Chalk this one firmly in the rumormill category, but Johnathan Bodily over at Street Import Online is reporting that he's seen what appears to be an electric smart fortwo at Tesla's facility in San Carlos plugged into a Tesla-branded charging station. What's more, this particular smart differed from other fortwos in that it lacked a tail pipe. We know that Daimler has been running second-generation smart ed's (with lithium ion batteries from an unknown source) around various locations for a little while, and that Tesla has stated that it has signed a few deals to supply batteries to other companies for their electric vehicle projects. Putting this final piece of the puzzle together, it appears we have enough circumstantial evidence to conclude that the Silicon Valley company is provided the batteries to Daimler for its new electric smart cars. Hopefully, this collaboration will bear fruit in the form of both electric smart cars in America and provide Tesla Motors with some of the working capital it needs to continue forward with its Model S electric sedan project. We contacted Tesla for an official response, and as expected got a definitive "no comment." Next question, is Tesla providing the battery packs for the MINI E? Any camera wielding readers who happen to be in the in the San Carlos, CA area might want to cruise past Tesla's office and see if they can snap a picture of any cars plugged in outside the front door.
In addition to the Dodge Challenger SRT10 Concept, the Chrysler Group will also be bringing four Ram truck concepts to the SEMA Show in Las Vegas early next month, all tuned by its in-house Mopar Underground division. The first is the bright yellow Dodge Ram TRXtreme, which takes a quad-cab Ram with the TRX off-road package and adds an extra 4.5 inches of ground clearance, 20-inch Mopar wheels wearing BFG 73X12.50 series tires, fender flares, a tube step and box rail. The steel hood features cooling louvers and the grille is extra large, so the Ram's V8 should have no problem expelling excess heat while being worked.
The continued pursuit of adding lightness and cutting costs has led General Motors to a new material developed by Wilmington, Massachusetts company Quantum Leap Packaging. The liquid crystal polymer could be used in applications that traditionally require metal, including body panels. Plastics tend to have a larger coefficient of expansion, as anyone who's checked the door gaps on a Saturn SL1 will tell you, but this new material combines dimensional stability comparable to steel and strength on par with titanium. Quantech, as the material is known, is similar to Kevlar and could be used for support brackets, body pieces, and even underhood parts where the weather's always warm. While resins and exotic materials are no bargain, the price of steel has been increasing too, which makes a better case for trying something new. A fast-track plan may see Quantech hitting production cars in six months, though the timeline could protract to two years if the vetting process reveals any challenges to overcome.
The Chevy Volt is unique in that its engine is really just a generator that produces electricity for the batteries, which then power an electric motor that turns the front wheels for propulsion. While the Volt powertrain is pretty spectacular, it may not be unique for long. British car site AutoCar is reporting that Mazda is not only interested in a similar setup for a future plug-in hybrid, but it already has a working prototype on the road. Mazda engineers told AutoCar that a battery pack charged by a rotary engine is already being used in a Mazda5 mule, and that management is encouraged by the early results but wants to see battery costs go down before proceeding. If Mazda is working on a series hybrid like the Chevy Volt, that means its owner, Ford, would have direct access to the same technology. We do, however, find it odd that Mazda would use a rotary engine in this setup. While the Wankel engine is very compact and light, it's not very efficient and sucks oil, at least in the RX-8. When it comes to plug-in hybrids, though, we're with AutoblogGreen in saying the more the merrier.
Some of the more hard-core tifosi have been whining that Ferrari has gone soft with the new California. It's pretty hard to justify that a car able to hit 60 mph in the three-second range is soft, but so be it. The nay-sayers point to the inclusion of a folding hard-top as a sign that Ferrari has grown more concerned with pleasing its poseur clientele than developing genuine performance vehicles. Never mind that the innovative rapid-deployment roof, according to Ferrari, actually weighs 5kg less than an equivalent soft-top and still only takes 14 seconds to raise or lower. However, Maranello has not finished development of the California and intends to pacify those malcontents with some new features. For starters, Ferrari says that about 10% of its customers still demand a manual transmission, and so they will have one ready for the California by the time it actually goes on sale about half a year from now. Around the same time, Ferrari will also unveil a new HGTC handling package, like those offered for the 612 Scaglietti and the previous 575 M Maranello, to tighten up the California's suspension. A new set of lightweight wheels is also in the works, anticipated to shave some 10-12kg off of the unsprung weight. A 430 Scuderia it is not – that's why Ferrari makes both – but don't mistake the California for a lazy boulevard cruiser.
