Filed under: Coupe , Performance McLaren MP4-12C - Click above for high-res image gallery Gordon Murray is perhaps the most innovative automotive engineer of the last several decades. He's never been afraid to try out offbeat ideas and more often then not, they've worked exceptionally well. Long before the Ariel Atom, Murray created the Rocket, built by the Light Car Company . Murray's greatest creation, of course, was the McLaren F1 . As with the Rocket and the T25 city car that he's currently working on, low mass was (and continues to be) a defining principle. Following the official launch of McLaren Automotive and the MP4-12C a few days ago, Murray discussed the new car with AutoExpress . He's glad to see that in spite of recent trends toward heavier cars, McLaren was able to keep mass comparatively low on its new car. The MP4-12C is several hundred pounds heavier than the legendary F1, but it also contains a lot of safety equipment that wasn't in use when the earlier car was built. Murray is also happy to see that McLaren employed some of the concepts that he worked on before he left the company, such as the carbon-fiber monocoque that was planned for a follow-up to the Mercedes-Benz SLR . Gallery: McLaren MP4-12C [Source: AutoExpress ] Gordon Murray shares his thoughts on the McLaren MP4-12C originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Filed under: EV/Plug-in , UK Having just celebrated St. Patrick's Day, it's pretty obvious that the whole "Irish I had a beer" thing is a pretty lame stereotype. Maybe the opening of the first on-street electric car chargers in the country will help people see there's more to Ireland than leprechauns and green beer. Ah, who are we kidding? Still, the chargers are coming. The Irish electric utility Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is helping to install four curbside chargers in Dublin that will be operational by the end of the month. That's not a whole lot, but ESB says that it will install 1,500 across the country in the next 30 months, according to the Irish Times . These are quick-chargers, taking between one and two hours. Why this ambitious rollout? Planning for the future. The head of the ESB's electric vehicle division said in December that he thinks the " vast majority " the cars in Ireland will be replaced by electric vehicles by 2035. ESB is in partnership or talking to Renault - Nissan , Peugeot - Citroen and Mitsubishi and wants to bring around 2,000 electric vehicles to Ireland by the end of 2011. [Source: Irish Times ] Irish we had more electric car chargers originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 09:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read

Filed under: Motorsports , Jaguar , Racing Unfortunately for Jaguar , the only XKR to make it to the finish of the 2010 12 Hours of Sebring was the green and black pace car. Sebring was to have been the full-season competition debut for the new JaguarRSR XKR GT2, but it looks like team has a lot more work to do before the car's a potential race winner. After consistently running near the bottom of the GT2 class time charts in practice and qualifying, the race proved to be the icing on a stale cake. Less than an hour into the 12-hour enduro, the XKR pulled into the pits with team principal Paul Gentilozzi only having completed 11 laps. It's been reported that one of the cylinder heads on the 5.0-liter V8 cracked, an issue that couldn't be resolved in the pits or paddock in time to get the car back in the race. Hopefully, the team will take the lessons of Sebring and be able to implement some changes before the next event at Long Beach in four weeks. It'd be great to see the Jag in contention with the Ferraris , Porsches and Corvettes . [Source: JaguarRSR] Continue reading Sebring 2010: Bad start for Jaguar as XKR goes out in first hour Sebring 2010: Bad start for Jaguar as XKR goes out in first hour originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Filed under: Motorsports , BMW , Racing The #90 BMW M3 GT2 - Click above to watch video after the jump The last 24 hours have been tough for Dirk Mϋller, one of the drivers of the BMW M3 GT2 in the American Le Mans Series. After setting the fastest GT2 time in qualifying on Friday for today's 12 Hours of Sebring, his time was disallowed because of an issue with his car during tech inspection. That meant the #90 car was pushed down to the 13th spot on the GT2 grid. To make matters worse, the #90 M3 smacked a wall during the morning warmup and missed the recon laps before the race. As a result, Mϋller had to start the race from the pits after all the other cars pulled away. He spent the opening laps making his way through the crowd of GT Challenge Porsches before tackling the GT2 field. By the time hour one was over and he came in for the first pit stop, Mϋller was running fourth in GT2. Check out the video after the jump . [Source: BMW] Continue reading Video: Sebring 2010: BMW's Dirk Mϋller talks about hour 1 Video: Sebring 2010: BMW's Dirk Mϋller talks about hour 1 originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

Filed under: Coupe , Performance , Lotus Bruce Rice with his new Lotus Evora 2010 is big for Lotus , as the new Evora has it its first full year of production and the legendary marque returns to both Formula One and Indianapolis. On the road car front, the first customer Evora in the United States was delivered to its new owner this week. Bruce Rice of Austin, TX got the keys to his bright red Evora at John Eagle European (also in Austin). Lotus calls the Evora the world's only four-seat mid-engined sports car, but those rear seats are really only theoretical. Nonetheless, being fans of the Lotus design philosophy of adding "lightness" we can't wait for our own stint behind the wheel of Hethel's first new product in over a decade - especially in a car that's not as snug as the Exige. [Source: Lotus] Continue reading First Lotus Evora delivered to an American customer First Lotus Evora delivered to an American customer originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

