Blog on 2040Parts

Auto sales top 14.4 million in 2012

U.S. light-vehicle sales--led by Volkswagen, BMW and Honda--jumped 9 percent in December, pushing the seasonally adjusted sales rate above 15.3 million for the second consecutive month and helping the industry finish 2012 on a high note. Automakers sold 14.49 million light vehicles in the U.S.

Toyota GT86 gets 325bhp from Gazoo Racing – again

Toyota’s renegade Gazoo Racing are teasing another Toyota GT86 with 325bhp – the GRMN FR Sports Concept Platinum – for the Tokyo Auto Salon. There’s been a lot of speculation surrounding the Toyoya GT 86 (and the Subarua BRZ too) and the likelihood that it will get forced induction at some point to offer a chunk more power than its standard 197bhp. It’s always seemed likely that Toyota and Subaru would add a supercharger or turbo (or both) to their cars to give a properly powerful option.

Audi A2 EV won’t make production – but you knew that

Audi has revealed that it’s dropped plans to put the A2 electric concept – first revealed at Frankfurt 2011 - in to production. Back in June 2012 we reported that the Audi A2 EV wouldn’t make production as Audi had decided that the market simply wasn’t there for a £40k electric city runaround. Now that appears to have been confirmed by Audi in conversation with Autocar.

Citroen DS3 Red editions (2013) pictures and details

Citroen has kicked off the new year with a special edition DS3. The DStyle Red and DSport Red follow the usual special edition recipe: new colours, more kit, and less cash. But would you put up with that bright splash of red to score better value for money?

Infiniti Q50 (2013) teaser video of new sports saloon

The first car to emerge under Infiniti's new naming structure will be the Q50, due at the Detroit motor show in January 2013. The Q50 will replace the rare-groove G37 saloon, and attempt to propel Nissan's luxury arm into the hotly contested small exec saloon battleground. Infiniti Q50: the first details While the Q50 will fight established posh saloons like the BMW 3-series and Mercedes C-class, it'll also spawn a Q60 two-door coupe and cabriolet range, like its German rivals.

RIP Imre Molnar

Imre Molnar, provost of the College of Creative Studies (CCS), passed away during the holiday season. Molnar was riding his bicycle in California when he suffered a fatal heart attack on the afternoon of 28 December. CCS's President, Rick Rogers, said: "It is shocking to have Imre taken from us so suddenly.

Avis buys Zipcar and grows car-sharing capabilities internationally

Zipcar, a car-sharing company that specializes in renting cars by the hour or day, announced Wednesday it will be acquired by Avis Budget for $491 million, or $12.25 a share. The action will help Avis compete against Hertz Global Holdings, which became the world's second largest car-rental company in 2012 following its purchase of Dollar Thrifty car-rental company for $2.6 billion, according to a Bloomberg report. “By combining with Zipcar, we will significantly increase our growth potential -- both in the U.S.

Luxury car buyers get kid-glove treatment from dealerships

Luxury vehicle buyers want service -- not just repairs done right, but the kind of pampering they get at high-end hotels, restaurants and boutiques. It's all about the extras. In response, luxury vehicle brands are stepping up their games, rolling out unprecedented customer service, training staff and reconfiguring showrooms to cater to these buyers.

IIHS names safest cars for 2013

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has named the safest cars for 2013, including 13 midsize sedans that qualify for a new “top safety pick+” designation. The designation is given to vehicles that earn “good” ratings for occupant protection in at least four of five tests, with no less than “acceptable” in the fifth test. A new test -- the small overlap test -- was added to assess how the vehicles perform during a front-corner collision with another vehicle or object, such as a utility pole.

Some Chevrolet dealerships halt Volt sales due to tool costs

Some Chevrolet dealers have stopped carrying the Volt after deciding that their sales didn't justify an additional $5,100 for tools to service the plug-in hybrid. Last month, General Motors notified Chevrolet dealers of the added cost for tools, among other requirements, to keep selling and servicing the Volt. The math didn't work for Allyn Barnard, owner of Jim Barnard Chevrolet in Churchville, N.Y., near Rochester.

