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Max Mosley will step down as FIA president later this year, as formula one's political crisis involving eight rebel teams' threat to set up a breakaway championship ended on Wednesday. Hopes that the Paris meeting of the World Motor Sport Council would be the scene for a resolution were proven correct, after 69-year-old Mosley emerged and told reporters "there will be no split". "We have agreed to a reduction of costs," said the FIA president, following a lengthy dispute about his proposed budget cap, governance style, and ultimately his very presence at the head of the sport's ruling...
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MKB releases 750hp upgrade for Mercedes’ CL65 AMGMKB may not be as well known as its rival German tuners such as Brabus and MTM, but the company has a penchant for building some of the most stylish and powerful upgrades in the business - especially when it comes to modifying cars from Mercedes Benz. MKB’s latest package is based on the...
James Martinez -
Early look at BMW’s next-gen EfficientDynamics technologyAs automakers seek ways to create more efficient cars without compromising power or driveability, eyes are increasingly turning to new technologies and ideas. One of the leaders in this field is BMW, which has already shown off several innovative ideas such as using electricity generated by exhaust...
Alex Kaufmann -
GTbyCitroen concept hits the streets of LondonAt last year's Paris Motor Show, Citroen stunned the audience with a dramatically styled supercar dubbed the GTbyCitroen. A few months later, the company revealed it would produce a limited run of the cars. And in May Citroen revealed that the low-slung and futuristic vehicle would be tackling some...
Kenneth Hall -
Garage Saurus one of the first to tune Nissan’s GT-R SpecVLike a fine piece of art or a perfectly cooked stake, the 2010 Nissan GT-R SpecV is one of those cars that shouldn’t be fiddled with and just accepted as one of the best examples of automotive engineering on sale today. With more than 478hp (356kW) and 430lb-ft (580Nm) on tap and a kerb...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Karmann shuts its doors as last convertible rolls off the lineLast year a spate of bankruptcy threats and possible acquisitions or closures hit the coachbuilding industry, but today Karmann, perhaps most famous for the Karmann Ghia conversion, is closing its doors. Bankruptcy is the next step, and it's not clear if the firm will come out the other side. The...
Ralph Hanson -
Just a couple weeks ago we brought you news of the new turn-by-turn GPS navigation software that would be coming to the Apple iPhone with the just-released OS 3.0 update, and now AT&T, the official carrier of the iPhone in the U.S., has released its official app, for free - but with a string attached. That string is a $9.99/month service charge. While it's a slick way to distribute the high initial cost necessitated by the complex software and map licenses, it's also a recipe for spending more than the price of a standalone GPS unit over the course of a year or two. Nevertheless, AT&T...
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Jesse James' hydrogen-powered land speed record claim comes under assaultJesse James, American engineer, stuntman and all around lunatic successfully shattered the land speed record for a hydrogen powered vehicle for his latest show Jesse James Is A Dead Man – a show in which he cheats death every week by taking on a different challenge. But not everyone is so...
James Martinez -
Mosley could be out of a job this week as FOTA preps breakawayOn Thursday of this week, FOTA plans to speed up preparations for next year's breakaway world championship. According to strong speculation, the timing of the meeting has been planned to occur immediately after Wednesday's World Motor Sport Council summit. Rumors indicate that a vote could be...
Kenneth Hall -
Video: U.S.-bound Fiat 500C convertible on the roadFiat's 500 minicar has been a smash hit since its debut, winning car of the year awards from numerous publications and organizations. Earlier this year it was joined by a convertible variant called the 500C and just yesterday the automaker released a flood of new images, revealing the car in much...
Jeremy Weber -
U.S. DOE announces $8 billion in loans for fuel-efficient vehicles at Ford, Nissan and TeslaPresident Bush signed the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program into life last year, but for the past 8 months, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has sat on the money, carefully evaluating applications to see which companies would make the best use of the funds...
Nelson Ireson -
Study: Domestic North American production outpaced by European, Asian brands by 2012As a side effect of the current industry downturn and the subsequent realignment of capacity at America's major domestic car manufacturers, the once-Big Three could be outstripped in North American production by a combination of foreign companies by 2012, including BMW and Porsche-owned Volkswagen...
