With increased pressure from Congress in the wake of Toyota’s recall crisis, Honda has announced it will include a brake override feature in all of its models by the end of 2011. “We are committed to applying Brake Priority Logic on 100 percent of Honda and Acura passenger vehicles produced for the North American market...
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We know. You’re tired of hearing about this kid, but we can’t help it. It’s like a bad soap opera that continues to unfold and it just shows how little he’s learned. Sure he’s branded himself as part of this Keep It On The Track campaign, but his attitude and everything else is same ‘ol...
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Honda was forced to shut down all four of its Chinese car plants, after 1,850 workers at an auto parts plant went on strike over wages. The strike is reported to have crippled Honda’s production capability in what is now the world’s largest car market. The lack of parts means that Honda is unable to...
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Regular readers will recall a fondness for hip-hop music at the Autoguide offices. We’ve previously covered the Houston “swangas” phenomenon, Seattle’s Volvo driving rapper and Atlanta’s dubbed-out Camaros. Now, Kia is showing the East Coast some love, with their new commercial featuring their familiar Hamsters, the Kia Soul, and Black Sheep’s seminal anthem The Choice...
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The 9th generation Honda Civic Si performance model may get a big update, moving from the current torque-less 2.0-liter to the 2.4-liter motor currently offered in the Acura TSX. News of this development comes via a source from the well-informed folks at Temple of Vtec, although even they aren’t confident in its credibility. The K24...
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Those eagerly anticipating the launch of the FT-86 affordable sports car from Toyota will have to keep waiting. According to a report by Japan’s Best Car magazine, the concept has been delayed from an original production date of 2011 until 2013. Reasons for the delay include the possibility of a different design direction (why?), as...
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Scion has just launched a new online “virtual competition” that will see one competitor drive away in a shiny new 2011 tC. Titled “Unlock the tC Road Trip,” players will take road trips and customize their tC online with the top four finalists being flown to Los Angeles to compete in a real world...
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After an action-packed weekend at Eastern Creek International Raceway near Sydney, Australia, Tarzan Yamada and the HRS Garage/Cyber Evo team persevered through an engine failure to claim the title of World Time Attack Challenge champion with their legendary Mitsubishi Evolution 8. As one of the pre-event favorites, it may come as no surprise that Tarzan...
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Spy photographers have caught the new Honda Civic undergoing testing in Italy. Having already been ordered back to the drawing board by Honda’s CEO, the new Civic is set to arrive in early 2012, at which point the current car will already be long in the tooth. Unfortunately, the engineering mules didn’t give away much...
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Nearly a day after it was first spied testing, the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta has finally been spotted completely undisguised, and if the car looks a little Toyota-esque, then that must be a good thing. Rather than occupying a quasi-premium spot in the U.S. market, VW is going for volume, so the Corolla resemblance is not...
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After acquiring the former NUMMI plant jointly owned by General Motors and Toyota, Tesla Motors was immediately targeted by the UAW for a guilt-trip campaign by the United Auto Workers to re-hire the 4,700 workers set to lose their jobs as the plant closed. In an interview on a California radio show, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was...
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Reports of a Prius MPV model aren’t new, but now comes word that the car will be call the Prius Alpha. Set to go on sale next March, the seven-seat Prius will ride on a stretched version of the current Prius platform that is almost a foot longer. The car was first previewed in the...
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British racing outfit Cosworth (calling them a tuner would be insulting) has a history of building some absolutely mental performance hatches, most famously the Ford Escort RS Cosworth, which had to be built on a seperate, rear-drive platform to accommodate the lofty goals set out for it. Now Cosworth has turned their attention to the already potent...
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According to Nissan/Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn the company has now sold all of the 13,000 Leaf models allocated for the U.S. market. “We think there is a big future for this car. I can already tell you that the production for 2010 is already sold out,” said Ghosn today during a meeting of the Detroit...
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We’ll file this under hard to believe rumors for now, but according to one report the next generation Infiniti G and M models will share their underpinnings with the Mercedes-Benz E-Class. According to Japan’s Best Car magazine, the move is part of broader cooperation between Mercedes parent company Daimler and Infiniti parent Renault – the...
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If you’re shopping around for vehicles with the lowest insurance rates, you’re in luck. Insure.com has just released their Low Cost Car Insurance Awards of the least expensive vehicles to insure. Topping the list of the least expensive 2010 vehicles to insure is the Mazda Tribute i, which costs an average of $1070.25 to keep...
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Infiniti is set to launch its new go-fast division, Infiniti Performance Line, later this year, promising an enticing list of performance parts, set to include mundane things like air filters, and stretching all the way to “automotive engine parts, namely turbochargers and superchargers.” The first IPL car is set to debut at the Pebble Beach...
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The story of Datusn (and later Nissan) in the United States is probably the most fascinating of all the Japanese auto makers . While early Toyota’s and Honda’s were ridiculed for their diminutive size and propensity to rust, Datsun was the first Japanese manufacturer to establish a reputation as a respected car maker. The 240Z...
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There has been surprisingly little news about the Brass Monkey Nissan GT-R race team competing in the World Challenge series – party because other than their introduction, the cars haven’t generated much excitement themselves. Sure the GT-R is an amazing sports car, even holding a Nürburgring record at one point, but so far the two...
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The United Auto Workers is busy inserting itself into the Toyota/Tesla joint venture barely 24 hours after it was even announced. The two companies announced that they would be collaborating on electric vehicles, and Tesla would be taking over the revolutionary (at the time) NUMMI plant in Fremont, California, to build their new Model S...
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Clash Productions just posted this highly entertaining in-car video on YouTube, featuring world-class Touring and GT racing driver Tom Coronel in the Lammertink Racing Toyo Tires Porsche GT3 Cup car at the start of this year’s Nurburgring 24 Hour endurance race. We particularly enjoyed the start, where Coronel mixes it up with one of the...
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Zero Hedge, a blog more concerned with the imminent destruction of our economy than the demise of the internal combustion engine, recently obtained word that the U.S. Tresury is going to be auctioning off some serious machinery made in the U.S., Italy, France and England. Thanks to the Treasury’s asset seizure program, the property of...
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If one were to look up the definition of “pathetic” in the dictionary, the following story would be it. A Georgia driver of a Toyota Prius, tired of being mocked for his hybrid car, had enough teasing one day, and attempted to prove just how awesome his car’s acceleration capabilities are – by trying to...
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Nissan Motor Company has just announced that a shipment of 30 D22 pickups have arrived in Haiti, as part of an initiative instigated with the United Nations World Food Program and William J. Clinton Foundation, formed by the 42nd President of United States. The D22s, assembled at Nissan’s facility in Cuernavaca, Mexico, are related to...
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