Citroen DS3 DStyle Red & DSport Red special editions

Citroen has launched a pair of special edition DS3s – the DS3 DStyle Red & DSport Red – to give New Year sales a bit of a fillip. Price from £15,655. The Citroen DS3 Red Edition comes in two flavours - DS3 DStyle Red and DS3 DSport Red – based on the existing DS3 DSport and DS3 DStyle with the requisite added goodies and stand-out paint job – either Polar white or Nera Black (with Perla Nera Black pearlescent a £480 option)  – with an exclusive ‘Red Touch’ interior and exterior pack which includes red roof and door mirrors, red grill, red dashboard and red door handles.

Top Gear Series 19 starts 27th January 2013

It looks like the new series of Top Gear – Series 19 – will start on 27th January after ticket allocations opened up for the Wednesday before. The new series of Top Gear – which will be series 19 – should have been on our screens months ago, but the summer of sport, Strictly and the X Factor hogging schedules meant BBC bosses decided to save the new Top Gear for the New Year. But it now looks like Top Gear is set to return on 27th January after Applause Store listed five new dates for Top Gear tickets, starting on Wednesday 23rd  January (which should air on Sunday 27th January) running through to Wednesday 20th February (which will air on Sunday 24th).

Lamborghini 50th Anniversary Car: The tease begins – sort of (video)

With the promise of a new car to celebrate 50 years, Lamborghini is ramping up interest in its half century anniversary with a history and tease video. With 2013 seeing the 50th Anniversary of Lamborghini’s arrival as a maker of supercars, we have the promise of a new car to celebrate the occasion. Last month Lamborghini boss, Stephan Winkelmann, confirmed that Sant’Agata would be rolling out a new car to celebrate the 50th anniversary, but what we don’t yet know is what that new model will be.

New 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible: Official

The Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible, the drop top version of the GT Speed, has been officially revealed ahead of a Detroit Auto Show debut. Just as expected, Bentley has transplanted all the goodies from the latest version of the GT Speed in to the GTC Speed, which means a fulsome 616bhp and 590lb/ft of torque from the delicious 6.0 litre W12 and, despite gaining more than 200kg to keep the huge Bentley stiff without its roof, the GT Speed Convertible manages to hustle to 62mph in 4.1 seconds – just a tenth slower than the tin-top Speed. That extra lard does have more impact as you head towards 100mph with the convertible taking 0.7 seconds more, but there’s not exactly a paucity of power on offer.

Bentley Continental GTC Speed (2013) first pictures

According to Bentley, the new Continental GTC Speed is the fastest four-seat convertible in the world. The 202mph cabriolet uses the 616bhp powertrain from its Continenal GT Speed Coupe sibling, and we'll see it unveiled at the 2013 Detroit motor show. Just how fast is the new 2013 Bentley GTC Speed?

Holiday Motor Excursion rides again

“We can get there faster on the 210,” we told our piloto, Harry Hernandez, in whose 1924 Model T we were driving. “The freeway? What are you, nuts?” he asked.

Autoweek's top 12 videos of 2012

Well, 2012 is over, we've watched the ball drop and made our New Year's resolutions. Before we venture into 2013 it's time to put a bow on 2012 with our top 12 videos of the year. Porsche Boxster S review Natalie Neff reviews the Porsche Boxster S at Michigan International Speedway, 15 years after its original release.

Happy New Year! Our Top 12 Car News stories of 2012 – month by month

Happy New Year to one and all from all of us here at Cars UK. We take a look back at the top car news story on Cars UK for every month of 2012. As it’s New Years Day 2013, it seems the right time to take a look back at the top car news stories of 2012.

(Another) Top 10 Stolen Cars List

We have another list of the most stolen cars in the UK in 2011-2012, this one from online car insurer Swiftcover. And it’s the Land Rover Defender at the top. Who’d have thought it?

Geely to buy bankrupt London Taxis

The Chinese press are reporting that Geely are to buy London Taxi maker Manganese Bronze, which went in to liquidation in October. Back in October we reported that Manganese Bronze – makers of the iconic London Taxi – had gone in to administration, finally tipped over the edge by  steering box failures in the TX4. After years of under-investment – and a product that has been usurped by both the Mercedes Vito Taxi and the new Nissan NV200 Taxi – it looked like Manganese Bronze had no way back.

