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Here are some more photos of vehicles that attended the event. A Subaru WRX was sporting Dynamat in the trunk to sound deaden his system that included the Rockford Fosgate capacitor and two Alpine amplifiers. The white Hyundai Tiburon shown had a list of noticeable exterior enhancements including the carbon fiber wide bodykit, rims, and a dual exhaust.
The final part of photo coverage for this event will show the vehicles from RE:VISION, from Brainchild Customs, and more photos of motorcycles and other vehicles. A few photos of the red Toyota Supra that attended the event is in the finale as well.
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-Chamiel Chrisfancelli
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| 4/11
Below is the renowned orange crush and black, two-tone, Scion tC show car. This tC has a rare bodykit, black rims with the polished chrome lip, painted headlight housings, custom airbrush work, painted taillights, an Alpine system that includes Type R components (head unit, subwoofers, amplifiers, crossovers, speakers, etc), TV monitors, and a matching color scheme on the interior. This tC also has the front mount intercooler for the turbo that dwells under the hood. Keeping the turbo company are the matching orange wire loom and other dress-up kits. The fiberglass housing in the rear that holds the sound equipment is custom. The blue Scion tC shown below has three Infinity subwoofers, two Rockford Fosgate subwoofers, and several TV monitors, and a PS3 with wireless Guitar Hero controllers for entertainment. The I.C.E. (In Car Entertainment) is a common theme among both these tCs. Below are also a few more photos of the red Scion tC with the custom airbrushed paint job with the demon in the flames. Many more photos to come...
Come back to see Part 5 when we cover some tricked out Scion xBs!
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-Chamiel Chrisfancelli
12 comments |
| This is Part 2 of 4.
As you can see from the images, Modern Muscle Motorsports brought their portable dyno to test the tuned vehicles that were present. A few spectators were surprised to find the vehicles as loud as they were while on the dyno machine. The police auxiliary members in the blue shirts watched in awe while keeping people back so they could hog the sight and sound away from the crowd. ^_^ The red tC with the slick airbrushed paint job was present at this show too (more coverage of this vehicle in the Scion Summer Kick-Off parts). All makes and models were present. Some of the shots below show rides including: a Mitsubishi Evo, Infiniti G35, Honda Civic, BMW M3, Acura RSX, Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Focus, Hyundai Tiburon, Toyota MR2, Chevy Cobalt, Chevy Camaro, Jeep Wrangler, and many more...
Check out the next part of this show which shows more rides, more interior shots including Dynamat sound deadening material installed, and more vendors...
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-Chamiel Chrisfancelli
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| No Limit Incorporated had a both set up. The employees from that shop brought their Scion xBs with the their swapped out grilles, rims, tires, and other accessories offered at their shop. There are a few glances at the orange Scion xB that has been featured on billboards by Scion corporate. Future photos of that Scion xB will reveal that it is also referred to as the ’Nightmare before Christmas’ xB. Here are also a few teases of the red Scion tC with the custom airbrushed paint job with the demon in the flames. Many more photos to come...
You don’t want to miss Part 4 with the wild two-tone tC show car!
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-Chamiel Chrisfancelli
11 comments |
| On Sunday, May 4th, the University of Maryland at College Park held its 3rd annual meet for Charity. All the proceeds of the event were stated to go to Martha’s Table. The meet began at noon though several tuners brought their vehicles and trailers as early as 9am in order to set up. There were dozens of vendors and sponsors at the event as well. There were several hundreds of vehicles and thousands of people that attended the event. Unfortunately, I did not have the camera working until after 4:30pm, when about 3/4 of the vehicles had all ready left the event. There were a few DJs, a dyno, and several vendors (& Sponsors) including: Brainchild Customs, Dynamic Power Solutions, Infinite Speed & Performance, Modern Muscle Motorsports, Intense Motorsports, Flemings Ultimate Garage, Competition Speed & Sound, Car Toyz 2, XS, Springfield Motorsport, Street Eagle GPS & Security Systems, and Re:Vision Auto Salon.
This is Part 1 of 4.
