Motor Authority - blog Tag: Los Angeles

The long wait is finally over for Gumball 3000 fans around the world as this year’s event has just kicked off. The 11th edition of the annual rally started in Los Angeles and will see the parade of rock stars and royalty trek across the country to Miami.

The 3000 mile route, incorporating stops in Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, Dallas, and New Orleans will embellish Gumball's roots of uniting people through popular culture – and some obligatory super sports cars.

The entry grid of over 100 cars and participants in this year's Gumball is nothing short of spectacular, with stars including David Hasselhoff and Jackass's Bam... The long wait is finally over for Gumball 3000 fans around the world as this year’s event has just kicked off. The 11th edition of the annual rally started in Los Angeles and will see the parade of rock stars and royalty trek across the country to Miami. The 3000 mile route, incorporating stops in Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, Dallas, and New Orleans will embellish Gumball's roots of uniting people through popular culture – and some obligatory super sports cars. The entry grid of over 100 cars and participants in this year's Gumball is nothing short of spectacular, with stars including David Hasselhoff and Jackass's Bam Margera in a custom BMW, and sports stars Tony Hawk, Danny Kass, and Dave Mirra in modified Jeeps, Chevy Trucks and Porsches. Other personalities include Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs, MTV's Dirty Sanchez crew, the fire-breathing Fuel Girls. Expect to see the regular lineup of supercars and custom rides, including Bugatti Veyrons, Lamborghinis, Low Riders and classic American muscle cars. The race has already kicked off and is expected to reach the finish line on Miami's Ocean Drive on Friday 8th May. Read More

The burgeoning electric car field was just hitting its stride when the bottom fell out of the market last year, and the tough position that has left carmakers like Tesla in has forced some changes to be made. But that's not stopping the company from moving ahead with its product development plans, with the debut of a concept version of the Model S hybrid sedan slated for March.

The information on the new concept was revealed at a town hall-style meeting held this evening in Menlo Park, California, where the company is headquartered. The Model S has been hinted at for some time, though talk of its delay has been equally prevalent. Word... The burgeoning electric car field was just hitting its stride when the bottom fell out of the market last year, and the tough position that has left carmakers like Tesla in has forced some changes to be made. But that's not stopping the company from moving ahead with its product development plans, with the debut of a concept version of the Model S hybrid sedan slated for March. The information on the new concept was revealed at a town hall-style meeting held this evening in Menlo Park, California, where the company is headquartered. The Model S has been hinted at for some time, though talk of its delay has been equally prevalent. Word coming out of the town hall meeting reveals that Tesla is still working on the car, but the car won't be built until the company can secure a new round of funding. Once that funding materializes, however, Tesla says the first production Model S will roll off the line within 24 months. Production will be targeted at a few thousand units in during the first year, ramping up to 20,000 annually by the end of 2011, assuming funding comes soon. In the meantime, interested buyers will have to make do with a driveable prototype concept version of the car, to be unveiled at an invitation-only event in Los Angeles on March 5. Other news at the meeting revealed a few details about the development of the Daimler electric Smart car. The tiny EV will be priced to start around $20,000 in the U.S. - not far from the current starting price of the standard petrol fortwo. The low price is made possible in part by a simple watercooling system for the batteries that obviates the need for complex systems used by the likes of the Roadster EV. Aside from those few details, however, little is known about the car's powertrain. Finally, the meeting also included some background on the Roadster price hikes. The price rise, as previously reported, amounts to about $7,000 per car, and is purely a cost recuperation measure by Tesla, intended to keep the company's financials attractive so that it can continue attracting investment capital. The company characterized the final decision to raise option prices and remove all standard equipment from the base price as a compromise, with the 'no-compromise' position being those measures plus a rise in the base price to $109,000. Instead Tesla chose the middle path, but admits its communication of the matter with customers should have been better.Tesla Roadster2009 Tesla Roadster Sport Read More

Today, the design entry from Mazda R&D of North America was chosen as the winner of the Los Angeles Auto Show's 2008 Design Challenge. This year's theme, Motor Sports 2025, asked nine of Southern California's automotive design studios to form their vision of the future by depicting a motor sports vehicle that predicts how auto racing will change by the year 2025.

The Mazda Kann was chosen for how well it integrated a high level of innovation and technology into the design, but also for its uniqueness. The Mazda Kann is an electric race car that has a patented electronic tire system to reach 250 mph with no harmful emissions.