Ralph Hanson -
Promises about electric vehicles are a dime a dozen, and so far no one - not even Tesla - has managed to deliver a real daily-driving production car in volume. Nissan has so far promised to deliver its first electric vehicle by 2010, although initially it will be available only to commercial fleet customers, and now the company has revealed that mass production of the zero-emission vehicles could start by 2012. Nissan will unveil its first electric vehicle on August 2nd, CEO Carlos Ghosn confirmed today at the company’s shareholder meeting. The car will then go on sale in limited...
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New Opel Astra Cabrio in the worksWith Opel’s new Astra now out in the open, attention can turn to variants other than the regular five-door Hatchback that’s been plastered all over the web in recent months. While a new Wagon and sporty Coupe are almost certain, latest reports indicate that a stylish Cabrio model will...
Kenneth Hall -
Candidates For 2010 Car Of The Year Awards AnnouncedEurope’s annual Car of the Year awards is on again and the candidates for the 2010 title have been revealed. As expected, this year’s field includes everything from fuel-efficient minicars to big and brawny luxury saloons and as always some of the choices will be considered quite...
Alex Kaufmann -
Porsche commemorates 75th anniversary of the order to build the VolkswagenThe past several months have seen a number of anniversaries, often centennial celebrations, but none have been for a vehicle that's seen 75 years of production. Today marks the 75th anniversary of the order to Porsche to build the iconic people's car. The history of the Volkswagen later known as...
Alex Kaufmann -
Diesel sales surge in U.S.It wasn't so long ago that the superior fuel efficiency of diesel-powered vehicles could be rationalized away due to the higher per-gallon price of the fuel compared to gasoline. Now, however, a dip in the price of diesel has pushed it below gas, and lit sales on fire in the process. The price...
Nelson Ireson -
Report: BMW to introduce upgraded 306hp twin-turbo dieselDiesel is just beginning to make its comeback in the U.S., and BMW is ready to capitalize on that with a more powerful version of its 3.0L twin-turbo six-cylinder diesel engine. The extra grunt will help to move larger cars around more efficiently. And larger cars are likely to be the first...
Alex Kaufmann -
Anyone looking to compete in a proper racing series but not quite prepared to invest in buying a complete race car and transporting it to different circuits will no longer have to sit on the sidelines and simply dream about it. That’s because the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, based in Arizona, is launching a new championship racing series open to anyone willing to cough up the $3,495 per event fee. The Bondurant Championship Race Series begins this September for the 2009-2010 race season and includes 18 races over nine weekends utilizing three different tracks at...
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Full Details For Facelifted Mercedes-Benz S63 And S65 AMG SaloonsExecutive limo accommodations, supercar power and sleeper-no-more looks are the key ingredients to Mercedes Benz's newly facelifted pair of S-Class AMG sedans. Photos and details released today reveal the S63 and S65 AMG sedans, both of which are now even more appealing thanks to a series of subtle...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Lamborghini Super Trofeo hits the street in GermanyAs expensive and rare as Lamborghini cars are, they aren't an entirely exceptional sight on the road. But it's a rare occasion indeed to see a whole grid of fully race-prepped Gallardo LP560-4-derived Super Trofeo racers on the street - and that's exactly what's coming this weekend to Norisring...
Kenneth Hall -
Tesla slashes production cost of Roadster, claims profitability within reachDespite its small size, Tesla Motor Company, builder of the famed Roadster electric sports car, is as embattled as any major manufacturer these days. Between a lawsuit from a former CEO and materials costs far beyond the asking price of the Roadster, things haven't been going well lately. But today...
Nelson Ireson -
Mini planning 20% expansion in dealer network to meet growth targetsEven as the rest of the industry - including its parent company, BMW - contracts, Mini USA is getting ready to expand with 17 new dealerships across the country. The new outlets will bring the total up to an even hundred. Bigger cities and markets completely new to Mini are the focus for the...
Alex Kaufmann -
Lexus tops J.D. Power Initial Quality study, Porsche and Cadillac close behindWhen it comes to luxury-car quality, taste often plays as big a role as fact, but J.D. Power tries to boil the issue down to a simple metric: problems per 100 cars. The resulting ranks are dubbed the Initial Quality Study, and used to guide consumer decisions. As usual, Lexus rates at the very top...
Alex Kaufmann