The photos below include a few Acura NSXs, a Lamborghini Diablo (same one that was at the HIN event), a Nissan 350z (nearly fully covered in carbon fiber!), the mobile dyno testing a Pontiac Firebird, and a shot of one of the vendors. More than 40 additional photos to be shared in the upcoming parts.
Enjoy!
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-Chamiel Chrisfancelli
34 comments |
| PART 2/11
The series continues with the photos of the promised photo coverage on the red RX-7 with a LS-1 motor swap that attended the event. For those of you who are new to the term, LS1, that is the same engine found in several Corvettes. The 2001 Chevrolet Corvette LS1 engine has 350 horsepower @ 5,600 RPM and 375 lb-ft of torque @ 4,400 RPM (with the manual transmission). The LS1 engine was stock in the 2001-2004 Corvette line-up unless someone acquired the Z06 version which has the LS6 motor. The LS6 motors boasts 385 horsepower @ 6,000RPM and has 385 lb-ft of torque @ 4,800 RPM. Either way, if you couple the Corvette engine with the lightweight & sturdy chassis of the Mazda RX-7, the results are pure driving pleasure. I did not get behind the wheel of this red FD beauty, but I have been inside a similar third generation RX-7 with the LS1 swap and believe me, it was wickedly fast.
Be warned, Mazda RX-7s are not the only rides out there that might be hiding a gold mine under their hood. Corvette engines have found themselves in several tuned vehicles as well as some recently released stock vehicles. For instance, in 2004 Cadillac released the CTS-V which has the 5.7 liter V8 Corvette engine that has 400 hp @ 6,000 RPM and 385 lb-ft of torque @ 4800 RPM. A new 2009 CTS-V should be coming soon with the current Z07’s engine which would increase the vehicle’s horsepower to minimum of 500 hp. Not bad for a stock sedan.
Going back to the photos from the event, the red RX-7 came with the PTuning Shop. PTuning is located in Virginia and closed their shop that Saturday to bring out their crew and rides. It is quite rare to see such a meticulously clean and show-worthy track car that is close to 15 years old. Besides the RX-7 is the time-attack Scion tC and a progressing race tuned Scion xA. The time-attack Scion tC has a removed sunroof to allow the roll cage amble space while losing the weight of the glass. There will be additional photos of the time-attack tC in later parts which will show the turbo components with the bumper removed. You can check out PTuning’s website at PTuning.com.
Clear Star Media Group had their tables set up while selling products. The vendor also had plenty of tricked out whips along the sides of their booth display. The second generation, white, Scion xB had plenty of fiberglass and custom enclosures invested in the trunk. Did you notice all the ice cubes? Its a chilling sight to behold. More of Clear Star Media Groups’ vehicles to be shown in later parts.
Also shown is the wide body Scion tC with halo projector headlights, carbon fiber hood, carbon fiber eyelids, under body LED lighting, offset rims with polished lips, strobe lights, and much more.
Enjoy the photos and stay tuned for Part 3!
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[Sources from www.corvetteactioncenter.com & http://autos.msn.com/]
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| Hot Import Nights [HIN] is a national event that attracts some of the most exotic and customized rides around the country. On April 19th, 2008, HIN hit Virginia at the Dulles Expo Center. There were two huge halls that housed over a hundred vehicles, dozens of vendors, and thousands of spectators. The door ticket to get inside was a little steep at 30 bucks a pop, but there were online discounts for $5 to $10 off each admission. Each hall had its handful of DJs, one of the halls was deafening at the entrance while the other had a longer line since security frisked everyone and checked people for metal. I cannot imagine the hell it must have been for anyone with metal piercings or metal plates from surgery. Some of the vendors and popular businesses that attended the show include the Army National Guard, Street Trenz Magazine, Car Toyz 2, Brainchild Customs, Carsponsorships.com (FYI: Don’t do business with them, they’ll steal your money!), Boost Mobile, and NOS Energy Drink. Free samples of NOS energy Drink were available to everyone that was allowed in the building. I would call them shots since the plastic container was about the same size as a shot glass. Team Emotion came out in full force with over a dozen vehicles representing the team. Of all the sweet looking, jaw-dropping, and mouth watering rides that were inside the halls, there were about five times the amount of tricked out vehicles outside in the parking lot. One such vehicle was the Lamborghini Diablo as shown below.
