Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Audi R8 LMS Ultra to Compete in Next Year's FIA GT1 World Championship as Well


Only a month after the introduction of the improved R8 LMS Ultra and Audi has revealed plans to compete in the FIA GT1 World Championship next year with two examples of its latest GT3 racecar, which will be independently fielded by Team WRT. Read more »

Kia Ray Opens Doors and Honks its Horn to Play Jingle Bells Tune [Video]


With only a few days left for Christmas, Kia has jumped on the holiday season bandwagon releasing a cheerful new ad featuring the brand's Ray city car that was recently launched in South Korea.

The commercial shows the Ray playing along the Jingle Bells tune with the sounds being created by opening and closing the tall hatchback's regular and sliding doors, hood and compartment area dividers, as well as by using its turning signals, warning jingles and horn.

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Court Approves Saab’s Bankruptcy, Appoints Two Receivers – But is it Really Over?


As expected, the District Court of Vanersborg accepted Saab’s request the same day, Monday December 19, and declared the Swedish carmaker bankrupt.

The company's CEO, Victor Muller, blamed General Motors for blocking every rescue attempt that involved the Chinese company Youngman Lotus Automobile, including its latest offer of a US$5 million funding to continue the restructuring process.

“That, basically, was the last nail in the coffin of this beautiful company”, said Muller only hours after requesting that Saab be declared bankrupt.

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Toyota NS4 Plug-in Hybrid Concept Heads to Detroit Motor Show


This is our first look at the brand new Toyota NS4 Concept car that will make its world premiere at the 2012 North American International Auto Show, which takes place in Detroit from January 9 to 22.

Toyota is being as secretive about the NS4 as its premium Lexus sibling is about its own prototype that will be shown in Motor Town, with the only piece of information we get about the vehicle is that it will be "an advanced plug-in hybrid concept".

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Monday, December 19, 2011

2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 380 GT Makes a Quick Appearance on Film


It has been a while in internet time since we last heard about the revitalized 2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe – a little over a month, to be precise, when the facelifted model was introduced in its home market of South Korea.

We still don't know when and where Hyundai plans to debut the sports car in North America, although we presume it will most likely take place in one of the upcoming international motorshows like the Detroit venue in January, the Chicago Auto Show in February or the New York Auto Show in April.

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Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: What Saab’s Demise May Mean for Buyers


"If Saab’s future seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
You can buy a heavily discounted brand new car
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just walk into your nearest Saab dealership - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life..."

First of all, we hope Monty Python won’t mind altering their song from The Life of Brian. We'd also like to note that we are in no way making fun of the fact that, unless something unexpected happens, Saab is closing shop – for good this time, leaving thousands of workers unemployed.

We’re just trying to say that, in the event the liquidation of the car company goes through, there are consequences but not all of them are bad for consumers.

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Chuck Norris Approved: Amazing Hole in One Wins 59-Year-Old Woman a 2011 Ford F-150 [Video]


They say seeing is believing but you'll probably want to watch the video of Brenda Hewett shooting a puck in a barely visible, tiny hole on a board from the far blue line during the Akwesasne Warriors Federal Hockey League game this past Saturday more than a couple of times to become a believer.

What makes the feat, which won her a brand new 2011 F-150 truck from Frenchie's Ford in New York, even more spectacular is that the 59-year-old woman is said to have never held a hockey stick in her life. Truly unbelievable. Watch the clip after the break.

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SPIED: 2013 Volvo V40 Snagged Playing Around in the Snow [with Video]


In what could be our final round of spy photos of the upcoming Volvo V40 (or at least those picturing prototypes with heavy camouflage), our diligent spies snapped the five-door hatchback model as it was completing its winter tests on the snow.

Volvo Cars CEO Stefan Jakoby gave us a sneak peek of the new V40 at an interview with Hakan Matson, chairman of the European Car of the Year Jury, on Friday, where he also revealed that the car will be officially introduced at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show next March.

During the interview, Jakoby said that he is "extremely positive" and "really excited" about the V40, which will be positioned against the five-door variants of the Audi A3 and BMW 1-Series as well as the Lexus CT200 h.

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Volkswagen Brings All 6 Generations of the Golf GTI to the Track


The year is almost up yet Volkswagen continues to celebrate its much vaunted Golf GTI's 35th birthday. Over the year we saw the Germans release the production Golf GTI Edition 35 as well as numerous concepts including a Cabriolet at the Wörthersee meeting in Austria.

Now, just before 2011 comes to an end, Volkswagen's UK division released a video showing all six generations of the Golf GTI on the racetrack and which we presume, is a preview for something a little more exciting as there's not much action going on in this clip.

You won't be missing on much, but if you're still interested, you can watch the video after the break.

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Renault Decimates UK Line-Up Due to Poor Sales, Cuts Laguna, Wind, Espace and More


Something is rotten in the state of Renault: its sales in the UK market. The fall of the pound against the Euro by 16 percent since the end of 2008, which minimized profitability of companies based in euro-denominated countries along with a staggering 29 percent drop in Renault's sales in the first 11 months of the year, forced the French carmaker to make some hard decisions.

Renault spokesperson Caroline De Gezelle announced today that, from February, the company will stop taking orders for no less than five of its models that are currently sold in Europe’s third largest car market.

