Posts for 'Accessories' Category

Bentley Motors plans to unveil its $200,000 Continental Flying Spur Speed sedan in Boston today - apparently the first time any automaker has chosen the Hub for a worldwide product launch.

Bentley has previously rolled out vehicles in Paris, Geneva and other posh locales.

But the legendary British automaker chose Boston this time because Bentley plans to move its North American headquarters here from Detroit this fall.

“We really wanted to use our new location as a showcase for the brand,” company spokesman David Reuter said.

Bentley expects some 150 auto journalists from around the world to hit the Hub this month to check out the Flying Spur Speed, along with a 2009 update to the standard, $180,000 Flying Spur.

The product launches will kick off with a formal unveiling today for auto reporters at the Boston Harbor Hotel.

Bentley CEO Franz-Josef Paefgen and engineering chief Ulrich Eichhorn have already flown in from Britain to officiate. In fact, Bentley’s entire six-member board spent the weekend in town checking out launch preparations.

The Flying Spur Speed features Bentley’s most-powerful production engine ever: a 600-horsepower W-12. That’s 12 cylinders arranged in a “W” pattern - essentially two V-6 engines laid side by side, providing enough power to run the Flying Spur Speed at 200 mph.

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Using an iPod or iPhone in a car is going to be that much easier thanks to the latest round of goods from Griffin Technology. The WindowSeat is an oddly named, but simple gadget. It's a suction windshield mount for the iPhone or iPod Touch. If the next generation iPhone gets some legitimate GPS, this will be a nice $30 accessory to have. The other new goody is the iTrip AutoPilot. The AutoPilot is a glorified FM transmitter and charger for the iPod that connects via the standard dock connection of almost every iPod and will broadcast tunes over FM. It includes a 12V DC adapter with play, pause, forward and backward controls for the iPod or iPhone. It also includes a SmartScan feature to find the best FM station for transmission and has SmartSound Plus technology for clearer sound. The iTrip AutoPilot is available for $100.

According to Automotive News Europe's John Revill, General Motors' Opel brand will unveil a new version of its logo when it launches the Insignia upper-medium car later this year.

The new version of the lightning bolt badge, which has appeared on Opel cars since 1963, will be displayed in July at the London auto show.

Earlier this month, GM executives revealed how they wanted to reposition Opel and move the brand upmarket by emphasizing design and engineering superiority based on traditional German manufacturing attributes.

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The new FG Falcon-based range of Ford Performance Vehicles includes an even more powerful turbocharged six-cylinder F6 model that is set to break the acceleration record for a locally built car.

The FPV F6 launches on June 1, 2008 as part of FPV's new FG Falcon-based range and is expected to accelerate faster than the just-introduced HSV 6.2-litre V8 Commodores.

FPV, as well as part owner Ford Australia, have a policy of not providing performance figure claims for their cars, but an FPV source told Drive.com.au that the higher-powered version of Ford's XR6 Turbo is capable of sprinting from 0-100km/h in the high-four-second bracket.

Our insider says he would be surprised if independent performance testing by motoring media didn't see the F6 at least match the 4.8 seconds BMW claims for the V8-powered BMW M3. That would pip HSV's claim of 4.96sec for its updated, 6.2-litre V8 range.

The battle for Australia's fastest production car will intensify later this year when HSV launches its 7.0-litre V8 W427 - which the company claims will perform the 0-100km/h sprint in 4.7 seconds.

FPV has increased power for both its turbocharged six-cylinder and V8 engines for its new FG Falcon-based range.

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Ford's Microsoft-powered Sync system has been a huge hit with car buyers and the he one bit of sunshine in the Blue Oval’s gloomy outlook. But with the automaker's exclusive deal  with Microsoft winding down, the software giant has signed a deal with Hyundai and Kia to provide its vehicles with the hands-free navigation, communication and entertainment system.

The Microsoft-Ford marriage ends in November, which is about the same time the Korean automaker will offer Microsoft Auto in its vehicles worldwide. The crew in Redmond says upcoming versions of Sync will add navigation and emergency response to exclusive features Ford now offers, such as text messaging and wireless streaming of Internet radio from Web-enabled phones.

Martin Thall, general manager of Microsoft's automotive business unit, told the Detroit Free Press the latest version of Microsoft Auto, the operating system Sync is build upon, soon will be available for "general release to the automotive community.”

