Alfa Romeo Won't Come to the States Until 2013, Cancels SUV Plans

In what has become something of a joke for those closely following the Fiat Group's plans to re-introduce Alfa Romeo to the States, the Milanese firm's CEO Harald Wester told journalists in Frankfurt that the company has once again pushed back the U.S. presentation of several key models.

Wester also said that Alfa Romeo has canceled plans to build a mid-sized SUV at Chrysler Group's factory in Ohio.

In July, and following a string of delays that began in 2000, Fiat and Chrysler Group head honcho Sergio Marchionne said that Alfa Romeo would enter the U.S. market with the 4C sports car before the end of 2012, and launch a compact crossover model in 2013.

Now, Marchionne is claiming that the current debt crisis in Europe is forcing the company to reevaluate the timing of its new vehicle introductions.

"We are reviewing volumes and the timing of new products to see when it is really necessary to launch them," Marchionne said.

Under the new plan –which could very well be reassessed in a couple of months […]- Alfa will bring the 4C to the States in the first half of 2013, and the Ford Fiesta-sized MiTo hatchback in the second part of the same year.

In addition, the latest plan ditches the Jeep Liberty-based Alfa Romeo crossover and instead calls for a large rear-wheel drive sports sedan, loosely based on the next generation Maserati Quattroporte which will appear sometime after 2014.

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Toyota Prius Hybrid Family

The March 11 earthquake that shook Japan to its core had many collateral damages, one of which was vehicle manufacturing. For example, more than 650 of Toyota’s suppliers suffered great damages and halted production, forcing the Japanese automaker to reconsider its strategy.

Two weeks later, its management had reached the conclusion that it should focus its worldwide resources mainly on one model line. “We were rapidly burning through cash, so in order to survive this we prioritized the cars our customers wanted most” explained head of production Atsushi Niimi.

So which vehicles were the chosen ones? Could it be the cars that helped it the most to become the world’s number one car manufacturer since 2008? Nope: Corolla and Camry would have to take a back seat to hybrids, and especially the Prius. Therefore, Toyota started off by ensuring that it could find parts for the Prius and the Lexus hybrids.

“The last several years have been a triple shock for Toyota” said Masatoshi Nishimoto of Tokyo-based consulting company HIS Inc. “It’s now at a major turning point.”

The first came in 1990. Up until that point, six of the world’s 10 biggest companies were Japanese, with Toyota in ninth place. When the real estate bubble burst, things changed dramatically: Toyota is the sole Japanese company in BusinessWeek’s top 50 ranking, down to 35th place.

Then there was the 2009-2010 floor-mat and sticky pedal recall saga. The way it was handled resulted in a $16.4 million dollar fine by the NHTSA and millions of recalls – which meant more millions lost, and perhaps more importantly, the loss of Toyota’s reputation as the manufacturer of the world’s most reliable cars.

This year’s earthquake, along with the strengthening of the yen against the US dollar, made things even more difficult as of all Japanese car manufacturers, Toyota is the one that builds the most cars domestically.

Toyota will certainly lose the number one spot on world sales to General Motors this year andLexus, after a decade, falls behind rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Now, Akio Toyoda is betting his company’s future on hybrid technology and especially the Prius. The three new models of the world’s best-selling hybrid take center spot have to succeed if the company is to make a quick recovery.

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Brand New Chrysler Group Cars Driven at Warp Speed

While we are no strangers to offbeat incidents involving new cars and transporters, we'll admit that we've never seen anything like this – that is, if the video you're about to watch is original and has not been altered in any way as understandably, we can't be 100 per cent sure.

The clip appears to have been shot by someone standing on the top level of a double decker transporter train and it shows five allegedly brand new vehicles (all Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs, if we're not mistaken) shooting out of the deck at warp speed.

The surroundings suggest the train is located at a parking lot terminal. Follow the break to watch the video for yourself and tell us what you think in the comments area below.

VIDEO

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Mercedes SLS AMG gets optional Electronically Adjustable Suspension and more!

