The Mitsubishi Colt is one of the oldest nameplates in the compact car market, having been sold across the globe in fairly substantial numbers. While North Americans missed out on the previous incarnation, the Colt was well regarded as a practical and inexpensive subcompact that was also a competent driver’s car.

For the next generation of Colt, known as “Mitsubishi Concept Global Small”, the focus is naturally on fuel economy and frugality. The concept version will debut at the 2011 Geneva Auto Show while the production version will hit the road in 2012, and be produced at Mitsubishi’s facility in Thailand. Technical details are scant, but a CVT gearbox will be employed to help bring the new Colt to the top of the fuel economy standings, while the car is said to emit 90 grams of C02 per kilometer, an important figure in Europe, where cars are taxed on emissions.

Get more 2011 Geneva Auto Show news here.

[Source: AutoExpress]

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The official unveiling of the Ford Vertrek Concept at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show gave us our first chance to explore what will eventually become the next Escape.

Based on the same architecture as the 2012 Ford Focus, the Vertrek will be a global vehicle, and is also set to replace the Kuga crossover in Europe. Overseas customers won’t be nearly so shocked with it’s design, as it more of an evolutionary change from the current Kuga.

But there’s more to this story than a new shape, with the Vertrek also sporting one of Ford’s new EcoBoost engines. Under the hood is a turbocharged 1.6-liter 4-cylinder. This same engine has also just been revealed in the 2011 Ford C-Max, making 168-hp and 173 ft-lbs of torque. If Ford follows the same strategy as with the C-Max, look for a production model to get an equally-powerful 168-hp 2.5-liter 4-cylinder standard, with the EcoBoost version selling for a premium.

Helping to further improve fuel economy is Ford’s Auto Start-Stop system, that shuts off the engine at idle (like at a red light) and then starts it again when the driver lifts off the brake and goes to accelerate away. Ford claims this technology alone can improve fuel economy from 5 to 10 percent depending on the type of driving you do.

Yet another fuel-saving technology employed on the Vertrek is what Ford calls Smart Regenerative Charging, which works by only recharging the battery under braking, thereby reducing the drag on the engine (freeing up both horsepower and improving fuel economy) under acceleration. Both Auto Start-Stop and Smart Regenerative Charging will be offered on the next generation Ford Escape, as well as numerous other Blue Oval models starting in 2012.

While Ford hasn’t confirmed as much, the Vertrek will get some slight styling revisions and then head to market in the not-too-distant future as yet another model derived from the same platform as the Focus. In total, Ford is planning as many as 10 models for the U.S. that will ride on this shared structure.

The use of new ‘green’ technology and engines is a given and will help Ford attract plenty of customers, although unlike with many of Ford’s other products, the Vertrek represents a much larger gamble, moving away from the Escape that continues to be a top seller in the important and fast-growing compact crossover segment.

GALLERY: Ford Vertrek Concept

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After 13 years on the market, Toyota has finally decided to expand the Prius name into a complete lineup of vehicles, starting with the Prius V. And why not; the Prius has already grown into a brand, described by Toyota Division VP and General Manager Bob Carter as being synonymous with the very word hybrid in the same way Kleenex is used for tissue. It also makes up more than half of all hybrid sales in the U.S.

At first glance the v looks like a conventional Prius with an extended roofline, but the car is actually six inches longer and has a three-inch longer wheelbase. Along with more passenger room, Toyota also says the v delivers 60 percent more cargo space than the standard model.

Powered by the same 134-hp Hybrid Synergy Drive, the Prius v will get 38-mpg city and 42-mpg highway for a 40-mpg combined rating.

Look for complete details on the new Prius v in the near future, with Toyota promising to have models in dealerships by the summer.

GALLERY: Toyota Prius V



Rapper and music impresario Birdman is the finest example of the American dream – even someone of questionable literacy can become rich enough to afford a Bugatti Veyron thanks to hard work and capitalize on certain “market inefficiencies” when distributing products that are only available at your local street-corner pharmacy.

Despite Birdman’s love of premium products, the Bugatti Veyron was at one time the domain of only the most obnoxiously wealthy, counting Arab oil shieks, inherited wealth and Simon Cowell as its owners. Bugatti’s CEO even remarked that he did not want rappers to purchase the Veyron, but his plans to control who owns a Veyron have gone awry. Birdman made a video over the summer showing him taking delivery of his Bugatti, decked out in Birdman’s signature all-red colorway, a nod to his supposed affiliation with the Bloods street gang.

