| Amp Rider, the zero-emissions way to cut the green green grass of home
May 13, 2009 at 6:49 pm
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|   Ariens Amp Rider electric mower - Click above to watch the video after the break The most polluting vehicle many people drive is the rig they use to cut their grass. Not only is it noxious and noisy, you also have to burn gas to go get the gas that you're going to burn to do a chore many of us wish they didn't have to do in the first place. Ariens feels your pain and has just introduced an electric riding mower called the Amp Rider that rids you of much of the noise and vibration and all of the gas burning and fetching associated with keeping the green green grass of home nicely shorn. |
| McGill University falls short in bid for Formula Hybrid three-peat
May 13, 2009 at 6:48 pm
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|  2009 Formula Hybrid Challenge - Click above for a high-res image gallery Last weekend, teams from 30 universities around North America descended on New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon for the third annual SAE Formula Hybrid challenge. Formula Hybrid is an offshoot of the long-running Formula SAE student design competition, except as the name implies, the cars have hybrid powertrains. The first two instances of the competition were both won by the team from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. We spoke to McGill team member Jeff Turner after the initial competition, so we were naturally interested to hear how McGill's entry performed this year. |
| Nissan slaps $56,915* Monroney on 2010 QX56
May 13, 2009 at 6:43 pm
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|   2008 (2009, and 2010) Infiniti QX56 - Click above for a high-res image gallery Infiniti has announced pricing on the 2010 QX56 full-size luxury SUV. Essentially a carry-over of the model that was last updated in 2008, the base MSRP for the 2WD model is $56,050 (*plus destination and handling of $865), while the 4WD model arrives at $59,150. Loyalists of the brand will recognize this as a $1,000 bump in pricing when compared to last year's model. |
| Spy Shots: Bentley Continental Supersports spotted near 'Ring
May 13, 2009 at 6:36 pm
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|  Watch out. A blacked-out Bentley Continental Supersports has been spotted pointing its grille at the Nürburgring. In an era when Cobalts and Clios are flogged around the 13-mile loop, it comes as a mild surprise that nobody has timed and tested the Bentley Continental on that particular tarmac. With its E85-capable W12 engine rated at 621 hp and a curb weight 300 lbs lighter than the standard GT, the Supersports could push the coupe's balance that much further to the sport side than the GT side. If Bentley does run it in anger, we look forward to finding out how Crewe's first green effort handles The Green Hell. |
| Who are Chrysler's top ten creditors? The answer may surprise you
May 13, 2009 at 5:50 pm
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|  Chrysler's top ten creditors are owed about $400 million, and the top two creditors account for nearly $130 million of that. The company first in line for payment is Ohio Module, which is a subsidiary of Hyundai Mobis, which is in turn a publicly traded subsidiary of Hyundai. Ohio Module makes chassis for the Jeep Wrangler and Chrysler has run up a $70 million tab with the firm. |
| The Eminem Show: Slim Shady and Jimmy Kimmel flying 200 autoworkers to Hollywood
May 13, 2009 at 5:49 pm
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|  Slim Shady plays an assembly line worker in 8 Mile Sure, thousands of auto workers may be losing their jobs, but don't think they've got nowhere to go. Following similar overtures made by Jay Leno and Michigan restauranteur A.J. O'Neil, Slim Shady will be putting on a free concert for Detroit's unemployed auto workers. But on top of playing for the downtrodden in his home town, Eminem will also be sayin' hello to Hollywood with 200 of his fellow Detroiters. |
| GM: Don't forget about the transmission's role in overall efficiency
May 13, 2009 at 5:45 pm
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|  Click above to watch the video after the break We often tend to focus on alternatives to the internal combustion engine when discussing the future of transportation. While it's true that electric motors, batteries and hydrogen fuel cells are likely to play an increasingly large role in the future, there's little doubt that fossil-fuel-burning engines will remain the dominant technology powering our automobiles for at least the next few years. |
| Steve McQueen's $2.3M Ferrari 250 GT Lusso: What Can Brown Do For You?
