automotive News, the CEO of a large dealer group told the paper that Hyundai “not yet a good business equation for dealers”....
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After teasing the public with a Superbowl ad hinting at the new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle, the new coupe will almost certainly bow at the New York Auto Show in April. Arriving in showrooms this fall, the Beetle will get simultaneous unveilings at both the Shangai and New York Auto Shows, with a convertible version bowing...
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Despite the misfortunes of the SEAT brand, Volkswagen is planning to bring the Spanish automaker to China, where the appetite for cars seems limitless. Volkswagen is planning to erect a booth for SEAT at the upcoming Shanghai Auto Show, and eventually produce the cars at its assembly plant in Foshan around 2013. SEAT has faltered...
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With Ford awarding more than $130 million in stock to its top executives, the UAW official in charge of Ford is optimistic that the company will also compensate union members who build the vehicles that Ford sells. “I am going to look at that on the up side and say that I know that they...
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Mazda will resume production of vehicles on March 22nd, an encouraging sign for the Japanese auto industry as it battles a catastrophic series of events that has seen most automakers in the country suspend production. With Mazda based in Hiroshima, hundreds of miles away from the earthquake, tsunami and on-going nuclear incidents, the company has...
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BYD, China’s 4th largest automaker, has finally established a location in Southern California, although the digs are modest to say the least. BYD’s new home in America is an office within a used car dealership in Glendale, a Los Angeles suburb. According to reports, the dealership is being used to train BYD technicians, and BYD...
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Ford‘s strategy involving smaller cars priced at a premium will become even more important if gasoline rises beyond $4 gallon, said Ford of the Americans President Mark Fields. “There is a natural kind of water level that if a gallon of gas goes over, that may shift the market mentality,” Fields told Automotive News. “When it...
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Hyundai is partnering with technology company NAVTEQ to offer drivers a “green” option for route guidance. The “green” choice will apparently yield a 6 percent bump in fuel economy, which should dovetail nicely with Hyundai’s new Sonata Hybrid and their Elantra, Veloster and Accent small cars, which are capable of 40 mpg on the highway....
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General Motors Shreveport, Louisiana factory that builds the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon will face a production halt until March 21st due to supply chain issues stemming from Japan’s natural disasters. GM hasn’t specified which part is causing the stoppage, but both trucks feature a manual transmission made by Japanese firm Aisin. GM apparently has...
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