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Official: Climb to the Clouds returning thanks to Subaru title sponsorship [w/video]

Filed under: Motorsports, Videos, Subaru, Racing

The Mt. Washington Hillclimb, otherwise known as the Climb to the Clouds, hasn’t been done since 2011. That year, Subaru Rally Team USA driver David Higgins set a new record for the event first held in 1904, running the 7.6-mile vertiginous course in 6:11.54. The race will be return in 2014 with the help of that very carmaker, Subaru of America having stepped in to the title sponsor role for what will be the Subaru Mt. Washington Hillclimb.

Taking place from June 26-29, 75 modern and vintage cars will spend three days racing up the 6,288-foot-high mountain. It’s not as long nor as high as Pikes Peak, but it does have something that the Colorado competition doesn’t: gravel; about 13 percent of the Mt. Washington Carriage Road still hasn’t been paved.

If you want to know what a record-breaking run up the northeast’s highest peak looks like, check out Higgins behind the wheel in the video below.

Continue reading Climb to the Clouds returning thanks to Subaru title sponsorship [w/video]

Climb to the Clouds returning thanks to Subaru title sponsorship [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 31 Jul 2013 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Toyota hangs on to title of world’s largest automaker for first half of 2013

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Toyota, Earnings/Financials

Toyota USA Headquarters

General Motors and Ford can have all the success they please, but it doesn’t seem like America’s two largest manufacturers are going to topple Toyota in the first half of 2013. According to Reuters, Toyota moved 4.91 million vehicles in the first six months of 2013, representing a 1.1-percent drop from the same period in 2012.

GM is on the rise, though, with a four-percent increase in global sales, to 4.85 million. Volkswagen, still sitting in third, saw a 5.5-percent jump to 4.7 million vehicles in the first half of 2013.

If this pace continues for Toyota, it’ll finish 2013 in the top sales spot for the second year in a row. The manufacturer fell to third, behind GM and VW, in 2011 after earthquakes and tsunamis ravaged its production capacity.

Toyota hangs on to title of world’s largest automaker for first half of 2013 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 26 Jul 2013 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2011 Chevy Volt wins Green Car of the Year title in LA

Filed under: LA Auto Show, Hybrid, Sedan, Chevrolet, GM, Electric

Joel Ewanick, VP, U.S. Marketing, General Motors

Joel Ewanick, VP, U.S. Marketing for General Motors, and the Chevy Volt with the Green Car of the Year Award

The Chevrolet Volt drove off with the 2011 Green Car of the Year Award at the LA Auto Show this morning, beating out tough competition from the Nissan Leaf and ending a two-year diesel powertrain reign (at the 2008 show, the Volkswagen Jetta TDI was named the winner; last year, the Audi A3 TDI won). The other finalists for this year’s award, given out by Green Car Journal, included the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid , Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and the Ford Fiesta.

The Natural Resources Defense Council’s Roland Hwang said during the ceremony that “the environment means business.” To be globally competitive, automakers need highly-efficient vehicles to compete and, “what this means is that green vehicles are going to go mainstream.” The Green Car of the Year award embodies this change. When it was first given out in 2006, it was sort of tacked on at the end of the LA Auto Show. Today, as it was in ’09, the ceremony was a highlight of the show.

Last year, Green Car Journal editor Ron Cogan made a point to mention the five vehicles up for consideration were notable because they were mainstream vehicles that were already available. This year, only three of the candidates are currently on dealer lots. With the high tech involved in the Leaf and Volt, though, we’re okay with the slight delay in availability.

If you were rooting for the Leaf, don’t worry too much. Today, that car won the Green Car of the Year title from TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk over in the UK. Still, in the U.S., the Green Car Journal award is the big one, and we want to know if the Volt claiming the first Green Car of the Year award of the electric era – and if there’s one message we’re heard here in LA this year, it’s that we’re really in the electric era now – make sense to you. Let us know in the comments below.

[Source: Green Car of the Year]

Continue reading 2011 Chevy Volt wins Green Car of the Year title in LA

2011 Chevy Volt wins Green Car of the Year title in LA originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Loeb takes 2010 WRC title

Filed under: Motorsports, Europe, Citroën, Racing

Sebastian Loeb

Sebastien Loeb has effectively secured his seventh World Rally Championship title, netting his 60th carrier win by taking the Rally de France in the process. With a total of 226 championship points under his belt and two rallies left in the schedule, there’s simply no way for any of the other competitors to get within arm’s reach of the WRC gold. The Citroën team managed to pull off a one-two win at the French rally with Loeb’s teammate Dani Sordo walking away with the second fastest time. Sordo is currently fifth in the point standings.

Rounding out the podium in France was Peter Solberg, who currently occupies fourth place in points. Gymkhana guru Ken Block managed a respectable 12th place finish, though that result isn’t enough to gain the American racer any points. Currently Block is sitting at the bottom of the Championship rankings with zero points to his name.

With both the Spanish and British rallies left on the schedule, all eyes will be on who will take the bronze in this year’s WRC. With Jari-Matti Latvala currently holding onto 144 points in third place and Peter Solberg trailing by just 11 points in fourth, the bottom rung of the podium could easily go either way. Thanks for the tips, Joe and Novac!

[Source: WRC | Image: Lionel Cironneau/AP/Getty]

Loeb takes 2010 WRC title originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2010 Singapore Grand Prix lights up title fight [Spoilers]

Filed under: Motorsports

2010 Singapore Grand Prix

2010 Singapore Grand Prix – Click above for high-res image gallery

The naysayers will tell you that every grand prix – especially those held on newer-generation tracks – comes out looking the same. Different scenery, same story, they’ll say. But even the haters were silenced a few years back when the Singapore Grand Prix re-joined the calendar as the first night race in the history of Formula One. The spectacle of the most advanced machinery this side of a fighter jet zipping around a seaside circuit under the lights put a fresh spin on F1, and has now become a regular fixture of the racing season.

Now in its third running, the circus rolled in to Singapore’s Marina Bay against the backdrop of one of the most hotly contested championships in recent memory. Would this year’s night race crown a champion, or defer the suspense for another couple of weeks? Follow the jump to find out.

Gallery: 2010 Singapore Grand Prix

Continue reading 2010 Singapore Grand Prix lights up title fight [Spoilers]

2010 Singapore Grand Prix lights up title fight [Spoilers] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 26 Sep 2010 15:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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