Car News
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In August of 2011, Cadillac announced it was building its own extended-range electric car, based on the Converj concept and utilizing an evolved (but not yet second-generation) version of the Chevrolet Volt’s drivetrain. Dubbed the ELR, the shapely coupe is scheduled to hit the market in late 2013 as a 2014 model. Confirming this timeline, General Motors has recently announced that the ELR will be built alongside the Volt in the automaker’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant, with production beginning in late 2013. Mark Reuss, GM’s North American President, is enthusiastic about the...
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Ford's Oldest Known Survivor Sells For $264k
Last month, we told you that a rare 1903 Ford Model A Rear Entry Tonneau would be crossing the block in mid-October, at the RM Auctions sale in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Built in the first batch of cars to come from Ford’s Mack Avenue plant, this Model A is believed to be the oldest surviving...
Kurt Ernst -
Porsche Busy Hiring F1 Crew, But What Does It Mean?
Porsche has taken overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans some 16 times, including a winning streak with the 936, 956 and 962C that lasted from 1981 through 1987. The last time the Stuttgart automaker stood atop the podium was in 1998, and since 2007 only Audi and Peugeot have sponsored...
Kurt Ernst -
Felipe Massa Re-Ups With Ferrari For 2013
Felipe Massa could well paraphrase the words of Mark Twain with the statement, “the rumors of my departure from Scuderia Ferrari have been greatly exaggerated.” Ending what seems like months of speculation, Ferrari’s F1 team has just announced the re-signing of Felipe Massa for...
Kurt Ernst -
Nissan Juke-R, Five Focus STs For SEMA, Double Ferrari Crash: Car News Headlines
The Nissan Juke-R was once just a funky project for an arm of Nissan's global operations. Now it has completed its progression to limited-production customer car, with chassis #001 complete and on its way to its new owner. Only a handful will be built. Ford is planning five tuned Focus ST...
Nelson Ireson -
Ford Bringing Five Tuned Focus ST Hatchbacks To SEMA 2012
When Ford announced it was showing four tuner versions of its new Fusion sedan at SEMA, we were a bit concerned that the automaker had forgotten about its other products of interest to enthusiasts, likes its new Focus ST hot hatch. It turns out that wasn’t the case, since Ford has announced...
Kurt Ernst -
From a profitability perspective, hiring a pro drifter to run factory tours probably isn’t the best idea. Even a driver like Vaughn Gittin Jr. (who just finished second in the 2012 Formula Drift championship) occasionally misjudges distances, meaning that a car or two will need to go back to the body shop before delivery to a dealer or customer. On the other hand, if Ford opened up plant tours of its Flat Rock assembly line, home of the Mustang, and charged visitors $25 for a ride with Vaughn Gittin Jr., we imagine it would have an entirely new profit center on its hands. We’d...
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First production Nissan Juke-R ready for delivery
First unveiled as a concept in late 2011, Nissan’s all-out-insane Juke-R crossover has since gone on to tour much of the world, causing much excitement, particularly in the Middle East, where at least three people were willing to pay the astronomical asking price of $600k to see the car...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
2013 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid Rated At 45 MPG Combined By EPA
Whether you’re fan of its styling or not, the people behind the 2013 Lincoln MKZ deserve a lot of credit. The sedan, in its hybrid form, has just had its gas mileage rated by the EPA at 45 mpg across the board--city, highway and combined. This puts it ahead of most rivals in the mid-size...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Ferrari 458 Spider And California Involved In Crash In China
Two drivers taking part in a Ferrari cruise in China over the weekend unfortunately met with a very nasty accident, which saw both of their exotics destroyed. The crash is believed to have occurred on the Baomao Expressway near Shaanxi in Northwest China. The cars involved were a Ferrari 458 Spider...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Fisker Atlantic Production Delayed By Two Years: Report
The last we heard, Fisker had managed to raise an additional $100 million in private equity funding for the development of its second model, the mid-size Atlantic extended-range electric sedan. However, just a few weeks since that positive announcement, official slides from an investor presentation...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
2013 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder Preview
Following the debut of the facelifted 2013 Lamborghini Gallardo coupe range at last month’s 2012 Paris Auto Show, the first images and details for the 2013 Gallardo Spyder have now hit the Web. They reveal the same aggressive look that we saw on the coupe, plus a few unique elements. The car...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Bentley gave us the biggest indication yet that it’s seriously considering a return to motorsports with the unveiling of the striking Continental GT3 Concept at the recent 2012 Paris Auto Show. While any motorsport debut for Bentley is likely to be years away still, the automaker has confirmed that a Continental-based GT3 race car is currently being developed by a dedicated works team at its factory in Crewe, England. Whether this new race car will be used for FIA-sanctioned events such as the GT3 European Championship or World Endurance Championship, or if Bentley simply creates its...
