Archive for April, 2011
The Biodegradable Car: Strange Fantasy or Intriguing Possibility
Posted on 30. Apr, 2011 by admin.
Nothing kills the landscape like the eyesore of a rusty, automotive carcass. No matter if it’s a whole junkyard full of rotting cars or a single car abandoned in the middle of the woods, dead old cars aren’t pretty. And with millions of cars on the road, there is just a ton of future garbage driving around waiting to pollute the Earth. But, if our…
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Buddy Rice Joins Panther Racing for 100th Indianapolis 500
Posted on 30. Apr, 2011 by admin.
2004 Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice joins Panther Racing for the 100th anniversary race. Photo courtesy INDYCAR Buddy Rice, the 2004 winner of the Indianapolis 500 is returning to the Brickyard for this year’s 100th anniversary race. Rice, the former Atlantic champion has been racing in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series for the past couple of…
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Three Champs and a Surprise First-Timer Ahead at NHRA Houston
Posted on 30. Apr, 2011 by admin.
A first time: It’s number one for Ronnie Humphrey at the Houston NHRA race. Photo: Anne Proffit There were three current/former champions – and one newcomer – atop the leader boards after two rounds of qualifying for this weekend’s O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals at Baytown, TX’s Royal Purple Raceway. Fifteen-time and reigning champ John…
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SiriusXM Reordering Channels: One Lineup
Posted on 29. Apr, 2011 by admin.
When Sirius and XM satellite radio networks merged to form SiriusXM, they consolidated channels but kept different lineups and channel numbers. So if you liked Hair Nation, you would listen to it on Sirius 23 or XM 44. That changes on Wednesday.
Starting May 4, subscribers of either the original Sirius or XM will now be on one consolidated lineup. It will follow the current Sirius lineup more closely, with Pop and Rock leading the low numbers and Sports and Talk beginning at channel 84.
Howard Stern fans will remain on Howard 100 and Howard 101. Jason Ellis fans will find Faction radio on 41, and my personal favorite, Pearl Jam Radio, finds a new home on channel 22. It also gets its own logo now.
Jam On, the channel dedicated to bands like Phish that Pearl Jam usurped, returns to the radio lineup on channel 29. It had been relegated to an online-only station.
We doubt many subscribers of either service will be overjoyed with another lineup change, but for automotive journalists who switch between cars with one service or the other, it alleviates one of our few gripes with the job.
You can check out the full lineup in Download SiriusLineup.
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Audi Sales Held Back by Slim Inventory
Posted on 29. Apr, 2011 by admin.
You would think setting sales records month after month would be a good thing, but it’s also had a negative side effect for luxury brand Audi. There aren't enough cars on lots for all the shoppers walking in the door to buy.
Audi’s 227 dealerships collectively have about 10,000 cars on their lots, which is equivalent to a 27-day supply for the entire lineup. A 60-day supply is considered healthy, according to Ward’s Auto.
That situation is somewhat of a mixed-blessing, said Johan de Nysschen, president of Audi America. At least people want Audi vehicles, but the situation is causing some shoppers to desert the brand. Audi cannot satisfy demand for its A4, A5, Q5 and Q7 crossovers, or the redesigned A8 flagship; all these models have less than a 20-day supply.
Such short supply means the desired vehicle — right trim, powertrain and color — often aren’t available without custom ordering it from the factory and waiting for delivery. Audi says preorders make up 31% of sales currently. That’s not a good thing because many car shoppers don’t like purchasing a vehicle in this manner. “[It’s] unsustainable because we’re losing business … and some of our dealers are unprofitable,” de Nysschen told Wards Auto. He also added that his company could be selling twice as many diesel Q7 crossovers if they were available.
Audi hopes the rollout of the 2012 Audi A6 and A7 will take pressure on some off of its more constrained models. The 2012 Audi A7 went on sale earlier this month, and the A6 goes on sale later this summer. However, we don't see how that will please Q5 fans who might be prefer to buy a new BMW X3 or Volvo XC60 rather than waiting for a Q5.
Audi Constrained by Vehicle Supply (Wards Auto)
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BMW USA CEO O’Donnell Apologizes For EV Remarks, But Was He Wrong?
Posted on 29. Apr, 2011 by admin.
Electric cars are a unique slice of the automotive world. At once futuristic and yet the technology of today, wrapped in the politics of environmental consciousness and foreign oil dependency, EVs have a milieu all their own–and that extends to the way we talk about them. Especially when you’re the CEO of a company that just launched a brand…
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Royal Wedding: Prince William Scores With Something Old, Something New
Posted on 29. Apr, 2011 by admin.
Who knew the royal wedding would have anything to do with cars? Well, for those who chose sweet, blessed sleep over the watching the royal wedding, you missed the Prince and his new bride driving off in a classic Aston Martin DB6 Volante. Yes, the top was down, and the plates read “JU5T WED.” How very British. At least the good Prince didn’t drive…
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Mercedes-Benz A-Class Concept: 2011 New York Auto Show Video
Posted on 29. Apr, 2011 by admin.
Concept cars as dashing as the Mercedes-Benz A-Class are often little more than design bucks, built to give the flavor of future styles, without any intent for production. The A-Class is going to production, however (albeit in much more production-spec clothing), with an AMG variant even planned. This video gives us a look at the concept with an…
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Peugeot EX1 Sets Electric Car Nurburgring Record At 9:01.338
Posted on 29. Apr, 2011 by admin.
We’ve long lamented the fact that Peugeot’s exotic-looking, relatively high-performance EX1 Concept electric car won’t be seeing production. The latest feat, a 9-minute, 1.338-second lap of the Nurburgring’s Nordschleife just makes the pain worse. The time is nearly a minute quicker than the previous EV lap record, and on par with many current…
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Travis Pastrana Finishes 33rd At Richmond After Crash
Posted on 29. Apr, 2011 by admin.
NASCAR ain’t easy. Just ask Travis Pastrana. After largely dominating North American rally for the past several years, he’s finding it hard to make it to the front of the pack in the roundy-round crowd. His latest race at Richmond in the Nationwide Series saw him finish 33rd after contact with the wall. Always the good sport, Pastrana is…
