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More shots of Chevy Cruze from Lordstown

Yesterday's announcement by General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner that his company would invest $500 million in the U.S. to build the 2011 Chevy Cruze was perhaps most welcomed by the workers at GM's assembly plant in Lordstown, OH where the car will be built. That plant is getting a $350 million shot in the arm to gear up for the Cruze, which appeared on stage with Wagoner for the announcement. The car on hand was only a foam model, but it looks ready to drive away in (just don't lean on the doors), and these new images give us a few more views of the Cruze not afforded by the official images of a red car released by GM yesterday. Cruze news will probably be hard to come by until October when the car makes its official world debut at the Paris Motor Show, so until then we're left wondering how well it will match up against the likes of the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, next-gen Focus and the rest of the compact sedan segment.
posted : 9/2/2008 @6:10:04 PM
2011 Chevy Cruze

They're here! The first official pics of the 2011 Chevy Cruze have been released by General Motors, and we're not ashamed to say it – we like it. Of course, we're comparing it to the current small car in GM's lineup, the Cobalt, so the bar is pretty low. That said, GM's new small car takes the split-grille motif made famous by the Malibu and makes it more interesting with sharp creases rather than rounded corners. The front end features headlights that extend up and "point" to the A-pillars, and a strong character line running the length of the vehicle sits below a concave bend that sweeps up to meet the windows. GM claims that fit and finish of the Cruze will be world class for a small car, and that its interior will use "grained surfaces, soft-touch materials and low gloss trim panels" to improve its perceived quality. Unfortunately, no shots of the interior were provided, but you can catch a glimpse in this rear 3/4 shot. The Cruze will be a global car, and as such it's going on sale in Europe first. It will makes its global debut at the Paris Motor Show in October, where European customers will be the first to check it out in person before it goes on sale in March 2009 overseas. It will be available at launch with a 112-hp 1.6L engine, a 140-hp 1.8L and a 150-hp 2.0L turbodiesel. The North American version will likely get GM's upcoming direct injected 1.4L four-cylinder. The Cruze will also offer a five-speed manual and GM's first application of a six-speed automatic in a small car. The kicker? The 2011 Chevy Cruze will be built at GM's plant in Lordstown, OH where the current Cobalt and Pontiac G5 are built. Though it'll be built right in our own backyard, the Cruze reportedly won't be available in the U.S. for at least a year or two.
posted : 9/2/2008 @1:44:11 PM
Spy Shots: Maserati Gran Turismo Spyder

Never underestimate a car guy on holiday. That's the lesson to be learned by Maserati, which apparently left a Gran Turismo Spyder mule in a lot somewhere in Modena. An eagle-eyed tourist snapped off a handful of pics showing the two-piece roof and articulating trunk in its earliest stages of development. Expect the Gran Turismo Spyder to make its debut in Paris later this year, with sales beginning in early 2009.
posted : 9/2/2008 @3:15:10 AM
Citroën C6 Office -- like KITT for French businessmen

Citroën and Intersection magazine have integrated KITT-like visual style with a number of in-car distractions to create the C6 Office, a rolling style project aimed at European business overlords. It'll make its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, a favorite the yacht-and-helo set it's meant to appeal to. From there, it'll head to Paris Fashion Week for another go-round before the bourgeoisie, ultimately trickling down to the rabble at the Paris Motor Show in October. The variety of partners involved in the creation include Blackberry and Kenwood on the technical side, while Krug champagne and swanky food store Fauchon ensure that backseat wheeler-dealers stay drunk and well-fed. Alcantara appears to adorn everything above the beltline inside and a "Black Shadow" finish covers the exterior surfaces, from the grillework down to the Parotech wheels. We'll bring you live shots of the C6 Office in October when we see it along with the rest of the filthy peasants in Paris.
posted : 9/2/2008 @2:02:32 AM
Ford Ka gets role in new Bond movie

Ford's new Ka mini-car will be making its official debut at the Paris Motor Show in early October, but it already has a bit part in the next James Bond movie. Since the success of Casino Royale and the walk on part played by the then-new Mondeo, Ford has taken up the automotive product placement mantle in all Bond movies for the foreseeable future. Unlike the Mondeo, which Bond picked up from a Caribbean rental car counter, the Ka, which shares a platform with the Fiat 500, will apparently be tossed around by the super spy's feminine counterpart. Ford hasn't given any indication that it will bring the Ka to the US market, but given recent announcements about globalizing its products, a Stateside Ka certainly can't be counted out. In the meantime, we can see if the Ka can fly like an Aston Martin DBS when Quantum of Solace hits theaters in November.
posted : 8/31/2008 @6:02:13 PM
Insignia Sports Tourer wagon revealed before Paris Motor Show

