Jeep Grand Wagoneer Poised For 2014 Return: Report

Newsletter Stay up to date on car reviews, buying guides, articles and more The last full-size Jeep Grand Wagoneer rolled off the assembly line in 1991, although the nameplate survived on the high-end, mid-size Jeep Grand Cherokee until 1993. Time really hasn’t diminished the demand for the full-size Grand Wagoneers, and clean, low-mileage used examples today can fetch prices topping $30,000.

Chrysler is well aware of this, so the automaker began discussing plans for the rebirth of the American icon earlier this year. Originally planned as a 2013 model, the realities of the global market have now pushed back the Jeep Grand Wagoneer’s launch to 2014, according to documents published on Carscoop.

Here’s what we know so far: the new seven-seat Grand Wagoneer will share a platform with the recently announced Maserati Kubang. The Jeep will likely get Pentastar V-6 and HEMI V-8 engine choices, and will lean heavily towards the luxury side of the market. Think of it as a competitor to the Cadillac Escalade, not the Ford Expedition.

The new Jeep Grand Wagoneer will top Jeep’s range, which will begin with a new B-segment entry in 2014 to compete against compact crossovers like the Nissan Juke and Volkswagen Tiguan. Jeep will also have a single replacement for the Compass / Patriot in the C-segment, and will have a replacement for the Liberty in the D-segment.

Look for the Wrangler and Grand Cherokee nameplates to continue largely unchanged (except for refreshes), as Jeep works to grow sales from 400,000 units in 2010 to a stated goal of 800,000 units in 2014.

View the original article here

Jeep Grand Wagoneer Poised For 2014 Return: Report

Newsletter Stay up to date on car reviews, buying guides, articles and more The last full-size Jeep Grand Wagoneer rolled off the assembly line in 1991, although the nameplate survived on the high-end, mid-size Jeep Grand Cherokee until 1993. Time really hasn’t diminished the demand for the full-size Grand Wagoneers, and clean, low-mileage used examples today can fetch prices topping $30,000.

Chrysler is well aware of this, so the automaker began discussing plans for the rebirth of the American icon earlier this year. Originally planned as a 2013 model, the realities of the global market have now pushed back the Jeep Grand Wagoneer’s launch to 2014, according to documents published on Carscoop.

Here’s what we know so far: the new seven-seat Grand Wagoneer will share a platform with the recently announced Maserati Kubang. The Jeep will likely get Pentastar V-6 and HEMI V-8 engine choices, and will lean heavily towards the luxury side of the market. Think of it as a competitor to the Cadillac Escalade, not the Ford Expedition.

The new Jeep Grand Wagoneer will top Jeep’s range, which will begin with a new B-segment entry in 2014 to compete against compact crossovers like the Nissan Juke and Volkswagen Tiguan. Jeep will also have a single replacement for the Compass / Patriot in the C-segment, and will have a replacement for the Liberty in the D-segment.

Look for the Wrangler and Grand Cherokee nameplates to continue largely unchanged (except for refreshes), as Jeep works to grow sales from 400,000 units in 2010 to a stated goal of 800,000 units in 2014.

View the original article here

Jeep Grand Wagoneer Poised For 2014 Return: Report

Newsletter Stay up to date on car reviews, buying guides, articles and more The last full-size Jeep Grand Wagoneer rolled off the assembly line in 1991, although the nameplate survived on the high-end, mid-size Jeep Grand Cherokee until 1993. Time really hasn’t diminished the demand for the full-size Grand Wagoneers, and clean, low-mileage used examples today can fetch prices topping $30,000.

Chrysler is well aware of this, so the automaker began discussing plans for the rebirth of the American icon earlier this year. Originally planned as a 2013 model, the realities of the global market have now pushed back the Jeep Grand Wagoneer’s launch to 2014, according to documents published on Carscoop.

Here’s what we know so far: the new seven-seat Grand Wagoneer will share a platform with the recently announced Maserati Kubang. The Jeep will likely get Pentastar V-6 and HEMI V-8 engine choices, and will lean heavily towards the luxury side of the market. Think of it as a competitor to the Cadillac Escalade, not the Ford Expedition.

