With the ever evolving landscape of the auto industry, it’s easy to get left behind on new developments that can be categorized as a "world first".
Mazda’s probably well aware of that, which is why it is taking the never-before-taken step of unveiling a new car - a global debut, in fact - through a video game system.
Believe it or not, that’s exactly what the Japanese automaker is set to do after partnering with Xbox to introduce a new global model as part of the first-ever global live stream of a new vehicle introduction through the Xbox.
“It’s a digitally connected world, so what better way to reach our customers than through a connected platform like Xbox,” Russell Wager, vice president of marketing for Mazda, said.
”We were looking for a way to launch a global product and tie together our five separate reveals. Xbox not only gave us the platform, but allowed us to leverage our digital assets to drive a global audience to view the event.”
Mazda is keeping a lid on what kind of vehicle it’s going to unveil, but fortunately, we won’t have to wait too long to find out. The ground-breaking unveiling is scheduled to take place on June 26th in New York with the festivities being streamed globally, courtesy of Xbox Live, beginning at 9:00 p.m. EDT.
To drum up interest for the talked about debut, Mazda is sweeping through social media, touring the hashtag #GameChanger, alluding presumably to a car that will redefine its market.
Perhaps Mazda is gearing up to unveil the next-generation MX-5 Miata.
For now, your guesses are as good as ours because the whole event is being shrouded in so much secrecy that would make the Pentagon proud.
If you want to be part of the unveiling - and score a chance to win $2,500 and create your own dream trip to a music event of your choice - you can participate in the live broadcast and the accompanying sweepstakes.
Click past the jump to read some history on the MX-5
When discussing tire brands, there are very few that have the history and cache of Michelin. The French tire manufacturer has been at the forefront of tire technology, and for its latest technological innovation, Michelin brought a roster of drivers to the NOLA Motorsports Park to test out the Pilot Sport A/S 3 tires.
Suffice to say, these tires give new meaning to the word ’versatility’. If assurances were currency that makes the world turn, Michelin’s promise of these tires’ capabilities are what you can consider as "taking it to the bank".
The Pilot Sport A/S 3 tires are built to last through all four seasons, so says Michelin. These bad boys match the traction of many summer tires while also offering the ability to drive in all seasons, including wet and wintery conditions.
And as the video will show you, Michelin’s test session at the NOLA Motorsports Park gives further credence to the overall capability and versatility of the French tire maker’s Pilot Sport A/S 3 tires.
Cross-marketing stunts aren’t new in the auto industry.
It’s a great way for two companies to promote each other to two completely different audiences. Recently, a lot of auto brands and movie studios have taken this route to promote a particular movie and the car that will appear in said movie.
Alfa Romeo and Fast and Furious 6 recently did something like this a few weeks ago. Now, it’s Ram and Warner Bros’ turn to get in on the action.
With the upcoming "Man of Steel" movie set to hit theaters on June 14th, the two companies went ahead and unveiled a special edition, one-off "Man of Steel" Ram 1500 Power Wagon that was specifically built to promote the movie.
If this truck isn’t intimidating enough on its own, the specially designed Man of Steel-inspired styling will definitely get your attention.
Shortly after its unveiling, the one-off Man of Steel Power Wagon will head over to New York City on June 10th, just in time for the world premiere of the highly anticipated Superman movie. From there, the truck will go on its own tour around the country in the coming months before heading over to the auction block where it will be auctioned off for charity.
Click past the jump to read about how Ram dressed up this 1500 Power Wagon in the style of the Man of Steel himself
The Boston Marathon Bombings will go down as one of the most heinous acts of evil us Americans have seen in recent years.
So, it fills us with enormous pride to share with all of you that Supercar Road Trips, a private exotic car club with hundreds of members residing in various regions of the North East, will be hosting the Boston Marathon Exotic Car Rally on June 6.
The objective of the rally is to raise $20,000 for One Fund Boston with 35 exotic cars set to be present to participate in the event. SCRT can’t take back the horrific events of that day, but in its own little way, the organization is trying to help in the rehabilitation efforts for the people of Boston.
This isn’t the first time Supercar Road Trips have banded together for a noteworthy cause. Over the years, the organization has raised funds for numerous local charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation of CT, the Brain Injury Organization of NH, the Brain Injury Organization of MA, and the Boys and Girls Club of Newport, RI.
Should you be interested to participate, you can register on the organization’s website. The event is scheduled on June 16th with the rally travelling along the same 26.2-mile route of the Boston Marathon before finishing up on Boylston Street - the site of the deadly bombings.
Hat tip to the fine folks of Supercar Road Trips for organizing the event.
To say that the Porsche 918 Spyder is just another supercar is pretty inaccurate. For one, it’s the most powerful vehicle Porsche has ever built. And another thing: it’s combination of power, speed, fuel economy and low emissions is nearly unrivaled, so much so that even with 918 models priced at over $800,000 a piece, it’s already nearly sold out.
Speaking of sold out, a lot of the customers that paid for the 918 Spyder appear to reside here in the U.S. That’s why Porsche has said that America will receive the biggest allotment of 918 Spyders than any other country with up to 190 models headed our way.
