Archive for August, 2010
Ram Trucks App Now Available for the Apple iPhone
Posted on 31. Aug, 2010 by admin.
Chrysler has launched Ram Truck 1500/2500/3500 Vehicle Info, an iPhone application that provides owner-manual information for late-model Ram pickups in the palm of your hand.
Key features include operating instructions, inspection and maintenance schedules, warning lights and controls, warranty information and customer assistance. Other features include links to Mopar parts and accessories for your truck, Ram gear and merchandise and Ram websites.
All that for free. Download it today from Apple’s App Store and let us know how it works.
[Source: Chrysler]
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How to Take Apart a Chevy Volt
Posted on 31. Aug, 2010 by admin.
With journalists and firefighters gathered nearby, members of the Chicago Fire Department ripped apart an already battered Chevy Volt last week. No, it wasn’t retribution for Chevrolet’s sponsorship of last season’s Green Bay Packers. It’s part of a joint effort by Chevrolet and the National Fire Protection Association, which is funded by a $4.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, to educate emergency responders about strategies for dealing with electric-vehicle crashes.
We had a ringside seat to the mayhem. As we’ve reported, electric and hybrid-electric vehicles have various safety designs, including absorbent-matt technology in their batteries to inertia cutoffs and leakage sensors, to minimize the risk of electrocution. However, rescue workers face other issues across all newer cars such as higher-strength steel that’s harder to cut through and various safety features within that require delicate handling.
How exactly do you take a wrecked Volt apart to extricate those inside? Very carefully.
On a balcony at Chicago’s McCormick Center, where the Chicago Auto Show is held, the firefighters went to work. The Volt, a preproduction car from GM’s crash-readiness labs, was pretty banged up: Its doors were bent in, the windshield smashed and the airbags deployed to replicate a car that’s been in a serious accident.
The procedure would begin with firefighters turning off the engine, fire chief Ron Moore said. In this case, reaching through a front window and holding down the start button. Firefighters then opened the Volt’s hatch and cut the cabling to the 12-volt battery. (Virtually every car has a 12-volt; this is a standard procedure that isn’t hybrid or EV specific.) Starting at the rear doors, firefighters wedged open the frames with hydraulic spreaders – better known as the Jaws of Life – and cut the door latches and hinges to remove it entirely. The same was done on the front doors.
If occupants are pinned down, firefighters must remove the roof. This is where high-strength steel makes it tricky.
In the Volt, the window pillars have high-strength steel. “This is not mild steel of the cars in the 1980s and 1990s,” Moore said. Newer-generation hydraulic cutters are necessary. At $3,000 to $5,000 a set, EMS trainer Pete Bellows said they’re not something every firefighter has access to.
With later-generation sets, firefighters on the scene cut the Volt’s A- and B-pillars at their base, followed by cutting them at their tops. If it’s done the other way around, the pillars can warp inward onto crash victims, Bellows said. The final step was removing the roof, sliced here down the center of the car to preserve a cutaway view. The whole process of disassembly,if there hadn't been thorough explanation between each step, would have been mere minutes.
Chevy planned to display the Volt later at the convention center.
Newer cars mean new technologies, which rescue workers have to watch out for.
“We have seat belt pretensioners,” firefighter Rich Stack said. “You can’t cut into those. We have airbag prechargers and just certain things like that. You have to peel certain [interior] trim off and know where those are.”
“Potentially, it can explode like a grenade,” Bellows said of the prechargers, which deploy side curtain airbags. “You have to strip the trim and figure out where it is.”
That’s all part of the territory with any modern car. Hybrid and electric vehicles carry additional risks, marked by high-voltage cables. Any cable with more than 60 volts – the domain of EVs and hybrids – has to be orange, Bellows said. As long as firefighters exercise caution around them such vehicles pose little more risk than conventional gasoline cars.
“There’s the perception and the fear” of electrocution, Bellows said. If rescue workers know what they’re dealing with, the risk of electrocution is pretty low: “The car manufacturers, as far as I know, have done a great job” minimizing it, he said.
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Rendered: 2012 Volkswagen Touareg R Hybrid
Posted on 31. Aug, 2010 by admin.
