Category: Auto Industry

2014 Ram ProMaster configurator reporting for heavy duty

Filed under: Minivan/Van, Work, Ram

Ram has brought the configurator online for all sizes of its new ProMaster van, known to the rest of the world as the Fiat Ducato. Destined to take on the new Ford Transit and Nissan NV, the ProMaster is available in three sizes – 1500, 2500, and 3500.

Once a size has been chosen, the world is your oyster. We could (probably) spend the rest of our day with this configurator and not repeat a build once. Each truck can be had in different styles ranging from windowed van to cargo hauler to cutaway truck, while buyers can also choose from a number of wheelbases and roof heights.

Add to that an options sheet that’s almost Porsche-like in length, and you get a van that can be completely customized to the needs of your business. Check out all three configurators at the following links: 1500, 2500 and 3500.

2014 Ram ProMaster configurator reporting for heavy duty originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: New Chevy Silverado ad aims for the cowgirl market

Filed under: Truck, Marketing/Advertising, Videos, Chevrolet

Chevrolet is continuing its marketing blitz during the launch of the new Chevy Silverado with another ad toting the new truck’s safe towing capacity – even when you’ve got a “a 1200-pound passenger and 355 horses to get there.”

It’s a touching spot that tries to equate the connection someone feels to an animal best friend with the connection one has with a prized vehicle. We like the emotional direction Chevy’s gone in, as it’s quite different from, say, hearing a gravelly Denis Leary talk about the Ford F-150. And clearly, GM sees the need to market its new fullsize pickup to women in addition to men.

Still, this rural Chevy commercial has nothing on the Ram 1500 Super Bowl ad. Click below for the spot.

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New Chevy Silverado ad aims for the cowgirl market originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Mercedes considering Mexico for CLA production

Filed under: Sedan, Plants/Manufacturing, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Luxury

Would you buy a Mercedes-Benz if it were made in Mexico? That’s what the German outfit is wondering, as it considers localizing production of its new budget model at a factory operated by Nissan, of which the automaker is a joint-venture partner.

According to a report from Automotive News, moving production of American-spec CLAs from Hungary to Mexico would protect Mercedes from currency fluctuations. “Mexico is the best location for the United States,” Daimler Chairman Dieter Zetsche told AN. The CLA is also expected to become the brand’s volume model in the US market, which makes North American production a logical move.

In the event that Mercedes approves the plan, Nissan would expand the capabilities at its Aguascalientes, Mexico plant, allowing production to begin in 2018.

Mercedes considering Mexico for CLA production originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Proposed class-action lawsuit targets ‘defective’ MyFord Touch

Filed under: Government/Legal, Technology, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Infotainment

A national law firm, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, has filed a proposed class action lawsuit whose presupposition is that MyFord Touch is defective. Specifically, the complaint states that the system – as well as the MyLincoln Touch and MyMercury Touch clones – often freeze, fail to respond to voice or touch commands and have issues connecting to mobile phones.

According to Hagens Berman managing partner Steve Berman, MyFord Touch is a theoretically “brilliant idea” that falls short in actual execution. Said Berman in a press release, “In reality, the system is fundamentally flawed, failing to reliably provide functionality, amounting to an inconvenience at best, and a serious safety issue at worst.”

Other MFT issues enumerated within the 41-page filing include problems controlling the window defroster, rear-view camera and navigation system. The suit maintains that Ford is aware of the problem but has yet to submit a workable and acceptable solution to MFT customers. Scroll down if you’d like to read the full press release.

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Proposed class-action lawsuit targets ‘defective’ MyFord Touch originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Sin R1 is a Corvette V8 in a German wrapper

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, MISC, Racing

The Sin R1 made quite a showing in its Goodwood Festival of Speed debut. The Munich-based outfit made its public driving debut on the Earl of March’s driveway, after an initial debut at the 2013 Autosport International show.

