Sunday 31 July 2011

2013 Infiniti JX Crossover’s Front End Revealed in Fourth Teaser Image

2013 Infiniti JX Crossover’s Front End Revealed in Fourth Teaser Image: "


Infiniti’s seven-week reveal of its upcoming 2013 JX seven-passenger crossover marches on, and this week the company released its fourth and most revealing image yet of the JX. The previous three teaser shots of the JX were tightly cropped photos taken from odd angles: a closeup of a headlight, a taillight, and its left flank. This week’s JX tease shows most of the crossover’s front end, including its left headlight, grille, hood, and front fascia. The JX will be totally revealed in three weeks at the Pebble Beach concours.


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2011 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive Road Test: Now With More Built-In Punchlines

2011 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive Road Test: Now With More Built-In Punchlines: "

2011 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive


Guess what ED stands for.


Your narrator, the man who is about to pass judgment on the transportation module pictured here, never even drove it home from the office, much less on a road trip during which he would encounter useful insights about the electric-powered Smart ED’s handling. And, yes before we go any farther, this car has an “ED” sticker on each flank. Just settle down with your Cialis quips. We’ve heard them (or made them) all already. It stands for “Electric Drive,” okay?


Keep Reading: 2011 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive – Short Take Road Test


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Behold Helios, the Solar-Hybrid Hollywood Production Trailer

Behold Helios, the Solar-Hybrid Hollywood Production Trailer: "


When a press release starts with a headline characterizing something as “the Prius” of anything, it becomes literary tee-ball for scribes who may not be so pious about the Prius. We usually pass on such low-hanging fruit, but a new solar-hybrid production trailer dubbed Helios, “the Prius of production trailers,” is just too juicy not to snatch off the PR tree. For those outside of Hollywood, production trailers are the mobile homes of the entertainment industry, the things that provide movie stars and production crews respite from the sun during shoots.


Helios was created by King Kong Production Vehicles of Newport Beach, California. And here we thought King Kong’s environmental efforts were limited to farting kilotons of CO2 into the atmosphere after each banana binge. KKPV’s efforts, on the other hand, include the utilization of a solar generator in addition to a bio-diesel generator, as well as the installation of bamboo cabinetry, recycled-glass desks and countertops, and recycled-rubber flooring. King Kong claims there are “more than 12 additional important environmental, state-of-the-art advances that make Helios the most environmentally friendly trailer ever built,” but apparently doesn’t find them important enough to mention individually. We presume they would make the Prius proud, if in fact there was any connection to the Prius. (Toyota assures us there is not.)



Testimonials from famous Priusites such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Julia Roberts were not made available, probably because there aren’t any; King Kong says that the sole Helios trailer currently in use has been used as a production office, not a star trailer. King Kong does claim, however, that during one long production day recently, the solar generator alone provided all necessary power, saving 28 gallons of diesel fuel.




Speaking of diesel fuel, however green the humongous Helios trailer may be when parked, it still has to be pulled around by a diesel-swilling truck, somewhat diminishing its Prius cred. Might we suggest that task be assigned to one of Toyota’s upcoming Hino-branded hybrid commercial trucks, considered to be—you guessed it—the Prius of commercial trucks? Add regenerative trailer brakes and King Kong might as well call Helios the Priusstream.


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2012 Audi A6 Hybrid Driven: Audi Boards the Hybrid Bandwagon

2012 Audi A6 Hybrid Driven: Audi Boards the Hybrid Bandwagon: "

2012 Audi A6 hybrid


Audi’s satisfying A6 gets hybridized—and somewhat less satisfying.


Does driving a hybrid change a person? We’d rather leave that question unanswered, but driving a hybrid does change your driving style. All of a sudden, even the leadfoots around here shift their attention to the energy flow charts blinking in the instrument cluster, we don’t plot to pass every car in sight, and we make real attempts to maximize fuel economy and battery recharging. Well, at least for a few minutes.


Keep Reading: 2012 Audi A6 hybrid – First Drive Review


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2012 Mercedes-Benz M-class First Drive: The Cushy Cruiser Gets Updated

2012 Mercedes-Benz M-class First Drive: The Cushy Cruiser Gets Updated: "

2012 Mercedes-Benz ML350 4MATIC


Mercedes’ third-gen SUV lounges lazily in the lap of luxury. Off-roading? A little. Fun? Not much.


