There are a number of times when pre-production test mules look completely awesome. The 2014 Jeep Liberty mule we have here is one of those vehicles.
The next-generation Liberty will be a front-drive-based crossover (Dart/Chrysler 100 platform) but will have some off-road ability left in tact. Jeep knows they can't turn the Liberty into a completely on-road vehicle. That's where AWD and this lovely ride-height come into play. One of the test mules was spotted wearing Michigan ORV (off-road vehicle) plates.
Unfortunately, the production version of the 2014 Liberty will ditch this neo AMG Eagle Alfa body and replace it with something that looks "tough." We want it to stay like this. Maybe align the hood and paint the door, but otherwise, this.
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Categories: Alfa Romeo,Crossovers,Future Vehicles,Jeep
Recently, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne revealed to USA today that Chrysler was seriously considering a new five-door hatchback for the U.S. market. Here in the states the car would be known as the Chrysler 100 while in Europe it will be sold as a Lancia.
This is an important distinction as Lancia is a luxury brand in Europe. Chrysler could easily have gone low-budget and went Dodge/Fiat, but Marchionne and others clearly see a market for a high-end, A3-like hatch. This car is built on the same platform that underpins the Dart and the Giulietta, but this car has a Chrysler grille, different exhaust and different rear bumper that foreshadows a longer car with more cargo space. This mule also has a higher hood than the five-door Dart mules we've seen.
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Categories: Chrysler,Future Vehicles,Hatchbacks,Spy Photos
This is the first image you're going to see of the next generation Skoda Octavia, Audi A3, Volkswagen Polo, Golf, Beetle, Sciorocco, Jetta, Tiguan, Touran, Sharan, Passat and CC.
Volkswagen is calling the new A/B-class architecture MQB -- the German acronym for Modular Transverse Matrix. One of the most important things about the MQB platform is a uniform mounting position for all engines in all vehicles. This is done in hand with the new modular petrol engine system (MPB) which includes, amongst others, a four-cylinder with cylinder deactivation and the modular diesel system. VW says that this move will reduce engine and gearbox variants by 90 percent "without any negative effects." Volkswagen also claims that this system allows "an identical mounting position for all current alternative drive concepts without limitations -- from natural gas and hybrid versions to the pure electric drive."
For Volkswagen, this is a big step in streamlining production. VW, as you know, is hell-bent on becoming the largest automaker in the world. This new platform is supplemented by a new Modular Longitudinal System at Audi and a Modular Standard System at Porsche.
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Categories: Car Tech,Future Vehicles,Volkswagen
When we first drove the 2012 BMW 328i we honestly weren't expecting to be as impressed by this new 2.0-liter turbocharged motor as we ultimately were. "It has tremendous strength at low revs for such a small capacity engine, with 225 pound-feet of torque arriving at 1,250 rpm and staying flag until 4,800 rpm," we wrote. "The odd thing is, it doesn't feel like a torque monster in normal driving...The 2012 BMW 328i offers a drive that starts strongly and just gets stronger."
Strength and torque, though, weren't the driving force of the switch from a straight-six to a turbocharged four. No, the reason was, like so many other things today, fuel economy. drove the change. And it appears to have worked.
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Categories: BMW,Future Vehicles,Sedans
As they promised, the good folks at SRT have released the first teaser image of the SRT Viper on Facebook. That's the good news. The bad news is that this light-drawing is all we're likely to get for a while.
We're not seeing a lot of naked woman lying on the beach here, but we are seeing a whole lot of Dodge Viper which is pretty awesome. We also get a look at the slick new Viper logo, the headlights, the Viper-spec scoop,
We know that the new Viper will have -- for the first time -- traction control (it's the law ya know) and cruise control and may wind up with an 8.7-liter V10.
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Categories: Coupes,Dodge,Future Vehicles,Sports Cars
Noted ultra-rich car guys Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld vie for the first Acura NSX in Acura's first Super Bowl ad, "Transactions."
A few million bucks (plus whatever these two charged Acura) to promote a car that won't exist for two years? Bold.
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Categories: Acura,Future Vehicles,Sports Cars,Videos
The rumor of a Lamborghini SUV has been kicking around since the day the LM002 died. Bentley has confirmed theirs, Maserati is set on the Kubang; if there is a perfect time for a new Lamborghini SUV, now's it. And if there's any place to reveal a quarter-million-dollar SUV, it's Beijing.
