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Report: Saab Dealers Running Out of Cars
With Saab’s sales for 2009 down 62 percent so far, you wouldn’t expect the Swedish automaker’s biggest problem to be a car shortage. But that’s exactly what dealers are facing, after the General Motors brand cut production earlier this year in an effort to cut costs. Production at the assembly plan in Sweden has been…
Report: Surprise… Two-Thirds of Camaros Are Sold With a V8 Engine
When the new Camaro came out, General Motors explained the very careful two-pronged approach for the car, with the high-volume V6 models appealing to lifestyle consumers, while the high-powered and more expensive V8 version selling to the limited enthusiast crowd. So imagine the surprise in the marketing and product planning departments upon learning that two…
Report: Upcoming A1 Won’t Get Audi’s Quattro All-Wheel Drive System
Audi’s upcoming A1 small car is set to arrive in Europe in 2010, but unlike the rest of the Audi lineup, the car won’t be offered with the German automaker’s impressive quattro all-wheel drive system. Instead the car will be front-drive only – even the high-performance S1 and RS1 (hypothetical at this point) will stay…
Report: Subaru Only Automaker to Receive IIHS ‘Top Safety Pick’ for Every Car in its Lineup
With a recent barrage of testing performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Subaru was recognized as the only automaker to get a Top Safety Pick rating for every vehicle in its lineup. What this means it that every Subaru vehicle meets the IIHS’s highest standards, receiving a “good” rating (the highest possible),…
Report: Mercedes Bringing Small Car to U.S. in 2012
Mercedes will introduce at least one small car to the U.S. in 2012, doing a 180 on a past decision to stick to larger vehicles in order to enforce the brand’s high-end image. The news comes directly from CEO Dr. Dieter Zetsche, in an interview in the Wall Street Journal. The car would compete with…
LA Preview: Chevy Cruze to Debut in Los Angeles With 40-MPG Four-Cylinder Engine
After lagging behind in the compact car segment for decades, Chevrolet may finally have the car that will not only silence critics, but please them too. The all new 2011 Cruze will replace the Cobalt and take on cars like the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic. And it’s sure to gain popularity amongst penny-pinchers with…
LA Preview: Rolls-Royce Ghost Set to Materialize at LA Auto Show
What better venue to host the North American debut of the Rolls-Royce Ghost than the LA Auto Show? Detroit? Hardly! The Ghost is the first entirely new model from Rolls-Royce since 2003, when the flagship Phantom debuted. Slightly smaller than that uber-luxury land-yacht the Ghost is still massive and excessively luxurious. It’s real claim to…
LA Preview: 2011 Hyundai Tucson to Get North American Debut
Having recently been unveiled at the Frankfurt Auto Show in Germany, Hyundai will officially launch its new 2011 Tucson for the North American market at the LA Auto Show in early December. The Tucson is likely to keep much of the design we first saw in Frankfurt and is a bold departure from the rather…
LA Preview: Lexus Gets Serious About LF-Ch Hybrid for North America With Showing in Los Angeles
After initially announcing that the production version of the LF-Ch hybrid hatchback concept would be offered exclusively in Europe, Lexus has hinted that it may bring the model to other markets including North America. After creating a feedback page for the car on its website, Lexus has now made the biggest move towards an acknowledgment…
Report: Hyundai to Equip 2011 Sonata With Automaker’s First Direct-Injection Engine
Hyundai won’t be offering the all-new 2011 Sonata with a V6 engine, opting instead to go the four-cylinder route. It’s not clear if the automaker plans to offer two different four-cylinders, but this week in South Korea, Hyundai did take the wraps off of the company’s first direct-injection engine, a 2.4-liter 4-cylinder. Using direct injection…
Report: World’s First R35 Nissan GT-R Police Car On Duty in Abu Dhabi
In a country where exotic cars are (seemingly) as common as Camrys, the police are most certainly in need of a vehicle that can keep up. So the Abu Dhabi police service in the United Arab Emirates has just unveiled its secret weapon, a 485-hp Nissan GT-R. Not much else is known about the car,…
LA Preview: Mercedes SLS AMG Flagship to Make North American Debut in Los Angeles
For the first time since the car’s world premiere at the Frankfurt Auto Show, Mercedes is getting ready to display its new supercar. This time, however, it will be on U.S. soil at the LA Auto Show. Inspired by the 300SL Gullwing, the new SLS AMG is the first ground-up car to be built by…
