Latest auto news

Spy Shots: Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Brake snapped winter testing

Mercedes-Benz hasn't exactly been secretive about its desire to offer a five-door hatchback version of its ultra-stylish CLS sedan. After all, the first concept for the latest CLS, which was introduced as a 2012 model, introduced us to the CLS Shooting Break Concept at the Beijing Motor Show in 2010. And yes, MB itself called the car a Shooting Break, not Brake.

Based on that concept, we have a pretty solid idea of how the CLS Shooting Brake will look. Judging by these spy shots that were snapped in Northern Sweden, there won't really be any surprises. And that's totally fine by us.

We'd expect Mercedes-Benz to deliver its super hatch in both CLS550 (with 4.6-liter twin-turbo V8) and CLS63 AMG (with 5.5-liter twin-turbo V8) flavors, which means the biggest question left to answer will be whether the company decides to call it the Shooting Brake or the Shooting Break. We, like pretty much everyone else in the world, vote for Brake.

Video: Jonathon Ward talks about his Icon Derelicts in latest eGarage video

There are very few things that get the unanimous approval of everyone here at Autoblog. One of them is Icon 4x4, which makes impossibly expensive yet worth-every-penny reimaginings of history's best off-roaders. For this year's SEMA Show, Icon debuted something new that had nothing to do with off-roading, yet still had our whole team salivating.

Christened a "Derelict" by Icon founder and designer Jonathon Ward, this 1952 Chevy Coupe looks like an abused artifact from a time not worth remembering. Knowing Icon like we do, however, it's anything but. The Derelict is fitted with a 6.2-liter V8 from General Motors producing 430 horsepower and an interior upholstered in gorgeous vintage briefcase leather, but the exterior is as original and rusty as it was when Icon found it. What we didn't know at SEMA is that the '52 Chevy isn't the first Derelict that Icon produced.

Our friends at eGarage have produced an excellent video about how the two Derelicts came to be, including how Jonathon Ward and his company made them. Spoiler alert: It wasn't as easy as dropping a new engine into an old car and redoing the leather. The Derelicts were meant to be high-performance yet reliable daily drivers, which requires more thought and engineering than we ever imagined.

Follow the jump to be one of the first to watch this latest video from eGarage.

Continue reading Jonathon Ward talks about his Icon Derelicts in latest eGarage video

Official: 24 Hours of LeMons now welcomes driverless entries

In an effort to stay on the bleeding edge of old crap-bucket technology, the 24 Hours of LeMons has now created a prize specifically for autonomous vehicles. The X Ceedingly Bad Idea Prize will award one million shiny new nickels to the first team that manages to pilot an autonomous vehicle to a win. We assume that carries a caveat of not killing anyone in the process. As always, the vehicle itself can't cost more than $500, though the associated technological wizardry required to keep the driverless machine on the track doesn't count toward that grand total.

Madness? Probably, but we would feel more comfortable sharing the course with a computer than some of the tactically inept drivers we've seen bashing around the track in our time. The next 24 Hours of LeMons race kicks off at New Jersey Motorsports Park on April 14-15, but you need to get your application in by February 4. Get cracking, people. In the meantime, hit the jump to check out the press release.

Continue reading 24 Hours of LeMons now welcomes driverless entries

Confirmed: Passat popularity has VW hiring an extra 200 in Chattanooga

The good people of Tennessee are no doubt thrilled to have a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga. The facility already features well over 2,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs, and now the German automaker is bolstering employment by another 200 full-time VW staffers, boosting the employment total to 2,500 full-time and temp workers.

VW says it is making the move to enable the plant to increase production from 31 vehicles per hour to 35. The boosted line rate also means that VW dealers will soon have more Passat sedans to sell, though the automaker failed to mention the sedan in the post-jump press release. Given VW's torrid sales pace in January, we're guessing the jump in factory output will be good news for the automaker's retail outlets.

VW isn't just looking for line workers - the automaker is also looking for supervisors and engineers. Hit the jump to read over the VW press release, which includes information on how to apply for a position.

Continue reading Passat popularity has VW hiring an extra 200 in Chattanooga

Watch an SVT Raptor be built on Ultimate Factories this weekend [w/video]

There's something inexplicably mesmerizing about watching a factory in action. Seeing the innumerable complex mechanisms mesh in perfect harmony to create the products we know and love is part of what makes shows like National Geographic's Ultimate Factories so interesting. Now the program is headed to Dearborn for a look at how the Ford F-150 Ecoboost and F-150 SVT Raptor come together on the line in crystal-clear HD video. The show will also spend time with both trucks out on the company's proving grounds, which means there's a good chance we'll see the Raptor bashing over various obstacles.

Consider us excited. Last year, the Ford plant in Dearborn produced 344,446 vehicles, making it the third most productive plant in North America behind the Nissan facility in Aguascalientes, Mexico and the Volkswagen plant in Puebla, Mexico.

The show will air on Saturday, February 4 at 8 p.m. Eastern on the National Geographic Channel, but you can get a glimpse of what to expect in the video after the jump.

