Cars Show Up

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Hyundai's New Elantra GT and Elantra Coupe Make their Video Debuts

So you want to see the newest additions to Hyundai's Elantra range on film, do you? If the answer is yes, follow the break to watch the first videos of both the Elantra GT, which is the North American version of the European market i30 hatchback, and the Elantra Coupe that is based on the sedan model sold in select markets around the world.

For more information regarding the two newly introduced Hyundai models that premiere at this week's 2012 Chicago Auto Show, visit our previous posts on the Elantra GT here and the Elantra Coupe here.

When oil prices go up, car sales, especially those of gas-guzzling models, go down. There's one place, though, where the exact opposite is happening right now: it’s the Middle East where new car sales are booming.

Sure, many countries in the region, like Bahrain and Syria, are facing severe political turmoil, but on the other hand, since oil prices are on the rise with crude oil having gained 6.7 percent over the last 12 months, revenues of local governments have increased accordingly.

Said governments, wanting to avoid uprisings, are injecting cash into the economy increasing their citizens’ income.

If you're into cars, then it's very likely that you're also into racing games like the PS3's Gran Turismo, the Xbox 360's Forza or online sims like iRacing.

Since most auto enthusiasts / gamers want to play in an environment as close to reality as possible, they usually end up swapping the regular controller for a steering wheel, pedal and gearbox set and the couch for a racing seat - chassis combo.

However, some gamers take the idea to far more extremes, like YouTube user "NBJAG" who is currently in the process of creating a real life simulator using the interior and parts of the exterior of a first generation Opel Astra from the 1990s with the Thrusmaster T500 RS steering, pedal and TH8 gearbox bundle.

Toyota has released pricing on its new Prius C, which is the third hybrid model to join the Prius range in the States after the original liftback and the new minivan.

The subcompact hatchback will arrive at Toyota dealerships in March 2012 with prices starting from $18,950, not including a $760* destination, processing and handling fee that puts the total to $19,710.

The Nissan NV200 compact cargo van made its North American debut today at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show. The commercial version of New York City's NV200 Taxi joins Nissan's expanding lineup of professional vans that includes the full-size NV Cargo and Passenger variants.

Even though the NV200 Cargo is making its first appearance on U.S. soil, the compact van is already available in more than 40 countries around the world. However, the North American NV200's body has been extended 7.9 inches (200 mm) compared to the regular models sold elsewhere.

The "shoot first ask questions later" approach of some police officers from Henderson City in Nevada resulted in the cruel beating of Adam Greene who was suffering from a diabetic shock at the time.

The incident took place more than a year ago but the video footage from a Highway Patrol vehicle was released on Tuesday after Green reached a settlement in his federal lawsuit against the Henderson police department.

According to the police report, a patrol car spotted a Honda Accord weaving among lanes at about 4 a.m. on October 29, 2010, before it came to a stop near Lake Mead Parkway and Boulder Highway in Henderson. More Nevada State Troopers and Henderson police cars soon arrived to the scene.

It surely came as no surprise to General Motors executives that their European division is once again, bleeding cash. After all, they knew that Opel and Vauxhall had already lost US$580 million in the first nine months of 2011.

However, as the Wall Street Journal reports, they weren’t prepared for the “horrendous” fourth quarter losses. Therefore, despite declaring last week that it is determined to turn around Opel, GM is now seriously reconsidering its options.

According to the report, an unnamed GM official said on Tuesday that the U.S. group is almost fed up with its European brands’ inability to make progress: “There is an increasing frustration with Opel and a feeling that the cuts two years ago did not go deep enough. If Opel is going to get fixed, it is going to get fixed now and the cuts are going to be deep.”

After the new Mokka shots [pun intended], Opel's Geneva Motor Show presentation continues with some fresh pictures of the brand-new Astra GTC, which will be marketed as the Vauxhall Astra VXR in the United Kingdom.

The most powerful (regular production) Astra ever is based on the sporty-looking Astra GTC three-door hatch and features a 2.0-litre turbocharged direct injection engine developing 280PS (276hp/206kW) and a maximum torque of 400 Nm (295 lb-ft).

