The Sports Illustrated staple and lingerie model might just be the first person ever to wear a swimsuit in a Buick ad. We could say more about it, but that would delay you from watching Ms. Miller and the Enclave in action. So just scroll down and check out the video, why don't you.
A month ago, JaguarLand Rover signed a joint-venture agreement with China's Chery Automobile Company. JLR's 12.1 billion yuan ($1.9 billion U.S.) investment, if approved, will pay for a plant in Changsu to build Jaguars, Land Rovers, engines and joint-venture models. The facility will also house a research and development center. Chery has submitted the paperwork to clear the deal with the Chinese government. The agreement must pass muster with the Ministry of Enviroment Protection, after which it will go to the National Development and Reform Commission.
When the agreement was first inked an Indian analyst said, "it will be some time before we see the results," a nod to the fact that government approvals can take a long time. Subaru is an instructive example, having signed an agreement with Chery a year ago. Sources said the deal was ready to be approved last November, but that was the last that has been heard of it - it's still waiting on the necessary signatures.
But JLR has the long view in mind: it sold 38,890 vehicles in China last year - all imported - a figure representing double-digit sales gains for both brands. The proposed factory will have a capacity of 130,000 units, providing a healthy buffer in case the bureaucracy sits on things.
The Internets are buzzing over the upcoming initial public offering of Facebook, but General Motors doesn't seem all that impressed. The Huffington Post reports that The General has pulled its Facebook ad campaigns just days before the social media site is scheduled to officially hit the stock market.
The pricey ad buy reportedly wasn't paying sufficient dividends for GM, which spends billions of dollars on advertising every year. GM Spokesperson Pat Morrissey confirmed that Facebook was being reassessed, but added that the automaker routinely reviews where it is spending its ad dollars. Morrissey then added that GM is looking for effectiveness when it doles out marketing cash, which doesn't bode well for Facebook's ability to draw clicks.
If GM's decision sounds at all irrational, the statistics seem to show that Facebook isn't exactly an ad-click magnet. A recent CNBC poll showed that 50 percent of all Facebook users never click on any ads, and only 12 percent of those polled feel comfortable purchasing anything through Facebook. Google appears to be more effective at attracting clicks, as The Wall Street Journalcites a click-rate that is seven times that of Facebook.
Regardless of GM's decision to break up with Facebook, we're guessing that the news probably won't drown out much of the anticipation for the IPO. After all, it isn't every day that an Internet site with 900 million mostly addicted users goes public.
The sequel to Frankenstein is being written in Swedish, by Saab. The ostensibly former car company could teach the good doctor about life after death, having earned itself more good news by winning the inaugural race of the Swedish Touring Car series. Team Tidö's black 9-3 racer was on pole and carried that lead all the way to the checkered flag. Driving it was Linus Ohlsson, whose past triumphs include taking third in the 2011 Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia series.
Just to be clear, all the cars in the series are silhouette racers, with Saab, Volvo, BMW and Citroën bodies placed over a spec chassis. Still, it was the body with the Griffin badge that beat the rest, and we all know Saab's faithful could use something to cheer about these days. Scroll down for a video recap of the race; it's in Swedish, so hit the CC button for English subtitles if you need 'em.
Long before Lamborghini unveiled the Urus concept for its new SUV at the Beijing Motor Show last month, we got two chances to preview the show truck: once at the factory in Italy and once at a private preview in New York. The Italian automaker's development chief Maurizio Reggiani wasn't prepared to talk about powertrain options at the time, but in speaking with Automotive News, he's now given us a hint of what to expect should the Volkswagen Group board give the project the green light.
As expected, the Urus would have to be based on the same platform that is slated to underpin the next Volkswagen Touareg, Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and Bentley EXP 9 F (if similarly approved) in order to make good business sense. Unfortunately, that new PL73 architecture is made principally of steel, a material that Lamborghini has been getting away from in favor of new types of carbon fiber construction. In order to keep weight down - Lambo is targeting 4,400 lbs for the Urus, significantly less than its potential competitors - it would need to make other components out of carbon to compensate.