News watch December 2012: today's auto industry news

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour Monday 31 December 2012• Despite reports earlier this month that shareholders valued Mercedes-Benz at half that of its luxury rival BMW, Mercedes CEO Dieter Zetsche has remained bullish about his ambitious targets for the carmaker's growth. 'I am confident that we will be ahead of our rivals by 2020 at the latest,' he told German newspaper Boersen-Zeitung in an interview.

College for Creative Studies provost, design guru dies

Imre Molnar, the longtime academic chief at the prestigious College for Creative Studies in Detroit, died Dec. 28 of a heart attack while bicycle riding in California, the school announced. He was 61 years old.

Car Insurance ‘Black Box’ a good idea? We find out.

We’ve been testing a new ‘Telematics’ App from Confused.com which mimics the ‘Black Box’ technology insurers are offering in an attempt to make car insurance cheaper. The inexorable rise and rise of car insurance premiums is a fact of life, and will continue until government gets a handle on ambulance-chasing lawyers and the UK’s idiotic whiplash claims industry. But if you’re looking to find a way to cut your insurance premiums, then having a ‘Black ‘Box’ fitted to your car to monitor your driving so you get charged for how much – and how well – you drive looks a promising idea.

Making of the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo (video)

Porsche has released a video chronicling the development of the Panamera Sport Turismo as the first model extension of the Panamera. Earlier this month we had a video from Porsche of the Panamera Sport Turismo on the move with comments and insights on the design process, and now we get a more detailed look at the development and thinking behind the transition from ugly duckling Panamera to stunningly good looking Panamera Sport Turismo. Porsche don’t want to call the Sport Turismo a Station Wagon, but that is effectively what the Sport Turismo is (and it can’t be a true Shooting Brake with four doors).

2013 Maserati Quattroporte night testing (video)

Maserati has released a video of the 2013 Quattroporte out night testing ahead of a Detroit Auto Show public debut. The new Quattroporte is bigger and more powerful than the current model and leaves Maserati room to introduce a smaller version – the new Maserati Ghibli – to take on the sports saloons from BMW, Mercedes and Jaguar. To be honest, the video tells us little we don’t already know about the new Quattroporte (except perhaps that it has frameless glass in the side windows), but it does indicate how keen Maserati are to keep the new Quattroporte’s PR momentum on the move ahead of its debut.

Infiniti Q50 teased ahead of Detroit debut

The first Infiniti to carry the new nomenclature for the marque – the Infiniti Q50 – gets teased in a short video ahead of a Detroit debut. We managed to break the news that the new Infiniti G37 would be arriving at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show back in October, but what we didn’t know then was that it would be getting a new name. The new Infiniti G Series cars will now be the Infiniti Q50 as Infiniti change their car names (for reasons only Infiniti understand) to be prefixed by ‘QX’ for anything resembling a crossover and just ‘Q’ for anything that’s not.

Nissan Leaf gets battery warranty boost

Nissan Motor Co. plans to bolster the warranty of the battery module in its electric Leaf to reassure consumers of its durability. The company intends to notify current owners and dealers early next year that it will make the warranty retroactive to cover all existing Leafs, offering to repair or replace the car’s lithium-ion battery if it loses more than 30 percent of its ability to hold a charge after five years or 60,000 miles.

Kia promotes design chief Schreyer

Kia Motors Corp. has promoted design chief Peter Schreyer to president. He's the first non-Korean to attain the position at Kia.

Nissan LEAF: Nissan to extend warranty to cover battery capacity loss

Nissan has revealed it plans to extend the warranty on the Nissan LEAF EV to warrant against battery capacity losses. We’ve asked many times why makers of electric cars seem to believe that their batteries will continue to hold the same amount of charge as they age, especially as every battery powered gadget we’ve ever owned loses its ability to hold the same charge as every month passes, and becomes pretty useless after a couple of years hard use. But we’ve never had a sensible answer.

Maserati new model rollout confirmed

Maserati has revealed its plans for a new model rollout over the next few years as it targets 50,000 annual sales. It seems Fiat’s plans for Maserati, and their aim to sell 50,000 cars a year by 2015, is on target with the latest infographic from Fiat clearly showing which Maserati models are planned. The first car on Maserati’s list is the one we’ve already seen – the 2013 Maserati Quattroporte – which had a reveal recently and will get its public debut at the Detroit Auto Show next month.