Mercedes MLC spied again, this time as an AMG

First BMW, now Mercedes-Benz. The German luxury manufacturer appears hard at work on its very own challenger to BMW's four-door coupe/crossover, the X6. It's called the MLC, and we've shown it to you before. Just a few weeks back, in fact.Unlike the last set of spy photos we showed you, though, this particular tester gives us our first glimpse at the MLC's brawnier AMG variant. Our spies report that under hood will be the same 5.5-liter, biturbocharged...

Read More

Land Rover planning at least four new Discovery models

It should come as no great surprise that Land Rover is planning to group its lineup into three "families": one luxury lineup centered around the Range Rover, another utilitarian range around the Defender and a third somewhere in the middle centered around the Discovery. But just how many models will form each of those groups?Reports emanating from the UK seek to answer that question, and get us at least part way there - as far as the Discovery family...

Read More

NASCAR Nationwide driver graduates high school then qualifies 6th

For the average 18-year-old, school and work take up the majority of free time. In that respect, then, Chase Elliot is like pretty much any other 18-year-old. He graduated on Saturday, and then went to work. The only difference is, his work involves him flying around the country and driving a really loud car in circles.Yes, Elliot, son of Winston Cup champion Bill Elliot, doesn't spend his free time working retail, but as a rookie driver in the NASCAR...

Read More

MV Agusta loses license to sell motorcycles in California

If you live in California and were planning on buying a new MV Agusta, we're afraid we've got some bad news for you. The Italian manufacturer has lost its license to sell its motorcycles in the Golden State.This according to a list published by the California DMV obtained by motorbike news site Asphalt & Rubber. The list mentions MV Agusta USA as one of the companies no longer licensed to operate in America's third largest and most populous state....

Read More

New Fisker owner ready to go broke building EVs, challenging Tesla

Now this is the kind of fighting spirit we like to see. Lu Guanqiu is a Chinese billionaire who has visited the White House alongside Chinese president Hu Jintao in 2011. He's worth an estimated $3.1 billion. And he wants to take on Tesla Motors and other EV makers with his newly purchased company, Fisker Automotive.Lu is the chairman and founder of China's Wanxiang Group Corp., which bought Fisker for just under $150 million earlier this year. It...

Read More

GM ignition switch recall gets documentary treatment with Failure to Recall

General Motors' recalls have hit critical mass in the media. Not only is the company being mocked by comedians like John Oliver, Jon Stewart and Saturday Night Live, but it's getting the documentary treatment from CNBC in a special called Failure to Recall: Investigating GM. The doc talks to families and individuals directly affected by GM's ignition switch recall and shows firsthand (with assistance from Consumer Reports) what it's like to drive...

Read More

F1 legend Sir Jack Brabham passes away at 88

There have only been about a dozen people who have won multiple Formula One World Championships. Thankfully the lion's share of them are still among us - names like Vettel, Alonso, Hakkinen, Lauda, Prost, Piquet, Fittipaldi and Stewart. Michael Schumacher is hanging on, but Senna, Fangio, Ascari and Graham Hill have all since departed this Earth. And we're bereaved to report that they'll have company as Jack Brabham has passed away.The Australian...

Read More

FTC staff comes out in favor of Tesla, direct vehicle sales

On the subject of Tesla Motors and its efforts to legally sell its electric vehicles directly to consumers without franchised dealerships, the FTC has taken aim at Missouri and New Jersey. The Commission hasn't made any nationwide decision on the subject quite yet, but in a May 16 statement it encouraged the two states to reconsider policies that would further prohibit automakers from selling directly to consumers. And the FTC didn't mince words,...

Read More

California bill would ensure used cars with recalls are fixed

It seems that 2014 may go down as the year of the recall. As of April, the US was already on pace for record levels, and that was before millions of more cars were called in for various repairs by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler in just the past few weeks. But how many of those vehicles will actually get their necessary fixes? GM claims that it has 80 percent of its vehicles mended in the first year, but the industry average is only 66 percent....

Read More

Nissan reviving Pulsar name for Euro market

The Nissan Pulsar doesn't have what we'd consider a rich history in the US, other than on some models decades ago. However, the nameplate has been part of the Nissan lineup globally since 1978 and has proven popular in Asia and Australia. Now, the brand is teasing a five-door hatch to revive the name and hit European showrooms this fall.The new Pulsar will be built at the company's recently renovated factory in Barcelona, Spain. It's not clear from...