May 13, 2009 at 5:15 pm
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|   So Brad Pitt is set to play Steve McQueen in a biopic? Here’s the car he’ll have to master: McQueen’s 1963 Lusso. Some say it’s the most beautiful Ferrari ever built. But a Ferrari in chestnut brown? As far as I recall, these were my first words when ’s first Ferrari, chassis number 4891GT, was set to purist and nurturer of a great soft spot for midnight blue 612 Scagliettis, brown sounded all wrong for a Ferrari. Think brown and what’s the first thing that comes to mind? A UPS truck, no great friend of high-strung V12’s. |
| Elektromotive unveils billing system chargepoint for EVs at EVS24 conference
May 13, 2009 at 4:54 pm
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|  Right now – and likely even more so in the near future – lots of localities and businesses are installing electric vehicle charging stations at selected parking spots for customers and employees. For now, many of those stations are providing free electricity in a bid to encourage adoption of zero emissions plug-in vehicles. That works fine as long as the number of EVs remains relatively low, which it certainly will for at least then next several years. At some point however, if EVs start to reach mass adoption rates, the economics of providing free juice to drivers will become unaffordable. At that point, some sort of mechanism for identifying the car being plugged in and then billing the driver will become a necessity. |
| Fiat preparing 500 Giardiniera softroader?
May 13, 2009 at 4:45 pm
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|  With all this talk of mergers and acquisitions, it'd be easy to forget that Fiat has its own model lines to update and supplement. So while Sergio Marchionne flies back and forth between Detroit and Turin, a report has emerged suggesting Fiat could be preparing a crossover version of its popular 500 retro-hatch. |
| Final Ferrari F430 to be auctioned Sunday for earthquake victims:
May 13, 2009 at 4:44 pm
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|   In an auction featuring some of the rarest, fastest and most head-turning Ferraris ever, a brand-new F430 may be the show-stealer. The Prancing Horse said Wednesday that it is auctioning off the very last F430 to roll off the Maranello production lines at the end of the year to raise money to rebuild the central Italian region of Abruzzo, which was devastated by an earthquake on April 6. Ferrari will work with local authorities to distribute the funds. |
| 2010 Ford Mustang V-6: An Everyday Car?
May 13, 2009 at 4:40 pm
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|   2010 Ford Mustang V6 So what's it like to live with a 2010 Ford Mustang for a week? Well, since we're driving a V-6 model, we didn't bother heading to the drag strip. We also skipped the local street racing scene. So how did we spend our time behind the wheel? Probably a lot like any regular Joe or Jane. |
| Ferrari to auction off special F430 for Abruzzo earthquake relief
May 13, 2009 at 4:39 pm
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|  Ferrari F430 special for Abruzzo – Click above to view in high resolution People come together when disaster strikes. So when an earthquake claimed nearly 300 lives in Italy's Abruzzo region last month, Fiat donated a specially-equipped Ducato van to the emergency relief crew so that the Pope could tour the stricken region and visit the victims. Following its parent company's lead, Ferrari has announced that it will be donating a special one-off F430 to help the cause. |
| Road Trip In A 2009 Lotus Elise SC: Part 1, The Route
May 13, 2009 at 4:30 pm
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|  2010 Lotus Elise SC So the story is that I had to get from Las Vegas to San Francisco over the weekend of May 3-4. Frankly, it's an easy drive that can be dispatched with little effort using major state roads and/or interstates. After all, as the ICBM flies, the trip is less than 400 miles. However ... good road trips always have a however ... in case you didn't know, there are mountains in between Vegas and SFO, thus making the route somewhat longer even by the most direct route. Given that your author avoids doing anything directly, I picked the most circuitous possible. |
| How To Disable GM's Manual Skip Shift For Seven Bucks
May 13, 2009 at 4:00 pm
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|  Under certain conditions, some GM high-performance cars with manual transmissions force a 1st to 4th shift. Everybody but Nancy Pelosi and the EPA hate it. Here's step-by-step instruction on how to defeat it for $7. It's called "Computer Aided Gear Selection" or CAGS — and it's a system which works by using a solenoid in the transmission to force the driver to shift from first to fourth when you're driving in a leisurely fashion in 1989-and-on GM vehicles using certain 6-speed transmissions. It's purpose is to improve gas mileage and avoid the "gas-guzzler" new car tax. |
