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Video: Ford cleans up painting process with cameras

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Technology, Videos, Ford

Ford F-150 paint process - video screencap

Ford 3D Dirt Detection Technology - video screencap Knowing how the bacon gets made rarely entices us and, in the same vein, the same usually goes for knowing about how new cars get painted. But in both instances, however, quality – or a lack thereof – is instantly obvious. In terms of the latter, Ford is showing off its new paint quality process with 3D Dirt Detection Technology to find imperfections in vehicle paint more easily and more quickly.

This process – being performed on the F-150 SVT Raptor above – uses 16 computer-controlled cameras to create a three-dimensional model (inset) of the vehicle to detect flaws in the paint including dirt particles, which can then be buffed out manually. Ford says this new technology cuts down on time spent looking for paint flaws and gives workers more time to correct those that are discovered.

Currently, Ford only uses its 3D Dirt Detection Technology system at three factories (the Dearborn, MI facility, along with those in Louisville, Kentucky and Valencia, Spain), but it will soon spread to five more plants in North America. Ford has released a video and press release for this innovative and unexpectedly interesting process, both of which are posted below.

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Ford cleans up painting process with cameras originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 Aug 2013 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Compilation of memorable movie windscreen shots is great for trivia night

Filed under: Etc., Videos, Celebrities, Humor, TV/Movies

Supercut Windshield Scenes Video

This might be the coolest video you’ll see all day. From Supercut’s YouTube channel comes this two-minute clip of nothing but movie scenes that take place in cars. Using Hollywood’s time-honored through-the-windshield shot, it’s interesting to see how so many movies stick to the same formula when showing scenes that take place behind the wheel (or should we say, in front of the wheel).

The sheer number of movies that use this view, rather than some B-roll of the car moving down the road, show how important scenes in cars can be. Give the vid a watch below and try to identify which scenes are from which movies. Afterwards, you can can head over to Supercut’s YouTube page for the full rundown of which films are shown.

Continue reading Compilation of memorable movie windscreen shots is great for trivia night

Compilation of memorable movie windscreen shots is great for trivia night originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 20:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Watch these Australian Ford and Holden muscle cars duke it out

Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Videos, Ford, Holden, Australia, Comparisons

Motoring pits the Holden VF Commodore HSV GTS agains the Ford Falcon FPV GT R-Spec

Australia’s Motoring has put together a little video on two of the great performance vehicles available down under – the Holden VF Commodore HSV GTS and the Ford Falcon FPV GT R-Spec. And while both FPV and the Falcon might be on their way out, there’s still plenty of time for a little head-to-head comparison between the two.

The cars aren’t all that well evenly matched, though. The Ford boasts a 5.0-liter, supercharged V8, which the Aussies measure out at 449 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque. The HSV, though, with its Corvette-derived, 6.2-liter, supercharged V8 is just too powerful – 576 hp and 545 lb-ft of torque.

Predictably, it doesn’t end too well for the Ford. As the guys from Motoring point out, the new VF Commodore is just too new and too good, with its extra power and its adaptive dampers (GM’s excellent MagnaRide). Interestingly, Motoring did point out that the Holden’s electric steering is better than the Ford’s hydraulic steering, which is a lot like a Porsche purist saying they prefer water-cooled engines to air cooled.

The Aussie site did a full write up on the two vehicles, which we’d strongly encourage you to take a look at. It’s a really solid read. You can also take a look at their video comparison, down below.

Continue reading Watch these Australian Ford and Holden muscle cars duke it out

Watch these Australian Ford and Holden muscle cars duke it out originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 20:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Porsche has doubled US sales to women [w/videos]

Filed under: Car Buying, Etc., Marketing/Advertising, Videos, Porsche, Luxury

Porsche sales to women have doubled in the past two years, contributing to a year-to-date sales increase of 31 percent.

Porsche is having a good sales year in the US, with 25,129 vehicles delivered year-to-date coming off the automaker’s best July sales ever. That’s a 31-percent increase over the same period last year (19,253 deliveries). With year-to-date Panamera sales a surprising 36 percent lower than last year, what possibly could be driving Porsche’s sales surge? If you answered Cayman and Boxster sales, you’re right. But dealerships are noticing another factor: more women are coming in to buy Porsches, CNBC reports, the bulk of whom picked up new Cayenne SUVs. The German automaker’s sales to women in the US have more than doubled in the past two years, increasing from 7 percent to 15 percent. This has helped year-to-date Cayenne sales reach 11,082 – 31 percent higher than the same time last year.