That covers the mass side of the power-to-weight ratio that is integral to any performance vehicle. As for the power, Reggiani says the company has yet to make a final decision. The last time Lamborghini made an SUV - the legendary LM002 "Rambo Lambo" - it was powered by the same high-revving V12 as the Countach, lending to speculation that the Urus could incorporate the new V12 from the Aventador or the V10 from the Gallardo. Reggiani, however, indicates that the new twin-turbo V8 powering the latest Audi RS models and the Bentley Continental is a more likely choice, given that it would help keep weight down and provide more low-end torque than the naturally-aspired 10 or 12-pots the Raging Bull marque currently produces for its sports cars.
Spec racing series are emerging as an indispensable way for exotic automakers to show what their vehicles can do without the constraints of road regulations, and for their top customers to race wheel-to-wheel on some of the most famous racing circuits in the world behind the wheel of top machinery. Ferrari has the Challenge series, Lamborghini the Blancpain Super Trofeo, Porsche operates several iterations of the Carrera Cup around the world, and Maserati has the Trofeo World Series.
Now entering its third year, the Trofeo is campaigned by a field of specially prepared versions of the GranTurismo coupe, which has been upgraded with several improvements for the season ahead. Maserati Corse has both optimized the aerodynamic setup and trimmed the car's weight, resulting in an average lap time that proved two and a half seconds faster around the Vallelunga circuit outside Rome over last year's car during winter testing.
Whereas previous series have been held almost exclusively in Europe or in the Middle East, this year's Trofeo World Series adds rounds at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, and the Shanghai International Circuit that hosts the Chinese Grand Prix after the returning races at Jarama, Spain (next weekend), Portimao, Portugal (in early June), Imola, Italy (late June), and Paul Ricard, France (in July).
Maserati Corse provides the full motorsport experience to gentlemen racers for €110,000 ($140K) for the full season or €70,000 ($90K) for just the European races, including use of the car. Teams owning and fielding their own cars pay €35,000 ($45K) or €25,000 ($32K), respectively. Scroll down for the full press release and check out the latest machinery in the high-res image gallery above.
When we asked Volkswagen last year why it was building a factory in the U.S., after having missed the irrationally volcanic era of car sales, we were told that even a 12-million-per-annum market was still too big to ignore. A report in Reuters paints Ford's situation in China somewhat the same way: Ford is only now attacking the Chinese market, building plants and increasing local capacity there, after numerous other players have established their positions.
Nevertheless, there's still much to play for. Whereas our market is expected to hang around in the 12- to 15-million-unit range, China's market is predicted to hit 30 million cars per year by 2020. Said one analyst, "People are saying the Asia Pacific auto industry by 2020 is half the world's industry." A little piece of China's colossal market will, anywhere else, still be considered a pretty big piece of pie.
After years of false starts and missteps in The Middle Kingdom, Ford sells six cars in China now, but they weren't developed for the Chinese market and haven't taken off with buyers there. Over the next three years Ford intends to introduce 15 more cars, many of them SUVs, and 20 engines to the Chinese market that can make better impressions on the locals.
That won't put it anywhere close to market leaders General Motors - which already sells 35 cars there and is lining up 60 more models, and has the preeminient Buick brand - or Volkswagen. But even the 3.1 percent share that one analyst predicted was in Ford's reach by 2020, up from 2.8 percent now, will be enough to turn Ford's currently desultory Chinese-market profits into something like a $700-million spigot once its production and offerings are stabilized.
Ford is investing $600 million and $760 million in two projects with its JV partner Changan Ford Mazda Automobile to expand capacity to 1.5 million autos per year. At the moment, The Blue Oval has no plans to take Lincoln across the Pacific.
It's taken three years but the Great Britain is finally ready to introduce laws to make driving while impaired by illegal and legal drugs against the law. While Britain's Home Office waitied for approval of a mobile drug-testing unit - currently drug testing is done at the police station - ministers have been working on the details of the law to fall under the Crime, Communications and Court Bill.
