We know a lot about Cadillac’s all-new CT6 luxury sedan, including its set of all-new engines, but so far specifics on the impending plug-in hybrid version have proved elusive. Now, nonetheless, thanks to some comments from GM North America president Mark Reuss to Autoblog, we know to count on the pluggable CT6 to debut at the 2015 Shanghai auto show later this month.
We nonetheless don’t know what will energy the hybrid, but the typical CT6 will offer a naturally aspirated V-6 and a twin-turbo V-6 at launch, plus, sooner or later, a twin-turbo V-7 A plug-in tends to make sense for Cadillac—especially for the European and Chinese markets—and we’ll locate out what the brand is up to in just a couple of weeks.
The 2015 New York International Auto Show is upon us, and our legion of editors are reporting reside by way of Instagram and Twitter! Join us here and go inside automakers’ pre-show reveal events on Monday and Tuesday, March 30 and 31, and follow all the news and debuts during the media preview days on April 1 and 2. See everything in one location as it happens!
This is the subsequent generation of Lexus’;s bestseller.
CHRIS DOANE AUTOMOTIVE AND
THE MANUFACTURER
What It Is: With the new NX now in play to do battle on the smaller sized end of the CUV spectrum, the sales-champ RX sees a size enhance for 2016, and the 4th generation of Lexus’s bread-and-butter crossover might see the addition of third-row seating. Have a gander at these freshly gathered spy photographs.
Why It Matters: As 1 of the quite very first luxury SUVs aimed at suburban families, the RX earned the scorn and derision of each vehicle stalwarts and off-roaders, but its target demo didn’t care and proceeded to lap the factors up. Sixteen years later, in a considerably much more crowded marketplace, it remains the brand’s strongest seller. Final year, the RX created up just a shade over a single-third of the Toyota luxury unit’s sales.
Platform: Even though precise details are scarce, it’s a safe bet that the RX will continue to share its architecture with the Toyota Camry, Avalon, Highlander, and Lexus ES. New aluminum parts—including the hood, doors, and tailgate—are part of an work to shed w7 And the 2016 RX will also debut next-generation safety systems, as detailed right here.
Powertrain: Count on a V-6, as nicely as a V-6 hybrid. The stunning point about the RX is that it’s a pretty simple automobile to make predictions about. Toyota doesn’t want to mess as well significantly with a verified sales winner, and the RX is nothing at all if not a prolific dough farmer. (Yes, we understand that dough isn’t exactly farmed.) The likely third row ought to only add to its accomplishment, as a result farming even much more dough for Lexus.
Competition: Audi Q7, Cadillac SRX, Infiniti QX60, Land Rover Discovery Sport, Mercedes-Benz M-class
Estimated Arrival and Price: We need to see the RX at dealers later in 2015. Anticipate pricing to move upward a notch, reflecting the crossover’s engorgement and the NX’s spot reduce on the totem pole. We’d wager that the new sport-ute will come in about $ 46K to start off.
Did you already think of Toyota as getting warm and fuzzy, a family members friendly everyman brand? Get prepared to fluff that fuzz and crank up the heat, since beginning next year, Toyota and Lexus will offer you far more extensive safety packages with the automaker’s most current advances, such as pedestrian detection with full auto-braking. The company will eventually trickle this tech into practically each car it sells by 2017. We do not know what Toyota will get upgraded first, but we can confirm that the 2016 Lexus RX, the luxury brand’s best-promoting model in the U.S., will be the 1st Lexus armed with this new security package.
For Toyota models, a package known as “Toyota Safety Sense” will be doled out in 2 strengths. Compact models will come with an upgraded Pre-Collision System (PCS), which detects autos and can automatically brake at speeds up to 50 mph, along with lane departure warning and automatic higher beams. Instead of the millimeter radar–based technique on current Toyota models, the PCS on these models will use a camera and LIDAR sensor. On midsize and bigger models, PCS reverts back to radar and also uses the camera to detect pedestrians at speeds up to 50 mph, choose out other vehicles at any speed the technique can also fully stop the auto. Radar-based adaptive cruise manage will be incorporated. Currently, Toyota models with PCS—available on top trims of the Camry, Avalon, Sienna, Highlander, Land Cruiser, Prius, and Prius V—can merely minimize car speed to reduce the severity of a collision. 2 Lexus models, the 2015 NX crossover and present-gen LS sedan, are the only 2 Toyota-constructed automobiles that can brake to a comprehensive stop, and only the LS has pedestrian detection.
