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The Volkswagen Jetta’s long-awaited changeover from the current inline-five-cylinder engine to a turbo four will happen in 2013 for the 2014 model year, the company’s U.S. product czar Rainer Michel told us this week. Soon after, Michel says, the engine will land in a 2014.5 model-year Passat. This confirms the timing we heard earlier from a different—and has-to-stay-nameless—source.

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The BMW 328i Luxury's logbook had finally cooled down after a disappointing trip to the local road course when something else happened: the weather heated up. Between surviving one choice mishap and dealing with sweltering temperatures, our BMW has had a rough month.

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Vorsteiner has created a new aero package for the already gorgeous 458. This includes a front spoiler, side skirts and a revised rear diffuser. This is combined with specialised 21 inch rims. All parts are made out of carbon fibre.

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Spanish specialty carmaker Aspid Cars has dropped the primary teaser pictures of its new GT-21 Invictus, a 2+2 seater sports automotive. this is often Aspid's second vehicle series when the hardcore Super Sports (SS), which sort of resembles a Lotus seven on steroids.

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The version of the ATS that Cadillac meant to spice up the company’s overall fuel-economy numbers has simply received a rather lackluster rating from the EPA. With a Two hundred-hp, 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, the ATS is rated at simply twenty two town mpg and thirty three highway.

Friday, August 10, 2012

BMW Mulling Over Building the 3-Series in Mexico


The global automotive market is still faltering, and even brands like Audi, Mercedes, and BMW are taking action to overcome the failing global economy. Part of this process of healing from the downturn is to lower production costs by producing cars closer to their anticipated homes. 

Mercedes has already announced that it will manufacture its C-Class in it U.S. plant, starting in 2014. Audi has also let us know that it will be utilizing a plant in Mexico to manufacture certain models. According to reports, BMW’s most popular car, the 3-Series, may be heading from its typical production home over to North America. Automotive News has released a report that shows BMW is considering moving some of the 3-Series’ production number south of the border, and no, we are not talking about moving it to Austria. We are talking about the 3-Series potentially hailing from Mexico, in the near future. This report cites Mexico’s lower wages and free trade into the U.S., Canada, South America and some of Asia as its chief reasoning for the consideration. This would likely help boost profits by eliminating or lowering shipping costs, overall manufacturing costs, and even import fees. Don’t look for the 3-Series’ price to drop, though, as this is purely a cost-savings effort, not a price-lowering campaign. If the project is given the go ahead, production should start ramping up slowly in Mexico in 2016 and increase over the years. We anticipate hearing a final decision on this topic early next year, so stay tuned to see if your “drei zwei fünf “ eventually becomes a “tres dos cinco“ in future years. 

BMW Group Tops One Million Sales Since the Start of the Year, Sets New Record


For the first time in its history, the BMW Group, which includes the BMW, MINI and Rolls Royce brands, delivered over one million vehicles (1,036,088 units to be precise) in the first seven months of the year recording a 7.6 percent increase over the same period in 2011 when it delivered 962,493 cars. 

The German company also reported its best-ever sales result for July with a total of 135,537 deliveries, up 5.0 percent compared to last year. 

The automaker said it made strong gains in Asia during the first seven months of 2012 with sales climbing 25.0 percent to 274,058 vehicles, while remaining stable in Europe with a 0.4 percent drop at 499,749 units.
In the Americas, BMW Group sales climbed 8.0 percent from January through July to 227,696 vehicles, with 185,715 units (+9.5%) delivered in the U.S.A. 

The BMW Group achieved double-digit growth in many of its other markets, including Russia (2,989/ +16.8%), the Middle East (1,598/ +31.3%) and South Africa (2,500/ +18.9%). 

For the first seven months of 2012, worldwide sales of the BMW brand were up 7.7 percent to 860,327 units, with MINI recording a similar 7.3 percent growth to 173,960 units. 

Ian Robertson, Member of the Board of Management, Sales and Marketing BMW, commented: 

"The BMW Group continued on its successful course in July and we are confident that we will continue to make solid gains throughout the second half of the year. Our new vehicles have been very well-received – the luxurious BMW 6 Series Gran Coupé has had an excellent start - and we are confident that the new BMW 7 Series and X1 which are launched this month will provide for further success." 


2013 Cadillac ATS 3.6 Tested


After five years of development and countless Nürburgring Nordschleife hot laps, Cadillac engineers finally handed over their new ATS to us for a few hours of road driving and instrumented testing. One day with GM’s first Alpha-platform car was enough to confirm that the ATS is the real deal—a true compact sports sedan with the size, specs, and speed to run with the segment’s aristocracy, especially BMW’s 3-series. 

The ATS offers three engines, two transmissions, rear- or four-wheel drive, four trim packages, half a dozen wheel and tire combinations, and a tempting list of infotainment options capable of lifting the $33,990 base price above $50,000. Because the turbocharged 2.0-liter stick-shift ATS we begged for wasn’t ready, we tested what Cadillac’s vehicle line executive Dave Leone considers his hot setup: a rear-drive, 3.6-liter ATS equipped with 18-inch summer run-flat tires, Brembo brakes, and adjustable magnetic-ride-control dampers. The top engine, a $3605 option, comes standard with a six-speed automatic. Loaded with Premium Collection trimmings, including Cadillac’s new CUE (Cadillac User Experience) center-stack interface and heated seats and steering wheel, our test car’s sticker read $48,190. 


With or without traction control enabled, the ATS bolts from rest with a growl. The 3.6-liter, DOHC V-6 makes 321 horsepower (21 more than a 335i) and 267 pound-feet of torque (33 less than the BMW’s turbocharged 3.0-liter six). The Hydra-Matic transmission upshifts crisply at the engine’s 7000-rpm redline, pushing the ATS to 60 mph in 5.4 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 14 flat with a trap speed of 102 mph. Those figures are dead even with the Infiniti G37 Sport’s and within a couple of tenths of the aforementioned 335i’s, though well behind the performance of the torque-and-traction-rich Audi S4. The ATS tops out at a governed 152 mph, which is within a couple of ticks of the key incumbents. 

Circling GM’s perfectly smooth, 300-foot-diameter skidpad, the ATS ran out of grip at 0.88 g with the same juddery understeer we’ve seen in the F30-generation 3-series. Modulating the throttle helps tighten the line by sticking the front tires, but that technique works only up to a point. Likewise, a heavy foot on the gas won’t swing the tail. While the grip levels provided by the ATS are a touch lower than major competitors’, every last bit of its lateral traction is within easy reach, bolstering real-world confidence.


VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
PRICE AS TESTED: $48,190 (base price: $37,595)
ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 24-valve 3.6-liter V-6, aluminum block and heads
Displacement: 217 cu in, 3564 cc
Power: 320 hp @ 6800 rpm
Torque: 267 lb-ft @ 4900 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed automatic 

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 109.3 in
Length: 182.8 in
Width: 71.1 in Height: 55.9 in
Curb weight: 3561 lb 

C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 5.4 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 13.3 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 25.0 sec
Rolling start, 5–60 mph: 5.7 sec
Top gear, 30–50 mph: 3.1 sec
Top gear, 50–70 mph: 3.8 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 14.0 sec @ 102 mph
Top speed (gov ltd): 152 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 158 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.88 g

FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway: 19/28 mpg (mfr's est) 

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