With over 300 horsepower, the Ford Mustang V6 is no longer confined to the role of rental car, like its less fortunate ancestors were. Even though it carries the stigma of “V6 pony car”, the Mustang with two fewer cylinders can move well, and Ford knows this.

For the upcoming “V6 Performance Package”, Ford is soliciting suggestions for a name that does justice to the capabilities of the 6-banger Stang. Ford will be leveraging its Facebook page for the Mustang, which has nearly 1 million face, for ideas, and will allow fans to vote for their favorite.

The creator of the winning name gets a 2 year lease on a Mustang V6 equipped with the Performance Package. Not a bad payout for flexing your mental muscle.

[Source: Ford via Motor Authority]

Police in Australia are investigating a burnout performed by a hearse during a funeral service for a youth who died in a motorcycle accident.

Police say that the hearse was spotted smoking its tires along with 12 other vehicles immediately after the funeral Aaron Bryce, a 19 year old killed in a motorcycle crash.

“The driver of the hearse is to be interviewed in relation to hoon driving offences,” Acting Sergeant Dean Owen said to The Age. “[We understand] he was friends with some of the people and getting urged on to do it.”

The hoons in question were caught after police viewed camera phone footage of the burnouts, leading them to question the hearse’s driver, Michael O’Sullivan, a 44-year old funeral director and Justice of the Peace.

O’Sullivan’s father John denied the allegations and said that he was angry about his son and his business being accused of reckless behavior. “We are a reputable concern. We’ve been in business for 140-odd years. We don’t want this sort of bullshit.”

[Source: The Age]

Audi‘s autonomous TTS ascended Pikes Peak without any human controlling it, but the trip took 10 minutes longer than normal, due to lower than average speeds.

While a normal trip up the 14,110 foot mountain takes about 17 minutes, the autonomous TTS took 27 minutes. Speeds were much slower than with a human driver, with the TTS topping out at 47 mph at one point. To tackle Pikes Peak, Audi had to install both new hardware and software so that the TTS could negotiate the mountain.

Volkswagen and Audi have a long association with the DARPA-backed autonomous driving project, which offers cash prizes to whoever can sucessfully develop a vehicle that can drive itself without human inputs.

[Source: Audi]

Hit the jump to read the official press release

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The Porsche Cayenne better get ready, because Maserati is all set to introduce a new SUV based on the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Word of the new model comes from none other than Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne.

“This is just a great architecture,” said Marchione to the Wall Street Journal. “Why wouldn’t I put a Maserati on it?”

The new Maserati SUV will be built starting in 2013 at the company’s Jefferson North assembly plant in Detroit.

The vehicle would be the fourth model in the Maserati lineup, joining the Quattroporte sedan, GranTurismo coupe and GranTurismo Convertible.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Read AutoGuide’s 2011 Grand Cherokee Review by Clicking Here

Several design sketches of the next-generation Hyundai Azera (sold as the Grandeur in Korea) surfaced last week raising speculation about whether the car would in fact live on in the U.S. Never a hot seller, sales have dipped further at the end of the cars production cycle – especially with it representing more of the old Hyundai. And with the Genesis sedan on the market, sporting many of the same dimensions, the Azera now seems obsolete.

Not so, says Hyundai Motor America boss John Krafcik who recently confirmed plans to bring the next-gen model of the Azera to the U.S. Krafcik said more than that, however, commenting on how the car will be moved more up-market. This won’t take away from Genesis sales he believes because the car will be focused more on comfortable luxury than on RWD performance. Also, the front-drive layout in this size category is still important in the snow-belt.

From the sketches its obvious that the Azera will continue Hyundai’s fluidic design language, following after the Sonata and Elantra. No information on powertrains was given and the jury is still out. While the new 2.0T 4-cylinder from the Sonata Turbo is an option in terms of power, it might be a bit too rough for the Azera’s luxury image. That being said, we’re likely to see a lineup of V6 engines.

“We have changed everything, it’s a remarkable car,” said Krafic in a recent interview with Automotive News. No launch date was given, but with a projected 2012 model year he would say its, “not that far away.”