Audi, ... Today, the design entry from Mazda R&D of North America was chosen as the winner of the Los Angeles Auto Show's 2008 Design Challenge. This year's theme, Motor Sports 2025, asked nine of Southern California's automotive design studios to form their vision of the future by depicting a motor sports vehicle that predicts how auto racing will change by the year 2025. The Mazda Kann was chosen for how well it integrated a high level of innovation and technology into the design, but also for its uniqueness. The Mazda Kann is an electric race car that has a patented electronic tire system to reach 250 mph with no harmful emissions. Audi, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi and BMW were this year's entrants, offering widely divergent ideas about what motorsports vehicles will look like in 17 years' time. Audi's, for example, is very conventional in terms of layout, looking to be a realistic and evolutionary idea of a typical Le Mans racer. Mitsubishi, on the other hand, has taken a completely different route, designing an all-terrain vehicle that scarcely resembles a present-day vehicle at all, with its oddly articulated 'tires' and low, clamshell-type body. Alternative energy sources are part of the theme of the design contest, acknowledging that while the fuel source may change, motorsports will continue. Mercedes-Benz's Formula Zero concept illustrates this aspect of the design contest very aptly. Its design is part formula car and part sand rail, with solar power and electric hub-mounted motors powering the vehicle. Even Audi's conventional-looking car is imagined to run on a combination of algae-based biofuel and wirelessly-transmitted electricity. Other companies, like General Motors with its Chaparral Volt, are leveraging current technologies with an eye toward their future development. The Chaparral Volt is intended to use an advanced form of the EREV (extended-range electric vehicle) system found in the Volt. This highly evolved powertrain captures air, thermal and gravitational energy to brake and regeneration energy, while the sun's power is captured through panels integrated into the body for power. BMW is similarly relying on extensions of existing technology with its hydrogen-powered salt flat race design. Built in a sort of post-apocalyptic scrap heap challenge, BMW's design is made from found materials, including oil barrels and barbecue lids, as a way of reusing, rather than recycling, primary materials. The hydrogen power is clean, using two goldfish as "canaries-in-a-coal-mine" to keep an eye on emissions levels - if the fish get sick, you're running too rich. Honda, on the other hand, has taken the idea of extreme racing a decade and a half into the future, using the past as inspiration. Re-imagining the original "Great Race" of 1908 for 2025, Honda's designers built a vehicle capable of circumnavigating the globe in 24 hours - in a single vehicle, on land in the U.S., by sea around Asia, and through the air over Europe. VW's BioRunner combines a massive Baja 1000 course - with the only stipulations being a single driver, and a single 10-gallon tank of fuel. Sitting like a motorcycle rider astride a saddle in the middle of the vehicle's protective cage, the driver controls dual-turbine engines that feed on bio-synthetic jet fuel. Because there are no windows, the driver relies on a video screen that can be supplemented by an aerial reconnaissance drone. Finally there's Toyota's Le Mans Racer, capable of a claimed 350mph (560km/h), and featuring two mode of operation: high speed mode and cornering mode. High speed mode operates in an exaggerated resemblance to the top speed mode of the Bugatti Veyron, lowering and altering the car for minimum wind resistance. Because it's a pure design study and looking forward to 2025, however, it narrows both the body and wheels as well. In cornering mode, the car broadens its stance to maximize track dimensions and make grip as high as possible. Like the BioRunner, the cockpit is enclosed and relies on instruments and displays to relay the outside world. All of these design concepts will be competing for top honors at the fifth annual Design Challenge to run during the Los Angeles Auto Show. Previous winners include the VW Slipstream concept (2008) and GM's Hummer O2 concept (2007). This year's winner will lay claim to the 2009 title.Los Angeles Design Challenge Entries 2008 Read More

General Motors had already announced it wouldn't be showing the Cadillac CTS Coupe and new Buick LaCrosse at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show as it had previously planned, and now the company has announced it won't be doing anything significant at the show at all, canceling its press conference and showing only the production Volt and two-mode hybrids.

The move isn't surprising given the tough news GM had to deliver on Friday with its Q3 financial results. With ongoing talks in Washington and dire predictions about the company's future, executives didn't think showing new models would meet with the proper reception, reports The Detroit Free... General Motors had already announced it wouldn't be showing the Cadillac CTS Coupe and new Buick LaCrosse at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show as it had previously planned, and now the company has announced it won't be doing anything significant at the show at all, canceling its press conference and showing only the production Volt and two-mode hybrids. The move isn't surprising given the tough news GM had to deliver on Friday with its Q3 financial results. With ongoing talks in Washington and dire predictions about the company's future, executives didn't think showing new models would meet with the proper reception, reports The Detroit Free Press. Instead, GM hopes the media frenzy over the current economic problems will have settled and a new funding program from Washington will be in place by the time the 2009 Detroit Auto Show rolls around in January. The company will show the vehicles it had planned to release in L.A. at that show instead.2011 Chevrolet Volt Production model2010 Buick LaCrosse Teaser2010 Buick LaCrosse spy shotsCadillac CTS Coupe Read More