The Mini Goes Maxi: Dealers Strapped For Inventory
Jul 23, 2008
If you want a Mini, but are holding off for any reason, you may want to reconsider. Mini dealers are now down to 1-day supply on their lots, and the factory in Oxford, England, can't make the cars fast enough, according to Jim McDowell, vice president of Mini.
BMW's small car brand saw an increase in sales of 33.6 percent in the first half of the year, including a 52.8 percent jump in May. As such, customers won't be able to sort through the seemingly endless options list to get their personal car, but choose from inventory on the dealer lots.
Head to the forums to read the full story.
Hate Stopping? Audi "Travolution" Times Lights to Cars
Jul 23, 2008
We'd almost missed this one because its eco-friendly headline sent us into fits of nodding off, but it's actually significant. Audi's partnered with traffic authorities in its home of Ingolstadt to install 46 traffic lights throughout the city that are controlled by a software algorithm which analyzes traffic density and flow, and dynamically re-adjust their light cycles as necessary.
Not only that, but the lights communicate with drivers through Audi's dash-mounted information display, alerting them what speed they'll need to drive at in order to coast through the light without stopping. The system is just a proof-of-concept at this point — there's no plans to deploy it on a wider basis — but it's interesting to see companies taking a holistic approach to fuel conservation.
Things Car Guys Need: Cars of the Soviet Union
Jul 22, 2008
Normally we don't endorse products, but we normally don't come across something this — pardon our surfer tongue — bitchin': Haynes Publishing (they of the service manuals) has released a book titled "Cars of the Soviet Union". The book charts the history of Iron Curtain wonder cars from 1917 until 1990, when the USSR wound down like the poorly-assembled clockwork playthings that their undersized children were so fond of. It is, in the words of Haynes, "the story of an insular, state-run car industry in which the carefully thought-out ideas of ministerial planners, rather than fickle customers in a free market, determined what cars were made in a country where the open road was often a 300-mile track across a windswept steppe."
Go check out some samples here and here, then order the book from Haynes' UK store.
Introducing the Mercury Kuga?
Jul 22, 2008
Imagine Arnold (circa Kindergarten Cop) saying "Mercury Cougar," and you might get the name of the next product to fill the void at Mercury. According to Automotive News, Thursday is when Ford will announce that it will be radically reapportioning its assembly plants to build more small cars, including six of its European models like the Ford Kuga. Ford is being notoriously tight-lipped about the move, but it appears promising — and domestic production means that exchange rates won't penalize the Dearborn automaker for building eurocars in the same way that the Saturn Astra's Belgian production is sucking the profits out of General Motors. Stay tuned Thursday, as the announcement is expected to come on the heels of Ford announcing its quarterly results.
But Does It Have Matching Luggage? IFR Aspid Unveiled
Jul 22, 2008
It's press day over at the British International Motor Show in London, and images from inside ExCeL London are starting to make their way onto the Net.
One interesting example is the IFR Aspid, yet another take on the 7 body design. Boasting a supercharged engine (about as specific as reports get so far), the car reaches 62 mph in 2.8 seconds and 100 in 5.9. Which, IFR points out, is Bugatti Veyron-caliber numbers. However, we're not so sure on what the aerodynamics of the diminutive car will do at near-Veyron speeds, or if it will reach them at all.
The car will reportedly cost £75,000 and be available in 2009.
Honda Pulls the Sheet Off Its OSM Roadster Concept
Jul 22, 2008
Those of you who got the reference to the Lotus Elan in our last post will be positively giddy at pictures of the Honda OSM that the company has just unleasehed on the 'Net. Resembling the Elan in all its more salient styling details, the OSM is Honda's interpretation of the modern, compact two-seater. Not much else is known about the OSM, except that it's not based for production, but something we can all agree on is that it's devilishly handsome in its execution. Read more about the inspiration behind its styling, as well as a brief recap of Honda's cleaner cars, after the jump.
Lotus Reveals EagleEvora 2+2
Jul 22, 2008
Lotus has always worked at a slightly quirkier, slightly more relaxed pace. Be it the Esprit, which soldiered on for twenty-odd years, or the Elan, which was unceremoniously raffled off to Kia when there wasn't enough money in the kitty to fund the Elise's development.
Then there's the new EagleEvora, designed to satisfy the needs of buyers who want a four-wheeled, razor-reflexed, minimalist hairshirt that seats four passengers. The Evora is powered by a "Lotus-tuned" Toyota 2GR-FE 3.5-litre V-6 that produces 276 horsepower, is connected to a Toyota six-speed transmission, and is shoehorned into the Evora's wheelbase behind its vestigial rear seats, giving it a rear-mid configuration.
Like the Elise and Exige, the Evora will be based on an aluminum chassis and body panels that are held together with glue. Unlike the Elise and Exige, however, the Evora is said to offer "a more refined ownership experience than Lotus’s existing smaller four-cylinder models." Which, considering there are BDSM dens more relaxing than an Exige S, may be damning by faint praise. Read more about the Evora after the jump!
Dresden Museum Boasts Trabi Combi and Other Communist Relics
Jul 19, 2008
In Dresden this week to try our hand at the wheel of Audi's RS6 Avant at the Lausitz Ring, we found ourselves shacking up in downtown Dresden at the Kempinski. The nearby city center area is filled with majestic old European buildings, museums and promenades - among them, the Verkehrs Museum of Transportation.
Given the downtown location, space is not surprisingly a bit limited and the number of cars isn't terribly large. Additionally, the museum features all sorts of forms of transportation. There are sections for automobiles, trains, streetcars, bikes, motorcycles, nautical transport, air transport and even one of the largest model train spreads we've ever seen.
Most important to us were the cars and, this being a former East German metropolis, we weren't surprised that many are communist-era cars like an oddball Trabant Combi and a '68 Wartburg 355 prototype - the latter a red 3-door that looked surprisingly Western. The only car that could really be termed a sportscar was a 1954 AWE Klasse F racecar that bore a passing resemblance to the Mach 5 of Speed Racer fame.
If you find yourself in Dresden, the Verkehrs Museum offers a quick automotive diversion and a look into some dusty corners of automotive history not often seen. Nearby you'll also find Volkswagen's glass factory where the Phaeton is still built and the EuroSpeedway Lausitz - home to one of the DTM series races and the latest location of the Audi Driving Experience.
Check out our full gallery of the Verkehrs Museum Dresden after the jump.
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MotiveMag.com is an independent media publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any automobile manufacturer.