Before the recession, Mercedes-Benz had no trouble selling 34,000 MLs in the U.S. each year. For 2011, the company’s best-known SUV is back on track to hit 30,000 sales. Right now, in fact, ML sales are up 14.5 percent. “It puts us in a funny position,” confesses Mercedes U.S.A. president and CEO Ernst Lieb. “We’re spending millions to replace a car that remains a huge profit center.” It’s like replacing Yankee Stadium’s hot dogs with, say, toaster waffles. Are you sure you want to mess with a good thing?


Keep Reading: 2012 Mercedes-Benz M-class / ML350 4MATIC / ML350 BlueTec – First Drive Review


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2012 Cadillac SRX First Drive: A New V-6 Cures the SRX’s Ills

2012 Cadillac SRX First Drive: A New V-6 Cures the SRX’s Ills: "

2012 Cadillac SRX 3.6


Cadillac tightens its focus on the Lexus RX.


The Cadillac SRX’s lead development engineer, Steve Kline, kicked off the debut of the 2012 Cadillac SRX by telling us, “If we’d told you back in 2009 that the SRX would move from number nine in the segment to number two behind the Lexus RX, you probably would have laughed.” Kline is right. C/D loved the previous, CTS-based SRX. Its rear-drive dynamics and interior packaging allowed it to win a comparison test and multiple 5Best Truck trophies, but failed to endear it to customers. We would not have believed that a front-drive-based SRX would rocket up the sales charts, but that’s exactly what happened.


Keep Reading: 2012 Cadillac SRX – First Drive Review


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The LEAF's Solar-Powered Future

The LEAF's Solar-Powered Future: "

Nissan recently announced a new goal for their LEAF EV - to reduce the vehicles draw on the grid while mitigating battery waste. You might find yourself begging the question...How is that possible from a car that already produces zero emissions?

Well, Nissan has a very bright idea, literally. In two words: solar power.

To prevent excess strain on the power grid and excessive battery waste,
Nissan is working steadfast to create a new solar-powered system. The
current system utilizes 488 solar cells situated on the roof of
the automaker's headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. In a recent
demonstration, Nissan placed four LEAF batteries into a box in
the lowest-level of the building to store electricity collected by the
headquarters' solar panels. Nissan reports that this is enough energy to
charge LEAF EVs for one full year.

Though the battery life of the EV is incredible, the margin between the lifespan of the vehicle itself and the life of the battery may become a problem as the LEAF gains popularity. Once the vehicle has reached the end of its drivable life, the battery will still have about 80% of its lifespan remaining. As you can imagine, this creates the potential for a lot of waste.

Nissan has enlisted the help of Sumitomo Corp to aid them in completing their solar-power project. The automaker hopes to offer similar solar-powered charging systems to individual Nissan LEAF owners, businesses and public facilities as early as next year. The specific month Nissan hopes to offer individual Nissan LEAF drivers the solar-powered charging station is this coming April. Field tests are scheduled to begin, this December.

Be sure to stay tuned to learn more. Boardwalk Nissan, located at 1 Bair Island Road in Redwood City, California, promises to keep you up to date on new developments surrounding this innovative project.

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BMW TV Releases M3 DTM Concept Video

BMW TV Releases M3 DTM Concept Video: "
PHOTO CAPTION: BMW Works Driver, Andy Priaulx

BMW Works Driver, Andy Priaulx


You’ve seen the photos from the official Munich unveiling of the BMW M3 DTM Concept Car, now BMW TV brings us a video of the official July 15th press conference. Detailing the development M3 DTM Concept that will be driven by Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus during the 2012 racing season, the video also chronicles the legendary rise of the DTM motorsports powerhouse which began in 1984. Over eleven years, BMW was champion 3 times, had 49 victories and was on the podium more than 150 times with three DTM models – the BMW 635 CSi, BMW 323i, and the BMW M3. With this newest DTM, BMW’s head of development, Dr. Klaus Draeger is predicting a successful start to the season ahead.



Keep Reading: 2012 BMW M3 DTM Concept Car News>>


Photos: 2012 BMW M3 DTM Concept Car >>




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  3. Video: Peugeot SR1 concept

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Cars of Comic-Con

Cars of Comic-Con: "

Comic-Con. What was once an annual gathering of comic book nerds, er, fans, in San Diego, California, has taken a turn in recent years to be a celebration of all things entertainment. Hollywood films, TV shows, video games, books, and of course, comics, make their big splash in front of the 100k-plus attendees and ensuing hordes of media at Comic-Con. Geek chic, is in. Curious about the spectacle, I attended the show for the first time and found a few cars that may or may not prove of interest.


Back-to-the-Future_c


Name: DeLorean Time Machine

Car: DeLorean DMC-12

From: Back to the Future


This stainless-steel glinting DeLorean was at the Hot Wheels stand in the Mattel booth, flux capacitor, stolen plutonium and all. While debates rage whether you’d want to own an actual DMC-12, copping a scale replica from the film should be less of a concern. You may not be able to take the toy up 88 mph, but there aren’t any maintenance fees, either.