The SLS AMG has only been a few months on the market and yet Mercedes-Benz, after unveiling the roadster version, continues to add new features to its brand-new supercar. The latest add-on is the introduction of the optional AMG Ride Control suspension featuring electronically controlled damping to improve its behavior no matter what the road surface.The adaptive suspension offers three settings: “Comfort”, “Sport” and “Sport Plus” which the driver can control by pushing the AMG Drive Unit with the newly-added shock absorber symbol and view the selected mode in the AMG main menu.
You can guess the suspension settings by each mode’s name: “Comfort”, which is the default setting every time the engine is started, is supple and comfort-oriented, thus suitable for everyday driving and cruising on the motorway. “Sport” is selected by pressing the AMG Drive Unit once and it firms up the dampers’ response, reducing body roll and pitching without fully sacrificing comfort.
When you feel like really going for it, press the Drive Unit a little longer to select the “Sport Plus” mode. Mercedes recommends that this setting is best suited on a race circuit, presumably because it is too harsh for road use.
The driver can store his preferred setup in the Drive Unit. If, on the other hand, you don’t feel like shelling out €2,320.50 ($3,156) for the active dampers, you can still choose the normal or the AMG Performance suspension. As with the “normal” SLS AMG the car also features four transmission modes (Controlled Efficiency, Sport, Sport Plus and Manual).
Also new on the options list of both the coupe and the roadster versions of the SLS AMG is the Blind Spot Assist system (€773.50/$1,052.8) that is operational from 30 km/h (18.6 mph). This system uses the radar sensors of the standard parking assist to monitor the area around 3.5 meters on each side of the car and 3 meters on the rear and recognize vehicles in the driver’s blind spots. In this case, a red triangle lights up in the relevant exterior mirror and if the driver doesn’t react, an acoustic warning is activated.
Mercedes has also added options for the SLS’ exterior appearance. The updated list includes matt black-finish AMG 10-spoke forged alloy wheels with 265/35 R 19 and 295/30 R20 tires at the front and rear respectively (€3,272.50/$4,455) and red-painted calipers (€714.20/$972.8). Other new entries include the new “Sepang” metallic brown paintwork for the body (€2,439.50/$3,321.6) a new single- or two-tone “espresso” brown leather interior, and a high-gloss black trim on the center console (€2,320/$3,158.5). 

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Videos: Batmobile Replica 1989 Powered by a Boeing Jet Turbine!

Perhaps the most celebrated Batmobile after the1966 model from Adam West's Batman TV Show is the Anton Furst designed version from the 1989 and 1991 Tim Burton films.

And while collectors may seek the original Batmobiles featured in the movies, we're pretty sure that fans will take a special liking to this replica, which is up for grabs on eBay.

What separates this replica of the 1989 Batmobile, not only from the other clones on the market but the original as well, is that, according to the seller, it is the only turbine-powered car of its kind in the world.

Built and designed by Casey Putsch of Putsch Racing in 2011, the car was completed in 2011. Under the massive hood you'll find a Boeing turboshaft jet engine borrowed from military drone helicopter.

Putsch Racing says the engine, which can run on Jet A, kerosene, or diesel fuel, pushes out 365-horsepower (the seller doesn't say with which type of fuel), though we'll assume that most people will be more interested in the sound it makes and which you can check out in the videos below.

The replica tips the scales at approximately 2,800 pounds or just 1,270 kilos, and comes equipped with height-adjustable suspension. according to the seller, its street legal in the U.S.

Now for the bad news; even though the seller has dropped the price tag from the last eBay auction ($620,000), the car is still listed at a ridonkulous $520,000.

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VIDEOS

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Microbe Promises to Turn Newspapers into Bio-Fuel

Scientists at New Orlean’s Tulane University have perfected a new strain of the bacteria Clostridium. Dubbed TU-103, this microbe is the first of its kind that can synthesise butanol from cellulose.

What does this mean for our readers? Well, imagine taking a stack of old newspapers or sugarcane waste and turning into useable bio-fuel for your car. TU-103 can take any type of plant or plant product and turn it into renewable, sustainable butanol.

TU-103 was discovered by David Mullin, an associate professor at Tulane’s Cell and Molecular Biology Department, postdoctoral fellow Harshad Velankar and undergraduate student Hailee Rask over a two-year period. The team is currently testing the microbe on bagasse, a fibrous waste material produced during the harvesting of sugar cane.

Mullin describes his work thusly:

“Cellulose is present everywhere: paper, grass, leaves, corn cobs, corn stalks and renewable agricultural waste products. It is available on a vast scale since things like corn stalks and corn cobs are usually thrown away.”

He continues:

"This discovery could reduce the cost to produce bio-butanol. In addition to possible savings on the price per gallon, as a fuel, bio-butanol produced from cellulose would dramatically reduce carbon dioxide and smog emissions in comparison to gasoline, and have a positive impact on landfill waste."

Compared to ethanol, butanol is a much better product. It uses the useless by-products from existing crop production, rather than needing crops to be grown specifically for use as fuel. It has virtually the same energy content as petrol / gasoline albeit with less CO2 and other harmful emissions. It’s a message echoed Jeffrey Sigler, professor of practice in Tulane University’s Earth and Environmental Sciences Department:

“Biofuels [like butanol] in general are better for air quality than gasoline. They burn cleaner. If agricultural waste products are being used as the feedstock in this case, it seems to me that this could be an important step toward reducing net CO2 emissions from these types of fuels, as well as minimizing land use impacts.”

Better still, butanol requires no special modifications to existing internal combustion engines to work as an automotive fuel. Unsurprisingly, Mullin has great hopes for TU-103 and the butanol as a future fuel:

“I really would like to see this process developed into something at a larger scale that people could utilize. I'm not really equipped to do that here, but if there was an industrial partner that had the capability to produce butanol on a large scale, it would give me some pleasure knowing that our research efforts in some way contributed to reducing the energy dependency of the United States on foreign oil.”

Is butanol too good to be true? I don’t have the scientific background to say so, but from the results Mullin and his team have been getting, it seems that both it – and the TU-103 microbe – could become a key part in our clean(er) energy future.