Porsche executives have been trying to tap into the women’s market, as evidenced in part by the company’s move to pick professional tennis player Maria Sharapova as a brand ambassador. Porsche maintains it has not moved to dramatically change its brand image, but it has shown a number of ads in recent years that uncharacteristically emphasize its vehicles’ practicality under the “Engineered for Magic. Everyday” banner – some featuring female drivers.

Be sure to watch CNBC‘s video report on Porsche’s female movement below – you’ll also find one of the aforementioned Engineered For Magic ads as well as an interesting case study video on the campaign from ad agency Cramer-Krasselt.

Continue reading Porsche has doubled US sales to women [w/videos]

Porsche has doubled US sales to women [w/videos] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Armadillo-T electric car folds for easy storage

Filed under: Etc., Technology, Videos, Specialty, Design/Style, Electric, South Korea

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) shows off a prototype Armadillo-T, which is an electric car that folds like an armadillo to save space.

We’ve seen folding cars before, but a group of researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have designed an electric vehicle that curls up like an armadillo. The folding process of the Armadillo-T prototype is particularly clever due to its four in-wheel electric motors and 13.6-kWh battery tucked into the front half of the car, which allow it to pull the rear shell with the rear wheels over the passenger compartment at the press of a button. Casters drop down from the center of the vehicle to facilitate the folding action, which shrinks its 110-inch length down to 65 inches. There’s almost no parking space in which this car can’t fit.

According to Phys.org, the Armadillo-T is very lightweight at 990 pounds, but it also packs in some important features. The driver can activate the folding action with a smartphone, which also can be used to move and rotate the folded car into a parking spot. A ten-minute quick charge gives the EV 62 miles of range, and it has a top speed of 37 miles per hour – not enough for freeway driving, but adequate for urban settings. It also has side-view cameras instead of mirrors to help the driver see around the car.

Check out the Armadillo-T folding itself in the video below.

Continue reading Armadillo-T electric car folds for easy storage

Armadillo-T electric car folds for easy storage originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Ford looks to space robots to improve car-to-car communications [w/video]

Filed under: Technology, Videos, Ford, Russia

Ford has partnered with St. Petersburg Polytechnic University for three years to research various kinds of connected vehicle communications. The university tie-up is part of its study of space robots, NASA systems created to enable space-to-Earth communication, and the university’s own development of systems that enable communication between the International Space State and Earth.

The objective is for Ford to engineer layers of robust networks and redundancy systems that will allow your car to speak to other cars, to emergency vehicles, to infrastructure like traffic lights and buildings, and to the cloud. Benefits would come in just about every area of transit, from avoiding accidents, to getting medical workers to an accident more quickly, to improving the flow of traffic during rush hour.

Check out the press release below for details on what Ford wants to learn from the JUSTIN Humanoid and NASA Robonaut R2, and a video of technical leader Oleg Gusikhin discussing his interest in the project.

Continue reading Ford looks to space robots to improve car-to-car communications [w/video]

Ford looks to space robots to improve car-to-car communications [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Lexus IS to get Deviant at SEMA

Filed under: Aftermarket, Concept Cars, SEMA Show, Sedan, Lexus, Luxury

It’s time to start gathering intel on SEMA, and it starts with this drawing of a modified 2014 Lexus IS. Lexus ran a competition on DeviantART, an online community for artists, to find a suitably modified IS that it could build and display at the temple of all things aftermarket in Las Vegas. The winner, as judged by a four-person panel from among more than 600 entries, is the IS rendered above by Rob Evans.

The winner looks like the beginning of a build for an IS entry into Japan’s Super GT series, with a seriously exaggerated front spoiler and rear diffuser and fender flares that aren’t just punched out, they’re throwing 12-punch combinations.

Evans will have his car built by VIP Auto Salon and plastered all over Lexus materials promoting its presence at the show. Oh, and he gets an IS F-Sport for a year, among other prizes. Second place went to Lucia Lee, third place to Guangho Huang. A press release below has more on the competition and the winner.

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Lexus IS to get Deviant at SEMA originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Jaguar envisions future without V8 engines

Filed under: Performance, Jaguar, Luxury

Jaguar reportedly is considering a move away from V8s.

