Author: CarBlog.co.za

Nico Rosberg, the Mercedes F1 Driver, is one freak as he avoids staying at hotels in Turkey for the Istanbul GP edition by lodging in his motor home, but the F1 driver has decided it is his last stay at the motor home in Turkey.

Nico was noticeably frustrated by the Turkish traffic and the transporting charges which he thought were too high compared to the benefits he gained by brining in his personal commuter home to Turkey. Nico openly quipped that it is ‘definitely’ the last time he has endeavored to do it.

Considering his reasons, we believe he has taken the right decisions.

The premium unit of German brand Volkswagen, Audi is famous for its unmatched interiors and not just us, but even GM seems conscious of this fact. GM’s Vice President of Global Engineering, Karl Stracke is the one who has gone public with his viewpoints regarding the Audi interiors quality. As per Karl, GM is fast-improving the quality of its interiors but it is still to meet the benchmark set by Audi. Karl mentioned that he recently drove the Corvette Grand Sport and he did like the performance but what did not convince him were the interiors. GM is putting in serious efforts to improve the quality of interiors and the company has recently started a program that lets the company engineers test competitor’s products every Friday at the Milford Proving Grounds.

The next edition of the Range Rover SUV will feature an upgraded engine as per a letter received by some German dealerships. The current model lineage is powered by a 3.6-liter V8 variant, however the 2011 model will feature a more powerful 4.4-liter V8 turbodiesel option. The better engine incorporation will make the Range Rover a more expensive vehicle in 2011 as it will be priced at €88,900, €3,000 more than the current generation model. The official press release of the 2011 Range Rover will be held on June 17 this year while in July, Range Rover will be celebrating its 40 years of existence, following which the sales will begin in October this year.

Toyota hasn’t been able to heave a sigh of relief after a flaw was discovered in the acceleration pedals of a number of Toyota models. Toyota first staged a heavy recall to get rid of the sticky gas pedals and thought that it might satiate the complaining NHTSA.

Toyota even paid $16.4 million fine for this mistake of theirs, but despite the ‘corrections,’ matters are only getting worse for the Japanese giant. NHTSA that reported 52 casualties because of the sticky gas pedals is now investigating 71 more crashes that led to fatalities. NHTSA has been notified of a total of 6,200 cases with 2,600 reports filed since March this year.

Out of these 2,600 cases, 100 consumers reported the problem after Toyota claimed to have rectified it.

The popularity of mainstream electric cars is on the rise and a good example is the soaring demand for the Nissan electric vehicle LEAF. Nissan has decided to produce 12,000 LEAF models for the year 2010 and in US alone, the number of bookings is 13,000. Add to this, the 6,000 LEAF models booked in Japan and this implies that the LEAF has been sold out in the US for this year. This is one of the first green commuters that has the potential to go mainstream unlike the Toyota Prius which was too heavily priced for a layman. The LEAF features an 80kW electric motor and it is powered by laminated lithium-ion batteries that give the green automobile a 99mile range on a single charge.

BMW is thinking more seriously about the safety of its cars and the passengers in cases of a collision, hence why they have resorted to anticipatory assistance systems.

Once such technology is preventive brake intervention and the German premium automobile manufacturer has successfully crash tested this system on the new 5 series (530d) model in collaboration with DEKRA. The intervention of this technology helps a 64km/h impact reduce to 40km/h as the automobile senses danger and applies automatic brakes not waiting for the driver to respond in such cases. The car’s advanced sensors first sense a probable collision and issue a warning to the driver and then the automatic brakes kick in. This may impress NCAP but what is ironical is that NCAP crash tests cars without applying the brakes.

There is some real good news for the American premium car enthusiasts as Mercedes-Benz US detailed their plans to expand the B-Class and the C-Class lineage beyond the existing range.

