How’s this for putting a breast… er, we mean foot… in your mouth? NASCAR race car driver Kasey Kahne is furiously back peddling after making some objectionable remarks on Twitter about breast feeding.

The comments were made on Twitter after Kahne saw a woman breastfeeding her child in a supermarket. At first, he tweeted: “Just walking through supermarket. See a mom breastfeeding little kid. Took second look because I was obviously seeing things. I wasn’t!” A minute or so later, he added: “One boob put away one boob hanging!!! #nasty” and “I don’t feel like shopping any more or eating.” Those last two were quickly deleted shortly after he posted them, but not before others saw and were appalled with what he wrote.

After being swamped with thousands of comments on his site, he issued an apology on Facebook a few hours later, saying: “I apologize. It was in no way my intention to offend any mother who chooses to breastfeed her child, or, for that matter, anyone who supports breast feeding children. In all honestly, I was surprised by what I saw in a grocery store. I shared that reaction with my fans on Twitter. It obviously wasn’t the correct approach, and, after reading your feedback, I now have a better understanding of why my posts upset some of you.” He also apologized on Twitter to a woman who had objected to his breast feeding comment, whom he called “a dumb bitch” – it’s unclear whether or not he made this remark because he was surprised that someone had something bad to say about him.

His racing-team sponsors Great Clips weren’t amused by his comments, and hours before his apology was made, the hair salon chain tweeted two women Kahne had blasted online: “Our apologies for this. Please know that response was uncalled for & does not reflect our organization.”

We’re wondering if Kahne is going to go the Ashton Kutcher route and hire someone to make sure his tweets aren’t too offensive.

[Source: Toronto Star]

Efficiency is the new black for automakers and consumers alike. Even Porsche customers can get their gas guzzling Cayenne fix in a more efficient hybrid now or diesel soon, which is why it might come as a surprise that two new fuel-efficient guppies in the veritable ocean that is the U.S. car market seem to be floundering.

The Fiat 500 and Chevrolet Volt are both reaching the end of their first fiscal year with disappointing numbers compared to their manufacturer’s forecasts. That outcome could be a bit of a puzzler, given that the 500 starts at $15,500, offers two more seats and, what some would say, stylish alternative to the Smart FourTwo for about $3000 more.

The same fate befell the Volt, which takes a practical approach to the burgeoning plug-in market. Rather than relying totally on a battery charge. Chevy’s iteration on the new trend borrows power from a teensy 1.4-liter gasoline engine and achieves a sky-scraping 94 mpg average with a starting price of just over $39,000 before tax incentives. Those incentives bring the car closer to $30,000, though other government subsidies for things like home charging stations disappear this year.

It doesn’t take a particularly good periscope to see above the water and realize why both these cars were slow sellers, consumers are often risk averse and both cars proved to be sketchy choices by year’s end.

The Volt will fall short of GM’s projected 10,000 unit forecast by at least 25 percent thanks in part to an NHTSA investigation surrounding spontaneous combustion of the lithium ion battery after severe crashes. The car was supposed to be Chevrolet’s poster boy for the future, but instead the crucial first year will be marred by shaky consumer confidence and questions about safety.

The Fiat 500 might have escaped that fate, given its quirky styling and heavy re-engineering for the North American palate, but poor sales proved otherwise.

It also suffered from a sales-scaring three out of five star safety rating by the NHTSA this month. Even without that damning verdict, the hatchback wouldn’t have met the projected 50,000 sales figure— as of November Chrysler’s parent company had managed to squeak out a dismal 17,444 units, with little promise of breaking the 20,000 mark by December 31.

[Source: Edmunds Inside Line]

Those guys over at Autobild sure know how to have some fun. They decided to do grab every current BMW M model  and pit them off against one another at Germany’s Sachsenring track in Bernsdorf.