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Striking United Auto Workers union members are considering a new contract offer from American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. as bargaining continued through the weekend aimed at ending a seven-week strike over company demands for deep pay cuts.
About 3,600 UAW members at five American Axle plants in Michigan and New York went on strike Feb. 26 after the auto parts maker proposed cutting hourly wages about in half. It said it needed the cuts to become competitive with other parts makers.

Company bargainers gave the UAW a new contract proposal Saturday, American Axle spokeswoman Renee Rogers said Sunday. She said bargainers were resuming talks Sunday.

"We put a proposal on the table," Rogers said. "We're expecting we'll get something back. It's a back-and-forth."

In a statement released later Sunday, American Axle said the UAW rejected its request that a federal mediator assist in the negotiations.

"AAM had hoped that the involvement of an impartial third party at the bargaining table could assist both sides. … AAM was disappointed in the UAW's decision," the statement said.

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According to MOF, the tax rates of 80%, 85% or even 90% on CBU cars all come in line with WTO commitments. When Vietnam joined the WTO, the maximum tax rate on cars it committed to was 100%, gradually decreasing in subsequent years.

 Explaining the tax cuts from 90% to 80%, 70% and then to 60% in 2007, MOF said that Vietnam went ahead of the tax cut roadmap. Vietnam now can apply the ceiling level of 95%.

 MOF said that the new tax rates will be applied at the soonest possible time as an urgent measure to reduce the trade deficit.

 Meanwhile, it remains unclear about the tax rates to be applied on car part imports. MOF has just asked MOIT to check the list of car parts and classify which parts can be made domestically and which cannot. MOF will heavily tax parts which can be made locally, and vice versa.

 All the moves taken recently and to be taken in the time to come by the government all aim at restricting car consumption in an effort to curb inflation.

 The Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA) has announced satisfactory sales in March with 13,091 units sold. However, analysts say that the situation will not be as satisfactory in April as a result of the government’s policy to restrict car consumption.

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The AASE is co-organized by China Brasil Investmento Desenvolvimento Comercial Ltda and Chongqing Huaxia Exhibition Co.,Ltd.

　　The aim of the Auto Accessories and Service Expo is to focus on the latest technology and solutions for the brasil and South America auto parts market and automobile aftermarket. We have chosen the dates for our show to be at the end of the year because it happens to be the best procuring season of brasil and South America. If you have the products demanded by the local market, why not take advantage of the great opportunity and participate in AASE with Industrial Exhibitors and become part of this growing market with increasing business possibilities?

　　Be part of it and expand your business in brasil and South America. You can make any kind of booth configuration: linear booth, corner booths, Island booth, Peninsula booth and across the isle or any other configuration you may need.

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Toyota Motor Corp. on Wednesday denied it had received any funding from the Japanese government to develop its hit Prius gas-electric hybrid car.

Japan's top automaker rejected a March 24 Business Week report that quoted Jim Press, vice chairman and president of Chrysler LLC and a former board member at Toyota, as saying, "The Japanese government paid for 100 percent of the development of the battery and hybrid system that went into the Toyota Prius."

Press worked for 37 years at Toyota, including the years of research for the Prius, which sent on sale 10 years ago. He left Toyota for Chrysler last September.

Prius has become a global hit because of the appeal of its technology that boosts fuel efficiency by switching between a gas engine and electric motor amid growing concerns about global warming and soaring gas prices.

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Four major US auto shows with international importance keep us busy all winter. Los Angeles begins the season in November where the Asian influence is felt and where automobile enthusiasm is most pervasive in the general populace. Detroit is next in January drawing by far the most international media attention and therefore the most new product introductions. But space is seriously limited. Chicago in early February is a wide open show mostly in terms of having the most space, but we always find great new stuff there as well. Now, here we are in New York in March where we see most of the fresh new products from the other three shows plus a few treats the manufacturers have saved for this final blast into the model year.

We, your intrepid Detroit Bureau team of Thom and Steve, drove the 11-hour, I-80 trek so we wouldn’t have to suffer the ongoing indignities of airline travel. Besides, BMW had an X-5 in Detroit that needed to be delivered to New York. It was a lovely, easy drive across Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey just ahead of a devastating rainstorm that caused local flooding in our wake.

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