Autonomous Audi TT-S "Shelley" - Click above for high-res image gallery
We first heard about the latest autonomous driving project from Stanford University and the Volkswagen Group a couple of weeks ago. Audi has released some more information on the car, a TT-S coupe that, like its predecessors, Stanley and Junior, has a name: Shelley. Shelley's being developed to climb Colorado's Pikes Peak without any driver intervention during the annual hill climb next July. (Stanley and Junior were created for the DARPA Grand Challenge and Urban Challenge.)
Audi and Stanford's Dynamics Design Lab have managed to dramatically reduce the size of the equipment necessary for the car and its control system to detect the surroundings and respond accordingly. That it can all fit into the compact TT's body while sprouting just a trio of sensors from roof is quite an accomplishment. One of the goals of this year's effort is to have the car perform the way it would with a professional rally driver at the wheel, including drifting on the gravel. As of its name, "Shelley" refers to the nickname of Michelle Mouton, the most successful female rally driver of all time and the first woman to win at Pikes Peak, a feat she accomplished behind the wheel of the legendary Audi Sport Quattro in 1985.
Just hours before General Motors announced that it wasn't going to sell Opel, GM Europe head Carl-Peter Forster said publicly that Opel would be better off under the control of Magna. Talk about bad timing. Now that GM is keeping Opel, Forster is out as the head of the General's European operations. A couple of familiar names will step in, at least on an interim basis.
Bloomberg reports that GM Vice Chairman and head of Marketing and Communications Bob Lutz is taking over as interim chairman of the Opel supervisory board until a permanent leader can be chosen. The bombastic Lutz has suddenly found himself with increasing responsibility after semi-retiring back in April. Fellow GM exec Nick Reilly will lead the Opel and Vauxhall units until a replacement can be found.
GM CEO Fritz Henderson said in a statement that the hunt is on for a new Opel CEO and that no other management moves were imminent. Henderson went on to say that Opel improved under Forster, which is a real compliment when you consider that Forster replaced Fritz as head of GM Europe back in 2004. Word on the street is that GM could pick a German executive for the Opel post, due mostly to the fact that Germany wasn't very happy about GM's decision to scuttle the sale to Magna. Magna's plan called for fewer layoffs within Germany and more in other European countries.
Spectacular pole mishap - Click above to watch video
Spending all day blogging from the comfort of our mothers' basements and/or top-secret Dr. No-style lairs, we sometimes forget that there's a world out there filled with people who engage in truly questionable things. And then we get a video like this and we wonder, "Is that really what's going on outside?"
We're not sure what this driver was trying to do, but when he or she decides to kill a pole, they do a commendably thorough job of it. Follow the jump for the security camera footage.
Gordon Murray's T25 city car looks pretty impressive on paper. It boasts higher cargo capacity and more seats (three) than a Smart Fortwo - and it promises to be built for maximum efficiency. According to Autocar, Gordon Murray says the T25 will be motivated by both naturally-aspirated and turbocharged versions of the 660-cc Mitsubishi engine, but Murray is also reportedly working on an electric version of the still unseen city car.
The aim of the T27 would be to make the most efficient electric vehicle on earth, although details of the propulsion system are at this point nonexistent. The alleged EV city car has reportedly been made possible by a £4.5 million ($7.46 million USD) investment from the U.K.'s government-backed Technology Strategy board along with £3 million ($4.975 million) from Gordon Murray design and £1.5 million ($2.48 million) from Zytec Automotive Technology.
If Murray's plans for the T27 are anything like those of the T25, the successful F1 designer won't produce the vehicle himself, instead opting to sell the rights to build the car to third-party assemblers like Apple, Sony or Virgin. The aim of the 16-month T27 project is to build four prototypes and eventually develop a manufacturing facility that utilizes Murray's reportedly brilliant iStream manufacturing process.
Rear-wheel drive, two seats, short wheelbase, sequential manual gearbox, available in either closed-roof or convertible body styles... sounds suspiciously like a sports car, no? Yet no one in their right mind would conclude that the Smart Fortwo is the least bit sporty.
Regardless, a well-trained driver can make just about anything on four wheels respond the way he pleases. That includes drifter extraordinaire Sam Hubinette, who informed fans in a recent blog post that he's traveling to Spain to film a "pretty intense" car/motorcycle chase scene for an upcoming flick called Night and Day, starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Must be nice.
As you've likely surmised by now, Hubinette's chariot for the stunt will be a Smart Fortwo. Herr Sideways himself notes that he's never tried drifting a Smart. Perhaps the producers will be willing to shell out some of their $130 million budget to put something with a bit more power under the Fortwo's rear bonnet.
Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. (BAIC), announced as a minority partner in Koenigsegg's deal to purchase Saab from General Motors two months ago, plans to produce the Saab 9-5 on Chinese soil next year. The involvement of BAIC in the Saab transaction helps Koenigsegg close the deal and gives the Chinese company leverage to re-badge the previous-generation Saab 9-5 as its own or to simply expand the brand's existing reach within the country.
