Scion will reveal at the Los Angeles Auto Show the 2010 xB Release Series 7.0. Sales will begin in December 2009 at a price of $18,320 for the manual transmission version and $19,270 for the automatic one. A color-matched rear spoiler will be available at a price of $320. Scion will only build 2,000 units of this special edition.
The new xB RS 7.0 comes fitted with a four-piece DAMD body kit including front, rear lower lips along with side skirts and a TRD sport muffler on the center of DAMD rear lip.
On the interior the xB RS 7.0 will feature exclusive black fabric seats with color-tuned highlights, the RS logo and a leather-wrapped RAZO GT Formula Spec shift knob that delivers a sporty feel.
Press release after the jump.
Full story
With green vehicles becoming quite the rage these days and Los Angeles being at the epicenter of trend setting environmentally friendly car consumers the 2009 L.A. Auto Show is the perfect place for the Capstone Turbine Corporation to unveil the CMT-380 which is a high performance hybrid electric super car powered in the more traditional sense by batteries that work in conjunction with an ultra low emission range extending micro turbine.
If the shape of the CMT-380 looks familiar, that is because it is. Based around a Factory Five Ford GT replica, the futuristic super car packages the very unconventional automotive power train in a classic American sports car chassis and is able to accelerate from 0 to 60 MPH in just 3.9 seconds, reach a top speed of 150 MPH all with an unprecedented 500 mile range. The Capstone C30 micro turbine runs on either diesel or biodiesel and requires no exhaust treatments in order to meet the stringent CARB approval. The CMT-380 is able to run for up to 80 miles as a zero emission vehicle thanks to the lithium polymer battery cells before the 30 Kw turbine kicks in to recharge the batteries and give the CMT its incredible range. Just like traditional BEVs, the lithium ion units can be recharged at home or any public station.
Press release after the jump.
Full story
Spike TV’s annual Video Game Awards is set to take place on December 12 and as you can expect, one of the most hotly-contested categories is that of the year’s best driving game.
After what we could imagine as months of deliberation and thousands of hours playing these games, Spike has whittled the contenders down to four games: Gran Turismo PSP, Forza 3, Need for Speed: Shift, and DiRT 2.
We have to admit that it’s a little tough to pick out a winner especially since we’ve spent an inordinate amount of time playing – and enjoying – all of these games so deciding on the best one is like choosing who your favorite kid is. Not easy, right?
Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on your perspective – the notable absence of Gran Turismo 5 has made the inevitable choice a tad less difficult. But then again, we really wouldn’t know because GT5, for all of the hype and posturing, hasn’t been released yet.
At the end of the day, we’re going to have to come up with our own vote, but suffice to say, we probably wouldn’t cast it until a few hours before the deadline passes.
The boys from Bonurant had to share the back lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center with the blue oval because as part of Ford’s Fiesta Movement, visitors to the 2009 SEMA Show had a chance to wait in line to take the all new premium compact for a spin. The Fiesta Movement is a grassroots marketing campaign set forth by the American automaker to promote their new product that will be unveiled a week from now in Los Angeles. The movement has generated millions of hits on youtube and registered 60,000 hand raisers while Ford lets its agents speak freely about the not even released vehicle; these are a few things that have certainly made the Fiesta’s Brand Manager Sam De La Garza awful proud. However the little ride and drive that Ford set up is sure to have converted a few more Americans into small car fans.
Check out the link below to find out more.
Speaking of tire smoking drift cars and Porsches, another familiar face at the 2009 SEMA Show was Falken with a pair of very different blue and green high performance machines to show off what Team Falken is all about. It is nice to see that one manufacturer can be so successful in two completely different disciplines of motor sport.
Representing the world of drifting where goal is to get sideways, light up the tires and hope for an outstanding crowd reaction in a matter of corners was Formula D driver and recent Japanese export Vaughn Gittin Jr.’s competition drift car, a 2010 Ford Mustang with enough supercharged Detroit iron under the hood to go through a set of Falkens in a matter of minutes. On the other hand, the Falken Porsche that races in the American Le Mans Series is about getting as much grip as possible from the sticky Falken slicks, keeping wheel spin to a minimum and hoping not to get the crowd on its feet until the end of the lengthy endurance race. If they got excited any sooner, it would probably signal the end of the car’s day. However as different as the setup on each of these cars is, they are both able to excel at their particular brand of motor sport.