The all-new Insignia is about to go on sale as a Vauxhall in Britain and an Opel throughout the rest of Europe, thereby replacing the Vectra sedan. It's a marked improvement over its predecessor in style, and we're eager for it to arrive in the States as the next-gen Saturn Aura. Vauxhall had the honor today of announcing the next version of the Insignia that will makes its debut at the Paris Motor Show in October: the Insignia Sports Tourer. That's a fancy way of calling it a wagon, or estate as they like to say in the old country. Being that the sedan and hatch are quite handsome, it's fair to say the Sports Tourer is as well, though its rear end looks like a lowered Audi Q7. GM Europe says that all the bodywork aft of the B-pillar is unique to the Sports Tourer, and that while the length of the wheelbase hasn't changed, a little over three inches was added to the overall length. Vauxhall also announced a more power turbodiesel engine and smaller turbocharged four-cylinder will be joining the Insignia's engine lineup, but are saving any details, including the wagon's capacities, until the Paris Motor Show.
posted : 8/31/2008 @5:03:50 PM
Suzuki Maruti Alto to debut in Paris

Suzuki will bring its seventh-generation Alto to the Paris Motor Show this October, featuring stylistic and powertrain upgrades to compete with the best and brightest from the budget-oriented, compact class. Based on the A-Star concept introduced at last year's New Delhi Motor Show, the new model will be built in India by Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant, and will likely packing a 1.0-liter engine which should make Euro V emissions regulations a breeze to exceed. Expect the new Alto to find its largest market in India, along with limited sales throughout Europe. For an economy car, it's a pretty decent looker from what we can tell from the two shots Suzuki's released ahead of the show, and we expect it will find plenty of buyers looking for a relatively cheap way to get around.
posted : 8/9/2008 @4:58:31 PM

Honda's Prius-fighter coming to Paris

Last month we showed you spy photos of Honda's Prius-fighting hybrid testing in the desert, and now we have confirmation that the dedicated hybrid will be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October. The hybrid-only model, which looks awfully Prius-like when camo'd, will carry many styling cues from the handsome FCX Clarity. The Honda hybrid will go on sale in 2009, will start at under $20k and is rumored to achieve at least 60 mpg. Honda plans to build 200,000 units per year, with half of the production coming to our shores. The Honda hybrid will utilize a smaller, lighter version of the 1.3L engine from the Civic hybrid, with a CVT transmission and a nickel metal hydride battery pack.

The still unnamed hybrid hatch is just one piece of Honda's larger goal of producing 500k hybrids a year by 2012. Honda is also planning a battery-assisted Fit sub-compact, a new Civic hybrid, and a production version of the CR-Z coupe concept. We're excited to see Honda's dedicated hybrid, which will be the first real competition to the Prius and an honest to goodness alternative for the American consumer.

posted : 8/9/2008 @4:39:13 PM

Saab 9-3X, 9-3 concept coming to Paris?The Saab 9-3X will be a soft-roading version of the Swedish brand's bread-and-butter sedan and wagon, a.k.a. SportCombi, and word has it that the all-wheel-drive wonders will be making their debut at the Paris Motor Show in October. Unlike the performance-oriented Turbo X, the 9-3X will use its Haldex AWD system for tackling particularly deep potholes, traversing heavily packed snow and otherwise offering its owners the sure footedness that comes with all four wheels turning at once. Based on our previous spy photos, we expect the 9-3X to look the part with fender flares, a lifted suspension and faux skid plates. Seriously though, adding AWD to the 9-3 in a mini-SUV package is a smart move right now and one that's been paying Subaru dividends for some time.

Also on the docket for a Paris debut is a new 9-3 concept that should preview what the next iteration of the sedan and wagon will look like. Our flights are booked, hotel rooms reserved and appetite for pasta at a fever pitch, so we'll bring you live coverage of these two reveals as they happen from Italy in early October.

posted : 8/8/2008 @8:05:34 PM
Paris 2008 Preview: Audi to unveil RS6 sedan

You have to sit back and applaud a car like the Audi RS6 Avant. As we've noted with amazement countless times, it's a station wagon capable of outgunning supercars. In Europe that sort of thing flies, and while it still won't be making the transatlantic voyage (even though we're sure that, with a set of wings attached, it could get here on its own), even back in the old world not everyone is keen on the estate body-style. Which is why Audi is preparing a conventional four-door sedan version of the RS6, which our photographers spied all but completely undisguised out on the street a little over a month ago. Reports now indicate that the twin-turbo V10 super-sedan will be unveiled at the upcoming Paris Motor Show this coming October. We can expect the sedan version to carry the same mechanicals as its wagon counterpart, however certain visual updates are expected to be shown on the top-of-the-line RS6 sedan before they trickle down to the entire A6 range.
posted : 8/8/2008 @7:49:44 PM
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