Autoblog

Kobe Bryant showed up at UNDFTD this week to kick off the release of Nike's new McFly Hyperdunks. The McFlys are Back to the Future-themed basketball shoes, with a color scheme inspired by the shoes Michael J. Fox wore in Back to the Future II. They come complete with "2015" emblazoned on the right shoe's tongue, while the left one features the BTTF arrow logos. Kobe showed up at the completely-mobbed event in -- what else -- a DeLorean done up just like Doc Brown's movie car. The perennial All-Star posed for pics and signed shoes for the first 10 fans lucky enough to score a pair. Lest you think a special-edition sneaker launch like this is no big thing, know that there were people lined up outside the joint for as long as 24 hours. Nike's missing the boat if we don't get a viral of Kobe jumping over that DeLorean as a sequel to the Aston video. I mean, he's got big ups, but clearing that Mr. Fusion won't be easy. Follow the jump for a short clip of Marty putting on the shoes that started this madness some 19 years ago. Thanks for the heads-up, Steve.

[Hypebeast via Autofiends]

From Xinhua via our friends at China Car Times comes the above photo, showing Chinese counter-terrorism forces going through drills as they prepare to crush any dissent terror threat that might arise during next month's Olympic Games. The black ninja suits, fritz helmets, body armor, and submachine pistols all fit the profile of a specialized group like this. But... Segways?

UPDATE: Turns out, Engadget is having a caption contest. (Thanks, seoultrain.)

[Source: Xinhua via China Car Times]

Click image for a high res gallery of the Beat

GM knows it needs an economical, mass-market, mass-appeal small car -- badly. Yes, it has the Aveo, but it's underwhelming in all respects, and sure, it's currently pimping the Cobalt XFE, but that car's about as exciting as an episode of Antiques Roadshow. Corsa? Not engineering the current one to be U.S.-compliant probably wasn't the greatest idea. The answer? MarketWatch says The General has summoned its inner Janet and cried, "Gimmie a Beat!" GM has yet to make a formal announcement, but it seems the Chevy Beat is indeed coming to the U.S. market. The broader public will get a really good look at it next Summer in the Transformers sequel, and as was the case with the Camaro, they'll be looking at a car they'll (apparently) be able to buy. If GM is smart, the screen-to-showroom transition won't take two years as it has with Camaro. It seemed a bit dumb that GM chose New York as the launching pad for the Beat and its fellow Triplet concepts, only to say that the car would be a "global" vehicle (read: everywhere but here). Now, it would seem that global really means global. Hey General, it probably wouldn't hurt to make Trax and get your Groove on, too. Thanks for the tip, Matt!


[Sources: MarketWatch, Bloomberg]

Lotus has apparently hired Charlie X as its new director of marketing, and the unlucky sods who were ballsy enough to laugh at his ideas in team meetings have apparently been punished accordingly (as seen at the 40:23 mark here), handed black suits and Lotus pendants, and sent to wander amongst the general public and freak people out. It's all part of the Lotus Eagle's "Faceless People" campaign. If you visit the website, you get a timer counting down to the car's London unveiling, when "true character will emerge." Until then, however, it's more faceless nightmare fodder for British tots.


[Source: Lotus via Jalopnik]

Click above image for a gallery of the new 7

There's a crack in the dam somewhere at BMW, and what certainly appear to be official press shots of the new 2009 7 Series are now making the rounds. This leads us to believe that we should see an official release from the automaker sometime over the weekend (if the way the 1 Series leaks played out is any indication). Obviously, all we have to go on are the photos, so lets talk about what we can see. The new car's lines and overall appearance are remarkably conservative compared to the Bangleized E65/E66 cars we were presented in 2001. The 2006 facelift those cars underwent cured many of those visual ills, and this latest car mainstreams things even further.

Up front, the wide double-kidney grille is flanked by angel-eye lamps that have an "eyebrow" built into their assembly. Move to the rear, and you'll find a pair of somewhat bulbous-looking (in pictures, at least) taillamps that are likely to generate a good amount of for/against chatter. Integrated, parallelogram-shaped exhaust tips poke through the rear bumper of the gold long-wheelbase car, while the darker, diesel-powered standard-length machine has a traditional double-tipped outlet on the driver's side.

The interior sports a new iDrive controller with buttons mounted around it now, and the iDrive onscreen interface itself is new, too. The multifunction steering wheel now has 3 spokes instead of four, and one shot clearly shows BMW's new in-car Internet service onscreen. Finally, the rear-seat entertainment system gets screens on each front seatback instead of the single, low-mount center screen available in the current 7. We're sure there's plenty more to talk about as well. For now, the comment floor is yours, and we expect to be talking about the official details in the coming days. Thanks to all the tipsters!


