Author: autoevolution

Sebastien Loeb has just received a great news in the very first running of Friday in Rally Jordan, as his main title rival Mikko Hirvonen crashed his Ford Focus RS WRC and will see no action in the remaining stages of today.

According to the official site of the WRC, Hirvonen crashed 4.5km from the start, clipping a bank with the front right-hand corner of his Focus RS World Rally Car, then ricocheting across the road into another bank and breaking his car’s left-hand front suspension.

Und… (read more)

Japanese carmaker Suzuki canceled plans for a hybrid and a V6 version of the Kizashi sedan after the company signed an agreement with Volkswagen, with the Germans buying a 20 percent stake in Suzuki. The two aforementioned Suzuki versions were supposed to use technology provided by General Motors but the US-based manufacturer sold its stake in Suzuki in 2008.

As a replacement, Suzuki is looking into ways to employ Volkswagen technology, but a decision on such a change of plans is yet to be de… (read more)

As was to be expected, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and German carmaker Daimler announced the conclusion of the investigation into violations of books and records and bribery, after Daimler agreed to pay $185 million in fines and civil disgorgement, while the German and Russian subsidiaries pleaded guilty.

"Compliance has high priority at Daimler," Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler said in a release. "We have learnt a lot from past expe… (read more)

Now that the US market is showing signs of recovery and things are slowly getting back to normal, carmakers are reconsidering their strategies and product launches for the next few years. One of the companies that are looking to take advantage of the US market recovery is Audi, as the brand with the four rings is looking into ways to bring the newly-presented RS5 in GM’s and Ford’s domestic market.

According to the guys over at automobilemag.com, Audi RS5 has high chances to arrive in the Uni… (read more)

A historic moment for the US automotive industry, and not only, took place on Fool’s Day in the United States: the first-ever national greenhouse gas emissions standards and the new fuel economy standards for all new passenger cars and light trucks have been approved, after the coordinated effort of the administration, the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Environmental Protection Agency and the NHTSA.

According to the new regulations, all automakers are required to improve fleet-wide … (read more)

The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) is to meet later today, on 4.30 PM local time at Sepang International Circuit, to discuss some key topics on the future of the sport. According to several sources within the motor racing media, the teams’ representatives will discuss the return of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) and maybe refueling for the 2011 season of F1.

The KERS units have not been banned by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) for the 2010 season, but the teams… (read more)

SAE International announced yesterday it will be holding a World Congress Career Fair in Detroit in mid-April, when several companies looking to hire automotive engineering professionals will be able to talk with prospective candidates. The Career Fair will be held April 13-14 at Cobo Center in the lobby in front of Detroit Hall from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

SAE International is also holding a Career Development Session on April 14, at 9 a.m., in Cobo Center – Room D3-28. Open positions from additional… (read more)

As we all know by now, Volkswagen is planning to increase its presence in the United States with the launch of a new so-called Mid-Size Sedan that will be manufactured by the new Chattanooga, Tennessee facility. However, the German carmaker managed to keep things secret for the time being, so only a few information are basically available at this point.

At the New York Auto Show however, VW’s North American CEO, Stefan Jacoby, revealed that the car is going to feature a TDI engine in both the… (read more)

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the first practice session of the Malaysian Grand Prix, stopping the clock at 1:34.921. His teammate Jenson Button nearly gave the McLaren a 1-2 on Friday morning, but a late fast lap from Nico Rosberg brought the German the 2nd best time of the first 90 minutes of action.

The majority of the first practice session saw the big teams focusing on long runs, trying to get the necessary information on a potential one-stop pit strategy on Sunday. Under the ci… (read more)

The Germans at the Volkswagen Group have really done it: the Audi R8 V10 was declared the 2010 World Performance Car at at the New York International Auto Show, after the VW Polo was named the 2010 World Car of the Year and the VW BlueMotion range received the World Green Car of the Year Award.

The V10 version of the R8 managed to overtake no less than sixteen performance vehicles in the eyes of the 59 world car jurors belonging to 25 countries throughout the world. The final round of the vot… (read more)

Volkswagen executives will probably enjoy Manhattan’s clubbing life tonight, as the carmaker’s BlueMotion range of eco vehicles has received the 2010 World Green Car of the World Award today at the New York International Auto Show.

