Automotive News

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Filed under: Mercedes Benz

This one kind of crept up on us, but it appears Mercedes-Benz has released a new race-spec version of the SLR supercar dubbed the GTR. It’s been revealed that the limited edition 722 SLR released last year was in fact a homologation special designed for a potential FIA GT race car, and the new GTR is a production version of the future racer.

The GTR is loosely based on the 722, but tips the scales at just 2860lb (1300kg), which means it’s roughly 660lb (300kg) lighter. The mechanical package remains largely unchanged but, with the lighter body, the 650hp supercharged V8 should see it reach 62mph from rest in just three seconds flat. Top speed remains at 210 mph.

To shed all that weight, engineers stripped the cabin and replaced most of the parts such as the door panels and dash with carbon-fiber. They also installed a set of 19-inch OZ wheels, removed the front grille and installed a huge rear wing and diffuser.

Only 21 new GTRs will enter production and the first one has already been spotted at a Mercedes-Benz dealer in Germany by HDennis who posted these pics of the car on Supercars.net

Thanks for the tip, Richard!

[Source: Supercars.net]

 

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Filed under: Car Buying, Etc., Euro, Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Volkswagen

With the U.S. dollar’s decline against the euro, the Wall Street Journal’s crystal ball gazers have determined that the price of vehicles shipped over from the old world are set to rise in the next year. European manufacturers have been able to lock exchange rates by buying contracts that keep currency fluctuations at bay, but for some automakers abroad, that’s about to change. Those contracts are set to expire soon, and that means either prices will rise or European automakers will have to begin producing their wares in the Land of the Free.

Profitability may be sustained in the short term by BMW and Mercedes, as U.S.-built products are used as a tourniquet to slow the financial bleed. Volkswagen is supposedly in good shape through next year, but the idea of building more vehicles here in the States has been mentioned numerous times. Plus, there’s always the option of building in China, something that’s inevitable given the “flat” world in which we’re living.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

 

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Our good friends over at Jalopnik have recently expanded their virtual office to include a couple new cubicles for bloggers Eric Tingwall and Laura Burstein. Laura joins the team as an established blogger and car nut having written for CNET.com and Forbes Auto. Ray Wert, who she’ll likely surpass as the best dressed blogger of the bunch, found her on Facebook.com. Ray trolling Facebook for new recruits is a little creepy, but you can’t argue with the results.

Eric’s path to Jalopnik, meanwhile, is the kind of rags to blogging story we love. He’s a student at Michigan State University majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Journalism who won a writing contest sponsored by Inside Line, the prize for which was a trip to the Frankfurt Motor Show. That’s where he met the Jalopnik crew, and Ray ultimately wined and dined him with a Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks. Earlier this year he was just a schlub with a dream, now he’s an underpaid and overworked blogger. Dreams can come true, people.

You may be surprised (or not) to learn that most bloggers on the Autoblog team are not professional journalists, either. We like it that way, because the passion of an enthusiast usually stays lit far longer than that of a veteran journalist. We’re always looking for more bloggers to join the Autobot, errr… Autoblog team, so if you’ve got passion, know the difference between ‘its’ and ‘it’s’, and have a sharp wit to match those good looks, follow the jump to learn how to submit yourself for consideration.

Continue reading Jalopticons swell in rank

 

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Filed under: Motorsports

Another Schumacher has left the building… almost. Ralf Schumaker, who’s been racing for Toyota since 2005, will leave the F1 team at the end of this season. Saying that he’s looking for a “new challenge” the younger half of the Germanic duo still plans on racing the wheels off his F1 whip for the last two races of the season.

There’s no word on what the other Schu will be up to in the future, but he plans to make an announcement at the season-ender Brazilian Grand Prix later this month.

[Source: AFP]

 

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Filed under: Trucks/Pickups, Plants/Manufacturing, Ford

Beginning Monday, October 8, FoMoCo will suspend production of its F-series Super Duty pickup for two weeks. According to Ford, sales have slumped because of the housing slowdown (Damn subprime mortgage market!), a variable that seems to have a profound effect on pickup sales. Ford’s sales analyst, George Pipas, says that the production halt is a way to avoid excess inventory and has nothing to do with September’s sales decline of Ford pickups by 20.8-percent.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req’d]

 

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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Sedans/Saloons, Sports/GTs, Green

Those of us Stateside have been deprived of more diesel models than you shake an oversized fuel nozzle at, but it looks like the folks over at BMW may be on their way to curing our high-mileage, high-torque lust. The automaker’s 286 HP, 427 lb.-ft. of torque 3.0-liter twin turbo engine may find a way under the hood of various models throughout BMW’s lineup, likely to append the “35d” designation to the 3-, 5- and 6-series models. Fuel mileage should by up over 35 MPG, but there’s no word on when it will arrive. If we had to guess, we’d say late next year.

[Source: Wards Auto]

 

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Filed under: SEMA, Crossovers/CUVs, Buick, GM

click above image to enlarge

Like most full-line automakers, General Motors has begun taking seriously the SEMA Show in Las Vegas that occurs annually at the end of October. Once a giant exposition center’s worth of third-party products, it’s now also a stage on which automakers can debut new products and crazy concepts. One of GM’s SEMA cars this year is the Buick Enclave Urban CEO Edition. It’ll be unveiled the day before the SEMA Show opens by former NBA player Jerome Williams. We don’t have any details on it other than what you can see in the above pic, but it looks sharp. Ditch the wheels that don’t fit the super smooth upgrades and we’re in.

