Category: Auto Industry

Official: SRT Viper GT3-R is ready to kick racetrack butt

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Racing, SRT

SRT Viper GT3-R race car - front three-quarter view

This weekend, SRT Motorsports will be focused on returning to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Viper GTS-R, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t looking a bit further down the road. While the GTS-R is the factory-backed racecar running at Le Mans and in the America Le Mans Series, SRT is also preparing to introduce this new Viper GT3-R for private race teams to run in various GT3 classes around the world.

Culminating from a collaboration with Riley Technologies in Mooresville, NC, the SRT Viper GT3-R uses many of the same performance technologies as the GTS-R. While a stock Viper produces 640 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque, the GT3-R’s unrestricted V10 lays down 680 hp and 640 lb-ft. This car goes on sale – ready to race – later this year with a starting price estimated at around $459,000. Scroll down for more info on the newest member to the Viper family.

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SRT Viper GT3-R is ready to kick racetrack butt originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nissan Leaf battery replacement will cost $100/month, offers new pack at any time

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Nissan

2013 nissan leaf

Perhaps this is where some of that excess battery manufacturing capacity in Smyrna, TN will be used. Nissan announced a new battery replacement program for the all-electric Leaf today at a cost of “approximately $100 per month.” The offer is in addition to the standard Leaf battery warranty that already covers the battery for against defects for eight years or 100,000 miles (and was upgraded late last year to cover capacity loss for five years or 60,000 miles).

Even after the warranty ends, a Nissan Leaf owner can sign up for the battery replacement program.

Here’s how it works. At any time, like when the warranty is about to end – so, at 4 years, 11 months or 59,999 miles – or even after the warranty ends, a Nissan Leaf owner can sign up for the battery replacement program. At that point, you start paying $100 a month (or whatever the final cost will be) and immediately get a new battery pack that has a full 12 bars of capacity.

Nissan’s senior manager of corporate communications, Brian Brockman, told AutoblogGreen that “Owners can opt in at any time. When they opt into the program, they will receive a new battery pack with the latest available technology that is compatible with their vehicle. Then, Nissan provides assurance that the replacement pack will maintain 9 bars or more capacity for the time that they own their car and make monthly payments. If their battery drops below 9 bars, we will repair or replace the battery pack.”

So, basically, the new program provides a reasonably priced piece of mind to Leaf owners. On top of that, anyone with an older Leaf who wants to take advantage of newer technology (as long as it’s compatible) can get a newer pack using this program. So, if you buy a used 2012 Leaf today but want a 2015 battery pack in a few years (should it fit in the car) you can get one for $100 a month. This cost is transferable to the new owner if you later sell the car.

Which brings up the questions about what happens If you stop paying after, say, six months. Brockman said the situation would be similar to what happens to anyone who stops paying their car loan and Nissan is currently trying to determine “if there is an end point” to the payments. We’ll know even more when Nissan releases more information “later this year,” including how the program will work outside the US, and there are also more details below.

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Nissan Leaf battery replacement will cost $100/month, offers new pack at any time originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 18:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Audi fires head of R&D, Wolfgang Dürheimer

Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Audi

Audi's former head of R&D, Wolfgang Durheimer

According to Car and Driver, citing a report in Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine, Audi has fired Wolfgang Dürheimer, the brand’s head of research and development.

Dürheimer had originally signed on as Audi’s R&D boss in September 2012. Prior to that, he had served as the head for both Bentley and Bugatti, and was formerly the development chief at Porsche (where he is credited with helping get the original Cayenne into production, a move that ushered a new era of profitability for the company). Dürheimer moved to Audi following a management shakeup within the Volkswagen Group in mid-2012.

During his time at Bentley, Dürheimer spearheaded the brand’s efforts to launch an SUV. But at Audi, he reportedly quickly put a stop to costly projects such as the R8 E-Tron and the rotary range-extender engine for the A1 E-Tron. Furthermore, Car and Driver reports that Dürheimer shuffled the reporting structure within the brand’s design department, and that VW Group CEO Martin Winterkorn had apparently disagreed with him several times on the styling direction for the brand.

Also of note, Der Spiegel posits that Winterkorn strongly disapproved of Dürheimer’s conservative E-mobility strategy, and that there was further tension between the two gentlemen on a personal level that could have led to this dismissal.

Dürheimer’s future within the Volkswagen Group is unclear at this time, and his position at Audi will currently be filled by the Group’s R&D chief, Ulrich Hackenberg.

Audi fires head of R&D, Wolfgang Dürheimer originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Autoblog gets ready for Le Mans with an R8 road trip and Allan McNish

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Europe, Audi, Luxury, Racing

Audi R8 at Le Mans

This car is the master link between what Audi does on the race track and sells on the road.