The drugalyzers are expected to be ready by the end of the year and will be able to detect up to 13 drugs from cocaine and crack to certain prescription medications in a driver's saliva. An advisory panel is devising penalties for operators found to be impaired and considering the idea of differing penalties for different drugs various, but a one-year ban, jail time and a four-figure fine are looking like front runners.
The run-of-show would be that if a policeman pulls you over and suspects impairment, he'll test for alcohol first. If, in the policeman's eyes, that doesn't explain your horrid driving, he'll test for drugs. If you fail the drug test you'll be taken to the station and tested again on their fixed machine, to verify the findings. And if you decline to be tested at all, it'll be considered the same as declining a breathalyzer.
It's one thing to protect yourself on the road against bad drivers who might cut you off or ride your bumper on the highway. It's quite another to do that when those drivers have guns and want to kidnap the diplomat in your back seat. While the latter scenario may sound unlikely, many drivers in law enforcement, security and the military go through training to prevent the success of just such an attack-on-wheels.
Learning how people in the protection business escape an automotive attack is on our list of 1,001 Car Things To Do Before You Die, which means it's on Jessi and Patrick's list too. We sent them to the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving to enroll in its four-day Executive Protection/Anti-Kidnapping program. Their course instruction includes valuable skills like what to do when your driver's been shot, the proper way to do a J-turn and how to perform a textbook PIT maneuver, among other things.
Even if your life isn't in jeopardy from a phalanx of baddies in hot pursuit, the end game here is a finer understanding of using automotive physics to one's advantage and improving one's car control skills.
Click here to watch The List #0187: Escape an Automotive Attack.
Just don't answer. The question is neither relevant, nor is it even the crux of the column. Get past the clicky smelling headline, and what you have here is a combination of two news stories, one new and one old, both of which you've likely already come across.
We're going to play nice here and not knock over Salon columnist David Sirota's house of cards, because this is a good read and he's a talented writer - even if, off the top of our heads, we can name several popular vehicles that offer a fuel economy benefit to those willing to row their own, from the Volkswagen Jetta to the Chevrolet Sonic to the BMW 3 Series. But the guy does have a point that's probably of great benefit to many Salon readers: If a smug sense of superiority is what you're after, opting for a manual transmission is no longer a sure bet. (Locally sourced organic produce and craft beer, for the win!)
In the end, Sirota is smart enough to come to two conclusions that most of us would agree to. The first being that driving a manual is fun, and the second, that it's hard to text while steering, operating all three pedals, and working that stick.
On second thought, maybe you should answer with a simple 'yes' or 'no'. See below for our completely unscientific poll.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of appropriate ages, your requisite dose of big-screen fast driving is here. And it looks pretty darn funny, too.
The movie in question is called Hit and Run. It was written and directed by Dax Shepard, who also stars in the film alongside such notables as Bradley Cooper, Tom Arnold, a couple of girls named Kristen, a custom '67 Lincoln Continental hot rod and a 700-horsepower off-road racing buggy. The comedy (not to be confused with the 1924, 1938, 1957, 1959, 1966, 1975, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010 or 2011 movies of the same name) centers around a guy whose past as a bank-robbing getaway driver comes back to haunt him, forcing him and his girlfriend to hit the road.
It tickles us in all the right places, but we'll let you judge for yourself from the trailer down below. Look for it at local theaters from August 24.
Before financial Stargate opened in September of 2008 and transported us to an entirely new economic dimension, it was oh so common to read about domestic automakers hammering Tier One suppliers to lower their prices. Of course, suppliers are still asked to find efficiencies, but pre-2008, it seemed a point of honor to hold a supplier's feet to the fire. No more: in the latest Working Relations Index survey of suppliers by Detroit firm Planning Perspectives Inc., General Motors and Chrysler rocketed up the charts to bring the bunch much closer together.
Admittedly, the two companies are still in last place, with GM just ahead of Chrysler and Toyota and Honda still up top. But perspective and improvement is the issue here: in 2005, Toyota scored 415 and GM scored 114. In this year's survey, Toyota scored 296 and Chrysler scored 248. It is the first time in the 12 years of the survey that the six automakers covered have been separated by less than 50 points. Chrysler's jump was led by the efforts of the the late Dan Knott, whle GM's improvement has been led by Bob Socia.
