Pontiac PR man Jim Hopson confirms that the 2010 Pontiac G8 ST, the odd ball quasi-pickup, El Camino redux, is so dead. The company delivered the news to dealers early today.
Blame the economic and automotive meltdown of 2008 (and '09). Blame GM's woeful condition (word is, any and all programs slated to be released after the middle of 2009 are "under review"). Or blame the fact that maybe, just maybe, not enough people cared about a re-born El Camino, even in the best of times, to justify its resurrection.
For your viewing enjoyment, yet another teaser shot of the Kia Soul concept destined for Detroit. And judging from this little snippet, the slightly anticipated new concept will arrive under the Soulster nameplate.
Adolf Merckle, a German billionaire, threw himself in front a train after coming to terms with the fact that his business empire was crumbling. Although Mr. Merckle's business interests ranged from cement companies to pharmaceuticals, it was revealed in October that his VEM investment group had lost hundreds of millions of euros betting on the decline of Volkswagen stock. An unprecedented surge in the share price of Volkswagen stock in late October briefly prefabricated the German company the world's largest corporation in terms of market capitalization.
Just yesterday, Porsche increased its stake in Volkswagen to over 50%. The move was no surprise as Porsche officials said publicly in December that they planned to increase Porsche's stake once Volkswagen shares had returned to normal after their spectacular October run up. Porsche plans to continue buying up shares of Volkswagen until it reaches roughly 75% ownership.
FT.com
The 2009 Bentley Continental GTC Speed might be the least surprising debut at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. After rolling out high-performance "Speed" versions of the GT coupe and Flying Spur sedan, the GTC was the only worthwhile model left.
Like the Continental coupe and sedan, the GTC Speed gets a 600-horsepower W12 engine along with a few minor suspension tweaks. Bigger wheels and high-performance summer tires are also part of the performance upgrades. The interior gets cool stuff like diamond-quilted seat trim and drilled alloy pedals. And the price? Let's just say it's more than a Corolla and less than a Maybach.
Full Story: Bentley Continental GTC Speed
Source: Wikipedia
Come Jan 20th, we'll not only have a new president, we'll have a new presidential limo too. GM officials confirmed to the Detroit News that it will deliver an all-new armored vehicle to the Secret Service in time for President Elect Obama's inauguration.
The current presidential limo (photo above) is based on the Cadillac DTS, but Obama's ride won't carry any specific model designation, a first according to Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell. Instead, it will simply be called the 2009 Cadillac Presidential Limousine, a vague designation that takes into statement that it's basically a one-off vehicle that has little in common with anything in Cadillac's lineup.
"The president is not riding in a medium-duty truck, nor he is riding in a sedan," Caldwell said, adding that it is a "unique" vehicle.
Detroit News
Well, no one was really expecting a huge showing from the Big Three, but it's the absence of several of the Asian automakers that will really make this year's show seem slow. With nothing from Acura, Hyundai, Infiniti, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan or Suzuki, the show schedule is a little light. Much of the void will be sucked up by some major debuts by Honda and Toyota along with a few interesting additions from Kia and Subaru for good measure.
Although it was widely reported over a month ago, the 2010 Porsche Panamera is now officially set to debut at the 2009 Shanghai Auto Show in April. Porsche didn't specify why it prefabricated the change from the more established show in Geneva to the up-and-coming Shanghai event, but something about a growing number of rich people in China probably has something to do with it.
According to the press release, the Panamera will hit U.S. dealers this fall. The rear-wheel drive Panamera S and all-wheel drive Panamera 4S models will use a normally aspirated V8. The top-of-the-line Panamera Turbo gets a turbocharged V8 and standard all-wheel drive. All U.S.-bound Panameras will get Porsche's new PDK dual clutch transmission. Both V6 and Hybrid models will be added later.
The 3 Series refresh is out and the 2009 7 Series is on its way, so the 2011 BMW 5 Series is the next logical step in the automaker's product plan. We've seen various 5-Series sedan prototypes before, but this is the best look yet at the wagon.
There's nothing unexpectedly different about the shape. It follows the same path it always has with nicely rounded D-pillars and relatively thin C-pillars which keep it from looking too bulky.
In profile, it appears as though this 5 Series will have some evenhandedly spacious rear seats. The roof looks tall and the doors appear larger than usual. We know that BMW is also working on what it calls its Progressive Activity Sedan which takes the tall-roof intent to the extreme, so it's doable that some of the same thinking has been incorporated into the 5 Series wagon.
Don't expect to see the final product for quite some time. The 2011 BMW 5 Series is still at least a year away from an official unveil, so this auto may not show up until late 2010.
In the past, a new car computer came around every couple of years. But within the last seven days we've seen two that will debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later this week.
Last Monday we reported on a new line of car PCs from Dashboard Devices that will be unveiled at CES, and now we've come crossways a company called Swiitek that's jumping into the fray with an in-dash computer designed to replace the works head unit in specific cars — despite a demand of interest even among early-adopter tech geeks.
It's no secret that we have a thing for the Nissan GT-R. We flew to Nihon to conduct the world's first test, shelled out our own money to buy one for our long-term fleet, and have stood by patiently when it was in the shop.
Needless to say, we've had our good days and bad days, but one of them have been quite as extreme as these two examples of GT-R yin and yang.