The new, flagship-worthy security characteristics are portion of the “Lexus Security Technique +” package that will be optional on the 2016 RX and across every single Lexus model, all of which presently offer you a speed-lowering pre-crash setups. It is probably that some pricier Lexus models, such as the existing GS, LS and GX, will continue to augment (the updated PCS) with the brand’s Driver Interest Monitor, a driver-facing infrared camera mounted on the steering column that senses if the pilot is seeking away from the road. The Lexus package also consists of lane departure warning, automatic high-beam control, and adaptive cruise handle.
Toyota did not specify any maximum speeds at which the auto-braking feature can bring the automobile to a dead cease (the stated 50-mph threshold is basically the maximum closing speed at which the program can react and apply brakes to slow the vehicle), despite the fact that the new NX claims to do so from 37 mph, whereas the LS can do so from 24 mph. We’re also not sure if these Toyota and Lexus packages will be standalone products or bundled with other possibilities, as is the case now for most models. For instance, on the 2015 Camry XLE V-6, upgrading the stereo and adding navigation is necessary to get PCS and other security attributes.
However they bring it right here, Toyota’s other security trick, camera-controlled adaptive LED headlights, will not be coming to the U.S. anytime soon. The fancy LED headlamps can darken person portions of the roadway while keeping other regions on higher beam, just like Audi’s Matrix-LED headlights. Despite lobbying by Toyota and active demonstrations by Audi, Mercedes-Benz and other individuals, the National Highway Visitors Security Administration has but to bend on a 50-year-old rule prohibiting such lighting advances.
As exciting as crossing the finish line in a car race – that was how Mercedes-AMG presented its new GT V8 sports car this evening, the second vehicle to be entirely developed under its own direction. None other than current Formula 1 points leader Nico Rosberg piloted the breath-taking newcomer from the sports car brand of Mercedes-Benz onto the stage. The emotions ran high for around 400 international guests from the worlds of politics, business and the media, including AMG’;s founders Hans-Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher, as the Mercedes-AMG GT made its début in its birthplace. Previously, Bernd Schneider, 5-time DTM champion and with 43 victories the most successful DTM driver of all time, presented a parade of the most famous vehicles from AMG’;s history.
Mercedes-AMG created an authentic motor sports atmosphere at its head office in Affalterbach for the first appearance of the new GT under the eyes of the world. A temporary pit lane with stands for spectators and a victory fireworks show set the perfect scene for the début of an ambitious new challenger.
With the new Mercedes-AMG GT, the Mercedes-AMG sports car brand enters a new segment for the company that is teeming with top-class competitors. Its front mid-engine concept with transaxle and the intelligent aluminium lightweight construction form the basis for a highly dynamic driving experience. The basis for AMG’;s hallmark driving performance is provided by the AMG 4.0-litre V8 Biturbo engine, which is also a new development and is built in 2 output specifications: as a GT with 340 kW (462 hp) and as a GT S with 375 kW (510 hp).
“The Mercedes-AMG GT shows sports car enthusiasts around the world what AMG is capable of”, said Prof Thomas Weber, member of the Daimler Board of Management responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, and stressed Mercedes-AMG’;s importance within Daimler’;s engineering ne2rk.
“With its technological substance, the Mercedes-AMG GT fulfils our high standards with regard to driving dynamics, agility and sportiness. It has been ‘handcrafted by racers’;, and shows that we make our customers’; dreams come true”, said Tobias Moers, CEO of Mercedes-AMG GmbH.
The GT combines driving dynamics and first-class racetrack performance with superb everyday practicality and a level of efficiency that sets new standards in the segment.
