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KALUGA, Russia — Volkswagen has planned a strong production schedule that shows its ambitious plans for Russia. Russian news agency Prime-Tass has published a document from Friedrich Lenz, general director of the yet-to-be completed VW factory here, that describes what will be made locally.

Volkswagen tried to enter Russia for more than a decade. Its Czech subsidiary, Skoda, held numerous talks with local officials and possible partners but never got beyond Ukraine. A local policy change finally resulted in a breakthrough and now Volkswagen has joined the ranks of international carmakers that are busily constructing new plants to get a foothold in the fast-growing Russia market.

As a first step, the Skoda Octavia will roll off the assembly line in Kaluga in October, to be followed by the Volkswagen Jetta and Passat in November, and the Skoda Fabia in December. The new Volkswagen Tiguan will join them next… Read the rest of this entry

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Would you buy car advice from this man? Presidential candidate John Edwards said in a speech that he would call on Americans to get rid of gas-guzzling SUVs. (Photo courtesy of JohnEdwards.com)

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Setting himself apart from the pack of Democratic presidential hopefuls as perhaps the “greenest” of candidates, John Edwards said on Wednesday that he would ask Americans to sacrifice their sport-utes as part of his plan to curb carbon emissions.

“One of the things they should be asked to do is drive more fuel-efficient vehicles,” Edwards told a forum held by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers here. When asked if this meant telling voters to give up their SUVs, the former senator said, “yes,” according to… Read the rest of this entry

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The supercharged V8 version of Jaguar’s new XF will cost $110,000. (Photo courtesy of Jaguar Cars North America)

COVENTRY, England — Jaguar Cars said its new XF sedan, to be officially launched at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show, will be priced in the U.K. starting at $68,100 for the V6 gas and diesel models.

Neither the 2.7-liter turbodiesel V6 nor the 3.0-liter gasoline V6 will be offered initially in the U.S. market.

The range-topping supercharged 4.2-liter V8 variant will fetch a U.K. price that’s the equivalent of $110,300, and the normally aspirated 4.2 V8 will start at $91,400.

Both V8 versions will be sold in the States, beginning next spring, as 2009 models. U.K. deliveries begin early next year.

The XF will… Read the rest of this entry

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Dutch specialist Spyker, maker of such sports-car classics as the C12 Zagato (pictured), is rumored to be in financial hot water. (Photo courtesy of Spyker Cars)

ZEEWOLDE, The Netherlands — The financial recovery company Bos Incasso would like to see super-sports-car maker Spyker in court. According to the Dutch AD news service, there’s a dispute revolving around some $465,000.

The news report says a Swiss company and a private individual are each looking to claim money owed them by Spyker and have turned to Bos Incasso for help. The recovery firm has refused comment.

Victor M?ller, the mastermind behind the resurrection of Spyker in 2000, stepped down as CEO in May. He acknowledged that the company has an ongoing dispute with Z?rich Financial Services, but wouldn’t go into further details.

What this means to you: Maybe Spyker is in trouble; court documents should be interesting… Read the rest of this entry

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In his mid-teens, George Hotz was already a computer-geek standout. Here he’s shown at age 15, with his prize-winning “Googler” invention at an Intel contest. (Photo courtesy of Intel)

GLEN ROCK, N.J. — Fueled by Mountain Dew and energy drinks and in between packing for college, teenage hacker George Hotz, working with online collaborators, managed to unlock the iPhone so that it can be used with cellular networks other than AT&T. The reward: worldwide fame, a paid consulting job and the keys to a metallic blue Nissan 350Z.

Hotz posted on his blog that he had reached the deal with CertiCell, a Louisville, Kentucky, mobile-phone repair company. “This has been a great end to a great summer,” Hotz wrote. He added in his last posting on August 27 that “my project for now is a GPS for the iPhone that uses triangulation from the… Read the rest of this entry

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Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG Black Series. (Photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz)

STUTTGART, Germany — Mercedes-Benz has revamped another of its Performance Studio vehicles, the SLK 55 AMG Black Series.

The AMG-tuned 5.5-liter V8 has been goosed to 400 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque. Among the hardware changes are a modified air intake, reduced-resistance sports air filters, new high-performance headers and a new valve-timing scheme. The V8 is mated to an AMG Speedshift 7G-Tronic with manual drive program and aluminum shift paddles on the steering wheel.

Thanks to the extensive application of lightweight materials throughout the car, the latest iteration of the SLK55 AMG Black Series romps from rest to 60 mph in less than 4.5 seconds.

Among the changes, a non-retractable carbon-fiber roof has been fitted, along with wider front fenders made of reinforced plastic and ultralight carbon-fiber composite. The side outlets also are made… Read the rest of this entry

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We all take for granted that the little plastic key fob in our pockets is a secure way of locking and unlocking our car doors. But a group of researchers say they have devised a way to relatively quickly decipher your car’s unique code and totally pwn everything inside it.

The group says most car manufacturers are still using KeeLoq, an encryption technology developed in the 1980s, for their keyless systems. It’s pretty good technology, they say, that normally would take 100 computers several decades to break. But by listening in to communication between key fobs and cars, the researchers say they can narrow down the number of code options and, instead of say, 50 years, they’re in your car in about 50 minutes.

While they admit it’s much easier and quicker to break into a single car with an old-fashioned baseball bat,… Read the rest of this entry

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The German auto manufacturers seem hell bent on building a vehicle for every possible niche, and even willing to create a few niches of their own to introduce new products for new segments. The latest rumor has BMW building a new MPV-like people mover that is essentially a premium tall wagon, similar to the Mercedes R-Class. We had pics of a mule for what we were calling the V-Series a couple of weeks ago, but here’s a rendering by that’s said to preview the look of the finished product.

BMW is actually rumored to be working on two new models based on the 3- and 5-series platforms. These new models will introduce a new “F” moniker into the BMW lexicon and be called the F3 and F5. They will join a BMW lineup that’s currently swelling with upcoming new models that have yet to arrive.

[Source: MotorAuthority]… Read the rest of this entry

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After toiling away at Modacar in Livermore, CA yesterday, we can officially say that Autoblog’s Project LeMons is underway. We were able to rip out the entire interior (sans dash), pull the rear hatch off, scrape out some sound deadening material, fit the rear end and begin to piece together a six-point roll cage for our FC RX-7. And we’re only slightly worse for the wear.

The next big step is to begin fabricating parts for the roll bar, including a main hoop that was originally intended for an EK Civic. Casey, our man wielding the welder, was able to get one of the plates installed, while our photog friend Brad cut some of the tubing to spec and snapped off several shots, all while while Jay and I got intimate with the diff.

We’re still debating themes and a team name, but we’re keeping our cards… Read the rest of this entry

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For years, an Apple-designed car has been both the butt of jokes and the dream of many an Apple fanboy. Could a fashionably cool car from Cupertino be on the horizon? German publication Sueddeutsche reports that Volkswagen chief Martin Winterkorn has been talking to Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs about something, though exactly what isn’t totally clear.

If you’re a follower of Apple product development, you know rumors and speculation can run absurdly wild years before the company unveils anything official. Combine that fact with Google’s ability to translate German (Google says Martin winter grain is the head of VW, for example) and the two might have only gotten together for a rousing game of Donkey Kong on Jobs’ iPhone.

[Sources: Sueddeutsche via MacDailyNews, Financial Times Deutschland via EE Times, and Snopes]

There’s only a report in EE Times about a quote… Read the rest of this entry