Archive for June, 2009
GM to sell Saab to Swedish custom car maker
By Louise Nordstrom Associated Press STOCKHOLM — Saab Automobile, General Motors’ struggling Swedish unit known for its family cars, was rescued today by a consortium led by Koenigsegg Automotive AB, a tiny company that produces only a dozen custom-made super cars a year. Having penned a memorandum of understanding, GM said the sale would include [...]
Gas prices pass $3 a gallon
Oh brother, Californians dealing with double-digit unemployment, steep wage cuts and bleak 401(k) reports are getting hammered again. Gas prices crossed the $3 threshold in California on Monday, hitting an average of $3.01 a gallon, the highest since Halloween and $1.21 a gallon more than we were paying at Christmas. A 15-gallon fill-up now costs [...]
Oil back above $72 as dollar slumps
By PABLO GORONDI Oil prices rose back above $72 a barrel Tuesday as investors picked up commodities after the U.S. dollar slumped on comments by Russian President Medvedev, who said the world needed new reserve currencies. Benchmark crude for July delivery was up $1.74 to $72.36 a barrel by mid-afternoon in Europe in electronic trading [...]
BMW X6 Active Hybrid
What is it? BMW used the Detroit Auto Show to introduce another hybrid concept. Following the introduction of the BMW Concept 7 Series ActiveHybrid in Los Angeles, BMW showed the Concept X6 ActiveHybrid. It uses an 8-cylinder engine and electric drive through a two-mode transmission. BMW claims the X6 hybrid uses 20 percent less fuel [...]
Audi Sportback concept car
What is it? The Audi Sportback concept is a four-door hatchback with coupe-like styling that is supposed to give a hint towards the future of Audi design. This coupe-like model has four seats and styling similar to the current A5 coupe and new A4 sedan. The luxurious interior is covered in leather, with wood accents [...]
Mercedes menace: SLR Stirling Moss lives up to the hype
Where to start? That’s the question when confronted by the amazing Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR Stirling Moss. No matter how often you’ve seen it in pictures, nothing prepares you for the impression the low-slung two-seater leaves as it hovers into view and you get the key for a world-exclusive drive. Created as a parting gesture in [...]
Bentley earns green credentials with Geneva show car
The revised Continental will have to make more than 600 hp from its 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 and is likely to have a top speed of more than 200 mph–the figures achieved by the current fastest Bentley, the Continental Speed. “Delivering supercar performance, this new model is very much the extreme Bentley,” says the company. Bentley [...]
Diesel is good alternative for fuel-conscious Americans
Later this year Ford will be bringing it’s fuel-sipping green car, the Fiesta to America. However, there will be no diesels. According to Ford executive, Mark Fields, this is due to a theory that Americans will not buy diesel. True, that conviction is easier than ever to defend these days. While Europeans were where we [...]
Cadillac Escalade Hybrid more about show than saving fuel: A short stint review
OUR TAKE: The first thought when driving this huge mass is of that snobby pitchman driving an Escalade in the television ad saying, “They ought to hybrid this.” Aside from the horrible use of “hybrid” as a verb, after driving this allegedly environmentally friendly machine, we’re not convinced. It’s not that it doesn’t work well [...]
Italdesign to unveil fast but frugal hybrid car at Geneva motor show
Italdesign Giugiaro will unveil a green concept , a fast but fuel efficient hybrid coupe at the Geneva auto show. The Italian design and engineering company says the two-seater can reach a top speed of 186 mph (300 kph) and accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in less than 4 seconds. The still unnamed concept [...]
Porsche Cayenne S hybrid: More techs and specs released
Porsche is serving up a few more details on the Cayenne S hybrid. This green car is expected to arrive in 2010. It should be green–and mean to the tune of 385 hp and 545 lb-ft of torque. And carbon-dioxide emissions are expected to be reduced by 20 percent over a comparable combustion engine. The [...]
Toyota plans Yaris-based hybrid
The green car race between Toyota and Honda is heating up. Toyota Motor Corp. plans a new small hybrid car to take on the Insight, the inexpensive Honda hybrid that just reached the United States. The small gasoline-electric car being planned will be a low-priced spinoff of the Toyota Yaris, said Akihiko Otsuka, chief engineer [...]
Bentley history takes center stage at Pebble Beach
Bentley’s blend of aristocratic cars and pure speed will take center stage at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance as the storied British luxury carmaker marks its 90th anniversary. And it will celebrate in style at the Northern California concours, with four classes of Bentleys set on the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach. Sure to be [...]
60,000 take up car scrappage cash
More than 60,000 orders for cars under the UK’s scrappage subsidy scheme have been placed since the initiative was announced, new government figures show. Car buyers are given a £2,000 discount on a new car if they scrap one that is at least 10 years old. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said the scheme had given [...]
Jaguar XJ: Dramatic design marks the next Big Cat
Jaguar’s next-generation XJ luxury sedan will incorporate design features from the C-XF concept first shown at Detroit, AutoWeek has learned. Although prototypes captured by spy photographers are disguised with BMW-style grilles, the face of the new 2010 XJ will feature Jag’s gaping square grille and a curvaceous body with a rakish, coupelike rear window. The [...]
Oil falls below $71 as US dollar strengthens
Oil prices fell below $71 a barrel Monday in Asia as a three-month rally lost steam amid a strengthening dollar. Benchmark crude for July delivery fell $1.32 to $70.72 a barrel by late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, it fell 64 cents to settle at $72.04. [...]
The All New 2009 Scion tC Release Series 5.0
Scion’s “United by Individuality” ad campaign along with all the custom accessories available for the 2009 tC can be a bit daunting to a buyer. Scion customers may even feel intimidated by the peer pressure to “pimp their ride.” Scion has sought to remedy the problem with the latest iteration of the tC, the release [...]
The All New 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe R-Spec
One of the few bright spots in what has been a bleak, anxious period for the auto industry has been Hyundai. Last year, the Korean automaker made a clean break from its econocar roots with the Genesis, an honest-to-goodness luxury sedan that took home North American Car of the Year honors. More recently, it let [...]
The All New 2010 Ford Harley-Davidson F-150
Lest you thought seven trim levels were too few for the F-150, here’s another for the portfolio: The 2010 Ford Harley-Davidson F-150. As the 14th collaboration between Ford and Harley-Davidson, the 2010 H-D F-150 signifies not only the first customization of the newly-revamped F-150, but a move away from the Super Duty range (for 2009, [...]
2010 Lincoln MKZ
Certainly one of the most dramatic transformations this year, Ford’s Fusion went from rental car fleet darling to a genuine class leader by offering an impressive level of engineering and refinement at a decent price. For 2010, Lincoln, not wanting to miss out, gets a refreshed version of its Fusion variant, the MKZ. Our enthusiasm [...]
Mercedes menace: SLR Stirling Moss lives up to the hype
Despite what you've heard Rolls-Royce Hyperion unique for sale
Hyundai BlueOn, electric vehicle in South Korea presented
2011 Nissan Xterra, Pathfinder, frontier and Altima amounts announced
Teen driving: Can computers teach us to drive?