The fastest time of the day from their shootout was BMW’s M3 GTS, equipped with semi-slicks with a time of 1:37.30 – but since we’re comparing apples to apples, the M3 CRT ran a time of 1:38.87 while the new M5 did it in 1:38.90. That’s a mere 0.03-seconds off the M3 CRT but it’s also worth mentioning that the new M5 was driven by Claudia Hürtgen, a German race car driver and one of Germany’s best known female racers, while the rest of the cars were driven by Autobild drivers.

The 1M Coupe ran a respectable 1:40.18, which was faster than the standard M3 Coupe DCT at 1:40.52. From there it was the M3 Sedan, M3 Convertible, X6 M, X5 M, and E60 M5 rounding off the list. To compare the two generations of M5, the E60 ran a 1:43.77, almost five seconds slower than its newer-generation counterpart.

Autobild also took the liberty to take Porsche‘s Panamera Turbo S and Mercedes-Benz‘s E63 AMG out to compare it to the new M5. The Panamera Turbo S ran a 1:38.13, trumping the new M5 by less than a second, while the E63 was quite behind with a 1:40.59.

Check out two Autobild videos of the new M5 after the break.

GALLERY: 2012 BMW M5

[Source: F10 5 Post via Autoblog]

Continue Reading…

CEC Wheels has long been an authorized distributor of high-end TechArt products for various Porsche models, but it appears that’s no longer the case.

They are currently liquidating their TechArt inventory at deeply discounted prices – so now would be a great time to snag some TechArt goods if you’ve been in the market for some.They stated that effective immediately they are no longer affiliated with TechArt and will be replacing their Porsche tuning programs with a new company shortly. Regardless, give CEC a call at 800-766-0064 to see what genuine TechArt products they have left for your Porsche.

Despite the United Auto Workers (UAW) claiming that they’re backing off trying to organize a foreign auto plant in America by year’s end, the mission to do so isn’t off the table entirely. UAW has continued to plot a plan to unionize factories owned by Daimler and Volkswagen, it just won’t happen before 2012 comes.

In the past, the UAW had looked at unionizing plants belonging to Hyundai, Nissan and Toyota, but now the German automakers are considered easier targets. UAW is looking to take advantage of their close relationship with IG Metall, the German union that staffs the plants for both Daimler and Volkswagen, for its organizing efforts.

Overall though, things aren’t looking positive for the UAW, with membership dropping over 75-percent in the last 30 years. Organizing plants in the South has been difficult and foreign plants are largely against joining the UAW.

[Source: Reuters]

For the third year in a row, Toyota‘s recall campaigns affected the most vehicles compared to any other automaker in 2011. With 13 campaigns launched in 2011, Toyota recalled over 3.5 million vehicles while GM issued the greatest number of recalls with 21.

General Motors’ affected vehicle total was only 455,901 despite the overwhelming number of recalls issued. Over half of those vehicles recalled were the newly-launched Chevrolet Cruze compact, a total of 231,319 over three different recalls.

Ford was in second place with 3.2 million vehicles affected over 10 recall campaigns. Honda had 11 recalls affecting 2 million vehicles putting them in third place. Comparatively speaking, Nissan was stellar with just 273,700 vehicles affected through seven recalls.

Toyota was fined $32.5 million for failing to issue recalls in a timely fashion by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has caused the Japanese automaker to issue recalls more readily.

[Source: Ward's Auto]

Rallycross is clearly catching on in America, as the Team O’Neil Rally School will now be offering a trio of two-day Rallycross classes in 2012. Located in northern New Hampshire, the rally school consists of a 6.5-mile forest road course, separate skid pad & braking zone, obstacle avoidance area and a slalom course.

The Rallycross classes will take place on January 19-20, February 2-3 and March 1-2. Students will be able to choose their type of vehicle they want to be instructed on: rear-wheel-drive, all-wheel-drive or front-wheel-drive and can also bring their own vehicle to autocross or rallycross with. Their personal vehicles can only be used on the second day however, as Team O’Neil will require them to learn on their own vehicles for day one.

