Automotive News & Reviews, Cars & Prices, Test Drives, Crashes » Mitsubishi

Next Audi R8 To Keep Normally-Aspirated V-8 And V-10 Engines

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Despite being unveiled as far back as 2006, the Audi R8 is still a highly sought after performance machine and one of the best super-sports cars on the planet. Understandably, Audi won’t want to muck around too much with the award-winning formula so for the next-generation of the car Audi’s design team are reported to be taking an…

Volkswagen GTI Convertible Set For Geneva Motor Show: Report

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Volkswagen currently sells a convertible version of its Golf hatchback overseas and soon the compact drop-top may come in GTI performance flavor too. According to a new report, Volkswagen is set to unveil a new GTI Convertible (Cabriolet to our European readers) at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show in March. Britain’s AutoExpress reports that the…

Bugatti Veyron Doing 220-Plus MPH Runs On Public Road: Video

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:30:00 +0000

It’s a sad fact that a vast majority of supercar owners will never take their million-dollar machinery to the extremes they were designed for. In fact, it’s quite common for many of these beauties to be locked away in garages, only to be driven a few hundred miles each year. While we don’t condone speeding on public roads, we at…

Flying Lizard Motorsports Sets Sebring Driver Lineup

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:01:00 +0000

Flying Lizard Motorsports have confirmed their driver lineup for the 2012 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, the 60th running of the springtime classic. The Sonoma, CA-based team fields two Porsche 911 GT3 RSR race cars in the GT class for the entire American Le Mans Series (ALMS) season. Both Porsche factory drivers Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long…

Cadillac’s ATS Coupe On Hold, Or Is It?

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Cadillac has been blunt about which competitor is in the crosshairs of its upcoming ATS sedan. Not content to take on the Audi A4 or the Infiniti G37, Cadillac has repeatedly named the BMW 3-Series as the primary rival of the ATS. Part of the appeal of BMW’s 3-Series is the number of the number of variants it comes in, ranging from sedan, to…

Pagenaud Joins Muscle Milk Pickett Racing For Sebring

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:30:00 +0000

If you can’t beat him, just hire him? That must have been Muscle Milk Pickett Racing’s mantra when they decided to complete their American Le Mans Series (ALMS) driver lineup for the season opening race. The team signed former ALMS LM P1 champion Simon Pagenaud, formerly one of their biggest rivals, to join regular drivers Klaus Graf and Lucas…

Adrian Newey On The Record: F1 Design, 2012 Season

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:45:00 +0000

Everywhere he’s gone in the world of high tech motorsports, Adrian Newey has been the architect of winning cars. Currently technical director for Red Bull Racing, the reigning two-time World Championship team in Formula One, Newey is charged with keeping the team atop the world motorsports pyramid in 2012. It’s not an easy task, made even more…

Race Fans: Viper Cup Returning For 2012

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:30:00 +0000

Last year’s Dodge Viper Cup Series has gotten a name change, and it’s back for 2012 as the SRT Viper Cup Series, still presented by Pennzoil Ultra. The name isn’t all that’s changed, since new rules are designed to make racing even more competitive than before. As in previous years, the season will consist of ten races over…

MINI And Prodrive Parting Company In WRC: Report

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:15:00 +0000

The relationship between Prodrive, the company that builds and campaigns the MINI John Cooper Works WRC cars, MINI and MINI’s parent, BMW, has been described as “complex, and not in a good way.” Late last year, Prodrive missed a deadline, nearly excluding the highly competitive MINI WRC cars from the 2012 WRC season. Ultimately…

Cars.com News Briefs: Feb. 6, 2012

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:48:06 +0000

Here's what we have our eye on today:

Automakers joined beer and soft-drink companies for top billing among Sunday's Super Bowl ads, The Wall Street Journal reports. The publication polled consumers and ad experts, proclaiming ads from Chrysler, Volkswagen, Acura and Chevrolet the winners. Chrysler's two-minute Clint Eastwood spot wasn't available on USA Today's AdMeter — it ran during halftime, rendering it ineligible to be rated, the publication says. But the AdMeter ranked commercials of the Volkswagen Beetle, Kia Optima, Audi S7 and Chevrolet Silverado among its top 10 out of 54 ads rated.
Hyundai will see growth constraints because too many cars from affiliate Kia overlap Hyundai's products, Bloomberg reports. Indeed, the two Korean brands build a litany of nameplates that compete for U.S. shoppers' attention: the Kia Optima and Hyundai Sonata family sedans, for instance, or the Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tucson SUVs. Bloomberg notes the two companies, which have separate stock, combined for 38% more operating income in 2011. The partnership dates back to 1998, when Hyundai purchased a majority stake in then-bankrupt Kia.
At last weekend's annual National Automobile Dealers Association convention, Kia promised dealers 20 percent more cars this year, or about 100,000 new units, Automotive News reports. Many of those will come from the brand's West Point, Ga., facility, where Kia invested $100 million last year to add 60,000 units of capacity. Kia sales increased 36% last year, leaving the brand with just 33 days' supply — versus the auto industry's 52-day average — in dealer stock on Jan. 1, Automotive News estimates.
Mitsubishi remains a bit player in sales these days, but the automaker's North American president told dealers at NADA that the brand remains on track to increase sales to around 100,000 annual units — up from last year's 79,020 — by 2014, Automotive News reports. Among the products to propel it will be the carmaker's first plug-in hybrid SUV, due in 2013.