Category: Auto Industry

First Drive: 2014 BMW i3

Filed under: Hatchback, BMW, First Drives, Electric

A Purer Than Ever Sort Of Driving Pleasure

2014 BMW i3

This all started back in 2007 when the megacity urbanization trend hit full stride and BMW began brainstorming the 2020 future of mobility. The product was thus originally called the BMW MegaCity vehicle. Then the ‘i’ division of BMW was officially born in 2011, and we have since been exposed to various “leaked” images and official prototype unveilings of both this i3 and the i8 eco sports car. The latter (called i12 in the halls of Munich) was originally called the Concept Vision Efficient Dynamics and presented as a diesel-hybrid.

The time is now upon us for the market launch of the plug-in i3 (called i01 internally). The wider motoring public already has its opinions and BMW is listening to all of them, so there’s a bundle of nerves around these limited drives of the i3 for a select few members of the media, Autoblog included. We came to an airfield outside of Munich and were handed an i3 test car to drive around a set course filled with blue- and white-striped cones. BMW tech experts were everywhere and some of the discussions around the various technical displays even got a little heated.

After our vast amounts of coverage during the gestation period of this new i3, we are well aware of the vocal – or at least written – sentiment of doubt among many computer users and BMW faithful. Not that this undertow of nay doesn’t have its place in BMW’s execution of the deliberately gradual i3 information rollout, but Munich and Leipzig (where the production center for i is located) are almost exclusively focused on customers who are new to BMW. These customers lack preconceived notions of BMW as a performance brand, and also crave the latest and greenest expression of their environmental concerns, preferably in an insanely networked and connected premium package. BMW i representatives have announced publicly that interest in the i3 is huge among newbies. Could the i3 become the Toyota Prius Plug-in for the no-Toyota-thank-you crowd?

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2014 BMW i3 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Jul 2013 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Ford Mustang returning to Australia in 2016

Filed under: New York Auto Show, Coupe, Performance, Ford, Australia

Australia’s Herald Sun newspaper has reported that the next-generation Ford Mustang is heading Down Under in 2016, just as Ford is hanging the “Closed for Good” sign on its Australian manufacturing operations and sending the Falcon to its grave. Ford hasn’t offered any official word on the matter, but the paper says that Ford’s global VP of sales and marketing, Jim Farley, is flying to Australia to make the announcement himself.

While Ford converted Mustangs in the early 2000s from left-hand to right-hand drive for the Australian market and then sold them at high prices, it’s been almost five decades since Ford imported a dedicated right-hand-drive Mustang to Oz. The arrival of the global model specifically made for places like Australia and the UK means Ford will also be able to offer them at better prices than the converted models; the Herald Sun says the price is expected to be “close to $50,000.”

And that’s for one of the “V8 performance models,” which are the only ones Australia will get; Ford apparently won’t send the turbocharged four cylinder or the V6. The Aussies could find out in a month from now whether this rumor is true. We will all find out what this Mustang fuss is about when the car debuts at next year’s New York Auto Show.

Ford Mustang returning to Australia in 2016 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Jul 2013 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Watch how one man finds contentment in his Fiat 2300 S Coupe

Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Europe, Videos, Specialty, Fiat

At least once a day we hear about the glory of cars of years past, whether for their light weight, their simplicity, their manual transmissions or the way you could order options without ordering packages. But we know that we – and yes, even we here at Autoblog – romanticize plenty of it; that light weight meant atrocious NVH, those options sheets didn’t include any of the things we take for granted in a Ford Fiesta today.

Nevertheless, there are those classics that make it worth it – for them it is no problem to endure the constant draft of bad window seals, the need to add another quart of oil every couple hundred miles. Petrolicious has found one such car and owner, Pierantonio Micciarelli and his Fiat 2300 S Coupe in Milan, Italy. His Ghia-bodied two-door can’t be driven during the day and cost him 800 euros in gas for a 2,500-kilometer trip to a wedding, but the payoff is that moving beauty that makes him “feel like an emperor.”