Report: Hummer Planning H4 to Rival Jeep Wrangler
Under new ownership by Chinese heavy machinery maker Sichuan Tengzhong, Hummer will move forward with plans to introduce a smaller and more efficient H4 model. Previewed in concept form as the HX (above), the H4 would be lighter and more fuel-conscious, but wouldn’t give up on the brand’s hard-core attitude. It would be designed as…
LA Preview: 2011 Buick Regal to Get Auto Show World Premiere in Los Angeles
Having just been the focus of a private showing at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, the all-new 2011 Buick Regal will get its official public world premier at the LA Auto Show in just a few weeks time. With the car, General Motors is taking aim at luxury rivals like the Acura TSX in…
Report: Heffner Performance Completes Twin-Turbo Audi R8
The team at Heffner Performance have finally completed their initial Stage 1 twin-turbo package for the Audi R8. Running on pump gas and using just 6 psi of boost, the two turbochargers boost output from the 4.2-liter V8 engine from 353 rwhp to 536 rwhp, a gain of over 50 percent. A more powerful 100…
Report: Watch Out Mercedes E63 Estate, Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon Confirmed
Say you’re shopping for a new car but you have to pretty strict requirements: you need plenty of cargo room, and the ability to hit 60 mph in about 4 seconds. Cadillac has just the car for you! According to a recent report in Car& Driver, GM product boss Bob Lutz has confirmed that the…
Report: GM Product Boss Says Turbocharged Camaro a Possibility
When asked if a turbocharged version of the Camaro might make it to market, GM product boss Bob Lutz said, “perhaps.” The immediate response to this is to get all excited and start saving up your pennies for the car. Then again, Lutz may have used the “perhaps” word in the same way parents do…
Report: Mercedes Launches Lease-Only ML450 Hybrid
Mercedes has just announced announced the ML450 Hybrid 4MATIC model is ready for purchase… sort of. The first complete product to use the two-mode hybrid system built by the joint General Motors, Daimler, BMW and Chrysler hybrid technology group will only be offered as a lease. The ML450 Hybrid will be made available for either…
Report: Next Impalla Will be Front-Drive With a Hybrid Option
Despite continued rumors to the contrary, the next iteration of the Chevrolet Impala will not be rear-wheel drive. In an interview with InsideLine, GM’s product boss Bob Lutz, definitively stated that the car will put power to the front wheels. Lutz would only give vague details about the car, which is probably all he has,…
Report: Titan Will Live On Without Chrysler, Says Nissan CEO
Somehow Nissan will bring a successor to the Titan pickup truck to market, although it’s not known how or when. In an interview with InsideLine, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said that the Titan will remain. “”Titan will have a replacement,” he said. “We are staying in the large pickup truck market.” The next Titan was…
Report: Mercedes Dumps McLaren, Buys Brawn
As rumored, Mercedes-Benz has decided to part ways with McLaren after 15 years as partners in Formula 1, opting instead to buy a majority stake in the Brawn GP team. The new team, named Mercedes Grand Prix, will run in the 2010 F1 season, keeping much of the Brawn team, including team principal Ross Brawn….
Report: Finalists Chosen in Chevy Volt Color Contest
After 13,000 entries, Chevy has narrowed it down to three finalists in its Volt Color Contest. Among them are Devin McQuarrie of San Jose, CA, with the name EV-ergreen; Dave Thomas of Sanford, FL, with the name Viridian Joule; and Matthew Valbuena of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, with environMINT. Chevy is now asking the public…
Report: Subaru’s FT-86 Sports Car to Be Bigger, Heavier and More Powerful
The Subaru version of the FT-86 will be larger, heavier and more powerful than its Toyota cousin. According to a recent report in Japan’s Best Car magazine (and brought to us by the team at 7Tune), the Subaru-branded Toyobaru will receive the 216A chassis code, rather than the 086A badge that the Toyota will get….
Report: Buick Regal GS May Get As Much as 335-hp
Plans for a high-performance version of the newly-launched 2011 Buick Regal appear to be solidifying, with the horsepower output now rising to a lofty 335-hp! During the launch of the 2011 Regal last week, the folks at Car & Driver sat down with GM product boss Bob Lutz, who spoke about the possibility of a…
