Viknesh Vijayenthiran, Editor
Articles
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Toyota is widely recognized for its reliability and quality but the past 12 months have seen a number of major product recalls that have tarnished the carmaker's reputation. At the same time Toyota... -
UK looking to triple taxes on high-polluting carsIt’s bad enough London’s congestion charge is set to rise later this year for high CO2-emitting vehicles, but now the country’s annual road tax on these vehicles is likely to be increased as well. The country’s finance minister Alistair Darling has promised that...
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BMW using face recognition to personalize carsIn the pursuit of improved safety, a number of carmakers are developing face recognition systems that scan a driver’s face and determine whether he or she is about to fall asleep behind the wheel. BMW is also looking at the technology but sees face recognition as a way to identify the person...
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Jaguar XF by GalpinIt didn’t take long for somebody to ruin the stylish lines of the new Jaguar XF and the latest atrocity comes to us from the guys at Galpin in California. Galpin is actually the biggest Jaguar dealer in the U.S. and has been offering a number of styling and performance mods for a range of its...
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Toyota CEO pushes hard for F1 winOn the eve of the 2008 championship season, the biggest Toyota boss has asked the Japanese carmaker's F1 team to deliver its first race win. Despite having a front-running annual budget since the Cologne based outfit debuted in 2002, Toyota has in more than 100 grands prix so far failed to collect...
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VW unveils 10-year plansVolkswagen has unveiled its plans for the coming years, including the lofty goal of selling a million units a year in the U.S. by 2018. The one million figure is expected to be comprised of 800,000 Volkswagens and 200,000 Audis and the target is being approached by developing smaller and cheaper...
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The falling dollar has already forced GM to cancel a number of imports and instead focus on increasing exports to new markets such as Europe and China, and a similar story can be told for most other... -
Preview: 2009 Porsche 911 cabrio faceliftUpdate: click here for OFFICIAL information on Porsche's new 2008 911 facelift Porsche is updating the 911 for the 2009 model-year in line with the sport carmaker’s usual practice of changing its models roughly every three to four years. It will be hard to spot the difference between the new...
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No manual Dodge Challenger until 2009The new Dodge Challenger harks back to one of the toughest cars from the muscle car era of the 1970s but the only transmission option available is a five-speed auto. In fact, the entire run of 7,100 2008 model Challenger SRTs, the performance variant of the Challenger lineup, all come with a slush...
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Sergio Pininfarina joins European Automotive Hall of FameLast week’s Geneva Motor Show saw Italian engineer and design legend Sergio Pininfarina inducted into the European Automotive Hall of Fame for his contribution to the auto industry. Pininfarina has been the acting chairman of the Carrozzeria Pininfarina design studio since his father...
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6.1L Project Fireblade design studyFrom the same designer that brought us the edgy Ferrari F250 design study comes the new Fireblade GT coupe. Featuring a new front engine rear wheel drive setup, designer Idries Noah used cars like the Corvette Stingray, Gillet Vertigo and Shelby Daytona for inspiration for his latest work. Noah...
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BMW partners with Karmann for 1-series cabrio productionGermany’s largest independent carmaker and supplier, Karmann, has brokered a deal with BMW to install the convertible roofs for the new 1-series cabrio. The deal will last until 2013 and is expected to see between 170,000 and 300,000 1-series cabrios roll out of the Zary plant in Poland...
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Ferrari and David Wiener Ventures license has created the ultimate gift for the Ferrari fan that has everything. Developed by the partnership is a new tower speaker designed and engineered by Ferrari... -
Man goes on 3,800 mile test-drive across OutbackA man in Australia who took a new Honda Accord sedan for test-drive was arrested after he took the car over 3,852 miles (6,200km) across the Outback. Starting off in Melbourne, 30-year old Tam Thai Luu headed west to Adelaide before venturing north into the Northern Territory and ending up at...
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Novitec Rosso Ferrari F430 RaceNot content with its previous 656hp twin-supercharged F430, German tuner and Ferrari specialist Novitec Rosso has now upgraded the car to ‘Race’ spec. Power is up by an additional 51hp, giving it an Enzo-beating 707hp and decimating the standard F430 which makes do with just 490hp. At...
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Suzuki releases Kizashi 3 teaserSuzuki has released an official teaser for its new Kizashi 3 concept sedan, which will be unveiled in a couple of weeks at the New York Auto Show. The Kizashi concept vehicles represent Suzuki’s first attempt at developing a model that could be sold in the middle class segment and the...
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Honda reveals NSX, CR-X, S2000 plansTen years ago the world was rich in Japanese sports cars. Skip forward today and the true Japanese sports car has become a rarity, with the Nissan GT-R being the most noteworthy example of late. Japanese automotive powerhouses Toyota and Honda have both been found lacking in this area, Honda having...
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Volvo's on-board breathalyzer to enter productionFirst Volvo unveiled a new driver-distraction warning system, now the company is presenting a fully integrated in-car alcolock system called Alcoguard. Scheduled to be introduced as an option for the XC60 to begin with, and then the S80, V70 and XC70 models early next year, the new system will...
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Last week we were treated with Consumer Reports list of the worst 11 cars of the year plus its annual Top Picks list. Today the influential magazine has released its Top Picks of American autos and... -
Scion releases Hako Coupe Concept teaserWith the press days for this week’s Geneva Motor Show approaching its end, attention now turns towards the upcoming New York Show falling at the end of this month. Toyota’s youth-oriented brand Scion has now released a teaser of one of its new concept cars planned for the show but...
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Saab considering compact car for U.S. based on 9-X BioHybridSaab’s 9-X BioHybrid concept has been a big hit at Geneva, not only for its unique and interesting design, but because of its cues to a possibly entry-level Saab compact car. Bearing similarity to the previous Aero-X and 9-X concepts, the car managed to turn heads at the show and may just...
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Ford Chairman may finally get paidWhen Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. said he would work for free until the company was profitable, he really meant it. In fact, since 2005 he has foregone his salary and bonus payments, which are estimated to be worth somewhere around $25 - $33 million. Bill Jr. could soon be eligible to...
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Artega GT Now On SaleThere’s been a definite resurgence in small and lightweight roadsters. Tiny road-going racers with punchy engines and the kind of handling owners of bigger and heavier sports cars can only dream of. Some of the cars that spring to mind include the KTM X-bow, MMI Avocet, and pretty much...
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TH!NK Ox electric concept rolls into GenevaThink Global is a Norwegian based manufacturer of electric vehicles and is the company behind the original ‘Th!nk’ electric car that went on sale in the U.S. during the late ‘90s. Back then, Think was owned by Ford, which sold it in 2003 to Swiss company Kamkorp Microelectronics...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran