2015 BMW 335i xDrive – Instrumented Test
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AUTOS
Alfa Romeo SUV Coming in 2016, Says Sergio
Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has big plans for Alfa Romeo. The boss wants eight new models in the Alfa lineup by 2018, including a wagon and a crossover based on the new Giulia sedan. Turns out Sergio is serious about that SUV: He says the preproduction work is complete, and the model will go into production by mid-2016. – This report comes to us from The Detroit Free Press,
We Take the Wheel of the World’s First 3D-Printed Car
-This spring Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne called out the auto industry for the staggering amount of money it wastes in the design and manufacture of cars. His solution is based on classic business principles: consolidate and eliminate redundancy. Local Motors CEO Jay Rogers perceives the same challenge, but he’s attacking it from a completely different direction. For Rogers, the problem stems not from business organization but from the fact that
Mazda Koeru Concept: Looks Like the CX-9 Is Finally Getting Its Makeover
– Take a gander at Mazda’s lineup and two cars stand out—and not in a particularly youthful way. The current-generation Mazda 2 came to us in 2011, already midway through its life cycle. And the surprisingly still-satisfying CX-9 three-row crossover is a dinosaur holdover from Mazda’s FoMoCo days. We’ve already been told the new global Mazda 2 won’t be coming here—as the company would rather focus on the CX-3 compact
The 500-hp Corvette That Chevrolet Didn’t Talk About
– Rarely does a manufacturer make a point to not advertise one of its products, particularly one that is its peak performance offering. An exception to the rule was this 1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray L88. And that intentionally low profile when new is part of what makes this car so valuable today. – The brainchild of Zora Arkus-Duntov, director of GM’s performance division, the 1967 L88 Corvette was powered by
The 500-hp Corvette That Chevrolet Didn’t Talk About
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Have an Ice Day: A Guided Tour of L.A. Freeways from Ice Cube
– From the August 2015 issue – A founding member of the rap group NWA and successful actor and solo performer, O’Shea Jackson Sr. (Ice Cube to you) has always lived in Southern California, where everyone’s lives are rooted in cars and traffic. Now 46, Cube, who trained as an architectural draftsman, has a passion for the region’s design and automotive heritage. And he is one of the producers of
Midrange Muscle: 2015 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel 4×4 Tested!
-Little has changed since we got our first shot at the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel: The Donald’s coiffure remains a triumph of applied engineering, artisanal toast inexplicably is still a thing, and Ram remains the only full-size, half-ton pickup to offer a diesel. Soon, however, there will be new competition, albeit indirect. Nissan’s 2016 Titan XD tweener is scheduled to hit showrooms later this year packing a Cummins diesel V-8, and
2015 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel 4×4 – Instrumented Test
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Want to Know Where the Auto Industry’s Heading? Look to What It’s Patenting [Infographic]
– From the August 2015 issue – Automakers don’t just dream about self-driving, 100-mpg cars; they’re busy creating the technologies to build them—and filing flurries of patents in the process. According to a report by the business-data company Thomson Reuters, automakers, suppliers, and independent inventors doubled their automotive patent applications in a five-year span, from fewer than 18,000 in 2009 to more than 40,000 in 2013. We’re not talking mere