Yesterday DriveSRT (Dodge) updated their Facebook profile to say that if they got 10,000 fans they would release a special teaser of the upcoming 2013 SRT Viper.
SRT has been very protective of the Viper testing models that are heavily camouflaged and running under last-gen Dodge Viper bodies. The closest thing to a leak was when Gilles said the new design was inspired by a naked woman on the beach. Really, though, that's the motivation for most of mankind's great works.
Needless to say that teasing the Viper months before the car's official reveal at the 2012 New York Auto Show worked like gangbusters, they had the 10,000 fans before the end of the day. Keeping their word, SRT has promised to show a teaser (don't you love Facebook teasers?) at 11:59:59 PM Eastern on Monday, January 30. You can see it live on their Facebook here or, if you don't want to fan them, check back to IL that night and we'll have it up.
Categories: Dodge,New York Auto Show,Sports Cars
Once again the kids over at Hyundai blog have gotten hold of photos of a new Hyundai before anyone else. This time it's the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe they've nabbed before its official debut at the 2012 New York Auto Show.
As you can see in this photo (there's a rear shot at Hyundai Blog), Hyundai has Velostered-up the Santa Fe this time around with a hexagonal grille with big, chunky cross bars. There's also a hint of skid plate and LED foglights.
It's certainly a step up, but from what we can gather from this photo, it's still got a ways to go to catch up visually to the new Ford Escape. (Who thought anyone would ever seriously use that phrase?)
Categories: Crossovers,Hyundai,New York Auto Show
We've been following spy photos of the Mercedes-Benz CLC since the Mercedes-Benz F800 style concept dropped at the Geneva Motor Show. And after months of seeing the new, smaller four-door coupe, the only question was when we'd finally see the CLC.
Now, thanks to a Mercedes official, we have an answer: at the 2012 New York Auto Show.
Read more about the new entry-level sub-C-Class MB here.
Categories: Future Vehicles,Mercedes-Benz,New York Auto Show,Sedans
During the New York Auto Show, Auto Observer Editor-in-Chief Michelle Krebs sits down with Carlos Tavares, Nissan's Chairman of the Americas. Topics include the Nissan Leaf, production delays, Nissan's manufacturing strategy, upcoming vehicles and rising fuel costs.
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Categories: Auto Industry,New York Auto Show,Nissan
This is old news to be sure, as the facelifted 2012 Jaguar XF and XFR were revealed last week at the New York Auto Show. But we'd be remiss if we didn't pass along the photos and info of the tidy tweaks made to Jag's "entry-level" sedan.
In short, no more googly cat eye lamps, no more silver-painted dash buttons, revised gauges, slightly bigger taillights and the now-ubiquitous LED running lamps. Looks good. Oh, and the touchscreen infotainment system has been thankfully updated as well (though judging by the XJ, don't count on anything revolutionary).
In case you can't see the differences, I've included some pics of the old car.
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Categories: Jaguar,New York Auto Show
The 2012 Hyundai Accent was released at the 2012 New York Auto Show with the promise of 40 miles per gallon with NO asterisks. That means no special fuel economy trim, no special transmission, nothing. Just 40 mpg on the highway with no asterisk required.
And that's the point of the nearly three-minute ad featured at the event which Hyundai recently uploaded. Follow the jump to see some happy astkerisks and to let us know if this sort of smiley-cartoony ad featuring very few cars has an impact on you.
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Categories: Green Tech,Hyundai,New York Auto Show,Sedans
As reported earlier, Chrysler is extending its rap association by providing a Beats by Dre audio system in the blackened 2012 Chrysler 300 S. And although the setup looks a lot like the Kicker systems in other Chryslers -- down to the subwoofer stashed one corner of the trunk -- the automaker claims that Dr. Dre personally tuned the system.
Judging from the quick listen I gave the system on a rotating stand at the New York Auto Show, that could indeed be the case since it's definitely at its best blasting low bass.
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Categories: Audio Reviews,Car Tech,Chrysler,New York Auto Show
You'll recall that Auto Observer Senior Editor Bill Visnic was all set to drive from greater Pittsburgh to the 2011 New York Auto Show in an automatic-equipped 2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco earlier this week. So how did he do on mpg in the car that's rated 26 city/37 highway/30 combined by the EPA?
