Car News
-
Last 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 final car built by Karmann, which also does contract work for other carmakers, was a Mercedes-Benz CLK - now replaced by the E-Class Coupe. The convertible rolled off the line on Monday. A company statement said simply, "Today, the last car built entirely by Karmann rolled off the assembly line,"...
-
AT&T Releases Turn-By-Turn Navigation Service For iPhone 3G And 3GSJust 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...
Nelson Ireson -
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 -
As 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, according to a study released today by Grant Thornton LLP. Readers with acute memories will recall a series of articles we've run over the past several months documenting the rise of many carmakers to production levels that exceed Chrysler and General Motors individually. Ford, though it too will...
-
Nissan planning to mass produce electric vehicles by 2012Promises 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...
Ralph Hanson -
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 -
Driven: 2010 Bentley Continental GTC SpeedThere's only one thing Denzel Washington and Kim Kardashian could have in common, and it's clearly not talent-related. Not even videotape-related, so far as we know. It's what they drive - the celebrity vehicle of choice that doesn't come with a big opening weekend and an Oscar nomination, the...
Martin Padgett -
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 difference is significant, especially when taken in light of the stronger fuel efficiency of most diesel engines. According to the Department of Energy, the average price for a gallon diesel as of June 22 is $2.61, while the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is $2.69. If your car...
-
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 -
Bondurant launches rotary-powered championship series for weekend racersAnyone 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...
Ralph Hanson -
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 -
BMW 7-series M-Sport package makes early debutUp until the end of last year BMW was in the process of developing a brand new performance car positioned above the current 7-series flagship and destined to enter the premium four-door coupe segment. Then the global economic crisis hit and on the back of weak financial results BMW decided not to...
Alex Kaufmann -
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 -
Despite 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 CEO Elon Musk revealed that production costs have been cut to about $80,000, and the door to profitability is now open, reports MSNBC. The cost savings come largely from increased volume production and automation of the build process. Moving production of the battery packs from Asia to California...
-
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 -
Video: BMW cuts ribbon on new high-tech Aerodynamic Test CenterBMW is celebrating its Technology Day today, and as the central feature of the event, the carmaker is launching a new Aerodynamic Test Center (ATC), where future cars will be made both more efficient and more sporting. The high-tech facility presents a striking appearance from outside, leaving...
Nelson Ireson -
Upmarket Citroen DS4 and DS5 coming in 2011Moving up in the automotive world is a difficult task, whether it's Acura trying to reach tier 1 luxury status or Hyundai-Kia seeking recognition as a globally competitive automaker. Citroen has faced its own difficulties in recent years, producing products that outstrip the brand's reputation. The...
Kenneth Hall -
Chrysler looking to replace Sebring and Avenger with new RWD sedanChrysler’s viability plan presented to the U.S. Treasury back in February turned out to be a goldmine for information about the company’s future plans. Not only were there details about the next-generation Chrysler 300 and 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, but the documents also outlined...
James Martinez