Archive for March 6th, 2010

Filed under: EV/Plug-in

The car that we first saw as the B0 concept a year ago at the Geneva Motor Show could be on the market by the fall of this year. The electric commuter car has been jointly developed by the French Bollore Group and Italian design studio Pininfarina and is apparently still on track.

Bollore has built two lithium ion battery plants in France with a combined capacity of 30,000 30 kilowatt-hour battery packs. Bollore will supply the packs for cars to be assembled in Italy by Pininfarina. The partners plan to offer the cars to rental agencies first before making them available for retail sales. Pininfarina CEO Silvio Angori expects to build 2,000 examples of the Bluecar by the end of next year. The Bollore batteries are based on lithium metal polymer construction, similar to the LG Chem batteries used by Hyundai and General Motors.

[Source: Reuters]

Bollore and Pininfarina target fall 2010 launch for Bluecar EV originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via Autoblog Green

It’s been a good Geneva Show. The somber mood of last year has definitely changed for the better. Business is still tough, but many automakers are recording improved sales, and, importantly, starting to make some money. But best of all, it’s a show jammed with interesting and desirable machinery we just can’t wait to get our hands on. So here, in no particular order, are the Geneva cars we’re most looking forward to driving…

PORSCHE 918 SPYDER
Porsche’s hybrid supercar concept is the star of the show, and the good news is that while it’s a concept, it’s anything but vaporware. The 918 Spyder’s technical specification reads like a science experiment and its claimed performance like science fiction. But as Mike Connor reports, Porsche is apparently considering building a strictly limited run of production versions — maybe 750 to 1250 in total — using a similar business model as the Carerra GT’s. Significantly, Porsche CEO Michael Macht made a point of saying the company has only ever shown one concept car that never made it into production. So consider our hand up for the first drive. Please form an orderly line to the left.

ALFA ROMEO GUILIETTA
If this is how the Italians do a mainstream hatch, then call us middle of the road. The Alfa Romeo Guilietta’s hardware might read pretty much like that of any number of C-segment hatches from Focus to Golf, but look at the wrapper. The Guilietta is flat-out gorgeous, from the 8C-inspired front end with traditional Alfa shield grille to the sensuously humped haunches at the rear. And it brings back one of the great names from Alfa’s storied back catalog, along with a legendary Alfa Romeo engine capacity — 1750cc. With 235 horsepower on tap, and Italian chassis tuning, the Guilietta 1750 should be a worthy VW GTI rival. We can’t wait to find out if it is.

MINI COUNTRYMAN
Can BMW make the Mini magic work in a taller, larger, heavier crossover package? We want to know, which is why the new Countryman is near the top of our must drive list for 2010. The Countryman has full-time all-wheel drive which allows up to 100 percent of the torque to be directed to the rear wheels in extreme conditions, and will be available with either six speed manual or six speed automatic transmissions. The base Cooper Countryman will be powered by a 122 horsepower 1.6-liter four, but we’ll be reaching for the keys to the Cooper S version, which is powered by a 184 horsepower 1.6-liter turbo with BMW’s new twin scroll turbocharger, direct injection and variable valve timing.

FORD FOCUS WAGON
Yeah, yeah, we know the only way most Americans will buy wagons is if they can be conned into thinking they’re actually buying a crossover vehicle. But there’s something wonderfully endearing  about a small, efficient  wagon, especially one rolling on a chassis tuned by the handling whizzes at Ford of Europe. We want to drive one just to see what we’re going to miss out on here in America. And if we’re going to do the whole Euro-cruise thing, we may as well go the whole hog. So next time we’re on the other side of the Pond, we’ll be putting in a request for one with the 161 horsepower, 2.0-liter Duratorq TDCI diesel and six speed dual clutch transmission. Purely in the interest of research, you understand.

VOLVO S60
To be honest, we’re not sure about the new S60. Steve Mattin’s undulating bone line along the bodyside and that drooping front end has removed some of the carefully honed and cleverly understated elegance Volvos gained under the design stewardship of Peter Horbury. Having left Ford, Horbury is back in Gothenburg, so we’re expecting a return to form on the design front. What we want to know now is whether Volvo has finally figured out how to get the ride and handling balance right. As the new S60 shares some of its basic platform hardware with the new Ford Focus, we’re expecting great things, especially for the 304-horsepower T6 turbo.

