Autodromo announces inaugural collection of motoring watches
Inspired by dashboard gauges from Vintage Italian sports cars, Autodromo timepieces recall a golden age of motoring when driving required style, panache and perhaps even a little bit of danger.
Autodromo, is the creative vision of founder Bradley Price, an industrial designer who set out to craft unique products to express the spirit of motoring.
Autodromo blends a contemporary minimalist design sensibility with mid-century vintage character. Each piece, crafted in small batches, features a Swiss Made Ronda movement inside a sleek, 42mm brushed stainless steel case and K1 Glass crystal with sapphire coating. Every detail has been carefully considered from genuine leather watch straps, perforates to recall the look and feel of vintage car upholstery, t0 the beautifully appointed gift box and individually numbered aluminium warranty card.
Launched Models:
Veloce – Veloce which means rapid or speedy in Italian is inspired by a classic 1960s rev counter featuring distinctive “redline” markings on the dial. Veloce looks fast even when you’re stuck in a meeting.
World’s Cheapest Car, Tata Nano, Still Not Selling: Image Change Needed
It probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but with hindsight Tata’s desire to sell the world’s cheapest car hasn’t quite worked out the way they hoped.
In a nation where many still can’t afford a car, the $ 2,000 Nano was set to be a revolution.
But five years after launch, reports Bloomberg (via Autoblog), the company has sold just 229,157 Nanos in total in India–and is now considering a move upmarket to encourage sales.
If that sounds counter-intuitive, it’s all down to how the Nano is perceived in India.
Indian buyers may be poorer than their counterparts in the west, but image is still important. The Nano’s inexpense counts against it here, where it’s considered a mere middle-ground between India’s ubiquitous scooters and actual cars.
Compare the Nano’s poor sales to that of its nearest rivals from Maruti Suzuki, the Japanese carmaker’s Indian arm. In the year from March 2012 to 2013, that company moved 429,569 of its smallest products, the M800, Alto, A-Star and Wagon R.
24 Hours of LeMons New York: The Winners!
On Friday, we inspected the 121 entrants to the first-ever There Goes the Neighborhood 24 Hours of LeMons, held at the Monticello Motor Club. On Saturday, we enjoyed a great Alfa-vs-Ford-vs-(Saab-engined) Nissan battle for the lead. On Sunday, the surviving cars battled for victory. Let’s see which teams went home with new trophies!
The winner on laps, believe it or not, was a Nissan 300ZX with a goofy Saab 900 Turbo engine swap. When we saw Rust In the Wind win in New Hampshire last year, we thought the team might be a one-hit wonder (having watched the Rust In the Wind guys struggle for two years to even finish a LeMons race), but they held off the Pro Crash Duh Nation Alfa Romeo Milano and won this race by a fraction of a lap.
Fisker Karma: Range Extended Electric Car Ultimate Guide
Make a car desirable enough, and people will buy it whatever is powering the wheels.
That’s the theory anyway, but in a world of unease over the suitability of electric cars, the Henrik Fisker has taken the more comfortable, usable route to creating an electric car: The range-extended Fisker Karma.
When the EPA-rated 32-mile electric range is depleted, a 2.0-liter, turbocharged gasoline engine kicks in to generate power, keeping the electric motors running. The $ 102,000 Karma gets 52 MPGe under electric power and 20 MPG in range-sustaining gasoline mode.
Full review: 2012 Fisker Karma
We’ve been covering the Karma for quite a while now, so to find out more, check out the links below. The list will be updated periodically. Look for the “New!” tag to read the latest articles, and the links to the top of each catagory are the most recent.
You might want to take a look at page 2, too–our coverage of fires, financial issues, furloughs and failures is filling up fast, as Fisker Automotive appears to be going through its death throes.
March Plug-In Electric Car Sales: Tesla On Top, Leaf Roars Back (FINAL UPDATE)
2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan [photo by owner David Noland]
The big news in plug-in car sales for March was Tesla’s statement that it delivered “more than 4,750″ Model S electric cars from January through March.
Chevrolet Caprice PPV a chance in lucrative New York State Police battle
One of the largest state police departments in the US will purchase thousands of Australian-made Chevrolet Caprice Police Pursuit Vehicles if the Holden-based sedan wins a three-way shootout against rivals from Ford and Dodge.
New York State Police (NYSP) has purchased 10 Caprice PPVs, 10 Ford Taurus-based Police Interceptors and 10 Dodge Charger Pursuits as part of a pilot program that will determine the vehicle that supersedes its ageing fleet of about 1200 Ford Crown Victoria sedans.
While small in comparison to the city-bound New York Police Department whose fleet comprises more than 8000 vehicles, the NYSP deal could result in an additional 600 Caprice sales per year for Holden, with vehicles replaced roughly every two years after completing upwards of 185,000km.
More than 5000 Chevrolet Caprice PPVs have been sold in the US since the first cars hit the street in May 2011 – significant volume given Holden has sold little more than half that number of regular Caprices in Australia over the same period.
NYSP Sergeant Harold A. Litardo and Lieutenant Philip H. Fouché told CarAdvice there were positives and negatives to all three cars.
McLaren Ready for 2013 Blancpain Endurance Series
Ginion Boutsen Racing has announced the drivers who will contest in the 2013 Blancpain Endurance Series. Two McLaren 12C GT3s will participate in the championships namely the No. 5 which is in the PRO-AM class driven by Frédéric Vervisch, Koen Wauters and the No. 15 car in the Gentlemen class driven by Marlène Broggi, and Karim Ojjeh.
Ginion Boutsen Racing has achieved the best time of two days of official testing at Paul Ricard ahead of the official race which takes palce on April 14th in Monza. Speaking on this test results, Olivier Lainé, team manager of Ginion Boutsen Racing, said:
This performance is the result of in-depth work done during the offseason and I thank all the team members for their professionalism and dedication. This introduction reinforces the motivation of the team, which is particularly important, but everything remains to be done.