All Entries in the "Auto News" Category
$140 million offered to Wiedeking to quit Porsche
Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking could be offered a $141 million (100 million euros) payoff to quit the sports car maker to make way for a merger with Volkswagen, Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported Friday. The newspaper said Wiedeking has been visited by Porsche Chairman Wolfgang Porsche in the past few days, who “made it clear” [...]
Audi A5 Sportback joins a growing lineup, but only in Europe for now Read more
Audi is shoehorning another model into its ever-expanding lineup–the A5 Sportback. The Sportback joins the coupe and the convertible in Audi’s A5 family. This model sports four doors and a hatchback, yet sits nearly 1.5 inches lower than the A4 sedan. But before you get excited, Audi has not committed to bring this car to [...]
Alfa Romeo 8C Spider shows that Alfa’s bets keep getting better Read more
They’re mixing some strong Kool-Aid at Alfa Romeo these days, and we hope you don’t mind that we took a mongo swig of it. As part of the Fiat umbrella, Alfa represents some of the best stuff enthusiasts will get from the Fiat-Chrysler partnership, and the boys from Turin rolled out some of their top [...]
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
Before we reveal what it is like to hot-lap a prototype version of Mercedes-Benz’s 6.2-liter V8-powered SLS around the 2.2-mile Sachsenring in eastern Germany, let us tell you one thing that puts the big rear-wheel-drive coupe into clear perspective. The SLS, planned to get its first public outing at the Frankfurt motor show in September, [...]
The Pontiac G8 may get a new life as the Chevrolet Caprice
General Motors is studying the feasibility of reusing the rear-wheel-drive performance sedan for law enforcement and the general public, vice chairman Bob Lutz said in an online chat Monday. “The G8 has finally been discovered by a broader percentage of the buying public,” Lutz said on GM’s FastLane blog. “The owners are ecstatic about them, [...]
GM’s Turnaround Rides on a Successful Chevy
With General Motors leaving bankruptcy, can its core brand churn out cars and crossover SUVs that stand up to Toyotas, Hondas, and Fords? As General Motors emerges from bankruptcy reorganization to launch a new era, it is no exaggeration to say that as goes Chevrolet, so goes General Motors. The Chevrolet brand has always been [...]
All-new Citroen C3 gets classier
Nobody does cool and quirky quite like Citroen and the latest Citroen C3 should offer the supermini sector its usual dose of cute French frivolity when it hits showrooms in 2010. OK so it isn’t exactly the 2CV-inspired supermini we were secretly hoping for, but it should offer customers a different enough proposition, especially when [...]
Jaguar XKR Goodwood Special
The Jaguar XKR has been given an extra shot of performance (and paint) for the 2009 Festival of Speed to create the Jaguar XKR Goodwood Special. It’s strictly a one-off for now, but the way the crowds have been gathering around the lime green body, Jaguar must be seriously tempted to consider a limited edition [...]
GM confirms plug-in crossover remains on track for 2011 Read more
A plug-in electric powertrain once destined for a Saturn crossover will live on at General Motors and will arrive in 2011 in another vehicle. GM vice chairman and product chief Tom Stephens confirmed to wire service Reuters that the project remains on track. The automaker was scheduled to bring a plug-in version of the Saturn [...]
Smart’s $99 lease deal has big balloon payment at end
Hoping to benefit from the federal cash-for-guzzlers program, Smart USA has set up a $99 monthly payment for buyers who use their $4,500 rebate. But there’s a catch–and a hefty balloon payment disclosed only as a note to an asterisk in Smart’s press information announcing the offer. The Smart financing is for $99 a month [...]
2010 Ferrari California First Test
The California is a car filled with firsts for Ferrari: the first front-engine V-8, the first use of direct injection, the first seven-speed transmission, the first true launch-control system, the first retractable hardtop, and the first stacked exhaust. But fear not, all these firsts have not changed the purity of Ferrari; they’ve just expanded its [...]
Lexus SS550 (LF-A), Mazda RX-7, Scion Drop Top, Toyobaru
If you were like us a few months ago, you were probably a little worried that the fascinating Tokyo Motor Show was defunct until 2011. It was on pace to become the Olympics of the automotive show calendar, happening once every four years. Fortunately, though, organizers pulled it together for 2009 and signed up around [...]
Ford posts best June sales performance in down market
In a month of sandbagged auto sales, Ford was the clear winner. The Blue Oval posted a sales decline of “just” 10.7 percent in June, in a market that fell nearly 27.7 percent. It was by far the best showing of any major carmaker, helped by strong sales of its Fusion sedan and Escape crossover. [...]
BMW X1 confirmed for United States
One of the worst-kept secrets in the car world has been confirmed: The BMW X1 is coming to the United States in 2011. It likely will come with rear-wheel and all-wheel drive and a variety of gasoline and diesel engines. BMW said it would announce the powertrain specifics closer to the launch as it factors [...]
AMG makes a Mercedes-Benz E-class for the racing family man
Say you need a practical, roomy luxury sedan to use as a family car or for hauling business associates to big lunch meetings. But when no one’s in the car with you, or when those present appreciate a nicely sliced apex as much as you do, you would really like something that can rise to [...]
Lamborghini is paying tribute to its longtime test driver
Lamborghini is paying tribute to its longtime test driver, Valentino Balboni, by putting his name on a limited run of rear-wheel-drive Gallardos. It’s called the LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni, which denotes the 550-hp rating. It’s the only current Lamborghini that channels power to just the rear wheels. Lamborghini will make just 250 units. The rear-drive [...]
2010 Jaguar XFR First Test
Now it’s time to get down to the business of Racepaks and VBOXes to answer the question: Just how does Jaguar’s bad little kitty measure up at the test track? First let’s look at what was promised. At launch, Jaguar claimed the XFR could hit 60 mph in 4.7 seconds and the quarter mile in [...]
Mercedes-Benz Looking to stay at the front of the technology curve
Looking to stay at the front of the technology curve, Daimler revealed today it is working on a next-generation fuel-cell vehicle to be built out of the Mercedes-Benz B-Class and to be known as the B-Class F-Cell. The car will go into limited production next year. Working to create a vehicle with both zero emissions [...]
GM Steams Ahead in China; Half Year Sales Up 38%
Record high sales in this economy? Only in China. General Motors and its joint ventures are reporting a 38% increase in sales for the first half of 2009 compared to last year. The automaker thanked government auto stimulus polices as one of the forces behind its results, which totals 814,442 units sold from January to [...]
Hyundai Equus headed for U.S. market, targets Lexus LS sedan
Hyundai plans to bring its Equus luxury sedan to the United States next July. About 100 units of the Equus are being evaluated this summer by U.S. dealers and consumers. A company source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Equus will attempt to compete with the Lexus LS 460, which starts at $64,700 [...]
A Harley Lands in America, by Way of Europe
2010 Lexus ES 350 to start at $35,675
Lexus reclaims top spot in J.D. Power quality study
Lotus offers supercharger kits for Elise, Exige