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PSA: New Year’s Day still worst for car thefts

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal

car thief Christmas day is not just for giving, it’s also for not stealing. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, December 25th is the day many thieves take a break from stealing cars. Very kind of them, no? But here’s the bad news: those thieves are just postponing their nefarious ways for a week. That’s right, New Year’s Day is the worst holiday for car thefts.

Here’s some raw data: 2,760 vehicles were reported stolen in the United States on January 1st, 2009, and 2,189 were stolen on New Year’s Eve. Naturally, this year is expected to pretty much follow suit, though the actual number of stolen vehicles is expected to fall for the seventh straight year.

What can you do to combat the problem? Mostly just exercise some common sense. The NCIB recommends the following: parking in well-lit areas, keeping packages in the trunk or out of sight, and making sure your vehicle is locked while it’s parked. Or you could just drive an unstealable car… Check out the complete press release after the break.

[Source: National Insurance Crime Bureau | Image: Peter Dazeley/Getty]

Continue reading PSA: New Year’s Day still worst for car thefts

PSA: New Year’s Day still worst for car thefts originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 28 Dec 2010 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford Fusion will be brand’s first 200,000-unit car since 2004

Filed under: Car Buying, Sedan, Ford, Earnings/Financials

2010 Ford Fusion Sport – Click above for high-res image gallery

According to Ward’s Auto, Ford is about to stride past a production figure that it hasn’t hit since 2004. The 2011 Fusion is on the cusp of motoring past 200,000 sales this year – an annual number that a FoMoCo passenger sedan hasn’t managed to exceed since both the Focus sedan and Taurus did the deed back in ’04. In 2010, Fusion sales were up 21.5 percent through November compared to 2009 – hitting 196,590 units. Given that the Blue Oval has been easily knocking off more than 10,000 Fusion sales per month, Ward’s is betting that Ford will easily manage to overtake the 200k mark.

Should that happen, the Fusion will find itself in heady company. Only a handful of other sedans have managed to topple the 200,000-unit barrier this year, and all of those are from Asia. Not surprisingly, the Toyota Camry is expected to walk away from 2010 with the sales crown, with 296,581 deliveries through November, while the Honda Accord has already notched 253,073 sales under its belt. Following up in third place is the Toyota Corolla with 244,024 units sold. Also through November, the venerable Honda Civic has tallied 231,955 units, the Nissan Altima found 206,247 garages, and just last week, Hyundai announced that its redesigned Sonata had eclipsed 200,000 sales for the first time ever – a massive 90,000 unit improvement year-over-year.

Gallery: Review: 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid

2010fordfusionhybrid_review000 2010fordfusionhybrid_review001 2010fordfusionhybrid_review002 2010fordfusionhybrid_review003 2010fordfusionhybrid_review004

[Source: Ward’s Auto]

Ford Fusion will be brand’s first 200,000-unit car since 2004 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 28 Dec 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ken Block’s official RC Gymkhana car arrives just in time for Christmas [w/video]

Filed under: Videos, Ford, Toys/Games

Traxxas Ken Block RC Car

Traxxas channels its inner 1/16-scale Ken Block – Click above to watch the video after the break

Master of the Gymkhanna (with a minor in marketing) Ken Block has teamed up with Traxxas to create a radio-controlled version of Block’s #43 Ford Fiesta. The 1/16-scale Fiesta is fitted with a brushless motor that turns all four wheels and sends the mini-Block car down your driveway at up to 30 miles per hour. If that’s not enough juice to play out your dreams of winning a Gymkhana event, you can opt for another setup that features a new pinion gear, second NiMH battery and series connector. The additional hardware raises the top speed to over 50 mph.

The car is currently selling for around $300. No word on whether that price includes replaceable fenders and other body panels… a necessity after the Ken Block RC car inevitably hits a tree. Check out a mini Gymkhanna-style video of the micro car in action after the break… and, answering the last possible remaining question, proof that it will indeed blend.