Italian publication quattroroute.it has leaked this image of an Aventador with ground clearance purporting to be the new Lamborghini SUV. It's unclear at this point if it's a leak or a rendering, but based on how similar this looks to an Aventador, we're thinking rendering. Powering the ultra-SUV will be the Gallardo's V10 in base trim and a top-trim hybrid drivetrain -- due in 2015-- cranking out 700 hp. The hybrid part of this rumor sounds unlikely by 2015.
Going along with the rendering/leak is the rumor that Lamborghini will will show the first concept of this at the Beijing Motor Show in April.
(Inautonews, quattroroute.it)
Categories: Beijing Auto Show,Future Vehicles,Lamborghini,SUVs
There are no two ways about it, Porsche knows turbocharging. They've been playing with that setup since the mid-70s and have a good handle on how to get great power and reliability out of a boosted motor. Consider the current lineup if you will: The 911 Turbo S makes 530 horsepower from a twin-turbo 3.8-liter flat six and they manage 620 horsepower from it in the GT2 RS. Not bad numbers for a car that gets 19 mpg combined (1 better than the Z06) and has a 50,000 mile warranty.
Now, having fully mastered the twin-turbo setup, Porsche is rumored to be following BMW down the tri-turbo path. Earlier this week, BMW officially announced that their line of M performance diesels would be powered by a tri-turbo motor making 376 horsepower and an incredible 545 pound-feet of torque and now Autocar is reporting that Porsche is working on a similar system. The new system is undergoing final testing (see our Spy Video of the 2013 911 Turbo) but they're already predicting power figures of over 525 and increased fuel economy.
While all of this sounds great, there are complexities with a tri-turbo system including that of packaging three turbos and all associated plumbing -- wastegate(s), inter-stage ducts, bypass valves actuators, linkages, oil lines etc into an already cramped space.
(Autocar)
Categories: Future Vehicles,Porsche,Sports Cars
Britain's CAR magazine has just acquired spy photos of the upcoming McLaren MP4-12C Spyder styling prototype and managed to catch it topless and with the aluminum top up.
The photos show shockingly good access to the car and the fact that they get images of the top up and down indicate that they're supposed to be around. We would think McLaren employee, but we have to assume anyone working at McLaren makes enough money for a cellphone with a camera that doesn't suck this hard.
CAR also reports that the top is a three-piece aluminum and plastic unit developed in part by Lotus and that McLaren has made it so that even in the convertible the engine is visible (are you listening Ferrari?). The top is said to take only 17 seconds to deploy. No changes to the 3.8-liter 592-horsepower twin-turbo V8 are expected.
View more photos at CAR's website.
Categories: Convertibles,Future Vehicles,McLaren,Sports Cars
Ford has recently put up a teaser page for the 2013 Ford Escape that almost features pricing on the new crossover SUV. It would be easy to look at the page and think you're spec'ing out a new Escape, but up in the right hand corer is a disclaimer: "For Survey Purposes Only Prices and Features Subject to Change."
So we don't have an exact price, but we do have a ballpark guess into what Ford is thinking. The 2013 Ford Escape S which comes standard with a 6-speed automatic, a 2.5-liter I4, manual tilt/telescoping wheel with audio control and air conditioning will be priced right around $22,470.
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Categories: Crossovers,Ford,Future Vehicles
At the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, Cadillac took the wraps off of the all-new ATS sport sedan. This car, says Cadillac, is a true rival to the BMW 3-Series. On paper it's a draw and in person, well, it's a good thing the 3er stepped up this year because the ATS is CLEAN. Driving the two back-to-back is sure to be a highlight of 2012.
But we won't have an answer to that for a bit now. As for the show itself, what did it take to make that reveal happen? Here's a look behind the stage from this year's show.
Eagle-eyed Inside Line readers will be able to spot cameos by Ed Hellwig and Alistair Weaver.
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Categories: Cadillac,Detroit Auto Show,Future Vehicles,Sedans
In person, the 2013 Buick Encore is noticeably compact. It has the chunky, curvy look of a Hyundai Tucson, but it's almost 5 inches shorter in length (168.5 inches) and its wheelbase is more than 3 inches shorter at 100.6 -- barely longer than the wheelbase of a Chevy Sonic (99.4). But the Encore is still larger than crossovers like the Nissan Juke and Mini Countryman.
