Automotive News (Page 1236)

Another day, another piece of information in the saga that has become the Saab brand as it appears that Swedish real estate firm Hemfosa is reportedly ready to buy the automakers Trollhattan plant with the intention of leasing it back to Saab.

The folks at Audi recently built a pair of gorgeous R8 Spyders earmarked for donation to the Elton John Aids Foundation and when the final gavel had sounded, these mirrored convertibles raised just shy of one million dollars for charity.

University of Connecticut basketball player Maya Moore (pictured) won the Honda-Broderick Cup today, making her America's best female college athlete of 2011. She is the first to win the high honor two years in a row. Moore, who now plays for the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA, beat out other finalists Blair Brown, a Penn State volleyball player, and Sheila Reid, a cross country and track and field standout from Villanova.

Ho hum. Another trophy for the mantle. Lexus is the No. 1 car company again in the 2011 J.D. Power & Associates Initial Quality Study. It is the fourth year in a row that the luxury marque has emerged as the best-quality car there is in the world.

Contrary to popular belief, President Obama wasn’t the only diplomat to announce a theatrical release of oil from strategic reserves. Fact is, the International Energy Agency (IEA) decided last Thursday night to release 60 million barrels of oil from the strategic reserves of several member nations, and America was one of those nations. [UPDATE June 27, 2011: IEA now states per Reuters it will release 41.9 million barrels of crude and 19 million barrels of refined products, changing the mix ]

With skateboarding guru Tony Hawk standing on the auction block displaying a nervous smile, the “hawkized” custom 2011 Ford Mustang he commissioned for charity sold for $65,000 Saturday evening at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Costa Mesa, California.

Meet the next creative force in the auto world. Porsche Cars intern Anna Frey designed the livery that appeared on a 911 GT3 Cup race car that was driven Saturday in the 200-cars-from-25-countries Porsche Carrera World Cup Race at the Nürburgring track in Germany.

President Obama is being criticized by a Fairfax, Va., group for releasing reserves of domestic oil into the U.S. marketplace to make gasoline more affordable for American drivers.

June 30, 2011 may be another date which will live in infamy for the auto industry as the Federal Reserve will end all buying and propping of mortgage back securities and bonds.

After thousands of miles logged by Google’s fleet of automated Toyota Priuses and an Audit TT, Nevada’s legislature passed a bill that could lead to driverless cars on the Silver State’s roadways.

This BMW fighter is pulling its punches as a purist sports sedan, but as a blend of sport and luxury the 2011Lexus IS 350 AWD is a knockout, which might disappoint the hard-core enthusiast but will amaze everybody else.

It’s been a great month for the Chevrolet Corvette, with the mighty ZR1 setting a new American production car record at Germany’s Nürburgring early this month and now the 2012 Corvette Z06 has set a new personal best of 7:22.68 around the world’s most well-known road course.

This weeklong celebration coincides with the Jeep Brand’s July 15 anniversary observance, the date the U.S. Army signed a contract with Willys-Overland to become the lead producer of the military reconnaissance vehicle. Free admission, a program for Jeep enthusiasts and a specially-themed cruise night are all highlights of 70 Years of Jeep Week at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum, sponsored by the Dana Holding Corporation , July 12 – 17.

According to the folks at Bugatti, the final Veyron EB 16.4 has been sold to a customer in Europe and while the Grand Sport model remains available, all 300 of the Veyron EB 16.4 hardtops have been sold.

When His Serene Highness Prince Albert II weds his fiancé, Ms. Charlene Wittstock, at the Palace on the Rocher July 2, they will then tour the principality in a custom hybrid Lexus with a space-age, see-through polycarbonate roof. The full hybrid vehicle will be able to drive nearly every inch of he tour in full electric mode, underscoring the Lexus commitment to environmental stewardship.

Poor Saab, they just can't catch a break. Yesterday they began to get pushed towards bankruptcy, not from outside pressures, but from within. Two Saab worker's unions said that they will start a legal process that would surely induce the Swedish automaker to file for bankruptcy.

UAW Local 5960 voted Wednesday in favor of a strike by workers employed by LINC Logistics, a company that provides third-party labor for General Motors at their Orion Production Facility in Michigan.

The Fiat 500 tops the list of ten cars that kbb.com has chosen as the Coolest Cars for under $18,000.

Chrysler has announced that when the 2012 Ram HD trucks hit the market later this year, they will feature a new optional 6-speed automatic transmission for models with the Cummins Turbo Diesel for those who don’t care for the standard 6-speed manual transmission.

There are some great half-hour reality shows on cable that show us what it's like to lose our cars. And it ain't pretty. Two that are must-watch TV are "Operation Repo" and "Lizard Lick Towing" on truTV.

Part of the U.S. auto industry’s rebound from the global recession is based on the greater use of aluminum in American built vehicles and as federally-mandated fuel efficiency requirements kick in the amount of the light weight metal used can only increase. Automotive manufacturing rose by 38 percent during 2010 and continues to grow at a rate of 11 percent over last year during 2011.

Volkswagen sales in May totaled more than 30,100 vehicles, producing the strongest sales month for the manufacturer in more than seven years, according to figures released by the company.

That estimate might be under the actual number, however, due to the lull in gas prices and the Presidential announcement of the release of national reserves to hold prices down. AAA’s projection of 39 million drivers venturing at least 50 miles from home is down 2.5 percent from 2010. The holiday weekend projections covers Thursday, June 30 to Monday, July 4.

The past three years have transformed the global auto industry in ways that insiders know have redefined the “rules” for auto industry success. Today’s inaugural Autobeat Insider Conference, Detroit 2.011 at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham, Michigan, focused on emerging best practices.

Despite the current lull in gas prices and the government’s recently announced actions to keep prices low and stimulate the economy, the Motorcycle Industry Council has announced sales of motor scooters jumped 49.6 percent during the first three months of 2011. Inside info from Allstate Insurance suggests female buyers may be leading this trend. Almost three times more women requested quotes for scooter insurance in 2010 versus men.

Summer is prime time for vehicle theft, with July and August ranking as the months with the most auto theft incidents of the year. July 4th has the dubious distinction of ranking #3, according to the latest FBI data, of holidays with the highest reports of auto theft. Theft protection authorities caution consumers to not grow complacent about the security of their vehicles by not using common sense to protect themselves from becoming victims of this insidious crime.

This video was shot by an enthusiast in the streets of Italy of the new Husqvarna 900 street prototype. This bike is more important than itself. It truly represents the direction BMW wants to take with the brand as a whole.

A longtime engineer and manager has been named chief executive officer of Winnebago Industries, the Forest City, Iowa, company that manufactures recreational vehicles. The new boss: Randy Potts, president of the company since January. He retains that title also.

The "hawkized" Ford Mustang commissioned by skateboarding megastar Tony Hawk is on an auction block for the second time in seven months, and both auction sales benefit charities.

Summer is at its wondrous glory and nothing compares to a drive in the open air in a fine convertible automobile – at least for some. Right now several manufacturers have their hard or soft-top “decapotables” going for a discounted price, in some cases up to 11 percent. If you apply that to a BMW 3 series roadster, that can add up to nearly $5,000, but deals are also to be found on less expensive, higher mileage models.