Categories: Car News

Now that all the glitz, glamour, and glad-handing of the Detroit Auto Show is over, it’s time to for the automakers to get back to the business of actually making all those cars. BMW is rolling up their sleeves to make sure their new sports activity coupe Mini Paceman will be rolling off the assembly line. They’ve awarded the Mini Paceman building contract to Magna Steyr, the Austria-based company which already is making their Mini Countryman. Think of this as keeping it all in the family.

BMW development head Klaus Draeger is the point man on this project and knows all the specs. “Yes, we will have the Paceman built in Graz too,” he recently told a local paper. “As the auto is technically based on the Countryman it makes sense to go to Graz for this as well.”

Every since the iPhone made its debut, companies, gamers, news outlets, and just about anyone with a new idea has gotten into the application business. Whether you need to look up recipes, find movie times, convert measurements, or get restaurant reviews delivered right to your phone, it seems there’s an app for everything. Now CARFAX Inc. and Experian Automotive have gotten into the app business by providing a way for car dealers to access their databases right from their cell phones.

When a potential car seller drives into a lot and wants to trade, a dealer can immediately access CARFAX and Experian from his computer (or iPhone) to get instant feedback on any potential trade. Before the internet, dealers had to rely on the  “kick the tire” method of checking out a car.

A never before attempted “live teardown” of Ford’s F-150 EcoBoost engine was performed at this year’s North American International Auto Show. The teardown exhibited a truck engine prepared to perform optimally for many more miles (another 150,000) even after it had reached 160,000 miles of what Ford describes as “harsh dynamometer and real-world use.”

The proof was in the fact that the key internal components of the 2011 F-150 “hero” engine were found to fit into rigid factory specs during the live teardown. Engine parts such as the block, pistons, turbos, crankshaft, valves, and other internal parts of the 3.5-liter F-150 EcoBoost engine passed rigid factory specifications after enduring testing that simulated 10 years of wear or about 160,000 miles.

Although Christmas has been over for several weeks, that doesn’t mean folks can stop prepping their Christmas wish list for next year. You can tell a lot about a person by the items on his or her wish list. For the would-be adventurer, it might be some scuba gear. For the stay-at-home type, it might be a new big screen HD television. And for automakers, their wish list is the same every year: they want to be number one. Looks like BMW will win the race for putting that wish out first as they declare the desire for a record year in 2011 for all their brands all over the world.

Take it away BMW board member: “This year we plan to sell well over 1.5 million units, achieving all-time sales highs for all three brands—BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce,” Ian Robertson, the company's head of sales and marketing, said at the Detroit auto show recently.

The world's attention may be focused on the Lamborghini Aventador and the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, but there's another winter motor show going on right now, and there's another Lamborghini showing its stuff. Lamborghini presented a special edition it calls the 2011 Gallardo LP560-4 Bicolore at the Qatar Motor Show.

Lamborghini hasn't done anything to upgrade the LP560-4's capability; it leaves the 560-hp 5.2 liter engine, e-gear transmission, and AWD layout untouched. Instead, Lambo focuses on the look of the car, and predictably, considering the name, presents a two-colored car with a distinctive look all its own. The cabin exterior comes in one color: black, while the lower half of the body comes in a selection of colors including giallomidas (yellow), arancio borealis (orange), grigiotelesto (grey), biancomonocerus (white), and blucaelum (blue). 15-spoke aluminum-alloy titanium grey wheels round out the exterior.

The next time someone tells you that our government is spending too much of our money, remind them that sometimes they actually are pretty slow at spending our money. Such is the case with around sixteen billion in loan money that was set aside in 2008. Here we are in 2011 and those loans are now finally getting doled out. What are the loans for? Think batteries. These loans are brought to automakers courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy under their Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program and all the car makers are lining up for their piece of the pie.

Love it or hate it, the Ferrari FF concept is coming and it's replacing the 612 Scaglietti. Ferrari did an internet unveil of the concept FF last Friday and plans to bring it to the Geneva Motor Show. This week, we got our first look at the uncovered FF in action thanks to a testing video from the Circuito di Balocco in Italy. Though the video watches more like a teaser or commercial, it's the first live action we've seen of unmasked Ferrari shooting brake, and it looks pretty smooth taking the curves under the stars.

Californians love to say, “So goes California, so goes the rest of the country.” This means that if something happens on the west coast then pretty soon everyone will be following suit. In reality, that attitude doesn’t actually travel well beyond the west coast! Such is the case with California’s race to lower fuel economy standards.

As the government has rushed to tell automakers how to improve fuel economy in new vehicles, automakers registered “displeasure.” Okay, they pitched a fit at the Obama administration for moving too fast. Something had to be done, said the automakers. California, being in a mellow mood, agreed.

One of the many traditions that follow the President’s annual State of the Union Address is for administration officials to hit the road in an attempt to bolster some of the plans and promises made in that speech. While the heavy hitters are doing the speechifying, members of Congress are left to sort it all out and “make it so.”

First out of the gate are a pair of Michigan brothers who just happen to work on the same side of the aisle, but in different houses. U.S. Representative Sander Levin and his bro Senator Carl Levin both put forth new legislation that would expand the per-manufacturer cap on a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles. Right now the number of eligible cars is 200,000. The Levin boys want to kick that up to 500,000. This will certainly help deliver on President Obama’s pledge to put a million EVs on the road by 2015.

The stage is set. It'll be the Green Bay Packers taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday, February 6. And GM plans to be an integral part of the festivities with an-all new award for the game's most valuable player, and an advertising campaign focused squarely on Chevy. Last year, GM discontinued its tradition of awarding the Super Bowl MVP a Cadillac, leaving Drew Brees without a free Caddy to drive around the bayou. In 2009, Santonio Holmes chose a 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid Platinum 2WD worth over $85,000 as his MVP prize.

When American news reports on the Detroit “Big 3” they are referring to Ford, GM, and Chrysler, the major automakers that for many years made Detroit their home and were the dominant forces in American auto manufacturing. The emphasis is on “American.” When you look at top global sales figures for autos, the Detroit “Big 3” is joined by other automakers, such as Toyota and VW.

For the third year in a row, Toyota Motor Corporation can claim the title of “world’s largest automaker.” That’s pretty impressive given the hit that Toyota took from its recent massive recall and bad press. Regardless of those negatives, Toyota was happy to proclaim that deliveries from its Daihatsu Motor, Hino Motors, and Lexus Marque affiliates actually grew by 8% to a total 8.42 million cars sold in 2010.