The Chevrolet Orlando crossover will not be sold in the United States after all. In an interview with Bloomberg, Margaret Brooks, GM’s product marketing director for small cars and crossovers said that “The best thing to do for Chevrolet is to focus on the brands we’ve already brought to market: the Traverse, Equinox, Malibu and, soon to come, the Cruze.”

In addition to Asia and Europe, the Orlando, a seven seater minivan based on the same platform as the Cruze and Volt, will be sold in Canada, where the Mazda5 (a direct competitor to the Orlando) is a popular vehicle. Canadians typically buy smaller vehicles due to higher vehicle costs, and an average gas price of $4 per gallon.

[Source: Automotive News]

The Trofeo Maserati series held its first test day at Vallelunga circuit this week, and it was just as awesome as you might expect it to be. The series is an arrive-and-drive competition for international ballers gentleman drivers who want to go fast in style – much like the Ferrari Challenge or Lamborghini Super Trofeo series.

The GranTurismo MC race cars used in the series weigh less than 3,087 lbs and while Maserati hasn’t released horsepower output numbers, the cars use Maserati’s 4.7-liter V8 powerplant.

Maserati released a few official videos of the cars on track but they aren’t very exciting. Instead we found this video on YouTube. Turn up your speakers and hear that unrestrained Italian V8 howl!

Hit the jump for the video:

Continue Reading…

Drifting is a dangerous sport, and not just for the drivers. Having photographed several drift events this author is well aware of the risks involved -  I’ve have even had a few close calls, on one occasion a friend of mine pulling me away right as the vehicle struck the K-rail. At another event the “track mats” shot up (while the vehicle was doing a burn out over them) flying right past my head. So needless to say, as safe as they try to make it for the photographers, there’s always a risk with cars going sideways.

During the recent SSS Gecko Cup drifting event in Warsaw, Poland a camera man became collateral damage when an Nissan S13 went flinging sideways a little too quickly. The car slammed into the safety rail (which wasn’t the concrete K-rails we’re used to) which in turn knocked into the camera man. Clearly the camera man takes a nice fall and apparently he was unconscious for a few seconds, thought it doesn’t seem so. But hey, he lives to shoot another day and that’s all that matters!

Make sure to check out the video after the break, it makes you think twice how closely you stand next to the action!

[Source: Tampa Sports Car Examiner]

Continue Reading…

Tesla Motors is set to expand its lineup with the previously announced Model S sedan, as well as an all-new crossover. First up is the Model S sedan, due in 2012. It is expected to retail for $50,000, about half the cost of the Tesla Roadster sports car. By 2014, Tesla will introduce a replacement for the current Roadster, as well as a new crossover vehicle.

Elon Musk, chairman of Tesla, said that future vehicles will feature four-wheel drive, a 17-inch touch screen and the ability to swap batteries out in one minute. The cars will also have a range of 300 miles and the ability to achieve a five-star crash test rating.

Tesla also announced a deal to supply some electric vehicle technology to Mercedes-Benz for their A-Class and Smart compact cars. Tesla plans to supply other companies with similar technology and make it a cornerstone of their business.

[Source: Autoweek]

Proving that you can never have enough niche vehicles, BMW is reportedly considering production for a possible X4 after the X6 SUV/Coupe sold 80,000 units worldwide last year, beating expectations by 100 percent.

Now, BMW is looking into the prospect of building something smaller, but with the same profile and styling cues as the X6. Reports suggest that the new car would be spun off the upcoming BMW X3 platform, and resemble the rakish X6, albeit with smaller proportions. BMW already has an upcoming X1, the X3, X5 and X6. No details about engines or transmissions has been announced, but expect some kind of Inline 6, more likely than not with a turbocharger.

[Source: Autocar]

Corner Carvers is the sort of internet forum where car setup and sanctioned, timed driving events dominate the conversation, rather than the usual forum drivel about street racing, JDM parts and insulting female family members.

But even the best slip up at times, and Corner Carvers has found itself at the center of attention when a Nissan executive joined their 49 page GTR thread and began spouting off his own opinions on the drivers “appalling” behavior behind the wheel, the car itself (“Frankly, it really isn’t overall my ideal in a sports car either (too heavy & complex) but it’s impressive nonetheless”) and sporadic insults directed at posters who questioned his credibility.

It turns out the poster, a man named Chip Goetzinger of Nashville, Tennessee, lists his occupation as “Technical Assistant to the Chairman of the Americas, Nissan.” Nissan confirmed to Jalopnik that someone of the same name works at their office, but there has been no official confirmation that the poster is an employee of Nissan North America.

As far as internet flame wars go, this is extremely tame, as no four-letter words or racial/ethnic/gender/sexual orientation-related insuts have been bandied abut. But the fact that the poster is supposedly a Nissan executive, and he was speaking about his employer in a negative light, strikes us as monumentally stupid.

[Source: Corner Carvers via Jalopnik]

Yesterday, AutoGuide brought you an in-depth look at the “swangas” scene in Houston. Today, we’re going in the complete opposite direction, all the way over to Seattle, Washington, where a white rapper named Grynch has just dropped a track all about his Volvo.