Now Birdman has a new single, imaginatively titled “Fire Flame”. The plot is rather de rigueur for the genre, with Birdman rapping outside an awful faux-French Chateau  (dubbed “Stunna Island”), getting his head shaved with a straight razor, literally burning money, sipping Cristal, meeting with Korean and Cuban organized crime figures and most importantly, squiring a legion of breast-implant equipped models in his famous Veyron, with a Louisiana vanity plate bearing the word “Fire” on it.

Once the proletariat are able to obtain a luxury good, it is arguably a commodity, and nobody is more sensitive to that than the people charged with selling Bugattis. We can’t wait to see what they have planned next to ensure this never happens again.

Hit the jump to see the video

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Volkswagen fanboys can rejoice at the news of VW of America’s CEO Jonathan Browning’s announcement that he wants to see the Scirocco sports coupe make its way to the United States.

Speaking to USA Today, Browning remarked that “I’d love to … We were not able to make the case to bring it in this (product) cycle, but in the future, I’d love to see it here in the U.S.” Volkswagen is currently launching the Golf R, a high performance variant of the GTI, and a new Scirocco could potentially cannibalize sales of the Golf R.

In addition, VW’s mainstream products, like the New Beetle and Passat are being re-designed and resources are liklely being diverted to those product lines, which will drive more sales than the niche sports coupe.

[Source: USA Today]

Images leaked on the internet purport to show a new version of the Honda Jazz (sold as the Fit in our markets) that looks somewhat like a stretched-in-all-directions version of the current car.

The tall-wagon/”people-mover” segment is a major one in much of the world, and the new car, which may be sold as the “Shuttle” (the same badge that the first generation Odyssey was sold under in Europe), will be Honda’s answer to larger versions of European compact cars.

The Jazz’s anemic 1.2L and 1.4L powertrains will likely be carried over, although with the extra heft, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Honda fit something a bit more substantial to the upcoming Shuttle.

[Source: AutoExpress]

Going once, going twice, sold… to the Texas driver who wants to let everyone know he’s BIG TEX. Over a thousand Texans got in on the fast-paced bidding action last week at the first-ever auction of license plates in Texas.

Presented by My Plates, the Great Plate Auction took place at Cowboys Stadium last Thursday night and set new records to boot. About 33 plates went for a total of $138,650 (about $78,422.50 of that goes to the state general revenue fund). Bringing in the most money was FERRARI, which set the record for most expensive plate ever sold in Texas at $15,000. Following behind was COWBOYS ($11,500), GOHORNS ($10,500) and RANGERS ($10,000).

There was also a Bidder’s Choice plate available, where the winner could choose up to seven letters to put on their plate. And it’s not too late to get your own – if you live in Texas and are interested in getting a custom 7-letter plate, My Plates has personalized plates to order at www.myplates.com, starting March 7 until March 14.

After the jump, you can see the 33 auction plates were and what they sold for.

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Desperate times call for whoring yourself out for money desperate measures, and with the Royal Bank of Scotland pulling their funding from the Williams Formula 1 team, the outfit had to come up with some money, and fast.

One group able to come up with the money was PDVSA, the Venezuelan owned state oil company, who managed to chip in $14 million dollars, and effectively force Williams to sign Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado. Maldonado is an avowed supporter of President Hugo Chavez, making his signing barely more palatable than the patronage that may have gone on if a Venezuelan minister’s child was given a Formula 1 seat.

Who would have thought there would be a less evil team than Ferrari?

[Source: Reuters]

Volkswagen‘s famous 1.4L twincharged engine, which uses both a supercharged and turbocharger to squeeze 170 horsepower from 1.4L, could be axed shortly due to its costliness and mechanical complexity.

While the engine has garnered substantial praise from both consumers and the motoring press, Volkswagen engineers say that current turbocharging technology can achieve the same power and fuel economy benefits without the complexity and expense of a twincharger setup.

[Source: Autocar]

While prototype units of the Lexus LF-A have been in production for over a year, the first units destined for retail customers began rolling off the line at the company’s facility in Toyota City, Japan.

With 15,000 parts assembled largely by hand, an LF-A requires 170 people to be produced. Every step of the assembly process is logged, with a 3,500 page journal assigned to each car at the end of the assembly process. Of that, roughly 300 pages are dedicated to the manufacturing process. The journal is kept for posterity and will be used for reference should the car’s owner make an inquiry. Every step of purchasing an LF-A, from the build process to the ownership experience is sure to be superlative – just like it’s $375,000 price tag. We’d settle for an hour behind the wheel.

[Source: Motor Authority]