| VIDEO: Better Place battery swapper demonstrated
May 13, 2009 at 12:10 pm
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|  Project Better Place battery swap - Click above for a hi-res image gallery One minute, 13 seconds. That's how long it took for the whiz-bang battery switcher engineered by Better Place to remove a battery from the undercarriage of its Nissan demonstration SUV and replace it with another. That's faster than either the fastest fast charge or filling it up with regular. You don't even get out of your car! Sweet! |
| REPORT: GT5 to get weather changes, night racing - and yes, damage rendering
May 13, 2009 at 12:00 pm
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|  Audi is obviously looking forward to being in the coming Gran Turismo 5. After all, the Quattro company has created a website to promote its car on the Nürburgring in real life and in the game, and it interviewed GT5 mastermind Kazunori Yamauchi about what fans can expect. Yamauchi-san revealed that the game is going to offer not only more vehicles, more online features, and increased detail, but it will also include night racing, damage rendering (previously confirmed), and weather changes. |
| First Drive: 2009 BMW Z4 grows up at cost of its groove
May 13, 2009 at 12:00 pm
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|  2009 BMW Z4 – Click above for high-res image gallery The all-new 2009 BMW Z4 Roadster is the eagerly anticipated replacement to both the Z4 Convertible and Z4 Coupe. Adding to this pressure, the two-seater is also tasked with satisfying the enthusiasts who enjoyed the high-performance M variants, both of which are discontinued – at least for the moment. Autoblog just spent a long day behind the wheel of the multi-role Z4, dissecting the Roadster's styling, ergonomics, chassis, powerplant and handling. How does the Z4 masquerade as four different models? Is it a credible replacement for one, or all? Most importantly, will the Z4 appease the enthusiast? Find out after the jump. |
| Cash-for-Clunkers bill may get fast tracked
May 13, 2009 at 11:25 am
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|  House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) have said they would like to fast track the Cash for Clunkers bill through the legislative process. There's a legitimate fear that new car sales will stagnate while buyers wait for the bill to pass, which could take a very long time if it's attached to the much broader climate change legislation. Says Reid:
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| Ford engineers slam basketballs and shopping carts into cars for safety's sake
May 13, 2009 at 11:11 am
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|  Ford's new airbag tests – Click above for high-res gallery One of the cool things about being an engineer is that in addition to designing innovative new features, you get to develop novel ways to test those features. The 2009 Ford F-150 and 2010 Taurus both feature a new airbag deployment system that incorporates sensors to measure the pressure of a side impact in order manage the inflation rate of the bags. The pressure-based system provides more precise data than typical accelerometers and allows the system to better resist false positives that come from incidents like rolling shopping carts in parking lots and flying basketballs. |
| Redesigned Opel Astra revealed ahead of Frankfurt rollout:
May 13, 2009 at 11:11 am
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|  Opel, General Motors' financially embattled European subsidiary, has ripped the covers from its sixth-generation Astra ahead of the car's planned debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September. The five-door hatchback traditionally is one of Europe's best-selling models and originally was expected to play an important role in the Saturn lineup in the United States. Under GM's pared-down lineup, the Astra's Delta 2 chassis is likely provide the underpinnings for a small Buick, initially in China, and then in the United States, depending on market conditions. A sedan version of the car comes to the States as the Chevrolet Cruze in 2010 as a 2011 model. |
| Chrysler bankruptcy lawyers reportedly ask to be paid up-front
May 13, 2009 at 11:02 am
