Saleen Set to Announce All-New Car

Having won the right to use his name again, Steve Saleen has some big plans for the company he founded almost 30 years ago. 

As we reported last week, after a lengthy court battle, Steve Saleen, founder of Saleen Autosport in 1984 and creator of the Saleen S7 supercar, has legally regained the use of his name on all his products. He now intends to move the company forward with a brand new car and the requisite level of restructuring.Presently, Saleen heads SMS Supercars (Steven Mark Saleen), which has produced around 400 Dodge Challengers and Ford Mustangs with the SMS name, as well as a host of other impressive tuning projects.

Now that he has won back his brand name, he intends to begin production on a Camaro, with all three models to be offered in three trim levels. SMS badging will also be replaced across the board by the Saleen nomenclature.The S5S Raptor concept revealed at the 2008 New York Auto Show is set to get the green light (perhaps with a different name) "That's still a part of our plan. The S5S is still in our planning," Saleen said.As is the release of a brand new vehicle, which Autoweek are reporting will be announced in the next 90 days and that Saleen described will "be somewhat of a different direction."

The S5S Raptor boasted a 5.0-liter supercharged Ford V8 capable of 650hp and 630lb-ft of torque and was allegedly capable of a 0-60mph sprint time of 3.2 seconds and a 200mph top speed. So anything along those lines would be more than welcome.

Saleen Set to Announce All-New Car

New Ford Fiesta ECOnetic in Production

Ford Europe has announced that the new Ford Fiesta ECOnetic is rolling off the production line.

Production has begun of the new Fiesta ECOnetic according to Ford Europe, which is all set to deliver improved efficiency.Touted as the company's most fuel efficient and lowest CO2 emitting passenger car of all time, the Fiesta ECOnetic is powered by a 1.6-liter Duratorq TDCi diesel engine. Power is rated at 95hp, it boasts 161lb-ft of torque, and achieves 86mp and CO2 emissions of 87g/km.
The demand for fuel efficient cars is strong and is only going to get stronger. Hence why Ford believes that by the end of 2012, half of their European sales will be ECOnetic equipped models and by 2013 this will increase to two-thirds.Highlights of the Ford ECOntic technology include Auto Start/Stop, Smart Regenerative Charging, Eco Mode, shift indicator light, optimized gear ratios, special engine calibration, lower suspension, under-shield and wheel deflectors, and low-rolling resistance tires. As it rolls off the production line at Ford's Cologne assembly plant, the Fiesta ECOnetic will be available in three- and five-door form with a variety of trims.

New Ford Fiesta ECOnetic in Production

Ron Dennis: Next McLaren Supercar Won’t be Faster than the F1

Get ready for what will likely be the most technologically advanced supercar on the planet. 

After too many years of not building a production road car, McLaren is clearly trying to make up for lost time. Now that their MP4-12C has successfully launched, the British company is turning their attention to something even bigger: the F1 successor.Speaking at the opening of a new Sydney, Australia McLaren dealership the other night, company boss Ron Dennis revealed a few more details about the F1's spiritual successor.

Expected to be revealed in May, Dennis stated that trying to beat the legendary F1's top speed of 242 mph isn't the goal, nor is breaking the Bugatti Veyron's speed record.Instead, he claimed that the MP4-12C "will go around any circuit in the world faster than an F1. Don't get fixated by top speed. That's the first thing you have to discard in today's society." However, he did promise the new flagship will be the world's most technologically advanced supercar.

He continued by stating that "you've got to have....a complete package of performance.

You've got to embrace technologies that are out there that are accepted, and some that don't even exist. I can tell you our next car has many things on it that don't exist at the moment."He also revealed that it will be low volume (only 300-500 units, but this was expected) and that it'll be the most expensive and innovative supercar of its time.Power will come from the MP4-12C's 3.8-liter twin turbo V8; however it'll have better performance thanks to what will likely be a hybrid system that'll give it an extra boost and that also reduces fuel consumption.Unlike the F1, the new car will have a conventional two-seat layout (instead of the F1's three-seat design), but will still be radically different styling-wise compared to the 12C's mainly conservative lines.Overall, the new McLaren supercar will be more livable than the F1, but Dennis said that "what it lacks in purity it will make up for with more technology."

Ron Dennis: Next McLaren Supercar Won’t be Faster than the F1

Lamborghini Gallardo Replacement Will Feature Revolutionary Design

Lamborghini hope that follow-up to Gallardo will be another smash hit. 

