Nelson Ireson, Senior Editor
Articles
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Last August Toyota stood before a crested wave of accelerator and floor-mat related recalls, the matter brought to a head by the death of an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer and three...
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Fisker Hikes Prices On Karma, Sales Launch Spring 2011It looks like the cost of building the 2011 Fisker Karma under contract with Valmet is higher than the company expected when it set its initial prices in 2008. A price rise of $7,900 came first, and today the company has hiked prices another $8,000 to a final starting price of $95,900. That's just...
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Video: Aston Martin V-12 Vantage Meets Its Racier SiblingWhile the Aston Martin LMP1 prototype racer may not look anything like the V12 Vantage, they're powered by variants of the same engine: a 6.0-liter V-12 that sounds, as this video attests, magnificent. It also drives like magic, as well, as we learned in the hills of the Monterey Peninsula earlier...
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Boxer Engine-Themed Toyota FT-86 Logo Leaked?If you've been following the hubbub and ballyhoo around the development of Toyota's next rear-drive coupe, code-named the FT-86 and rumored to be called the FR-S in production, you're aware of its on-again, off-again, it's coming, but we don't know exactly when or what, path. The latest news spins...
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Aston Martin To Design, Build Maybachs For Daimler?Daimler's ultra-luxury Maybach brand has been a study in how not to sell cars for nearly its entire revived existence. Exclusivity is one thing; odd-man-out is another. To help fix the brand, Daimler may be turning to an unlikely partner: Aston Martin. Aston, now independently owned after being...
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Aston Martin Jumps On The App Train With 'Explore''Tis the season for automotive apps, it seems, with every carmaker under the sun releasing a game, owner's manual, or something else for Apple's ubiquitous gadgets (and a few others, of course). The latest? Aston Martin's 'Explore' app, designed to taunt you with all the hot hardware you can't...
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Restyled and redesigned slightly for the 2012 year model, the new C-Class offers a more fluid, smoother look than its predecessor on the outside, and a new theme inside that reflects some of the...
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Suzuki Releases Kizashi 'Ring Of Fire' Racing AppWhy can't Suzuki build cars as well as it does motorcyles? This is a question you'll hear often in the automotive journalist's universe, and it's a fair question. The answer? They do, it's called the Kizashi. To help get the word out on their slick mid-size sedan, Suzuki today released a free...
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2011 BMW 1-Series M: Full Option Sheet Leaked...Or Was It?Hot and bothered by the new 1-Series M Coupe? Then sink your teeth into the full ordering sheet, listing all the options and packages you can add to the car. Just beware: you'll end up with a bunch of stuff you probably don't want or need if you go after just two common add-ons: Bluetooth and...
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Montezemolo: Ferrari Unveiling 'Very Different' Model At 2011 Geneva ShowHybrids in Ferraris might sound like blasphemy--especially if you listen to their Formula 1 engineers--but despite all the moaning, the company has actually embraced the development of hybrid powertrains, seeing it as the road into the future of tight emissions controls. To that end, Luca de...
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Video: Hyundai Teases Veloster Before 2011 Detroit ShowIf you're hankering for some Hyundai-badged, direct-injected, dual-clutched, three-door, front-drive coupe/hatch action, you'll be on the edge of your seat until the 2011 Detroit Auto Show. The Veloster, around in concept form since 2007, will finally make its production debut. Expected as a 2012...
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Chrysler Registers Cuda Name, Dodge-Brand Car In The Works?Since the rebirth of the Dodge Challenger, custom houses and rumor mongers have had a field day with reinterpretations of the Barracuda, or 'Cuda, name. Now Chrysler has put a more official stamp on the subject, apply to register a trademark for "Cuda" with the U.S. Patent and Trade Office last...
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Twitter races watch out: the National Museum of American History, a Smithsonian museum, is holding the "Race to the Museum," a chance for the public to vote to pick the two most significant cars...
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Mercedes-Benz 2012 C-Class Coupe Tweet Race Gets Celeb AdditionsIf you're into social media and into cars, the opportunity to win a spot at Super Bowl XLV and a 2012 C-Class Coupe could be too good to pass up. You'll need to crowd-source some help, though, and Mercedes-Benz has recruited two celebs to help: musician Pete Wentz and New York Yankee Nick Swisher...
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2011 Acura RL Priced From $47,200As Honda and Acura continue to grope around in the dark, trying to find their way back to their former position of design leadership, the 2011 models are basically treading water: the ZDX, priced earlier to day, stays unchanged, while the mid-cycle RL adds a few updates but is largely the same as...
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Report: BMW Megacity Vehicle To Get 'i' Badge, Concept Early 2011Last January BMW introduced the ActiveE Concept at the Detroit Auto Show, part of its nascent but growing Project i task force for greener vehicles. This year, the talk is centered around the Megacity Vehicle, and today, two interesting bits of information have leaked onto the web. First, the...
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Video: 2011 BMW 1-Series M Coupe On Track With E30 M3Eleven minutes of chopped together B-roll? What gives? It's the roughly three minutes of track footage that make this worth your Tuesday time, showing the 2011 1-Series M Coupe on its own and alongside an E30 M3, its ostensible spiritual predecessor. While there's less tire-sqealing and...
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2011 Acura ZDX Starts From $45,645, Few ChangesLove it or hate it--that seems to be the choice with the Acura ZDX, the MDX-based but controversially-designed crossover/coupe. But despite the two-edged sword of looks and packaging, Acura has decided to stick to its formula for the ZDX for 2011, raising prices by $150 across the board and...
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Getting in some hardcore wheel time while stuck in line at the bank always sounds like a good idea, but it's unfortunately difficult given the lack of good racing games. Once you wear out the few...
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Video: MINI Dakar All4 Rips Up French TestWhat's not to love about the MINI Dakar All4 prepped by BMW and X Raid? A ride height in the clouds with a turbodiesel six-cylinder mounted in the basement give the MINI Dakar the base it needs to thrash relentlessly in the alien landscapes it will call home. The factory-backed MINI racer will see...
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Laurence Fishburne: The New Voice Of CadillacWhether it's from The Matrix, CSI, or any of his dozens of other works, you probably know Laurence Fishburne. Now you'll get to hear his familiar voice as the backbone of Cadillac's new ads. Fishburne's mellow yet authoritative voice will no doubt give the classy underpinnings Cadillac is after...
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Dodge, Mopar Offer 'No-Cost' Maintenance For Top-Trim Durango, JourneyIf you're plunking down something north of $30,000 for a well-trimmed crossover or SUV, $50-100 for an oil change every few months probably isn't going to put your family out on the street. Nevertheless, it's nice to get things included in the purchase price, and that's just what Dodge and Mopar...
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Video: 2011 MINI Paceman Concept In DetailBuilding niche models for motorsports homologation is a time-honored tradition, particularly at BMW. The MINI Paceman Concept looks to be a good example of just that, likely as a basis for future World Rally Championship cars. It's due for a debut--as a concept only, for now--in Detroit in a few...
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Gallery: 2011 Chrysler 300Earlier this month, we got our first look at the 2011 Chrysler 300, but aside from a handful of shots, were left to subsist mostly on detail close-ups. No more. The 2011 300 takes the look of its unique, but aging predecessor and transforms it, subtly, into something new. The same basic silhouette...
Nelson Ireson