Use This Blog

For any of you looking to get an even better look – or perhaps just additional looks – at the 2010 Jaguar XJ, we’ve added about 40 new photos to our gallery.

If you want to get an early gander at the car in person and you’re in London next week, Jag’s top cat will be at the Gulf Luxury Fair at the InterContinental Hotel on Park Lane. The event caters to the luxury crowd that Jaguar would like to reacquaint itself with, and takes place from July 25-27.

We know the Chinese love their Transformers – or perhaps it’s just Bumblebee. To promote its new movie theater, a mall in China created its own Transformer out of a Volkswagen Jetta. The best part about the sculpture is that it hasn’t been painted to look like Bumblebee, and it’s been posed in a way that makes it look like it’s either speed skating, or finishing up a dance number, or doing aerobics.

For World Rally Championship fans living in the U.S., it’s been tough to keep up on the action, as domestic television coverage has been virtually nonexistent for some time now. That’s about to change, however, as the series has inked a deal with Discovery Communications’ HD Theater, a channel with an audience of 633 million. HD Theater has committed to show weekly coverage “from every round of the championship” beginning in October, and it will also air shows featuring related WRC content and news.

The adventure/technology channel already shows other forms of motorsports coverage and car-related programming that we’ve enjoyed, and we’re particularly excited for the return of WRC, as the rallying genre lend itself particularly well to the channel’s 1080i, 5.1 digital surround high-def format. After all, the races regularly take place in spectacular settings, and HD broadcasting ought to provide for a heightened level of detail in everything from flying dirt to the look on bystanders’ faces as the competitors whip by. Consider us psyched.

Recently, the U.K. began to consider a law that would address drivers under the influence of drugs, and was looking at using a device that would act like a breathalyzer for narcotics instead of alcohol. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration might want to make the same recommendation after finding that while just 2.2% of drivers have a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher, a startling 16.3% of drivers were on some sort of narcotic.

Marijuana came in first among drug positives at 8.6%, with cocaine and over-the-counter meds following at 3.9% each. NHTSA plans further studies to find out how drugs affect driving impairment, since some narcotics aren’t flushed from the body for weeks. If the research shows the effects are as bad as drunk driving, we can probably expect ‘drugalyzers’ to make an appearance at checkpoints soon.

Things
could hardly have played out worse for Honda. It has poured what surely
amounted to billions of dollars for years into its Formula One team
with little effect. Then it brought in Ross Brawn, only to withdrew its
support from the squad, then it sold the entire operation to Brawn
while paying out big bucks to avoid an even bigger severance bill. And
only then did Brawn turn the F1 team into a winner. That’d be enough to
send some automakers scurrying to get back in the game, but not Honda.

The
Japanese automaker’s new CEO Tokanobu Ito has reportedly completely
ruled out the possibility of a return to F1 “even if the economy
improves,” deriding the series as bereft of relevant development
possibilities. Well, there you have it. No word, however, on whether
Honda will support the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix at its Suzuka Circuit
after Toyota withdrew its Fuji Speedway from the event.

General Motors’ newly-appointed Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, has penned a post on GM’s Fast Lane blog that can be boiled down to two words: My bad.

A flurry of reports spurred on by Lutz’ comments that GM was considering adapting the Pontiac G8 into a reborn, rear-wheel drive Chevrolet Caprice have been downplayed by a number of the General’s generals, including CEO Fritz Henderson. In Lutz’ post, he put the final nail in the G8-cum-Caprice’s coffin saying:

“The G8 will not be a Caprice after all. I’d mentioned it, and said we were studying it, giving it a serious look, because a car like the G8 was just too good to waste.

“That’s all still true. But I have to say that, with my new “marketing” hat on, upon further review and careful study, we simply cannot make a business case for such a program. Not in today’s market, in this economy, and with fuel regulations what they are and will be.”

Lutz is quick to point out that the decision to kill the G8 will have no effect on GM’s future rear-drive vehicles, and he went on to say, “… we have a tremendous RWD team in Australia that gave us the beloved G8, a team that we will tap into at some point again in the future for its expertise and sheet metal. Just not right now.”

