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Friday, 13 February 2009
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The Chevy Spark was leaked on the eve of the Detroit Auto Show, but it was MIA during the next day's GM press conference "car parade." In its stead, we saw the Beat concept once again as GM announced that the Spark would indeed go into production next year. The mystery of why the actual Spark didn't appear in Motown was solved by our friends at Kicking Tires, and today GM has fully revealed the car ahead of its debut next month in Geneva.
As
you can see, the production Spark retains most of its Beat cues, right
down to that tree-frog-green color, but adds a second set of passenger
doors. In a bid to try and keep the original's 3-door look, the rear
handles are hidden up in the window blackout trim. This is better
executed here than it is, say, on the Jeep Compass, but it's still
obviously a 5-door. Inside,
you'll find a simplified take on the Chevy brand's current cockpit
design, dressed up with body-colored door trim panels and seats that
feature contrast stitching and a color-accented fabric pattern. The
Instrument cluster is mounted directly to the steering column. GM calls
it motorcycle-inspired, but more importantly, it would appear to let
the General easily reconfigure the setup for right-hand drive markets.
The
Spark will launch in Europe early next year with 1.0L and 1.2L DOHC gas
engines, and though nothing's been said, we'd imagine that a diesel
will have to make it into the mix soon thereafter. Sales in other
markets will follow, including the U.S. in 2011, as previously
announced in Detroit. We'll have in-person feedback on the Spark for
you next month from Geneva...
[Source: GM] [ Source: autoblog.com Read The Full Article ]
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Friday, 13 February 2009
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(Formula 1 World Driving Champion Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren
Mercedes race car; F1 is by far the world's most-expensive motorsport).
We all could use a break right about now, so let's go to the races. But you might not recognize racing in its 2009 version.
Motor racing of all types became a huge draw during the First Great Depression, from 1929 until the start of WWII.
Today, though, in this Second Great Depression, motor racing is being hit hard, not just in the US, but worldwide.
Every major racing series, from the quintessentially American series
like NHRA drag racing, IndyCar and NASCAR to world events like Formula
1, the exciting and interesting new A1 Grand Prix series to World
Rally, European Touring Cars and all the motorcycle sports, too, are
trying to cut costs through new rules including canceling or shortening
on-track test sessions and cutting-back on other expensive development
costs, like testing a vehicle's aerodynamics in a wind tunnel.
A year ago, a lot of NASCAR fans started showing up at races dressed
as empty seats, while attendance at most all other series dropped, too.
This year, there's little if any hope for improvement at the gates of
America's race tracks; there were even plenty of empty seats at last
year's Indy 500, something unthinkable throughout much of that track's
100-year history.
(This JC Agajanian-owned Indy race car won the event in 1963 with
Parnelli Jones in the cockpit; costs for racing were just starting
their meteoric rise; that's Agajanian in his trademark Stetson and
Parnelli Jones is to the right).
For entire post: MOTOR RACING PREVIEW 2009 - THE ECONOMY'S IMPACT
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Friday, 13 February 2009
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Firemen having Fun, lifted off the ground Car on water pressure!
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Friday, 13 February 2009
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Most people pass the driving exam on the first try, with a select few
failing once or twice before finally getting it right. In South Korea,
one woman has been trying to pass the written test since 2005 and has
yet to pass. In all, the 68 year-old woman, known only as Cha, has
failed the exam 771 times. Okay, so you're thinking that
South Korea has some wicked-hard test that takes a MENSA certificate to
pass. Probably not. Actually, you only need a 60% to pass, and Cha
typically lands in the 30-50% range. Unfortunately, the test isn't
cheap, either. Each and every failure costs Cha 6,000 won, which equals
about $4.69 in U.S. funds. That doesn't sound like much, but spread
over 771 failures, we're talking about $3,600. Cha is hoping to get a
car to help her business. She sells food and household items door to
door.
Well, Cha, we're pulling for you and we don't want you
to give up. And we're proud of you for not cheating, too. We hear some
people cheat by writing answers on their arms or hooking up their
Bluetooth and getting answers from someone on the other end of the
line. That would be wrong. But seriously, Cha... what's wrong with
taking taxis?
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Friday, 13 February 2009
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Wolfgang
Bernhard is coming back to Daimler. The man who helped facilitate the
sale of Chrysler to Cerebus, was instrumental in the Chrysler ME
Four-Twelve supercar concept, and, most notably, the guy that drove the
V10-powered Tomahawk motorcycle onto the stage at the 2003 Detroit Auto
Show, will take over the van division of Mercedes-Benz on April 1st.
Bernard's
return to Daimler comes as a bit of shock, considering he was the
assumed successor to Dieter Zetsche as the head of M-B before he left
under duress after a ten-year stint with the automaker. Soon afterward,
he took the top position at Volkswagen and was later ousted after some
boardroom shenanigans involving Ferdinand Piech.
Recently, Bernard was reportedly working as an advisor to Magna International, but in these tumultuous times, we're sure Wolfgang was looking for a more steady position.
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Friday, 13 February 2009
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Might your next (first?) electric vehicle purchase be transacted at Wal-Mart?
It's not out of realm of possibility. Mexican company, GS Motors, is
already selling 3 different models from China's First Auto Works (FAW) at a so-called "big box" retail chain in Mexico and has plans to replicate the strategy north of their border. Company CEO Kathleen Ligocki says, "I
think the product will be ready for the U.S. market within five years."