The address of the event was:
Dulles Expo Center
4368 Chantilly Shopping Ctr
Chantilly, VA 20151
Enjoy the photos including the HUGE Jeep Wrangler that was lifted several feet off the ground.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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| PART 1/11
This past Saturday was the Scion Summer Kick Off Party in PA at the Fredericksburg Fireman’s Park. There were approximately 80-100 Scions that showed up at the event. Every Scion model was there which includes the Scion xA, Scion xB (1st and 2nd generations), Scion tC, and the Scion xD. The newest release series of the second generation xB is found in the gold color. Scion only created 2500 of those xBs and there were three of them at this show alone! Several clubs rolled in together including numerous Scion Evolution chapters, Scikotics, Seven City Scions, to name a few.
This post is Part 1 of 11. Each part will have photos of the event revealing vehicles not mentioned in other parts and will contain additional information about the groups, rides, vendors, and events.
The photos below show the ride up to the show in PA and the first sights of the event once we arrived. Upon arriving to the scene, we found the most popular vehicle present was the tC. Some of the rides found were in their infancy as far as modifications. Others boasted investments of tens of thousands of dollars. Some of the vehicles at the show had traveled far distances. Several owners took it upon themselves to protect their vehicles by taping their bumpers to prevent chips and damage to the paint. One owner had fun with his tC and taped “Rice” on his hood. That two-tone tC will be revealed in later parts. In Part 2 there will be photo coverage on an RX-7 with a LS-1 motor swap that attended the event. There are close to 100 photos of this event, so stay tuned for Part 2!
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| After a snowy winter and stormy spring, there is nothing better than cleaning the ride! Seriously, who wants all that salt that has caked the roads for months stay that long on your precious vehicle? I sure as hell don’t. I kill a dozen flies and other bugs daily by cruising the highways and I though I am very skilled in combat against those creatures, I would rather not be reminded of the fact when I show off the car. My ability to drive in any direction and still cover my hood with the blood, guts, and wings of insects tends to turn off ladies and onlookers. Besides that, all those bodily fluids really destroy the clear coat of the paint and can mess up ones day.
Therefore, I have an army of supporters in spray, wipe, and stare forms:
Meguiar’s NXT Generation Car Wash, The Glosser, The Absorber, No Touch Wheel Cleaner, Armor All Tire Foam, FW1 Carnauba Wax Detailer, and a couple other secret weapons have led to my car’s very shiny stance. The wheels and tires are as clean as they have ever been and there is no evidence the vehicle has seen a winter! The car’s paint finish appears undaunted. You too can make this happen. Check out the photos below!
 
 
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| 
As the top speed of the street legal production car increases, it seems that the intelligence of the average driver decreases. Don’t believe me? Just check your local automotive forums (excluding this fine board). Actually there isn’t even a need to search across the web. We’ve all seen them during our daily commutes. The jerk with the limo tint flying across three lanes of traffic to try to get to his Mensa meeting as fast as possible. The woman applying makeup while trying to merge on the freeway. Time and time again these people have caused serious harm to those around them. This is the reason why I’m going to pitch a new law to my Congressman prohibiting the sale of fast cars to the slow-witted. Maybe there can be a sliding scale with intelligence and overall performance of a car so that there is some leeway to what a person can own.
If I were to get my way, and intelligence was directly linked to speed and car performance, then the only man qualified to drive the Shelby Supercars’ Ultimate Aero would be Stephen Hawking. Which is a shame because he’s confined to a wheel chair and wouldn’t be able to appreciate this fine piece of machinery.