The new Jeep Grand Wagoneer will top Jeep’s range, which will begin with a new B-segment entry in 2014 to compete against compact crossovers like the Nissan Juke and Volkswagen Tiguan. Jeep will also have a single replacement for the Compass / Patriot in the C-segment, and will have a replacement for the Liberty in the D-segment.

Look for the Wrangler and Grand Cherokee nameplates to continue largely unchanged (except for refreshes), as Jeep works to grow sales from 400,000 units in 2010 to a stated goal of 800,000 units in 2014.

View the original article here

Report: U.S. Treasury holding GM stock due to low price

New Cars Home

Learn more about new cars with our extensive collection of overviews, specifications, and pictures.

View the original article here

Report: In Small Cars And EVs, Smaller Tires Could Save Fuel

With signs that minicars might finally be taking off in the U.S.—signaled by the arrival of models like the Fiat 500, Ford Fiesta, Scion iQ, and a host of potential ones—it could be time to give smaller wheels a new chance.

Why? Because, Motor Trend reports, a new generation of higher-quality ten-inch tires are here. Michelin has produced a new 175/70R10 tire, specifically for city cars, that weighs about three pounds less than a 175/65R14 tire.

Twelve pounds and some rolling resistance might not sound so significant, but it is. According to Michelin, MT reports, the new smaller tires might be especially of use on new urban electric vehicles, where the use of tires designed for larger vehicles with internal combustion engines could account for 30 to 40 percent of overall energy consumption. Reducing that means greater range—which is especially important right now, on the cusp of EV adoption.

Tires, even on the smallest, entry-market vehicles, have become larger in recent years. In the 1980s, the mainstream tire size was the 14-incher; then in the 1990s, 15- and 16-inch sizes became increasingly common on affordable vehicles. Sidewalls continued to get even shorter and this past decade gave way to low-profile, large-diameter chromed insanity in the way of 20-inch wheels and beyond.

Designers have for well over a decade now penned vehicles with increasingly large wheels and wheel wells, so eventually, smaller, less exaggerated wheels might come back in style. It could certainly bring some packaging advantages, as huge wheels require large wheel wells that eat up trunk or cabin space.

The downside of these big rollers—aside from their sometimes harsh ride quality—is that they add weight and raw materials, and sometimes actually increase rolling resistance. And that definitely factors into gas mileage.

At the same time, on bigger, heavier vehicles it might not pay to downsize if you don't change the compound, as smaller-diameter wheels and tires typically do have more rolling resistance. One Michelin design, a 205/55R19 wheel, is measurably more efficient than existing 205/55R16 designs.

What's the message to take away? Don't take the impractical 22s you might be rolling on as the look of the future, and be prepared to see some smaller (or skinnier) wheels on next-generation fuel-savers.

[Motor Trend]

View the original article here

Report: Hyundai Elantra Coupe to bow at LA show

New Cars Home

Learn more about new cars with our extensive collection of overviews, specifications, and pictures.

View the original article here

Report: Lotus Elan delay funding new in-house engine project

While we weren’t shocked to hear of Lotus’ decision to delay the introduction of its track-ready Elan model until at least 2016, we were a little disappointed. However, there appears to be a silver lining to the Elan’s delayed introduction, with Lotus reportedly shuffling money allocated to the Elan project to a new engine program.

Lotus currently relies on Toyota for its vehicle engines, but that will soon change as Lotus has already begun its engine development program. Moreover, Lotus is working on a modular design, which should allow for several different engine configurations from the same basic architecture.

“This is a big [financial] hit because it’s expensive to do an engine,” Lotus head Dany Bahar said. “But because the Elan is not happening now we have got capital expenditure headroom for engine development.”

Lotus reportedly began work on the engine project last year. Lotus’ first engine born from the project will likely be a V8 of unknown displacement. However, Lotus is targeting Ferrari with the new bent-eight, with total output expected in the 550-570 horsepower range.

