July 5, 2012
- When it comes to videos featuring Chris Harris, we’re used to seeing him drive the latest European exotics though scenic Alpine passes. It’s a contrast, then, to see him driving the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 and the 2012 Chevy Camaro ZL1 through the concrete and steel canyons of New York City. Harris is on this side of the pond to compare...
June 20, 2012
- The three most important things about a one-day driving school are track time, track time and track time. Monticello Motor Club in upstate New York offers that, plus hours of class instruction, on a 22-turn, 4.1-mile track 90 minutes from Manhattan.
June 18, 2012
- Acura is on the verge of launching a new flagship luxury sedan that will pack more technology than any car they have offered before. This new sedan will be called the RLX. Considering Acura already has the RDX, MDX, ZDX, the recently launched ILX, and the upcoming NSX, it was only natural for them to add an “X” to the name of their new flagship. The RL, which has been on sale in Canada in its current guise since 2005, is a very competent...
June 15, 2012
- Bob Lutz has put Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's numerous past comments about the automotive bailout behind him, according to Automotive News. During a recent episode of "The Kudlow Report" on CNBC, the former auto executive made it clear he now backs Romney for the 2012 presidential election, saying "[Romney] now says he was totally in favor of [the bailout] and suggested it." In 2008, Romney wrote an op-ed for The New York Times titled, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." The piece...
June 14, 2012
- General Motors CEO Dan Akerson said the company may offer buyouts to United Autos Workers members before it negotiates a new contract in 2015. "We can bring it up," Akerson said Tuesday before GM's annual meeting, according to The New York Times. "I'm not saying we're going to do it, but it's something we could look at if the opportunity should arise." Roughly 42,000 of GM's 118,000 retirees or eligible spouses could opt for a one-time payment instead of a traditional pension. A similar offer...
- Acura is on the verge of launching a new flagship luxury sedan that will pack more technology than any car they have offered before. This new sedan will be called the RLX. Considering Acura already has the RDX, MDX, ZDX, the recently launched ILX, and the upcoming NSX, it was only natural for them to add an “X” to the name of their new flagship. The RL, which has been on sale in Canada in its current guise since 2005, is a very competent...
June 10, 2012
- This week, the new SRT Viper GTS-R hit the racetrack for the very first time at Carolina Motorsports Park, in the wake of its surprise unveiling at the New York Auto Show in April. According to the SRT Motorsports team in attendance, the shakedown run was an overwhelming success with the car performing better than expected. "To basically build that car, start it up the first time like the day before and have it run around the whole day and do everything it was supposed to do was a huge...
June 8, 2012
- Now that Lincoln is the sole remaining luxury brand within the Ford Motor Company, it's now time to give it back some sort of identity. The product line-up has been aging and sales have been falling for the last few years, so rejuvenation is in order. The first steps Ford is taking involve hiring a new designer. Max Wolff has become the director of design for the Lincoln brand; he previously worked for General Motors and helped skin the new 2013...
June 7, 2012
- And thus the mid-cycle product refresh - so common to computers and cellphones - comes around again to GM's plug-in hybrid. The new EPA sticker for the 2013 Chevrolet Volt has been released, and with it comes a fresh set of numbers. The highlights are an improved all-electric range and miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) rating: 38 miles and 98 MPGe - that's three miles of additional electric range and five more MPGe than last year. GM said in a statement today that "minor changes to the...
June 5, 2012
- On June 28, 1969, gays, lesbians, and their transgendered friends took to the streets of New York, protesting the harassment they'd experienced at the hands of the city's police force. The violence -- known now as the Stonewall Riots -- lasted for several days and altered the way that America viewed its LGBT neighbors. Forty-three years down the...
May 29, 2012
- Mother is a well-respected ad agency with offices in London, New York and Buenos Aires. Another noteable detail about Mother is that Pernilla Ammann is a partner and COO of Mother New York. That's important, because Mrs. Ammann's husband is General Motors CFO Dan Ammann. Neither point stands out on its own, but General Motors spent $600,000 with Mother to create webisodes in support of the 100th birthday of Chevrolet, and that's gotten the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commision. It...
May 24, 2012
- Chrysler Group's "Imported from Detroit" ad campaign grabbed top honors Wednesday night in New York City, winning the North American Grand Effie Award as the most effective ad in the nation. "Imported from Detroit was the Grand Effie winner because they sold the product, the category and the city," said Deborah Sandler, President, Mars Chocolate North American and a Grand Effie jury member, in a news release. Indeed. The two-minute Super Bowl commercial, titled "Born of Fire", created a huge...
- Runtime: 8:28 BMW has been socked with a big fine in Switzerland for blocking vehicle sales to Swiss customers. The Cadillac Escalade is here to stay and the redesigned 2014 model will ride on the next-generation GM pickup platform. Parking is notoriously expensive in New York City but this spot takes the cake! All that and [...]
May 21, 2012
- NEW YORK — Forget Facebook. This is still Apple's stock market. Apple — the world's most valuable company, the innovator that revolutionized the cell phone — climbed nearly 6 percent on Monday, helping propel major U.S. stock indexes to gains after a solid week of losses. The Standard & Poor's ...
May 18, 2012
- There are driving simulators and there are racing simulators. They tend to cross over, but what divides them are the types of cars and the types of roads used in the game. Drive racing cars on digitally recreated racing circuits and you're looking at a racing sim. Street cars on public roads (whether simulated or replicated) and you're playing a driving game. The Forza Motorsport franchise has always been more of a racing simulator than a driving game, but the minority of open roads that have...