car Archives | Page 29 of 32

Are we witnessing the end of the far-reaching concept car?

Filed under: Etc., Technology, Design/Style

Cadillac Sixteen Concept – Click above for high-res image

It certainly feels that way. Whereas our show halls were once a glittering homage to what could be if pesky things like cost, physics and safety were no object, automakers are beginning to shy away from overtly wild concepts. Byron Pope from Wards Auto has taken the time to interview a slew of designers from companies like Ford, Toyota and Honda to figure out why manufacturers are abandoning their whimsical concepts. Not surprisingly, the answer has a lot to do with the financial times we live in. With most concepts costing millions of dollars to produce, few automakers are willing to expend those kind of resources on something that won’t do much for public perception.

But fear not, all is not lost. According to Pope, the industry goes through cycles of wild design boom and bust. In the years following the great depression, concepts took a turn for the realistic, followed by an explosion of design that would eventually lead to the likes of Motorama. Likewise, concepts disappeared once again when the fuel crisis of the ’70s hit, only to be resurrected in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Our guess is that if futuristic design studies are your cup of tea, give the industry some time. They’ll surface again.

[Source: Wards Auto]

Are we witnessing the end of the far-reaching concept car? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Are we witnessing the end of the far-reaching concept car?”

Video: Bear steals car for peanut butter sandwich, trashes interior, poops on seat

Filed under: Sedan, Videos, Toyota

Click above to watch the video after the jump

Having food in your car is usually a bad idea, as leaving your lunch on the seat can make the whole interior stink, or, even worse, attract bears. One Colorado teen recently learned this lesson the hardest way possible, as a peanut butter sandwich left on his back seat attracted a black bear with the unusual skill of grand theft auto.

Police estimate that the bear was searching out a midnight snack and opened the door of this kid’s unlocked Toyota Corolla on his own and entered the vehicle. When the door somehow closed on its own, the bear went from Yogi looking for a pic-a-nick basket to something out of the Exorcist. At some point during the bear’s utter smackdown of the Corolla’s interior, the transmission made its way out of Park, sending the compact sedan and it’s assuredly un-licensed driven rolling down the driveway and into the woods. There’s no explanation of how the bear eventually exited the Corolla, but we do know he left behind a large steaming present on the driver seat.

Follow the jump to check out the carnage. The first clip is of a British news show that provides most of the details, including images of the bear inside the Corolla, and the second clip is a grand tour of the devastation from the Colorado teen himself.

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Bear steals car for peanut butter sandwich, trashes interior, poops on seat

Video: Bear steals car for peanut butter sandwich, trashes interior, poops on seat originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 19:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Video: Bear steals car for peanut butter sandwich, trashes interior, poops on seat”

Glass Ceiling Stealing: Car theft easier for men

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal

Sorry ladies, but it looks like the dark and seedy world of car thievery is still dominated by the males of our species. A new report in Justice Quarterly reports that while women typically have no problem breaking a window, shattering a steering column lock and hotwiring their way to freedom, they tend to have more limited access to facilities that can turn a single stolen car into multiple sellable parts. For whatever reason, the crews that run chop shops just don’t tend to trust a lady thief like they would her masculine counterpart.

Apparently, the auto theft world, and more importantly, the automotive disposal world, is dominated by male “gatekeepers” who decide who gets to play and who doesn’t. Fair? Of course not, but who said anything about the filthy underbelly of our society exhibiting anything close to political correctness?

You know what that means, ladies – time to get out there and start popping locks. Or something.

[Source: Edmunds Inside Line | Image: Rockstar Games]

Glass ~~Ceiling~~ Stealing: Car theft easier for men originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Glass ~~Ceiling~~ Stealing: Car theft easier for men”

Dan Akerson: New GM CEO a car guy after all?

Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, GM

The announcement today that General Motors will soon be welcoming its fourth CEO in just 14 months was startling news, but the real unanswered question is just who is Dan Akerson? We’ve already told you what his business chops are and it’s clear the man can run a lemonade stand, but there’s virtually no other information available out there besides his resume. And as for pics, the entirety of the internet has but one to offer, which is Akerson’s glamor shot as a member of GM’s board of directors. Flattering? No. Looks like a high school principal’s year book picture.