Ectomobile_c


Name: Ectomobile (Ecto-1)

Car: Cadillac Miller-Meteor

From: Ghostbusters


We caught this running homage to the Ectomobile not on the show floor, but on the streets of downtown San Diego while en route to a certain bunny-themed magazine afterparty. A spot-on homage with characters in costume, in the original Ghostbusters film starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, the Ecto-1 was based off a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor. Proton packs sold separately, naturally.


Inversion_c


Name: Inversion-mobile

Car: Lexus CT Hybrid

From: Namco Bandai’s Inversion video game


What better way to promote an upcoming third-person shooter video game than take a Lexus CT Hybrid, swap in Five Axis wheels and Yokohama tires, and wrap the entire exterior in custom vinyl? Parked in front of a Hilton hotel, strategically across from the convention center, the Inversion Lexus drew quite a buzz from camera-wielding showgoers outside.


Star-Wars_c


Name: Star Wars Live Painting

Car: VW Passat

From: Star Wars


This installation took the whole car as a blank canvas and ran with it. A collaboration with Star Wars, VW and comic book artist Ken Lashley, Lashley spent a better part of Comic-Con turning the white Passat into a veritable rolling piece of Star Wars art. Think pinstriping, but to the Nth degree.


Total-Recall_c


Name: Federal Police Car

Car: Dodge Hovercar

From: Total Recall


Sci-fi fans might remember 1990 film Total Recall — where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character decides to implant memories of a vacation to Mars when things go suddenly awry. Well, it looks like Hollywood is going to remake the movie (shocker) with Colin Farrell as the lead. This hovering Federal Police car wearing the Dodge emblem was used as a teaser of what we can expect from the film—other than the rehashed plot, of course.




Related posts:

  1. Quick Drive: Five High Mileage Cars

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First Look: 2012 Honda CR-V

First Look: 2012 Honda CR-V: "

honda-cr-v


Honda has released a photo of the 2012 CR-V, which it describes as a concept. Officially, Honda says it provides a first glimpse of the styling direction for the fourth generation CR-V. We doubt the five-spoke wheels or blacked out windows will be the same on the production model but suspect the sheet metal will look like this when it goes on sale at the end of this year.


Overall the 2012 CR-V has a more aggressive look than the current 2011 CR-V. The biggest change is tighter integration of the sloping headlights into the front fenders and a nice kick up to the side windows behind the rear doors. The front bumper is slightly higher, giving the soft-roader a better approach angle for those who do want to venture off-road.


Honda has not yet released any tech details but says the all-new 2012 Honda CR-V will improve upon the current model in a variety of ways, including a more fuel-efficient engine and reduced body weight. In addition to all-new exterior styling, the 2012 CR-V will have an all-new interior with a more accommodating and spacious design with a lower cargo floor.


The Honda CR-V has been the best-selling SUV in the U.S. for the past four years, although the Ford Escape has outsold it so far this year. The CR-V is Honda’s third most popular vehicle behind the Accord and Civic. It easily outsells the Toyota RAV4.


The first chance to see the 2012 CR-V Concept in the flesh will be at the Orange County International Auto Show in Anaheim, California, in September.


To keep up on the latest auto show coverage from around the word, download the FREE Road & Track Auto Show app >>




Related posts:

  1. 2012 Honda Beat
  2. Honda To Have Battery-Electric Vehicle In U.S. By 2012
  3. 2012 HondaJet –Fastest, Most Expensive Honda Ever

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Undisguised: 2012 Porsche 911

Undisguised: 2012 Porsche 911: "

undisguised-2012-porsche-911


The 2012 Porsche 911 has finally lost almost every inch of body-disguising tape and camouflage. The result is a car that stays true to the 911 ethos in terms of the overall shape and elegantly simple design of the iconic rear-engine sports car. Yet there are plenty of changes at skin level, as well as beneath the surface of this next-generation 911.


The biggest news—especially for taller customers—is that the new 911 looks set to gain 4 in. of wheelbase. This should translate to a noticeable increase in cabin room, even with the slight (0.5 in.) drop in the height of the roofline. Overall, the next Porsche 911 is approximately 2 in. longer than the outgoing version.


Keep Reading: Undisguised: 2012 Porsche 911 >>


Photos: Undisguised: 2012 Porsche 911 >>




Related posts:

  1. First Official VIDEO: 2012 Porsche 911
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  3. Quick Drive: 2011 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS

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