[Source: 7Post]

How much does color factor into your perception of how loud a car actually is? If a recently-conducted experiment is any indication, it plays a significant part, indeed. Sixteen individuals were told to listen to the sound of a car's engine while being shown photographs of identical cars in red, blue, light green, or dark green. The sounds were played at four different volume levels throughout the testing. The findings showed that the red car was perceived to be louder than the green or blue cars, even if the corresponding sound the others were shown with was of an equal level. This dovetailed with the results of a similar, earlier experiment which demonstrated that people felt red trains were louder than green ones. This is both good news and bad news for car owners. On the plus side, those Borlas you just installed are going to sound even louder (read: better) to folks if your ride's red. Unfortunately, when Officer Friendly pulls you over for having mufflers that are too noisy, good luck convincing him that it's really just his perception and not reality. Thanks for the tip, Buzz!

[Source: Acoustics.org]

Doug Pelmar's 1987 Ford Mustang LX Coupe might have just become our favorite X-Prize competitor. How come? Well, first off, LX Coupes are awesome to begin with, but Mr. Pelmar's is even more special. Rather than neuter his 'Stang in the name of high efficiency, he's gone and created something that should contend in the X-Prize's "Mainstream" category, but would also be right at home on the pages of Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords. The car's engine runs on E85 for emissions purposes and has several modifications that Mr. Pelmar designed (mostly electronics, it seems) allowing it to run much more efficiently -- to the tune of a claimed 80 miles per gallon -- while producing 400 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of torque. He admits that he could squeeze more MPGs out if he dialed back the power some, but where's the fun in that? 80 MPG and 400 horses in a Fox body seems like a completely reasonable compromise to us. Oh, and MM&FF? You need to call this guy.

[Source: Mustang Evolution]

Click above image for a gallery of the Corvette S-Limited

In celebration of GM's 100th Anniversary, GM Asia-Pacific has unveiled the Corvette S-Limited, a 30-car special for the Japanese market. priced at ¥7,980,000. The allotment is split evenly by color -- 15 in Arctic White and 15 in Black. All the cars get the full leather-wrapped interior package; a rear spoiler, mesh grillework , and screened inserts for the side coves and the plate between the exhaust outlets. 'Vettes in Japan are probably scarce enough that they still draw plenty of attention. Hey, in the land where the best-selling car's engine displaces 660cc's, a thundering, 430-horsepower American pushrod that displaces 6.2 liters is always gonna make people look. Appropriately, the Corvette S-Limited officially goes on sale on the Fourth of July.


[Source: GMAP]

Click above image for a gallery of the Yaris 5-door

Small cars are back en vogue thanks to lofty fuel prices. As a result, Toyota is completing is Yaris lineup in the U.S. by finally adding the 5-door liftback to its list of offerings for the 2009 model year. Available in other markets (including Canada) since inception, the 5-door Yaris occupies roughly the same footprint as the 3-door, but is a lot more practical if you're going to be carrying backseat passengers frequently. Its powertrain will mirror the other Yaris offerings, and we're assuming it'll get the optional sport appearance package available on the 3- and 4-doors. Those sport models, by the way, get a new body kit and interior color schemes for MY09. Other '09 changes include the availability of cruise control on the hatch, as well as the addition of standard front side airbags and rear side curtains. Toyota hasn't released pricing or photos of the U.S. spec Yaris 5-door yet. We imagine the former won't stray too far off from the 3-door. In terms of photos, the gallery below shows you the base UK-market 5-door. Move the steering wheel over and you've pretty much got it. At least now when I catch the occasional episode of Psych, I won't be muttering that the blue 5-door Yaris the lead characters drive isn't available in the U.S.


[Source: Toyota]

Click above image for the 2009 Dodge Challenger brochure

In the gallery below, you'll find the full brochure for the 2009 Dodge Challenger, and yeah, there's some good stuff to be found in there. We're particularly fond of the R/T Classic package (above), which gets a coat of B5 Blue, 20" torq-thrust lookalikes, throwback R/T stripes, and the old-school script Challenger badge on the front fender. Unfortunately, while Chrysler was cooking up the retro badging, they neglected to order up some nouveau Fratzogs to really finish off the look, so the Ram-head shield sits on the hood, instead. Too bad. As for the rest of the car? Badass. There are some pretty cool stripe and wheel options to be had regardless of trim level, plus what's sure to be a bevy of aftermarket parts from Mopar and other third parties. Finally, Chrysler's offering a factory R/T Track Pack that, in its most aggressive form, combines the 6-speed Tremec with 20" wheels and a 3.91 rear axle ratio. Bring money for tires. Ford is the king of leveraging its heritage to keep the Mustang interesting. Chrysler has a shot at doing the same thing here with the Challenger. From the looks of things, it's off to a good start. That R/T Classic? Yeah, we could roll like that. Thanks to Challenger64HEMI for the heads-up!


[Source: Flickr user mnhotrod]