The project should also bear a V6 and possibly even an inline-four. However, if the four-cylinder proves too costly, Lotus will like stick to its Toyota-sourced four-pot.

The new engine family could be on the road as early as 2013.

View the original article here

Report: Hyundai/Kia to surpass Toyota, Chrysler, Honda in May sales

Leftlane has been reporting on the seemingly endless supply of positive news coming from Hyundai and Kia as they continue to quickly grow their market share in the U.S., while at the same time former market leaders Toyota and Honda continue to tumble.

While the list of factors for and against each respective automaker continues to grow in complexity with each passing day, the news that Hyundai/Kia are expected to outsell both Toyota and Honda when May’s sales are tallied will likely simultaneously catch many off guard while others will see the swap as an inevitable change. Whatever your stance, the preliminary numbers have been crunched by TrueCar and all signs point to a new number three automaker in the U.S.: Hyundai/Kia.

As the effects of the natural disasters in Japan begin to actually catch up with the market, new car sales in the U.S. are expected to drop 3.7 percent compared to the same month last year, to just 1,060,392 vehicles sold. Put into more recent context, that even marks a significant decline compared to April of this year which showed a Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) of 13.18 million vehicles, compared to an expected SAAR of just 11.85 million in May.

But the big story comes from a mix of Asian automakers as they continue to battle for market share in the U.S. Hyundai/Kia are expected to report 115,434 unit sales, a massive 43.4 percent jump from the same month last year. While the Koreans are moving forward with a vengeance, Toyota is expected to fall back from the number three rank with just 109,416 forecast sales in May, down 32.8 percent from 2010 levels.

Honda is also suffering, expected to produce just 92,889 sales, which would mark a 25.6 percent drop from last month’s numbers and 20.7 percent lower than the same month a year ago. Chrysler is expected to produce 110,132 sales, a little over a five percent gain compared to 2010 and enough to secure the fourth most sales for a manufacturer.

General Motors and Ford will maintain their one and two ranks, with GM producing an expected 225,394 vehicle sales, while Ford will report about 188,280 vehicles sold.

Will it continue? Only time will tell how much Toyota and Honda (among other Japanese automakers) will bounce back once production capacity returns to normal, but in the meantime Hyundai/Kia and U.S. automakers will gladly continue to provide consumers with viable alternatives that continue to erode away precious market share from the Japanese automakers.

References
1.’Hyundai/Kia has third…’ view

View the original article here

Report: Cadillac cancels SRX plug-in

New Cars Home

Learn more about new cars with our extensive collection of overviews, specifications, and pictures.

View the original article here

Report: Hyundai/Kia to surpass Toyota, Chrysler, Honda in May sales

Leftlane has been reporting on the seemingly endless supply of positive news coming from Hyundai and Kia as they continue to quickly grow their market share in the U.S., while at the same time former market leaders Toyota and Honda continue to tumble.

While the list of factors for and against each respective automaker continues to grow in complexity with each passing day, the news that Hyundai/Kia are expected to outsell both Toyota and Honda when May’s sales are tallied will likely simultaneously catch many off guard while others will see the swap as an inevitable change. Whatever your stance, the preliminary numbers have been crunched by TrueCar and all signs point to a new number three automaker in the U.S.: Hyundai/Kia.

As the effects of the natural disasters in Japan begin to actually catch up with the market, new car sales in the U.S. are expected to drop 3.7 percent compared to the same month last year, to just 1,060,392 vehicles sold. Put into more recent context, that even marks a significant decline compared to April of this year which showed a Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) of 13.18 million vehicles, compared to an expected SAAR of just 11.85 million in May.

But the big story comes from a mix of Asian automakers as they continue to battle for market share in the U.S. Hyundai/Kia are expected to report 115,434 unit sales, a massive 43.4 percent jump from the same month last year. While the Koreans are moving forward with a vengeance, Toyota is expected to fall back from the number three rank with just 109,416 forecast sales in May, down 32.8 percent from 2010 levels.