"Here are the numbers, 150 miles from my hotel in Manhattan. There's a quarter tank left and average mpg is 30.8.
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Categories: Chevrolet,New York Auto Show,Road Trips,Sedans
BMW announced earlier this week this its new N20 TwinPower four-cylinder engine will go into the 2011 BMW Z4 sDrive28i before spreading to other U.S.-market models (looks like the X1 might be next). Today, Straightline Editor Mike Magrath spent some time in the automaker's booth at the 2011 New York Auto Show photographing the new engine, which is a direct-injected 2.0-liter inline-4 with a twin-scroll turbocharger. It'll make 240 hp at 5,000 rpm and 260 lb-ft of torque at 1,250 rpm in the Z4.
Actually, Magrath took pics of BMW's engine exhibit, as the yellow Z4 on the stage had its hood wired shut (probably because it's just a six-cylinder car with sDrive28i badging). In the photos that follow, you'll be able to see the hardware for the twin-scroll turbo, the direct injection system and the Valvetronic variable valves.
Engineering Editor Jay Kavanagh further draws your attention to these details...
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Categories: BMW,Car Tech,Convertibles,Future Vehicles,New York Auto Show
Volkswagen is the second car company to dump Dynaudio as a premium-audio partner. The other being Dyn's fellow Scandinavians Volvo. But whereas Volvo's replacement was a lackluster no-name sound system that debuted in the S60, VW is launching its all-new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle by hooking up with guitar icon Fender.
I got a chance to listen to the new 9-speaker, 400-watt Fender setup in a 2012 Beetle on the VW stand at the New York Auto Show. While it wasn't the ideal environment -- with pesky photographers opening and closing doors and a suspiciously familiar camera crew ruining the background of my pic above, the quick listen did give an indication of what we can expect the system to sound like in the production version.
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Categories: Car Tech,New York Auto Show,Volkswagen
If Mini went old school with KISS, Kia appealed to a whole new generation, using Rana Sobhany, the iPad DJ, to mix the beats for its New York auto show press conference.
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Categories: Crossovers,Hatchbacks,Kia,New York Auto Show
No huge surprises at Mazda's press conference today. You know, just another small car that will deliver 40 mpg. In this case it's the Mazda 3 with the company's new 2.0-liter four-cylinder fortified with "Skyactiv" technology. That's a fancy name for Mazda's collection of fuel-saving measures that includes high compression and direct injection. This Mazda 3 and its mild face-lift will hit dealers this fall.
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Categories: Mazda,New York Auto Show
Kia debuted its 2012 Rio 5 hatchback last month at the Geneva auto show, and this time it was the all-new Rio sedan's turn to take a bow.
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Categories: Kia,New York Auto Show,Sedans
In the battle to out-green one another, Ford has “SFE” and Chevrolet has “Eco.” Not only do those badges indicate vehicles optimized for fuel economy, they give buyers the chance to wear their virtue on their deck lids. And during Chevy’s press conference at the New York International Auto Show introducing the redesigned 2013 Malibu, the one surprise was the announcement of the Malibu Eco.
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Categories: Chevrolet,Hybrids,New York Auto Show,Sedans
If we told you five years ago that a Frenchman would be running Chrysler and that he would use a Detroit choir singing Eminem songs to promote a car built in Canada and that the population in general would eat it up, you'd think we were nuts.
But here we are....
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Categories: Chrysler,New York Auto Show
Do you like the Mini Countryman? Old men dressed like monsters in bondage? Helping children affected by the earthquake in Japan and other disasters? Being yelled at by said monsters about said children while standing on Mini Countrymen?
If you answered yes to all of the above, this story is for you!
The Twitterverse has been abuzz for the last day with rumors that Kiss, or at least Gene Simmons, was attending some BMW functions. For example, Martha Stewart tweeted, "me and kisses [sic] gene simmons who is sitting next to me at per se dinner for bmw http://twitpic.com/4ndwbq" and the even less coherent, "Gene simmons of kiss mini coopers part bmw. He does have funny eating habits and he is not in makeup tonight."