GALLERY: 2012 Hyundai Azera Design Sketches

[Source: Automotive News]

Last week Mercedes‘ high-performance AMG division and Ducati announced a partnership that will see the automotive brand sponsor the racing division of the Italian bike maker in the MotoGP series. According to new reports, the pairing might be far more significant and involved.

Sources at AMG have commented that Mercedes could look to buy the motorcycle brand, a move that would be welcomed say other unnamed sources inside Ducati. Any acquisition would likely give the high-performance motorcycle maker access to significant resources and technology under the far-reaching arm of Mercedes parent company Daimler.

In addition to adding a successful brand to its portfolio, ownership of Ducati would also help Mercedes build a new stepping stone into its high-performance vehicles, while presenting some interesting branding opportunities.

[Source: AutoCar]

Think cars and bikes don’t go well together? Hit the jump for video from the LA Auto Show Mercedes/Ducati press conference including Nicky Hayden doing a burnout on the new Ducati Diavel:

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After having been delayed more times than the second coming, Sony recently announced the official launch date for Gran Turismo 5 as November 24th. But with that many delays there are still skeptics and so Sony has now rolled out its adds in an effort to drum up interest in what will no doubt be the most popular gift this holiday season.

The spot features PlayStation 3 front-man and “VP of Add More Awesome” Kevin Butler, who has made us laugh in pretty much all of PS3′s earlier commercials and this one is no different.

See the commercial, plus an extra Japanese-market ad after the jump:

Continue Reading…

When General Motors first unveiled the all-new 2011 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra engineers and product planners made no excuses about how similar the trucks look to their previous generation counterparts. Tough times at GM made for limited budgets and so Chevy and GMC reps were somewhat proud to admit that while the truck might not look new, it’s because they decided to pour all their resources into an all new frame and engine/transmission combo, rather than on bling.

Promises were made, however, that with a recovering economy and a resurgent General Motors we should see some shiny new sheetmetal in the near future. According to a report by PickupTrucks.com, the future is likely to be the upcoming Detroit Auto Show in January.

Retaining the same powertrain and frame, the concept should show-off an even more bold expression of the GMC brand. We also expect to see some interior improvements, as well as a few extra features tossed in.

[Source: PickupTrucks.com]

Backing up the last reports from a few months back, General Motors appears ready to bring back the only truly exciting product Pontiac had to offer, the G8. Now with Pontiac dead the car will be badged as a Chevy (likely wearing the Caprice name), but the important part is that it will be based on the rear-drive Holden Commodore platform, just like the G8 was.

The latest rumor comes from the LA Auto Show, where a senior engineer told an Australian outlet that the plan to bring back the rear-drive V8-powered sedan was under consideration for the retail market. It should be noted that currently GM offers the long wheelbase Holden Commodore-based Chevy Caprice as a Police-only vehicle in the U.S.

An unnamed source then reportedly commented that the car has been approved by GM’s product planning folks.

With the platform already sold here in the past, federalizing the car wouldn’t be difficult either. Now wouldn’t a V8-powered 6-speed manual Chevy Caprice performance sedan be just the perfect car for the upcoming Detroit Auto Show?

[Source: Drive.com.au]

Chrysler has revealed numerous photos of its new 300 sedan ahead of its official reveal at the Detroit Auto Show in January.

The pics are actually a series of close-up teasers, meaning that while you can’t see what the entire vehicle will look like, it shouldn’t be hard if you have an imagination. After all, the 2011 300 sedan isn’t a totally new vehicle, but is just one of numerous refreshed platforms for the 2011 season – a list that includes the Town & Country minivan, as well as numerous Dodge products like the Journey, Grand Caravan and Avenger.

Along with redesigned headlights, taillights, a new trunk design and a new grille the 2011 300 will come with a new 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 under the hood, making close to 300-hp and 260 ft-lbs of torque. Also expect a 5.7-liter Hemi V8-powered model using cylinder deactivation to improve fuel economy. Both RWD and AWD versions will be available.

GALLERY: 2011 Chrysler 300 Teasers