Automotive News

AUBURN HILLS, MICH. (Dec. 12, 2007) — Volkswagen of America, Inc. announced today that it has changed its name to Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. The change will be fully effective January 1.

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Filed under: Etc., Supercars, Nissan

Japan’s BestCar buff book grabbed the keys to a new Nissan GT-R and made for the nearest Super Autobacs. Once they arrived, they mounted Godzilla atop a Dynapack chassis dynamometer, removed the wheels and laid down a few runs to get power figures straight from the axles. The numbers are due for publication in the mag’s December 25th issue, but our new friend Jeff made Christmas come early.

The dyno chart shows a peak output of 475 hp at 6,115 rpm and 428 lb.-ft. of torque at 5,130 rpm. Those numbers are incredible close to Nissan’s claim of 480 hp and 430 lb.-ft. of twist, but we’ll have to wait until a few lucky souls slap the GT-R onto a set of rollers to get some idea of wheel horsepower and torque figures.

Looking over the chart shows very little happening before 3,000 rpm, which is contrary to a number of driving reports we’ve read so far. Turbo lag has virtually been eliminated on many new models, the GT-R included, so we’re assuming that the Dynapack at Super Autobacs wasn’t paying attention until later on in the rev range.

[Source: NAGTROC]

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Filed under: Etc., Tech, Jaguar, Land Rover

Even though Jaguar and Land Rover might only have a foot or so of visibility into the fog of their business futures, they continue to plan for long-term success. The latest step is a $4 million investment in a “virtual reality center” that will create three-dimensional projections for designers and engineers to study, saving the time and expense of having to build individual models.

Jag and Land Rover worked with four suppliers to create the four-walled studio. Projecting power will come from eight Sony SRX-S105 projectors, each one of them as powerful as the best cinema-standard projector and each one having four times the resolution of HD. With that kind of capability, designers — wearing 3-D glasses — will be looking at photorealistic representations of their creations.

When finished in the spring of 2008, it will be the most advanced design studio in the world. We’re glad to see the two embattled marques focused on nothing but getting better. Now if Jag could use that studio to make a kick-ass XJ replacement, and make the XF — as good as it is — everything it could be, then they’d really have a blockbuster studio on their hands.

Continue reading Jaguar and Land Rover to build coolest design studio on Earth

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Filed under: Chicago Auto Show, Trucks/Pickups, Nissan, Suzuki

Nissan is all about collaboration with its competitors, as evident by the rumor today that it could enter into an agreement with Chrysler to co-develop cars, trucks and engines. Japan’s third largest automaker partnered up with Suzuki in 2006, and as Mike Levine from Pickuptruck.com figured out, one big collaboration that has resulted is a new mid-size Suzuki pickup that will be based off of Nissan’s Frontier platform and be built by Nissan at its Smyrna, Tennessee plant. Both automakers have now officially confirmed that they’re working on the truck together, and the only thing left to wonder is when it will debut and what it will be called. Mike Levine again provided us with an educated guess that the truck will show up at the Chicago Auto Show, and based on recent trademark filings by Suzuki, will be called the Equator. We feel compelled to reiterate our initial concern that entering the mid-size truck market is not the best way for Suzuki to continue increasing its sales in North America, as the segment is shrinking at fast pace. Isn’t there a small three-door hatch you’d rather sell in the U.S., Suzuki?

[Source: Suzuki, Nissan]

Continue reading Nissan-built Suzuki pickup confirmed

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Filed under: Sedans/Saloons, Wagons/Estates, Hatchbacks, Mazda

The blokes over from AutoExpress tapped an artist to photochop the next Mazda3, supposedly utilizing sources within the automaker, and although it looks like an inoffensive evolution of the current model, we’re somewhat doubtful that it’s an accurate representation of what’s to come.

Earlier this week, Automotive News sat down with Mazda’s design chief, Laurens van den Acker, who said that the redesigned 2009 Mazda3 would take several cues from the Nagare line of concepts. All of the concepts featured a prominent five-point grille and “flow” inspired creases flanking the sides. In the rendering above, we don’t see any of those elements. Instead, it’s simply the integration of a few of the cues found on the new Mazda6 and its CUV/SUV siblings.

The Brits assert that the next 3 will be built atop the longer platform slated to underpin the 2010 Ford Focus, featuring a more spacious interior with higher quality materials, with a Mazdaspeed version (MPS abroad) that will utilize the 2.5-liter mill from the new Mazda6.

[Source: AutoExpress]

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