We’re attending the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Audi and we figured we’d make the world’s biggest endurance race even more interesting by driving from Munich to Le Mans in an R8. We’ve also had a brief chat with Audi driver Allan McNish, and if you haven’t already, check out all the multimedia ways to enjoy the next four days from the Circuit de la Sarthe, then read on.

The R8 we’ve been driving – a white, 430-horsepower V8 coupe with the S-tronic seven-speed gearbox – is a bag of tricks when it comes to making a road trip, some of those tricks sublime. The obvious reason to want to do a road trip to Le Mans in an R8 is because, ahem, it’s a road trip on occasionally unrestricted Autobahn in an R8. The next most obvious reason is that this car is, for the moment, the master link between what Audi does on the race track and sells on the road.

In truth, however, tied at number one is that we wanted to see if we could find a way to love the R8. Not appreciate it, not respect it, but love it – to want to rearrange our loins such that every meal passes through a long intestine shaped like The Four Rings and a short intestine that spells “R8.” We drove the V10 Spyder and considered it Supercars for Dummies, so farcically easy to drive fast that it destroys the grading curve for supercar driving ability and, as an aside, supercar thrills. Since you can apparently teach a python to open doors, as soon as they teach one how to drive it will be able to podium in SCCA races if it’s in an R8.

We’d been told the V8 was better balanced than the V10, yet it was more than balance we sought – we wanted soul. Ten days and 1,500 kilometers in (with another 770 kilometers to go before Le Mans), we’re still looking for it.

But what we can say is this: This car is so [insert expletive] good that we can’t honestly consider it a car.

It is, more accurately, tender violence.

Continue reading Autoblog gets ready for Le Mans with an R8 road trip and Allan McNish

Autoblog gets ready for Le Mans with an R8 road trip and Allan McNish originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: 2015 Ford Mustang spied on video for the first time

Filed under: Spy Photos, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Ford

2015 Ford Mustang prototype caught testing while disguised - video screencap

Not many cars will continue to hold our rapt attention quite like the upcoming redesigned 2015 Ford Mustang, codenamed S550 internally. Earlier this month, we brought you the first spy photos of a next-gen Mustang prototype out testing, and even though expertly placed cladding concealed the pony car’s new shape, we could tell that underneath was hiding an altogether new form inspired by the Evos Concept from 2011.

Today we give you some video of what looks to be the same Mustang prototype, which you can watch below, and while the budding director behind the camera wasn’t able to capture much in the way of the engine’s audio signature, we can see the car in motion for the first time and compare its relative size and shape to the S197 Mustang GT that’s on its tail.

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2015 Ford Mustang spied on video for the first time originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 16:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Aston Martin V12 Vantage S hits 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, priced at $184,995

Filed under: Car Buying, Coupe, Performance, Aston Martin

Aston Martin unveiled its new V12 Vantage S last month, and while the Gaydon firm dumped on us a lot of knowledge about its updated 12-cylinder sports car at the time, a couple key specs were left out: price and the quickness. Aston Martin corrected those omissions today, announcing that the V12 Vantage S will accelerate to 60 miles per hour in just 3.7 seconds and arrive in US dealerships early next year with a starting price of $184,995.

Its sub-four-second 0-60 time makes the V12 Vantage S the quickest car in Aston Martin’s current lineup, and second quickest of all time behind only the limited edition One-77 supercar. Credit the updated 6.0-liter AM28 V12 engine for the boost in urgency. The new mill outputs 565 horsepower and 475 pound-feet of torque, increases of 50 and 37, respectively, over the twelve-cylinder it replaces. Likewise, the new seven-speed automated manual transmission, which can also be found in the V8 Vantage S as well as Aston’s FIA GT racecars, deserves some credit for having brought an extra gear and 55 fewer pounds to the party.

As for the price, $184,995 might seem like a 401k-cracking amount to us mere middle class citizens, but it’s actually a reasonable increase over the prior V12 Vantage starting price of $180,600. Considering the laundry list of mechanical improvements that Aston has made, all of which are chronicled here, it’s actually quite the bargain. Seriously, it’s like Aston Martin is daring you to buy it. Scroll down below for the official press release.

Continue reading Aston Martin V12 Vantage S hits 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, priced at $184,995

Aston Martin V12 Vantage S hits 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, priced at $184,995 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Volvo demos autonomous self-parking car concept

Filed under: Safety, Technology, Videos, Volvo

Volvo autonomous parking demo - video screencap

A number of companies are developing autonomous vehicle technology – Google and Audi come to mind – but Volvo is applying its work in the area to a particular usage case: parking. The Swedish automaker has the technology up and running in a concept vehicle, which it says can be dropped off at the curb by its owner and left to its own devices to enter and navigate a car park, then find and park in an available parking spot. Volvo says the process can even be reversed when the owner is ready to go, with the car leaving the car park on its own to meet its key-holder again at the curb.