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Scary Motorcycle Accident Caught on Rider's Helmet Camera as it Happened [NSFW]


Motorcycle accidents are often very severe for the simple reason that there's no buffer zone between the rider and the vehicle (or the road), which makes them all the more terrifying to watch when they're captured on tape.

You can multiply the feeling by about ten when the camera happens to be mounted on the helmet of the motorcyclist involved in the crash…

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2014 Chevrolet Impala wants to be more than America's Favorite Fleet Car, will Share Platform with Cadillac XTS


With more than a decade on its back, the current Chevrolet Impala is well overdue for a replacement. Introduced in 1999, the eighth generation of the Chevy's full-size sedan switched to a front-wheel drive layout with GM redesigning the large sedan in 2005.

According to the Automotive News Data Center, Chevy has sold more than 2.8 million units of current model since 1999, with 2007 proving to be the vehicle's best year with a little over 311,000 deliveries. This year, through the end of November, GM has sold close to 161,000 Impalas.

But as we said, it's time for the current Impala to give its place to a new model. Last week, GM confirmed plans for the development of the 10th generation Impala, which will be produced at both its Oshawa Assembly Plant in Canada and the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant.

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Watch a Nissan GT-R go from 0 to 312km/h [194mph] on the Autobahn


There's no doubt that the Nissan GT-R is built for speed. But while a side road or better yet, a racetrack is probably the most enjoyable place from a driving perspective to unleash its 480 to 550-horses (depending on the year and model), if you want to explore how fast it can go, Germany's world famous Autobahn is the place to be.

This brings us to the video you're about to watch after the jump and which shows a GT-R going from zero to 312km/h (that's 194mph) on the German highway. Enjoy...

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Infiniti’s Mercedes A-Class-based Compact Model to be Built by Magna Steyr


Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Japan’s second biggest automaker, wants Nissan's luxury brand, Infiniti, to have a 10 percent share in the premium segment, which amounts to 500,000 units.

The “Power 88” plan that Ghosn revealed last June calls for the rapid expansion of Infiniti, which is an established player in the U.S. market but almost non-existent in Europe: in 2010 it sold 4,500 units, a tenth of BMW’s January 45,000 sales…

Back in August, we revealed that Infiniti was preparing a small, entry-level premium model to compete with the likes of Audi’s A3 and BMW’s 1-Series, and that it would use another premium carmaker’s help: Mercedes Benz and its newly developed MFA platform employed by the 2012 A-Class.

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VW to Return to Super Bowl with New 60-Second Ad on the 2012 Beetle


There's no doubt that this year's Super Bowl XLV played host to some original commercials but the one ad that stood out more than the rest was "The Force" from Volkswagen, the official YouTube version of which has garnered over 45 million views since it aired on February 2.

Volkswagen actually aired one more commercial during the game, the “Black Beetle”, which has been seen by more than 5 million viewers on the German firm's channel.

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Nissan Pathfinder Concept: First Official Teaser of 7-Seater SUV


While Nissan isn't yet ready to completely lift the covers off its pre-production Pathfinder showcar, the Japanese company has issued the first teaser image of the seven-seater model that will make its public debut at the 2012 North American International Auto Show beginning in Detroit on January 9th.

With a little digital help, we brightened up the picture to reveal the outline of the Pathfinder study, which looks like it will sport a swoopier body than the current model.

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Lexus Drops New Teaser Photo of its Detroit Motor Show Concept, Looks Like it's a Coupe


We got our first glimpse of the new concept model Lexus is readying for the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit with a cryptic teaser picture of the car's front end on December 12.

Today, Toyota's premium brand released a second image, this time showing the as of yet unnamed concept model's interior. What’s important about this image is that the teardrop shape of the window line suggests we're looking at a two-door coupe model.

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The Company Formerly Known as “Old GM” is Dead at Age 103


It was long overdue, but it was bound to happen: the company lawyers named Motors Liquidation Co. but which we came to know as "old GM" during the 2009 government bailout period, died on Thursday, December 15.

Though it had a very long lifespan of 103 years, no one really noticed its demise. After all, this was just U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerbert signing the death certificate. Giving birth to the “new GM” two years ago was a very painful process – and one that most of those involved would like to forget.

It meant the sacrifice of three of its brands (Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn) and getting rid of another (Saab, which ironically is now in a similar position), closing 13 plants along with 900 dealerships. GM also had to reduce its U.S. workforce from 91,000 to 68,500 employees, which either way, is a far cry from the 525,000 workers it had in the States and another 100,000 outside the country in 1955.

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Top Gear Video Previews New Christmas Special in India


Some may call it a Holiday Special, all we know is that the wacky trio from Top Gear UK is returning to the small screen on December 28 for its annual special that will see Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May heading out to India.

After discovering that Britain does more business with Ireland than with the second most populous country in the world after China, the Top Gear crew set out on a mission to boost the trade between the two countries – or at least that's the excuse for the epic road trip.

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Honda Starts Production of New European Civic Hatch at Swindon Plant


Honda revealed today the it has begun rolling out the new Civic at its UK plant in Swindon, which returned to its normal production rates after a disruption due to lack of parts caused by the Thai floods. Read more »