The move is seen as a step to compete with other premium brands in the US which offer a wide variety of commuters for each of their lineage unlike Mercedes Benz. The CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, Ernst Lieb mentioned that the C-Class will get a coupe version as early as next year to compete with the BMW 3 Series. Sometime later in the future, the C-Class will also get a sedan, a convertible and even an estate wagon. As far as the B-Class is concerned, the expansion will begin in 2012 which will again include a coupe, a convertible and a sedan. The B-Class expansion will be a move to target the likes of the BMW X1 and the Audi Q3.

BMW EfficientDynamics isn’t a mere categorical name to impress the economy craving consumers and it does manage to attain a very high fuel economy with very low emission numbers as reported by famous UK motoring journo Tom Ford.

Tom drove a 320d on a full tank from UK to Munich and back and he managed to travel a whopping 1013 miles. Calculate those numbers a little better and you get 68.9 mpg and do not miss out on the fact that Tom also reported CO2 emissions of only 109g/km. Tom did drive carefully but he mentioned that he wasn’t conscious of the economy run factor and there were times when he even bagged 75.9mpg. He was thoroughly impressed by the 320d as he mentioned that the dubbing EfficientDynamics isn’t merely efficient by its name, only.

Audi has long been pondering over filling the vacant spot between the A1 and the A3 and now the official word is that the Audi A2, slated to fit in the bracket will be a pure electric commuter. Banishing previous reports of the arrival of a fossil fuel driven car, the A2 will be an all-electric variant which will challenge the likes of the BMW Megacity which will arrive in 2013. Comparing the previous A2 and the fresh arrival, the difference will also be in the usage of a steel space-frame. The similarity between the two would be the continuance of the one-box style design. [via WCF]

There is absolutely no surety whether Fiat will ever go ahead with the production of Lancia Coupe but some mysterious images found on the official site are now hinting at a different probability. Indeed, there wasn’t a single image but a number of images showcasing different designs of the Lancia vehicles. Some familiar designs included the Fulvia and GT Stilnovo, while a couple of designs were seen for the first time. The Ypsilon which is slated for a replacement was also included in the mysterious set of images. It seems that Fiat is in the mood to surprise us in the near future.

For the last 10 years Peugeot only focused on delivering nice looking cars that will do well for your daily commuting. Well folks it looks like they’re getting back to it, as we’re just hearing that the French manufacturer just took the wraps off of the new Peugeot 308 GTi. The new model runs on the same engine as the RCZ Coupe, the 1.6 liter THP (turbocharged direct-injection) mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox. Which helps the new Peugeot 308 GTi sprints from 0 to 100km/h in 7.7 seconds.

On the outside there aren’t many changes, at least not ones that we could find easily. There are 18-inch wheels, a rear spoiler,  a lowered rear bumper with a stylishdiffuser, dual  chrome exhaust pipes and a carbon-style insert beneath the front  bumper.

Like it? The 2010 Peugeot 308 GTi should launch on June 10 in France with a base price of €26,900. [via DeviceMAG]

BMW has done a great job in upgrading their all-new BMW 5 Series model — as a result, according to a Bloomberg report, the maker’s sales forecasts have been exceeded by a long shot. Launched in Europe this past March, the new F10 5-Series is now keeping up the flag for the German manufacturer, which as you know, in 2005 took the premium automaker crown from Mercedes-Benz — and it looks like they’re going to keep it for a while now. According to CEO Norbert Reithofer, BMW plans for “1.3 million unit sales this year”, and the new 5-Series sounds like their best bet against the recession. Don’t you think?

If you’re one of those who sit tightly expecting the first images of the new Audi S7 “Super Sedan” images, we can bring you some good news as we just caught wind that the S7 has been spied testing at the famous Nürburgring circuit in Germany. With availability confirmed for sometime in 2011, the new Audi S7 Super Sedan is slated to compete with the likes of the BMW M5 and the Mercedes E63 AMG.

The images reveal the presence of a four-tailpipe exhaust system, a high performance braking system, and a retractable rear spoiler. There will also be a modified bumper, a sportier suspension, attractive wheels and a chrome grille. Power will come from a 4.2L V8 engine that can render 444 hp. Hopefully the final production model will break cover at the Geneva Motor show next year.

We’re quite excited!!!

