Car Throttle

The yearly SEMA (Special Equipment Manufacturers Association) show happens in Las Vegas.  That's enough reason to want to go to it.  But more than the exotic locale (way better than, err, Detroit), SEMA is a hotbed of aftermarket parts.  If you're inclined to think this is a no-big-deal sort of affair, that's not the case.  The SEMA show attracts so much attention that manufacturers themselves have been getting into the SEMA game for a few years now, whether directly or through various 3rd party companies.

There are so many "new car" debuts prior to SEMA that I would literally flood your RSS feed with them.  I don't want to do that.  Plus, I can't write an entire article about a Chevy Sonic

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

When a car is highly anticipated, the first models available for public sale are often offered up for charity by a manufacturer or dealer. The company gets good PR from it due to a high sale price, the buyer gets bragging rights as owner of the first one, and the money all goes to benefit a charity. Chevrolet's Camaro ZL1 is definitely anticipated model by enthusiasts, packing 580 horsepower despite an initial horsepower rating of 550. General Motors has a tendency lately to under promise and over deliver in both horsepower and fuel economy figures. The ZL1 does battle with fellow performance models like the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and Dodge Challenger SRT-8 392. Its the pony car wars all over again! The

Most 4th-generation F-bodies are in pretty rough shape by now. They weren't exactly assembled with the highest standard of quality when new, and since they went out of production in 2002, they've mostly been bought cheap and had the crap beaten out of them.  It's easy to understand why: it's got a Corvette engine, and they're inexpensive. So it's unusual to see a Z/28 that's actually in good condition - and Wes Odum's 2002 Z/28 35th Anniversary Edition qualifies.  The paint is still the same shiny blue it was when it came out of the factory, the dashboard's still black, and generally speaking it's hard to tell the car's had 84,000 miles and change roll under it's wheels, especially when compared to most Camaros. But that's not

A sales race that CarThrottle has consistently covered is the one between the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang. The Mustang, with its universal appeal and wide model range, has historically outsold its cross-town rival the Camaro. When the Camaro first launched, it was speculated that it would surpass Mustang sales, at least in the first year. That didn't work out though due to its late start. Last year, was the first full year of sales between the two. Despite Ford fielding the improved 2011 Mustang, the Camaro managed to outsell the Mustang by 7,655 units. This year, the Chevrolet Camaro gets a convertible variant as well as a high-performance ZL1 model to stir interest. Camaro Convertible sales haven't managed to kick in yet in a

There's good news and bad news. The bad news first: there is no Camaro Z/28.  We've been referring to the upcoming super Camaro as the Z/28 pretty much as long as we've been hearing about it, which makes sense in a historical context considering the first Z/28's were competition homologation models to allow the Camaro to race in the Trans-Am race series.  With a high-compression 302ci V8 that would wind out to 7,000+rpm and with dual 4bbl carbs would spit out about 400 horsepower, it was the easiest way to go from the showroom floor to the racetrack back then. It turns out that Chevy was going to reference an even rarer Camaro with the latest (and arguably greatest) edition of the Camaro so far: the

There is a lot of money spent in advertising - in fact, reports peg marketing spending at $612 billion a year, and researchers estimate the average American is exposed to some 3000 advertisements every day. The Super Bowl XLV, coming up Sunday, is the most expensive day of the year for advertising. With the chance to make a big splash before what is likely to be over 106 million Americans, auto manufacturers are working to bring out their best. Chevrolet is making up for its recent lack of Super Bowl participation big time this year. Eight - yes eight - different spots will be run. Two ads run pre-game, five during the game and one during the post-game show. They focus on some of Chevy's

With all the the hype surrounding the Chevrolet Camaro, the news has been nonstop, continuing steady before and after launch. That momentum has given it an edge over the Ford Mustang in the 2010 sales race, and its image has been a strong help to the Chevrolet brand. Sales uccess looks to continue into 2011, with the addition of a new performance variant likely to happen at next week's Chicago Auto Show. Notable is the fact that the Camaro has posted impressive numbers without the addition of a convertible variant. Well that is about to change - the Chevrolet Camaro Convertible has just gone into production today at General Motors' Oshawa, Canada factory. The car will be available with your choice of a black

Last year, we extensively covered a sales race that was developing between the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang.

Historically, the Mustang has nearly always outsold the Camaro. That has carried through from the very beginning in the 1960's - the Mustang was the first on the market and its leadership position stuck.

The new Camaro went on sale in April 2009 amid a sagging economy and poor public perception of General Motors. However, with a high amount of pent up demand and public hype, the Camaro handily outsold the Mustang.

Many figured this would be a short-term trend and that the car's sales would be very front-loaded. When the final numbers were tallied for 2009, the race was close but the Mustang eked out a

Fun on a budget.  Bang for the buck. Just because we're not all fabulous millionaires (and, ahem, we ain't) doesn't mean we can't all have fun.  While I finally decided to opt out of that like it was a TSA groping, it's not to say you can't acquire a seriously fun set of wheels for well less than half the average new-car transaction price in the US.  If you know where to look and what to look for, you can plaster a mile-wide smile on your face for less than 10 grand.  Here are a few suggestions of mine; please let us know what you think the best sub-10k funbucket is in the comments below! 4th-Gen Chevrolet Camaro SS (1998-2002) Do you like a car with