Like the Sonic, though, the Encore is roomier inside than you think it will be. A 5-foot-10 adult (your author) climbed into the front seat today at the Detroit auto show and still left room for another average size adult to sit in back. GM's Jim Federico tells us the platform underneath this small crossover is all-new, and with 60 percent high-strength steel in the unit-body, lighter than past designs -- at 3,300 pounds with its optional all-wheel-drive system, it's about 50 pounds lighter than a Tucson.
Maybe you're wondering why Buick picked such a small platform for its compact SUV rather than looking to the Chevrolet Equinox platform architecture, and the answer seems to be that the Encore is largely driven by demand in China, where upwardly mobile consumers gravitate toward small cars with premium furnishings. Buick sold 645,537 vehicles in China in 2011 versus 177,633 in the U.S.
Like most of the cars GM builds and sells in China, the Encore is engineered in South Korea, and the plant in Bupyeong will handle assembly for the U.S., though GM President Mark Reuss was careful to leave the door open for potential North American assembly when we spoke to him today. However, he closed the door to the possibility of badge engineering.
"We're not doing Chevrolets off this platform," he said. "The last thing we want to do is put a Chevrolet alongside this and take Equinox sales away."
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Categories: Buick,Crossovers,Detroit Auto Show,Future Vehicles
Informally, this may be our favorite car of the 2012 Detroit Auto Show so far. Indeed, the Lexus LF-LC concept looks every bit as good in the metal as in the photos, and after listening to Mark Templin gush over it, we'd be shocked if it hasn't already been given the nod for production -- though undoubtedly with a different name.
Not only does it preview the new iteration of the Lexus design language, the LF-LC has an all-new hybrid drivetrain, Mark Templin, group vice president, told the crowd. We might get a glimpse of what that will entail if the automaker is able to pull off its new LMP1 car in time for 2012 Le Mans.
Also, it turns out that the Lexus Remote Touch Interface (which uses a somewhat clunky mouse-style controller) will have a short lifespan. The LF-LC features an iPad-like controller mounted on the console that allows the driver to interact with a 12-inch navigation display. The gauge pack in this concept car is also a 12-inch LCD.
A few years ago, such hardware would have seemed far-fetched; now Lexus will have to come up with something at least that slick and cutting-edge for the eventual production car.
As an aside, Lexus announced it will release two more factory F-Sport models -- like the GS 350 F-Sport, as opposed to piecemeal accessories catalog stuff. A teaser video that played before the LF-LC unveiling (but which appears at the end of our casually shot video after the jump) suggests those new models will be CT- and IS-based. It also suggests the flagship LS will get a much-needed restyling.
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Categories: Concept Vehicles,Coupes,Detroit Auto Show,Future Vehicles,Lexus
Porsche sells a lot of 911 Cabriolets in the U.S. (it's the largest market in the world for drop-top 911s), so no surprise that Phase II of the 991-generation rollout happened on our soil, with the automaker revealing the 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show.
These are late 2012 models, and they'll be out in the spring. Starting price for a standard Carrera convertible, with the 345-hp 3.4-liter flat six-cylinder, is $94,650 (including $950 for destination), while the Carrera S and its 394-horse 3.8-liter will go for $104,750.
Of course, that's not how much you'll really pay, because you're likely to pick out at least 80 options, including the PDK automated manual transmission. Work a clutch pedal? Nah, it's a convertible, man. Get some sun. Turn off your brain.
Porsche is making some big straight-line performance claims -- 4.4 seconds to 60 mph for a PDK-equipped 911 Carrera Cab, 4.1 seconds for a PDK-equipped Carrera S Cab. We timed a 991-gen 911 Carrera S coupe (with the six-speed manual) at 4.6 seconds to 60 (4.4 with rollout).
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Categories: Convertibles,Detroit Auto Show,Future Vehicles,Porsche,Sports Cars
We made a long walk through loading bays and feebly heated tent walkways to the Ford press conference at Joe Louis Arena. Usually, this press conference is in Cobo Arena -- now closed for repairs/rehab. Joe Louis turned out to be a far nicer place for a press conference, as Ford constructed an elaborate stage high above the ice where the Red Wings play.