A 60-second spot that aired during the break in Sky TV’s Super Bowl coverage last Sunday was the opening shot in Chrysler’s new advertising campaign with which it re-launches the brand in the United Kingdom.

The commercial shows the 300C sedan cruising through Detroit and then emerging through a tunnel in the streets of London, where it is joined by the rest of the brand's UK line-up. It is very similar to this ad only now we see Chrysler's re-badged Lancia models as well.

Without doubt, the spotlights at this year's edition of the Chicago Auto Show are on the Koreans. Following the presentation of Hyundai's new Elantra GT and Coupe models, its sister company Kia has unveiled an impressive concept model for a sporty, three-door version of the Soul called the Track'ster

Of course, if you throw in a pair of round headlights and vertical tail lamps, the Track'ster could very well be a conceptual proposal for high-performance Mini model…

That's not to say the Track'ster hasn't got character but many details like the alloy wheel designs, the blacked out front pillars, the two-tone paint job and the prominent LED driving lights on the lower part of the front bumper do have a certain British flavor.

"The idea was to make the Track'ster tough looking, like a bulldog," said Tom Kearns, chief designer for Kia's Californian design studio, which was responsible for the creation of the Track'ster.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced several recalls in the first week of February.

Starting with Toyota, the Japanese carmaker has issued a recall on a total of 427 RAV4 vehicles manufactured from November 24, 2011, through December 19, 2011, because the curtain shield airbags may not deploy. Toyota said it would check the RAV4s and if necessary, replace the assemblies. The safety recall is expected to begin in early March.

At the 2012 Chicago Auto Show today, GMC lifted the wraps off its facelifted Acadia crossover that enters the new model year with a retouched exterior, higher quality materials inside and new safety features.

The exterior redesign brings a new front end with a more prominent and upright grille with three-bars that was previewed by GMC's recent concept models like the Sierra HD All-Terrain, along with LED running lamps, and new headlamp and bumper designs.

At the back, we find new taillamps, a re-sculptured bumper, a wrap-around rear glass and a new rear spoiler, while GMC also introduced a fresh set of 18-, 19- and 20-inch wheels.

According to GMC, the interior benefits from upgraded soft-touch materials, with French stitching and a red ambient light that flows across the dashboard.

If you thought Road & Track's comparo with the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and the Nissan GT-R was kind of a stretch given the huge price difference between the two coupes, we wonder what you'll have to say about Autocar's video test of the Nissan GT-R and the BMW M5 saloon.

The British magazine admits that the BMW M5 and Nissan GT-R "are not conventional rivals" but adds that both "have around 550bhp, cost nearly £75k and promise brutal performance" which it says, justifies a comparison.

We've already showed you the Mokka small crossover but today, Opel and its sister brand Vauxhall published a fresh set of photos including the first shots of the interior.

We'll remind you that the Opel Mokka and the Buick Encore that was revealed at last month's Detroit Motor Show are one and the same with the only differences concerning the design of the front grille, the interior trims and the available engine choices.

The GT hatchback isn't the only addition Hyundai is making to the Elantra's North American lineup as the South Korean automaker also revealed the sporty looking Coupe model at the Chicago Auto Show.

While pretty simple in its execution, the transformation from four-door sedan to a two-door coupe seems to work visually.

Aside from the elongated front doors, the Coupe also gets different fog lamp surrounds, black trim on the lower part of the rear bumper and a new trunk incorporating a spoiler in the design.

It's also half an inch longer than the sedan at 178.7-inches, while the rest of the dimensions remaine the same at 69.9-inches wide, 56.5-incnes tall with a 106.3-in. wheelbase.

Hyundai says that the Elantra Coupe's total interior volume of 110.2 cubic feet and 14.8 cubic feet trunk both exceed the 2012 Honda Civic Coupe and 2012 Kia Forte Koup by "large margins".

The compact hatchback that we came to know as the Hyundai i30 in Europe, Australia and other parts of the world was introduced in North America on Wednesday as the all-new 2013 Elantra GT.