Read More

2015 Nissan Micra

Filed under: Budget, Hatchback, Nissan, First Drives, CanadaSeveral years ago, poutine started showing up on the menus of a number of Detroit-area restaurants. For those unfamiliar with the Canadian specialty, it involves serving up french fries, gravy and cheese curds all in one artery-clogging heap. It's not really my thing, but the comfort-food dish has caught hold here in The D, and many absolutely swear by it. In a country where we happily...

Read More

Cosworth teases upgrades for Subaru BRZ

Subaru may or may not produce an STI version of the BRZ. Things seem to go back and forth on the subject. But Subaru Tecnica International isn't the only company with a history of tuning Subies. So does Cosworth, and now the British racing firm appears to be turning its attention to the BRZ and its Toyota- and Scion-badged siblings.For those unacquainted, Cosworth is more than your average tuning company. It's a racing firm first and foremost, having...

Read More

VW's Tony Cervone named head of GM global communications

Volkswagen may be one of the world's largest automakers, but its American arm is going through a serious rough patch. VW of America might cut back sales targets, and has an ongoing fiasco about where to build its CrossBlue crossover. Now, it's also losing Tony Cervone, its executive vice president of group communications, who is taking over as senior vice president of global communications at General Motors - effective immediately.Cervone is an industry...

Read More

Bultaco reborn to make electric motorbikes

Motorbike riders looking for something with a little Latin flair have had plenty of choices on their hands, but most of them come from Italy: marques like Ducati, Aprilia and Moto Guzzi. But what if you wanted something more Spanish than Italian? That's where Bultaco comes in. Or came in, we should say, because the Barcelona-based motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1958 closed in 1983, but now it's staging a comeback.Instead of returning to the market...

Read More

British military developing GPS navigation that works without satellites

Did you know that GPS doesn't work underwater? Neither did we. But apparently it's a big enough problem that the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense is working on a futuristic solution that will allow more precise navigation by the Royal Navy's submarines and surface ships, while eventually trickling down to consumer-grade mobile devices. That all sounds great, but its abilities aren't anywhere near as cool as its name - the quantum compass.Using...

Read More

Honda to power new Formula Lites open-wheel racing series

Filed under: Motorsports, Honda, RacingOpen-wheel racing is almost always incredibly exciting to watch, whether it's the constant passing of the Indy 500 on an oval or the technological tour-de-force from Formula 1. However, both of those disciplines are essentially impossible for a normal person to enter. Of course, there are already cheaper, more amateur-friendly open-wheel competitions, like Formula Vee. A new SCCA Pro Racing series called Formula...

Read More

Mahindra plant and engineering ops comes to MI, electric bikes planned

Depending on who you speak to, India's Mahindra & Mahindra might be best known in the States for the six-year saga of huge hopes and dashed dreams embodied in a small, diesel pickup truck, as a tractor maker pushing its way into a US market ruled by John Deere and Kubota, as the owner of Ssangyong, as one of the companies that tried to buy Aston Martin or as an automotive engineering firm providing product development services to almost every...

Read More

Long winter means most automakers won't curb summer shutdown

A lot more happened during this latest brutal winter than days of snow and Netflix binges. Automotive sales took a battering. After all, going out car shopping when it's eleventy-billion degrees below zero isn't a good time.Because of this Old Man Winter-induced sales slump, inventories are abnormally high as we head into the summer car buying season. That's led some analysts to predict that automakers will be more inclined to idle factories this...

Read More

What to do if you run out of juice in your Tesla Model S

After writing about their Tesla Model S running out of juice on the side of the road between Las Vegas and Barstow, CA recently (read about it here), the fine folks at Teslarati figured they had some 'splainin' to do. The brief explanation is headwinds. Yes, headwinds.A Model S has about 10 miles of range even after it shows a big fat "0" on its dash.Thankfully, the drivers took notes about what to do if your Model S is about to shut down like C-3PO...

Read More

Watch this real-life Transformer turn into a car and drive

We're sure this human-size Transformer would say that he does it for the kids, but somehow we think there's just as much adult-spec geeking out for anyone so in love with Transformers that they would be willing to build a costume and walk around wearing it in public. And, if we're honest, we ourselves are just geeky enough that we'd probably do it, too. For the kids, of course.Check out this real-life Transformer street performer from Ann Arbor,...

Read More

Mobius Motors back-to-basics SUV almost ready for Africa

Having secured $50 million in funding thanks to the Pan-African Investment Company, Mobius can finally put the latest evolution of its low-cost SUV into production. Things have changed some in the two years since the Mobius Two was first announced as a form of inexpensive, go-anywhere transport for Africa: the initial price of $6,000 has risen to $10,000 and it's now called the Mobius II.The local price of 950,000 Kenyan shillings makes the Mobius...

