New proposals like a London-style “congestion charge” and highway tolls for special lanes that would move faster are being floated both in Canada and the United States, as major cities grapple with traffic problems and infrastructure that wasn’t meant to deal with an increasing number of cars.

An article in the Chicago Tribune details how a government-sponsored panel concluded that new strategies, involving tolls on key expressways, involving fees on certain lanes during peak demand periods, may be necessary to discourage cars from driving into the city, and collect revenue from drivers willing to pay a premium to for the privilege of driving.

Minneapolis and Orange County, California have both implemented similar schemes, while Toronto, Canada’s largest city, with a population of 5.6 million people is also debating the whether to enact road tolls to discourage drivers in the downtown core.

The key element in all of this is public transit. Toronto has a fairly comprehensive system, that is expensive and fault, but the choice of many due to convenience, and the high costs of owning a car. London’s charge is similarly successful, by making those who can afford it pay the charge, while most people who wouldn’t have driven previously continue to take the subway.

[Source: Chicago Tribune]

The 2011 Jeep Wrangler looks set to get a body colored hardtop, finally bringing it out of the last century, when it was still acceptable for vehicles to have unpainted body trim festooning the sheet metal.

Sharp-eyed photographers spotted the new Wranglers at the Toledo plant, during a story on the Jeep’s 70th birthday. We kind of liked the utilitarian black hardtop (or the contrasting tan available on previous generation Sahara models), but we’re sure Jay-Z will be cool with the matching paint.

[Source: Toledo Blade]

Harbor Freight Tools is the go-to shop for auto enthusiasts that like to work on cars. With literally every tool under the sun available for “ridiculously low prices”, Harbor Freight has become a household name among people who still like to turn a wrench on their own cars.

The family-owned, father-son partnership than ran the company was also something that likely resonated with the shop’s target demographic, but lately it seems that things have been going south.

Morale is low among employees, and now, the founders of the company have accused their own son, the CEO of the company of “looting” from Harbor Freight’s cash reserves.

Things have gotten so bad that employees have established a page on JobVent.com and a Facebook Fan Page dedicated to how much the company sucks. An ominous comment posted on JobVent stated that

“I can personally attest to as why HFT has so many negative vents on here! It has become an awful place to work. Eric is no longer interested in selling quality tools. He’s into selling junk, membership cards and coupons. $29.99 to get more coupons for crap that isn’t in stock? No Thanx!”

It looks like Eric Smidt (the “Eric” in question in the above remark) has had his comeuppance, after his parents filed a lawsuit, complete with the “looting” accusation. Apparently, the younger Smidt bought a $20 million New York penthouse and a $100 million painting, among other frivolous expenditures. Eric also amassed $500 million in debt that the company is liable for, and spent it on multi-million dollar homes.

The family feud behind the Harbor Freight case makes it especially unpalatable to most decent people. The company employs about 7,400 people nationwide as well, meaning that if the company went under, a lot of people would be put out of work. We’ll keep following the case to ensure that your supply of cheap, Chinese made tools stays safe.

[Source: Ventura County Star]

Steven Ortiz, a 17 year old California high school student, managed to slide behind the wheel of a Porsche Boxster by bartering various items on Craigslist.

Ortiz started with an old cell phone and wheeled and dealed his way through cell phones, iPods, dirt bikes and a MacBook Pro. Steven eventually managed to trade go from a souped up golf cart and an old Toyota 4Runner to a 1975 Ford Bronco. While Steven used the Bronco as a trade for the Boxster, the Bronco, which is fast becoming a collectors item, might have been the car for Ortiz to stick with. The costs of maintaining a Bronco are lower, it has more room for high school girls his buddies and has a kind of retro cool that the Boxster doesn’t.

On the other hand, is there anything cooler than being in high school and showing up for class in your own Porsche? The best part is that Steven earned the car himself, not from his parents wallet or some crappy menial jobs, but a bit of hustle and 14 smartly executed trades. Hopefully Steven will execute a good 15th trade and dodge the oncoming maintenance and insurance bills.

[Source: Jalopnik]

Volkswagen‘s all-new 2011 Jetta, the cornerstone of their plot to dominate the world U.S. market, just had the first round of media drives yesterday, and a new batch of photos has been released to coincide with that event.