BENTLEY MULSANNE
We’ll drive the new Mulsanne in Scotland at the end of April, and it should be quite an experience. Bentley CEO Franz-Josef Paefgen and engineering director Ulrich Eichhorn are about as passionate and knowledgeable a pair of car guys as you’ll find in this business, and they have poured their heart and soul into this car, taking on even the formidable Ferdinand Piech in their quest to re-invent the ultimate Bentley limousine, pushrod turbocharged V-8 and all. The Mulsanne is big and fast and glorious; Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance rendered in metal, glass and rubber. But is it a better ultra-luxury car than Rolls-Royce’s stunning new Ghost? There’s only one way to find out…

AUDI RS5
Who says you can have too much of a good thing? We love the 350 horsepower Audi S5, so the 450 horsepower RS5 has to be that much better. That direct injection 4.2-liter V-8 under the hood develops its peak power at 8250 rpm, a seven-speed dual clutch transmission is standard, and between 60 and 85 percent of the torque is sent to the rear wheels at all times. The sheet metal is Sophia Loren incarnate, an artful mix of elegance and voluptuousness, and there’s room aboard for four. What’s not to like? But will it come to the U.S.? “We’re still debating that,” admits Audi board member Peter Schwarzenbauer. “Justin Timberlake is pushing for us to do it.” Sounds like a good enough reason to us.

Via MotorTrend Magazine Blogs

Filed under: New York Auto Show, Spy Photos, Performance, Wagon, Cadillac, GM

Well, it sure looks like it. All credit for this one goes to one Aaron P., who emailed the following to us:

So I was walking down Grand Avenue in Downtown LA, and they were shooting a Caddy commercial. There was a covered car, which I thought was the CTS Coupe, but the wind blew off the cover and there was a CTS-V Wagon. I only had time to snag this pic before they put the cover back on but you can see the wagon lines. I hope that means its coming cause that would be an amazing car.

Hmm. Seems like Aaron got awfully close for this pic, a curiously *perfect* upskirt teaser, but regardless of the circumstances behind it, reports of the Cadillac CTS-V Wagon being given the green light date back to September of last year. It’s basically been a guessing game of which show will provide the backdrop for its formal unveiling.

With New York the sole remaining major show on the U.S. circuit this year, and Bob Lutz’s retirement scheduled to begin exactly one month after that, we’ll bet our whole chip stack that El Generalissimo Roberto Maximo goes out with a bang, introducing the CTS-V Sport Wagon at the Javits Center, because the car in the above photo is most definitely a wagon, that is most definitely the “V” badge, and those are the correct wheels. Very badass, indeed.

Thanks to Aaron for the photo!

Peekaboo: Cadillac CTS-V Wagon spied in L.A.? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 08:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via Autoblog

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Plants/Manufacturing, Chevrolet

No matter which side of the Mustang/Camaro divide you fall on there’s no arguing that Chevrolet’s reborn entrant in the pony car wars has been a hit. It’s been less than a year since production of the 2010 Camaro began at General Motors’ Oshawa assembly and the 100,000th example rolled off the line this week. The milestone car was reportedly an inferno orange SS.

Ever since last June, the Camaro has been outselling its chief rival,, the Mustang, despite the Mustang’s refresh at around the time of the Camaro launch. Ford, however, left out one important aspect in the 2010 redesign, the powertrains. That oversight has been addressed for the 2011 model year, and the Ford vs. Chevy battle begins anew next month. That’s when 2011 Mustangs will start rolling off the line with power on par with the Camaro, along with the significantly better interiors that carry over from 2010. We’ll be watching this horse race very carefully over the rest of this year. Hat tip to Henry!

[Source: Camaro5]

Report: GM builds 100,000th Chevrolet Camaro originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Performance, SUV, GM, Saab, Spyker, Luxury

We’re all well aware that the recently sealed deal between Spyker and General Motors means good things for the ailing Saab brand – in fact, without Spyker’s eleventh-hour intervention, the Swedish automaker would have been lost to the annals of history. Apparently, though, the Saab tie-up means good things for Spyker, too.

Believe it or not, it was four years ago that Spyker first showed off its Peking-to-Paris luxury SUV at the Geneva Motor Show, and now company head Victor Muller has reportedly announced that the monster ‘ute is back on track. Not surprisingly, the finalized handshake with The General is partly to thank for the reinvigorated D12 program.

Consider the years of technical expertise that Spyker gained when it brought Saab on board, not to mention the additional production capability and manpower. It remains to be seen what powertrain Spyker will choose for its hulking SUV, but previous rumors had a supercharged mill from Cadillac underhood. We shall see.

[Source: Autocar]

Report: Saab deal helps put Spyker D12 Peking-to-Paris back on track originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via Autoblog