azizsalingsharing: Desember 2011

Selasa, 20 Desember 2011

Detroit Show Lexus LF-LC Sports Coupe Photo Scans Leak on the Web

While Lexus was planning a slow strip tease for its 2012 Detroit Motor Show-bound sports coupe concept, the folks over at Autoblog.com discovered a video teaser from the 2012 February issue of Road & Track magazine, giving us our first look at the car, which will carry the LF-LC moniker.

We don’t get any additional information on the rakish concept model, though in one of the photos, it looks like there's a "HYBRID" badge right in front of the rear wheel arch.

Lexus has previously told us that the design of the LF-LC would hint at a new design direction for the brand's future models.

Among all new car presentations made in 2011, the models that received the most attention from auto enthusiasts all over the world this year were arguably the sports coupe triplets born from the partnership between Toyota and Subaru.

But that was to be expected as affordable and focused rear-wheel drive sports coupes have become an increasingly rare sight in our days.

Even though first deliveries won't begin until fall of 2012, Tesla has dropped final U.S. pricing and options on its most ambitious project to date, the new 2012 Model S electric sports saloon.

The BMW 5-Series-sized sedan is available for order in two trim levels, basic and Performance.

The basic version is offered with a choice of three battery options with 40 kWh, 60 kWh and 85 kWh, priced at $57,400, $67,400 and $77,400 respectively or $49,900, $59,900 and $69,900 respectively after a $7,500 federal tax credit.

The state of the economy is affecting every aspect of our everyday lives – including cars. And it’s not just the gas prices that affect motorists: a new poll from Consumer Reports shows that almost one in two car owners delay their car’s servicing or repairs.

Lower-income households are more likely to delay necessary work, and younger drivers (18-34 years of age) tend to postpone work on wear items like tires or brake pads – with 21 percent of them admitting that they don’t even pay attention to these items.

Audi has officially presented the meanest and baddest production version of its A1 series yet, aptly called the A1 Quattro. Both its name and styling details such as the white colored alloy wheels clearly draw on Audi's rallying heritage.

The first ever quattro version of Audi's premium supermini, which was previously thought to be named RS 1, will be produced in a limited run of just 333 units with sales to start in the second half of 2012.

Powering Ingolstadt's hot hatch is a tuned 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with direct injection and turbocharging technologies that produces 256HP at 6,000 rpm and a peak torque of 350 Nm (258.2 lb-ft) continuously available between 2,500 and 4,500 rpm.

The 2.0 TFSI is couple to a six-speed manual gearbox and Audi's quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. Audi says the A1 quattro sprints from zero to 100 km/h (62mph) in 5.7 seconds and has a top speed of 245km/h (152mph), while it consumes on average less than 8.5 lt/100km (27.7 US mpg).

Vinyl wraps can be had in all sorts of colors and designs, but while the majority of drivers usually select normal colors in metallic or matte shades, some owners gravitate towards extreme solutions.

And what could be more extreme than a chrome green wrap around a 2012 BMW M5 5-Series F10 sports saloon?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) and the U.S secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, are both trying to reduce road accidents caused by distracted driving.

So far, their efforts have resulted in 35 states, and the District of Columbia, banning the use of handheld cellphones or texting while driving.

Driving is, indeed, a serious activity that requires all of your attention. According to the Department of Transportation’s December 8 release, distracted driving caused 3,092 fatalities in 2010.

So you thought General Motor's second teaser of the 2013 Buick Encore would actually show us the CUV, did you? Well, it doesn't. All we get is a glimpse of the Encore's hood.

You'll have to wait a few more days to get a meaningful preview of the small crossover model when the Detroit brand reveals the second of a total of four pictures on its official Facebook page.

It's a strange cocktail to say the least: two of the world's finest professional drivers, two-time F1 champion Mika Häkkinen and 2009 F1 champ Jenson Button, get into a 450-horsepower Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG sports saloon to promote a 'don't drink and drive' campaign from renowned Scotch whiskey brand Johnny Walker by burning their initials on the asphalt.

You can watch the ad for yourself in the video after the break.

The Jarama may be one of the lesser-known models to come out of Lamborghini's Sant'Agata factory, but it remains a genuine Italian exotic and a representative GT sportscar of the 1970s - and one which most gearheads would love to add to their collection.

The one we found for sale on eBay is a 1973 Jarama GTS (also known as the Jarama S) with only 6,600 miles on its odometer and a 'Buy it Now' Price of US$79,000.

Named after the Jarama bullfighting region in Spain, the 2+2 Lamborghini sportscar was designed by Bertone's Marcello Gandini. It was introduced in 1970 as a replacement to the Islero with the Italian company claiming at the time that it was conceived for the "gentleman driver".

