South America:

GM’s mexican plant grabs attention

General Motors’ new transmission plant in its Mexico’s Silao complex has been in the news since it began operations last month.

The $660 million plant builds a new six-speed rear-wheel-drive family of gearboxes, which uses 4 percent less fuel compared to regular transmissions in certain applications. 1,500 of them are built everyday which are distributed to other countries, where they will find application in 25 different vehicles.

However, the gearboxes will not be exported to the U.S or neither will they be fitted on vehicles assembled in Silao.

The Silao complex currently employs 3,900 people and the transmission plant will employ 1,100 workers at full production. The Silao complex opened in the year 1995. It assembles the Chevrolet Suburban, Avalanche and Silverado Crew Cab, GMC Sierra Crew Cab and Cadillac Escalade EXT models.

From Buenos Aires to Alaska in a Chevy

I just had the pleasure to meet Gabriel Storchi, a Soft developer that is making an incredible journey, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Alaska on a Chevy Opus coupe 78.

The name of the expedition is "Alaska a Caballo" (Alaska to Horse), because the final destination is "Dead Horse". "The name comes from there, is going to Horse, no in horse", Gabriel says.

The idea of making this trip is a dream that Gabriel had for years, "When i was a kid, y always planed to go to Alaska. I’m making this as a tribute for my father, who passed away this year, and another series of complications i had on my life this year. There is only one life, and you have to live it at full". Said Gabriel.

The goal is to get to a town called Dead Horse, on Alaska, United States. If the first stage goes ok, the plan is to send the car to Sweden, and make a trip from there t India.

The car was conditioned specially for this trip, reinforced floor, frontal protector, a roof carrier to take the extra wheels, a bed inside, and a solar panel on the back to charge the batteries for the notebook, an IP phone and the wireless connection.

If u want to see more images of the car, go to the original article in the Spanish site of TopSpeed in here

Brazilian Muscle

Check out those picture taken at the Sambodromo of Sao Paulo. The muscle car mania is spreading farther south than we thought, and it is very refreshing.
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Armored Bmw M5: Safer but Not as Fast?

So you got your BMW M5 and you want to take it one step further in the modding department? What do you want to do ? Engine , Exhaust , Wheels - yeah those are all great add ons but why not add full body armor for those drives through the bad parts of town or for protection from your ex girlfriend. A Brazillian M5 owner has added full body armor (resulting in a gain of 185 kg) to his Black M5 Beast adding another $35k to the total cost of the vehicle. No word yet on how this adding of (...)
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Road of Death - Bolivia

The Road of Deathis a 38 to 43 mile road (depending on source) leading from La Paz to Coroico, 35 miles (56 km) northeast of La Paz in the Yungas region of Bolivia. It is legendary for its extreme danger and in 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank christened it as the "world’s most dangerous road". One estimate is that 200-300 travellers are killed yearly along the road.
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Yamaha to boost motorcycle output in Brazil

The Yamaha Motor Co. intends to lift the annual production capacity at a Brazilian motorcycle plant by more than 50 per cent to 300,000 units by the end of this year. The company is likely to spend around 1 billion yen (US$8.2 million) to expand buildings and add production lines at its Manaus factory in northern Brazil. Currently, the plant can churn out 200,000 motorcycles annually, but with sales last year hitting 180,000 units, the facility’s capacity was nearing its (...)
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Mitsubishi Motors to develop and launch flexible fuel vehicle

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) today announced plans to launch a flexible fuel vehicle (FFV) in the Brazil market within fiscal 2007. The Company also announced that models are in development for the US market for a fiscal 2009 launch. One of MMC’s design objectives is to create vehicles that meet the requirements of the Century of the Environment. This can be seen in the MiEV (Mitsubishi innovative electric vehicle), a next generation electric car that is a core element in the (...)
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2007 Ford Ecosport

Ford’s EcoSport dominates Brazil’s compact SUV segment with a commanding 80 percent market share.

This month, Ford Brazil launches a new version of the SUV with automatic transmission for distribution to dealerships in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.

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