Earlier this week we reported that Volkswagen was working on a new ‘R’ performance version of its recently revealed 2011 Touareg SUV, and now we have a new computer-generated depicting the car. As you may recall, the previous generation Touareg R50 featured a 5.0-liter V-10 turbodiesel engine with 350 horsepower and a stump-pulling 626…
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2010 Paris Auto Show Preview: 2011 Lexus IS-F
Posted on 31. Aug, 2010 by admin.
Last week we were graced with the first images and details of the facelifted 2011 Lexus IS range and today we have details for the high-performance IS-F model. Joining the rest of the IS range at next month’s 2010 Paris Auto Show, the new 2011 Lexus IS-F will feature subtle styling tweaks, a revised interior and a cleaner powerplant. Peak…
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2012 Infiniti M35 Hybrid: First Look
Posted on 31. Aug, 2010 by admin.
Infiniti has confirmed – and provided a few photos (above and below) — that it will debut the company’s first hybrid model at this fall’s Los Angeles Auto Show.
Unfortunately, we don’t have much information on the new M35's hybrid powertrain, but Infiniti does say the hybrid “promises V-8 performance with four-cylinder fuel economy — without compromising driving excitement or trunk space.”
Just looking at the images, there don’t appear to be any cosmetic changes for improved aerodynamics such as different wheels or a redesigned front bumper and grille.
The 2012 Infiniti M Hybrid goes on sale this spring. For now, check out the pictures below and click on them for larger versions.
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Nissan Bringing Murano Convertible to L.A. Auto Show
Posted on 31. Aug, 2010 by admin.
We’ve heard rumors of a convertible Nissan Murano for years. Frankly, we didn’t believe them. However, Nissan will debut the Murano CrossCabriolet at the Los Angeles Auto Show in a few months, and we’ll finally get to see it and believe it then.
The Murano CrossCabriolet isn’t a concept car; it will go on sale in early 2011 alongside the new Quest minivan, which is also set to debut to the public at the L.A. show. The CrossCabriolet will be an all-wheel-drive vehicle with seating for four — unlike the Murano crossover’s five.
A concept car called the Ellure will also be on display, which is supposed to be a “value” sedan design exploration. This would be a good idea since the company’s current Sentra sedan is a bit of a snore in the design department.
The final production version of the Nissan Leaf electric car will also debut at the show.
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How the Next Ford Ranger Could Come to the U.S.
Posted on 31. Aug, 2010 by admin.
Two significant events last week, plus past comments from Ford execs, reaffirmed that it’s curtains for the domestic-built Ford Ranger and Ford’s small pickups in the U.S. after 2011. But one possible scenario could play out that might still see American truck buyers driving a Ranger in 2012 and beyond.
On Aug. 25, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and St. Paul, Minn., Mayor Chris Coleman unsuccessfully lobbied Ford to keep its Twin Cities assembly plant open where the Ranger is assembled for the U.S. and Canadian markets. After several extensions, Ford Ranger production will end in Minnesota by the end of next year.
A day after Minnesota’s last-ditch efforts, Ford and Mazda announced a $350 million joint venture in Thailand to build the next-gen Ford Ranger — code named T6 — and its Mazda counterpart, the BT-50, for markets around the globe except the U.S. (and Canada) starting in mid-2011.
Ford sells two versions of the Ranger: the U.S.-built Ranger and a Thai-built Ranger that shares only its name with the North American Ranger. The Ranger T6 will be built on a single, globally shared platform that's being designed in Australia.
Ford isn’t the only one fleeing the segment at home. Chrysler has said the Dodge Dakota will end production next year, though the Dakota may be replaced by a small unibody pickup. Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon production is also expected to end by 2012, leaving only Toyota, Nissan and potentially India’s Mahindra & Mahindra as the remaining players in the U.S.
The segment has steeply declined over the last decade in the U.S. because buyers have fled compact and midsize trucks as their sizes have increased along with prices to near full-size levels and the platforms have aged in favor of updates for light- and heavy-duty pickups, which have higher profit margins.
Two obstacles preventing the future overseas Ranger from showing up here are Ford’s all-new engine lineup for the 2011 F-150 half-ton pickup, which includes a new fuel-efficient Duratec 3.7-liter V-6, and the so-called “chicken tax” which imposes a pricey 25 percent import tax on pickups manufactured in most countries outside the U.S., including Thailand.
The term “chicken tax” originated in the early '60s during a trade dispute between the U.S. and Europe over U.S.-imported chickens, which were slapped with a special tax to protect West German farmers. The U.S. responded by slapping a 25 percent tariff on trucks imported from Europe.
