2009

Finding ways to lure customers into dealerships - and once there, secure the sale - has rarely been harder for car companies. And that's why we see so many schemes afoot to do just that. Lotus is taking a tried and true approach to the situation, however, offering lots of features for less money...

Texas-based tuning firm Hennessey Performance Engineering (HPE) has announced plans for several highly modified Cadillac CTS-V sedans that the company plans to launch later this year. Dubbed the ‘V’ series, the uprated cars will offer outputs from 610hp (455kW) all the way up to 800hp...

India has become an increasingly important player on the global car scene, with the rise of companies like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra. Mahindra is poised to enter the American market for the first time this year and now Tata has announced its plans to take Jaguar and Land Rover into the...

Government fleets have been among the first to go green in a big way, exceeded perhaps only by some private sector firms. The latest government agency to take up the environmental banner is the New York Police Department (NYPD), which today deployed 40 Nissan Altima Hybrids in its fleet. The cars...

Hybrid drive systems are finally making solid inroads into the upper strata of the luxury sedan segment, with BMW's 7-series hybrid set to join the Mercedes-Benz S400 and Lexus LS 600hL later this year. The new 7-series hybrid was previewed as a concept at last year's Paris Motor Show, and since...

The G-Power name has become synonymous with extreme BMWs and the company’s latest Hurricane CS based on the M6 Coupe fits in perfectly with that description. After G-Power’s own M5-based Hurricane RS broke the world record for the fastest sedan with a top speed of 367.4km/h (228mph)...

General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson has confirmed that the Holden-sourced G8 will die out along with its adopted Pontiac brand at the end of 2010, but the sporty sedan may live on in the U.S. at the hands of local police squads around the country. The G8 is essentially a rebadged Holden Commodore...

Cross-country rally races are the stuff of American legend - and if you dig back further, cross-continental rallies like the Mille Miglia or Panamericana have been favorites around the world almost since the birth of the car. So the 2009 TireRack Cannonball OneLap of America taps into a tradition...

General Motors revealed in its latest viability plan that it will cut more than 21,000 jobs and reduce its total number of assembly, powertrain, and stamping plants in the U.S. from 47 last year to just 31 by 2012, but the company is still in talks with Toyota about sourcing a new model to replace...

Japanese tuning house Wald International has a wide range of styling and performance kits for nearly every major luxury car brand on the market, but this time the company has focused its attention on a humble Nissan, albeit one of the fastest Nissans ever produced. The car is the Nissan GT-R, a...

German tuner Carlsson is renowned for its work with Mercedes Benz models, ranging from its aerodynamic upgrades to its mechanical modifications that offer alternatives to the stock standard AMG treatment most high-performance Mercs are subject to. Mercedes' new E-Class, of course, means that...

Mercedes' own modern re-interpretation of the classic 300SL Gullwing may be lapping the Nurburgring in preparation for its commercial release later this year, but for those of us who would rather something more traditional in terms of styling the folks from Gullwing- America have created their own...

The high-performance SUV is something of an oxymoron at first blush, but anyone that's taken the wheel of a Porsche Cayenne Turbo or Mercedes Benz ML-Class AMG knows it's possible. Gemballa takes the concept to the next level, dropping over 550lb (250kg) from the Porsche Cayenne Turbo and boosting...

Europhiles in the U.S. have been clamoring for diesel four-cylinders for years, and just as ardently, the average American consumer has indicated their desire to have nothing to do with oil-burning four-pots. While we're still out of luck, Audi is prepping a car for Europe that will make us even...

Audi's R8 took the consumer world by storm when it was released and since the debut of the R8 LMS, the success has continued, taking a podium spot at its first race, the BFGoodrich Endurance Championship. Now the car is looking to stretch its legs and prove its mettle in even more arduous...

Last year we reported on the RS*R 400hp Scion drift car that was competing in the D1 Formula Drift Championship. After its first successful seasoning campaigning the tC sports coupe in Formula Drift, Scion decided to return to the series in 2009 with another team supporting a second tC, and this is...

Hummer may have been one of the most demonized vehicle brands of the decade, with both poor sales figures and a terrible environmental reputation - but now Utah’s Raser Technologies is using the iconic Hummer H2 as a base for its new electric technology, which it claims can give the Hummer a...

No matter how far the carmakers take the horsepower wars - or how much they back down from them - the aftermarket is always prepared to go farther. Too much is never enough for a determined tuner, and the latest example is mcchip's Audi TTS. Rolling off the factory floor with 272hp (203kW) from its...

Until this year's April Fool's Day, the highest top speed achieved by the Nissan GT-R to date was in the 192mph range, though exactly who owned the figure was disputed. Then Hennessey Performance Engineering claimed to have raised the bar and set the new record at 193.7mph (311.7km/h). Along the...

Last year reports emerged claiming Nissan was seriously considering an Infiniti version of the GT-R supercar. The first hint came when Nissan’s global design Chief Shiro Nakamura revealed that managers were looking at the feasibility of a new high-end flagship saloon, and further speculation...