May 24, 2013
- In case you missed it, Australia's V8 Supercars racing series - think of it as a cross between ALMS GT and NASCAR - roared through Texas this past weekend providing entertainment for more than 68,000 fans who were in attendance at the Austin 400 held at the impressive Circuit of the Americas venue. The three-day Championship event included four qualifying sessions and four 100 kilometer sprint races, all run nearly flat-out.
The series'...
May 23, 2013
- The Nissan Leaf, the Fiat 500e and now the 2014 Chevy Spark EV 1LT. Three different electric hatchbacks that can all be had for the same low lease price: $199 per month. The Spark even has the same appealing $999 down payment as the Fiat (the Leaf's is $1,999) and both require 36-month leases, so the cost of these two city runabouts is identical, at least at the base level. The one potential hiccup: Chevy says it's a "low mileage lease," and you'll pay 25 cents a mile for each mile over 12,000...
May 20, 2013
- There was a time when the relationship between Detroit and Japanese automakers could be summed up by photos of Big Three workers smashing a Honda or a Toyota with a sledgehammer. That’s not really the case these days. The latest example of Japanese-American cooperation comes via Nissan and Che...
May 15, 2013
- On the verge of being frozen out of the Euro-sourced commercial van craze currently sweeping across North America, General Motors has made a surprising deal with Japanese rival Nissan. Under the terms of a new agreement, Chevrolet will be re-badging Nissan NV200 compact vans and selling them as their own. …
- North Carolina is the latest state to line up against Tesla Motors by proposing a bill that would bar direct automaker-to-customer sales within the state, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. Still, Tesla says plans to open a showroom there and has sold about 80 cars to North Carolina residents, with reservations for about 60 more. According to Slate, a bill pushed by the state's Senate Commerce Committee - and backed, of course, by the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association (NCADA...
May 14, 2013
- Your eyes do not deceive you - that is, in fact, a Nissan NV200 work van with Chevrolet badging. General Motors and Nissan today announced a partnership where the Japanese automaker will build Bowtie-badged vans for Chevy dealers to sell throughout the United States and Canada. The new van, called the City Express, is expected to go on sale in the fall of 2014. "Our fleet customers have asked us for an entry in the commercial small van segment, so this addition to the Chevrolet portfolio will...
May 7, 2013
- One of the greatest things every Corvette has had going for it, and also one of the most re-used arguments against it, is its price-to-performance equation - long before the Nissan GT-R became the de facto Porsche 911 comparator the Corvette spent decades as Exhibit A. Depending on which side of the argument you stressed, supporters crowed about how much performance you got for how (comparatively) little, detractors carped on how little you got everywhere else in the bargain. It appears...
May 4, 2013
- Sub-prime borrowers are buying completely different cars than everyone else, at least according to data gathered by Carfinance.com. This financing company that specializes in helping "below-prime" borrowers finance their car purchases looked at data gathered from between October 2012 and March 2013. According to their numbers, the top 10 new cars bought by sub-prime borrowers during that time are as follows.
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Dodge Avenger
Kia Forte
Kia Optima
Chrysler 200
Dodge Journey
Ford Focus...
May 1, 2013
- While monthly sales figures might be an easy way of tracking the progression of the auto industry and individual automakers, looking at market share might be more indicative of how each company is actually standing up against its competitors. For the Detroit Three automakers, they have collectively lost almost 30 percent of the market over the last 20 years, but now, for the first time since 1993, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have each posted market share gains at the same time. According...
April 29, 2013
- The current Honda Fit has been around the block a few times. The subcompact hatch has soldiered on without significant revision since its first update for US customers in 2009, and while Honda is on the verge of launching a third generation, we thought we'd take the time to see how the runabout stacks up against the new wave of small, efficient and plucky five-doors now on the American market. Those include old standbys like the Nissan Versa and Toyota Yaris, as well as relative newcomers like...
April 26, 2013
- After months of speculation, Chevrolet has finally revealed the official starting price of the 2014 Corvette Stingray. The base MSRP for the 450-horsepower Stingray Coupe will be $51,995, while the Stingray Convertible will go for $56,995 (*both prices include a $995 destination fee). This means that the price increase from 2013 to 2014 is just $1,400 for the coupe and $2,395 for the convertible - pretty modest increases considering the upgrade in specifications. Of course, neither price...
April 24, 2013
- It's getting harder and harder to be the first/best/most electric vehicle in the US market. Most range goes to the Tesla Model S. First all-electric of the current generation goes to the Nissan Leaf or the Tesla Roadster, depending on your viewpoint. Best? Well, that's in the eye of the beholder, isn't it? We do have a new entry for "most efficient," though, which apparently goes to the Chevrolet Spark EV. That's what General Motors announced today, along with an official EPA-estimated range...
April 22, 2013
- It's one thing to have a major international auto show hold its one sole press day on a weekend, and it's another to have to accommodate for that on top of a huge time difference. Such was the case with the Shanghai Motor Show this past weekend, and while we managed to get a majority of our live coverage wrapped up on Saturday, a few stragglers and updates have also worked their way into the fold. Because of that, we're giving you one more look at our official, final, tied-a-bow-on-it roundup...
April 15, 2013
- When gas prices rise, knee-jerk consumerism means that sales of small cars increase in lockstep, right? Well, sometimes - but that's not always the case. Ward's Auto reports that sales of subcompact car sales in America are off despite fuel prices pushing and holding at $3.50 to $4.00 a gallon across the country. According to the report, the "Lower Small" segment has seen a 2.6-percent sales decline since October, while fuel prices have been on the rise. Despite their comparatively thirsty...
April 9, 2013
- When we first saw and drove new midsize sedans like the 2013 Nissan Altima and 2013 Ford Fusion, we had a feeling the Toyota Camry would eventually see a challenge for the top sales spot, but we had no idea things would move this quickly. Automotive News is reporting that the quarter tallies still show the Camry holding a sizable lead over its competition, but the Altima did manage to outsell the Toyota by 100 units last month. While a single month of not outselling the competition might not be...