As author Jason Vuic points out in The Yugo 's introduction, the Yugo wasn't really the worst car in history. How did it capture the role of Worst Car Ever in the mind of most Americans? This excellent book explains all! More

Filed under: Hybrid , Green Daily , Lightweight The name John DeLorean is synonymous with the automotive industry. From his days at General Motors , where he turned Pontiac into the automaker's de facto performance division with the creation of the GTO , and, therefore, the muscle car genre in general, to his days running his eponymous car company that gave us the classic stainless steel gullwing wedge that became an iconic time machine through the magic of the movies, DeLorean was at the forefront of the industry for three decades. Sadly, John DeLorean died in March 2005. We'll never know what exactly he may have had in store to bring DeLorean Motor Company back to the market, though a telephone call two weeks before his death gives us a few clues. Apparently, DeLorean was planning to relaunch DMC with a new take on the classic DMC-12, complete with an engine from Renault with an optional hydraulic hybrid drivetrain and carbon fiber panels to keep it all lightweight and efficient. The above information comes courtesy of our sister site AOL Autos' Maintenance Editor Tom Torbjornsen, who had planned an interview with John DeLorean that was to take place one week after his death. Torbjornsen pieced together information from a conversation he had with DeLorean and his "best guess at what [he] thought John might have said based on [their] conversation." It's an interesting read, and you can check the whole thing out by clicking here . [Source: AOL Autos ] What could have been: DeLorean had reportedly been planning hydraulic hybrid originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read

Filed under: Motorsports , Acura , Audi , BMW , Porsche , Racing The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) held a press conference Friday morning before qualifying for this weekend's 12 Hours of Sebring to announce an expansion of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. When it was first announced late in 2009, the three-race championship was only going to apply to the top LMP1 class. The new championship will now apply to all four main classes: LMP1, LMP2, GT1 and GT2. The cup will be based on results from Le Mans series races in Europe, the United States and Asia. The European and American rounds will be the Silverstone and Petit Le Mans races, with the Asian event likely to be held in Shanghai. For each of the classes to be considered part of the cup, at least four cars will have to be entered. So far in P1, Audi and Drayson racing have committed. Peugeot has not yet decided whether to go to PLM or Asia. After Le Mans, Peugeot plans to focus on development of its all-new 2011 car and may skip the remainder of the 2010 races. In spite of reduced restrictor sizes and boost, the Peugeots still managed to capture the top to starting positions for Saturday's race. The Highcroft Acura grabbed the LMP2 pole while Gunnar Jeannette got the LMP Challenge pole. In GT2, the Flying Lizard Porsche of J

Filed under: Hybrid , Toyota 2007 Toyota Prius - Click above for high-res image gallery With all of the negative coverage pouring in over Toyota's recent problems , how about a story that breaks away from the trend for a moment to recognize the achievement of the 2007 Toyota Prius ? The vehicle was recently named the top compact car in long-term dependability by J.D. Power & Associates . The award recipient is chosen based on consumer response to surveys sent to owners of three-year-old vehicles. Thousands of surveys were returned and the Prius garnered the top spot in the compact class once again. The 2007 Prius now holds the same honor with both the 2005 and 2006 model year vehicle. To date, the Prius is the only hybrid to ever hold a top spot in the long-term dependability study by J.D. Power. We'll see if recent recalls, ongoing investigations, braking problems and other mishaps prevent the hybrid from a run at the award for the fourth consecutive year. The J.D. Power survey was completed prior to news of Prius woes. We anticipated that the current public image of the vehicle may influence future survey results and reduce owner satisfaction ratings, but still send our congrats to Toyota for its achievement. Gallery: Review: 2007 Toyota Prius Touring [Source: J.D

Filed under: Manufacturing/Plants , MPG , Chrysler , Dodge , Jeep Chrysler Pentastar V6 engine begins production - Click above for high-res image gallery The artist engine formerly known as Prince Phoenix has officially hit the assembly lines at the Chrysler Group's plant in Trenton, MI. The first version of the mill, which now bears the Pentastar moniker , displaces 3.6 liters and will see its first production application in the engine bay of the brand new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee . Expect this all-aluminum, 60-degree, dual-overhead cam (with variable valve timing) powerplant to see lots of use in the near-term future - Chrysler boasts that the Pentastar V6 will replace seven current V6 engines. In the new Grand Cherokee, the Pentastar will put out 280 horsepower (a 22 percent increase) at 6,400 rpm and 260 pound-feet of torque (an 11 percent improvement) at 4,800 rpm. Just as importantly, Chrysler tells us that the new engine will be 11 percent more fuel efficient than the unit it replaces and that it will run on either regular 87-octane gasoline or E85. This family of engines represent a $730 million investment, and the 822,000-square-foot Trenton facility will be able to produce more than 400,000 engines per year. See the complete press release after the break. [Source: Chrysler] Continue reading Chrysler kicks off production of Pentastar V6 engine, touts fuel efficiency improvements Chrysler kicks off production of Pentastar V6 engine, touts fuel efficiency improvements originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink