The Demo Site

Click above for a gallery of the Daytona Coupe and GT40 MKI

Autofiends scribe and Autoblog Sunday Drive alumni, Jonny Lieberman, is a lucky SOB. Not only did he get the chance to drive the Superformance replica of the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, but he snagged some wheel time in a thoroughly uncivilized MKI GT40 powered by a fuel-injected Roush 427 IR motor... putting out 500 hp... to the wheels. The Daytona Coupe is even more devilishly delectable, with 556 hp and 553 lb.-ft. of torque motivating the 3,000-pound coupe. If there was a recipe for our demise, it would look, sound and drive something like that. Needless to say, we're jealous, but that shouldn't stop you from reading the twofer review and ogling the drool-worthy pics by our very own Drew Phillips.

It looks like Ford got rid of Aston Martin just in time. With sales falling just about everywhere, Aston was hardly immune, so the automaker has announced plans to cut up to 600 jobs in the near future. The company is currently working with its union to cut 300 jobs from both the permanent and temporary worker ranks. Aston Martin joins Bentley which is also making cuts in response to the now official recession that the economy has descended into. Prior to Ford selling off the brand, Aston was believed to have been the only profitable member of the former Premier Automotive Group. With German brands like BMW, Mercedes and Porsche all suffering as well, the big question now is how long will it until we hear about layoffs at Ferrari? Press release below the fold.

Click above for high-res gallery of the Bentley Continental GT Speed

Ever since Bentley came out from under the shadow of Rolls-Royce after the Volkswagen takeover in the late 1990s, the marque has been on a roll. The venerable British brand started getting its first bespoke designs in over half a century, which paid off in a huge spike in sales. After topping 10,000 sales for the first time in 2007, Bentley is feeling the same force of gravity as everyone else (except Audi it seems) this year. So far sales have dropped by 30 percent in 2008 and the Crewe factory has already cut production by 15 percent. Further cuts are likely and Bentley is providing assistance to dealers who have too much inventory. With the situation on Wall Street unlikely to abate anytime soon, it appears that Bentley's 37 U.S. dealers will be feeling the pain for a while longer.

Click above for more shots of the Michelin Active Wheel and the Ventire Volage

Before Michelin began wrapping halos of rubber around the wheels of our cars, the hoops were made completely from wood -- horse and buggy style. That's what we call a serious innovation, and the French tire maker has got plenty of ideas to keep it at the forefront of rolling technology. The latest bit of high-tech kit revolving out of Michelin's design department is known as the Active Wheel system. Two motors, one to propel the car and another for the integrated suspension system, sit inside the hub and allow the entire drivetrain to fit neatly enclosed at each corner.

This innovative design would potentially allow for an amazingly diverse set of platforms that could be engineered to accept the same set of shoes. Depending on the size of the actual Active Wheels used, the technology could be applied to virtually any type of car. With so much going on in just the rolling-stock, it should come as no surprise that Michelin is looking for partners to help offload some of the rest of the car's design and has just signed an agreement with CITIC Guoan Mengguli Corp. in China. Important bits like the lithium-ion battery development will be carried out in China where test-mules equipped with lithium-powered Active Wheels are already running around city streets.

As you read this, there are about 3,000 unionized workers -- down from about 15,000 two years ago -- employed by the Detroit 3 getting paid, despite the fact that they aren't working. While it's nice for America's automakers to have access to a talent-pool of available workers, it's also a major financial drain on an industry that's already reeling from a distinct lack of profits. And with new cutbacks and layoffs being announced almost daily, these "job banks" are increasingly tough to justify, even for the UAW. It's always been a bit of a competitive disadvantage, at least on paper, as non-UAW competitors like Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai do not keep such job banks. To ease Detroit's transition from bloated, money-losing corporations to lean "right-sized" competitors, UAW Prez. Ron Gettelfinger has brought up the job banks and their possible elimination. Will this be a part of the overall plan to become competitive that the Detroit 3 bring to Congress? We'll find out soon enough.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Click above for a gallery of the 2010 Mitsubishi Evolution X FQ400

Autocar snagged a handful of pics and some initial specs of the UK-only Mitsubishi Evolution X FX-400, and as suspected, the hotter Evo is a road-going version of the ADR Motorsport-prepared sedan that successfully campaigned this past September in the 24-Hour Britcar Championship.

