Autoblog

Cars.com has updated its American Made Index, and the list has flip-flopped some models right off, while others have hopped onto the top ten. Cars.com uses the parts origin information from the window sticker, along with the location the vehicle is manufacture at and sales numbers to determine which vehicles have the most US-based content. Ford's F150 and Explorer are the chocolate wafer to the rest of the list's cream filling, sandwiching everyone else between their respective #1 and #10 rankings. General Motors has the most vehicles in the top ten list, with the quartet of Cobalt, Malibu, G6, and Silverado 1500. Not surprisingly, Toyota's Tundra, built in Indiana and Texas, makes the grade at #5. Chrysler's Sebring is that company's only placing on the list, though even the same generation of a particular model can place high one year and fall off the next as automakers juggle OEMs and running changes. If sales of light trucks continue their precipitous fall, the AMI may look radically different the next time around. Four of the ten are body-on-frame trucks, and there's also a pair of minivans, all set to suffer in sales as buyers start to move en masse to more efficient vehicles.

[Source: Cars.com]

Click on the image for more high-res shots of the Night Rod Special

As you may have noticed, we've been featuring more two-wheeled content lately as interest in motorcycles and scooters has risen rather dramatically along with the increase in fuel prices. While we can appreciate the reduced cost of operation that sometimes goes along with choosing a motorcycle over four-wheeled transport, the enjoyment some of us get from bikes easily eclipses our desire to save at the pump. After all, this particular blogger has been riding since the days of buck-a-gallon gas. Still, the growing trend of drivers dropping half their wheels in the name of gas conservation deserves close examination and has even caught the attention of Consumer Reports. In fact, a recent survey conducted by the group has found that a staggering 26-percent of respondents have considered downsizing from four wheels to two. According to CR, their team is intently studying this two-wheeled phenomenon in an effort to become acquainted with the products on the market, how often they are ridden and the newly-found fuel savings of their riders.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

This Independence Day might be the time for waving the red, white, and blue, but GM wants to nab some green, too. The automaker is extending its 0-percent financing sale, which it kicked off on June 24th as the "72-hour sale," until July 7th. The extension of the special financing offer allows dealers to capitalize on the increased floor traffic that GM's advertising onslaught generated. The sale and advertising frequency get people in the door, but many car buyers hem and haw, making it tough to close a deal in just a week's time. The extension gives salespeople a reason to ring up prospects and offer them the sweetest deal they can muster on a new General Motors vehicle. While we'd love to get a C6 Corvette for $20,000 off invoice and 0 percent terms on the loan, our blogging income likely supports a Certified Used vehicle instead. On that end, GM is also offering financing between 2.9 and 4.9 percent on a raft of used models like the Impala, Malibu, Envoy, G6, and Lacrosse. These are the most favorable terms you're likely to ever find, until someone starts desperately handing out -1% financing whereupon they pay you to take the car.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req'd]

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Artega GT

As production ramps up on the impossibly gorgeous Artega GT, parent company Paragon has announced that the compact sportscar will sell for €74,983 across the pond. The pricing makes it compelling competition for a well-equipped (and similarly proportioned) Porsche Cayman S. As we previously reported, final assembly is scheduled to begin this summer at a rate of two per day, ramping up to 20 per week for a total production run of just 500 vehicles.

Among those will be a right-hand-drive model for the UK market, as Artega establishes a British dealer base. The vehicle initially unveiled as a concept in Geneva 2007 and in production form a year later is powered by a mid-mounted, Volkswagen-sourced 3.6-liter V6 coupled to a DSG transmission. 300 horsepower driving the rear wheels is all that's needed to propel the Fisker-designed (think BMW Z8 and a handful of Aston Martins along with his own line of coach-built SLs and M6s and the Karma hybrid super-sedan) to 100 km/h (62 mph) in less than five seconds.

We're still waiting to see if Artega will go through the pains of homologating the GT for the U.S. market, but a convertible version is said to be in the works. Until then, we invite you to feast your eyes on the images in the galleries below.