Honda is also suffering, expected to produce just 92,889 sales, which would mark a 25.6 percent drop from last month’s numbers and 20.7 percent lower than the same month a year ago. Chrysler is expected to produce 110,132 sales, a little over a five percent gain compared to 2010 and enough to secure the fourth most sales for a manufacturer.

General Motors and Ford will maintain their one and two ranks, with GM producing an expected 225,394 vehicle sales, while Ford will report about 188,280 vehicles sold.

Will it continue? Only time will tell how much Toyota and Honda (among other Japanese automakers) will bounce back once production capacity returns to normal, but in the meantime Hyundai/Kia and U.S. automakers will gladly continue to provide consumers with viable alternatives that continue to erode away precious market share from the Japanese automakers.

References
1.’Hyundai/Kia has third…’ view

View the original article here

Report: Next-gen BMW 5- and 7-Series to feature customizable LCD gauges

New Cars Home

Learn more about new cars with our extensive collection of overviews, specifications, and pictures.

View the original article here

Report: Cadillac cancels SRX plug-in

New Cars Home

Learn more about new cars with our extensive collection of overviews, specifications, and pictures.

View the original article here

Report: NASA, NHTSA reports clearing Toyota were influenced by automaker

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011 @ 3:37 p.m.

In February Leftlane reported that the joint effort by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) had released its findings after investigating potential sources of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles.

The report largely concluded that scientists and engineers were unable to reproduce any type of unintended acceleration in a lab environment, prompting Toyota to issue a press release touting the findings and its innocence. Now, a watchdog group focused on the automotive industry, Safety Research & Strategies, has released an analysis of the government’s findings that seems to paint a somewhat contradictory picture.

According to the findings of the watchdog group, NASA actually identified “numerous failures in Toyota electronics that could lead to unwanted acceleration.” SRS goes on to make the direct claim that the reports issued by the government agencies were not only “narrowly construed examinations of limited vehicles and components,” but even going as far as to claim that the reports were “heavily influenced by Toyota and its experts, including Exponent [the agency Toyota hired as a third party to investigate the unintended acceleration issue].”

Research by SRS is directly at odds with the published conclusion of the government’s findings, pointing out that testing found several scenarios in which the engine’s speed could be increased, RPMs could surge, or throttle positioning could be at odds with the positioning of the accelerator pedal without tripping a Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC).

SRS goes on to make the case that NASA and NHTSA failed to procure any outside professionals on their own accord that specialized in vehicle engine management or testing, instead relying on Toyota to guide them in those areas. SRS says that the report shows the government also relied on Exponent, the third party hired by Toyota, in order to dismiss a key finding concerning a phenomenon known as “tin whiskers.”

Tin whiskers are hair-like structures which can causes electrical shorts and they were found in “virtually every potentiometer accelerator pedal assembly inspected – including a vehicle whose pedal was replaced by Toyota following acceleration problems.” The report even verified that tin whiskers as a cause of electronic malfunction.

“These studies were far from independent. They are the products of Toyota’s involvement and that of the company’s litigation defense experts who provided the statistical analysis that the agencies used to dismiss the physical evidence that showed flaws in Toyota’s electronics,” says SRS President Sean Kane. “Contrary to Secretary Ray LaHood’s pronouncements, the investigations actually showed numerous ways that Toyotas can experience unintended acceleration without alerting the fault detection system. They were simply dismissed as unlikely.”

SRS has produced several reports of its own on the issue, including an 72-page report that specifically focuses on the presence of Electronic Throttle Control System-Intelligent (ETCS-i) and the correlating spike in unintended acceleration on those vehicle. SRS believes that there is an undeniable correlation between vehicles experiencing unintended acceleration and the existence of the throttle system on the vehicles.

Toyota and supplier CTS are currently facing a class-action lawsuit specifically aimed at “inherent design defects” in Toyota’s ETCS-i system, which was first introduced in 2001.

