Today we've given another glimpse of the production Honda Insight before it debuts next month at the Detroit Auto Show. Aside from the minor details (e.g., door handles and exterior mirrors) that go from concept stylized to production practical, the official photo reveals an Insight that looks nearly identical to the concept that was shown at the Paris Motor Show in October, and the Los Angeles Show two weeks ago. Honda is expecting to sell about 100,000 copies of the Priu... err, Insight in North America once it goes on sale in the spring of 2009 with a base price expected to come in below $20,000.
Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2008 Malibu Hybrid
While it won't get him there as quickly (or as luxuriously) as a Gulfstream corporate jet, GM CEO Rick Wagoner will drive to Washington this week in a Chevrolet Malibu hybrid to ask for taxpayer-funded bridge loans. Last month, Wagoner, Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Chrysler LLC CEO Robert Nardelli, all received some serious flak from both lawmakers and the public when they arrived in Washington via three separate private jets while begging for $25 billion in federal money. All are expected to take alternate forms of transportation this time around, with Mulally already announcing plans to drive a Ford Escape Hybrid. Simple math says Wagoner's Malibu hybrid should only burn about 15 gallons of fuel during the 520-mile trek from Detroit to Capitol Hill, costing the automaker about $30 in gasoline (compare that to the estimated $10,000 cost of the jet one-way). It should be quite the road-trip.
It's pretty obvious at this point that Cerberus doesn't want to keep Chrysler, and turbulent economic realities have scuttled what few available prospects there would have been for new ownership. Some have openly wondered whether team Pentastar is even working on new products at all. Product development VP Frank Klegon insists that new Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep models are on their way, and he points to the next 300/Charger as proof.
Klegon told Automotive News at the LA Auto Show that the 2011 redesign of these two large, rear-wheel-drive sedans will beat projected 2011 CAFE standards. That feat will be accomplished with improvements to aerodynamics, axle ratios and upgraded engines. Klegon mentioned that the upcoming Phoenix engines, the development of which has not been cancelled, would motivate the Charger and 300. The new Phoenix family of V6 engines will have variable valve timing, cylinder deactivation and direct injection among its many efficiency increasing technologies. Automotive News also mentioned that Chrysler may employ an eight-speed automatic transmission to further improve performance and fuel economy. We don't know of any Chrysler transmission projects that are this ambitious, and Daimler currently utilizes only seven cogs in its Mercedes lineup, but suppliers like Aisin and ZF already have 8 speeds on the market.
Click above for high-res image gallery of the Porsche Panamera
As far as digital images go, there isn't much left to see of the new Porsche Panamera. Still, there's something special about seeing a new car in person, and the first chance the public will get to see the latest Swabian hatchback four-door grand touring sports car will be at the 2009 Shanghai Motor Show in April, not at the Geneva show a month earlier as initially planned.
With Porsche pushing back the Panamera's official intro, the German sports car maker clearly acknowledges that emerging markets such as China are extremely important to its growth. Its sales doubled last year in China while falling in both America and Europe. Experts expect this trend to continue well into 2009, so Porsche will be relying heavily on the Chinese to reach its goal of 20,000 highly-profitable Panameras per year.
Even though Ford hasn't admitted it, we all know what's coming to Detroit. The 2010 Ford Taurus that's been spied and rendered is on its way, and although FoMoCo's design director, J Mays, won't go on the record as saying that the new Taurus will be unveiled in Motor City, he did say the automaker will show off the next iteration of its global styling theme this January.
Ford's North American and European design teams have been working together for the last two years on the successor to the automaker's "kinetic" design language that made its production debut with the Mondeo and continued with the Fiesta and Kuga. Mays calls the new theme "post-kinetic" and says it will "have the best attributes of kinetic, but ... is going to be possibly a little more simple, a little more elegant." The rendering above – "inspired" by a singular spy shot and created by Joshua Byrnes – is a good indication of what's to come, and if that's what Mays means my "simple" and elegant," we're sold.
As you'd imagine, it's pretty tough to run a successful auto company if there's no viable product in the pipeline. Chrysler has seen its fair share of negative press for not announcing a clear strategy to rebuild the heart of its line-up, namely the Chrysler Sebring and the Dodge Avenger, and it's unclear how much life the aging 300C and Charger platform has in it. According to Chrysler's product development chief, Frank Klegon, though, there's nothing to worry about... assuming that the Feds pull through and "show them the money" they need for future development. If Detroit's number 3 automaker doesn't get the cash? Don't ask.
