In a shockingly forthright appraisal of the Chinese auto market, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche laid out the harsh reality for the Chinese auto market, stating that petroleum-powered vehicles are not sustainable due to the massive demand, and that electric vehicles are imperative. Speaking at an event in Beijing, Zetsche remarked “If you look at the...
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For all the scare-mongering you see on the evening news, the most interesting thing about my trip to the West Bank was seeing some Palestinian hoonage undertaken by a couple youths in a beat-up Toyota. It was nothing more than some peel-outs and a poor attempt at doing donuts, but it was cool to see...
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After a 12 year run, Volkswagen is finally winding down production of the New Beetle, with the company taking final orders for the car. No word on whether there will be a special edition to commemorate the end of production (similar to the Ultima Edicion for the last generation Beetle), but the New Beetle has...
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We love (well, a few of us here love) superminis more than the latest and greatest supercars. Why? They’re honest, unpretentious, and the literal background of many countries across the globe. In South America, there is no typical two-car garage — everything a family does is done in a small car, like the new Fiat...
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Lexus‘ HS250h hybrid sedan is having trouble meeting sales targets, due to the strength of the Prius as well as demand for the HS250h in Japan. Lexus is on track to sell about 14,000 HS250h hybrids this year, well below the projections of 20-22,000. So far just 4529 HS250h’s have been sold. In an interview...
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Rolling off the assembly line at Ford‘s plan in Cologne, Germany yesterday was the six millionths Fiesta model – a Vision Blue Sport edition intended for a German customer. Show above next to an original Fiesta, this seventh-generation model celebrates 31 years of production in Cologne, with Fiestas dating back to 1976 in Europe. In...
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Justin Timberlake as an IT specialist: worst idea ever? Audi apparently doesn’t feel the same way we do. We feel that nothing can come close to BMW’s The Hire series of Internet films, the other German luxury car maker seems to think that putting an ex-N’Sync member behind the wheel of an A1 to “save...
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The Ford Ranger has been on the market for 12 years in its current incarnation, and while the Ford F-Series might be America’s favorite truck, the Ranger doesn’t look like its slowing down any time soon either. With the April sales numbers released yesterday, Pickuptrucks.com made the startling discovery that in April of 2010, the...
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Looking like a human-sized version of a Zhu Zhu pet car, Peel Microcars sold their wares for a brief period in the 1960’s, and cars like the Murray T25 and Smart Fortwo seem to be able to trace their lineage back to the Peel. Powered by a 50cc moped engine, the Peel was not fast...
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Ford is patting itself on the back today, claiming a tremendous success for its Fiesta Movement social media marketing initiative. According to the American automaker, the Fiesta movement helped drum up interest for the new sub-compact with 6.2 million YouTube views, 750,000 Flickr views and almost 4 million Twitter impressions. In total, Ford claims this...
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NHTSA is investigating the 2007 Dodge Caliber for sticking gas pedals. While no injuries or crashes have been reported, there have been five complaints made about the gas pedals, and the problem appears to be confined to about 10,000 vehicles made between March and April of 2006. The pedals were made by CTS Corp. of...
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Volkswagen unveiled an electric Golf prototype that will preview the initial run of 500 Golfs slated for consumer testing starting next year. The e-Golf is powered by a 114 horsepower electric motor producing 199 lb-ft of torque. Together with a one-speed transmission, the car should hit 60 mph in just under 12 seconds and get...
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Chinese electric car maker BYD announced plans to establish a headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles, in a joint statement released with the Mayor of Los Angeles, and the Governor of California. “By the end of next year, the plan is to offer several models,” BYD Senior Vice President Stella Li told reporters in Los Angeles....
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The Chevrolet Orlando crossover will not be sold in the United States after all. In an interview with Bloomberg, Margaret Brooks, GM’s product marketing director for small cars and crossovers said that “The best thing to do for Chevrolet is to focus on the brands we’ve already brought to market: the Traverse, Equinox, Malibu and,...
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Anyone who races a Honda Civic, Volkswagen GTI or other high performance front drive car is familiar with lifting the inside wheel when cornering hard. But these Fiat 500 racers take front-wheel drive handling dynamics to a new level. The video in question, taken at the Oulton Park circuit, shows how dangerous oversteer can be....
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Small cars and Mazdas are very popular in Canada. The Mazda3 is constantly battling with the Honda Civic for the title of “Best Selling Car,, and models like the Mazda5 and RX-8 are seen far more frequently in the Great White North than the United States. With that said, Canada is naturally a very important...
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Getting a drivers license and a car is possibly the most important milestone in a young persons life. It means freedom, having, a place to call your own, and, most importantly, it has a back seat. If you’re a parent of a teen, odds are you’ll be buying their first car, or at least funding...
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At last year’s Frankfurt Auto Show, Volkswagen gave us the first look at the new Polo BlueMotion and released a tiny bit of info on the new model. Now, VW has released just a little more, including official torque and horsepower numbers, debuting the new 1.2-liter 3-cylinder TDI engine at the Vienna Motor Symposium. We...
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Having just introduced the new Accent/Verna at the Beijing Auto Show last week, Hyundai has now unveiled the 2011 Elantra at the Busan Auto Show in South Korea. Called the Avante in its home-market of Korea, it certainly takes after the styling of the new 2011 Sonata, which works well to give a sporty and...
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First Ford unveiled its new EcoBoost 3-cylinder at the Beijing Auto Show, then came reports that we would get it, followed by reports that we wouldn’t. The latest news on the subject suggests Ford wants to bring it to North America but that there’s no car suitable for it yet. According to a report by...
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The elk test is one of the most infamous procedures used to evaluate new cars. A double lane change at 50 mph, the elk test was designed to help Scandinavian auto journalists evaluate the highway speed stability of a car, when the threat of a large animal in the road is a very real safety...
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Just days after the Fiesta finally launched in North America, residents of the U.K. can already get a better version of Ford‘s sporty hatchback than what is offered here. Called the Fiesta S1600, for starters, it’s a three-door hatch, which isn’t part of the product lineup in North America. Included in motorsports-inspired package is a...
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“Add lightness,” is the world famous maxim of Lotus founder Colin Chapman, and decades on, the British specialty firm rigidly adheres to their mantra, producing cars like the Elise, Exige and Evora that can hang with the world’s best supercars and still deliver terrific fuel economy, thanks to their featherweight construction and efficient powertrains. But...
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Hyundai‘s new Accent was the star of the companies exhibit at this year’s Beijing Auto Show, but the debut of two new engines and a new automatic transmission will have broader implications for the rest of the company’s lineup. In addition to the 2.4L GDI four-cylinder in the Sonata (pictured above), two new gasoline direct-injection...
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