Thursday, August 26, 2010

What the Pruck? Toyota Prius and Subaru Baja form kinky bond


This is what happens when you have a Toyota Prius with rear end damage, a Subaru Baja (pickup truck version of the Outback) with front end damage, a lot of free time, and a very weird sense of aesthetics - or a sick sense of humor. This freak-o-mobile is the creation of a salvage Prius cars and parts company called "Auto Be Yours" located in Scottsburg, Indiana. And yes, the name given to the Baja-tized Prius is Pruck. If by any sheer ridiculous chance you're interested, the Pruck is up for sale for somewhere around "mid $20k". Skip the jump for more photos.

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Ford and Mazda buddy up and invest US$350 Million in Thailand plant for new pickup trucks


Longtime partners Ford Motor Co. and Mazda plan to invest US$350 million in their AutoAlliance (AAT) plant in Thailand to support the production of the next generation of the Ford Ranger and Mazda B-Series compact pickup trucks, which are scheduled to be launched in the middle of 2011. The investment will go to plant upgrades and supplier tooling.

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Worldwide demand spurs Audi to expand A1's sales market everywhere except the US and China [for now]


Come 2011, Audi will offer the A1 outside of Europe due to a significant amount of worldwide demand. To be precise, the A1's dedicated website attracted more than 150,000 interested customers from all four corners of the world. The German company had previously expected average production volumes of 100,000 A1 units per year, primarily for the European market at first.

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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

SCOOP: New BMW 6-Series Sheds More Camo and Reveals Interior


These are some of the best spy shots yet of the new BMW 6-Series. Our man with the long lens not only snagged a couple of convertible prototypes with different color tops and much less camouflage than before, but he also scooped the car's interior revealing details of the cockpit.

Being based on the latest generation of the 5-Series, it comes to no surprise that the styling of the instrument panel, center console and even the steering wheel on the 6-Series are shared with BMW's premium sedan model. Elegant as it may be, we can't say we agree with BMW's "one style fits all" mentality, especially when it concerns a premium sports coupe/cabrio like the 6-Series.

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Refreshed 2011 Toyota Highlander debuts in Moscow


Toyota's spruced-up 2011 Highlander crossover made its world premiere today at this year's edition of the Moscow International Motor Show. Though Toyota is keeping its cards closed, buyers in the States should see a US launch of the facelifted crossover later this year.

The 2011 Highlander's exterior benefits significantly from a much more crisp, defined nose and headlights, along with restyled tail lamps and new bumper trim at the back. The rest of the car appears to go on mostly unchanged for the new model year.

Russian and Ukrainian buyers get a single engine option, the 3.5-liter V6 gasoline unit pumping out 273HP, matched to a five-speed automatic transmission.

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New Entry Level Petrol Engine for VW Fox


Volkswagen has announced the addition of a new entry-level petrol engine to the lineup of its European market Fox. The Euro 5-compliant 1.2-liter gasoline unit, which is also used on the latest Polo, replaces the 55HP engine It produces an output of 60HP and accelerates the city car from 0 to 100km/h (62mph) in 15.6 seconds before topping out at 153km/h (95mph).

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Hyundai dresses up New Accent as RB Concept for the Moscow Auto Show


Along with the local version of the new Sonata, Hyundai is also showing the RB "concept" at the Moscow International Motor Show. What we're really looking at though is a thinly disguised version of the Russian market Verna/Accent subcompact, which originally made its world premiere at the Beijing Auto Show back in April.

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