[Source: Traxxas via Jalopnik]

Continue reading Ken Block’s official RC Gymkhana car arrives just in time for Christmas [w/video]

Ken Block’s official RC Gymkhana car arrives just in time for Christmas [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chip Ganassi Racing expands to four-car Indy mega team

Filed under: Motorsports, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs

You’d have to search long and hard to find a racing team as successful as Chip Ganassi Racing. The team has won four Champ Car titles (before the series shut down), three Indy Racing League titles and one Grand-Am championship.

This year alone, CGR took home both the IndyCar and Rolex Grand-Am titles, and won the Indianapolis 500, the Brickyard 400 and the Daytona 500 in the process. Names like Franchitti, Dixon, Stewart and Montoya race under the Ganassi banner. And this coming season, the team has taken a big step forward by expanding its IndyCar team by two drivers to make for a four-car mega team.

Joining two-time champions Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti this season in a parallel team will be Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball. Rahal is the son of Indy 500 legend Bobby Rahal, and himself became the youngest ever race winner in the series’ history when he won the season-opener at St. Petersburg in 2008 – his only victory to date. Kimball, meanwhile, is moving up the ladder from the Indy Lights feeder series having competed overseas in the Formula 3 Euro Series, Formula Renault 3.5 and A1GP.

Both drivers are American in an increasingly foreign-dominated grid, and bring much-needed sponsorship cash along with them at a time when some big name teams are struggling to make ends meet.

[Source: Autosport | Image: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty]

Chip Ganassi Racing expands to four-car Indy mega team originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hyundai Sonata edges Volt in Autoblog’s informal Car of the Year poll

Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Hyundai

2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T

2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T – Click above for high-res image gallery

The finalists for this year’s North American Car and Truck of the Year awards may have been no big surprise, but the vehicle that our readers think will win Car of the Year honors came as something of a shock.

The NACTOY judges have picked the Chevrolet Volt, Hyundai Sonata and Nissan Leaf as finalists for Car of the Year. While the Leaf saw a little bit of love with 2,820 votes in our unofficial poll, as well as being named European Car of the Year, the final tally came down to a bare-knuckled fight between the Volt and Sonata. Surprisingly, the Hyundai eked out a win with 8,058 votes and 42.7-percent of the total votes cast, which just barely bested the 7,985 votes cast for the Volt and its 42.3 percent of the total vote.

That’s not a huge margin of victory by any means (a statistical dead heat, as they say), but considering that the Volt has whirred away with honors like the Green Car of the Year, Automobile Magazine‘s Automobile of the Year and Motor Trend‘s Car of the Year awards, we fully expected the Bowtiie to handily walk away with our impromptu poll.

We were pretty smitten with both the 2.0T and the hybrid variants of the Sonata when we hopped behind their wheels earlier this year, and buyers have been no less taken with the base model. The 2011 Sonata has enjoyed a huge year in terms of sales with 183,102 units sold by early December, a year-over-year increase of 65 percent.

Meanwhile, the 2011 Ford Explorer handily beat the 2011 Dodge Durango and 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee in our informal North American Truck of the Year poll. You can check out the results from both surveys here, and the stay tuned for when the real winners are announced at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show in early January.

Gallery: 2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T: First Drive

Hyundai Sonata edges Volt in Autoblog’s informal Car of the Year poll originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: How to Zombie-proof your car in the likely event of the apocalypse

Filed under: Etc., Videos, Humor

How to Zombie-proof your vehicle

Mighty Car Mods shows us how to prepare our vehicle for a zombie attack – Click above to watch video after the jump

Anyone can mod their car for speed or handling. Those things might not be so helpful when the inevitable happens – our unavoidable future apocalypse full of brain-eating zombies. Thankfully, the fine gents at Mighty Car Mods have been kind enough to put a video tutorial together that will help you prepare a vehicle built to help you survive.

Enlisting the help of a Zombie Survival Expert, our two guides begin with a 1987 Nissan Pathfinder, then quickly set to work getting it ready for the task of battling the living dead. If you live in an area with a high chance of zombie activity (i.e. London, a rural Pennsylvania farm town, or the set of a thrilling music video) then you should pay close attention… the clip is waiting after the jump. Remember: knowledge is power. Thanks for the ~~braaaaains~~ tip, Cory!

