BMW will bring its Gran Coupe concept to life, its first foray into the “four door coupe” segment currently en vouge with German manufacturers.

BMW has yet to decide on a name for the car (“…we don’t know what to call it yet,” said Adrian van Hooydonk, BMW’s head of design), but the revival of the famous 8-series nameplate is a possibility. The concept indicates that the design of the Gran Coupe is almost finalized, and the dashing looks will carry an appropriately premium price tag as well.

While BMW has made a big effort to promote their MegaCity electric car project, the Gran Coupe represents a 180 degree shift away from a small, eco-friendly urban vehicle, as BMW looks for a flagship to join the 6-series two-door coupe and the 7-series luxury sedan.

[Source: Car and Driver]

Gordon Murray, the engineering genius who brought the world the McLaren F1 is hard at work on his new city car project, which was spotted undergoing testing in England.

Unlike the million-dollar F1, Murray’s new T25 city car is designed to be simple, urban transportation that will radically transform the way cars are designed and built. While Murray has been understandably secretive about his new project, bits and pieces of information have leaked out, and Murray himself is keen on showing completely disguised prototypes of the car flanked by “small cars” such as the Smart Fortwo, Fiat 500, Mini Cooper and Volkswagen Golf. The T25 is dwarfed by all of them, even the original Mini and Fiat 500.

Despite its size, Murray intends for the T25 to be a mastery of packaging, using a McLaren style “driver up front” layout with two seats positioned aft of the driver. The wheels have been pushed out to the very corners to allow for the passengers to fit comfortably, while the single door will swing out far enough to their is ample cabin access.

The T25 is also designed to have superior driving dynamics, and a footprint small enough that three T25s can be parked side-by-side in a conventional single car parking space.

Hit the link below to see the first photo of theT25:

[Source: Autocar]

GALLERY: T25 City Car Prototype

Rental car giant Hertz is set to buy rival rental agency DollarThrifty for $1.17 billion in cash and stock, in a deal that would see Hertz add another 1,500 locations and cut $180 million in costs.

DollarThrifty saw its stock dip below $1 in early 2009, due to low demand and uncertainly regarding its main vehicle supplier, Chrysler. DollarThrifty’s stock is currently trading at $40 as of Monday, on the strength of the Hertz deal.

While Hertz’s yellow signs are familiar to travelers the world over, Hertz has had a long history of renting out-of-the-ordinary fare, including the famous “Rent-A-Racer” Shelby Mustangs of the 1950′s, and their modern “Prestige”, “Green” and “Fun” collections, which feature luxury, hybrid and sports cars respectively. General Motors also produced a special edition Corvette ZHZ for Hertz rental outlets (above), featuring the companies signature yellow and black motif. Hertz quoted Autoguide $140.14 per day for the ZHZ, slightly less than it would cost to rent a Chevrolet Cobalt for an entire week.

[Source: USAToday]

According to Jalopnik, BMW advertisers in Hong Kong took advantage of an Audi dealer’s storefront by hanging a large-format ad for the all-new 5-Series right above the showroom.

The two German luxury carmakers have a history of one-upmanship with regards to advertising, and we’re not surprised given the highly competitive, put-LEDs-on-everything segment.

We wonder how Audi will respond…may we suggest hiring the stunt driving team from Ronin and jumping an S8 over the BMW dealership? If you don’t know what we’re on about, check out the video after the jump…

[Source: Jalopnik via Chris Junker]

See, the new 9-5 Aero is one hot piece of Swedish luxury sedan, with just enough Born From Jets / Northern Europe detailing to make us forget most of it is from General Motors. Saab has updated its website with a new configurator that not only lets you play around with color and wheel options (no trim options just yet) — but lets you watch a whack of cool design videos featuring a smartly-dressed man.

If that’s not enough to get you excited about the at-least-$50,000 sedan, here are some more details: it’ll hit U.S. dealers in July, starting with the Aero sedan. The base price of $49,990 includes a 2.8L turbocharged V6 engine with 300 horsepower and 295 ft-lbs of torque, plus Saab’s ecellent XWD all-wheel-drive system. In 2011, a four-cylinder variant will be introduced, with pricing slipping under $40,000.

Honda CEO Takanobu Ito criticized the “complacent” nature of his company at the Beijing Auto Show, taking aim at poor sales figures, a lack of product direction and a need to focus on improving the company’s hybrid systems.

Honda’s market share slid by 0.4 percent, with Ito citing the disappointing sales of the Insight hybrid as a particular sore spot. In Insight has been pitched as an alternative to the Prius, but poor reviews, lower fuel economy numbers and the lack of cachet surrounding the vehicle has seen the Insight get trounced in the sales race, with Toyota selling 5 times as many Prius hybrids.

The most surprising part of this candid interview was Ito’s admission that “It’s possible we grew complacent about the good performance of the Accord, Civic and CR-V.”  The Accord recently lost a major Car and Driver comparison test to the Hyundai Sonata, while the CR-V faces stiff competition from a growing segment, including Hyundai’s new Tucson. Ito also cited Hyundai as a major threat, and said that Honda must change its course to compete with the Korean giant. “The biggest problem is we’re not selling the value of our products. We have to improve the performance of our products as well.”