And yes, this is also a matter of the perennial leaders, Toyota and Honda, suffering a dip: in 2010 Toyota scored 327 and Honda 309, two years later, Toyota has dropped 31 points. Every automaker, however, from top to bottom acknowledged that they still have work to do with supplier relations. The benefits of good feelings are that suppliers tend to present their newest tech to, and make better parts for, the automakers with whom they have the best relationships. Naturally, it has been found that the reverse is true as well.
Nissan and Ford make up the middle two spots, where they've been for years. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Hyundai aren't on the list yet; PPI feels it doesn't have enough data on the Germans to yet to officially include them, and it doesn't have enough data on Hyundai to rank it at all. If the data gathered on the Germans was included, though, they would sandwich the rest of the field: BMW and Mercedes at the top, Volkswagen at the bottom a point shy of Chrysler.
If we had a dollar for every time we read a headline that said, "[insert automaker here] considering a diesel for U.S. market," we'd have a pretty sizable stack of Washingtons. So why, then, is this story of particular interest?
After the website Efficient Automobile wrote about the possibility of Kia offering a diesel-powered Optima here in the United States, the automaker took things a step further, addressing this on its Facebook page. Kia's North American public relations team asks its loyal followers, "Would you drive a diesel?" And from what we can tell after a quick scan of the comments, the yeses certainly seem to outweigh the nos.
In Europe, the Optima is available with a 1.7-liter turbo-diesel four, good for 134 horsepower and 239 pound-feet of torque. The decidedly vague story from Efficient Automobile also states that the diesel Optima shares many of the visual upgrades that we have on the U.S.-spec Optima Hybrid, including a lowered ride height and special wheels.
It's worth mentioning that Kia's North American PR Facebook account is largely geared towards the U.S. media, and we have yet to meet a single member of the automotive press who wouldn't drive a diesel. But since Kia PR does not restrict its Facebook page, perhaps this is a small way for the automaker to gauge customer interest about the possibility of offering a diesel-powered car here in the United States. And to answer the question at hand, yes, Kia, we would.
"We are ready to make this car the top seller if the customer agrees."
Nissan started Job One production for the 2013 Altima sedan at its Smyrna, Tennessee plant today.
Nissan has big plans for the fifth-generation Altima, which was the number-two selling car in the United States in 2011. The company is adding a third shift at Smyna, and shifting models around between this plant and its Canton, Mississippi plant with an eye toward the Altima passing the Toyota Camry as the top-selling model in America.
Toyota sold 308,510 Camrys last year, compared with Nissan's 268,981 Altimas.
"We haven't built and designed this car the way we have, and made all these changes with a goal of being number-two," said Nissan Americas vice chairman Bill Krueger. Krueger admits that the consumer will vote on whether the Altima becomes the top selling car. "But we are ready to make this car the top seller if the customer agrees."
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam chimed in on the rivalry. "We are going to give the folks down in Georgetown [Kentucky] a serious run for the money," said Haslam, speaking of Toyota's plant in the neighboring state.
Nissan definitely has the capacity to pass the Camry, as it builds Altimas at two plants.
Krueger says he is not willing to cut and slash profit margins to chase the top-seller number for Altima. Nissan has long been more aggressive in incentive spending than its Japanese rivals in large part because it does not have the brand cachet and reputation for durability and quality that Toyota and Honda have.
Nissan built 570,000 vehicles in the U.S. last year and is adding a third shift to Smyrna. Nissan executives, however, won't pinpoint what total capacity is for Smyrna and Canton for competitive reasons. But it definitely has the capacity to pass the Camry's sales, as it builds Altimas at both plants.
Driving impressions of the 2013 Altima are embargoed until May 25, but we are allowed to tell you about a new feature we think is pretty cool. The tire pressure monitoring system not only tells the driver specifically what tire is low, but when you inflate each tire to the ideal, manufacturer-specified level, the car's horn sounds. Pretty neat, huh?.