Back in September of 2007 on a long stretch of highway (which was closed for this event) in Washington, the Ultimate Aero reached an amazing top speed of 257.41 mph on it’s first run. However in accordance to the policies of the Guinness Book of World Records, the car must reach it’s top speed, stop, turn around and make another pass within an hour. On its second pass, the Ultimate Aero hit a top speed of 254.88 mph making it’s average an astounding 256.18 mph!
Even more remarkable is the claim that the car can go even faster than that. Wind tunnel testing at a NASA lab has shown that the Ultimate Aero is stable up to 273 mph versus Stephen Hawking’s wheelchair which is only stable up to 10 mph. Don’t ask me how I know. Seriously.
Cheers.
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| Teasing is good. I love to tease. It’s really fun for me. Whether my girlfriend agrees with it or not is another story. Now I’m no scientist but judging from certain reactions I can be pretty sure she enjoyed it as well. Most people would probably tend to agree with me on the joys and fun of teasing.
Well Honda has decided that this would be a fun route to follow.
What you are looking at is one of SIX teaser images that Honda has released for it’s 2009 Euro Honda Accord.
ZOMG Euro Accord!?!?
Yes. You actually have seen the Euro Accord driving around here for quite some time now. Over here it’s been given a different name than the rest of the world. Here it has come to be known as the Acura TSX.
And what will be powering this beautiful piece of machinery? Honda’s brand new 2.2 liter I-DTEC engine. I’m sure by now you’ve already guessed what the D stands for but let me confirm it. Diesel. That is correct the new generation of Euro Accords and TSX’s will have a diesel option.
Now comes the bad news. Although the North American market will most likely receive the diesel power plant, it has yet to be determined if we’ll actually get to see a TSX wagon.
Damnit.
So now that I’M done teasing, below are the 5 other images that have been released by Honda.
Cheers.
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| 
Inbreeding in any case is never a good thing. Deafness in Dalmatians was caused by inbreeding. Temperament problems in Jack Russel Terriers? Inbreeding. The entire state of Arkansas? Inbreeding. Nowhere has inbreeding been proven to be beneficial for society.
Yes inbreeding can occur in cars as well. Let us take the the Mitsubishi diesel prototype, the RA. Cover up the front end with one hand and what do you see? The failure known as the Eclipse. Now cover the body and leave the front end exposed and what do you have? That’s right. EVO! It seems that Mitsubishi is trying to take the best concepts of both body designs and fuse them together to create a super aggressive coupe.
Moving from the outside, the doors open up and outwards. Think of it like a butterfly opening it’s wings. The interior looks to be wrapped in shades of red to match the exterior color of the car. Since this is only a concept at the time of showing, we’ll need to wait it out to see if other interior colors will be available. There is a definite cockpit like feel to the interior and the layout of all the various buttons, knobs and switches. If Mitsubishi plans for this to be designed more as an eco-friendly sports car, they should definitely reconsider the smooth leather seats or provide more bolstering to make sure the driver is firmly planted.
The car will be powered by a 2.2liter DOHC 16-valve 4 cylinder turbo diesel engine with MIVEC4. First estimates place this at 201hp with 310 ft/lbs of torque. This engine will be mated to the AWD drivetrain found in it’s older brother, the EVO. Sounds like the ideal slogan for this concept would be “Clean and Mean”.
Taking a look back at previous Eclipses, one will notice that they were generally a heavy set car. Although no official weight has been announced, one can only hope that Mitsubishi has smartened up and tried to lighten up the chassis to actually make an enjoyable driving experience. An aluminum space frame mated with plastic-resin (lightweight, impact-resistant AND recyclable!) should help to achieve just that.
Full Specs are as follows:
Overall length (mm) 175 inches (4,445 mm)
Overall width (mm) 74.6 inches (1,895 mm)
Overall height (mm) 51.8 inches (1,315 mm)
Wheelbase (mm) 103.7 inches (2,635 mm)
F/R track (mm) 63.2 inches (1,605 mm)
Occupants 2
Engine 2.2-liter in-line four cylinder Clean Diesel
Max. output 201 hp (150 kW)
Max torque. 310 ft. lbs. (42.8 kg-m)
Driveline Full-time 4WD (S-AWC)
Transmission Twin Clutch SST
Tires 285/30R21
Can Mitsubishi prove that inbreeding among it’s line can create something wonderful? Only time (and a few road tests) will tell.
