Car Throttle

News Bites for today include Dodge's hot Dart,  Audi's new diesel, teaser shots of the upcoming 2013 Dodge Viper, some good ole' fashioned intellectual property theft, an electric crossover thing, and Super Bowl advertisements from Audi and Honda.  Read on for the News Bites! Dodge's Dart subcompact was just revealed a few weeks ago, but we've already got two pieces of future speculation on where the lineup could expand.  First, Mopar will be bringing a concept Dart to the Chicago Auto Show, called the Dart GTS 210 Tribute.  It previews the two "stages" of Mopar upgrades for the new sedan.  Stage 1 will be aesthetic goodies, like the carbon fiber hood with Viper-esque scoop, and matte black side skirts, front diffuser, and other trim - along

Japan introduces two competing sports car concepts at Detroit.  What is it, 1989 again?  The Lexus LF-LC and the Acura NSX are both fighting for the spotlight at Cobo hall.  But really, a new NSX?  Can this be for real? The original NSX is still a high-water mark in sports car development.  For a company as conservative and reactive as Honda, it's really still shocking that they developed and made it, much less that they kept a loss-leader like the NSX in production for 15 years.  The NSX showed the world a lot of things about sports car.  It was the world's first exposure to VTEC, or variable valve timing, something we now take almost entirely for granted.  Back then, the high-cam wail of the NSX

Is this the next Saab 9-3? And more importantly, shouldit be the next Saab 9-3. That is the question. Saab's most recent concept car, the Pheonix, had a name chosen for what the company hoped would happen - seeing Saab rise from the ashes after being declared dead. Anyone paying attention (and a lot that aren't) know the roller coaster Saab has been through in just the past year. And boy, it goes back even farther than that. We'll spare you the details though. Chief Executive Officer Victor Mueller and company have pulled every rabbit out of their hat that they can, and their latest deal involves a Chinese buyout. Yes, wholly and completely Chinese owned. Pang Da and Youngman have submitted a bid, which

That's right, muscle car fans, Ford's seminal brawny coupé is abandoning its 1960's tribute act styling and going back to the future. It's a brave move, given that the recent 'Stangs have been such an overwhelming success, and that the car now faces its toughest competition since its birth, alongside the reborn Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger. So, why are Ford fixing the decidedly unbroken formula for the next car? Design boss J Mays, champion of 'retro-futurism' and he who penned the 2005 model going strong today, says it's time for a new car "to win all of the Mustang faithful yet bring the brand forward as well." Basically, it's got to walk the tightrope of hinting it's a Mustang, but "signal the Mustang has another 50

Pictured above is a rendering of an RS version of the Q3. Hot or not? Definitely hot; if maybe a but pointless. The Q3 was born to compete against the BMW X1, a very successful model brought forth by BMW's segment-bending exploits. In Europe the X1 has proved to be a big hit for its crossover-like looks, small size and practicality. Audi rushed to provide an answer with its Q3 crossover, and it has gone on sale in markets around the world. Audi seemingly ruled out sales of the Q3 in the U.S at launch. BMW, on the other hand, has announced the X1 will be sold here. Despite being on sale since November 2009 in Europe, a U.S launch date has been pushed back until

Concept cars serve different roles.  For instance, when BMW shows us an "M5 Concept,"  you can safely bet a $100 bill that the production M5 will look just like that, only without the black wheels and license plates that say "concept." Ford and Mazda are different, though.  While sometimes their concept cars preview production cars, most of the time they preview the company's latest styling ideology.  So while I wish Mazda would put something as sexy as the Shinari into production, it's really just a preview of how the brand's mainstream products will look. Same goes for the latest concept that Ford is displaying at the Frankfurt Auto Show this year, the Evos.  Don't expect to see it, or something like it, at a dealer any time

America has the Wrangler, Japan has the Land Cruiser and Patrol, and Britain has the Defender.  Well, and the Bowler Wildcat and Nemesis.  But while the Defender continues to carry LR's true off-roader torch (it received a new emissions-compliant 2.2L Diesel for this year!), it's not long for this world. Land Rover without a Defender is like Chevrolet without a Corvette, so a replacement is in the works.  This concept car to debut at the Frankfurt Show this year, dubbed the DC100, is a preview of a modernized Defender. So... what is is?  Well, Land Rover has been pretty sparse on actual details on the DC100 concept, and they've only released the two pictures you see here.  From it's general proportions, it looks related to the

Sometimes staying up late on a Saturday night is a good thing. The thing about living in Malaysia is that there are many food stalls and car washes open till the wee hours of the morning. This means that one can actually enjoy having coffee or tea Al fresco whilst having their car washed. So we did just that last weekend and so did a lot of others. And amazingly at about two o’clock in the morning while we were winding down our session to head home, we saw a Lotus Evora drive by into the car wash beside us. It isn’t often you get to see one in the flesh over here. Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches and those Japanese performance cars are everywhere in Malaysia’s capital Kuala

A frequent complaint about Toyota has been the company's focus on uninspiring, bland designs that forsake any kind of excitement. For those looking for performance models and an engaging driving experience, there are no offerings. That is a dangerous position to be for a mainstream manufacturer that needs to engage enthusiasts and the youth market. The super expensive LFA isn't going to cut it in this regard. The joint Toyota/Subaru sportscar, previewed by the original FT-86 Concept and followed by the Scion FR-S Concept, is Toyota's answer to this problem. A new report on fan forum Club4AG says that the car is being developed with no expenses spared, and sheds light on some interesting details about the cars program. This information was gleaned from a meeting

At the beginning of the month, Land Rover released more details about its new Evoque crossover. They include its starting price - $43,995 for the four door model, and the 28 MPG highway figure for the front-wheel drive model. That makes it the most fuel-efficient Land Rover ever - a huge departure, no doubt. Land Rover certainly has no inhibitions about being different with the Evoque. Radical styling, turbocharged four-cylinder engines and a two-door model that most said wouldn't be a very viable seller. A new report from Autoblog.nl says that Land Rover could be looking to take the being different theme even further, with a four-door convertible in the vein of Nissan's Murano CrossCabriolet. The car would have a folding roof, produced in England and likely