About SRS: SRS was founded in 2004 by Sean Kane, who in his career has prompted several federal safety investigations. Kane was a key player in revealing the faulty Firestone tires on Ford Explorers in 2000. Later, SRS played a pivotal role in the Congressional hearings on Toyota’s unintended acceleration woes in 2010, testifying before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

References
1.’NHTSA-NASA reports…’ view

View the original article here

Report: Hyundai/Kia to surpass Toyota, Chrysler, Honda in May sales

Leftlane has been reporting on the seemingly endless supply of positive news coming from Hyundai and Kia as they continue to quickly grow their market share in the U.S., while at the same time former market leaders Toyota and Honda continue to tumble.

While the list of factors for and against each respective automaker continues to grow in complexity with each passing day, the news that Hyundai/Kia are expected to outsell both Toyota and Honda when May’s sales are tallied will likely simultaneously catch many off guard while others will see the swap as an inevitable change. Whatever your stance, the preliminary numbers have been crunched by TrueCar and all signs point to a new number three automaker in the U.S.: Hyundai/Kia.

As the effects of the natural disasters in Japan begin to actually catch up with the market, new car sales in the U.S. are expected to drop 3.7 percent compared to the same month last year, to just 1,060,392 vehicles sold. Put into more recent context, that even marks a significant decline compared to April of this year which showed a Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) of 13.18 million vehicles, compared to an expected SAAR of just 11.85 million in May.

But the big story comes from a mix of Asian automakers as they continue to battle for market share in the U.S. Hyundai/Kia are expected to report 115,434 unit sales, a massive 43.4 percent jump from the same month last year. While the Koreans are moving forward with a vengeance, Toyota is expected to fall back from the number three rank with just 109,416 forecast sales in May, down 32.8 percent from 2010 levels.

Honda is also suffering, expected to produce just 92,889 sales, which would mark a 25.6 percent drop from last month’s numbers and 20.7 percent lower than the same month a year ago. Chrysler is expected to produce 110,132 sales, a little over a five percent gain compared to 2010 and enough to secure the fourth most sales for a manufacturer.

General Motors and Ford will maintain their one and two ranks, with GM producing an expected 225,394 vehicle sales, while Ford will report about 188,280 vehicles sold.

Will it continue? Only time will tell how much Toyota and Honda (among other Japanese automakers) will bounce back once production capacity returns to normal, but in the meantime Hyundai/Kia and U.S. automakers will gladly continue to provide consumers with viable alternatives that continue to erode away precious market share from the Japanese automakers.

References
1.’Hyundai/Kia has third…’ view

View the original article here

Report: Cadillac cancels SRX plug-in

New Cars Home

Learn more about new cars with our extensive collection of overviews, specifications, and pictures.

View the original article here

Report: Next-gen BMW 5- and 7-Series to feature customizable LCD gauges

Thursday, May 26th, 2011 @ 12:26 p.m.

Digital dashes are certainly anything but new, but the idea of a programmable custom liquid crystal display gauge interface is still gaining ground in the luxury market today.

Not wanting to be left too far in the dust by competitors like Mercedes-Benz or Jaguar-Land Rover, BMW is said to be working on a high-tech LCD, programmable gauge interface of its own for the next-gen 5- and 7-Series sedans, according to Autoblog sources.

The interface system is already underway and will be the result of a joint effort between a team in Munich, Germany, and BMW’s Technology Office located in Mountain View, California. The goal of the collaboration is to create a gauge display that is capable of outputting traditional information such as the speedometer, odometer, tachometer, fuel levels and oil temperature, as well as navigation and other infotainment content – but to do so in an innovative way.

A BMW engineer explained that the goal is not simply to provide a different gauge system from an aesthetics point of view, but rather to innovate and create something from scratch that can better display crucial information to the driver.

How exactly the display will be innovative we may have to wait and see, but we do know there will be some form of customization available to the driver that will be partially tied into the vehicle’s drive mode (Sport or Comfort), optimizing which information should be most emphasized.