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|  Attorneys from Jones Day law firm representing Chrysler during bankruptcy have taken the unusual step of asking the judge to "give their fees special priority." Two reasons have been hypothesized for the move: the lawyers don't think there will be any money for trade debts from the leftover pieces of Chrysler; or the maneuver could be a ploy to get secured lenders to accept the proposed sale of Chrysler as is by suggesting that what's on the table now is as good as anyone is going to get. |
| The History Of Jake: Corvette Racing's Mascot
May 13, 2009 at 11:00 am
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|  Racing liveries come and go, but there are some so iconic, so recognizable, they'll be remembered forever. For example, Gulf and Martini Racing. There's now a new one to add to that list. Meet "Jake." The year was 2004 and the , the team began using the "Take No Prisoners" motto along with a generic skull logo. It makes sense, given they were considered by many to be the pirates of the GT racing world, taking whatever treasured prize they set their eyes upon. Ever since, the skull's grown into a representation of the team's triumphs and mentality. While not new today, Jake has become a visible power statement to anyone involved in the racing world and he's gaining more and more traction every day. We're here to tell his story. |
| Ready to rumble: 1969 Oldsmobile Hurst/Olds H/O 455:
May 13, 2009 at 11:00 am
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|  Transmission and shifter guru George Hurst had major mojo in the late 1960s and early '70s. A relentless self-promoter, he cut deals with competing manufacturers to produce Hurst-branded performance vehicles simultaneously, an act of automotive-marketing chutzpah rivaled only by Carroll Shelby. But of all the marques that hopped on the Hurst brand wagon--from Chrysler's gigantic 1970 300 H Hurst to the compact 1969 AMC/Hurst SC/Rambler--the cars most associated with the Shifter King are Oldsmobiles. At the top of the Hurst/Olds food chain is the mighty H/O 455. |
| Honda Insight Is Best Seller in Japan
May 13, 2009 at 10:42 am
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|   Honda Insight became the first hybrid car to top monthly sales charts in Japan, after Honda sold 10,481 units in April, according to the Japanese Dealers Association. The Insight went on sale in Japan in early February and was the 10th best-selling car of that month with 4,906 sold. In March that number dropped to 4,088. But in April, more than twice that many customers picked up the Insight. It displaced another Honda, the Fit, which had been the best-selling car in Japan for four consecutive months. In April, Honda sold 9,443 Fits, making it the second best-selling car. |
| Cash-for-Clunkers bill to get fast-tracked?
May 13, 2009 at 10:31 am
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|  According to The Detroit News, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) have said they would like to fast track the Cash-for-Clunkers bill through the legislative process. There's a legitimate fear that new car sales will further stagnate while buyers wait for the bill to pass, which could take a very long time if it's attached to the much broader climate change legislation. Says Reid: |
| Spy shots: Bentley gets ready to run the 'Ring in the E85 Continental Supersports
May 13, 2009 at 10:30 am
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|  At the Geneva Motor Show in March, Bentley unveiled its first-ever flex-fuel car, the Continental Supersports. Not only is this car the first production Bentley that will be capable of running on either gasoline of E85 ethanol, it also happens to be the most powerful production Bentley ever, putting out a staggering 621 horsepower. |
| British Man Builds World's Smallest Car
May 13, 2009 at 10:30 am
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|  A British builder has transformed a 39-inch-high by 26-inch-wide childrens coin-operated ride into a road-legal automobile, wresting the title of "Worlds Smallest Car" from the still-microscopic Peel Trident. We're not familiar with "Postman Pat" but we're betting our British readers know the character's little red mail truck, the one ever built. After finding the fiberglass coin-operated child's ride on eBay, it was stripped of its cartoon postman and other unnecessaries and placed atop a go-kart chassis with 150cc engine. He then added lights, windshield wipers, washers, turn signals and other various other bits until it was ready of a Ministry of Transportation inspection, which it amazingly passed, and certified as the worlds smallest car. |
| Spy Shots: Aston Martin V12 Vantage Roadster
May 13, 2009 at 10:29 am