In September, Saab CEO Jan-Ake Jonsson told reporters he wanted to double the number of Chinese Saab dealers from 15 to 30, and that he had an interest in local Chinese production. "Beijing Auto is an opportunity for us to establish ourselves in the Chinese market with their experience," the CEO said. Under current plans, Saab imports all cars to China, where they're sold under the Shanghai General Motors network. Sales have been slow, but promoting the brand under the watchful eye of BAIC may help the brand gain traction in China's huge automotive market.
Triumph Bonneville Heuer - Click above for high-res image gallery
Triumph and TAG Heuer have joined forces to create a one-of-a-kind Bonneville Heuer motorcycle. Inspired by Steve McQueen and the Porsche 917 K that the famous actor, racer and motorcycle rider piloted in the classic film Le Mans, the Bonneville Heuer is painted up in the classic Gulf Oil blue and orange scheme and will be used for promotional purposes.
McQueen famously wore a Heuer Monaco watch in the aforementioned silver screen race drama and was a renowned Triumph enthusiast. Says Neil Morley, Triumph's Head of Brand Communications:
We are delighted to play our part in this exciting project. The Triumph Bonneville and TAG Heuer Monaco are both timeless masterpieces, celebrating their respective 50th and 40th anniversaries this year. We also both have a natural connection with Steve McQueen, who famously wore a Monaco watch in the film Le Mans and was renowned for his love of our bikes, making this a very natural collaboration.
As much as we'd like to tell you this will be an optional color choice for the production Bonneville, that's not currently the case. If you like it as much as we do, perhaps a phone call to your local Triumph dealer is in order.
Philip Koenen's "Trans-Cammer" 1970 Ford Mustang. Click above for high-res image gallery
Phillip Koenen brought a really gorgeous, miles-deep-black, 1970 Mustang to SEMA and came away with another fine piece of hardware:The Gran Turismo Best in Show award. For the past several years, Sony Computer Entertainment America has hosted these awards, which honor some of the coolest cars at SEMA.
Koenen's SOHC 427-powered "Trans-Cammer" snagged the Best Hot Rod award in addition to winning Best in Show. Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi awarded the trophy himself at the awards ceremony, which rocked The Palms' Rain nightclub Wednesday night. In addition to the the trophy, Koenen's beloved "Trans-Cammer" Mustang wins the right to be featured in a future installment of the Gran Turismo series.
Other Gran Turismo Award winners included Scott Bailey and Tony Vanillo's Ford F-250 Unlimited 2 Class short-course race truck in the Best Truck/SUV category; Chris Rado's World Racing Unlimited front-wheel-drive time attack Scion TC as Best Asian Import; KC Howet's 2009 Underground Racing Lamborghini LP560-4TT in Best European Import; and Nicholas Ashby's Moment Carbon Camaro for Best Domestic Automobile. Sounds like a dream garage to us. Follow the jump to read the official press release, and don't forget to check out the gallery as well.
You know, when we're driving along, eating buffalo wings and trying to manage a Super Slurpee while playing Cooking Dash on the iPhone, it sure would be helpful to have a place to keep all that stuff organized. Thankfully, there's the Laptop Steering Wheel Desk, which accomplishes all of the above AND finally gives us a place to keep our bleu cheese and celery sticks, to boot. (You see, our cupholders are already occupied by french fries.) This "Why didn't I think of that?" stroke of genius slides right around your steering wheel, which it uses as an anchor for your much-needed flat surface.
Listen, steering is overrated anyway, right? Actually, the official product description on Amazon.com says, "For safety reasons, never use this product while driving." But come on, we're excellent drivers. We're pretty sure we can handle this. Based on the user reviers, others have found this device to be exceedingly convenient. Some of the user-submitted photos suggest that the Laptop Steering Wheel Desk may indeed be troublesome in the hands of less experienced drivers, but we remain skeptical. We think we'll put one in the shopping cart with that Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt we've been eying. Then, when it arrives, we're hunting for a drive-thru pizzeria. Thanks for the tips, everyone!
Lisa Angeline, aka Catwoman - Click above for high-res image gallery
This year's SEMA show in Las Vegas didn't have quite the gravitas of years past, as the state of the economy and the automotive industry in particular seemed to be a wet blanket over the whole proceedings. Thank goodness there were plenty of friendly faces throughout the halls to keep our spirits up.
One smiling face especially caught our eye, although we weren't sure why. The eyes and smile were familiar but we couldn't quite put our finger on where we had seen them before. And then it hit us, it was our beloved Catwoman (a.k.a. Lisa Angeline) from last year's BatSmart gallery! We hardly recognized her stripped of her catsuit. We saw her in the Vertical Doors booth. We know this with great certainty because the name of the company was written in very strategic locations - like on the banner above her head and (*ahem*) elsewhere. Smart folks behind that BatSmart. But to be honest, we weren't really paying too much attention to the cars there, so perhaps this strategy is flawed.
This happened quite a bit during the week. We'd go down to shoot a certain car, and an hour later, we'd be scratching our heads wondering what we had come down for in the first place. Take a look at the gallery and you'll probably agree - down year or no, the distractions were quite spectacular.
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