The timing will be perfect, with plenty of snow and ice on their course. Class sizes are limited as Team O’Neil wants to maintain a 2:1 student to instructor ratio. The two-day course is priced at $1,897, but if you want to bring your own vehicle for day two it’ll be $300 cheaper – $1,597.

[Source: Team O'Neil]

A mystery may be uncovered – is Jimmy Hoffa buried under General Motor’s RenCen?

According to a new book, “The Weasel: A Double Life in the Mob”, that’s where the famous union leader was buried in 1975. The book, written by Hoffa’s former limo driver turned informant Marvin Elkin (with help from Canadian journalist Adrian Humphrey), says that body was sealed up in the foundation of the RenCen, which was being built at the same time as the disappearance.

So how did Elkin find out about Hoffa’s final resting place? Mobster and union tough guy Anthony Giacalone (also known as Tony Jack) hinted to the location of the body in 1985 as Elkin and other Teamsters were walking across a glass bridge that gave the group a good view of the RenCen.

“When Tony Jack passed the middle point of the bridge . . . he nodded toward the huge tower’s foundation,” Humphreys wrote in the book. “Say good morning to Jimmy Hoffa, boys,” he said.

Elkin also wrote that to finish the RenCen project as quickly as possible, every union carpenter in the Detroit area was brought in to complete the wooden forms that were needed to pour the concrete foundation. And all of this took place around the time of Hoffa’s disappearance.

What do you think? Is it possible that Jimmy Hoffa could be buried under the GM RenCen or is it a hoax to sell a few books? Let us know in the comments section below.

[Source: The Detroit News]

Maybe it’s the price tag. Maybe it’s the chrome. Regardless of the reason, there’s a big risk that your Escalade won’t be making home.

For the fourth year running, the iconic Cadillac SUV topped the list of vehicles most likely to be stolen. Thankfully, GM isn’t sitting idly by while their loyal mix of suburban socialites and grill-sporting rappers get their prized rides snatched by car thieves— at least not anymore. In August GM announced that the 2012 Escalade would sport spiffed up security features to fend off fiends in the act. Details around those features finally came to light today in a press release.

“The goal is to make the Escalade a very difficult target for thieves without any added inconvenience for customers,” Bill Biondo, General Motors’ global leader for vehicle theft prevention told CarScoop. “The new systems work in the background and few people realize they are there, but they are strong added protections.”

Those added protection measures include a standard encrypted key system that prevents drive-away thefts and an improved column-lock system that makes pushing the trucks onto flatbeds almost impossible. Owners can also opt to pay more for a system that senses changes in the vehicle’s angle as would happen during a tow-away or flatbed theft and triggers an alarm, a shock-sensing system that detects “shocks” like breaking glass and finally a wheel-locking system to keep your Escalade from ending up on cinder blocks while you shop.

Earlier this week we reported rumors that MINI will be heading to production with their Rocketman, and now we have reason to believe that Toyota may play a role in co-developing the vehicle.

Recently, BMW announced a partnership with Toyota to help form more eco-friendly projects, and now MINI may be getting in on some of the action. One of the options for the Rocketman is for BMW to consider utilizing Toyota’s next-generation small city car platform, which would be a cost effective method to bringing the Rocketman to market in a quick and timely fashion. Of course the other major issue is whether or not BMW can develop the Rocketman to suit the MINI brand and to ensure that the model retains classic MINI attributes.

It’ll also be interesting to see what powerplant resides in the Rocketman once it gets into production mode and whether or not that would be BMW influenced as well. A peculiar thought would be an electric drivetrain, considering Toyota’s next-generation small city car platform is being built with that in mind. MINI has already been tinkering with the MINI E electric car, so that wouldn’t be far off the mark either.

Nonetheless, things are still being discussed but we’re hoping that MINI makes a formal announcement soon regarding their production Rocketman.

GALLERY: MINI Rocketman Concept

[Source: MotoringFile]