Right. Whatever that was intended to mean, Mini rolled out Kiss (and not Mini Kiss like so many expected) for the 2011 New York Auto Show to kick off "Mini Rocks the Rivals" test-drive program. The idea is to go "on the road" with the hot-selling Countryman to provide consumer ride-and-drives side-by-side with the competition.
The other part of this is an auction. The four vehicles -- one styled after each member of the band and signed by all four -- will be auctioned off and all proceeds donated to UNICEF. The auction starts on May 29 and runs for 10 days.
Mini also announced that it will sell the Kiss design graphics packs that can be bought and installed at authorized Mini dealers. Again, proceeds will be donated to UNICEF. Kiss wraps will be available on April 21.
No, they didn't play.
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Categories: Celebrities,Crossovers,MINI,New York Auto Show
Why did Ford introduce the 2013 Taurus at the 2011 New York International Auto Show? After all, the revised sedan won't go on sale until next spring -- a full year from now. That's practically an eternity in the automotive market.
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Categories: Ford,New York Auto Show,Sedans
One of the hottest vehicles of the 2011 New York Auto Show has to be the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle. The new car is described as "dynamic, sporty and masculine" by VW, which had an original VW Beetle on hand, in the studio, during the design phase of this new car. The intent was not to simply make it less of a chick car, but to "bring back the spirit of the original, unbreakable, tough, easy-to-use Beetle."
The new New Beetle (just Beetle now) is lower, the windshield is closer to the driver, and the car is 150mm (about 6 inches) longer, with a wheelbase 3.2 inches longer than before. Seventeen-inch wheels are now standard, with 18s and 19s optional.
And while we were specifically told that there was no official plan, we were also told that "VW has an R division team set up in Germany and they need to build cars." Pricing was not announced, but is said to be competitive with the current model's pricing.
Here's Riswick with more...
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Categories: Coupes,Future Vehicles,New York Auto Show,Volkswagen
Inside Line's parent company, Edmunds.com, is presenting Breakthrough Awards to Subaru and General Motors at the 2011 New York Auto Show. So what exactly have these automakers done to revolutionize the auto industry?
Well, GM is the recipient of our annual Green Car Breakthrough Award for the Voltec plug-in, series-parallel hybrid drivetrain in the Chevrolet Volt.
"Voltec is a game changer for the electric vehicle community and it offers a blueprint for commercial manufacturers to build upon as these types of vehicles continue to develop," said John O'Dell, our Green Car Advisor in chief. "Applied to a broader base of vehicles, Voltec and other automakers' versions of the extended-range plug-in hybrid technology can have a tremendous impact on U.S. fuel consumption."
The game-changing aspect of the Voltec drivetrain is that it takes a realistic approach to EV technology given our current lack of infrastructure to support these vehicles. Right now, true EVs put you on a very short leash -- if you forget to plug in at night, you're not driving in the morning. The Volt, on the other hand, offers limited EV functionality and drives like any other hybrid the rest of the time, and that's why the thinking behind the Voltec technology is right on. Last year, by the way, we gave this award to Coulomb and Better Place, two companies working on a recharging infrastructure for EVs and plug-ins. And we now recharge our long-term Volt on a Coulomb ChargePoint in our office garage.
Subaru, meanwhile, is receiving the Edmunds.com Marketing Breakthrough Award for its compelling marketing efforts in 2010. And those efforts translated to its biggest U.S. sales year ever.
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Categories: Auto Industry,General Motors,Green Tech,New York Auto Show,Subaru
The redesigned 2012 Honda Civic may be not-even remotely revolutionary, and even the i-MID system that graces the dash made its initial debut in the 2011 Odyssey. But wait ... that was called just MID, whereas the 'i" in i-MID stands for "intelligent" and the rest is short for Multi-Information Display.
Basically it's a smaller high-res color LCD screen in the upper part of the dash that augments the larger touchscreen in the center stack. It can be used to display music source, fuel economy, Bluetooth phone and navigation info, or to post your own pictures by uploading them from a USB drive.
One thing that is different about the 2012 Civic is the steering-wheel buttons used to control the i-MID system.
First Drive: 2012 Honda Civic
First Drive: 2012 Honda Civic Si
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Categories: Coupes,Honda,New York Auto Show,Sedans
