Bargain hunters, start your engines. The countdown to Black Friday is on, and if you’re in the market for a new car, you could score yourself a great deal on this sale-tastic holiday.

There are a host of 2011 and 2012 vehicle models that are offering 15 to 20 percent off the manufacturers’ suggested retail price, which means you could drive off with some extra cash in your pocket. The average deal will save you about six percent, which may not sound like much, but when it comes to something with a price tag in the tens of thousands, you’ll be surprised what a difference it can make. On top of the Black Friday sales, you may also be offered extra dealer incentives, making the deal so much sweeter.

So what are the best deals out there this Black Friday? According to Consumer Reports, if you’re in the market for a 2011 Cadillac DTS, you can expect to save 20 percent off the MSRP. The 2011 Chevrolet Malibu and Suburban, as well as the 2011 Mazda6 can also be had with similar discounts. All four of those vehicles come with dealer incentives to boot.

A 15% discount can be had on cars like the Acura RL as well as the Chevy Avalanche, Corvette and Traverse, while the Ford F-150, Mustang and Taurus are also “incentivised”.

It seems like Chevrolet and Lexus are offering the most deals on its models, but Ford and Nissan are offering some great deals too. If you’re in the market, you’ve got a few extra days to do your homework and find out what kinds of savings dealers near you are offering. You can see the full list of Consumer Reports Black Friday car deals after the jump.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

The latest trend in luxury living is brought to you by Porsche Design Group. The Porsche Design Tower in Miami is the first condominium complex that comes outfitted with elevators that take residents and their cars right to their units.

Set in Sunny Isles Beach, the $560 million condo tower is a collaboration between Porsche Design Group and developer Gil Dezer. The 57-story tower will occupy 2.2 acres and feature 132 units, each with its own parking pad within the unit. The development will come with three robotic car elevators that will take owners and their cars right to their pads, so they won’t have to get out of their car until they are in front of their unit. Once the car is parked, residents will be able to see their car through their living room window.

The elevators employ a robotic arm that works like an automatic plank. It places the car on the elevator and delievers the resident and their car to the appointed floor, where the arm parks the car and delivers the resident to their unit. “What this is really doing is taking two technologies that have existed for centuries and putting them together,” said Gil Dezer, president of Dezer Properties. “It’s taking the robotic arm and it’s putting it in an elevator.”

If you’re interested in buying into this condo development, units range from 3,800 to 9,500 square feet and are expected to cost up to $9 million.

[Source: The Miami Herald]

The 2013 BMW 3-Series will start at $35,775 when it goes on sale in February. For that amount of coin, you can walk away with a base model 328i, while a 335i will set you back $43,275.

The base price for the two models has only been bumped up by $300-$350, but the newest 3-Series is a radically different car from the outgoing version, chock full of technology and gadgets that weren’t previously available like a self-parking system and a no-charge 8-speed automatic gearbox. 328i models now get a turbocharged 4-cylinder making 240-horsepower, while the 335i continues on with BMW’s legendary turbocharged inline-6.

Diesel, hybrid and wagon variants will all arrive and some point, as will a coupe and convertible, but the only confirmed tidbit we have is that an M-Sport edition will be hitting our shores in July, and carry a $5000 premium over the base car. Consider the M Sport a stop-gap until a new M3 gets here in a few years time.

BMW held a dealer presentation in the Netherlands and a leak has rumors stirring that the upcoming M550d will officially come with 381-hp and 516 lb-ft of torque from its tri-turbo, inline-six diesel powerplant.

Even though the horsepower figure comes in lower than the early speculations of over 500-hp, the torque is pretty impressive. It also appears that the M550d will be AWD only with production beginning next March. It is not yet known if this F10-generation M550d will make its way to North America, but we could be seeing the tri-turbo diesel in other BMW models including the X5 and X6.

[Source: 5Post.com]

If you’re  a car guy, then the name Haynes probably needs no introduction. The company, founded in Sparkford, Somerset, UK has produce a wide variety of workshop repair manuals for most popular makes and models of light vehicles over the last four decades. And many of us who like to tinker with cars probably have at least one or two stashed in the garage or basement.

However, until recently, Haynes manuals came strictly in the old fashioned pulp variety. Given the relentless march of the Internet through our lives and society, that’s all changed, with Haynes now offering some 50 of its best selling workshop books as digital editions.

The online versions are more than just simple PDF files, as they allow you to search for parts suppliers and incorporate videos of qualified mechanics performing the task at hand, giving a new dimension when it comes to figuring out certain aspects of vehicle repair and maintenance, thereby at least reducing, if not eliminating the trial and error approach most backyard do-it-yourselfers have to deal with at some stage.

Haynes offers users either a $25 one-year subscription or a lifetime one for just $30. Click below for a short demonstration on how the new digital manuals work.

Check out the video below

Once upon a time, the only in car entertainment offered was a simple radio. Those days are long gone, with the ubiquity of iPod connectors and Bluetooth devices.

And the technology train is not about to stop anytime soon. Germany’s BMW is now working with Korea’s Hyundai, along with some tech companies to bring you the future of in-car networking solutions.

Broadcom, NXP, Freescale and Harmon have joined their knowledge together to create OPEN (One Pair Ether Net) Alliance, which will work on ethernet based connectivity for automobiles. This system will be able to offer 100Mbps connectivity over a single unshielded cable.

This new partnership between these tech companies is called SIG (Special Iinterest Group) and BMW and Hyundai are the first auto-makers to sign on to this technology.

[Source: Autoblog]

Reports from the Guangzhou Auto Show state that the Chevrolet Volt has been approved for sale in China with a starting price of 498,000 yuan, or $73, 800 USD.

TTAC’s resident expert on China, Bertel Schmitt, astutely remarked that the kind of subsidies we see on our shores for the Volt are “…for made-in China vehicles only…” which could be why the Volt is priced so high in China. We’ll wait on an official announcement before passing judgement.

[Source: The Truth About Cars]

This may look like a BMW 7-Series sedan with some oddball rims, but our spy photographers report that the vehicle in question is actually a prototype for a new BMW i sedan, based on a couple key points.

For starters, there are apparently electric motors mounted in the wheel hubs, which would suggest a new kind of electric propulsion system previously unseen on a BMW. Furthermore, the front and rear fenders look like they’ve been radically altered to fit the vehicle, which further suggests some alien technology lurking underneath the sheetmetal.

If we had to guess, we’d say that BMW is preparing something to bring the fight to the Tesla Model S and Fisker Karma, but there’s very little information to go on at this time.

GALLERY: BMW i Large Sedan

Last year, Germany’s Daimler AG and the Chinese BYD Auto have formed a 50-50 joint R&D venture called “Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co. Ltd.” to pursue a new brand that will focus on the development of pure electric vehicles for China.

Now, the two automakers have revealed intentions to introduce a new electric vehicle concept for the upcoming Beijing Auto Show of April next year. The Mercedes-Benz parent company said that the unveiling will demonstrate the concept’s exterior and interior design study, and the brand’s identity, including name, logo, and positioning in the China automotive market.

The Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co. Ltd. expects to have a prototype up and running for shakedown and testing by the springtime of 2012, and to have it ready for production by 2013.

[Source: CarScoop]