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2013 Lexus LS Body Kit By TRD: Gallery
This is the Toyota Racing Development take on the 2013 Lexus LS 460. While the LS itself is well-respected as a comfy and capable continent cruiser, and supposedly much enhanced for the new model year, we just can't quite get our minds around this body kit. It's not any one thing, exactly, but...
Nelson Ireson -
Hyundai Veloster "Velocity" Concept: SEMA 2012
The SEMA show is the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association's yearly bash celebrating all that's new and ostensibly cool in tuner and aftermarket culture. Hyundai has embraced the show with a bearhug again this year, adding a new Veloster "Velocity" concept to the mix in addition to its...
Nelson Ireson -
2013 Lexus LS Sedan Models Priced
Lexus has redesigned its flagship LS sedan for the 2013 model year to be more luxurious and more refined than the model it replaces. Unfortunately, these changes (and the strong Japanese yen versus the weak U.S. dollar) mean that prices on Lexus’ premier luxury sedan are going up. The...
Kurt Ernst -
Magnus Walker, 'Urban Outlaw' And Porsche Collector: Video
Magnus Walker doesn’t look at all like what you’d expect a Porsche collector to look like. He wears oil-stained jeans, not designer slacks, and it’s a safe bet that none of his shirts come with a tiny alligator logo on them. He wears his long hair in dreadlocks, and you can tell...
Kurt Ernst -
IMSA Confirms Eligibility Of DeltaWing Racer For 2013 ALMS Season
The fan-favorite Nissan DeltaWing racer will make its North American competition debut at the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, scheduled for Saturday, October 20. While many thought this would be a one-time running of the car, which last turned a wheel in anger at this...
Kurt Ernst -
If you want to get your hands on a Volvo C30 hatchback, we’d advise you not to wait much longer. In order to “better position Volvo for the future,” the automaker will discontinue C30 production in December, ending the compact hatch with the 2013 model year. Volvo’s official statement on the car’s demise reads, in part, “Launched as a model year 2008, the Volvo C30 is a dynamic, fun-to-drive car that helped us connect with enthusiasts and also fulfilled its purpose in supporting Volvo as a luxury brand with performance credentials.” “Looking...
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Ford Ending WRC Sponsorship At Close Of 2012 Season
It's undeniably expensive to participate in motorsports at any level. At the level of the manufacturers--and the results they're expected to deliver--it's often insanely expensive. While Ford hasn't disclosed costs as the reason, it's pulling out of World Rally Championship (WRC) competition at the...
Nelson Ireson -
Jay Leno And The Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse: Video
Jay Leno has a passion for early Bugatti automobiles, and has numerous examples in his collection. When Bugatti chose this year's Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance for the North American debut of the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, the ultra-luxury automaker even sprayed the car in the same white...
Kurt Ernst -
2013 Gallardo Spyder, 2014 Mercedes CLA 45 AMG Spied, Record Space Jump: Today's Car News
The 2013 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder LP 560-4 has been revealed, and like its hardtop sister, it's a case of minor upgrades and adjustments rather than a hardcore redesign. Mercedes' CLA 45 AMG has been spied again, this time showing the final shape--though still camouflaged--of the upcoming small...
Nelson Ireson -
2014 Maserati Quattroporte Spy Video
UPDATE: The 2014 Maserati Quattroporte has been revealed. Click here for all the photos and details. Maserati is in the midst of an ambitious new model roll-out plan that will see the automaker’s lineup not only freshened but injected with some brand new models. Fiat Group CEO Sergio...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Felix Baumgartner Breaks The Sound Barrier, Sans Vehicle: Video
It takes a special kind of crazy to think that piloting a giant balloon to a height of 128,100 feet, opening the door of your capsule and jumping into space sounds like a good idea, but Felix Baumgartner is that kind of crazy. On Sunday, the Austrian skydiver and helicopter pilot broke several...
Kurt Ernst