The new Jetta looks a lot like an Audi A4, which is no surprise considering it was penned by Walter De’Silva, Audi’s long-time chief of design. Buyers will get the choice of the familiar 2.5L Inline 5, the 2.0L turbodiesel and the venerable 2.0L four-banger, putting out 115 horsepower and affectionately named the “2. Slow”. The very rapid 2.0T 4-cylinder will also be available in the near future on the sporty Jetta GLI model.

[Source: Carscoop]

Prince Charles is shutting down The Mall in London to display environmentally friendly vehicles for 10 days in September. The Prince is not only a keen environmentalist but a collector of Aston Martins and other sports cars, and the nexus of both conservation and automobiles is an appropriate area of interest for him.

The Prince of Wales’ Start Festival, as the event is called, will kick off on September 5th with a race between Charles’ train (which runs on biodiesel) and a fleet of green vehicles, which will take them from Glasgow to London. The Fesitval will celebrate more than just cars, as all kinds of green products will be featured alongside the auto exhibit.

Entry to the Start Festival will cost £15, but the car display will be free on September 12th. The Festival runs until September 15th.

[Source: Autocar]

They haven’t been on the market that long, but some customers have noted a problem with the hill start assist feature on the 2011 Heavy Duty Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra. The hill-start assist, which is integrated with the trailer brake control function is designed to apply the brakes for an additional 1.5 seconds after the pedal is released, if the truck is parked on an incline of five percent or greater. However, there have been instances where it hasn’t engaged, instead the truck rolls as soon as brake pedal is released.

Not beating around the bush, GM quickly discovered that the problem lay with improper software calibration on the hill-start start system and is now issuing a recall. All brand new trucks will have the fix performed before they leave for the dealerships, while GM is actively looking at ways to get trucks already owned by customers back to have the software glitch corrected.

[Source: Pickup trucks.com]

Read AutoGuide’s 2011 Chevy Silverado HD Review by Clicking Here

Read AutoGuide’s 2011 GMC Sierra HD Review by Clicking Here

Porsche has announced that it will enter the 911 GT3R Hybrid race car in the famed Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta on October 2nd.

Porsche feels sufficiently confident with the hybrids fuel economy and performance gains that they are interesting in campaigning in the Petit Le Mans, and the ALMS series, should their jaunt at Road Atlanta go well. Since the Automobile Club de ‘Ouest, the sanctioning body that oversees LeMans, hasn’t drawn up any rules for hybrid race cars, the GT3R will go unclassified for now.

Road Atlanta will be the first race in a few series called the LeMans Intercontinental Cup. The GT3R will also appear at the race in Zuhai, China, but hasn’t confirmed that the car will appear at Silverstone for the European round later on.

Gallery: Porsche 911 GT3R Hybrid

Hit the jump to read the official press release

Continue Reading…

All aboard the speculation train! The rumors surrounding Mazda’s new RX-7 don’t stop coming, and with the demise of the RX-8, its a safe bet that Mazda will follow up their quirky four-door sports car with something more conventional.

Mazda is allegedly targeting the VW Scirocco as a rival for the new car, to be given the dubious “RX-9″ moniker. Reports say that a rotary in conjunction with an “electric turbocharger” (we hope they mean some kind of range extender and not the kind you buy on Ebay) should cure the rotary’s chief issues; low torque and loqw fuel economy.

Aesthetics-wise, the car is said to take some cues from the questionable “Nagare” design language, even though Mazda officially canned it.

If this is the case, we might be better off waiting for the all-new MX-5 and keeping our fingers crossed.

[Source: Autocar]

Ferrari tuner Novitec has just released a new tuning package for the Maserati Quattroporte under its Tridente brand, adding even more sex appeal to the looks of the Italian sedan plus a supercharger to deliver a total of 590-hp!

The Novitec Tridente Sport package is available for both the Quattroporte S and Quattroporte Sport GT S models, increasing power from 430-hp to 590-hp, while torque jumps from 361 to 422 ft-lbs. Novitec claims a 0-62 mph time of 4.6 seconds.

Additional upgrades include 21-inch alloy wheels, a sport suspension and a carbon fiber rear spoiler.

GALLERY: Novitec Tridente Maserati Quattroporte

Official release after the jump:

Continue Reading…