Continue reading Watch an SVT Raptor be built on Ultimate Factories this weekend [w/video]

What we know about the 2013 Volkswagen Golf, next-gen GTI

The next GTI will be an order of magnitude better, bringing it back in line with the original hot hatch.

So what makes it special? A combination of new manufacturing processes, an all-new platform, a range of upgraded engines and what will go down as one of the greatest democratizations of active safety and in-car technology in automotive history.

What's more, the next GTI will be an order of magnitude better because of it, bringing it back in line with the original hot hatch while packed with even more standard features.

It all starts with Volkswagen's new Modular Transverse Matrix (MQB) platform, which is set to underpin every front-wheel-drive VW product from the Polo to the Passat, along with the 2013 Audi A3. To hear VW tell it, it will redefine the automaker's manufacturing processes while curing world hunger and eradicating leprosy.

Read on to find out what's got Volkswagen so excited.

Continue reading What we know about the 2013 Volkswagen Golf, next-gen GTI

Report: Lamborghini kinda sorta confirms SUV concept coming in April

Rumors typically have a limited shelf life. Either they come to fruition, or they just die off. But not this one. The automotive press has been anticipating a follow-up to the Lamborghini LM002 (pictured above) for decades now, but with anticipation building, they appear to finally be coming to a head this year.

Although not quite an official confirmation, a spokesperson for Lamborghini's parent company Audi has indicated that all the speculation regarding the imminent arrival of a new Lamborghini crossover are, essentially, true. The concept version is expected to debut at the Beijing Motor Show in April with a retuned version of the V10 engine in the Gallardo and an eye on the likes of the Maserati Kubang and BMW X6 - only likely higher-end in its market position.

The decision-making process in Sant'Agata Bolognese was reportedly to build either a crossover or a sedan (previewed by the Estoque concept at the 2008 Paris Motor Show) as a third model line, but the current speculation suggests that Lamborghini could build both, with the four-door sedan to follow a couple of years down the line.

Official: Ferrari unveils new step-nosed F2012... snow be damned [w/video]

Few things can stand between a Ferrari and the finish line. Not rain, not sleet and certainly not snow. So while the latter fell in prodigious quantities on Maranello, where Ferrari was planning to unveil its latest F1 challenger yesterday, that didn't stop the Scuderia from showing it off to the world, through the magic of this newfangled invention they're calling the "internet".

The F2012 you see here is the fifty-eighth F1 car built by Ferrari, comprising a chassis and powertrain developed and produced entirely in-house: a rarity among F1 teams, particularly in these past few years since major manufacturers like Honda, Toyota and BMW withdrew from the sport.

The most prominent change to the car's form over the F150

Report: Two Japanese suppliers plead guilty for bid-fixing, will pay record fines

Two more Japanese auto industry suppliers, Yazaki and Denso, have been fined by the U.S. Department of Justice and four executives from Yazaki will go to jail, according to reports in the New York Times and Automotive News. Yazaki's $478 million fine and Denso's $78 million fine come on top of the $200 million penalty paid by another Japanese supplier, Furukawa Electric Company, last November as part of a probe into price fixing. Three Furukawa execs also were sentenced to prison.

The DoJ opened the investigation two years ago into collusion among firms setting prices for parts like wire harnesses and ECUs, but is said to have found evidence of such practices since 2000. Yazaki was charged with three felonies, fixing the prices of wire harnesses, instrument panel clusters and fuel senders. Denso was charged with two felonies, conspiring to fix the prices of ECUs and heating control units. Four Yazaki employees, working mainly for its North American operations in Ohio and Kentucky, were charged with violating the Sherman Antitrust Act and will serve from 15 months to two years in prison.

Both companies have pledged to retrain their employees and bolster their antitrust compliance, and both Yazaki's Chairman and CEO said they would return half their pay for three months. The Justice Department investigation continues, and said the CEO of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association, "I'm dead certain that there has to be a lot of concern out there."

Feel free to read over the official statements from both Yazaki and Denso after the break.

Continue reading Two Japanese suppliers plead guilty for bid-fixing, will pay record fines

Official: Ducati heading back to Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for 2012 [w/video]

Ducati has announced that it will be back at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in July. The company will once again partner with the Spider Grips team using Multistrada 1200 machines. The Multistrada is the same bike that propelled Ducati to first and third place last year. Privateer Carlin Dunne took home a slew of titles when he conquered the mountain in 11:11.32, setting a new record for motorcycles in the process. He'll be back this year alongside Greg Tracy, a six-time Pikes Peak winner. In 2010, Tracy took the top win on the mountain astride a Multistrada of his own.

To celebrate the brand's return, Ducati is inviting fans and owners to join the team in Colorado in July for a gathering that should include plenty of riding along some of the state's more impressive scenery before attending the race. Sounds like a very good time to us. Head over to the Ducati site for more information.

July is still a long way off, so Ducati has been kind enough to show off a short recap film of the brand's 2011 season. Hit the jump to check out the clip as well as the full press release.

Continue reading Ducati heading back to Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for 2012 [w/video]