Volkswagen has just revealed the second-generation Tiguan before the Frankfurt Auto Show opens to the press on September 15.
The new Tiguan will ride on Volkswagen’s MQB front-wheel drive platform and grow in almost every measurable dimension.
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Photos of the 2016 Honda Civic have popped up online in Civic forums, ahead of the car’s official reveal on Sept. 16.
The photos follow closely the Civic Concept we saw in New York, including the taillight array (although it doesn’t go all the way across the trunk.)
The Civic will be powered by a 1.5-liter turbocharged four with direct injection mated to a six-speed manual or CVT. Read More >
Nissan released Friday a video and a name to accompany the teaser image we were given last week and brace yourselves, it has the letter “z” in it.
The Nissan Gripz Concept will be shown in Frankfurt first this year. According to Nissan, the crossover “concept” follows desert racers such as the 240Z and road-racing bicycles, apparently.
Nissan cleverly slipped in a “z” in the name, perhaps as a smokescreen that the Gripz could be the next-generation Juke (which is due in 2017), or perhaps as a signal that nothing in this world is sacred anymore. Earlier this year, Nissan design chief Shiro Nakamura said that the next-generation Z car could be something that appealed to different, younger buyers aka a crossover. Read More >
Long-defunct German automaker Borgward has a new life in China if you couldn’t already tell by the photos. The automaker released images of its first new car — since I dunno, the Eisenhower administration? — and it looks destined for the land where rules for intellectual property are much more relaxed than public demonstration.
Buick business up front, Porsche party in the back.
The Borgward BX 7 is a five- or seven-seater crossover with a 2-liter, turbocharged four that will be produced in China, according to German site AutoBild. The fledgling German automaker is backed by Chinese truck maker Foton who says the carmaker could eventually sell 500,000 cars annually.
The Borgward BX 7 will go on sale first in China, then in Germany by 2017, according to the report.
Honda will show off its Project 2&4 car this year at Frankfurt and 14,000 is the number that stands out the most. That’s the redline for its V-4 engine, which is borrowed from the RC213V. Other impressive numbers: The car is roughly 10 feet long, 6 feet wide and 3 1/2 feet tall, and weighs only 405 kilograms (892 pounds).
The mid-mounted engine, which is borrowed from a racing motorcycle, produces 211 horsepower at 13,000 rpm, but only just 87 pounds-feet of torque at 10,500 rpm. A six-speed DCT transmission handles power to the wheels.
If you ask me (you didn’t) Honda should make this immediately because the world needs more track-day cars — we have enough crossovers already. But that’s just me and I’m wrong a lot.
On Tuesday night, Toyota dropped the new Prius from the sky in Las Vegas in front of journalists (we guess our invite got lost in the mail, Toyota?), “social influencers” and bartenders, because most of them had already seen the leaked photos that you have too.
The 2016 Prius is a little Mirai, a little Corolla and a whole lot of vague right now. Toyota didn’t detail any of the car’s official specs or price, but according to CarNewsChina the 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine and electrons in the back combine for 150 horsepower and will propel the car up to 60 mpg. According to the report, the Prius will also travel up to 34 miles on electricity alone.
Even though the car won’t go on sale until early next year, Toyota is ramping up production at its plant with “unprecedented” levels of overtime.
Rolls-Royce took the cover off its new Dawn convertible (see what we did there?) Tuesday in an online reveal ahead of its debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show.
The car, which is powered by a 6.6-liter V-12 that produces 563 horsepower and 575 pound-feet of torque married to a ZF 8-speed transmission, is Rolls-Royce’s answer to what we’ve all been asking: How can I be even more noticeable in my Roller?
Here’s your answer: A 22-second folding “silent ballet” droptop with open-pore wood tonneau, hand-stitched leather everywhere, 16 speakers and self-closing doors.
Julien Montousse, the man who designed the interiors of the new Miata and Mazda6 for Mazda, and the last-generation Camaro for General Motors, will lead the automaker’s California design team, Mazda announced Tuesday.
Montousse takes over for Derek Jenkins, who left the company in July for a “stealth project” according to Automotive News, who cited Jenkins’ LinkedIn page. Read More >
Nissan on Monday released a teaser of a new crossover concept car that will be unveiled this month at the Frankfurt Auto Show.
The crossover, which Autocar suggested could be the next Z, could also be its next-generation Juke, which should be updated by 2017.
According to the automaker, the concept could be a “new way to feel driving excitement” (Nissan left it open to the reader) because some of us get hot and bothered when we see a crossover.
Renault has released their latest global pickup concept, the Alaskan, and by global they mean almost everywhere except Alaska.
Go figure.
Regardless, the Alaskan looks like a beefed-up version of the Hyundai Santa Cruz pickup concept revealed in Detroit. Renault said the Alaskan is part of a new global push for their LCV business. We bet Mercedes will have something to say about this very soon.
Peugeot’s geometrically marvelous and electrically powered Fractal concept car will make its way to Frankfurt this year.
The 201-horsepower coupe is powered by two electric motors for each axle and has a 280-mile range, according to the automaker. Probably a wholly separate electric sub-station exists for its “9.1.2” surround sound system that sports woofers in the seats to acoustically relay information about what’s ahead like we’re all bats or something.
A heads up driver information system relays information via hologram, according to the automaker, and the rest is just the best.
Korean site Auto Tribune it says it received of the new 2017 Hyundai Elantra in a South Korean factory taken by a contract employee. It looks roughly similar to the sketches we saw earlier this month from Hyundai, although its grille isn’t as dynamic and the South Korean car has doors.
The front’s design features the same large, hexagonal grille and the sleeker, lower headlights. The taillamps are decidedly different as well.
The next-generation Elantra is scheduled to be unveiled in November at the Los Angeles auto show. Read More >
Kia released pictures Thursday of its 2017 Sportage ahead of the car’s public debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show next month.
The all-new Sportage sports a new face with dramatically redesigned headlight and fog light clusters and a swept windshield. The headlights don’t connect to the grille anymore, but rather sweep further back above the front wheel arches. (The new Sportage’s grille also borrows heavily from the last-generation Optima, in my opinion.)
According to Kia, the new Sportage will have longer front overhangs, shorter rear overhangs and longer wheelbase than the current model.
Nissan’s next Z could be a crossover because the world needs another crossover, Autocar is reporting.
The next-generation Z may appear in Frankfurt as a concept to gauge the new direction for the model, according to the report. The car could be a two- or four-door crossover, powered by a gasoline or hybrid powerplant — or it could be a sub-orbital military base with the power to destroy planets. (We just don’t know!)
A crossover Z could be a logical step for the company to appeal to more buyers, or it could cannibalize sales from the Juke. At least we know the next-generation Z won’t be the IDx.
Expert marketing company, and sometimes computer-maker, Apple has poached an automated car engineer from Tesla to join its growing roster of robot car builders, Reuters is reporting.
According to Jamie Carlson’s LinkedIn profile, the former Tesla engineer has joined Apple in “Special Projects.” Carlson is the seventh high-profile hire for the Cupertino-based company who has specific automotive experience. Carlson joins a former Volkswagen engineer, a Chrysler VP and the former deputy director of autonomous systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, among others, at Apple.
Maybe they’re all working in the cafeteria?
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