Latest News         No comments

Photos

Exterior kit widens the Corvette by 4.5 inches. Each Specter Werkes C6 Corvette GTR is hand built and individually numbered. (Photo courtesy of Specter Werkes)

TROY, Michigan — Specter Werkes has released a top-of-the-line tuning package for the C6 Corvette. It made its public debut at the Cauley Ferrari dealership in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

The Specter Werkes C6 Corvette GTR features the emissions-legal Specter Matrix II engine package for the LS3. It is a stroker kit that increases displacement from 6.2 to 6.8 liters, which allows the vehicle to lay down 535 horsepower and 530 pound-feet of… Read the rest of this entry

 Latest News         No comments

Photos

(Photo courtesy of Cosworth)

GOODWOOD, England — Afzal Kahn and engine tuner Cosworth have joined… Read the rest of this entry

 Latest News         No comments

DETROIT — By eliminating the potential for many marginal transactions, the pullback from leasing by the Detroit Three may further enfeeble the U.S. auto market when it already is weaker than at any point in the last 15 years.

GMAC said this week that it no longer will offer lease incentives in Canada and is curtailing financing to U.S. customers who are considered high credit risks. Ford Motor Credit has begun telling dealers that it is essentially ending leasing deals on most trucks and SUVs. Both moves followed Chrysler Financial’s announcement last week that it is ending all leasing deals in the United States.

And major banks, including Chase and Wells Fargo, are reining in their exposure to auto-leasing deals as well.

“The dealers I’ve talked with are in shock,” Joseph Phillippi, president of AutoTrends Consulting, in Short Hills, New Jersey, told Inside Line. “So many [consumers]… Read the rest of this entry

 Latest News         No comments

Photos

Nissan will eliminate night-shift truck production at its Smyrna, Tennessee plant beginning August 11. The factory builds the Frontier pickup (pictured), among other Nissan models. (Photo courtesy of Nissan Motors Corporation Inc.)

SMYRNA, Tennessee — For the second time in a year, Nissan Motor Company is offering voluntary buyout packages to its U.S. workers. To counter a dramatic decline in sales of trucks and SUVs, the Japanese automaker said Wednesday it would provide lump-sum payments of up to $125,000 to workers at its Smyrna assembly and Decherd powertrain plants in Tennessee.

Nissan employs 6,600 hourly and salaried workers at the two Tennessee plants and is hoping to reduce its workforce by about 18 percent, or roughly 1,200 employees.

Depending on their tenure, workers are being… Read the rest of this entry

 Latest News         No comments

Photos

Rally champion Rhys Millen put together this “Art of Speed” SEMA dazzler, a modified Hyundai Genesis Coupe. (Photo courtesy of Hyundai Motor Company)

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, California — Champion drifter and rallyist Rhys Millen is teaming with Hyundai to create an “Art of Speed” Genesis Coupe showcar for the upcoming 2008 SEMA Show.

The Korean automaker says the collaboration with Rhys Millen Racing is merely the inaugural effort for the Genesis Coupe — “the first of many to be modified by some of the best tuner shops in the world.”

The RMR Genesis Coupe will be a fully functional racing car “capable of running in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb,” with what Millen describes as a “radical body design”: a wide-body kit with a carbon fiber wing and a functional hood scoop, dressed in silver-and-black livery.

RMR will provide a turbo package… Read the rest of this entry

 Latest News         No comments

Photos

The British Web site CarTribe leaked this advance image of the 2009 Ford Ka. The official debut is set for October, at the Paris auto show. (Photo courtesy of CarTribe)

LONDON — The British Web site CarTribe strikes again, this time leaking the first official image of the redesigned 2009 Ford Ka nearly three months ahead of its scheduled October debut at the 2008 Paris Auto Show.

The new Ka will share its underpinnings with Fiat’s popular 500, but you’d be hard pressed to tell the two are under-the-skin sibs simply by looking at the two designs side by side. Thanks to their common chassis, the Ka will be assembled alongside the 500 at Fiat’s plant in Tychy, Poland, and will go on sale in various European markets in late 2008.

European media reports say the new Ka will share several powertrain offerings… Read the rest of this entry

 Latest News         No comments

Photos

Abu Dhabi has one. Beijing has one. Now, so do Honolulu and Hawaii: a Ferrari store, selling memorabilia, apparel and models. Pictured is the Los Angeles store, which was previously one of only two in the U.S. (the other, predictably, is in Las Vegas). (Photo courtesy of Ferrari)

MARANELLO, Italy — Ferrari has announced that its latest two official Ferrari stores will open in Miami and Honolulu. The upscale retail outlets are intended to show and sell what the automaker calls its \”double core values: racing and luxury.\”

Las Vegas and Los Angeles already have Ferrari stores. The total number of stores worldwide is now 22, including eight in Italy. The next to open will be on tony Regent Street in London in the fall.

The Ferrari Store… Read the rest of this entry

 Latest News         No comments

Photos

Inside, there is a three-spoke EVO steering wheel. (Photo courtesy of AC Schnitzer)

AACHEN, Germany — BMW tuner AC Schnitzer has launched its first major package for the BMW X6 , offering styling and performance modifications for customers in Europe.

The body-colored aero kit bundles a new front bumper fascia with diagonal air intakes and foglamps, plus a huge rear bumper fascia with diffuser and integrated tailpipe cutouts. You can mount your choice of ultralow-profile performance rubber on Schnitzer’s black 22-inch Type VII multipiece alloy rims.

The performance kit is available initially on the X6 3.0d and 3.5d diesels, which get a reprogrammed engine control unit and other unspecified mods. Schnitzer also offers upgraded springs, said to be custom-tailored at the N?rburgring, and a racing-style exhaust system with chrome tips.

An EVO three-spoke steering wheel highlights the subtle changes to the… Read the rest of this entry

 Latest News         No comments

Photos

The RX 400h hybrid vehicle will cost $500 more in 2009, starting at $42,905 for the front-wheel-drive version. (Photo courtesy of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.)

TORRANCE, California — Lexus announced that it will raise prices on several of its 2009 models, including the 2009 GX 470 , LX 570 and SC 430. It will also increase the price of its 2008 Lexus RX 400h hybrid.

This appears to be the last year for the Lexus SC coupe/convertible. In mid-July, Inside Line reported that Toyota canceled the next-generation Lexus SC coupe/convertible. The 2009 SC 430 starts at $67,630, including an $825 destination charge — a $450 increase over the outgoing model. The SC 430 gets new side mirrors with incorporated turn signals for the ‘09 model year.

The 2009 Lexus LX 570 starts at $76,530, including shipping, a price increase of $1,005. Changes… Read the rest of this entry

 Latest News         No comments

Photos

Volkswagen Jetta TDI (2009 model pictured) will snag its purchasers a U.S. income tax credit based on its”advanced lean burn technology.” (Photo courtesy of Volkswagen of America, Inc.)

HERNDON, Virginia — Buyers of the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI and Jetta SportWagen TDI got some good news on Tuesday. Volkswagen of America announced that the Internal Revenue Service has approved a $1,300 federal income tax credit for consumers who purchase the vehicles.

In effect, the move amounts to a price cut for the Jetta TDI and SportWagen. The 2009 Jetta TDI starts at $21,990, while the 2009 Jetta SportWagen TDI starts at $23,590. Both models arrive in showrooms in August.

VW of America said the two vehicles qualify for the Advanced Lean Burn Technology Motor Vehicle income tax credit. According to the IRS, “A taxpayer may rely on the manufacturer’s certification that a specific… Read the rest of this entry