So… nothing to see here people. Move along…

Conventional wisdom is that hybrid vehicles reduce our dependence on foreign oil and emit fewer environment hurting CO2 emissions. When comparing a hybrid to a conventional gasoline-powered model on a mile-by-mile basis, there’s some logic to this argument provided the pricing disparity between the two models isn’t too broad. However, a new study by Quality Planning shows that hybrid owners drive much more than non-hybrid owners, potentially negating the benefits of the added battery pack and electric motor.

Quality Planning studied nearly 360,000 vehicles throughout 2007 and 2008 to analyze driving habits, and some of the study’s findings are pretty surprising. According to the survey, hybrid and non-hybrid drivers have statistically similar commutes, but hybrid owners drive their vehicles 25% more (2,000 miles) in non-commuting scenarios.

Dr. Raj Bhat, president of Quality Planning, thinks part of the reason for these findings has something to do with the fact that high mileage drivers are typically more interested in hybrids than infrequent drivers.

“What we don’t know is whether owning a hybrid vehicle encourages people to drive more miles each day or take more pleasure trips. High-mileage drivers appear to be attracted to these vehicles, so insurers should take steps to verify the intended use of hybrids and validate actual miles driven wherever possible.”

The study also shows that hybrid owners are significantly more likely to receive traffic tickets. According to the survey, Toyota Prius owners received .38 tickets per 100,000 miles driven, versus a non-hybrid average of .23 tickets per 100,000 miles. That’s a 65% differential. One possible explanation for the ticket disparity has to do with where hybrid owners live. Quality Planning found that hybrid owners are more likely to live in an urban setting, where tickets are more frequently issued.

If you really want a hybrid and you don’t want to hear any more bad news, you should stop reading. QP also found that repair costs are significantly higher for hybrid owners. The Ford Escape Hybrid, for example, costs 31% more to repair than the gasoline-only model, while repairing the Toyota Highlander Hybrid will reportedly add 45% more cost. A recent report by IntelliChoice that found that, in the long-term, hybrids and diesels are actually cheaper than gasoline-only vehicles.

The text below illustrates how much on a per dollar basis hybrid repair costs for collision and comprehensive coverage versus one dollar for a non-hybrid. The disparity is shrinking every year, but according to QP, hybrids still cost more to fix. Hit the jump to view the Quality Planning press release.

Collision Comprehensive
Coverage Coverage
2006 Hybrid Models $1.16 $1.75
2007 Hybrid Models $1.09 $1.35
2008 Hybrid Models $1.13 $1.17

As devout gearheads you’re undoubtedly aware today marks Audi’s 100th anniversary, and in celebration of its centennial, one of Germany’s most historic marques is kicking off the festivities with a star-studded event at the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt, Germany.

The unveiling of the A5 Sportback was the first in a long line of events to take place over the coming days, but Audi also wanted to provide admirers a photographic glimpse into its past. And we’re all too happy to oblige while snagging a few choice wallpapers in the process.

Make the jump for Audi’s press release on the celebration, along with a video introduction by Chairman Rupert Stadler. And be sure to check out the four massive galleries we’ve put together, broken down into “Classic,” “Motorsport,” “Concept” and, of course, “Quattro.”

BMW has just announced an upgraded version of its 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder diesel engine. The new version retains the same displacement, yet output for the European spec version is increased from 286 horsepower and 428 lb-ft of torque to 306 hp and 442 lb-ft. At the same time, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are reduced by four percent compared to the previous version.

BMW has updated the fuel injection system to its latest generation common rail system. That means the injector pressure has been bumped from 1,600 BAR (23,000 psi) to 2,000 BAR (29,000 psi), allowing for even more precise metering of the fuel flow. The dual stage turbocharger system is now also more efficient. Since BMW only just introduced a version of the previous engine with U.S. legal after-treatment systems in late 2008, it seems unlikely that the U.S. will receive the upgrades in the near future.

Say what you will about the styling of the Porsche Panamera, the company’s merchandising division cranks out some seriously lust-worthy designs. Some of them have nothing to do with their automotive namesake, but here’s an instance of Porsche Design working in concert with the automobile division to give drivers something a little more handy than a baseball cap or polo shirt. Okay, so the Panamera Collection includes plenty of those too, along with watches, coats and kids clothing, but it also includes a set of intriguing fitted luggage for the four-door sports car from Zuffenhausen.