Archive for July 20th, 2008

newVideoPlayer(”/2010ChevyCamaro_gawker.flv”, 506, 423,””); Well, first driving video of the production version of the 2010 Chevy Camaro, anyway. Sure, there’s been two-and-a-half years of spy photos, videos and what have you, but here’s B-Roll of the real deal. It goes like a nice Chianti with the leaked photos revealed on Friday, some fava beans and… »

newVideoPlayer(”/TopGearNissanGTR2_gawker.flv”, 506, 423,””); Don’t worry, we’re not going to spoil the surprise of The Stig taking the 2009 Nissan GT-R around the Top Gear test track. You’ll have to watch the video for that if you’re not willing to wait for “other means.” Or, if for some reason the video’s not working, you can… »

newVideoPlayer(”/TopGearNissanGTR2_gawker.flv”, 506, 423,””); Don’t worry, we’re not going to spoil the surprise of The Stig taking the 2009 Nissan GT-R around the Top Gear test track. You’ll have to watch the video for that if you’re not willing to wait for “other means.” Or, if for some reason the video’s not working, you can… »

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors
Tesla Motors held the grand opening of its Northern California dealership in Menlo Park Saturday evening. A slew of valet parkers greeted. Then, I walked down the red carpet past an orange Tesla Roadster to the large showroom. Beyond the gazpacho cocktails and first of three full bars one entered the… »

Filed under: Toyota
With the first occupants set to move into Toyota’s new Technical Center just south of Ann Arbor, MI just a few weeks from now, the company is hoping to get it certified as a “green” building. Toyota constructed the facility on the site of the former Ypsilanti Psychiatric Hospital. The company reused crushed… »

Filed under: Etc., Hybrid, Manufacturing/Plants, Toyota, Japan

The Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., better known to us in the west under the Panasonic brand, has “informally decided” to spend about $951 billion (100 billion yen) constructing what would be one of the world’s biggest li-ion battery factories. This would triple the company’s current capacity with its three… »

newVideoPlayer(”/2010FordMustang_gawker.flv”, 506, 423,””); A heavily camouflaged 2010 Ford Mustang took to the track on “Ford Mustang Day” during the Road America festivities this weekend in the land of cheese and onions called Wisconsin. Ford’s calling it a special public “debut” of the 2010 Mustang, which served as the pace car for the vintage racing… »

newVideoPlayer(”/DanicaPatrickMilka_gawker.flv”, 506, 423,””); Let’s be clear here — we’d call it a “cat fight” even if the two drivers screaming at each other were men rather than the twin female towers o’ power of IndyCar — Danica Patrick and Milka Duno (often pronounced “Milk n’ Donut”). Apparently Danica thinks Milka’s too slow and has… »

Filed under: SMART, Legislation and Policy, USA
Click above for more shots of the smart Crossblade on eBay
Mercedes shocked the motoring press when it announced back in the early 2000’s that it would actually launch a production version of its crazy smart Crossblade. Equipped with the same turbocharged three cylinder engine as the regular smart fortwo… »

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Phoenix, Spy Shots
Click above image to enlarge
Blogger extraordinaire Mickey Kaus recently spied the above SUV innocuously parked in Santa Monica and sent us the photos, wondering if we had any clue what it is. As luck would have it, we do. The truck is a SsangYong Actyon SUV, but it’s also more… »