Yes, the world is officially crazy enough for Siemens and Ruf to consider building an electric Cayenne. Er, excuse me, eRuf Stormster. Range is about 110 miles, but the top speed is only 92 mph, presumably to prevent unseemly snickering at the prospect of running out of power after an hour of spirited driving. Let’s be fair about this: if the Stormster ever made it to production it should be good for about 90 minutes of “enthusiast” range to go with its nine second zero-to-60 time. Jerks.

More promises of Chryslerian change, this time from a UK-market minisite [via Autoblog]. Maybe the brand is planning on going back to its Rootes?

When Rolls Royce’s PR folks told Autobild that the Phantom Coupe was the sportier model in the lineup, they probably didn’t expect the German magazine to treat it like a GTI or Type R. But they did. The result? Er quietscht, er qualmt, er quält sich (or, as Google Translate hilariously puts it, “he squeaks, he smokes, he torments himself”), say the Germans, before concluding that “there is a little bit of BMW in this Rolls-Royce after all.” And in the proud tradition of German car reviewing, comparing any car to a German car is as high as the praise gets.

The next-gen Cayenne gets caught without camo by Autoexpress. So, on a scale of zero to 16 million, just how spicy is the new peppery Porsche? Our equipment is rating it somewhere between “Pimento” and “Poblano.”

From the Calculated Risk Blog comes this manifestation of the cash-for-clunker boom, as measured by Google’s auto buyer index. Because of seasonal downturn, it seems that pull-forward may not have been as devastating as was once thought. But will next January see the usual post-holiday recovery again?

Well, I didn’t exactly say it was the truck’s propulsion engine. But take a good look at this picture, especially the cab of the truck way down in front and low, in order to get the proper scale of the payload on this mover of prime movers. More info on this mammoth straight-eight and the world’s largest diesel engines as well as the Eugene variation on this theme after the jump: Read More >

Can you tell Alfa-Romeo had to change the name of its 147-replacing Giulietta at the last minute? And yes, this is an official image.

According to Jalopnik, this license plate belongs to Morgan Stanley Vice-Chairman Rob Kindler, who apparently thought this kind of joke is funny. Too bad he missed bonus points by failing to put the plate on an Escalade.

What happens on Facebook is not private, kids. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but the right screencap can be worth a a few million. Ms Henderson’s anger is understandable, but it also makes it difficult to discern the amount of real truth in her words. In any case, this might confirm a few suspicions that Henderson’s departure was not an entirely well-planned, or mutual decision. Or, it might just make you a little sad. Either way, Ms Henderson’s version of the truth is out there now.

[Comments are closed on this post]

I won’t lie, I was expecting something a little more… dramatic from the new Audi A8. On the other hand, if it weren’t a fundamentally understated car, it wouldn’t be an A8.

The Bologna police department proves the age-old adage that the free cars crash twice as fast [The Guardian via Jalopnik].

Just because GM has released photos of the US-spec Cruze ahead of its LA Auto Show debut, doesn’t mean they couldn’t pull an Alfa and change that ridiculous name. After all, Cruze will mark the eightieth name used by GM on a mid-sized or smaller car since 1968, according to our in-house historian. And it’s hardly the kind of name you want to build on, or make part of your company’s heritage. But then, given GM’s small-car history, what is?

I know Ed isn’t a big fan of goofy pictures like this, but he’s up on Mt. Hood skiing in fresh powder and I’m here feeding the hungry monster. This photo just speaks to me very deeply; directly to my subconscious, actually. So I’ll try to do it justice with some profound analysis: Read More >