Starting next year, the Chinese designs are expected to be assembled at
a factory in Michoacan, Mexico that will be capable of building 100,000
units per annum. FAW, if you're keeping score, is the company the makes
the NEV sold as the ZX40 by Miles Automotive. Now, we're not suggesting that Miles is currently involved in any talks with GS Motors, only that the connection is there.
FAW is not the only Chinese automaker looking for an American foothold either. Well known to our readers, BYD is another company with somewhat desirable electric cars
and a commitment to compete in the U.S. Their retail sales strategy has
yet to be revealed, but we can only imagine they would explore
different options. As for the American big box stores, would they
consider selling electric cars? Wal Mart said it would and Sam's already has.
[Source: Gasgoo / Automotive News sub req'd] [ Source: autobloggreen.com Read The Full Article ]
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Friday, 13 February 2009
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No industry is immune to Obamania marketing. Texas Custom Armoring
announced last month that it is offering bulletproof limousines for
sale to the public.
It's not exactly breaking news; TCA has been armoring vehicles,
including limousines, for more than 30 years for the world's richest
people and many heads of states. But interest in its services has
dramatically increased since Cadillac debuted the president's new
wheels.
TCA can bulletproof almost anything (it currently has a Bentley
and a Mercedes-Benz Maybach in its shop), and its typical armored
limousine is a custom-stretched SUV, such as an Escalade, that it
outfits with European B6 grade protection.
What you get with a B6 grade armored-limo is protection against your
garden-variety terrorist or well-equipped kidnapper armed with AK-47s
or M16s. The cost: about $160,000 plus the price of the car.
If that's not enough armor for your threats, TCA also
offer B7+ grade limo armoring, which can withstand more shots at a
closer range, protect against land mines, hand grenades, and will also
stop black market munitions, such as armor-piercing bullets.
The Cadillac DTS Presidential Limo (Credit: GMC) [ Source: reviews.cnet.com Read The Full Article ]
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Friday, 13 February 2009
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Smashing cars into one another is a great thing for testing safety systems, but it's expensive. Since frugality is the new theme in Detroit, cutting out excess crash testing has opened the door to more creative solutions. Enter the balloon car, Ford's $10,000 answer to continued crash testing without the crashed cars.
Even with budgets being cut almost indiscriminately in Detroit, safety testing is still high on the list of requirements. The engineers at Ford's Dearborn Development Center have found a way to keep testing their new Adaptive Cruise Control with Collision Warning with Brake Support technology, found in the 2010 Ford Taurus and Lincoln MKS, without smashing into the back of the test vehicles.
The balloon car, constructed out of a heavy-duty tarp-like material, features a generally car-shaped profile and a special patch of reflective silver paint on the rear.
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Thursday, 12 February 2009
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Rafael Reston has penned a Dodge Viper circa 1967 and the result is quite stunning, reminding us of a Dodge that never was and may never be again.
Rafael set out to recreate the contemporary Viper Coupe and did so by
reinterpreting many of its features as they would have been designed
back in the 60's (we'll ignore the actual Cobra from the 1960s
it was based on). He started out with research boards depicting classic
muscle and sports cars of the late '60s and started sketching around
the current Viper chassis, integrating classic design trends with the
primitive (yet durable) construction techniques of the era.
 
[ Source: jalopnik.com Read The Full Article ]
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Thursday, 12 February 2009
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The
pain just keeps on coming for workers at General Motors. The company
confirmed this morning that it will eliminate 10,000 salaried positions
around the world before the end of this year. That will take GM's
global white collar staff from 73,000 down to 63,000. Of the 10,000
heads to be cut, 3,400 will be in the United States where the company
currently has 29,500 white collar staff. Those jobs will be eliminated
by the end of April through another program of buyouts.
Those
that remain in their jobs after May 1 will be taking home less in pay
every week. From May 1 through the end of the year, those in executive
positions will see a 10% cut in base pay. Those at lower pay grades
will see salary cuts of 3-7%. Whether the cuts remain in place into
2010 will depend on the state of the business at the end of this year.
In this economy, a job with 5% less pay is probably better than no job
at all, but it still sucks.
[Source: General Motors]
[ Source: autoblog.com Read The Full Article ]
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Thursday, 12 February 2009
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As you may recall, Mercedes' performance division, AMG, recently put up the white flag on the speed wars.
This basically means that they are now looking for more efficiency
rather than more brute horsepower. Their previous focus on power came
at the expense of fuel economy, natürlich. How will the
efficiency shift play out? AMG is welcoming direct injection and Stop
& Start (micro hybrid) systems, which will be installed in all 2010
models, two years earlier than expected.
The new piezo-electric injectors are the same as the ones fitted to the
BlueEfficiency models. Thanks to these technologies and weight
reduction, AMG expects to reduce fuel consumption by 30 percent without
losing any character at all. Diesels and hybrids will also become part of the offering soon.
[Source: Le Blog Auto] [ Source: autobloggreen.com Read The Full Article ]
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Thursday, 12 February 2009
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Following a record first-quarter profit for Ferrari, the slowing global economy and tightening credit markets slammed into the car industry and ground what had looked like a promising year to a halt. There was talk of tough times at Ferrari. But Ferrari's ledger sheet still looks bright, says the company, with a 17.6% return on sales.
That marks a 1.6% upturn over 2007, a remarkable result considering the industry's turmoil. Ferrari credits its cost-cutting measures as much as its wide range of cars and relatively strong sales with that result.
[ Source: motorauthority.com Read The Full Article ]
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