With tighter emissions and fuel economy regulations looming, Jaguar may have to do more than make a small, fuel-efficient hatchback to lower its model range’s consumption figures – it also might give up its venerable V8 power, Drive reports. But not anytime soon, says Steven de Ploey, Jaguar’s product and marketing director, who recognizes that the V8 can be replaced only by something that offers the same, or better, performance. But he has a word of caution: “We are not wedded to V8s.”

In the meantime, de Ploey says there are other ways to reduce emissions. One of the first steps Jaguar could take is to shift away from the use of superchargers, which aren’t as good as turbochargers at maintaining efficiency and making power. But he adds that supercharging still is “at the heart of Jaguar’s performance proposition,” and that the company has addressed the current downsizing trend by “replacing our naturally aspirated V8 with a 3.0-liter supercharged V6.”

Consider one of de Ploey’s comments on the cancelled C-X75 supercar (pictured) for some clue about Jaguar’s future: “Some of the stuff we have already exploited to the extreme in the C-X75 is the kind of thinking for us and is an essential test bed to see how we could evolve from today to something that is sustainable in the future.”

Confused by Jaguar’s direction? We are too. It doesn’t help that the C-X75 doesn’t seem to have the answer to replace the V8 – just some discarded mini-turbines, a 10,000+rpm four-cylinder generator and four electric motors. But the conservative British marque has been thinking outside the box lately…

Jaguar envisions future without V8 engines originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Google shacking up with Continental on self-driving cars

Filed under: Frankfurt Motor Show, Safety, Technology

Google, well known tester of self-driving cars, may have just come one step closer to making its sci-fi tech a widely realistic proposition. Along with IBM, it’s inked a deal with tier one supplier Continental, according to Reuters. The official announcement is set to be made during September’s Frankfurt Motor Show.

This is really a huge development for the world of driverless cars. Continental has its hands in a number of pies, supplying tires, brakes, stability control systems and other essential components to manufacturers. Google, meanwhile, is one of the biggest names in tech and has been toying with driverless vehicles for years, making this a formidable pairing. This could be the kick in the pants driverless cars need to get further into the mainstream consciousness.

Continental is already teamed up with Cisco Systems, as well, in a bid to establish data transfer networks between cars. All told, there are some mighty big names throwing their hats into the autonomous ring. Expect more news on the terms of this alliance at Frankfurt.

Google shacking up with Continental on self-driving cars originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 17:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Gran Turismo 6 to get exclusive concept cars from Aston, BMW, Nike and more

Filed under: Concept Cars, Motorsports, Performance, Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, GM, Honda, Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Peugeot, Alfa Romeo, Toys/Games, Racing, SRT

Vision Gran Turismo video

Much like a real conflict, the console wars being waged between Microsoft and Sony spill into a number of different battlefields and theaters. Home to some of the fiercest fighting is the racing genre, which sees Microsoft’s Forza Motorsport series go head-to-head with Sony’s Gran Turismo series. While there’s been plenty of press about Forza, GT has just struck back with some news that we aren’t sure Turn 10 Studios and Microsoft can match.

When Gran Turismo 6 arrives on the Playstation 4 on December 6, it’s with the promise of a huge suite of free, downloadable content featuring some of the finest cars from manufacturers, design houses and brands from across the globe. The staggered release will see the free content distributed from 2013 to 2014, although it’s unclear just how many cars will be distributed in total or in each car pack.

Vision includes concepts from Alfa Romeo, Alpine, Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, General Motors, Honda, Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, SRT, and Volkswagen, along with vehicles from legendary design studios like Bertone, Italdesign Giugiaro, and Zagato. Following in the footsteps of previous GT games, global brands like Nike will take part as well. Conspicuous by absence are past GT partners Citroen and Red Bull, although we doubt that this is a comprehensive list. We’re expecting plenty of surprises when DLC starts arriving.

This news is a blow to the Forza series, which while impressive in its own right (and this author’s preferred title), has seemingly struggled to have the same degree of legitimacy and exclusivity inherent in the titles from Polyphony. Gran Turismo 6 is slated for a December 6 debut. Check back here for more info and a full write-up of the new game before then. Until then, scroll down for a trailer on Vision Gran Turismo and a complete press release from Polyphony.

Continue reading Gran Turismo 6 to get exclusive concept cars from Aston, BMW, Nike and more

Gran Turismo 6 to get exclusive concept cars from Aston, BMW, Nike and more originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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