There's plenty of pain and anguish surrounding the flameout of the Packard nameplate in the late 1950s. Had things transpired differently, the storied marque might still be around producing the luxurious and meticulously engineered super high quality cars that the name was built upon. Cough up $1.5 million, and you could breathe new life into a marque that stretches back to 1899.
Roy Gullickson has held the rights to the Packard name since 1995 and expended a bunch of effort putting together a prototype and trying to drum up investment to relaunch the brand, but he's now looking to sell. The neo-Packard that Gullickson was shopping around is not what you'd call attractive (see above), but it comes as part of the deal, along with engineering designs, tooling, and parts. It's a good idea to make your limited-run ultra luxury car look like something other than a Chinese Bentley knockoff, but you can make that right by putting your money on the line instead of spouting off like some jaded internet scribe. At least three international companies are reported to be seriously sniffing around the half-exhumed carcass, so it might be wise to act quickly if you'd like to see new Packards in tony garages and rap videos.
The BMW 6-Series is a lot of car, and while the 5.0-liter V10 in the M6 does a remarkable job of moving it around, critics have said it could use some help. Reports now indicate that the M division is giving it some help in the form of a new Competition Package.
The pseudo-CSL gets a new active suspension and a ride height lowered by 12mm up front and 10mm in the back, along with new wheels and a new front hood to set it apart from the standard model. With or without the Competition Package, however, the entire M6 range (coupe and convertible) gets new side mirrors, a new electronics package controlled by the revised iDrive system and a new shade of black for the exterior. While we're not sure the new option pack would prompt us to take the M6 Competition Package racing as its name suggests, it does make the big sports-coupe that much more tempting.
If the Prius went mainstream when Toyota bumped production to 280,000 worldwide units per year in 2007, the fuel efficient hybrid is now primed to kick project green to the next level. When Toyota begins producing the next gen Prius, it'll do so with more factory space than ever dedicated to the universal symbol for fuel efficiency, making it possible to produce 480,000 vehicles per year. The Japan-based Tsutsumi factory, which currently builds five different vehicles, will stop making the JDM Wish minivan to allow for more Priuses. Even more Prius capacity will be available beginning in 2010, when the Japanese automaker's new Mississippi plant comes online and begins to produce more of the hybrid.
With the meteoric rise in gas prices, the Prius has gone from a yuppie green statement for politicians and suburbanites to a means for the masses to travel around town without breaking the bank. $4 per gallon gas and a continued lack of competition means Toyota could probably double production again and still sell every Prius it makes.
Ford is hoping to continue the reduction of both the number of vehicles the automaker will produce and, correspondingly, its hourly blue-collar workforce. In order to make good with the UAW, the same buyout packages available last year are being extended to these unionized workers. The packages have not changed since they were offered to Ford employees in Kentucky in June of 2007. These latest buyout announcements involve workers from plants in either Michigan or Ohio, a further blow to the already weakened economies in these two auto-heavy states.
Earlier this year, Ford said it was hoping for another 9,000 hourly workers to take buyouts. Between 2006 and 2007, a total of 33,600 union workers accepted either buyout packages or early retirement packages, a huge percentage of Ford's total employees. At this rate, we wonder how many UAW workers Ford will have left after it's all said and done.
This weekend, Dodge officially unveiled two Challenger Drag Race Package cars that made their inaugural runs down the 1/4 mile track in front of thousands of race fans at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals near Denver, CO. Based on the standard Challenger SRT8, each of the Drag Race Package cars features a completely stripped body that has the body sealer, sound deadener, and undercoat all removed. Additional components are also left out including the windshield wipers, HVAC system, air bags, rear seats, power steering, exhaust system, side-impact beams, rear bumper beam, and more. Further weight is saved by using composite and poycarbonate components, and overall a total of 1000 pounds has been shaved off the car.
Additional changes include repositioning the engine for a better driveline angle, a slightly shortened wheelbase, a bolt-in crossmember, and solid engine mounts. Engine options include the 6.1L and 5.7L HEMI or the 5.9L Magnum Wedge. Mopar will build at least 100 of the cars to meet NHRA requirement, and they will be eligible to run in Comp, Super Stock, and Stock categories. Pricing will start in the low $30,000 range, and Mopar will begin taking orders in late August or September.