The car in question is a 1986 Volvo 240DL. Not the turbo, 4-speed manual “turbo brick” that enthusiasts covet, just a regular old Volvo wagon. Volvos are deeply uncool in the hip-hop world. Kanye West once rapped about how he spent his newfound fortune by stating “I bought my whole family whips, no Volvos.”  You know you have a bit of an image problem when one of pop culture’s tastemakers disses your product on a #1 hit single.

Good thing that “My Volvo” is a catchy, light-hearted song that could easily cross over to Top 40 radio. Grynch doesn’t have a big profile yet, but after performing with some of the biggest names in hip-hop at this years SXSW music festival, “My Volvo” should give him the push he deserves to cross over into the mainstream. “Tank on empty, whippin my Volvo” should by all rights become a classic lyric in the hip-hop canon. Hip-hop’s biggest market is suburban white kids, which also neatly overlaps with Volvo’s main demographic.

See the video after the jump:

Continue Reading…

The engineers at MTM are self-crazed Audi fanatics. Even though they tune other lines of automobiles including VW, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Lamborghini, KTM, Spyker and Porsche, their roots date back to the early days of Audi quattro technology. The founder of the company was actually an engineer on the team developing the famed Audi five-cylinder in-line engine and in 1990 he founded MTM which stands for Motoren Technik Mayer.

While they’re not the most popular brand in North America for Audi tuning, compared to say, APR, there’s no denying their tuning prowess and success with their products. Their newest release is the MTM RS6 Clubsport which develops a whopping 730-hp and close to 580 ft-lbs of torque out of the 5.0L V10 Biturbo engine. This is quite the impressive upgrade from the factory 580-hp and 480 ft-lbs.

With these performance figures, the Audi RS6 now blasts the quarter mile at 12.6 @ 124 mph while hitting 0-60 in a mere 4.1 seconds. This is all achieved thanks to an ECU upgrade, air filter and exhaust system. Chances are the bulk of the power is made through the ECU, increasing the boost and ensuring the fuel curve keeps the motor nice and fed. Don’t look past the simple bolt-ons though; a properly tuned intake and exhaust on a V10 really frees up breathing space.

MTM also offers plenty of aesthetic upgrades on the RS6 with a set of 21-inch MTM Bimoto wheels for rollers, a carbon fiber diffuser for the rear and matching carbon fiber front lip spoiler. Suspension-wise, the RS6 can be lowered with a set of MTM individually adjustable springs.

All this power means more safety and with all MTM Clubsport models, this is a track-ready machine with a roll cage, six-point harness and carbon Recaro Pole Position seats.

Sadly the RS6 isn’t offered on this side of the Atlantic, so we’ll have to wait and see what MTM has in store for the S6, supercharged S4 and naturally aspirated S5.

GALLERY: MTM Audi RS6 Clubsport

Anyone who races a Honda Civic, Volkswagen GTI or other high performance front drive car is familiar with lifting the inside wheel when cornering hard. But these Fiat 500 racers take front-wheel drive handling dynamics to a new level.

The video in question, taken at the Oulton Park circuit, shows how dangerous oversteer can be. While the oversteer wasn’t exactly the desired effect, something like that can be recovered. From looking at the video, it appears the driver wasn’t able to exit the corner properly (watch his front wheels at about 8 seconds in and you’ll see the front wheels go straight for just a second), and headed straight for the curbing, launching him up on two wheels.

Admittedly, the video is a cool example of motorsport heroics, but stunts like this do not win races. See for yourself after the jump.

Continue Reading…

As we reported two weeks ago, GST Motorsports set a new Super Lap Battle record around Firebird’s main racing circuit. Well, the boys from Hayward, California have done it again, this time setting a new Redline Time Attack lap record at Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s outside road course, posting a best time of 1-minute 39.657 seconds.

“The entire GST Motorsports crew worked very hard to provide me with a capable car,” said The G-STig, the mysterious and anonymous driver of GST’s famous Time Attack Subaru Impreza L, rumored to be famed Japanese Time Attack driver Tarzan Yamada. “The car ran very well for me all weekend and all the changes we have been working on are keeping us moving in the right direct. I only wish we were able to run the car on a clean track at full power to show everyone just how well it’s coming together”

Mike Warfield, owner and engine tuner of GST Motorsports, had this to say about their accomplishment in Vegas. “Given the limited seat time we have been able to give our driver to date and some of the major changes we have made to the chassis I am extremely happy with the teams progress thus far and really look forward to the next event where we hope to be able to turn up the wick considerably. To take the win here this weekend with so much more left on the table really gives us something to look forward to.”

In fact, GST’s amazing Impreza ran a 1:38.1 during qualifying earlier in the day, and in-car data suggests a 1:36.8 was well within grasp had track conditions not deteriorated during the final so-called Super Session.

For in-car video evidence of GST’s flying 1:38.1 qualifying lap, check out the video after the jump.

[Source: GST Motorsports]

Continue Reading…