By and large, the machines created for the SEMA show in Las Vegas are built for lounging around under convention center lights and not much else. All those go-fast parts we see bolted on do little more than collect lustful stares from from the crowd. But Creations n' Chrome set out to discover just what their bolt on additions to its Ford Mustang were good for. Under the outrageous 3dCarbon bodykit sits a Vortech supercharged 5.0-liter V8 good for around 580 horsepower at 8 psi of boost on stock internals. KW served up a set of Variant 3 coilovers, and Hotchkis took care of front and rear sway bars.
The crew rolled the blown Mustang out the to the Mojave Mile for a top speed run. The machine racked up a final velocity of 182.4 mph, though the final seconds of the run looked anything but stable (we hear there was a 20 mph crosswind). Still, we're impressed at the machine's performance. For perspective, the Boss 302 is only good for 155 mph. Check out the video for yourself below.
Carroll Shelby's passing, BMW 3 Series Wagon, Porsche sub-Boxster/Pajun, Google car in public, BMW 2 Series
Episode #282 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Chris, Dan and Zach chat about the passing of industry legend Carroll Shelby, the BMW 3 Series Wagon that's coming soon, Porsche and its rumored small five-door, Pajun (along with plans for a baby Boxster), Google's self-driving car getting the go-ahead to roam Nevada's streets, and the coming BMW 2 Series. Your questions and comments power the end of the 'cast, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. We've embedded our Q&A module after the jumpfor you to scroll through and follow along, too. Thanks for listening!
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The Ford Motor Company and the automotive industry as a whole are mourning the loss today of Harold "Red" Poling, who passed away on May 12 in Pacific Grove, California, at the age of 86.
A Michigan native, Poling was a navy veteran and a graduate of Monmouth College and Indiana University, where he received his MBA. He started working for Ford as an intern at the Rouge steel mill way back in 1950, rising up the corporate ladder over the years as a financial expert.
In March of 1980, after running Ford's North American and European operations, Poling was named president and CEO of the entire company, and ten years later was elected its chairman.
An inductee to the Automotive Hall of Fame and an active member of his community, Poling lead Ford through lean times and into profitability, ushering an enormous quantity of vehicles into production over his many years of leadership. Scroll down for an official statement from his successor Bill Ford.
The door has not yet closed on Saab. Hoping for yet another 11th hour stay of execution, the defunct carmaker's chief union, IF Metall, has written directly to President Obama, asking him to intervene, according to Just-Auto. While on the surface, this may seem silly, it's actually rather clever, even if it has little likelihood of working.
You have to admire Saab loyalists, as they clearly have not given up hope. But in this case, they just don't have any other options: Unemployment in the Saab hometown of Trollhättan has hit 40 percent, according to the report.
Regular readers should be plenty familiar with the trend in the Chinese market towards long-wheelbase versions of the luxury sedans we have here. It's just what high-end customers in the decentralizing economy look for. And European automakers have been only too glad to oblige.
BMW, Audi, Porsche and Infiniti have all recently stretched their existing luxury sedans to lure new buyers in the rapidly developing Chinese market, and now word has it that Volvo is following suit with a long-wheelbase version of the S60.
The Chinese-owned Swedish automaker already produces a stretched version of the S80 in China, but has reportedly found little success. The hope is that the S60 - which for all its positive attributes does not have a particularly spacious rear bench - will plug that gap better in long-wheelbase form.
Mark Heidaker's Hennessey Ford GT is back to work snagging records. Sean Kennedy once again took to the wheel of the machine at the Houston Half Mile Shootout, and just as before, the duo didn't disappoint. Kennedy was able to pilot the wicked GT to an astonishing 212.9 miles per hour in a mere half mile, successfully snagging the world record in the process. Not too shabby.
As you may recall, this same team walked away with the standing mile world record back in March. At that time, Kennedy shot the GT to 257.7 mph in the allotted distance. We have to wonder what these guys have up their sleeves for the next stunt. Click Scroll down to check out the understandably quick half mile video for yourself.
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