Cheers.
12 comments |
| The Import Nation news article has returned in all its glory! My name is Mike Daclan and I’m going to bring you some of the latest news that’s happening in the automotive world. Now you may or may not agree with what I say but you know what? It doesn’t even bother me. We have the little comment button below each news article so if you feel that the article was the greatest piece of literature you’ve ever read you can let us know. If you feel it was a complete hack job and you think you can do better well then I’m sorry you can’t. However you CAN leave a comment about the crappy writing and hope I make it up the next day! It most likely won’t happen but it will make you feel like you’ve done something proactive to help the site.
Now that I have introduced myself let’s look at the first piece of news to report on!
As the world economy grows faster and faster (while the American economy seems to slow to a crawl), so does the hedonistic need for a car to show off your status among peers. Infiniti has decided to step up to the plate to meet the demand for such vehicles and will be expanding to include more dealerships across the globe.
Nissan’s North American Marketing Chief was quoted as saying “We expect that Infiniti will continue to experience double-digit sales increases well into the future on a worldwide basis”. When I first read such a claim there was much hesitation that Infiniti could pull off such a sizeable growth. However, once I reflected on what Infiniti has brought out in the past few years, I started to believe that they might be able to pull this off.
Excluding the North American market, Infiniti has a total of 240 dealerships working in such areas as the Middle East, Asian and Europe.
McNabb went on to also say that “It’s a new world economy, and with it, a rising global demand for luxury products and experiences,” and because of this, Infiniti’s “ geographic reach will extend to 93 percent of global luxury markets,”. This is a stark contrast to barely two years ago when Infiniti was only present in 43% of the world luxury market.
The target audience that Infiniti is going after are the younger buyers that will be coming into their own financial success. In fact, McNabb said that those born between 1965 and 1994 would account for 35% to 40% in the luxury-crossover, luxury-utility and near luxury segments. Which means that the majority of our members are in the cross hairs here.
Even though Infiniti is planning on reaching out to a much wider market, it still holds on to it’s core values of high build quality and customer satisfaction. “You can’t build long-term demand by taking shortcuts in customer service or product quality,” McNabb said. Will Infiniti also offer more options to those customers overseas? The only hint at what may be to come came from these final words from McNabb “The other critical requirement as we expand into new markets is an enlarged product and power train range.”
Only time will tell if the NA market gets to see these different products and power train options that the over sea’s market will get. If we’re left out as usual, import companies are set to make a killing from those NA owners who are looking for that rare over sea item to set their ride apart from the rest of the crowd.
Cheers.
1 comment |
| 
Link to YouTube Video
”Undercover Brother’s good at karate and all the rest of that, but the Brother can’t drive,” remarked comedian Eddie Griffin, best known for his roles in Undercover Brother and Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, after he crashed a Ferrari Enzo in a charity race promoting the upcoming movie Redline.
Griffin was not hurt when he understeered into a concrete barrier while taking part in the event. The car, worth over a million dollars, was destroyed beyond repair.
The Ferrari was owned by Redline’s producer, Chris Sadek, who was upset over the incident.
”I’m glad Eddie came out of the crash okay, but my dream car got destroyed,” Sadek said. “I went to my trailer for about 15 minutes and I thought,`There’s people dying every day. A lot of worse things are happening in the world.”’
Only 400 Ferrari Enzo’s were produced between 2002 and 2004. This rare super-car can go zero-to-sixty in 3 seconds and has an estimated top speed of 217MPH. Motor Trend named it the “Fourth Greatest Ferrari of All Time” and is often considered by experts to be among the best production cars ever.
Well then, I guess Eddie Griffin’s driving is just about as good as his acting.
11 comments |
| This is a test post, some kinks are being worked on, the site will remain live no fear.
Some new and very talented writers might be joining the I-N writing staff, either way things are all fine and getting better.