With 12,000 models sold in the ten years since it first hit production, the Gallardo has been a huge hit for Lamborghini. Its successor, therefore, has some pretty big boots to fill.Speaking with Car and Driver, Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelman said that: "We always say that design is not an evolution but a revolution, and this will be the philosophy of the follow-up to the Gallardo." According to certain camps, the 'entry-level' model is set to be unveiled next year as the Cabrera.

The Lambo will ride on VW Group's modular sports car architecture (MSS) that will underpin the next-generation Audi R8 and future Porsches.The current V10 will likely be retained but refined to produce close to 600hp, and be mated to a dual-clutch automatic transmission.As for the design, Winkelmann said "What we have done for Aventador is not necessarily the right thing to do for a different car." So the flagship's carbon-fiber-intensive construction is unlikely to be adopted to keep prices relatively low. But it could take on some of its menacing angularity.We're thinking this angularity could even be partially inspired by the Sesto Elemento concept that was revealed at the 2011 Paris Auto Show. The Gallardo replacement and the next R8 will also share 15-20 percent more parts than the current cars according to Stephen Rail, head of development at Audi's Quattro performance subsidiary.

Lamborghini Gallardo Replacement Will Feature Revolutionary Design

A Great Show for a Market in Crisis

The Geneva Motor Show might have concealed the European auto industry’s woes, but it couldn’t banish them.

The Geneva Motor Show, the most glamorous of the European car shows, was shrouded this year with feelings of indecision and insecurity.Four years ago at Geneva, the Lehman Brothers LLC collapse reverberated around the world financial markets and the recession was just begging to bite worldwide.
This time around, nobody is sure of how the European sovereign debt crisis is going to be resolved. According to forecasts the only certainty is that the European cars market will continue its free fall this year.

And during the first press day, when sales statistics from last month were still fresh in their memories, industry leaders had all the reasons to be gloomy.

The three main victims of the free fall are the three biggest Southern European manufacturers i.e. Fiat, Peugeot-Citroen and Renault. Overall new cars registration in February was down 7 percent in the EU and EFTA.

The three premium German automakers experienced mixed fortunes. Audi's Sales grew by 11%, Daimler's sales grew more moderately 5% and BMW suffered a 5% decline. Among the Asian car manufacturers Hyundai and Kia of South Korea maintained their rapid growth pace while Toyota lost 8% in sales.

Renault Group sales collapsed by 25% (Renault brand sales were down 29%); Fiat Group sales fell by 16%.

General Motors, whose boss Dan Ackerman predicted that its European arm will keep on losing money for the next two years, saw it sales falling by 14% and Ford sales declined by just 4%.

Registrations in Germany, Europe's largest auto market, were flat, while in France sales dropped by 21% and Italy sales slumped 17%.

"Carmakers too dependent on small cars and their national markets, such as the French and Fiat, are suffering the most," said Ian Fletcher, a London-based analyst with IHS Automotive to Bloomberg.com.

"They are basically trying to keep their heads out of the water."Earlier in the week in an interview with Detnews.com, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, said the he considers moving Fiat Group headquarters from Turin to Auburn Hills. A few weeks ago Marchionne said that Europe mass car market is economically unproductive and therefore, on pure economic analysis, does not deserve capital allocation.

A Great Show for a Market in Crisis

BMW to Use Carbon-Fiber in the Next 7-Series

The light weight material is expected to shave a few pounds off the car’s weight.

Slowly but surely carbon-fiber is taking its place as the must-have material in the automotive industry.According to Autocar, Klaus Draeger, BMW's R&D chief, said that carbon-fiber will be used in the structure of the next 7-series, BMW's top series.The carbon-fiber will be used in a mix with more traditional materials such as aluminum and steel and supposedly be used in the production of the roof, hood and trunk.
These aren't structural components, so the influence of their use is to save weight, in developing technologies for the production of carbon-fiber materials, and as a declaration of intent.

BMW to Use Carbon-Fiber in the Next 7-Series

Chevy Camaro ZL1 Automatic Faster than Manual

For the Camaro ZL1 a new algorithm improves the 0-62 time by a few fractions of a second. 

It was once common knowledge that accelerating through a manual transmission is faster than doing so through a lazy automatic one. However the rapid changes in technology are changing well established concepts.Take the Camaro ZL1, with its supercharged 6.2-liter V8 582hp engine arriving at showrooms in a few weeks' time. Its TapShift version, operated by steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters will scoot to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds, a tenth faster than in its manual equivalent.
Top speed is 184 mph, which will make it the most powerful and fastest Camaro ever.The TapShift system was introduced several years ago. For 2012, GM powertrain engineers implemented a software algorithm that improves tap response time by up to 60 percent compared to the previous system. No hardware changes were required for the upgrade."The faster you can get to the next gear, the better, and from the sound of it, the ZL1 automatic's performance is going to make paddle shifting more exhilarating and satisfying for drivers of all skill sets.