Here we saw the reveal of the 2013 Ford Fusion (red, white cars), the Fusion Hybrid (bright blue car) and the Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid (ice-blue car). There's video after the jump.
The regular Fusions and the hybrid go on sale this fall, and we're told you'll be able to get all the drivetrain options at launch. Our favorite is likely to be the 237-hp 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder, but the 1.6-liter EcoBoost could be interesting as well, with its projected 26/37 EPA rating -- we rarely meet a turbo we don't like. We (as in, I) briefly sampled both of these engines in the current-generation Mondeo a few months ago at Ford's Lommel proving grounds. It wasn't enough time to form a substantive opinion, but both engines felt strong and smooth.
The plug-in Fusion Energi will show up at dealers right at the end of 2012. Like the regular Fusion Hybrid, it uses an Atkinson-cycle version of a naturally aspirated, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Total horsepower will be around 185.
The Fusion will be built in both Hermosillo, Mexico, and Flat Rock, Michigan. The hybrid and Energi models will be assembled in Mexico only.
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Categories: Detroit Auto Show,Ford,Future Vehicles,Sedans
On Monday, Mercedes-Benz will pull the sheet off of the 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL. We've already seen the sixth-gen SL in photos, but this will be our first time to see the 429-horsepower drop top in person.
If you're looking forward to this one, or just want to experience the real-life joy of attending an auto show press conference, Mercedes will be live-streaming the reveal on Facebook. Only 2 days and 20 hours left!
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Categories: Convertibles,Detroit Auto Show,Future Vehicles,Mercedes-Benz,Sports Cars
And this, friends is India's first supercar, the DC Avanti.
It's powered by a mid-mounted turbocharged Ford EcoBoost 4-cylinder making 240-horsepower but will eventually (hopefully?) be powered by a turbocharged Honda V6 that should do 400. The base transmission is a 6-speed manual, but a dual clutch Power Shift transmission will be available. The Avanti weighs in at 3,439 pounds, has a 106 inch wheelbase and is 182 inches long.
$56,000 for an Explorer motor in a...this thing? No thanks.
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Categories: Future Vehicles,Miscellaneous,Sports Cars
The press release read, "As provided in its June 10, 2009 Operating Agreement, Chrysler Group issued a letter to the U.S. Department of the Treasury stating that the Company has irrevocably committed to begin assembly of a vehicle with an unadjusted combined fuel economy of at least 40 mpg in commercial quantities in a production facility located in the United States."
And,
"In late December, Chrysler Group achieved the Fuel Economy Test, for an unadjusted combined rating of 40 mpg, with a pre-production version of the Dodge Dart, its new, state-of-the-art, four-door sedan."
So does this mean that you'll see a big, fat '40' on the window sticker of the 2012 Dodge Dart? Uh, no.
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Categories: Auto Industry,Dodge,Future Vehicles,Sedans
And as everybody expected, here's the third teaser of the 2013 Buick Encore on the company's Facebook page. Honestly, we were expecting them to take off the lower-rear first and save the dramatic face for the end, but we're glad they gave us the interesting bits first. And interesting is exactly the right word. The Encore ditches the smooth, sleek face of the current crop of Buicks in favor of this bulky tuner Mercedes type look.
Teaser 1, 2.
I'm on the fence here. What say you?
Categories: Buick,Crossovers,Future Vehicles
In just about two days, Dilip Chhabria will reveal a new supercar at the biennial Delhi Auto Expo Show.
Unlike so many other supercars out there from sexy locations with great driving roads and a deep history of motorsports, this one comes out of India. Known more for overpopulation, crazy drivers and the world's cheapest car, India isn't exactly a hotbed for supercar design. Chhabria is looking to change that, "It will offer the looks, feel dimensions, quality and fit and finish comparable to supercars from Lamborghini and Ferrari, minus the horsepower," he says. The DC Design supercar is likely to feature a turbocharged Honda V6 making 400 horsepower and a curb weight of under 3,500 pounds.
DC Design is hoping to put the car into limited production (3,000 units per year) in 2013 at $56,000.
Chaabria graduated from Art Center and previously worked for GM Design.
Categories: Coupes,Future Vehicles,Sports Cars