As a boutique supercar manufacturer, Sin kind of has carte blanche when it comes to parts. The R1’s engine, for example, is a 6.2-liter V8 from the Chevrolet Corvette. Situated in the back, the American engine is mated to the transmission from a Porsche 911 GT2. With 525 horsepower on tap from the LS3, the R1 has a claimed top speed of over 200 miles per hour and can hit 60 in just 2.5 seconds.

Helped along by a low curb weight of just 2645 pounds, the R1’s speed shouldn’t be a huge surprise. With aerodynamics (including a very meaty wing) producing upwards of 550 pounds of downforce and a 40/60 weight distribution, this is bound to be a car that can dance, so long as it’s in a very talented pair of hands.

All that said, the Sin R1 is still something of a question mark. This is the only one we’ve seen, and there’s no mention of pricing or availability. Sin made a name for itself building racing cars, but this is its first road-going model. It has the name-brand parts, with a steering wheel and seats from OMP, wheels from AP Racing, and Braid wheels. Only time will tell, though, if it’s the next Koenigsegg or Pagani, or just another one-off that never found an audience.

Sin R1 is a Corvette V8 in a German wrapper originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 15:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Burnout turns Holden HSV Clubsport into epic fireball

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Holden

Michael ‘Gup’ Gilbert is the Australian owner of Powercruise. The cruising car show is for those who like to “beat on their cars rather than look at them from their lawn chair,” touts the company’s web site. Understandably, the mastermind behind the event has build some very impressive street cars, including the heavily modified Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) making a rather abbreviated appearance in the video below.

Not happy with the factory stock 6.2-liter LS3 under the hood of his daily driver HSV Clubsport, Gup replaced it with a 727-cubic-inch V8 (do the math – its displacement is more than 11.9-liters!) from Sonny’s Racing Components. The $55,900 crate engine makes a whopping 1,275 horsepower on standard 91 octane pump gas, thanks in part to a massive 3,500-cfm throttle body perched on top. Custom-mounted in the nose of his Holden, Gup chose to send all of the power rearward through a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission working through a nine-inch differential. The numbers speak for themselves – late last year, the car ran the quarter in 10.5 at 140 miles per hour.

But all good things, including this right-hand-drive Holden, will eventually come to an end. We don’t know exactly what gave out during the demonstration at Powercruise USA held at Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota this past weekend, but it sure expired in spectacular fashion. See for yourself below.

Continue reading Burnout turns Holden HSV Clubsport into epic fireball

Burnout turns Holden HSV Clubsport into epic fireball originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Followup: Lexus coupe caught in spy shots actually RC, headed for Tokyo reveal?

Filed under: Spy Photos, Sedan, Performance, Lexus

Lexus may have pulled a fast one on us. The car our spy shooters spotted yesterday may not, in fact, be an IS F Coupe as we indicated. Rather, the car shown above may be a new model, dubbed RC, that will arrive at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show.

Following a report from Automotive News, the RC is believed to be a pure coupe, rather than a hardtop convertible. This gels with information provided on the IS sedan’s launch, when Lexus spokespeople said the IS Convertible would remain on the current platform. With styling based on the LF-CC from the 2012 Paris show, the new car will share a rear-drive platform with the IS and GS sedans.

Power is expected to come from a 3.5-liter V6 that turns out 306 horsepower. That car will likely wear the RC 350 badge. A hybrid model is expected to follow, but in a twist, it won’t be coming to the US. The big news, though, is that the RC will spawn an RC F.

Sources told AN that a 460-hp V8 will replace the 416-hp mill found in the current IS F, allowing the RC F to really duke it out with Stuttgart, Munich, and Ingolstadt.

Where does that leave the IS F? We can’t be sure, but with Mercedes-Benz and BMW both offering (now or in the future) fast, compact sedans, we wouldn’t bet on Lexus sitting out. We can expect to see a production RC F at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, with examples arriving in dealers later that year.