Below is a list of other vehicles we know GM will be debuting at SEMA:

• 50 Cent’s custom Pontiac G8
• GMC Sierra Denali Concept
• Two more custom Buick Enclaves by Custom Motor Sports and Mitek Corp.
• Much more we don’t know about yet…

[Source: GM]

 

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Filed under: By the Numbers

Analysts who feared the worst for September 2007 car sales were wrong. It wasn’t that bad at all. General Motors pulled out a 3.8% increase in sales, for Pete’s sake! Fellow domestics Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Company, however, did not fare as well. Chrysler LLC sales went down only 1.5% last month thanks to the saving graces of the Jeep Wrangler, as well as the mere presence of new models like the Dodge Nitro and Avenger.

FoMoCo, however, is shrinking fast. The Blue Oval sold at a 21% slower rate this September than last. Blame the car division, which in raw numbers dropped 45.1% in sales. Of course, those are mostly lost fleet sales, and Ford shrinking in size is a good thing once it finds an equilibrium that produces profits.

In other big news, Toyota Motor Co.’s sales rate actually fell last month, though only by 0.6%. Meanwhile, cross island rivals Honda (13.8%) and Nissan (11.0%) both saw appreciable gains for their North American divisions.

The individual break down by brand is below, so check them out. Remember, there were only 25 selling days in September 2007, versus 26 selling days in September 2006. Thus, our percentages reflect the change in the Daily Average Sales rate rather than the change in raw number of units sold.

Biggest Winner
MINI 41.4% at 4,031 (09/06: 2,964)

Biggest Loser
HUMMER -21.6% at 5,080 (09/06: 6,739)

Biggest Loser (Honorable Mention)
Ford -21% at 155,037 (09/06: 204,070)

BRANDS
Acura -8.4% at 14,369 (09/06: 16,323)
Audi 4.2% at 8,021 (09/06: 8,004)
BMW 6.9% at 20,901 (09/06: 20,339)
Buick -5.1% at 17,754 (09/06: 19,463)
Cadillac 4.9% at 20,398 (09/06: 20,217)
Chevrolet 6.1% at 194,637 (09/06: 190,825)
Chrysler -14.8% at 38,668 (09/06: 47,211)
Dodge 9% at 83,671 (09/06: 79,784)
Ford -21% at 155,037 (09/06: 204,070)
GMC 18.9% at 44,754 (09/06: 39,141)
Honda 17.5% at 112,831 (09/06: 99,903)
HUMMER -21.6% at 5,080 (09/06: 6,739)
Hyundai 3.5% at 33,214 (09/06: 33,384)
Infiniti 2.7% at 10,250 (09/06: 10,378)
Jaguar -4.7% at 1,061 (09/06: 1,158)
Jeep -7.0% at 37,460 (09/06: 41,893)
Land Rover 25.6% at 4,190 (09/06: 3,469)
Lexus 1.6% at 25,114 (09/06: 25,700)
Lincoln 38% at 9,764 (09/06: 7,362)
Mazda 28.8% at 25,098 (09/06: 20,261)
Mercedes 18.0% at 22,549 (09/06: 19,873)
Mercury -9.6% at 11,403 (09/06: 13,117)
MINI 41.4% at 4,031 (09/06: 2,964)
Mitsubishi 22.3% at 12,102 (09/06: 10,287)
Nissan 12.0% at 84,019 (09/06: 77,962)
Pontiac -11.5% at 31,817 (09/06: 37,376)
Porsche 24.2% at 2,641 (09/06: 2,211)
Saab -17.9% at 2,424 (09/06: 3,069)
Saturn 7.2% at 20,776 (09/06: 20,153)
Subaru 6.1% at 16,457 (09/06: 16,128)
Suzuki 0.2% at 7,653 (09/06: 7,940)
Toyota -0.9% at 187,929 (09/06: 197,250)
Volkswagen -2.2% at 18,891 (09/06: 20,082)
Volvo -9.6% at 8,408 (09/06: 9,672)

NOT YET REPORTING
Kia

COMPANIES
BMW Group 11.3% at 24,932 (09/06: 23,303)
Chrysler LLC -1.5% at 159,799 (09/06: 168,888)
Ford Motor Co -17.3% at 189,863 (09/06: 238,848)
General Motors 3.8% at 337,640 (09/06: 338,380)
Honda America 13.8% at 127,200 (09/06: 116,226)
Nissan North America 11.0% at 94,269 (09/06: 88,340)
Toyota Motor Co. -0.6% at 213,043 (09/06: 222,950)

 

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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Sedans/Saloons, Sports/GTs, Plants/Manufacturing, Tech, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GM

Late last Friday after the local union officials got to hear the details about the new GM-UAW contract details started emerging about future product plans. It looks like part of the cost for the company to get the union to make some concessions was to commit new products to a bunch of plants. At first we only heard about the assembly plants with the news that the Volt would be produced in Detroit and the small RWD Alpha platform would go to Lordstown OH. Now more of the contract is coming out including commitments to parts plants.

Of interest to Corvette fans is a line item for the Toledo OH transmission plant which reads “RWD DCT for NG Corvette will be allocated (2012)”. DCT typically refers to dual clutch transmission. That means the C7 ‘Vette will almost surely get a DCT. Another product for Toledo and the Baltimore transmission plant is the RWD Gen II Hybrid transmission for 2011/12. This could be an updated, and hopefully lower cost version, of the Two-Mode that could be applied to other applications. Hmmm… do I hear hybrid Zetas? One plant that isn’t getting new product is the Livonia, MI engine plant that produces the Northstar V-8s used in Cadillacs when that engine dies in 2010. GM announced a new V-8 engine earlier this year that would be built at the Tonawanda, NY engine plant and the Livonia plant will close.

[Source: GM Inside News]

 

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