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Ford Plans to double its Chinese Market

Since November 2009, China is the world’s top car market, surpassing the US. So it’s only natural for automakers to pay their utmost attention. Among others, BMW previewed the new M5, Peugeot the 508, Nissan the new Tiida and Audi the Q3 at the Shangai Motor Show . The most recent example is Ford, which is planning to more than double its model line-up in the Chinese market according to a senior company executive.

“If you think of the marker as small cars, medium cars, large cars, SUVs, performance vehicles, all those different pieces, we compete in about 22% of that market today," Will Periam, strategy director for Ford’s Asia Pacific and Africa, told Reuters during a recent industry forum in the Chinese city of Tianjin.

"In the future, we expect to compete in about 50%. And that will be by new versions of the products we have and all-new products which aren’t here today,” he added.

Periam also revealed that most of the models that Ford plans to introduce to China, such as the new Focus sedan and the Kuga, will be built at its local plant.

Ford is currently manufacturing the Focus, Mondeo, C-MAX and Fiesta in cooperation with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. and Mazda Motoe, and its Transit van with Jianling Motors, in which Ford has a 30% stake.

However, Ford missed last year’s boom when a record 18 million vehicles were sold in China, thanks in no small part to government tax incentives and subsidies. But this year the incentive plan has ended and the booming Chinese market has seen its booming sales rate decrease.

Secretary General of China Association of Automobile Manufactures reduced his estimate for 2011 sales growth considerably, from a 10-15% forecast to just 5%. Even so, Ford has increased this year its January to July sales by 13%, to 306,830 vehicles, compared to the same period in 2010, and Ford’s Periam estimates that China car sales will reach 32 million by 2020.

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Ford Mustang 5.0 GT With New Colors

While the Mustang has many fans in Europe, Ford's pony car never really caught up with buyers across the Atlantic for a great number of reasons, one being that it is available only with large displacement engines that negatively affect pricing as well as other costs associated with ownership.
Nevertheless, Europe's tuning industry does offer owners some options for customization. This here package is for the latest Mustang 5.0 GT and it comes from a German company called Design World.
The exterior design is typical of German tuners, who love using vibrant colors on their projects. For the Mustang, Design World finished Ford's pony car in a two-tone black and orange color scheme enhanced with white stripes and carbon foil, which makes its appearance on the roof, the hood dome, the bumpers and the rear spoiler.
As for the interior, the upgrades are limited to orange trim bits on the steering wheel and the dashboard.
The American coupe rides on a sport suspension from H&R and 20-inch alloy wheels finished in black with orange-colored outer rims shod in 255/35 ZR20 tires up front and 285/30 ZR20 at the back.
Under the hood, a subtle ECU mod and a sport air filter bump the 5.0-liter V8's output from 412-ponies to 435-horsepower.
The cost for the package is set at €12,150, which comes to around US$17,320 at the current exchange rates.

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Skoda Electric Octavia E Line Test Fleet

Skoda announced that it has begun production of the Octavia E Line, the company’s first fully electric car that was first saw in concept form at last year’s Paris Motor Show.
Starting this fall, the Czech automaker will manufacture a test fleet of 10 cars that will be used for evaluation of the emissions-free technology. This will help the Skoda collect valuable data to be used in future applications that will reduce its average CO2 emissions.
“Emission-free mobility is one of our key goals for the future, and my opinion is that electric vehicles are the right answer o the increasingly stringent emission limits”, said Skoda’s board of directors member for Technological Development, Dr. Eckhard Scholz.
Based on the Octavia Combi, the E Line features a 26.5kWh lithium-ion battery pack placed under the floor and an electric motor with a constant output of 60kW (80HP) and a maximum power of 85kW (110HP). As with all electric motors, its torque (270 Nm or 199 lb-ft) is available immediately.
With this setup, the Octavia accelerates from 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 12.0 seconds and reaches an electronically limited top speed of 135 km/h (84 mph), while its maximum range is about 140 km (87 miles).
The Octavia E Line also features a sound generator that simulates the noise of a regular internal combustion engine at speeds up to 40 km/h (25 mph) in order to warn pedestrians.

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Bob Lutz Returns to GM as Advisor

No matter the age, a petrol head like Bob Lutz can't stay away too long from the car industry. In fact, even though GM's former vice president and product czar had retired in the May 2010, the 79-year-old has been providing advice to the firm's executives without pay ever since.Now, GM decided to formally hire Lutz as an advisor to provide counsel to the senior leadership team of the company.
"Lutz will be available to executives on a part-time consultancy basis effective immediately," GM said in a short statement. "He brings a wealth of experience built over the course of more than 40 years in the industry, including two stints at GM. He has also been a senior executive at Ford, Chrysler, BMW and was CEO of Exide Batteries," the company added.
Lutz's advisory work at GM is expected to include product development as well as marketing and communications.
"In most cases, it'll just be reinforcing the direction they're already on. I couldn't be more pleased with the way the company is being run, with the way the products are being marketed, with the pricing, and, of course, I'm very familiar with the future product," Lutz told the Detroit Free Press. "I think a lot of it will be saying, 'Wow, that's good, keep it up,' and occasionally I'll offer some critical comments."

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