9 comments |
| After suffering quite a few internet connectivity problems over the past few days, I’m proud to announce that everything is back in service.
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| 
Remember the supercharged Exige mentioned a few days ago, that came with 270hp and a better power to weight ratio than a Ferrari 360 Modena? Lotus apparently decided it wasn’t enough.
The front looks like the Elise/Exige, but the back looks completely different. The styling doesn’t matter though, because it weighs in at just under 1,500lbs. Yes, 500lbs lighter than the Elise. Let’s bring power to ratio back up:
Lotus Exige S: 10.52 lbs/hp
’04 Ferrari 360 Modena: 7.98 lbs/hp
Lotus Exige GT3: 7.41 lbs/hp
’06 Dodge Viper SRT10: 6.69 lbs/hp
Lotus 2-Eleven: 5.55 lbs/hp
Can’t wait to see this thing show up on a track.
It definately looks like a Honda S2000 from some angles, which is weird. I’m kind of curious as to what needed to be changed to shave those 500lbs off, as the Elise is already rather spartan, and I can’t see the top weighing that much.
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| 
Following other automakers in the confusing trend towards hybrid sports cars, the Honda Small Hybrid Sports Concept is powered by an inline 4-cylinder petrol engine and an electric motor, all connected through a CVT transmission. Sporting wheels that would make most high-school car fanboys red with envy, the Small Hybrid Sports Concept looks kind of like a cross between their old Insight, and some sort of retro-throwback to the old Honda CRX, only without headlights.
Did I mention that the wheels are hideously ugly? They’re also 20” in diameter. It appears that the creators had to aggressively flare the front fenders just to clear the tires although, arguably, that looks rather cool. More disappointing, however, is the 165mm tire tread width on those 20” wheels.
I’m still not understanding the hybrid sports car trend. As I mentioned earlier, Toyota is rumored to be thinking of a hybrid motor for the new Supra, but I have to argue that sports cars aren’t supposed to blow petunias and filtered water out of the exhaust. Trees are supposed to wilt, and elderly persons are supposed to gasp for breath. When I think of sports car, I’m thinking something along the lines of a heavily ported 13B-REW in a late-model Mazda Rx-7: Visibly spitting liquid fuel and oil out of the exhaust, and shooting 3 foot flames on every throttle lift-off.
Keep the hybrid crap for the more normal-people-oriented cars, please.
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For those who thought that a piddly little naturally aspirated 190hp 1.8 liter-powered sports car could never be fun, Lotus has announced plans to build a supercharged version dubbed the “GT3”. The supercharged engine will bring an extra 80hp to the table, along with an extra 50ft-lbs of torque.
The car is still made from the same superglued aluminum chassis as before, meaning that it will likely weigh in at about 2000lbs. Let’s stop for a second to think about this in terms of power to weight ratio, seeing as one of the main upgrades to the “base” Exige is the supercharger. Two other cars, the Ferrari 360 Modena and the Dodge Viper, were thrown in for comparison.
Lotus Exige S: 10.52 lbs/hp
’04 Ferrari 360 Modena: 7.98 lbs/hp
Lotus Exige GT3: 7.41 lbs/hp
’06 Dodge Viper SRT10: 6.69 lbs/hp
It’s safe to say that it’s going to be a pretty fast car. However, given their NHTSA exemption for the bumpers and the bonded-aluminum chassis, I can’t see it being exactly the safest of cars to be in. That doesn’t stop it from being a damn good car though, and I’m hoping for somebody I know to buy one so I can get a chance to play around with it. With an asking price near $100,000, I don’t think I’ll be buying myself one anytime soon.
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| Autodata Corporation statistics show the top-selling vehicles for the month of Feburary, 2007 (Statistics posted on March 1st). Toyota is in third still with the Toyota Camry, selling 32 thousand units. Honda sold 30,000 Accords in February.
The Japanese automakers still have significant sales increases to be made before taking over American pickup sales, as Chevy’s Silverado pickup and Ford’s F-series pickups both sold over 55,000 units last month.