Set to make its world premiere later today at the Chicago Auto Show, the GT expands the range of the Elantra offering Hyundai a direct rival to the Ford Focus, Mazda3, Subaru Impreza and Volkswagen Golf hatchbacks.

Some said it would be unveiled at the Detroit Motor Show while others that it was doubtful whether it would get the full 650HP V8 treatment of the tin-top model. All we know is that Ford proved them all wrong today with unveiling the 2013 Shelby GT500 Convertible that debuts at the Chicago Motor Show.

Ford says that it chose the Windy City show instead of a more high-profile show like Detroit because 20 years ago, it launched its Special Vehicles Team at the same venue. And to make sure that the car’s owners don’t forget it, it added SVT commemorative lighted sill plates.

First Official Photos of 2013 Acura ILX Sedan and RDX Crossover

We don't have to wait until Wednesday for the 2012 Chicago Auto Show to open its doors to the press to see what the production versions of Acura's 2013 ILX compact sedan and RDX crossover look like as the Japanese carmaker has just released the first official photos.

As we expected, the transition from concept to production didn't bring many changes on either model, just some minor tweaks to the bumper trims and the placing of smaller and less extravagant alloy wheels.

Starting with the ILX, while based on the current Civic, Acura has made considerable efforts to differentiate the compact model from its Honda sibling, both inside and out. Acura says that the primary target customers for the ILX are "Generation Y- successful 20 and 30-somethings moving into the luxury car ranks but looking for high-value propositions in their purchases."

Next up on Porsche's product menu for 2012 is the introduction of the all-new, second-generation Cayman coupe, which is the closed roof variant of the latest Boxster roadster.

Talking about the roof that is the primary difference between the two models, our latest scoop pictures give us a very clear view of its styling.

If you take a close look at the photos of the current and next generation of the Cayman that we've added below, you'll see that in the new model, the shape of the top looks more integrated into the car's design and less of an afterthought.

To answer our own question, probably a little bit of both, though the first thing that comes to mind upon viewing the clip is that the person driving the Hyundai Getz is reckless for zipping through traffic on a road with reduced traction due to the snow and ice.

Nevertheless, you cannot but admire the fact that the driver managed to get out of this hazardous situation without hurting anyone.

There's a good chance that the Getz didn't even touch the other cars on the opposite side of the road during its crazy slalom, but we're not entirely sure about that one. Pass the jump to watch the incident which starts at around 30 seconds into the video.

Cars Show Up

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Hyundai's New Elantra GT and Elantra Coupe Make their Video Debuts

Arab Spring Brings Increased Car Sales in the Middle East as Governments Toss Around Money

Man Builds a Gaming Cockpit out of an Opel Astra

New Toyota Prius C Hybrid Hatch Priced from $18,950*

Nissan Debuts NV200 Compact Cargo Van at the Chicago Auto Show

Video Footage Shows Police Officers Beating a Diabetic Driver in Shock [NSFW]

GM Officials Shocked by Opel & Vauxhall's Latest Losses, Demand Much Deeper Cuts

Opel Shows More of its 276HP Astra OPC Hot Hatch

Chrysler Reintroduces Brand in the UK with £10 Million “Different Is What We Do” Campaign

MINI Beware: Kia Thinks Big with Track'ster Concept that Could Spawn a 3-Door Soul

February Recalls: Toyota RAV4, Honda Accord, Crosstour and Ridgeline, Ford F-53/59 and Maserati GranTurismo

GMC Freshens up Acadia and Acadia Denali Crossovers for the 2013MY

Autocar Compares Nissan GT-R with…BMW M5 Sedan

Opel Drops a New Batch of Photos of the Mokka Crossover

Hyundai Debuts New 2013 Elantra Coupe to Take on the Honda Civic

Hyundai i30 Gains the Elantra GT Moniker for North America [28 Photos]

New 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 Convertible with 650HP

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

First Official Photos of 2013 Acura ILX Sedan and RDX Crossover

Spy Shots: New 2013 Porsche Cayman S Pictured Inside and Out

Is this Hyundai Driver Extremely Lucky or Talented?