We’ve already been impressed enough with the McLaren MP4-12C’s 3.8 liter turbocharged V8 to say it “looks like mechanical sex” and give it its own gallery. The super-compact, direct-injected engine develops in the neighborhood of 600 hp, giving the new McLaren the dangly bits to show a (similarly-priced) Ferrari 458 the way around a racetrack. And though McLaren clearly thinks the MP4-12C’s race-tested abilities will help build its brand into the new race-nerd standard, it’s also beating Ferrari at a new game that will become increasingly important with time: the C02-per-horsepower game. Ferrari’s 570 hp V8 emits 320 grams of C02 per kilometer, giving the Fezza a rating of .56 grams of C02 per km per horsepower. McLaren’s goal for its not-quite finalized MP4-12C drivetrain is a C02 emissions rating of below 300 gm per km, which would give the supercar closer to a .5 gram per km per horsepower rating. And though the direct-injected, downsized and turbocharged engine helps keep that number down, the MP4-12C’s dry weight is also 176 lbs lighter than the 458’s (2,866 versus 3,042).

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The Freep says GM has appointed a Vice President of diversity. And they’ll need one. GM’s post-IPO ownership roster shapes up to be quite, well, diverse. China’s SAIC appears to be gung-ho for the IPO. And it’s not just the Chinese government that likes the idea of owning a little bit of America. (Read More…)

Toyota’s legal problems are piling up. It is now being alleged that they killed a lawyer. The New York Daily News reports that 79-year-old lawyer Ernest Codelia Jr died of carbon monoxide poisoning and his partner, Mary Rivera was brain damaged. And their Lexus is being blamed. How come? (Read More…)

Walking, struggling, fighting through the São Paulo car show put me into a somber mood. I can’t help it. With a baby on the way, a new President of the country and seeing the cars I’m seeing, I can’t help but think about the future. I’m thinking the party is over. For most “domestic” car makers that is.

First off it’s a car show. But they make it awfully hard for car drivers! Traffic to get there is unbearable. Parking is inadequate and expensive. The show’s organizers do recommend getting there by public transportation, but I’d expect a modicum of car-friendliness! There is none. Paradoxes… Follow me … (Read More…)

The feared Chinese car exports so far have been a dud. The value of car imports beats exports 3:1. This doesn’t dissuade privately owned Chinese carmakers from trying. They are active at the soft underbelly of the world, in developing or emerging markets of South America and Africa. Now, they are getting a bit closer to Europe. (Read More…)

Except for a lot of green talk, my German compatriots are not known for enthusiastically embracing the EV idea. Japan, even China is way ahead of them. Despite high gasoline costs (taxes, taxes), even hybrids are everything but runaway successes in the Fatherland. If Germans want to save, they buy a Diesel, or take the train. But even the train isn’t the bargain it used to be. One car company bets big on Electric Vehicles. So big, that they built a whole new factory for them. You won’t believe who. (Read More…)

Ever wonder where Eugenians get all those wonderful Curbside Classics I bring to you three times a week? After almost two years, it’s finally time to reveal the secret: the St. Vincent dePaul (a mere coincidence) Car Donation Sales Lot. Admittedly, the front row here facing Hwy 99 doesn’t sport a lot of heavy Curbside appeal, but those in the know quickly work their way to the side and back lot, where the really fine sixties, seventies and early eighties vintage iron is held for the true connoisseurs. This is where no less than TTAC’s Editor-In-Chief bought his first car, and returned it here in considerably worse shape a couple of years later. Recycling at its best. It might still be in the back lot where it sat for years; let’s go look. (Read More…)

Yes, things have changed in the world of trucks. Selling Chevrolet pickups was once a simple task, requiring little more sophistication than the average locker room put-down. In this now-bygone time, spokesmen for Chevy trucks were football players, and advertisements either showed a Silverado busting some dirt, or a Ford owner flitting about like Ryan Seacrest at a Justin Bieber concert. Overt, in-your-face masculinity was the currency of this era in truck advertising… until Dodge went and ruined it all by raising macho truck-ad values to the level of the absurd with its laughable “My Tank Is Full” spots (to be fair though, the paradigm was collapsing under its own weight anyway).

All of a sudden, an earnest repetition of hard-working, masculine values alone just wouldn’t cut it in the world of truck advertising anymore. What truck ads needed was a little bit of irony. Some humor to go with all the horsepower numbers, the celebrations of rugged durability, and yes, even the childish put-downs of the competition. So Chevy watched a lot of “Old Spice Guy” ads, hired some comedians and made it happen… with hilarious results.
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Despite the riproaring profit numbers, there is trouble in Toyota City. The ever appreciating yen is gobbling up ToMoCo’s profits. Message from Toyota to the Japanese government: “Do something, or we leave.” (Read More…)

Did we say „duh“ when GM China announced plans to make more than 2m cars in China this year, the first foreign joint venturer to do so? When they said that, they already had 1,976,913 units in the can, and nobody did doubt that GM would find the 23,087 buyers to reach the 2m. Well, a few days later, they found them. (Read More…)

Australian Caradvice has the riveting story of (Geely-owned) Volvo discontinuing plans of  a large S-Class type sedan that could mix it up with the likes of the Audi A8, the BMW 7er, and of course the Mercedes S-Class, all very much in favor amongst the Chinese rich and not so famous. Cardadvice makes it a fight between Geely CEO Li Shufu, who wanted the big Volvo, and his new hire Stefan Jacoby, whom he had snatched from VWoA to run Volvo, and who doesn’t want a big Volvo. The truth is elsewhere. (Read More…)

Australia is pretty much a stronghold for Toyota. Looking at the figures, it seems that Aussies like well-made, cheap reliable cars. And to be honest, who doesn’t like those kinds of cars? But what happens when someone else comes to your market, and does well what you do well? Well, you get worried. (Read More…)

History is written by the victors, or so the saying goes. You lose, not only do you get beaten up in real life, but also in the history books. Few losers come much bigger than Rick Wagoner. The man who oversaw the last slide into Chapter 11. Yep, there wasn’t much love out there for “Red Ink” Rick. Until a few days ago. (Read More…)

When gas peaked in 2008, and carmageddon ensued thereafter, many predicted the end of the world, and if that won’t come to pass, the total extinction of the pickup and SUV genre. Along with that, the demise of the U.S. auto industry was prognosticated, because it supposedly was more dependent on trucks than Robert Downey Jr, on uppers and downers. Conventional wisdom had it that we’d be driving bicycles, midgetmobiles, solar powered EVs, or use public transportation. Pickups? Only at Match.com.

Well guess what, as with all the crises before, it didn’t happen. Actually, the dinosaurs reign supreme. (Read More…)

Want in on GM’s IPO without being a sovereign wealth fund or Goldman Sachs?  Join the BDSM lifestyle for fun and (possible) profit. Buy the very much troubled pre-bankruptcy bond, and you could make out like a banshee. Reuters has the surprising news that bonds issued by GM’s bankrupt predecessor are a good investment. “GM’s 8.375 percent bonds due July 2033, which were issued by old General Motors Corp. and convert to shares in the new GM, rose 0.375 cent to 35.875 cents on the dollar at 4:29 p.m. in New York.” The day before, the bonds had jumped 2.25 cents, the biggest gain since June 14.

Why the sudden interest in the converting bond? (Read More…)