Meanwhile here’s the new Audi A7 to drool over

It’s a fact that every automaker is keen to jump on the green bandwagon these days. Same goes for Jaguar who have decided to render some hybrid commuters by 2013 or 2014.

There are no precise details available about the hybrid Jag, but experts believe that this Jaguar hybrid will be powered by a 3.0-liter V6 turbodiesel engine and a 35kW electric motor, both mated to an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission. From what we’re hearing, the Jaguar XJ will be the one that will break cover with this touted green set-up — and if Jaguar insiders are right, in the future this green set-up could find a place under every Jaguar’s hood minus the X-type.

[via carmagazine]

For those out of the know, the new Aston Martin One-77 is a limited edition supercar — only 77 units slated for production. As exclusive as it may sound, 10 of these scorching speedsters have been ordered by some crazy fanatic hailing from the middle-east. That is surely a whopping order as the guy is paying $17M for 10 units and the speculation is that each of these 10 cars will get a unique exterior color and cabin. The new Aston Martin One-77 features a 7.3-liter V12 engine capable of producing 700bhp, and can hit a top-speed of 355km/h.

That’s another reason why I hate being poor. Don’t you ?

Nissan may be doing all the green talking with models like the Leaf — which already sounds like a sales success, but they also have other impressive plan. The rumor mill is on the grind again and if the gossip hounds are to be believed, we might soon get to witness the Infiniti M in coupe and convertible versions.

There is no conclusive evidence suggesting the arrival of these two models but the word is that Nissan is considering expanding the M Lineup to compete with the likes of the E-Class (which I tested in Stuttgart last month — the coupe) and the 6-Series. It is most likely that the models will be based on the Essence Concept if Nissan does give its production a nod-ahead.

Ford dreamed of it for long and finally the blue oval has managed to get an amazing EPA rating of 40mpg on the highway. The car that did the trick for Ford is the 2011 Fiesta and the latest EPS numbers suggest that it gets 29mpg in the city as well. Compare those numbers with the Toyota Yaris (4mpg lesser) and the Honda Fit (5mpg lesser) and we easily have a class leading commuter in the Ford Fiesta 2011. The US version of the Fiesta is powered by a 120hp1.6-liter Duratec four-cylinder engine and it comes with either a manual five-speed or a six-speed PowerShift automatic transmission, the latter option being the one to fetch those EPA numbers. Expected to arrive at dealerships this summer, the 2011 Ford Fiesta will bear a price tag of $13,995.

Nissan’s all-electric commuter LEAF is eagerly awaited around the globe and the big news is that its pricing has been officially announced. Slated to compete against the likes of the Chevy Volt, this green commuter will start selling in the Europe by the end of this year. The Netherlands pricing has been fixed at €32,839 (including sales taxes) while the Portuguese and the Irish will pay €29,955 for it. The English will pay even lesser for this affordable electric automobile at £23,350. As per Nissan, the LEAF may look like some simple family car but it will be a surprise package once people start getting behind its wheel.

While the improving economy may have helped a few automakers around the globe to re-strengthen their workforce, it is Modena based Ferrari which is thinking about job-cuts albeit for a different reason. As per Ferrari, the reduction in engine orders from sister brand Maserati is what has forced Ferrari to take a step such as this. Where the total number of engines ordered by Maserati in 2008 was 9,000, the demand fell to about 4,500 last year and matters are expected to worsen from here. Ferrari employees are being offered bonuses in exchange of job cuts and around 120 office positions will be eliminated while 150 factory jobs will also be axed.

Don’t just start jumping with joy, for the Audi R8 based Spyder rendering isn’t an official one but an exemplary creation from designer Jon Sibal. Audi hasn’t let a word out regarding the possibility of an R8 GT based Spyder but this creation makes us think that Audi should probably give it a shot. Automakers do not really like the idea of producing a convertible version of their most extreme sports cars and this is why we assume that the aspired Spyder my never just arrive. Even if Audi decides to give the Spyder production a nod-ahead, it will have to be a limited production model which will obviously bear a heft price-tag.

[via jonsibal]