There are countries, though, where the chicken tax doesn’t apply because of special trade agreements with the U.S., such as Australia and Mexico.
In addition to Thailand, Ford will also build the Ranger T6 at a second site in South Africa, at its Silverton factory in Pretoria. South Africa isn’t subject to the chicken tax because the country is part of the African Growth and Opportunity Act that was signed into law in 2000.
AGOA provides incentives for American companies to trade and invest with African countries that meet certain conditions, such as eliminating commerce barriers and promoting human rights. The countries can also export goods to the U.S. duty-free, including pickup trucks.
It’s possible that under AGOA, Ford could decide to import the Ranger T6 to the U.S. (with certain modifications required to meet federal emissions and safety standards) and avoid the chicken tax.
Ranger T6 production is scheduled to start in South Africa by the end of 2011, about the same time that U.S. Ranger production is winding down.
But there’s risk in such a move for Ford. Unless it’s extended by the federal government, AGOA will expire in 2015, and South Africa, along with 39 other African nations, will lose the special tax-free trade status. Ford could get caught scrambling for a third assembly line in a chicken-tax-free country if Ranger T6 sales take off in the U.S. beyond 2015.
Still, three years could be enough time for Ford to test if small-truck buyers are still serious about small trucks.
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De Macross GT1 Supercar Taking Shape In Canada
Posted on 31. Aug, 2010 by admin.
Another supercar project is brewing up north; the De Macross GT1, which is being developed by Canada’s De Macross Motors Corp (DMMC) and is set to go on sale next year. You may recall that we reported on fellow Canadian supercar project, HTT’s Pl
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2011 Jeep Liberty Gets Minor Updates, Lower Price
Posted on 31. Aug, 2010 by admin.
The 2011 Jeep Liberty has been available to customers for a while now, with 1,497 vehicles on sale on Cars.com, but the automaker hasn’t released any information in terms of updates to the model for the media’s consumption or on its consumer website.
Just by looking at some of the photos dealers have posted, we can see that Jeep has updated the Liberty’s steering wheel to match the one going into production on the 2011 Jeep Wrangler and the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. This change alone is fairly significant, as the Liberty’s old steering-wheel controls could access only the onboard computer and redundant radio controls, placed behind the steering wheel.
The new steering wheel lets the driver control the same functions as well as Uconnect Phone, Chrysler’s Bluetooth pairing system. A cool part of Uconnect Phone is the ability to stream audio from a Bluetooth-enabled phone through the Liberty’s stereo. You can also access UConnect Voice Command, which allows you to control audio, record memos and even play incoming text messages through the Liberty’s speakers. Comparing Jeep’s user guides of the 2010 and 2011 Liberty, the 2010 Liberty did not have the ability to stream music or play incoming text messages.
You can now also access the cruise control from the steering wheel, as opposed to an awkwardly placed third stalk that the 2010 Liberty used.
In addition to the silver appliqué trim on the 2010 model, a wood grain appliqué now seems to be available. There appear to be upgrades to some of the interior materials, but we have no confirmation on that.
For 2011, the Liberty comes in Sport, Limited Edition and Renegade trims. The Sport starts at $23,250, which is a $5 drop from the 2010. The Limited starts at $26,650 ($475 less from 2010) and the Renegade at $27,250 ($610 less from 2010). Four-wheel drive is a $1,600 option. Destination is a $745 fee for all trims.
We’ll keep you posted on other updates for the 2011 Jeep Liberty when Chrysler makes more information available.
2011 Jeep Liberty interior:
2010 Jeep Liberty interior:
*Exterior shot courtesy of Wally Armour Chrysler Dodge Jeep Dodge Truck
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Video: Mitsubishi i-MiEV
Posted on 31. Aug, 2010 by admin.
Cars.com senior editor Joe Wiesenfelder recently got his hands on what will be one of the first battery-electric cars in the U.S., the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Besides being propelled by a virtually quiet electric motor, the i-MiEV drives and feels like any other car, Wiesenfelder says. It even has decent cargo space in comparison to its tiny footprint. Still, with a limited total range — especially when you start trying to control the cabin temperature — is the i-MiEV a realistic heir apparent to today’s gas chuggers? Watch the video to find out.