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|  Aston Martin knows how to crank out the variants like few others automakers. With essentially two model lines in production, the British sportscar marque always seems to have another new model to debut. And the next looks to be the V12 Vantage Roadster. Joining the limited-edition V12 Vantage coupe and its endurance racing counterpart, the muscle-bound drop-top should carry over the 510-hp 6.0-liter twelve, but trade a couple of ticks off the coupe's 4.2-second 0-60 time in exchange for the open-air experience. With barely-disguised test mules already spied, sources suggest the V12 Vantage Roadster is being prepared for its debut at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show in September. |
| Byron McCormick resigns after DoE terminates funding for fuel cells
May 13, 2009 at 10:22 am
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|  Honda FCX Clarity - Click above for a gallery
Last week, the federal government decided to shift the focus away from hydrogen and onto plug-in vehicles. This week, J. Byron McCormick has resigned from the U.S. Energy Department's Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee to protest this decision, saying he's "both perplexed and confused by [the] decision to zero the budget." Up until last year, McCormick had been serving as GM's executive director for fuel cell development. |
| Better Place Unveils Battery Switching Station w/ Video
May 13, 2009 at 7:15 am
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|   Late Tuesday the company reveled the first video of how the process would work. They have partnered with Renault-Nissan on the endeavor and have pledged to work to an open standard for battery packs so that they could be interchangeable among many vehicles. The first country in which this is expected is Israel with a chargin network expected in 2010. Other places networks are expected are Denmark, Australia, California, Hawaii and Ontario, Canada. |
| Fear fuels wider fight to save GM, auto plants
May 13, 2009 at 3:39 am
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|   WASHINGTON -- Michigan politicians aren't the only ones banging the drums to keep auto plants open. On Capitol Hill, in statehouses and at the headquarters for Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp., the lobbying has reached fever pitch. Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas was in Detroit last month for the Final Four and hopped a bus to catch up with GM officials at the Renaissance Center, hoping to hear good news about the Fairfax plant in his state that employs 2,500 people. |
| Chrysler dealers outline upcoming cuts
May 13, 2009 at 2:56 am
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| Chrysler will drop at least 800 dealers and renegotiate franchise agreements with many of the remaining 2,400 dealers who will be identified Thursday in a bankruptcy filing, according to dealers who took part in a conference call with a lawyer. The conference call was led by Pierre Bergeron, an attorney in the Cincinnati office of Squires Sanders, a law firm that is seeking to represent dealers Fiat and Chrysler want to drop. |
| Auto cuts, tight credit cost Hayes
May 12, 2009 at 11:33 pm
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| Northville-based auto supplier Hayes Lemmerz International Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday -- its second filing this decade -- saying it has been squeezed by production cuts in the auto industry and tightened credit markets. "These filings will allow us to reduce our debt and restructure our balance sheet. We fully expect to emerge from Chapter 11 as a stronger, more competitive company than we are today," Hayes Lemmerz Chairman and CEO Curtis Clawson said in a statement. |
| GM stock plummets to a low not seen since April 1933
May 12, 2009 at 11:32 pm
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| Shares of General Motors Corp. fell to 1933 levels Tuesday, inching closer to the $1-a-share mark as the troubled automaker faces a June 1 deadline to restructure the company or face bankruptcy. Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson reiterated Monday that bankruptcy was more probable than not, but a court-supervised restructuring could still be avoided. |
| Creditors look to work out GM deal
May 12, 2009 at 11:26 pm
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| WASHINGTON -- The group representing bondholders with $27 billion in General Motors Corp. debt says it hopes to meet with the Obama administration this week to negotiate a deal that would keep GM out of bankruptcy. But the group's financial adviser says the current offer to swap the debt for a small stake in a reworked GM is "designed to fail," would fall apart in bankruptcy court and has no chance to reach the 90% vote from bondholders the administration demands. | | | 
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