The Chevy Silverado, best selling vehicle in February, 2007.
Granted, they’re differing markets. Japan has yet to put out a pickup that can properly compete with the Americans. The fact that the only American non-pickup vehicle on the top 10 best-selling list is the Impala speaks volumes about overseas competition for the Americans.
12 comments |
| Mazda announced today that it would be scrapping all of the vehicles stored on the Cougar Ace, a car-carrying ship. The ship was carrying roughly 2,800 new Mazda 3s and 1,400 CX-7s, all bound for the US and Canada. Somewhere near the Alaskan coast, an adjustment to the ship’s ballast caused it to list over about 60 degrees.
The US Coast Guard reported that, despite the ship’s keel being completely out of the water, the ship is not sinking and is stable.
Originally, Mazda had planned on selling the vehicles aboard the ship, as they are tied down securely to the ship. They eventually reconsidered this, citing the potential for damage due to the vehicles’ extreme angle for such a prolonged period.
Mazda North American Ops CEO stated that, "After thorough testing by engineers from our North American and Japanese R&D centers, we decided the most appropriate course of action – with our customers foremost in mind – was not to sell any of the 4,703 Mazdas aboard the ship."
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| Concept art of the new Toyota Supra:
A bit behind on the times, but reportedly the Supra will be returning. Rumors point to both a coupe version and a hardtop convertible version. Possible powerplants that have been mentioned:
- 5.0L Petrol V8
- 4.8L Petrol V10
- 3.5L Hybrid Electric/Petrol V6
The V8 seems like an unlikely choice. Import fans have long regarded V8s of any brand to be "redneck" and "american", given the Americans’ long history with them. The V10 could be an option as, given its relatively small displacement (480cc per cylinder as opposed to 625cc for the V8), it’ll garner more affection from the relatively-small-displacement, high-cylinder-count engine crowd, the same as those who love the sound of a high-revving sub-3 liter V8. Of course, either of these engines will likely have a relatively high redline and some sort of variable valve timing, and twin overhead cams, distancing them from the stereotypical 4000rpm-redlining pushrodded American motors.
The suggestion of a 3.5L Hybrid Electric V6 just seems odd. It was claimed to be mated to a 7- or 8-speed automatic transmission, which makes it seem even more odd. The Supra is supposed to be a sports car/grand tourer, which kind of makes standard manual transmission a good idea. Of course, it’s a new day and age now, and conventional H-pattern shifters are being replaced by paddle shifters and the like. 3,500ccs just seems puny though. Everyone seems to be able to squeeze good fuel economy out of large-displacement motors (see: GM’s DoD, among other things), so a 3.5L Hybrid is just...not the right motor for the Supra.
Here’s to hoping Toyota goes with the V10, and mates it to a conventional 6-speed. Traction control for non-driving poseurs is liveable, as long as it can be turned off. I mean actually off, not just set on "low", like most cars seem to do.
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Reportedly, the new Mitsubishi Lancer will be offered starting at just under $14,000, with a CVT transmission. You also get an MP3-ready sound system, 16” aluminum wheels, and a bunch of other bits. Sadly, it doesn’t come with ABS, power locks, or air conditioning. All of that is extra.
I presume that Mitsubishi is doing this to try to corner the less spendy segment of the market, given that they haven’t managed to grab a share of any bit of the market in any other area. This is probably why everybody has been saying, ”Mitsubishi is going to go out of business this year” for the past oh, 5 years or so. For whatever reason, someone keeps buying their cars and keeping the company afloat.
My main problem with the design of the car though, is how the sides look like they were pulled directly off of the Acura TL, door handles and all. The front reminds me of one of the Volvos.
Hopefully the Evolution version will be more exciting, but of course it will be a lot more expensive. Mitsubishi seems to have completely fallen off the map in terms of cars that people would pay any real amount of money for, so I’m wondering how the new Evo will sell.
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| As the title implies, I’m just getting this started. My goal is to post recent news events regarding import cars here on a regular basis.
Stay tuned!
-Phil
12 comments |
74993 total, avg 130/day
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