References
1.’BMW developing…’ view

View the original article here

Nissan Leaf Energy Report: One Month = 13 Gallons of Gas

In its first full month of service, and in the hands of 11 drivers, our long-term Nissan Leaf consumed a total of 438.196 kilowatt-hours-worth of electricity from Southern California’s utilities. In those 31 days, it’s also covered 1379 miles, which after some arithmetic means a daily travel rate of 44.5 miles. Given that a single gallon of gas contains the equivalent of 33.7 kW-hr of energy, the electrical energy appropriated for the Leaf’s battery equals that of about 13 gallons of gas. And there are a fair number of compact cars that have fuel tanks maxing out around 13 gallons.

Our Leaf has been charged at various locations in its first month, but if it had only been charged at my residence, the entire 438.196 kW-hrs would have cost roughly $57 based on the $0.13-per-kW-hr I was most recently billed (the lowest usage tier out of five). But at 438.196 kW-hrs, that consumption amount would have likely landed me in the middle third tier, where a single kW-hr costs $0.24, yielding a $105 tab. With gas at $4 per gallon, that $105 would have bought me 26.25 gallons of gas.

We can hear the Prius crowd now, muttering that their car’s 50 combined mpg could have squeezed a very competitive 1313-mile range out of those same gallons. But show me a conventionally powered production car that can offer the equivalent of 106 mpg. That’s the good news with EVs.

It’s when we shift our attention to the 24-kW-hr battery that we see the Leaf’s biggest constraint. They’re space-consuming, expensive, and painfully slow to refill. If there’s one thing an electric vehicle supporter and opponent can agree on, it’s that battery-electric cars aren’t the most versatile driving solutions. Not yet, at least. If your garage-less apartment community or tyrannical condo association is only letting you keep one car on the premises, you really shouldn’t slap a deposit down on the Leaf unless you’re ready for an all-new lifestyle dedicated to babysitting an EV’s charging needs. I’ll tell you now: the hard-working, lithium-ion pack lusts for companionship.

I’ll provide an example. A Leaf depleted of any usable charge needs 25 hours to refill using a household 110/120-volt outlet (what’s called Level 1 power). On Level 2 power (that’s 208-240 volts), the charging time plummets to a still-substantial 7 hours and 30 minutes. Those times are according to the Leaf’s own readouts but we’ve found the estimated charge times to generally be on the conservative side, regardless of charging level. Using our AeroVironment-sourced 208-volt charger, the Leaf wrapped up some 20 minutes earlier than expected. But the promising detail is that finishing 20 minutes ahead of schedule isn’t at all unusual. In more than a few home charging sessions, anywhere from 15-30 minutes was knocked off the anticipated charge time. Our current record is a surprising one hour and 14 minutes before the original end time.

Now, which is more satisfying for the driver—being greeted with charging times that don’t allocate sufficient time, or with charges that finish earlier than expected?

Based on our observations, the Leaf’s trickle charger can add 1.0-1.25 kW-hrs per hour, though we should remember that not all of the electrical energy flowing out of the socket is dispersed to the battery. Ohmic resistance and other losses zap efficiency, so when you’re charging an EV, you end up paying for some extra heating. For reference, 1.25 kW-hrs would be the equivalent of slow-dripping 4.75 fluid ounces of gasoline into a container for an hour. That’s a bit over half a U.S. cup—one cup is 8 fluid ounces. And per the Leaf’s own measurements, average energy use normally lingers around 3-5 miles per kW-hr.

Level 2 power can be remarkably consistent too. The MT garage’s 208-volt charger has been charging at a rate of 3.4-3.6 kW-hrs per hour. By comparison, from the statistics we’ve gathered so far, public ChargePoint stations rated for 240 volts can swing from 3.0-3.8 kW-hrs per hour though they mostly hover near 3.7 in the majority of our encounters, proving to be a valuable ally when you want to top off the battery. And in keeping with the slow-drip analogy above, 3.7 kW-hrs per hour would be about 14 fluid ounces of gasoline. A pint of the wholesome milk you consumed (or avoided) during grade school is 16 fluid ounces.

