North Americans already get a “hot” version of the Vauxhall/Opel Astra – it just happens to come with a Buick badge. Perhaps the Gods of the Ren Cen will smile on us and bring us a Verano GS using the Astra VXR’s 2.0L Ecotec engine. Because we sure won’t be getting the oil-burner.
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Category: News Blog
My 1994 Toyota Camry managed to get 291,000 before it fell off the face of the Earth.
Did it become crusher fodder? Was it exported to a new and exciting life in the developing world? Or will Murilee someday find it among a junkyard menagerie of all too rare two door Camrys?
I wish I knew. I miss it. Neil Young’s, “Long May You Run” sometimes makes me yearn for that kinder, simpler machine.
Carnewschina spotted this Panther with a – shall we say – unique paint scheme in Shanghai. Black was not enough for this Town Car. Gold was not enough for this Town Car. It needed to be orange-gold on black. Use eye protection, and don’t stare at the picture for too long. Read More >
The previous BYD F3 was known as a more than blatant copy of the Toyota Corolla. Many buyers pay a small extra fee to have (fake) Toyota badges affixed, making the F3 nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. The next generation BYD F3 wants to be known for groundbreaking innovation: The car will be remote controlled. Read More >
At 3pm Eastern, TTAC’s software will be upgraded to a newer and hopefully greater version of WordPress. We are promised it will take only 20 minutes, and not to expect any major disruptions. Should you just stare at a blank screen, you know why. If you can read this after 3pm, TTAC has cheated death once again.
Did you miss “HyperFest” this past weekend? If you did, then you missed out on what is turning out to be a genuinely American tradition: road racing, drifting, beer, open lapping, brawling, bikini contests, and general debauchery, all held at Summit Point’s outstanding Main Course.
The video above shows an incident that had everybody talking: a high-speed meeting with Bambi on the front straight. But wait, as the AutoBiWeek people say, there’s more.
European carmakers are hurting. They hurt so much, they ask for government-prescribed painkillers. Renault’s COO Carlos Tavares wants a return of cash for clunkers. Credit rating agency Fitch warns there would be nasty after-effects. Read More >
Even though Project Volvo is geared towards the budget end of the scale, Sweden’s Polestar has been working on a factory backed S60 concept that puts out 508 horsepower and 424 lb-ft. The most surprising element, aside from the absurd power, is a 6-speed manual gearbox, something not readily available on North American Volvos. Polestar has apparently built one for an unspecified customer. We won’t get to drive it, but we hear there’s a brown XC70 kicking around the press fleet with a Polestar ECU flash.
The music starts. A pulsating display of automotive brilliance comes through the screen and draws you into the moment.
The car… is perfect.
The person driving the car… is Wow!
The music.. the action… the excitement… Read More >
An article from British rag AutoExpress may have inadvertently shed some light on the base powertrain for the next Ford Mustang.
A hitherto unknown Chinese business man who leads a shadowy “consortium” buys the assets of Saab. The media eats it up. Dalong “Kai Johan” Jiang takes the microphone and says what everybody wants to hear: “Electric cars powered by green electricity is the future and electric cars will be built in Trollhättan.” Jiang says there is a huge market for these made-in-Trollhättan EVs, waiting in China.
Nobody dares to say that it does not make sense at all. We say it. Read More >
Last Saturday, Opel CEO Karl-Friedrich Stracke wanted to address the workers at Opel’s Bochum plant. All he addressed was 2,000 backs as the workers got up and left. Read More >
Guess which car company did profit the most from Greece’s weekend elections. It’s Mazda. Mazda’s stock was up 6 percent in Tokyo today.
It’s an extremely wet June morning and the three men in the above picture are about to go off on a tour of the various car shows that only the most hardy or negligent of owners will have on display. Standing around in the rain looking at cars: what a passel of eejits.
Still, to use one of the less-lovely cattle-based rural Northern Irish expressions that peppered my childhood, my brother and I didn’t lick it off the grass: it’s a family trait.
I can thank my father for this strange fascination with wheeled metal boxes that frequently go *sproing* and break down. I thank him also for teaching me to be self-sufficient, handy with a hammer, patient, kind, and mildly disorganized. As I gaze out along the long, challenging and rewarding path of my own impending fatherhood, it’s with a renewed appreciation of sacrifices made and lessons learned.
To all the fathers out there, whether just starting out, or ensconced in the wisdom of grandfatherhood; adoptive or biological; married, divorced, single-parent, or simply the father-figure to someone who needs one – we salute you.
The Chevrolet Volt should eclipse its 2011 sales total by the end of June, and is apparently on pace to sell 20,000 units this year. It’s also outselling a major Chevrolet nameplate.
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