Note: Video may not be safe for work. Or from zombies, though that goes without saying.

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading Video: How to Zombie-proof your car in the likely event of the apocalypse

Video: How to Zombie-proof your car in the likely event of the apocalypse originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Study: More new car shoppers avoiding Toyota, but brand still near top of consideration lists

Filed under: Car Buying, Toyota

According to Automotive News, new car shoppers are beginning to shy away from Toyota thanks to the company’s less-than spotless quality and safety reputation as of late. A new study by J.D. Power and Associates has revealed that around 19 percent of new car buyers surveyed said that they had steered clear of Toyota because of the company’s sullied reputation. Last year, that number was a mere 3 percent. Even worse for the Japanese manufacturer, around 15 percent of those in the study said that they’d personally had a bad experience with the automaker and another 15 percent said that they were concerned about the future of Toyota. Those numbers mark a 12 and an 11 percent increase over last year’s figures, respectively.

Even so, according to the J.D. Power and Associates study, Toyota is still the third most considered automaker out there, falling just behind BMW and Honda. In a separate study, Kelley Blue Book found that Toyota is still the number-one most considered automaker, even in spite of the company’s rash of recalls and safety woes.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req.]

Study: More new car shoppers avoiding Toyota, but brand still near top of consideration lists originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Lotus city car confirmed for 2013

Filed under: Concept Cars, Coupe, Hybrid, Paris Motor Show, Hatchback, Lotus, Electric

Lotus City Car

Lotus unveiled a flurry of new concept models earlier this year at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. Five brand-new concepts took center stage, but there was a sixth vehicle unveiled that got far less press – the Lotus City Car. According to CAR Magazine, Lotus head Dany Bahar says that the City Car will arrive in production form for an October 2013 launch date.

The City Car rides on a platform developed for a range-extended hybrid powertrain. A 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine powers electric drive motors, which are mated to a single-speed transmission. This means that around town, the Lotus City Car will be able to run solely on battery power, while the gasoline engine can kick on for needed assistance if necessary.

Lotus is planning to build three versions of the City Car; one for Asia, a European version and eventually a sportier model.

[Source: CAR Magazine]

Report: Lotus city car confirmed for 2013 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 18:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2011 Nissan Leaf: Pros and Cons of living with an electric car

Filed under: Hatchback, Nissan, Autoline on Autoblog, Electric

2011 Nissan Leaf

Test driving an electric car at an automaker’s media event is one thing. Taking one home and living with it is a completely different experience. Nissan just loaned me a Leaf for several days and I came away with a new appreciation for the potential pitfalls and rewards of owning an EV.

First off, I really liked the Leaf. It’s a nice, comfortable car with more than adequate power, it’s unbelievably quiet and offers a decent driving range. In fact, it’s been a long time since I was this excited to bring a test car home. But it wasn’t always a shiny, smiley, happy experience.

Let me state unequivocally: if you can only recharge from a 110-volt outlet, the Leaf is not for you. Not if you have a hefty commute and only own one car, that is.

John McElroy is host of the TV program “Autoline Detroit” and daily web video “Autoline Daily”. Every week he brings his unique insights as a Detroit insider to Autoblog readers.

Continue reading 2011 Nissan Leaf: Pros and Cons of living with an electric car

2011 Nissan Leaf: Pros and Cons of living with an electric car originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Car Gifts for Christmas: Ultimate Edition

Filed under: Car Buying, Etc.

Our third and final list of car gifts for Christmas is made up of things we sadly can’t afford ourselves. These are top-notch gift ideas for those who happen to fall into the very highest tax brackets, and we are officially envious of anyone who receives anything on this list. Too rich for your blood? No problem, check out some less expensive gift ideas here and here.

See the list…

Continue reading Car Gifts for Christmas: Ultimate Edition

Car Gifts for Christmas: Ultimate Edition originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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