Well, we dug a little and found some interesting info on one Mr. Daniel F. Akerson. For one, he lives in McLean, Virginia and is reportedly an avid golfer. Ok, not too surprising, as most corporate executives can swing a club. How about this: He’s said to be worth an estimated $190 million. Yeah, CEOing is a good gig if you can get it. Also, he currently drives a Cadillac CTS.

Finally, we’re told that Mr. Akerson’s first car was an MGB roadster, which he quickly traded in for a 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Now, we don’t have confirmation on which Cutlass he had, and it makes a difference. The 1970 Cutlass was nothing special, unless you’re talking about the 442, which was a legitimate muscle car. The fact that Akerson first had an MGB makes us hopeful that he is a car guy after all and that the Olds in question was the 442… or at least was powered by a Rocket V8 of some sort.

Does the CEO of General Motors need to be a car guy? Not really. Ford CEO Alan Mullaly has never been considered a “car guy,” which didn’t stop him from righting Dearborn’s sinking ship. Still, enthusiasts might take comfort in the fact that the man running one of this industry’s most important companies knows his way around a four-barrel carb.

And Dan, a little advice: Trade up to a CTS-V Coupe. What’s $190 million good for if you’re not going to use it?

[Source: GM, DavidSheperson via Twitter]

Dan Akerson: New GM CEO a car guy after all? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Dan Akerson: New GM CEO a car guy after all?”

Autoblog Monterey Classic Car Week Calendar

Filed under: Motorsports, Classics, Auctions, Event Alert

As you’re reading this, several of us are on the way to Monterey, California, ready to provide tee-to-green coverage of the annual classic car week festivities. The real action starts with Gordon McCall’s Motorsports Revival – aka The Jet Center Party – tomorrow evening and with the festivities bookended by grand-daddy of them all: The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. In between there are enough other concours, races, auctions and miscellaneous car events in the mix to keep any type of enthusiast happy. While we plan on covering as much of the proceedings as possible, we hope some of you will be in attendance as well. To that end we’ve compiled a schedule of events with brief descriptions and links to keep you in the know up on the Monterey peninsula. Follow the jump to read our complete Autoblog Monterey Classic Car Week Calendar.

[Sources: See Monterey and About.com]

Continue reading Autoblog Monterey Classic Car Week Calendar

Autoblog Monterey Classic Car Week Calendar originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Autoblog Monterey Classic Car Week Calendar”

Small car or CUV could be added to Volkswagen plant

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Volkswagen

2011 Volkswagen NMS Sketch – Click above to enlarge

It’s no secret that Volkswagen has ambitious plans for the U.S. market over the next decade. The German automaker has its sights set on a combined one million sales per year (made up of 800,000 VWs and 200,000 Audi vehicles, give or take) by the year 2018. That’s three times as many vehicles as the company sold last year.

Of course, selling more cars in the U.S. means building more cars in North America. Hence VW’s billion dollar investment in a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the automaker will build the upcoming “New Midsize Sedan” specifically for the American market.

Put down your Little Debbie snack cakes, job seekers – a report from Autoweek suggests that VW has plans in the works to build another vehicle in Tennessee. While we had previously heard that the second model may be an Audi, it now seems as if it may be a VW-badged small car of CUV. The report also indicates that an engine plant may go up alongside the new facility to build engines for North America.

In any case, the value of the U.S. dollar as compared to the euro is likely to have a large impact on whatever decision is finally made.