The vehicle first interacts with Vehicle 2 Infrastructure technology, which places transmitters in the road itself to inform the car (and driver) if the self-parking service is available. The driver then hops out, activates the Self Parking function on his or her smartphone and then leaves the car to do its work. The car uses sensors, all seemingly hidden from view (an advancement of its own in this field), to autonomously navigate the car park, which includes interacting and adjusting to other cars, people and objects.

The technology used here builds off of Volvo’s other work in autonomous vehicle research, namely the Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE) project in which the company managed to create a train of four cars autonomously following a lead truck at speeds up 56 miles per hour. Volvo says the first application of its autonomous research in a production vehicle will happen at the end of 2014 with some level of autonomous steering available in the next-generation XC90. See the system in action by watching the video below.

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Volvo demos autonomous self-parking car concept originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorsports: How to watch the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year

Filed under: Motorsports

24 Hours of Le Mans pit action

You want to watch/stream/identify the cars in/hear/Like/Tweet the 90th anniversary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend? For a long list of ways to consume the action that’s already begun, check out this page put together by our former colleague and current friend Reilly Brennan. Here’s the short list:

  • Le Mans Site
  • Le Mans TV
  • Le Mans Facebook page
  • Le Mans Twitter page
  • Entry list
  • Live timing
  • Audi’s racing stream
  • Speed TV stream
  • Spotter’s Guide
  • Detailed track guide

Again, head over to Brennan’s long list of links for all of the ways to take in the action, including radio programs and apps to stay in touch with the race, and we’ll be right back with our first report from Le Mans – once we finish driving there…

How to watch the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Tata Nano updated, world’s cheapest car gets CNG option

Filed under: Coupe, Budget, India, MISC

2013 Tata Nano - blue

Back when it went on sale in 2008, the Tata Nano was heralded as something of a new Model T for developing economies. As the world’s cheapest new car – and not by a little – the four-door Indian runabout was poised to usher in a new age of personal transportation to the world. But things didn’t quite work out that way, and the discount rear-drive minicar has seen its sales fortunes undone by all manner of issues, from reports of fires and quality issues to protests at its assembly plant and poor public reception. But Tata Motors isn’t giving up on the Nano just yet, having just unveiled a newly updated design and a compressed natural gas (CNG) model.

The new updates don’t register as much more than a mid-cycle refresh, with small differences outside like a new rear fascia with mesh inserts and additional chrome trim. More meaningful updates indoors include a revamped center console and a new twin glovebox, updated upholstery, body-color trim bits and available extras that include remote keyless entry, a four-speaker AmphiStream audio setup with Bluetooth and USB hookups. Minor controls have also been relocated for improved ergonomics, and there’s a slightly larger steering wheel to ease parking maneuvers. In addition, a range of new personalization kits are available, including things like body graphics, aero kits, different alloy wheels and contrasting roof treatments.

The conventional two-cylinder gas powertrain remains unchanged, giving 37 horsepower. The new bi-fuel Emax model runs on gasoline and, with the flick of a switch, CNG. The four-stroke, 624-cc engine features an aluminum head and block, and it offers 37 hp on gas and 33 on CNG, while the torque peak sits at 38 lb-ft under gasoline power and 33 lb-ft on natural gas.

Along with the revamped Nano, Tata Motors also rolled out updated versions of its Indica, Indigo, Safari and Sumo models.

Tata Nano updated, world’s cheapest car gets CNG option originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: BMW V8-powered Ford Model A is the definition of Hot Rod

Filed under: Aftermarket, Classics, Performance, Truck, Videos, BMW, Ford, Specialty

BMW V8-powered Ford Model A - video screencap

Today, hotrodding has a pretty staid definition. Take one classic American car, add one classic American V8, sprinkle with tire smoke and you pretty much have every hot rod to roll out of a shop in the last 40 years. Mike Borroughs knows it wasn’t always this way. Once upon a time, getting your bucket to go faster meant grabbing whatever parts were lazing about the yard, bolting them together with a bit of ingenuity and laughing your way down the quarter mile. It’s in that spirit that Burroughs built his 1928 Ford Model A.

Rather than turn to the tired flathead or the common Chevrolet small block, Burroughs plucked a 4.0-liter V8 from a 1995 BMW 7 Series. With 300 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque, the engine has no trouble shuffling the old A around town. He had to build a custom chassis to get everything to cooperate, but the result is a 1,500-pound heathen that looks built to harass dry lake beds. You can check it out in the video below. Be warned, the soundtrack by Hanni el Khatib may not be safe for work – awesomeness of this caliber rarely is.

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BMW V8-powered Ford Model A is the definition of Hot Rod originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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