"We're seeing a trend toward more manual-mode-capable, fun-to-drive automatic transmissions across all vehicle segments," said Eric Fedewa, director of Global Powertrain Forecasting at IHS Automotive.By staging hydraulic pressure in the clutch for the next gear, the new control module algorithm reduces tap delay for the 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, and 4-5 up-shifts by 200-300 milliseconds.The system anticipates shift requests based on current gear, throttle, torque and speed. By pre-filling the clutch for the next gear, the tap up-shift response is near instantaneous.The Camaro ZL1 Coupe will go on sale this spring as a 2012 model and the Convertible variant will go on sale this summer as a 2013 model. Chevrolet expects the automatic transmission to command up to 50 percent of ZL1 sales.

Chevy Camaro ZL1 Automatic Faster than Manual

16 Fuel Cell Cars En Route to the American Navy

The cars will be used for testing and evaluating fuel cell technology.

General Motors has sold 16 electric cars with hydrogen-powered fuel cell technology (as opposed to those with the range extender variety) to the US Navy who will use the cars for evaluation purposes.The fuel cell car sold to the Navy is the Chevrolet Equinox, which was shown for the first time over two years ago at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show. By then the car had already accumulated more than a million miles of driving.
In 2010, GM announced that it had further developed the fuel cell system and reduced its size and weight. The company said then that testing continues and commercialization of the system is expected by 2015.Military organizations are interested in fuel cell technology for various applications and according to the Navy the cars have been purchased for fuel cell technology testing and evaluation rather than testing the cars themselves."Operating these vehicles will provide the military with the necessary data and experience to determine future applications of fuel cell technology."

So says Charles Freese, GM executive director of Global Fuel Cell Activities."Our pursuit of alternative energy is closely tied to our commitment to continually adapt to an ever-changing security environment," said George Ka'iliwai, director of Resources and Assessment for U.S. Pacific Command."Defense relationships and military approaches alone can't solve all of our energy challenges, but they underpin the initiatives we're taking within the Department of Defense to reduce the dependence on foreign sources of energy."The military fleet of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles travel up to 200 miles on a single charge, refuels in five minutes, and produces zero emissions.The vehicles are being paid for by the Army Tank Automotive Research Development Engineering Center (TARDEC), Office of Naval Research and Air Force Research Laboratories (ONR) and Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL). The sum paid was not disclosed.

16 Fuel Cell Cars En Route to the American Navy

All-Wheel Drive Variants Added to the BMW 6-Series

The coupe and convertible will be available with the xDrive system mated to a diesel engine.
BMW is adding all-wheel drive variants with diesel engines to the 6-series in the form of the 640d xDrive Coupe and Convertible.The cars will make their premiere at the Geneva Motor Show next month and be in the showrooms by the spring.The 3.0-liter diesel engine is characterized by TwinPower Turbo technology producing 313hp and 465lb-ft of torque helping the car to accelerate from 0-62 mph in 5.2 seconds.
The xDrive system distributes power between the front and rear wheels as the situation demands. It is controlled by an electronic control unit which links xDrive up with the DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) to ensure optimal traction, safety, and handling in all weather and road conditions.BMW boasts that the engine is boosted by the latest multi-stage turbocharging that is fed off a common-rail direct injection whose piezo injectors work with maximum pressure of 2,000 bar.The engine's weight has been reduced by producing the crankcase from aluminum.

The multi-stage turbocharging technology responds precisely to the demands of different driving situations.At low revs a smaller turbocharger is activated, its low moment of inertia allowing it to go to work extremely rapidly. The compressed air from this small charger is sent directly to the combustion chambers via a bypass line.As the air no longer flows through the large charger, loss-free development of charge pressure is assured. Only when the driver asks for more power do the electronics prompt the bypass unit to bring the larger turbo into play.Added to which, variable turbine geometry for the smaller of the two turbos optimizes the effectiveness of the turbocharging system in responding to the power requirement at any one time.An eight-speed Sports automatic gearbox connects the engine with the wheels. In the ECO PRO mode (likewise standard) the power reserves ensure efficient driving style at low engine speeds.EfficientDynamics package of technology and Driving Experience Control come as standard. ECO PRO mode carries out adjustments to the engine management, accelerator mapping and shift characteristics of the automatic gearbox.

All-Wheel Drive Variants Added to the BMW 6-Series