This is Fisker’s New Logo

This is Fisker’s New Logo
Honda Civic Hatchback Coming Back to U.S.
Civic Type R Race Car Debuts with 350 HP
Why You Shouldn’t Get a Gas Station Credit Card
Mercedes Might Develop Audi TT Rival
NHTSA Wants to Fight Drowsy Driving

Posted:

This is the new logo for "Elux," the company you knew formerly as Fisker.

Wanxiang Group bought Fisker in February with plans to resurrect the Karma plug-in hybrid luxury car. Shortly afterwards, Reuters reported that Wanxiang planned to strip the company of its previous name and re-brand it as "Elux." On March 12, Fisker Automotive and Technology Group LLC filed to trademark what will be the logo for the company.

The Elux Karma will reportedly carry a price premium of roughly $25,000 over the roughly $103,000 to $116,000 that it retailed for prior to the company going belly up. That means the Karma will probably cost roughly $135,000 when it arrives. Originally, the company said it planned to re-boot Karma sales later this year. Citing two unnamed sources, Reuters reported in February that Wanxiang was still trying to shore up a manufacturing facility to build the Karma, pushing the timeline for delivery back to mid-2016.

Special thanks to Dennis for the tip!

Loading, please wait...

Honda Civic Hatchback Coming Back to U.S.

Posted:

The Honda Civic Hatchback is returning to North American after being gone for nearly a decade.

According to a report from the Nikkei, Honda will build its next-generation Civic five door at its plant in Swindon, U.K., which will begin sending cars across the pond in summer of 2016. Swindon is able to build 250,000 cars annually when running at full capacity, but currently, one of its production lines is sitting idle.

The report says that about 40,000 to 50,000 Civic hatchbacks will be allotted for North America. The driving factor behind the move is to fully utilize the production facility in the UK, although even these extra cars won't have Swindon operating at capacity.

Selling the Civic Hatchback in North America will allow Honda to directly compete with the with other available five-door offerings like the Mazda3, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and VW Golf. Closely related to the current Fit, the Civic Hatchback has a slightly smaller footprint than the North American Civic Sedan.

[Source: Nikkei via TTAC]

Discuss this story at our Honda Civic Forum

Loading, please wait...

Civic Type R Race Car Debuts with 350 HP

Posted:

The new Honda Civic Type R is going racing.

Honda Yuasa Racing will campaign a Civic Type R in the 2015 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). The car is based on a production Civic Type R that was sourced from Honda UK, though the race version has been tuned to make 350 bhp and 295 lb-ft of torque.

Compared with the Civic Tourer that Yuasa Racing ran in the previous BTCC season, the new Type R has better downforce, less drag and better air flow management according to the team.

"We cannot wait for the new season to start. Our car for 2015 is going to win races. The shape of the new road going Civic Type R has allowed the team to build on the design and take it forward to be a championship winning car," said Barry Plowman, Technical Director at Honda Yuasa Racing.

The car will be officially unveiled at Donington on Tuesday, March 24 during the BTCC media day.

Discuss this story at our Honda Civic Forum

Loading, please wait...

Why You Shouldn’t Get a Gas Station Credit Card

Posted:

The next time someone walks up to you with a clipboard and a credit car offer at the pump, just say "no."

That's the message behind a new report from CreditCards.com. The site says credit cards that you sign up for at a gas station charge an average or 24 percent APR versus an average 15 percent with general purpose cards. typically charge significantly more interest than general purpose cards tend to with little incentive to sign up in the first place.

For the most part, gas station credit cards offer a temporary discount on gas prices and a break on the price per gallon, but the value a discount like that offers depends on how much a gallon costs. For example, a 10-cent discount is more meaningful when fuel is less expensive, but the proportional price break shrinks when gasoline becomes more expensive because the discount doesn't increase accordingly.

According to CreditCards.com, the number of gas cards that are available is shrinking. On the upside, those cards also tend to come with instant approval and can function as a credit building tool for someone with a low score.

Loading, please wait...

Mercedes Might Develop Audi TT Rival

Posted:

Mercedes might be planning a front-wheel drive based sports car to take on the Audi TT.

According to German outlet Autobild, the company is currently in the early stages of developing its next generation A-Class including a possible coupe variant. Mercedes hasn't publicly announced plans for a front-wheel drive sport coupe, but the site says it would borrow stylistically from the GT sports car.

Engine selections would likely include a diesel for the European market along with a range of turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engines including the high-performance unit currently at work in the CLA 45 AMG.

Basic models will supposedly be offered with front-wheel drive in much the same manner as the A-segment cars Mercedes currently sells with the option to add 4Matic all-wheel drive at an extra cost.

If the rumor turns out to be true, Mercedes is likely to show a concept preview of the car sometime in either 2017 or 2018 as a thinly veiled preview of the production car.

[Source: Autobild]

Discuss this story at our Mercedes-Benz forum

Loading, please wait...

NHTSA Wants to Fight Drowsy Driving

Posted:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) wants to cut down on drowsy driving.

The agency is launching an effort to crack down on the issue, which accounted for 2.2 to 2.6 percent of total fatal crashes from 2005-2009. At least 72,000 drowsy crashes that involve injuries or property damage are reported annually. NHTSA plans to work closely with states to learn what legal and enforcement strategies are most effective to not only boost awareness of unsafe driving behavior, but to also crack down on drowsy or fatigued driving. Mark Rosekind, NHTSA Administrator, a former NASA scientist and expert on human fatigue, said "we're going to develop strategies specifically targeting populations especially vulnerable to drowsy driving."

Unlike alcohol-related crashes, there are no measurable tests to determine sleepiness at a crash site.

Recently, automakers have been incorporating technology to alert drivers that appear to be falling asleep behind the wheel. That technology, such as "attention assist" found in Mercedes-Benz models will observe driver behavior and uses sensors to monitor steering wheel movements. If the system believes the driver is falling asleep, an audible alarm will sound as well as a warning flash.

[Source: The Detroit News]

Loading, please wait...

Car Reviews

Tuesday, 17 March 2015

This is Fisker’s New Logo

This is Fisker’s New Logo

No comments:

Post a Comment