Lexus coupe caught in spy shots actually RC, headed for Tokyo reveal? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Volkswagen Taigun going into production, but not for US

Filed under: Concept Cars, Budget, Crossover, Volkswagen, South America

We last mentioned the Volkswagen Taigun when discussing the subcompact crossover that Volkswagen will be bringing to the US in 2016. Well, turns out the Taigun won’t be that crossover, but it is going into production for other markets outside the US according to a report in Autoweek. Based on the same platform as the Up!, the Taigun is two size classes – not one – beneath the Tiguan, and is seen by VW as lacking the dimensions and power that the US crossover brigades demand. It’s the same reasoning that will probably keep the Ford EcoSport, a Taigun competitor, from coming here.

The Autoweek piece says the Taigun, with a wheelbase two inches longer than the Up! and a seating position that puts the driver 2.5 inches higher, will only use front-wheel drive. Three-cylinder gas and diesel engines, as well as a natural gas option, will provide motivation; manual and dual-clutch transmissions will do the shifting. The concept, for example, uses a 1.0-liter three-cylinder with 109 horsepower and 129 pound-feet of torque. What’s more, it seems the patent drawings spied in China weren’t lying, AW saying the production version will remain close to the concept. For a driving review of the concept, head over to AW.

A solid date for release hasn’t been given, but 2016 is the expected timeframe. That would have it on sale at the same time as the compact crossover we are meant to get, which will sit above it and below the next-generation, long-wheelbase Tiguan due also to be shown in 2016.

Volkswagen Taigun going into production, but not for US originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spy Shots: 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet spotted testing in the nude

Filed under: Spy Photos, Convertible, Performance, Porsche, Luxury

Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet spy shots

The Porsche 911 wouldn’t be the Porsche 911 unless there were twenty-something different models to choose from (note: we are not complaining), and the latest one was just spied by our trusty photographers out on Germany’s Nürburgring. Feast your eyes on the 911 Turbo Cabriolet – the droptop version of the new Turbo wonder that debuted in May – looking all sorts of stealth in its black-on-black-on-black prototype scheme.

Mechanically, the 911 Turbo Cab should be identical to the fixed-roof version, meaning a twin-turbo 3.8-liter flat-six engine will live in the car’s rump, putting out something like 520 horsepower. Of course, there’s also the hotter Turbo S version of the coupe, and we expect that to get the droptop treatment, as well, with 560 horsepower on tap. The added weight of the folding top and additional structural supports will likely make for slightly slower 0-60 times for both cars, though considering the base Turbo will hit 60 miles per hour in 3.2 seconds, “slower” is a very relative term indeed. All that force will run to the ground via all-wheel drive, managed by Porsche’s seven-speed PDK dual-clutch transmission.

The wide stance of the 911 Turbo Coupe carries over to the Cabriolet, no doubt fitted with the same (standard) 20-inch wheels. Inside, the usual luxury amenities will be on hand, along with nearly endless customization options.

Given that the Frankfurt Motor Show isn’t too far off in the future, we expect to see the Turbo Cabriolet officially bow before then. For now, check it out in the high-res spy shot gallery above.

2014 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet spotted testing in the nude originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Nissan announces limited-edition 2014 GT-R in Midnight Opal

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Nissan

2014 Nissan GT-R Special Edition

Nissan has unveiled the 2014 GT-R Special Edition. Finished in Midnight Opal paint, the GT-R SE will be limited to just 100 units worldwide, with 50 earmarked for the US.

With sales slated to start this fall, the Special Edition of the 545-horsepower GT-R tacks $6,000 on to the $105,590 price of a GT-R Premium. The hand-applied Midnight Opal paint isn’t the only special item, though. Forged RAYS wheels are included in a ten-spoke design that’s never before made it to American shores, and there’s a dry carbon-fiber rear spoiler, similar in design and appearance to the one found on the GT-R Black and Track Editions. Finally, a gold-plated plaque has been fitted to single out the GT-R Special Edition from the very fast herd.

US sales of the GT-R SE are slated to begin in September. Scroll down for the official press blast.

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Nissan announces limited-edition 2014 GT-R in Midnight Opal originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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