But there’s no reason to listen to us tell it – enjoy Macciarelli tell his own story in the video below.

Continue reading Watch how one man finds contentment in his Fiat 2300 S Coupe

Watch how one man finds contentment in his Fiat 2300 S Coupe originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Jul 2013 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Jay Leno extracts the V12 engine from his McLaren F1

Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Celebrities, McLaren

That is Jay Leno standing next to the BMW V12 extracted from his McLaren F1. Calling it “The scariest thing we have ever done here on Jay Leno’s Garage,” his mechanics pulled the motor to replace the Vanos unit, which was leaking.

His fright is our gain, though, as Leno gives us a tour of the 627-horsepower, naturally-aspirated 12-cylinder that powered the very car that taught us new ways to dream about supercars. The motorhead’s VIP tour happens in the video below.

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Jay Leno extracts the V12 engine from his McLaren F1 originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 14 Jul 2013 19:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Honda Ridgeline to take two-year dirt nap before resurrection

Filed under: Truck, Plants/Manufacturing, Honda

2012 Honda Ridgeline Sport

Three years ago, Honda said there would be no new-generation Honda Ridgeline coming in 2011. In late 2011, when there was still no word on a replacement for the little truck that’s been carrying on pretty much the same since 2006, within the space of a month both Honda’s US truck planner and the CEO of American Honda said the Ridgeline would continue and that it was an integral part of the lineup.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t take a two-year timeout. A report in Ward’s Auto says that the Lincoln, AL plant that builds the Ridgeline will cease its production in September, 2014 and a new one won’t arrive until 2016. That’s a walk-back from when the plan was to have the current truck run until a week before the next-generation truck went into production. Even so, Honda still says the Ridgeline isn’t going away forever, a company spokesman telling Ward’s, “Ridgeline continues to be an important part of our lineup.”

2016 is a long way away, though, and we all know how quickly a product line put into a coma can end up suffering fatal consequences. Even though we keep talking about the Ridgeline, perhaps what Honda is actually saying is that the small pickup market is important to them, and they’re working on a way to take better advantage of it than the Ridgeline was doing. We’ll find out one way or the other in three years.

Honda Ridgeline to take two-year dirt nap before resurrection originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 14 Jul 2013 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Environmentalists Beware: Ring A Ding Ding celebrates the vintage two-stroke

Filed under: Videos, Motorcycle

Two-stroke porn of the motorcycle engine variety, that’s all this is. Deus Customs, a place that styles itself an “Emporium of Postmodern Activities,” held a confab over the Fourth of July for a group of those loud, buzzy little engines that make all kinds of power for their size and weight, and a lot of smoke to go with it.

There were more then fifty motos on the scene, from some classic Italian gear to Japanese motocrossers to mopeds. If clouds of burnt oil make you queasy, you’ll want to turn away. If you just can’t resist the sound of a swarm of gnats the size of motorcycles, then check out the video below, and go to the Deus Customs site for pics from the day.

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Environmentalists Beware: Ring A Ding Ding celebrates the vintage two-stroke originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 14 Jul 2013 15:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Kia builds one millionth vehicle in the US

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Crossover, Kia

Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc. (KMMG), the plant that produces the Kia Sorento crossover and Optima sedan, celebrated today as a Snow White Pearl 2014 Sorento SXL rolled off the assembly line at the 2,259-acre site, marking the one-millionth Kia to be produced on US soil.

Located in West Point, Georgia, KMMG was Kia Motors America’s first manufacturing plant in the US and represented an initial investment of $1 billion. The plant started producing the 2011 Sorento on November 16, 2009 and is responsible for the creation of 11,000 jobs in West Point and the surrounding region. Production of the Optima sedan, Kia’s best-selling car in the US for the past 18 months, started at the factory in 2011, and, in 2012, the completion of a $100 million expansion upped annual vehicle production capacity to 360,000.

“Building one million vehicles in less than four years is a tremendous achievement and one that each one of our more than 3,000 team members can take great pride in,” said Byung Mo Ahn, Group President and CEO for Kia Motors America and KMMG.