[Source: AutoBild via eurocarblog]

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]

All of the clean new vehicles in the world won't amount to much if they don't replace the older, dirtier fleet of cars currently on the roads. For this reason, some U.S. states are beginning to offer programs which pay drivers to turn in their old clunkers for new, cleaner cars and trucks. In Texas, for instance, up to $3,500 is available to qualifying families which earn less than $63,000 per year in combined income and own a vehicle which fails current emissions testing. Texas was able to retire 11,000 vehicles last year alone by using this cash-based incentive. California too has begun offering a similar program, and though its $1,500 offer is a bit less generous, that state has no income restrictions.

Even our neighbors up north have plans to reduce their older vehicle fleet by one-percent starting January 1st of next year. Canada's plan would offer drivers either $300 towards a new vehicle, a discount bicycle or a bus pass, which seems a bit suck-tastic next to the program in Texas.

[Source: The Detroit News]

As of January 1, 2009, all vehicles sold in California will be required to display a window sticker that rates the "environmental performance" of the new car or truck. Initiated by the California EPA Air Resources Board (CARB), the label is designed to "...arm consumers with the information they need to choose a vehicle that saves gas, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and helps fight smog all at once." Each vehicle will receive two different scores. The first will be a "Global Warming Score" based on greenhouse gas emissions from operating the vehicle and fuel production. The second score will be a "Smog Score" that is determined by the smog-forming emissions from operating the vehicle. The scale, based on a 1-10 rating, allows consumers to see how their vehicle fares when compared to other vehicles in the class. Like the new governmental crash test data now displayed on new car windows, the disclosure will be effective on two fronts: it will educate concerned buyers, and unofficially call-out those manufacturers that fall below the average. In this environmentally-conscience environment, there is nothing quite as effective as public shame...

[Source: The Detroit News]

While high gas prices have had less of an effect on Japanese automakers than their American counterparts, the soaring price of commodities like steel have stung just as badly. Toyota is considering raising the prices of its vehicles in response to those higher commodity prices, at least in its home market. The Toyota elite will make a decision after pouring over April-June sales data and 2nd quarter production costs. The news comes only days after Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn suggested that Nissan would raise its prices in Japan if a market leader decided to do the same. Toyota executives did not mention raising the price of its own cars and trucks here in the States, but add rising inflation and a weak dollar to high steel prices and the move seems very likely.

[Source: Reuters, Photo by YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty ]

Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2009 Nissan GT-R in action

For the lucky 1,700+ people who have already preordered their 2009 Nissan GT-R, the wait is about to end. On Monday, July 7th, Nissan will begin delivering its first allocation of GT-Rs for the U.S. market to dealers. According to a Nissan spokesperson, the 70-percent preorder rate for the GT-R exceeded the automaker's expectations, and we somehow doubt Nissan will have a hard time finding buyers for the remaining 30 percent.

Pricing for the GT-R remains the same, with the base model coming in at $69,850 and the premium model listed at $71,900. Destination and handling costs amount to $1,000 and the only options available on the 2009 model are an iPod converter ($360), GT-R floor mats ($280) and the "Super Silver" special paint ($3,000). Make the jump for the press release.

Click above for high-res gallery of the 2009 Chevy Traverse

The fourth addition to General Motors' lineup of Lambda CUVs, the 2009 Chevy Traverse, has officially been priced from $28,990, which includes a $735 destination charge. As with most Chevy models, the Traverse can be had in LS, LT and LTZ models. It will be the first and only Lambda CUV to be equipped with the direct-inject version of GM's 3.6L V6, which must irritate Buick Enclave owners who have paid a lot more for their Lambda sans DI, that will be mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. The 3.6L DI V6 produces 288 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque in the Traverse, and can power the front wheels or all four in AWD models. The Traverse can also carry eight people if you opt for the second-row bench, though we imagine those several passengers stuffed in the way back will not be your friends anymore upon arrival. Unfortunately, Chevy has not released any more detailed pricing information, so we can't say just how expensive the 2009 Traverse can get if you load it up an LTZ model with all of the bells and whistles. Regardless, with the best engine among all the Lambda CUVs, it'd be our choice of the lot.


[Source: GM]