Read More

Jaguar shows off production XE body in camo

Jaguar turned to Twitter and Facebook to reveal the production form of its coming XE sedan that we'll see for real at the Paris Motor Show. This is the first of a series of show-offs, Jaguar planning to wrap the bodywork in see-through camo that shows off the aluminum monocoque and other internals the company will use to promote the XE over its German rivals. That aluminum structure, which Jaguar calls iQ[Al], will also be used for other Jaguar and...

Read More

Audi CEO Stadler gets 5-year contract extension

Audi CEO Rupert Stadler will keep his seat at the top thanks to a contract extension. Volkswagen didn't divulge the length of the new contract, but German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said the term is five years. Stadler took over the current position in 2007 when current VW CEO Martin Winterkorn left it. That year the brand sold 93,506 in the US and 964,151 in total worldwide; last year it sold 158,061 in the US and 1,575,480 in total...

Read More

NYT asks what happens when self-driving cars break the law

Here's the line to remember: "As robots become mainstream, lawmakers will have to grapple with how to govern machines and hold software accountable." That comes from a New York Times piece on what kind of legislation will be needed to deal with the inevitable accidents that autonomous vehicles will get into. The lawyers, naturally, will go after everyone with money, but who do the authorities charge when a self-driving car parks itself in a no-parking...

Read More

Lauda irked at Red Bull for dropping circuit corner that bore his name

Austria hasn't hosted a Formula One grand prix since the 2003 race at the old A1 Ring. Since then Red Bull bought the track, renovated it and returned it to the calendar this year as the Red Bull Ring for a race on June 22. We could look at this as a quaint story of a historic F1 track finally returning to the series after a long delay. However, there is a very angry Austrian who is not happy about how things are going - namely, three-time F1 World...

Read More

Nissan Quest under investigation for inaccurate fuel gauges

After receiving 12 complaints in the last 14 months, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has begun a preliminary investigation into a fuel gauge issue with the 2007 Nissan Quest. Drivers have reported that the fuel level gauge will show there's gas in the tank when there actually isn't - in two cases, the digital distance-to-empty gauge indicated more than 70 miles of remaining range - and it will stall out.This is the second time...

Read More

Ayrton Senna's first kart to be featured in new Gran Turismo 6 DLC

For you Gran Turismo 6 players out there, May 27 is when you'll be able to put more Senna in your game with a new DLC package. An Ayrton Senna section in the update menu will offer an Ayrton Senna Tribute that includes new races, video and cars, such as one of the Brazilian's first karts. Also included is the 1985 John Player Special Lotus 97T that he put on pole position seven times that year, just his second in Formula One.You can get the car the...

Read More

Latest Transformers 4 trailer has Lamborghini getting in on the action

If any modern movie franchise defines spectacle, it has to be Transformers. All instantiations are about inviting audiences to sit down, fill up popcorn and turn off their brains because the next 90 minutes are nothing but shiny robots, explosions and loud noises. Oh, and cars... lots of cars. The latest trailer for Transformers: Age of Extinction, the fourth film in the series, has just hit the web, and it checks all the boxes of what makes the...

Read More

Caterham Seven 160 vs. Morgan Three-Wheeler, which is quicker 'round a track

Morgan Three-Wheeler or Caterham? That is a decision we desperately wish we had to wrestle with. Both are truly iconic vehicles, boasting a cult-like following. With the Morgan, it's unique layout and vintage look make it one of the single most interesting vehicles on the road, even if its V-twin engine doesn't deliver a ton of grunt.With the Caterham, though, we have a known performance icon. In this 160 variant, though, there's only 80 horsepower...

Read More

2015 Chrysler 200 nets 10,000 orders in first day

Chrysler is having a "crazy impressive" launch for its 2015 200, claims company spokesperson Rick Deneau. Within the first two days of opening the order books, the Pentastar took over 17,000 requests for its swoopy new family sedan - 10,000 of them in the first day. The company says that's enough to keep its Sterling Heights, MI, factory running at full capacity through mid-July.Deneau tells Autoblog that the last time he saw such an immediate popularity...

Read More

Car Magazine samples all-new Eagle Low-Drag GT Coupe

We really like the idea of resto-modding: taking something old, fitting modern components and accouterments and putting it back on the road. It's the single best way to preserve classic designs for future generations while making sure that the horrible, antiquated driving experiences aren't there to scare people off.Eagle, in the UK, is one of the best in that respect. The small firm takes old Jaguar E-Types and transforms them into modern creations...