[Source: Autoweek]

Small car or CUV could be added to Volkswagen plant originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Small car or CUV could be added to Volkswagen plant”

Spy Shots: Three-seat Ferrari F1 car testing at Fiorano

Filed under: Motorsports, Ferrari, Specialty

Ferrari’s Marlboro Red Rush – Click above for high-res image gallery

Here’s a Ferrari unlike any you’ve ever seen, and that includes the amusement park rides. The Prancing Horse’s three-seater Formula 1 demonstrator, called the Marlboro Red Rush, was doing laps in the rain at Fiorano with either testing dummies or two tiny passengers. We’ve seen plenty of two-seater F1 cars, but this is the first we’ve heard of a factory-built three-seat joyrider and from the most unlikely source. We’d still like to know, though, how to get in? Oh, and “shotgun…”

UPDATE: Turns out this guy has been around for years and is a part of the Marlboro Red Racing School, and as one would expect of any Ferrari it sounds like a lot o’ fun… Hat tip to Jim

Gallery: Spy Shots: Ferrari 3-Seat F1 car

Spy Shots: Three-seat Ferrari F1 car testing at Fiorano originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Spy Shots: Three-seat Ferrari F1 car testing at Fiorano”

Spoiler Alert: 2010 ALMS Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge

Filed under: Motorsports

Mid-Ohio 2010

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge – Click above for high-res image gallery

The American Le Mans Series was back in action this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and as usual the action was hot and heavy on the track. In the Friday qualifying session Johnny Cocker set a storming pace in the Drayson Racing Lola-Judd. Cocker’s best lap was 0.932 seconds quicker than the isobutanol-fueled Lola-Mazda of Chris Dyson. The current LMP championship leading HPD ARX-01c of Simon Pagenaud was third, another four-tenths of a second back.

In the GT class, it was red leading yellow as the two Risi Ferrari F430 GTs edged out the two Corvette C6.Rs. During practice on Thursday, Greg Pickett had a massive crash in his Cytosports Porsche RS Spyder. Fortunately, he walked away, although he did sustain a back injury that will sideline him for the remainder of the season. Read on after the jump for race results.

Gallery: American Le Mans Series Mid-Ohio 2010

[Source: American Le Mans Series]

Continue reading Spoiler Alert: 2010 ALMS Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge

Spoiler Alert: 2010 ALMS Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 08 Aug 2010 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Spoiler Alert: 2010 ALMS Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge”

PSA: Renting a car may result in unexpected speeding ticket charges

Filed under: Government/Legal

The people at MSN Money have unearthed a little known stipulation in rental car contracts that allows the manufacturer of speed and red light cameras to directly charge your credit card if you’re caught breaking the law. How? Big name rental agencies like Hertz, Avis, Advantage and Budget have an agreement with a company called ATS Processing Services to share renters’ credit card and personal information. ATS operates a fair portion of the traffic enforcement cameras in the U.S., and when a rental car gets popped running a red light, the company immediately checks to see who was renting it at the time and charges his or her credit card. Oh, and they ding you for a $30 administrative fee.

This presents a few problems. Namely, it does away with that whole “due process of the law” thing on which our entire justice system is based. In their defense, the rental companies say that having ATS directly bill renters is an easier system than what used to happen. Once upon a time, when a rental car snagged a fine from a traffic enforcement camera, the rental car company was expected to pay it and then track down and charge whoever had incurred the infraction. Neither process is exactly reassuring for those who rent cars on a regular basis, but it seems to be the norm. Next time you find yourself at the rental counter, be sure to read the entire contract.

[Source: MSN Money | Image: Tim Boyle/Getty]

PSA: Renting a car may result in unexpected speeding ticket charges originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “PSA: Renting a car may result in unexpected speeding ticket charges”

Lotus 125 track car to debut at Pebble Beach

Filed under: Performance, Lotus, Racing

Lotus Evora Cup Car

Lotus Evora Cup – Click above for high-res image gallery

Lotus will be more active than usual during next week’s festivities around the Monterey historic races and Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Along with the North American Debuts of the Evora Cup race car (above) and Elise RGB edition, Lotus will give us the world debut of the 125 track car.

The new 125 will be unveiled at the Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion at Laguna Seca this weekend and then reappear several times during the week at various events. Lotus hasn’t given any hints of what to expect from the 125 other than it will be the ultimate customer track and racing experience. Stay tuned next week as we’ll share all the details as soon as we have them.

Gallery: Lotus Evora Cup