Klegon also says that Project D is still moving along, though no actual decisions have yet been made as to whether 1) a completely new platform is needed, 2) the old one will be modified or 3) another firm's mid-sizer will be cribbed for the next Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger. Despite rumors of its apparent demise, Klegon reiterated that the Phoenix project to develop next-gen V6 engines is well into the testing phase. Chrysler needs to knock all of these plans out of the park in order to remain competitive.
Click above for high-res gallery of the Bentley Continental GT Speed
Ever since Bentley came out from under the shadow of Rolls-Royce after the Volkswagen takeover in the late 1990s, the marque has been on a roll. The venerable British brand started getting its first bespoke designs in over half a century, which paid off in a huge spike in sales. After topping 10,000 sales for the first time in 2007, Bentley is feeling the same force of gravity as everyone else (except Audi it seems) this year. So far sales have dropped by 30 percent in 2008 and the Crewe factory has already cut production by 15 percent. Further cuts are likely and Bentley is providing assistance to dealers who have too much inventory. With the situation on Wall Street unlikely to abate anytime soon, it appears that Bentley's 37 U.S. dealers will be feeling the pain for a while longer.
Gallery: In the Autoblog Garage: Bentley Continental GT Speed
Click above for a gallery of the 2010 Mitsubishi Evolution X FQ400
Autocar snagged a handful of pics and some initial specs of the UK-only Mitsubishi Evolution X FX-400, and as suspected, the hotter Evo is a road-going version of the ADR Motorsport-prepared sedan that successfully campaigned this past September in the 24-Hour Britcar Championship.
The turbocharged 2.0-liter 4B11 will put out approximately 405 hp and 400 lb.-ft. of torque thanks to a new turbo, retuned ECU and center-exit exhaust. As opposed to the outgoing FQ400, the Evo X-based model won't use a race clutch, so puttering around town should be bit more bearable, and due to the FQ400's prodigious output, the twin-clutch SST gearbox – which can't handle more than 331 lb.-ft. of torque – won't be used. Despite this, expect the FQ400 to lay down 0-60 times of around 3.5 seconds, 0.6 seconds faster than the Evo X FQ360.
In addition to six-pot calipers, upgraded brakes and 18-inch wheels, the FQ400 will feature a new aero kit that includes additional cooling intakes, vents, a larger air intake in the hood and ducts cut into the side skirts to aid rear brake cooling. Production will be limited to 100 units, unless demand calls for more, but considering the price – between £45,000 and £50,000, or £14,500 more than the FQ-360 – 100 examples should just about do it.
The Jaguar XF-R is almost complete, and the house of the saltant feline looks to retain its suite of exceptionally modest modifications for the hottest version of its hottest seller. Outside, the car gets hood vents and larger intakes for better breathing, and a sliver of a trunk spoiler hovering over quad tailpipes out back. Larger wheels wearing lower profile rubber hanging off of a seriously firm suspension will be on the menu, all the better to harness the signature trait of an R car: the 500-horsepower supercharged V8 up front. We'll see it some time next year, our bet is at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
As much as Jeremy Clarkson complains about fat, uncool Americans and their crudely-made, overweight cars, General Motors managed to come out on top in two categories in Top Gear's annual awards.
If you said the Corvette ZR1 was a winner, you'd be totally correct. The 638-hp supercar was a shoo-in to win over the Top Gear team, just as we guessed when they were caught driving at at the Bonneville Salt Flats earlier this year. Chevrolet's baddest Vette ever sped off with top honors in Top Gear's Performance Car of the Year category.
The second award winner won't be quite as easy to guess, mostly because it's not sold in the U.S. Top Gear's Executive Car of the Year is the Vauxhall Insignia which is based on GM's Epsilon II platform. The magazine likes the car's looks and technology. We won't bother predicting whether we'll see it here eventually. For that to happen, Saturn will need to be around, and right now, we'll have to wait and see what happens on that front.
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In The Autoblog Garage: BMW X6 XDrive 35i
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