Read More

Nissan recalling 104k Juke models over faulty timing chain<P align=center><A href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2011-nissan-juke-review-0/"><IMG alt="2011 Nissan Juke" src="http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/GLOB/crop/1266x849+0+0/resize/628x417!/format/jpg/quality/85/http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/622a18a656507023a0519468f543ef6d/200123651/01-2011-nissan-juke-review.jpg" data-mep="259084" data-credit="Copyright 2014 AOL"></A></P><BR><BR><A href="http://www.autoblog.com/tag/gm/">General Motors</A> isn't the <A href="http://www.autoblog.com/2014/05/15/gm-recall-2-7-million-five-campaigns/">only manufacturer that gets to issue a recall</A> today, as <A href="http://www.autoblog.com/nissan/">Nissan</A> is set to announce a voluntary <A href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/recalls-tsbs/">recall</A> of the 2011 to 2013 <A href="http://www.autoblog.com/nissan/juke/">Juke</A> due to a fault with the timing chain. 104,439 units are affected by this recall. The timing chain in some Jukes could deteriorate over time, leading to a warning light in the instrument cluster. In extreme cases, the chain could snap.<BR><BR>Owners of affected vehicles are being notified, and will need to report to their local dealership. The free repairs will replace the timing chain, chain guides and crank sprocket.<BR><IMG src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/autoblog/~4/kySAMegKxVY" width=1 height=1>&nbsp;

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full versi...

Read More

2015 Scion FR-S gets suspension, appearance enhancements

A couple of weeks ago, we told you about some suspension and appearance changes for the European-market Toyota GT86 - a car that's better known as the Scion FR-S (and Subaru BRZ) here in the United States. At the time, our US contacts at Scion told us we'd have final confirmation "soon" as to whether or not these upgrades would make their way to our FR-S, and now, we have those official details.For 2015, the FR-S features a more rigid front suspension...

Read More

Mercedes opening up new C-Class convertible

Mercedes-Benz is expanding its lineup, and not just when it comes to crossovers: it's also growing its array of cabrios. Setting aside two-seat roadsters like the SL, SLK and SLS, it wasn't that long ago that the CLK was Benz's only four-seat convertible. But that's since been replaced by the E-Class convertible, which in turn will soon be joined not only by a larger S-Class droptop but a C-Class as well. And that's just what we appear to have here.Spied...

Read More

Nissan 370Z Nismo freshening coming tomorrow

Nissan is set to bring a special to the Fairlady faithful at the annual ZDAYZ fest. Based on the sole teaser and the event it's being unveiled at, it's pretty clear that Nissan is going to be issuing some kind of update to the Nismo version of its 370Z.What that update is, though, is unclear. We can see a few small visual tweaks, like the horizontal LED running lights and their associated vertical vent. The grille looks reformed as well. Beyond that,...

Read More

2015 Cadillac ATS Coupe priced from $37,995

Cadillac has released pricing details on its new-for-2014 ATS Coupe. The new model, which will be available with buyer's choice of a 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder or a 3.6-liter V6 (the ATS Sedan's base 2.5 won't be making the trip) can be had with optional all-wheel-drive in place of the standard rear-wheel setup, while customers can also snag a six-speed manual or six-speed auto.Prices start at $37,995, which represents a $2,900 premium...

Read More

Next VW CC could get A7-like fastback bodystyle

It appears that despite slowing sales, Volkswagen isn't ready to give up on its dapper CC sedan yet. VW of America CEO Michael Horn says that a sleek, new design is being worked on and could be here in about two years.Horn tells Motor Trend that there are two ways for the next CC's design to go at the moment. One of them would be a four-door coupe with a fastback hatch design like the Audi A7. He didn't indicate what the other possibility was.Units...

Read More

Brabus tunes Mercedes E63 to 850 horsepower

If you're in the market for a super-sedan, you could do a lot worse than a Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG - one of the most capable four-doors on the market. But if even that's not enough for you, there are always tuners eager to squeeze out more. And when it comes to Mercedes, few can come close to Brabus.The German tuner made a name for itself swapping a 6.9-liter V12 into the E-Class to give it, in its last iteration, as much as 800 horsepower, propelling...

Read More

In hindsight, Musk wouldn't use Lotus for Tesla Roadster

The world will be a different place after Elon Musk builds a time traveling device (don't ask us how we know that will happen). For one thing, the Tesla Roadster of the rewritten future will not have been built using the chassis of the Lotus Elise. Also, verb tenses will be becoming even more confusing and, possibly, awkward."We ended up changing most of the damn car" - Elon MuskWe know about the not-using-the-Lotus thing because the Tesla Motors...

Read More