Looking for new ways to market its new “i” sub-brand, BMW has chosen to launch three new digital channels through foursquare, Mashable.com and iAd. The latter is Apple’s mobile advertising platform used by third-party developers to apply ads into the applications downloaded to the users’ iPad, iPhone and iPhone touch mobile devices. Read more »

New Citroën DS5 Poses Next to the Concorde Supersonic Passenger Airliner

Citroën is building on the attention brought about its new DS5 high-riding hatchback through a series of cinemagraphs released in November, by publishing a new set of artistic photographs.

This time, the DS5 poses under the wings of the iconic Concorde aircraft, which was the first, and to date only, supersonic passenger jet in the world, just as the legendary DS did back at its time.

Just yesterday, we were telling about the benefits but also the dangers of buying a new Saab car in the U.S. after the company filed for bankruptcy on Monday.

Today we learn that Saab suspended warranty coverage on all of its new vehicles sold in North America effective from December 19, while the company also informed dealers that they must sell any remaining cars "as is", without any coverage whatsoever.

Parts and platform sharing has been a common practice in big automotive groups. Volkswagen, which has been pioneering this method among its brands since the early ‘90s, has mastered the art. Still, there is always room for improvement...

The VW Group wants to push the envelope further with a much broader parts sharing program among the various brands and models in its empire, starting with the new Audi A3 that will be launched in 2012.

Professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek joined forces with GM's Chevrolet brand for a daredevilish car stunt to promote the launch of the new Sonic sub-compact, and the result was pretty impressive.

The 37-year old American skateboarder swapped his four-wheel plywood board for the five-door Sonic to perform a 360-degree “kickflip”, which employed two 50-foot ramps, one to launch off and the other to land the car on. And did we mention that there was a giant skateboard positioned between the two ramps?

So far, Porsche has manufactured two hybrid versions of its 911 GT3 R racer. The first one was revealed at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show and it featured two electric motors powered not by a battery pack, as in most hybrids, but by an electric flywheel generator located in the passenger’s seat.

In typical Porsche fashion, the “Version 2.0” of the GT3 R Hybrid was a careful evolution of the previous model, with more power and better fuel consumption while also featuring subtle changes to the cockpit to ensure less driver fatigue in endurance racers.

There's something about exotic supercars like the Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 that gets our motors roaring. We never get tired of watching them no matter how many times we have seen them before.

We're not even going to count how many posts we've written on the 12-cylinder Raging Bull model - though if you're curious, feel free to check them all out here.

If you feel the same way, then you'll probably enjoy the video that follows and which comes to us courtesy of German car magazine Sport Auto. The publication took Lamborghini's flagship model over to the Hockenheim circuit in Germany to see how fast it is.

According to Lamborghini, the Aventador LP 700-4 comes equipped with a 6.5-liter V12 engine delivering 700HP and 509 lb-ft of torque for a 0-100 km/h (62mph) sprint time of 2.9 seconds and a top speed of 350km/h (218mph).

Nissan has issued a new recall on certain 2010-2011 model year Sentra compact cars because of a battery cable problem that could potentially cause the engines to stall.

In a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Nissan explained that the zinc coating applied to the terminal stud bolt may be too thick and as a result, it could lead to a voltage drop the can damage the engine control module (ECM).

Only a month after the introduction of the improved R8 LMS Ultra and Audi has revealed plans to compete in the FIA GT1 World Championship next year with two examples of its latest GT3 racecar, which will be independently fielded by Team WRT. Read more »

Kia Ray Opens Doors and Honks its Horn to Play Jingle Bells Tune [Video]

With only a few days left for Christmas, Kia has jumped on the holiday season bandwagon releasing a cheerful new ad featuring the brand's Ray city car that was recently launched in South Korea.

The commercial shows the Ray playing along the Jingle Bells tune with the sounds being created by opening and closing the tall hatchback's regular and sliding doors, hood and compartment area dividers, as well as by using its turning signals, warning jingles and horn.

As expected, the District Court of Vanersborg accepted Saab’s request the same day, Monday December 19, and declared the Swedish carmaker bankrupt.

The company's CEO, Victor Muller, blamed General Motors for blocking every rescue attempt that involved the Chinese company Youngman Lotus Automobile, including its latest offer of a US$5 million funding to continue the restructuring process.

“That, basically, was the last nail in the coffin of this beautiful company”, said Muller only hours after requesting that Saab be declared bankrupt.

This is our first look at the brand new Toyota NS4 Concept car that will make its world premiere at the 2012 North American International Auto Show, which takes place in Detroit from January 9 to 22.

Toyota is being as secretive about the NS4 as its premium Lexus sibling is about its own prototype that will be shown in Motor Town, with the only piece of information we get about the vehicle is that it will be "an advanced plug-in hybrid concept".

