Everyone has been buzzing about the Nissan LEAF making a huge splash in the US market within the next few months. A total of Five states have been chosen as part of the EV Project which can be describes as:
The EV Project is a result of a partnership with charging infrastructure provider ECOtality and partially funded by a grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy. Customers in these first five launch states, who represent more than 55 percent of total Nissan LEAF reservations, will be able to place firm orders for the Nissan LEAF starting in August.
With the LEAF being introduced in California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Tennessee all states with a huge market for these tiny road warriors. But lets wait and see how the market adjusts to this vehicle and how consumers inputs depends on how this vehicle will been marketed here in the U.S. Here is the rest of the article from AutomotiveFleet.com
Nissan LEAF will be introduced to Texas and Hawaii shortly thereafter, in January 2011; North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina and Alabama follow in April 2011; and be rolled-out to the balance of the nation beginning in fall 2011 with availability in all markets nationwide by the end of that year.
“We are pleased to see so many people making a choice for a zero-emission future by placing reservations for the Nissan LEAF,” said Brian Carolin, senior vice president, Sales and Marketing, Nissan North America. “Consumer feedback and market readiness have been key drivers in developing our phased rollout. Nissan is able to target areas of customer demand for early launch, while continuing to work in future markets to ensure the continued success of electric vehicles. “
In a new story published by AutomotiveNews.com there is a new scam going aaround the web which I believe effects SuperHeroCars.com and many people should pay attention to.
According to the article scam artist are posing a ordinary car salesman who are giving great online deals on phony websites. In the process they are posing as used auto dealers giving great deals on prepossessed vehicles and offer prices well below market value. To make the scam even more believable these scam artists also use phony websites to lure in even more people into the scam.
Here is a snippet of the article…
America Auto Sales, a used-car store in Memphis, Tenn., received more than 1,000 phone calls from consumers across the country who shopped for a vehicle on www.americaautosales.com a bogus site, Southwick says. The callers were led to believe the Web site was run by the Memphis store.
After paying deposits, some victims called real dealerships to arrange the delivery of their nonexistent vehicles, and some showed up in person to pick them up.
So far, the council is aware of about a dozen used-car dealerships in half-dozen states that have had their names ripped off for bogus purposes, Southwick says.
This is a huge disappointment to those of us who are struggling to make an honest living within this industry; and people like this come along and make it more difficult for consumers to have that confidence when shopping online for a used vehicle. But nonetheless these punks have chosen this path and now its up to us to put the dignity back into the online car market.
But it starts with the consumer; please we urge all of our clients to do their homework on us. Search around to see what people say, give us a call during off peak hours, open up communication even more. And even more importantly dont be afraid to ask tough questions.
As we continue to rebuild this industry its up to us; the suppliers to reshape it.
This short excerpt comes from Automotive Fleet; Mercedes will be lowering its power-train on many of its V8 engines.
Lets hope Benz it not going soft
The 6.2L V-8 powering Mercedes’ AMG lineup will be replaced by the end of 2010 by a twin turbocharged 5.5L V-8, Inside Line quotes Daimler AG Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development board member Dr. Thomas Weber as saying.
Under Mercedes’ reported plan to downsize its powertrains, all V-8s will shrink in size for 2011, with turbocharging making up for the power deficit. If true, the move to smaller displacement engines would help increase efficiency while also reducing CO2 emissions, according to Auto Blog.
The 2011Audi A8 has been unveiled and its a pretty one although its not as bulky as the older models and has gone through a few minor changes in the body and the sleek interior. As many Audi fans wait for this vehicle there are two versions that will be released. The extended wheelbase and the normal wheel base which is to some more of a drivers car. Here is an snippet of some of the features this new Audi has to offer.
The A8 NWB V8 is powered by a 4.2-liter FSI V8 that makes 372 horsepower and 328 pound-feet of torque and is mated to an eight-speed automatic. Audi says the car will sprint from zero to 60 mph in less than 5.7 seconds and is expected to deliver 15-percent better fuel economy than its predecessor. All-wheel drive is standard, and a sport differential is optional.
The 2011 Audi A8 will be here at SuperHeroCars
The new model features driver-selectable settings for suspension, steering, throttle, transmission and cornering lights. Among the available driver-assistance technologies are adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, night vision with infrared thermal imaging and pedestrian detection, lane- and side-assist technology and automatic emergency braking.
The 2011 A8 also has a standard Bose surround-sound audio system, as well as an optional Bang & Olufsen advanced system with 1,400 watts and 19 speakers.
They have not given us any price ranges for this car as yet, but its ok. We here at SuperHeroCars now offer in house financing for those looking to attain such luxury.