That probably explains why Porsche has taken to great lengths to promote the 918 Spyder in the U.S. Numerous promotional events held in the United States over the past two years, and soon enough, a lot of these actual supercars will be calling the Land of the Free their home.
Click past the jump to read about the Porsche 918 Spyder
Stick a fork in `em, because Fisker’s about as cooked as it can get. As much as it saddens us, we have to admit that the once promising brand is set to be sold or head into bankruptcy. So far, Fisker has two interested parties, per a report from Reuters, that are looking to buy it out.
The most aggressive team is headed up by Bob Lutz’s VL Automotive and China’s Wanxiang Group, as they reportedly put in a bid of $20 million for the spiraling company. $20 million may sound like a big number for a nearly bankrupt company, but it is a far cry from the $2.2 billion valuation given to Fisker in the spring of 2012.
Of course, no one involved in the process is confirming the report of this super-low bid, but folks close to the situation are claiming that it is true and that Fisker is considering the offer.
There is one other team that is interested in purchasing the company outright, but there aren’t any reports of them bidding. However, there are reports that a third investment group is interested in buying out DOE’s $171 million interest in the company, which came as a result of the loan Fisker received in its infancy that was later frozen.
This is all we have for now, but we’ll keep an eye out for more reports as time goes on.
Click past the jump to read more about VL Automotive’s interest in Fisker
A lot of automakers have taken to movie tie-ups to promote their latest line of vehicles. Audi, in particular, has done it in all the Iron Man movies.
Well, now it looks like Chevrolet is doing the same, except that instead of Iron Man, it’s tying up with Captain America.
In this video captured by YouTube user Jason Vandervliet, a black 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray was seen making an appearance in the set of Captain America: Winter Solider in Washington D.C.
The car, it appears, was being driven by Scarlet Johansson who plays Black Widow in the movie. Look a little closer and you might notice what looks like Chris Evans, who plays Captain America, coming up to the Corvette to have a little chat with his co-star.
There has been no confirmation regarding a potential marketing partnership between Marvel Studios and Chevrolet. But if there is one, they couldn’t have picked a better car to promote than the Corvette Stingray.
Everything is bigger in Texas, so they say. And apparently, that even extends to the choice of vehicles the folks down there are inclined to buy. We actually don’t know this but according to Chevrolet, one out of every six full-size pickups are sold in Texas.
That’s a pretty telling number and partly explains why the Bowtie decided to unveil a special-edition Silverado exclusively for the Lone Star State.
The model is called the Silverado Texas Edition and according to Chevrolet, it was built to recognize the strong bonds between Texans and their trucks. That’s awfully touching.
But the Silverado Texas Edition has no sentimental bone in its body. It’s rugged as rugged can be with the added benefit of a few new components, including body-color outside mirror caps and door handles, a locking rear differential, a trailering package, Texas Edition badges, and a set of 20-inch polished-aluminum wheels. And that’s just for the midlevel LT trim. For the LTZ trim, customers get all of the aforementioned goodies in chrome to go with a Bose premium audio system.
And lest we forget, the Silverado Texas Edition can be had with a choice of two powertrains: a 4.3-liter V-6 engine with 285 horsepower for the LT and a 5.3-liter V-8 with 355 horsepower for the LTZ.
Click past the jump to read about the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and the accompanying press release for the Silverado Texas Edition
We obviously care a great deal about our cars and the way they look. Some of us, though, opt for something a little more along the lines of eye-catching, so steps are taken to further improve the car’s aesthetics relative to its stock features.
R1 Motorsport believes in the same thing. Why settle for a standard BMW M6 when you can turn into one of the meanest cars on the block? To its credit, R1 Motorsport answered that question in resounding fashion, dressing up the German sports car in a satin black finish that’s about as menacing as it gets this side of matte black.
You can’t deny that the M6 looks a lot nastier than what it did in standard guise. Add that to the M6’s 4.4-liter V-8 engine that produces 560 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque with a 0-to-60 mph time of 4.2 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph, and you have a true sports coupe - a big and mean one - that can make other sports cars in its path squirm with fear.
Click past the jump to see more of R1 Motorsport’s program for the BMW M6
Automakers are known to come up with contests for their fans that are launched to get the latter more involved in the inner workings of the industry. We’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again.
This time around, it’s Chrysler that has taken that role, opening up a new online contest to encourage its fans to show their customized Chrysler vehicles.
To drive up the interest in the contest, which has been dubbed the Chrysler Custom Challenge, the automaker decided to roll out a number of prizes that are too cool to pass up, including attending the 2013 SEMA Auto Show with their customized Chryslers, as well as a trip to the 2014 NAIAS and a lease of a Chrysler vehicle.
That last part alone would’ve gotten us interested.
As far as entering the competition is concerned, interested participants are invited to visit Chrysler’s Facebook page and submit an image of their customized Chrysler brand vehicle to go with a brief description of the customizations.
All entries will then be subjected to public voting until July 1st at which time three finalists and ten runner-up winners will be selected by a combination of judges’ scores and public votes.
So if any of you have any Chrysler-modded vehicles in your garage, stand proud and show them off. Who knows, you might be rewarded with a trip to SEMA with your baby for your efforts.
Click past the jump to see some of the past Chrysler aftermarket programs that would make for good contenders in this contest