The one-millionth vehicle to roll out of KMMG, the white 2014 Sorento pictured above, will be sold in one of Kia’s 765-plus US dealerships. Check out the press release below.

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Kia builds one millionth vehicle in the US originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 14 Jul 2013 13:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Take a look into the past with a posse of DeLorean owners

Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Videos

A couple of months ago, 49 DeLorean DMC-12s were part of the Celebration of Autos held at and around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Put together by the Indiana DeLorean Motor Club, the parade of stainless steel gullwing coupes was furthermore captured and detailed by Kassim Norris, who spoke to club president Jason Sharkey and club member Rick Vermillion about their love of the cars and the event.

The word in advance was that Epic Electric Vehicles was going to bring its first electric DMC-12 to the event, but it’s not clear from the video whether that happened. Still, there nearly 50 DeLoreans all in one place – the video below.

Continue reading Take a look into the past with a posse of DeLorean owners

Take a look into the past with a posse of DeLorean owners originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 14 Jul 2013 11:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: RON Automóviles shows off RXX and R7 sports cars for Mexico

Filed under: Concept Cars, Convertible, Performance, Specialty, Racing

Occasionally we learn about a new car manufacturer starting up in Mexico, but usually the country’s most significant involvement in the auto industry is relegated to building vehicles and parts for other auto companies. RON Automóviles de México hopes to change that with its new line of sports cars. The flagship model, the RXX, resembles an Ariel Atom with bodywork, while the R7 was inspired by the Lotus 7.

The RXX will be built and sold in three different versions, the RXX, RXX-S and RXX-R. The company states on its Facebook page that the model variants will be differentiated by their finish, equipment and power, but their specifications haven’t been released yet. Not much else is known about the RXX except that it is expected to be a lightweight, high-performance roadster with two tandem seats (that’s right; the driver sits in front of the passenger), an aluminum chassis with carbon-fiber bodywork and a carbon-fiber interior. RON states the RXX will be a street-legal machine that brings the excitement of driving a Formula One car to the masses.

The R7 will follow a more traditional mold, as it was inspired by the Lotus 7 and is based off of the 7’s chassis; no tandem seating here. From the photos, we can tell the R7 retains features that would be found on an old Lotus 7, such as rear drum brakes and a live rear axle. Let’s just hope that third-generation Volkswagen Jetta parts don’t find their way into the build.

RON Automóviles shows off RXX and R7 sports cars for Mexico originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 14 Jul 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Seinfeld takes Seth Meyers out in the perfect Porsche

Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Porsche, Celebrities, Humor

The latest episode of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee features Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live fame riding shotgun in what is a very special Porsche from host Jerry Seinfeld’s collection: a 1973 911 Carrera RS 2.7. Seinfeld chose the “no-nonsense” sports car because he thought it fit his guest’s personality (Meyers thinks motorcycles “are like the cigarette of transportation”), but we enjoy the chance to see one of these rare, über-valuable Porsches being driven on city streets – and in the rain, no less! What we don’t like seeing is the Carrera RS being parallel parked behind a pick-up truck, though, fortunately, it seems that Seinfeld was able to avoid any front-end damage to the comparatively fragile Porsche.

Once at the coffee shop, the two comedians have a candid conversation about Meyers’ time with SNL, from his early days on the show when he didn’t think he was good enough to be a cast member to some of the high points in his career, such as SNL‘s “Really!?” segment that he performed in and how he became a writer for the show.

After coffee, when they’re back in the car and Seinfeld opens up the throttle of the lightweight RS 2.7, he manages to eke out a big grin from Meyers – or maybe it was a grimace at the thought of driving in the rain on old tires. Whatever the case, be sure to watch the video below (and stay tuned until the end for a surprise).

Continue reading Seinfeld takes Seth Meyers out in the perfect Porsche

Seinfeld takes Seth Meyers out in the perfect Porsche originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 13 Jul 2013 19:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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