The turbocharged 2.0-liter 4B11 will put out approximately 405 hp and 400 lb.-ft. of torque thanks to a new turbo, retuned ECU and center-exit exhaust. As opposed to the outgoing FQ400, the Evo X-based model won't use a race clutch, so puttering around town should be bit more bearable, and due to the FQ400's prodigious output, the twin-clutch SST gearbox - which can't handle more than 331 lb.-ft. of torque - won't be used. Despite this, expect the FQ400 to lay down 0-60 times of around 3.5 seconds, 0.6 seconds faster than the Evo X FQ360.

In addition to six-pot calipers, upgraded brakes and 18-inch wheels, the FQ400 will feature a new aero kit that includes additional cooling intakes, vents, a larger air intake in the hood and ducts cut into the side skirts to aid rear brake cooling. Production will be limited to 100 units, unless demand calls for more, but considering the price - between £45,000 and £50,000, or £14,500 more than the FQ-360 - 100 examples should just about do it.

[Source: Autocar]

The Jaguar XF-R is almost complete, and the house of the saltant feline looks to retain its suite of exceptionally modest modifications for the hottest version of its hottest seller. Outside, the car gets hood vents and larger intakes for better breathing, and a sliver of a trunk spoiler hovering over quad tailpipes out back. Larger wheels wearing lower profile rubber hanging off of a seriously firm suspension will be on the menu, all the better to harness the signature trait of an R car: the 500-horsepower supercharged V8 up front. We'll see it some time next year, our bet is at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

[Source: Global Motors]

Click above for high-res image gallery of our LeMons contender

Not to be confused with the "24 Hours of LeMans" (that zooty French endurance race), the "24 Hours of LeMons" is an event comprised of low-budget $500 race cars (yeah, "lemons"). The so-called "crap-car enduro" has enticed various members of the Autoblog team over the years into covering, and more recently participating, in the event. When asked to join a team for an upcoming race, we knew it was our obligation to go. We now find ourselves booked for the "Thunderhill Arse-Freeze-Apalooza." The event scheduled during last few days of December promises dreadfully cold weather, but plenty of off-beat racing fun. Our six-part weekly series will take you behind the scenes with our new race partners, the "Tinkerbell Rosso" racing team, and their 1996 Crown Victoria "Police Interceptor." The madness begins after the jump.

Little guy Porsche is taking huge swings, and not just at the giant that is Volkswagen. Porsche head Wendelin Wiedeking had fierce Teutonic words for General Motors and Ford, and banks. His Rindfleisch - beef, that is - with U.S. automakers is that, through unsound practices, they have thrown absolutely everything into turmoil. In the words of the Guardian, in fact, they have driven "the industry to the brink of ruin."

Those are big and perhaps hyperbolic words. But he then singles out GM for "openly threatening" the U.S. Government with bankruptcy, and predicts a hedge fund will take control of "one of the U.S. car manufacturers." Since Chrysler is already controlled by a hedge fund, that only leaves GM and Ford as the possible subjects of that comment. We can't imagine a hedge fund trying to swallow GM or Ford, especially after Cerberus has taken such a beating with Chrysler that seemingly all they can say is "Must... find... the exit."

Wiedeking is on more Earthly ground when he talks about the little guys, suppliers, who are quietly going under -- even though many of them ran their business correctly -- due to the banks' refusal to lend money while the clash of automotive titans continues. In a quote that people in many different industries can applaud, he says "We need banks to give credit, not just talk about credit ratings but start real actual lending to companies." Amen. Thanks for the tip, Sonny!

[Source: The Guardian]

The president of the United Auto Workers union, Ron Gettelfinger, said in a recent CNN interview that U.S. automakers need to tell Congress they will limit corporate pay, bonuses and severance packages in return for more government loans. Gettelfinger also said that the Detroit Three only need the loans to hold them over during these tough times. While the first statement from the union's top player seems like basic common sense, the second seems highly optimistic... especially when one considers the size of the industry and the depth of its issues. While no single event (or loan, for that matter) will likely turn around the downslide, all of those affected by the auto industry's potential demise will be interested in tomorrow's events. That's because Dec. 2 is the day House and Senate leaders told the automakers that they need to submit a "credible restructuring plan" that's convincing enough to get Congress to open its wallet when it reconvenes next week.

[Source: Reuters]

Click above for high-res gallery of the BMW X6 XDrive 35i

You know things have gone awry when BMW now offers three different flavors of non-cars, all of them antithetical to the Bavarian brand's classical claim to fame. The X6 is the latest addition to the range, joining the X3 and X5, and BMW is calling it a Sports Activity Coupe, creating an acronym that's oddly prescient for a vehicle that's essentially a post-bris X5. Beyond the looks that are an acquired taste, we wanted to know if there's BMW goodness baked into the X6, so we swiped the keys to an X6 XDrive 35i for a week with the SAC to find out.