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Reviewing the Range Rover Evoque

February 3, 2012, 7:15 pm By THE NEW YORK TIMES In Sunday’s Automobiles section, Christopher Jensen reviews the Range Rover Evoque, a relatively lithe sport utility car from a marque traditionally associated with chunky, if plush, utility machines. The Evoque is aimed at a style-conscious driver who wants access to the Range Rover mystique without the dear prices and profligate thirst of the company’s other vehicles. As Mr. Jensen writes: The least costly four-door model is $43,995 and the least-expensive ...

Submited at Saturday, February 4th, 2012 at 7:00 am by samantha

Have a Question About Fuel Cells? Ask Peter Hoffmann

February 2, 2012, 5:10 pm By THE NEW YORK TIMES In Thursday’s Times, Jim Motavalli interviews Peter Hoffmann, who has written extensively about hydrogen fuel cells and their application in passenger cars. Mr. Hoffmann is taking questions from Wheels readers about the technology and its prospects for wide adoption. Do you think Hyundai, Toyota, General Motors, Honda and other automakers will deliver on their promises to produce fuel-cell vehicles for American automobile buyers by 2015? Submit your questions for Mr. ...

Submited at Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 7:00 am by hilman

BMW Plants Seeds of Silicon Valley in the West Village

BMW iVentures, an investment arm begun in tandem with the automaker’s i subbrand, has established a start-up incubator on Morton Street in the West Village. The space was inaugurated with a party and panel discussion on Tuesday. With the brand’s recent dalliances in smart-grid management in Mountain View, Calif., and the incubator opening party, the German automaker seems to be smitten with the Silicon Valley life. At the party, panel speakers were expected to discuss “how digital technology can change, ...

Submited at Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 at 7:00 am by chuck

Chrysler Readies New Mopar Mods for Chicago Auto Show

CENTER LINE, Mich. — On Tuesday, the Chrysler Group commemorated the 75th anniversary of its Mopar performance parts division by showing four vehicles here at the division’s headquarters, to be introduced officially at the Chicago auto show next month. The four Mopar machines, consisting of souped-up versions of the Chrysler 300, Dodge Dart, Fiat 500 and Jeep Compass, were introduced by Pietro Gorlier, the Mopar president and chief executive. Mr. Gorlier’s jocular Italian accent seemed appropriate to the occasion, given ...

Submited at Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 at 7:00 am by hilman

A Tribute to Moon: The Man, the Machines and Those Eyes

POMONA, Calif. — Dean Moon, who died in 1987 at age 60, established a small production shop behind his father’s restaurant in the Los Angeles suburb of Norwalk in 1952. Moon Equipment would become one of the most recognized and respected names in the hot-rod and drag-racing cultures, in part for its unmistakable logo: two goggling eyes casting a sidelong glance, a design Mr. Moon first toyed with in his high school typing class. The Mooneyes logo, refined in 1957 ...

Submited at Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 7:00 am by hilman

Reviewing the 2012 Honda CR-V

January 27, 2012, 7:59 pm By THE NEW YORK TIMES In his first automobile evaluation for The Times, Csaba Csere (pronounced CHUB-uh CHED-uh) reviews the 2012 Honda CR-V in Sunday’s Automobiles Section. Mr. Csere, an M.I.T.-trained automotive engineer, was on the staff of Car and Driver magazine for 28 years and served as editor in chief from 1993 to 2008. He previously wrote for the Automobiles section about the search for a fast-charger plug that would be compatible with all ...

Submited at Saturday, January 28th, 2012 at 7:00 am by madison

Teaching the Volt to Charge Smarter and Cleaner

January 26, 2012, 4:31 pm By PAUL STENQUIST On Thursday, General Motors announced an alert system under development that would instruct the Chevy Volt to charge only when a relatively high percentage of renewable energy was available. Being plugged in at those times would further minimize the carbon footprint of the plug-in hybrid. Google plans to test the technology, facilitated by the subscription-based OnStar alert and navigation system, on its fleet of 17 Volts. A demonstration is occurring this week ...

Submited at Friday, January 27th, 2012 at 7:00 am by sofia

EBay Seller Seeks a Cool $1 Million for President Obama’s Chrysler

Cars with presidential provenance have been known to command hefty premiums at auction. One eBay seller is hoping to sell a 2005 Chrysler 300C that reportedly belonged to Barack Obama for a downright princely sum. The car’s owner, who has chosen to remain anonymous, listed the automobile on the auction Web site this week with a starting bid of $1 million. In the interest of preserving that anonymity and putting a professional gloss on the listing, the owner engaged Lisa ...

Submited at Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 7:00 am by ethan

Nascar and Ford Unveil Fusion Sprint Cup Car

January 24, 2012, 2:44 pm By JONATHAN SCHULTZ Wearing the automaker’s new corporate face, the Ford Fusion Nascar Sprint Cup racecar was unveiled at a news conference by Ford and Nascar Tuesday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The automobile will be campaigned in 2013, making its race debut at the Daytona 500 in February of next year. Ford tried Tuesday to set the Fusion apart from other factory-team racecars in the series, which tend not to resemble the production vehicles ...

Submited at Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 7:00 am by ethan

A Volkswagen Bus With No Junk in Its Trunk

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Joe Ingram, a high school instructor of history and government, learned a welcome lesson here on Saturday. The Barrett-Jackson auction still has room for the tiny guy. Mr. Ingram, who teaches at Twentynine Palms High School in California’s Mojave Desert, threw his weight around with help from his 1963 Volkswagen Microbus and matching trailer. The Deluxe Samba 23-window bus, a rolling testimonial to automotive fenestration, towed a 1971 Eriba Puck camper across the auction block on Saturday ...

Submited at Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 7:00 am by sofia