Did I mention I paid a visit to a DC fast charger? A solitary Level 3 public charger (generically meaning 300-500 volts) sits in a parking lot in Vacaville, California, about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco. In an advance scouting run, I took a closer look without the Leaf, and found that the CHAdeMO charger had been turned off since we last saw it on a Mitsubishi i drive. The taped-up paper sign said Northern California utility provider Pacific Gas and Electric Company was working on “appropriate certification,” and we’re told that regulatory red tape is the lone reason the DC quick charger is unavailable to the public (courtesy of Mitsubishi’s David Patterson). Because the charger was sourced from the Tokyo Electric Power Company, it doesn’t meet certain rules in the U.S. to allow mass utilization. So we’ve yet to find an operating fast-charge dispenser for our car’s optional DC plug ($700 for SL trim, included with SL-e), but we haven’t given up yet.

*Photography by Michael Shaffer, DC quick charger photo by Benson Kong

View the original article here

Report: Department of Transportation to reveal new fuel-efficiency stickers Wednesday

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011 @ 5:41 p.m.

For the last year the U.S. government has been weighing options to best convey energy efficiency of new cars as vehicles that consume either no gas or diesel, or limited amounts due to modified consumption patterns begin to hit the market.

At one point, the Department of Transportation even went as far as to post online polls to ask the public how they felt about several different choices to identify “miles per gallon” in a changing automotive landscape. Now, according to four inside sources speaking with The Detroit Free Press, the DoT is preparing to announce its decision on Wednesday morning.

One of the more controversial options given to the people by the DoT was the use of letter grades, but it appears that option fell out of favor following a negative public reaction.

What is known is that the solution will be intended on providing clear information about emissions and fuel consumption – of any type – as well as comparisons of comparable vehicles that will better empower consumers to make informed buying decisions.

References
1.’Sources: U.S. to…’ view

View the original article here

Report: Mercedes-Benz planning four S-Class variants

Friday, May 13th, 2011 @ 1:05 p.m.

Mercedes-Benz will reportedly double the number of variants of its next-generation S-Class. Mercedes’ latest flagship is expected to arrive during the second half of next year as a 2013 model.

Today’s current regular- and long-wheelbase S-Class variants will remain on tap for the next iteration of the car – codenamed W222 – but Mercedes will add two more body styles to the mix.

Set to arrive sometime during 2013, Mercedes-Benz will launch a coupe version of the S-Class sedan. Following the pattern laid out by the E-Class coupe, the S-Class coupe will replace Mercedes’ current CL model.

A year after the launch of the S-Class coupe, Mercedes will launch a convertible variant of the new S-Class. Although the 2007 Ocean Drive Concept (pictured) hinted at a four-door convertible S-Class, the production version is expected to retain the two-door setup of the coupe, but will offer seating for four.

The S-Class has long been known as a technology leader, and that tradition will continue with the 2013 model. Expected advanced electronics like a road-sensing Magic Body Control system and a more user friendly Command system.

References
1.’Mercedes S-class…’ view

View the original article here

Report: Treasury To Hold GM Stock Until August

When will the Federal government get out of General Motors? Likely not until the end of the summer, according to a new report out of Detroit.

In theory, the Treasury Department could divest itself of General Motors stock as early as May 22, which marks the end of the lockup period following last November’s initial public offering. A report in The Detroit News, however, has the Treasury Department holding onto GM stock until the company reports second-quarter earnings in August.

Even then, it’s likely that the government will sell down only a portion of their GM stock holdings, and may not sell off the last of the stock until sometime in 2012. Earlier speculation had the Treasury exiting the automaker by the end of 2011, as the financial loss on a short sale of the stock was viewed as less detrimental than spotlighting the automaker bailout during an election year.

The Treasury’s change in heart is based on GM’s current stock value. Officials are hesitant to offer the stock for sale now, as the per-share price is around $31.05, significantly less than the IPO price of $33 per share. The administration is hopeful that a good second-quarter performance could be enough to boost stock prices to more palatable levels, minimizing the loss and the accompanying negative media exposure. 

Sources close to the matter say that the Treasury will use at least two additional sales to fully divest of GM stock, and that any sale is likely to be after the Labor Day holiday.

[The Detroit News]

View the original article here