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2015 Lexus RC F Driven, 2016 BMW 7-Series Spied, 2015 Viper Discounted: Car News Headlines

We’ve just driven the all-new Lexus RC F, the Japanese automaker’s rival to the BMW M4 and upcoming coupe versions of the Cadillac ATS-V and Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG. While all its rivals move to turbocharged power, the Lexus stands apart thanks to its naturally aspirated V-8 and all 467...
3 minutes ago by Viknesh Vijayenthiran

2015 Dodge Viper SRT Starting Price Dropped By $15,000: Official

Peugeot Reveals 308 GT Hot Hatchback, Diesel GT Wagon Too

New Photos Of The 2015 Aston Martin Lagonda Hit The Web





Cadillac Autonomous And Connected Car Tech Coming For 2017: Video

Cadillac has confirmed that from the 2017 model year some of its vehicles will be available with autonomous and connected car technology. The announcement was made by General... read more 5 hours ago by Viknesh Vijayenthiran




2016 BMW 7-Series Spy Shots

These are the latest spy shots of a prototype for the 2016 BMW 7-Series, the next generation of BMW’s flagship sedan. The automaker is taking an evolutionary approach... read more 6 hours ago by Viknesh Vijayenthiran




Zagato Reveals One-Off Aston Martin Virage Shooting Brake

Famed Italian design house and coachbuilder Zagato turned 95 this year, and already we’ve seen the firm unveil the Lamborghini Gallardo-based 5-95 as part of the... read more 7 hours ago by Viknesh Vijayenthiran




2014 Formula One Italian Grand Prix Results

After a poor start, Mercedes AMG’s Lewis Hamilton took advantage of a rare slip up by his teammate Nico Rosberg to win the 2014 Formula One Italian Grand Prix at Monza... read more 9 hours ago by Viknesh Vijayenthiran




2015 Lexus RC F First Drive

At some point in the early 2000s, Lexus approached peak grandma. Cars like the SC convertible and the ES sedan were arguably its best efforts, just when Cadillac was brewing... read more 17 hours ago by Marty Padgett




Bugatti Veyron Successor To Be Called The Chiron?

The decade-long production run of the Bugatti Veyron finally comes to an end next year, but an even faster successor for what is still the official fastest production car in... read more September 7, 2014 by Viknesh Vijayenthiran




Hamilton Edges Out Rosberg For 2014 Formula One Italian Grand Prix Pole

Mercedes AMG driver Lewis Hamilton managed to secure pole position for the 2014 Formula One Italian Grand Prix, the Briton’s first in eight races. Hamilton set a... read more September 6, 2014 by Viknesh Vijayenthiran




2015 Discovery Sport, 2015 Dodge Viper SRT, 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata: This Week’s Top Photos

Mazda’s fourth-generation MX-5 Miata, the ND, made its debut this week. The design is stunning, and the best part is that the car weighs around 220 pounds less than the... read more September 6, 2014 by Viknesh Vijayenthiran

 

2015 Dodge Viper SRT Starting Price Dropped By $15,000: Official

By Viknesh Vijayenthiran

views Sep 8, 2014



2015 Dodge Viper SRT

Dodge has just announced a round of updates for its 2015 Viper SRT but the updates alone aren’t likely to see the sales performance of the all-American supercar change for the better. Yes, the latest Viper hasn’t exactly been racing off dealer lots, with more than 600 examples said to be unsold—a massive 434-day supply—but Dodge has a solution.

Dodge will offer the 2015 Viper SRT from just $84,995 (not including destination and gas guzzler tax), a massive $15,000 discount from the previous model year. Adjusting for inflation, that makes the 2015 Viper priced competitively to the first generation car launched in 1992, as calculated by Kelley Blue Book. The original Viper was introduced in 1992 with a starting price of $50,700, and adjusted for inflation that equates to about $86,130 today.

All unsold cars from previous model years will also feature the same discount, effective immediately. Dodge says it will be repositioning every Viper model with a lower starting price but is yet to reveal details for these.

Right now you’re probably thinking that’s some hefty depreciation for existing owners, but Dodge has a surprise for these loyal fans. Anyone that already bought the latest Viper, which was all new for 2013, will be given a $15,000 certificate towards a new Viper—whether they trade in their existing car or purchase a new Viper outright. This $15,000 certificate is in addition to the $15,000 price reduction!

That’s not all, as all Dodge dealers will finally be allowed to sell the Viper; this ties in with the Viper being returned to its Dodge roots instead of being marketed as a product of SRT.

"It's not that I'm lowering the price $15,000; it's a psychological thing to put you back into the realm of being an accessible car at a price point that I think is right for the car," Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis explains. It is "the same price it was seven years ago, when we were selling two and a half times as many."

Sales of the 2015 Dodge Viper SRT commence this month. The big news for 2015, apart from the huge discount, is that Dodge is introducing a new Viper GT trim that will be priced close to the base Viper but offer the most popular items from the pricey Viper GTS. An enhanced Viper Time Attack model is also being offered for 2015 and all Vipers receive 5 extra horsepower for the latest model year.

Last month, Dodge sold just 38 Vipers nationwide, a figure that’s down 38 percent from a year ago. We wonder how much success Dodge will have once the cheaper and more powerful 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 rolls in...

 

Will Smaller Pickups Be More Popular Than Carmakers Expect? Member's, what do U think ?