The 2010 Ford Fusion took the prestigious Motor Trend Car of the Year award; to win the award the Fusion outmatched many other makes and models in six categories.
The 2010 Ford Fusion is Motors Trends Car Of The Year
1. Design
2. Achievement
3. Engineering Excellence
4. Intended Function
5. Efficiency
6. Safety
7. Value
The 2010 Fusion Hybrid combines many aspects of what a new age hybrid vehicle should be.
It combines space, fantastic design and and even better fuel efficiency of 41 MPG; which is its best attribute. Along with more highway MPG this vehicles design is a sure head turner at every stop light. When this vehicle is fully loaded it adds even more car for your money and has an extra kick under the hood.
The Cash-for-clunkers program was a success on many fronts; but who expected that many people would be turning in their clunkers for trucks. Automotive News.com released the results of the top selling cars in the program and although many of these cars were hybrids the surprising factor was how many people stepped into trucks. Many expected that trucks wouldn’t even be on this list; but as the government added up the sales it realized that trucks ended up in the top 15; which is a huge surprise. Here are the list of the top selling Cash-for-Clunkers.
One of the best Cash-For-Clunker sellers was a truck? Hard to Believe
Here is a snippet from the article which explains how things got that way.
Government data released when the cash-for-clunkers program ended had shown that Category 1, 2 and 3 trucks had made up 41 percent of new-vehicle purchases, while 84 percent of trade-ins had been trucks. Those percentages haven’t changed so the new data don’t undermine the government’s assertion that the program moved many people from trucks to more fuel-efficient cars.
But some critics had said the previous top 10 made the program look greener than it was by omitting top-selling trucks. For instance, consumer auto site Edmunds.com used sales data it gets from dealer transaction reports to compile a list of top 10 clunker sellers that included the F-150, Honda CR-Vand Chevrolet Silverado.
The two-wheel-drive 2010 versions of the three new vehicles on the government’s top 10 list average about 19 mpg in combined city and highway driving, according to federal fuel economy estimates. That compares with the 35 mpg combined fuel economy average of the three vehicles that dropped off the top 10.
British car maker has its eyes set on the post recession boom, today they reveled their new Bentley which is set to replace the Arnage as the flagship model.
The New Bentley Will Cost about $300K
The Mulsanne will run its buyers a cool $300K fresh from dealers lot. This car really puts Bentley back on top; they have been a bit quiet due to the global recession. And with many Super Car lovers growing a bit tired of the rappers flaunting the Flying Spur around. This comes as a breath of fresh air for Bentley.
The New Bentley Mulsanne? Yea The Mulsanne
The Mulsanne, replaces the soon-to-be discontinued Arnage as Bentley’s global halo car in what the Volkswagen AG unit calls “the pinnacle of the ultra-luxury segment.”
“There’s a very difficult business case for this car,” admitted Franz-Josef Paefgen, Bentley’s CEO. “The hope here is not to create volume, but to create a flagship.”
For the debut, Bentley chose the elite setting of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance where it could be displayed among a sea of collectors’ cars, including 1930s-era Bentleys.
The Mulsanne (pronounced mull-SAHN) will go on sale next spring, and company officials have not yet divulged specifics about price or features. The car will require 40 hours of labor for workers to hand-make its interior woodwork.
Hit hard
Bentley has suffered along with the rest of the auto industry over the past year. The brand swung to operating loss of 114 million euros ($163 million at current exchange rates) in the first half from a 85 million euro operating profit the year before.
The company will likely sell about 5,000 vehicles in 2009, down from its peak of approximately 10,000 two years ago, according to Stuart McCullough, Bentley board member in charge of sales and marketing. U.S. demand through July has plunged 58 percent from a year earlier, to just 762 deliveries,
Bentley’s assembly plant in Crewe, England, closed this year for seven weeks. It has cut back from two shifts a day to one.
The Bentley Mulsanne will run about $300,000
Stay tuned, we are working around the clock to make sure we stay on this story and to ensure that we will be able to have the new Mulsanne for next summer.
Dealers will start getting reimbursed today for cash-for-clunkers credits paid to consumers, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said today.
“We fixed our Web site problems,” LaHood said at a news conference here. “We believe processing will go much smoother.”
He said dealers had filed 157,000 applications for $664 million in rebates.
The company contracted to handle the Transportation Department’s computer system is Oracle Corp. Clerical processing is being handled by Citigroup Inc.
This comes off the heels of many dealers having problems with the clunkers program which launched last week. Here are some interesting facts regarding the program and how things are shaping up.
Top sellers
Top 10 vehicles sold under the cash-for-clunkers program, according to the U.S. Transportation Department.