2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 380 GT Makes a Quick Appearance on Film

It has been a while in internet time since we last heard about the revitalized 2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe – a little over a month, to be precise, when the facelifted model was introduced in its home market of South Korea.

We still don't know when and where Hyundai plans to debut the sports car in North America, although we presume it will most likely take place in one of the upcoming international motorshows like the Detroit venue in January, the Chicago Auto Show in February or the New York Auto Show in April.

"If Saab’s future seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
You can buy a heavily discounted brand new car
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just walk into your nearest Saab dealership - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life..."

First of all, we hope Monty Python won’t mind altering their song from The Life of Brian. We'd also like to note that we are in no way making fun of the fact that, unless something unexpected happens, Saab is closing shop – for good this time, leaving thousands of workers unemployed.

We’re just trying to say that, in the event the liquidation of the car company goes through, there are consequences but not all of them are bad for consumers.

They say seeing is believing but you'll probably want to watch the video of Brenda Hewett shooting a puck in a barely visible, tiny hole on a board from the far blue line during the Akwesasne Warriors Federal Hockey League game this past Saturday more than a couple of times to become a believer.

What makes the feat, which won her a brand new 2011 F-150 truck from Frenchie's Ford in New York, even more spectacular is that the 59-year-old woman is said to have never held a hockey stick in her life. Truly unbelievable. Watch the clip after the break.

In what could be our final round of spy photos of the upcoming Volvo V40 (or at least those picturing prototypes with heavy camouflage), our diligent spies snapped the five-door hatchback model as it was completing its winter tests on the snow.

Volvo Cars CEO Stefan Jakoby gave us a sneak peek of the new V40 at an interview with Hakan Matson, chairman of the European Car of the Year Jury, on Friday, where he also revealed that the car will be officially introduced at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show next March.

During the interview, Jakoby said that he is "extremely positive" and "really excited" about the V40, which will be positioned against the five-door variants of the Audi A3 and BMW 1-Series as well as the Lexus CT200 h.

The year is almost up yet Volkswagen continues to celebrate its much vaunted Golf GTI's 35th birthday. Over the year we saw the Germans release the production Golf GTI Edition 35 as well as numerous concepts including a Cabriolet at the Wörthersee meeting in Austria.

Now, just before 2011 comes to an end, Volkswagen's UK division released a video showing all six generations of the Golf GTI on the racetrack and which we presume, is a preview for something a little more exciting as there's not much action going on in this clip.

You won't be missing on much, but if you're still interested, you can watch the video after the break.

Something is rotten in the state of Renault: its sales in the UK market. The fall of the pound against the Euro by 16 percent since the end of 2008, which minimized profitability of companies based in euro-denominated countries along with a staggering 29 percent drop in Renault's sales in the first 11 months of the year, forced the French carmaker to make some hard decisions.

Renault spokesperson Caroline De Gezelle announced today that, from February, the company will stop taking orders for no less than five of its models that are currently sold in Europe’s third largest car market.

Motorcycle accidents are often very severe for the simple reason that there's no buffer zone between the rider and the vehicle (or the road), which makes them all the more terrifying to watch when they're captured on tape.

You can multiply the feeling by about ten when the camera happens to be mounted on the helmet of the motorcyclist involved in the crash…

With more than a decade on its back, the current Chevrolet Impala is well overdue for a replacement. Introduced in 1999, the eighth generation of the Chevy's full-size sedan switched to a front-wheel drive layout with GM redesigning the large sedan in 2005.

According to the Automotive News Data Center, Chevy has sold more than 2.8 million units of current model since 1999, with 2007 proving to be the vehicle's best year with a little over 311,000 deliveries. This year, through the end of November, GM has sold close to 161,000 Impalas.

But as we said, it's time for the current Impala to give its place to a new model. Last week, GM confirmed plans for the development of the 10th generation Impala, which will be produced at both its Oshawa Assembly Plant in Canada and the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant.

There's no doubt that the Nissan GT-R is built for speed. But while a side road or better yet, a racetrack is probably the most enjoyable place from a driving perspective to unleash its 480 to 550-horses (depending on the year and model), if you want to explore how fast it can go, Germany's world famous Autobahn is the place to be.

This brings us to the video you're about to watch after the jump and which shows a GT-R going from zero to 312km/h (that's 194mph) on the German highway. Enjoy...

Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Japan’s second biggest automaker, wants Nissan's luxury brand, Infiniti, to have a 10 percent share in the premium segment, which amounts to 500,000 units.

The “Power 88” plan that Ghosn revealed last June calls for the rapid expansion of Infiniti, which is an established player in the U.S. market but almost non-existent in Europe: in 2010 it sold 4,500 units, a tenth of BMW’s January 45,000 sales…

Back in August, we revealed that Infiniti was preparing a small, entry-level premium model to compete with the likes of Audi’s A3 and BMW’s 1-Series, and that it would use another premium carmaker’s help: Mercedes Benz and its newly developed MFA platform employed by the 2012 A-Class.

