The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon took the world by storm with its 840-horsepower Hemi V8. But the Demon was never intended to be more than a limited edition car on the lineup, and now the last one has rolled off the assembly line. The last Demon will be auctioned off with the last Dodge Viper in a promotion appropriately named The Ultimate Last …
Ford Announces End of Fusion, Taurus, C-Max to Focus on SUV’s and Trucks
Just two years from now, a mere 10 percent of the vehicles rolling off Ford assembly lines and into North American showrooms will be sedans and sports cars like the Focus or Mustang. The rest will be pickups, SUVs and commercial vehicles — more lucrative models that the company hopes will secure its future as change tears through the global auto industry. …
Now California’s DMV can allow fully driverless car testing
Automakers can now start testing fully driverless cars on California’s roads, despite recent crashes in California and Arizona involving autonomous driving technology. According to the state DMV’s new regulations that became effective on April 2nd, it can now issue three types of autonomous vehicle testing permits. The first kind is the original one it approved years ago, which needs a driver behind the wheel, …
FordPass dongle adds LTE, WiFi and app control to older cars
One aftermarket solution that makes older cars a little bit smarter is a dongle that plugs into the car’s onboard diagnostics, or OBD, port. Last January, Ford introduced a new gadget it would test in a pilot program that added connected functionality to older cars, the SmartLink. It functions as a 4G WiFi hotspot, adds an LTE hot spot, gives the driver access to information …
Hyundai’s Kona Electric SUV boasts a 292-mile range
Hyundai’s newly bolstered EV strategy might be off to a good start. It just unveiled the Kona Electric, an adaptation of its crossover SUV that promises to combine both ample space with meaningful performance. The less expensive variant will pack a 133-horsepower, 291-pound-foot electric motor mated to a 39.2-kWh lithium ion battery, which Hyundai estimates will provide for 186 miles of range by European measurements …
BMW Store Design Competition Stirs Interest in Accessories
Patrick Womack, the general manager of a BMW dealership in suburban Chicago, has long been a fan of the BMW Art Cars painted by celebrated artists such as Andy Warhol. So when a dealer friend approached him about entering a BMW aftersales contest, he decided to get creative. Laurel BMW of Westmont’s M2 Art Wrap design competition was born. The …
How Self-Driving and Electric Cars Will Solve Some Annoying Problems
Electric cars, robo taxis and self-driving trucks are coming and possibly sooner than you think. Limited tests of driverless cars are already happening today and they could be in use everywhere within six years. A change on that scale would reach far beyond the automotive industry to upend businesses, transform our daily lifestyles and reshape cities around the world. Even if the …
Ventura County Old Car Buyback Program Renewed for 2018
The Ventura County Air Pollution Control District has renewed its Old Car Buy Back Program that will pay county residents to scrap their 1997 or older vehicles to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases in the area. The program is sponsored by your local Air Quality Management District or Air Pollution Control District. This Voluntary Accelerated Vehicle Retirement (VAVR) Program is …
2018 Dodge Demon Transformation
We recently had the pleasure of working on this 2018 Dodge Demon SRT to make her stand out even more. The Demon comes with a 6.2 liter V8 supercharged engine that cranks out 808hp. Dodge will reportedly only produce 3,000 Dodge Demon SRTs for the US market and 300 for Canada. Dodge has been toting the Demon as the first …
Automakers question Calif. zero-emission mandate as feds reassess mpg rules
Automakers appeared to make another move on Tuesday in their campaign to relax tailpipe emissions standards, arguing in testimony before a U.S. House panel that California’s zero-emissions vehicle mandate undermines the goal of a single national standard for fuel economy. Under a graduated California law, 15 percent of new vehicles sold in the state must be powered by zero-emission powertrains …