By John Voelcker

Sep 8, 2014



2015 Chevrolet Colorado, 2013 Los Angeles Auto Show

Sometimes it's the throwaway lines that carry the most interesting news.
In a routine report on August sales of new cars and trucks last Wednesday, The Detroit News had this nugget about the upcoming 2015 Chevrolet Colorado mid-size pickup truck:
"GM said dealers have ordered nearly 28,000 midsize Colorado pickups—about seven times what GM predicted—and 14,000 Canyons."
That's interesting.
For one thing, GM has broken decisively with Ford, its arch-rival in pickup truck sales, in launching mid-size pickups to provide a smaller alternative to its full-size line, last redesigned for the 2014 model year.

2015 Chevrolet Colorado Z71


Ford says it sees little role for small pickups--though apparently many still mourn the loss of the modestly priced Ford Ranger compact pickup truck last sold in 2011--and will offer lower-priced versions of its full-size Ford F-150 to buyers who want a less-expensive truck.
The third Detroit contender, Fiat Chrysler, offers a diesel engine in its Ram 1500--GM and Ford are gasoline only in their full-size pickups--for much better on-road fuel economy, even if it's still a full-size truck.
So if GM isn't just posturing to drive interest in the trucks, what might strong consumer demand for mid-size pickups tell us?
For one thing, the return of a U.S.-branded contender to that category is probably a good thing. GM's Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon went out of production in 2012, so it's likely there are owners who want a new one.
Similarly, the Dodge Dakota departed in 2011.
So while there are two import-brand contenders, the Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier, domestic-truck fans may be waiting eagerly.

2015 Chevrolet Colorado Z71

More than that, it probably indicates there's now a larger market than expected for a vehicle with pickup truck functionality that isn't as large as full-size pickups have gotten.
Take a Ford F-150 or Chevy pickup from the mid-1980s and compare it to a Colorado, and you might be surprised how close it is (and how low to the ground). Full-size pickups are now really big (and startlingly tall as well).

That said, it doesn't appear that any U.S. or foreign maker sees a market for Ranger-size pickups.
While that was the size that introduced Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi, and other makes to the truck market in the 1970s, it's unlikely we'll see trucks that small in the market again.

2015 Chevrolet Colorado Z71 (Member's do you like it ? Let us know > Make a post) `OK > Thanks

The cost of meeting safety regulations and consumer expectations on equipment, comfort, features, and capacity means that truly small pickups sold in other markets would require hugely expensive adaptations to meet U.S. expectations.
And there's an argument that their functions have been usurped by small SUVs and crossover utility vehicles anyhow.
Still, if sales of the upcoming 2015 Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size pickups do better than expected--especially once the diesel engine is introduced for 2016--there's always the chance it'll get some manufacturers to reconsider.
As always, the determining factor will be the relative cost of meeting corporate average fuel-economy (CAFE) regulations by developing smaller pickups versus simply making the big ones more fuel-efficient.

 

 

Study: Connected Cars Eagerly Anticipated, Slightly Feared


Department of Transportation vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) program

Connected cars, like autonomous cars, are coming. In fact, connected cars will likely arrive first, because the underlying vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology is simpler, cheaper, and enhances the effectiveness of self-driving vehicles by allowing them to "talk" to other cars on the road.
Given our increasingly connected lives, you'd think that consumers would be comfortable with the impending arrival of connected vehicles. But just to be sure, the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute conducted a survey to quantify drivers' opinions.
To carry out their study, UMTRI's Brandon Schoettle and Michael Sivak created an online questionnaire that was answered by roughly 1,600 people in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia. Those responses confirmed general enthusiasm for connected vehicles, but also made clear that automakers need to address a few fears going forward.
FINDINGS
The good news -- at least for tech fans -- was that 62 percent of UMTRI's respondents said that they had a positive opinion of connected cars, while "about a third" were neutral. A slim minority expressed negative feelings about V2V technology.
What's more, roughly 75 percent of participants believed that "connected vehicles will reduce the number and severity of crashes, improve emergency response times and result in better fuel economy". And, 60 percent expected to see lower vehicle emissions, less congestion, and shorter commutes as a result of V2V technology.
U.K. residents were the most optimistic about connected-cars, with 67 percent expressing positive opinions about them and just 4 percent sharing negative opinions. Australians followed, with 63 percent responding positively and 5 percent negatively. Americans were the most skeptical, with just 57 percent (still, a majority) seeing V2V technology as a positive development and 7 percent holding negative views. Despite the naysayers, 86 percent of respondents expressed interest having a connected car in the future.
The dark cloud hanging over V2V is hacking: roughly 30 percent of those surveyed were "very concerned" about security breaches on individual vehicles and on networks, with many worried that the technology might be used to track their speed and location. An additional 37 percent were "moderately concerned", with around 25 percent "slightly concerned".

Respondents also worried about failures of connected-vehicle networks, particularly during bad weather. And of course, more than a few thought that V2V technology might become a distraction or that drivers would become overly reliant upon it.
PROBLEMS
The UMTRI survey isn't without its flaws. For starters, the survey was conducted online, dipping into a pool of respondents who were likely to be at least vaguely comfortable with the internet and computer networks. That could've skewed the survey's results toward positive attitudes about V2V tech.
Much more problematic, however, was the fact that researchers had to do a lot of explaining about what connected cars are. Sadly, only 27 percent of Americans, 22 percent of Australians and 17 percent of those in the U.K. had even heard of connected vehicles. That doesn't necessarily throw the survey's findings into question, but the spin of that explanation -- positive or negative -- could've easily impacted the majority of responses.
Are you concerned about V2V technology? Will you be the first on your block to own a connected car, or will you hang back and wait for version 2.0 -- or even 3.0? Share your thoughts in the comments below.