Ito also announced plans for a new hybrid system for large cars, involving two large electric motors, one which charges the battery, the other which gives the gasoline engine a power boost. The system will be used on an upcoming Acura hybrid, as well as minivans and mid-size cars.

Honda has traditionally resisted a number of technologies employed by its competitors, including turbochargers, rear-wheel drive and V8 engines, and stuck to their formula of light-weight, efficient and practical vehicles. But Ito’s comments could indicate that the “Honda way” is beginning to falter, and some new direction is needed at the venerable Japanese firm.

[Source: Automotive News]

In a little under 72 hours, Nissan has collected 6,635 pre-orders for its new Leaf electric vehicle, a rate of about 100 per hour. Potential buyers were asked to place a refundable $99 dollar deposit to secure a slot on the waiting list, but there was no guarantee that they would be one of the first to get a Leaf, as Nissan is to test market the vehicle is certain areas before a nationwide roll out. However, 75 percent of pre-orders have come from potential test markets, including San Diego, Phoenix and Seattle. Georgia is also a popular spot for pre-orders, due to the generous subsidies granted by the state government towards plug-in electric cars.

The Leaf, which has a range of 100 miles, can be re-charged in 16 hours using a household 110 Volt outlet, or in 4 hours using special charging equipment. The first cars will be delivered in December of this year, with cars fully on sale by 2012.

[Source: Nissan via Autoblog]

For all the doom and gloom that’s still been circulated about the economy, you’d think sales of classic and collectible vehicles would be in the tank. However, the market for such vehicles, although a far cry from the heady days of 2005-06, appears to be demonstrating remarkable resilience. Recently, Mecum held it’s Kansas City Auction on April 9-10 at the city’s Bartle Hall/Convention Center complex. Over 300 collectible and special interest vehicles crossed the block, resulting in a total amount of $6,375,000 in sales generated over the course of the weekend.

According to Auction President Dana Mecum, “our total gross sales for the Kansas City auction, nearly tripled the dollar value from our previous one held here. The Bartle Hall venue continues to be a great location, and when combined with our live television program ‘Mecum Auto Auction: Muscle Cars & More,’ we were able to draw a very strong crowd to the event.”

Mecum had a 62% sell-through rate at the Spring Kansas City Auction, which is robust by most any standards. Below is a list of the 10 top selling vehicles and their winning bids. There’s at least five cars on the list this author wouldn’t have minded taking home.

[Source: Mecum Auctions]

See the list after the jump:

Continue Reading…

Women don’t have the right to drive in Saudi Arabia, and one woman took a courageous stand on YouTube to protest the law. Wajeha Al-Huwaider, a women’s rights activist in Saudi Arabia, decided to mark International Women’s Day in 2008 by shooting a video of herself driving and then posting it on YouTube. By posting the video on YouTube, Al-Huwaider was able to get her message out to the masses while still being able to use international exposure as a shield to protect herself from punishment.

Translated, her speech reads as follows:

“Today is of course International Women’s Day. First I would like to congratulate all the women who have achieved their rights and I hope that all the women who are still fighting for their rights will achieve them soon. Of course I am now driving this car in a rural area. In rural areas of the Kingdom, women are allowed to drive cars, unfortunately. However in the cities, in the places where they actually need to drive cars, it is still prohibited. So on the occasion of International Women’s Day, I hope his Excellency the Minister of Interior Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz will allow us to drive cars soon. We, the women who signed the petition we sent him today, all hold driving licenses and can drive cars in our cities. Many of us are also willing to help the government train women to apply for driving licenses. The problem of women being banned from driving, as many officials have reiterated, is not a political issue, or a religious issue, but rather a social issue. And we know that there are many women in our society who are capable of driving cars, and there are many families that allow their women to drive. So if the door is opened for these women to drive, I am sure that it will be the better, safer and more effective way to change perceptions that we are not ready to be allowed to drive yet. That is all. I hope that next year, on the next International Women’s Day, this ban will have been lifted.”

[Source: BoingBoing]

See after the jump for the video:

Continue Reading…

Ever since a report a few weeks back that Cadillac had signed off on production of the XTS Concept, execs at GM’s luxury arm have tried to deny any such thing. But last week GM decided to showcase the car at the Beijing Auto Show, and have released a gallery of new photos – indicating the XTS is moving ahead.

Earlier reports indicated that the XTS will replace both the STS and DTS as the new flagship for the brand, designed to rival the Lexus LS, BMW 7 Series, Audi A8 and Mercedes S-Class. Most exciting is the news that Cadillac intends to keep the interior quite close to the concept.

It’s not yet clear what engine will power the luxury barge, with the concept model showcasing a plug-in hybrid 3.6-liter direct-injection V6 gasoline engine making a total of 350-hp. This setup is, however, extremely unlikely. Instead, there’s reason to believe that rather than a typical V8 under the hood, GM will deliver a rumored twin-turbo V6.

Until we find out more, take a gander through the gallery of new XTS Concept photos Cadillac has released below:

GALLERY: Cadillac XTS Concept