There's no doubt that this year's Super Bowl XLV played host to some original commercials but the one ad that stood out more than the rest was "The Force" from Volkswagen, the official YouTube version of which has garnered over 45 million views since it aired on February 2.

Volkswagen actually aired one more commercial during the game, the “Black Beetle”, which has been seen by more than 5 million viewers on the German firm's channel.

While Nissan isn't yet ready to completely lift the covers off its pre-production Pathfinder showcar, the Japanese company has issued the first teaser image of the seven-seater model that will make its public debut at the 2012 North American International Auto Show beginning in Detroit on January 9th.

With a little digital help, we brightened up the picture to reveal the outline of the Pathfinder study, which looks like it will sport a swoopier body than the current model.

We got our first glimpse of the new concept model Lexus is readying for the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit with a cryptic teaser picture of the car's front end on December 12.

Today, Toyota's premium brand released a second image, this time showing the as of yet unnamed concept model's interior. What’s important about this image is that the teardrop shape of the window line suggests we're looking at a two-door coupe model.

It was long overdue, but it was bound to happen: the company lawyers named Motors Liquidation Co. but which we came to know as "old GM" during the 2009 government bailout period, died on Thursday, December 15.

Though it had a very long lifespan of 103 years, no one really noticed its demise. After all, this was just U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerbert signing the death certificate. Giving birth to the “new GM” two years ago was a very painful process – and one that most of those involved would like to forget.

It meant the sacrifice of three of its brands (Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn) and getting rid of another (Saab, which ironically is now in a similar position), closing 13 plants along with 900 dealerships. GM also had to reduce its U.S. workforce from 91,000 to 68,500 employees, which either way, is a far cry from the 525,000 workers it had in the States and another 100,000 outside the country in 1955.

Some may call it a Holiday Special, all we know is that the wacky trio from Top Gear UK is returning to the small screen on December 28 for its annual special that will see Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May heading out to India.

After discovering that Britain does more business with Ireland than with the second most populous country in the world after China, the Top Gear crew set out on a mission to boost the trade between the two countries – or at least that's the excuse for the epic road trip.

Honda revealed today the it has begun rolling out the new Civic at its UK plant in Swindon, which returned to its normal production rates after a disruption due to lack of parts caused by the Thai floods. Read more »

New Donkervoort D8 GTO gets Audi TT RS's 2.5-liter Turbo with up to 400-Horses

It's been two and a half years in the making but Donkervoort Automobielen has finally unleashed its next generation sports car, the new D8 GTO.

The long-nosed roadster was developed in close collaboration with Audi Quattro GmbH, which provided a modified version of the 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five found under the hood of the RS3 and TT RS.

According to Donkervoort, the 2.5 TFSI has undergone a diet and lost 30 kg or 66 pounds over the standard Audi variant.

When General Motors previewed the Chevrolet Sonic series with the Aveo RS Concept at last year's North American Auto Show, the company also hinted at a spicier version inspired by the study.

Following the launch of the regular Sonic models, Chevrolet has now revealed the production Sonic RS that will go on sale late next year after making its world premiere at the Detroit Motor Show in January.

It is sad news for the automotive world to learn of the demise of a company. Unfortunately, Monday December 19, will mark the end of the road for Swedish carmaker Saab – and this time it looks like it is final.

Earlier this morning, Swedish Automotive N.V. (Swan) announced that Saab Automobile, Saab Automobile Tools and Saab Powertrain filed for bankruptcy with the District Court in Vanersborg, Sweden.

This comes after Youngman, the Chinese company which last week promised to pay for the carmaker’s restructuring, informed Saab that it cannot provide the funding necessary for the continuation of the process.

Therefore, Swan concluded that, with GM vetoing any proposed plan until now, and without the essential funding, it would be insolvent. Thus, it was better for its creditors to file for bankruptcy.

The Auto Expo 2012 that takes place in New Delhi, India, from January 7 to 11, will serve as the backdrop for the presentation of a new, but as of yet unnamed, concept model from Ford.

The Detroit-based carmaker won't reveal any specific details about the study but said that it will preview an all-new vehicle planned for introduction in India as well as other global markets in the very near future.

Cadillac Engineers Try to Perfect the 2013 ATS on the Nordschleife [Video]

In the third chapter of Cadillac's video series on the new 2013 ATS, the Detroit firm's engineers explain to us why they chose the Nürburgring racetrack to complete the development of their soon-to-be revealed compact sports sedan.

"There's no other facility in the world like this. You can accomplish more in one lap around the 'Ring than you can running probably a dozen tracks in the U.S." says David Mikels, energy and powertrain integration engineer for the Cadillac ATS.

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