The BlueMotion Range, including the Polo, Golf and Passat was recognized by a 59-member jury. The BlueMotion Polo, Golf and Passat are laughing in the face of the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius, who missed out on the award.

"BlueMotion is one of the mos… (read more)

The much anticipated saloon from Kia has been globally unveiled today at the 2010 New York International Auto Show. The future generation 2011 Kia Optima/Magentis is also introducing three new powertrains, including the brand’s first-ever hybrid in the U.S. (available in 2011).

The car will therefore be available in a 2.4-liter GDI four-cylinder, a 2.0-liter GDI turbo engine or a 2.4-liter hybrid powerplant. The 200 hp 2.4-liter GDI engine is mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. Howee… (read more)

Today is also not a good day for science: the fastest car in the world, the 257 mph (413.6 km/h) 9ff GT9-R, was totalled during a high speed UK testing session.

This comes after the Pagani C9 test mule was severely damaged in a crash in Germany, while it was out testing on the Autobahn. The car left the site on the back of a platform vehicle, unfortunately, in much more than one piece.

Getting back to today’s story, we have to admit that there is one positive side: the driver did not suff… (read more)

At a press conference hosted by the New York International Auto Show today, the Volkswagen Polo was declared the 2010 World Car of the Year. The VW Polo was chosen from an initial entry list of thirty entries, by 59 top automotive journalists jurors.

The top three contenders for 2010 World Car of the Year title were, in alphabetical order, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the Toyota Prius and the Volkswagen Polo.

"We’re honored that the Volkswagen Polo was chosen by this distinguished group… (read more)

Fiat 500C just got pimped once again, this time by Aznom who chose to create a new special edition called Sassicaia. This is the second time we’re seeing a Fiat 500 customized by Aznom, as the first refined version saw daylight back in 2007. However, here’s the limited Fiat 500C Sassicaia, a model developed as a tribute to the popular Sassicaia wines from Toscana, Italy.

Although we usually think that wines (and alcohol in general) must stay away from cars, we must admit that the exterior of … (read more)

Honda’s luxury brand Acura today became the official automobile of the World TeamTennis (WTT) Pro League, co-founded by tennis legend Billie Jean King. Acura will therefore be present at all 73 WTT matches scheduled for this summer, which is also the 35th season of the event.

The WTT league is played in ten venues across the country and runs between July 5 – 25.

"World TeamTennis is a fast paced, creative approach to the traditional game of tennis," Steve Center, vice president … (read more)

The range of useful, high-tech gadgets for automobiles to be made available in the near future expands at an exponential rate, with more and more "toys for boys" being made available for the masses. The latest entry in this category is the BMW Narrow-passage Assistant, a technology to be used to navigate the car through narrow spots, regardless of the manner in which they manifest.

The technology behind the Narrow-passage Assistant is somewhat simple: a computer system uses various … (read more)

Following a frustrating weekend in Australia, Lewis Hamilton admitted his confidence over the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix, but not before apologizing to his entire team for his outburst at the end of the Albert Park race.

A few laps after catching Fernando Alonso and challenging him for 4th place in the Australian race, Hamilton burst at his race engineer for a freaking terrible decision – calling him twice to the pits for a new set of tires. Before pitting for the 2nd time, Ham was in 3rd … (read more)

Crappy revenge, old champ… Love stricken, or maybe jealousy blinded 18-year-old Austin Horries Purifoy (cool name) managed to get the title of Stupid Person of the Day on the Socialitelife website after he was caught defecating in a car.

Nothing (that) out of the ordinary so far. Except, he meant to take a dump in a car. But not in that car. While trying to send a very intimate love message to his girlfriend, Purifoy sneaked into a parking lot, found a Honda Civic, broke the car’s right fr… (read more)

Swedish truck maker Volvo revealed today it is currently working on a solution that may form a bridge between fossil and renewable fuels, namely diesel engines running on methane gas. The specialists at Volvo Trucks say this is because whatever fuels the engines runs on, the diesel engine is always more energy-efficient.

For example, a gas-powered truck with an internal combustion engine can drive 150-200 km without refueling, while with the same amount of gas in a truck with a methane diesel… (read more)