August 5, 2014 at 7:08 pm by Steve Siler | Photography by YouTube/IMSAVids, Chris Doane Automotive, and the Manufacturer
Offered the copious quantity of speaking completed by announcers for the duration of auto races, a lot can be lost. But our sharp-eared—if that’s a thing—friends at Mustang6G picked up on a telling comment produced in minute 39 of this weekend’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway broadcast: “And correct now what’s in development is that GT350 race car for subsequent year. We must see that auto on the track later this September.”
As Mustang6G points out, the only IMSA event in September is the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas, which takes spot on September 19.
Whilst the announcer was referring to the track-only GT350R, this off-the-cuff comment suggests to us that the introduction of the streetable version of the 2015 Mustang Shelby GT350 could be imminent, possibly occurring just prior to the racing version tends to make its debut. Of course, it is not impossible that Ford will show the salable auto later, as Chevrolet did when it unveiled the NASCAR version of its SS some weeks just before pulling the sheets from the production model.
But our most recent GT350 spy shots from the Nürburgring show a really comprehensive-looking (and poor-ass!) vehicle that seems to be in its final verification and improvement phase. We don’t think that we’re alone in our anticipation of Ford stripping off the camo and revealing what promises to be one particular of the greatest Mustangs in history.
Soon after a lot more than a decade of undertaking essentially absolutely nothing with its XC90 SUV, Volvo has all of a sudden kicked factors into higher gear. The automaker is aggressively previewing the all-new 2016 XC90, first displaying off the crossover’s infotainment tech, letting us ride along in a prototype, revealing the interior, and even detailing the super-awesome-sounding plug-in-hybrid powertrain option. Now Volvo is returning to type and highlighting some of the upcoming SUV’s new security functions, 2 of which the organization says are “world firsts.”
It is hardly surprising that Volvo, which has built its reputation on safety, would pull such tricks out of its sleeve for the new XC90. The model is the automaker’s de facto flagship, and the new a single will carry the normal for the brand’s subsequent-generation vehicles to stick to. The initial world-first security feature debuting on the XC90 is Safe Positioning, which is aimed at minimizing injuries in crashes exactly where the car leaves the road. When the technique detects that the XC90 is operating off the road, it cinches tight the seatbelts, locking occupants snugly into the seats. This is crucial because the seats have power-absorbing material amongst their outer layers and the frame created to cushion occupants’ spines in the occasion of an intense vertical impact, such as a hard landing at the bottom of a ditch.
Subsequent up is an automatic braking function that can stop the automobile ahead of it turns in front of oncoming targeted traffic. This is a typical sort of crash, where the driver of a car turning left, for instance, misjudges the velocity of—or basically does not see—an oncoming vehicle and makes a turn in front of it. Our home state of Michigan is so paranoid over the prospect of such accidents that it developed several of its roads without left-turn lanes, deciding on alternatively to route traffic by means of a so-named “Michigan Left,” which is exactly where automobiles wanting to turn left instead turn proper or go straight at an intersection, then a lot more or less pull a U-turn utilizing designated lanes on the left to keep away from crossing 2 directions of targeted traffic. Volvo’s mistrust of left-turners elevates the automatic-braking game from a straightforward detection of largely stationary objects in front of a automobile (as executed by the automaker’s own City Security function) to a much more complex decision-making procedure that can contemplate more rapidly-moving targets not straight in front of a car.
We’re relatively specific that Volvo has even far more safety advances in retailer for the XC90, but we may possibly require to wait till the model makes its full debut next month to uncover out.
June 23, 2014 at 3:01 pm by Alexander Stoklosa | Photography by Michael Simari and the Manufacturer
You’re seeking at the initial official image of Ford’s refreshed-for-2015 Concentrate ST hatchback, which will make its full in-the-metal debut at the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed in England on June 27. We had figured it would only be a matter of time ahead of the ST received a makeover, provided that the regular Concentrate hatchback and sedan have currently been re-touched for this year.
Ford’s teaser photo—and common sense—makes it clear that the ST will get the exact same visual enhancements as the 2015 Concentrate hatchback, albeit somewhat amped up. Just as ahead of, the ST will put on a exclusive, open snout, and it nevertheless will be offered with vibrant yellow paint. In addition to placing out a photo of the ST’s new headlight design, Ford also released a video of the hot hatch lapping a test track. Stay tuned to this space later this week for more information.
