This has to be one of the funniest car accessories we’ve ever heard about; developed by “In.Pro.”, the Virtual-Motor system imitates the sounds of an exotic engine and transmits it through the car’s radio speakers. According to the company, all you have to do is remove the car radio from the slot, insert the sound module of the Virtual-Motor into the ISO plug and run the supplied cables to the engine compartment to pick up the rpm-signal. Then you all you need to do is set the individual idle speed.

The system offers you the choice of four different engine sounds: an Italian-V8, a 6-cylinder boxer, an engine of a rallye car or a… formula car. Imagine the surprise of your friend or date if you fit this system on a car like the Smart Fortwo or a Ford Focus! –Continued

Source: LOL! Virtual V8 Engine Sounds From the Car Hi-Fi System!

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GMC has officially unveiled its 2009 Sierra Hybrid pickup truck. The Sierra Hybrid uses the same two-mode hybrid system found in the Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid and improves the trucks city mileage by 40% and overall fuel economy by 25%, all while keeping with GMC's "Professional Grade" mantra.

Despite its hybrid roots, the new Sierra model manages to retain a 6,100-pound (2,767 kg) towing capacity. Of course, when the truck is not hauling a heavy load, it can operate in an electric-only mode up to 30 mph.

The Sierra Hybrid is built around GM's Electrically Variable Transmission (EVT) and 300-volt nickel-metal hydride Energy Storage System (ESS), which are teamed to a regular 6.0-liter V8. Like GM's other V8 offerings, the motor features cylinder deactivation, allowing it to operate in a "V4" mode for improved efficiency when traveling at a steady speed.

With GM's two-mode hybrid system, the electric power used to propel the vehicle is generated by the hybrid system itself. When the brakes are applied or the vehicle is coasting, the electric motors within the hybrid system create electricity that is stored in the 300-volt battery. This stored energy is used to move the vehicle and the regenerative braking cycle is renewed.

The Sierra Hybrid goes on sale in the fourth quarter of 2008. It will be offered in the Crew Cab body style on both 2WD and 4WD models. Each model is equipped with StabiliTrak electronic stability control system, a locking rear axle, and a trailering package. The truck also offers dual-stage frontal air bags and head curtain side air bags.

GM says the Sierra Hybrid is especially quiet running, thanks to an exhaust system and resonator, low-rolling resistance tires, a low-vibration power steering system, and a quieter fan for the Energy Storage System.

The truck also promises a smooth ride, thanks in part to its Z85 suspension and a new hydraulic body mount. Located on the passenger side of the chassis, the hydraulic mount provides improved highway driving smoothness, particularly on rough or choppy road surfaces.

With the fuel savings of the hybrid system and Sierra's 26-gallon (98-liter) fuel tank, the Sierra Hybrid has a cruising range of more than 500 miles (800 km).

Source: 2009 GMC Sierra Hybrid unveiled

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[62 live and press images added] Acura unveiled the new 2009 RL sedan today at the Chicago Auto Show. The design, clearly derivative of the previous model, does feature what Acura calls a "new signature look" to the front fascia. A matte-silver finish wide bar across the grille is repeated at the rear end in a lip that goes across the trunk above the license plate.A lighter finish silver trim surrounds the new grille. The tail lamps combine crystal clear lenses with traditional red.

In-dash technology includes an updated version of Acura's AcuraLink satellite navigation system featuring traffic maps and, new for 2009, weather updates via a map. The weather system, called AcuraLink Weather, receives constantly updated weather information from XM. Acura also promises improved voice recognition.

An all-new 3.7 liter V6 engine highlights performance upgrades. The 300-horsepower, 271 lb-ft. of torque SOHC motor features Honda's VTEC system. The new V6 meets ULEV-2 emissions standards. A five-speed Sequential SportShift automatic transmission is standard. It includes new "smart" F1-style steering wheel-mounted paddles and a new straight-gate console-mounted shift lever.

Suspension modifications and steering upgrades are also included. The RL continues to use Acura's SuperHandling all-wheel-drive. Newly standard for 2009 are 18 inch, seven-spoke alloy wheels wrapped in Michelin tires. They replace 17 inch wheels. Acura says that the 2009 RL will "challenge the most capable German and Japanese sports sedans."

The interior again follows the same basic design themes set by the previous model. A new Active Sound Control noise abatement system is standard. Perforated, heated and ventilated seats are standard and, for 2009, both front seats feature 10-way power adjustability.

On the safety front, active head restraints are also newly standard.

Official Images

Live Photos

Source: 2009 Acura RL unveiled

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GM has released pictures of the new Chevrolet Outlook Traverse, set to start production this fall. In a press release, Chevy GM Ed Peper dismissed charges that Chevy's take on the Lambda platform should have been the first out of the box, rather than the last. (Never mind the only.) "We think the Traverse is the right vehicle at the right time." The new-ish CUV features styling cues "inspired by the acclaimed '08 Chevy Malibu." It comes in three trim levels (cheap, not so cheap and livable) and FWD or AWD variations. Chevy's offering a full complement of "amenities" to "enhance the driving experience for the driver and passengers alike" (how passengers could have an enhanced "driving experience" is a question left unanswered). The important thing is this: "the Traverse is following the formula that is bringing Chevy back to a new generation of consumers - great styling, loads of class-leading features and tremendous value." That's one way to describe a badge-engineered Chevy that will cannibalize sales from GM's other divisions. If the Saturn Outlook was doomed before, it's doomederer now. And the final indignity? The Traverse will hail from Saturn's Spring Hill factory, where the "different kind of car company was born."  

GM Press Release »

Source: Chevy’s Outlook: Time to Traverse

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Even before 2008 arrived, industry experts were predicting a bad, bad thing. So far, they haven't been disappointed. While January tends to be a low sales month, as everyone tries to recover from holiday overindulgence, this January was worse than expected. There were a few inexplicable bright spots (*cough* channel stuffing *cough* dealer fleet sales *cough*). Sales of the Dodge Caliber (up 25.5 percent over last January), Ford Focus (up 44.4 percent), Buick LaCrosse (up 69.3 percent) and Chevy Cobalt (up 32.9 percent) all shot up. But these four-wheeled anomalies weren't enough to salvage the month. Let's break it down… 

You'll notice we've made a few changes in the models we're tracking. Last year, we didn't include Honda because they didn't offer models in all our categories. This year we said "what the Hell" and added the Accord and Pilot to the passenger car and CUV categories. With a new crop of CUVs available, we dropped the hoary Chevrolet Equinox and DNR Chrysler Pacifica and added the ascendant GMC Acadia. We'd like to track GM's hybrid sales but, for some reason, they don't break them out of the totals. So the Toyota Prius will be our hybrid bellwether.

Pickup Trucks

As gas prices keep going up, pickup sales keep going down. The Chevrolet Silverado was down 5.9 percent from last January. The lame duck Ford F-Series continued its downward trend, ending the month 8.4 percent lower than the same month in 07. The lame lamb Dodge Ram plummeted 18.4%. The Toyota Tundra showed a 91 percent increase, but that's because the previous model was winding down in January last year. 

Passenger Cars

Instead of the Chevrolet Impala, this year we'll be tracking the new Malibu. Initial sales numbers are strong; sales are 57.9 percent above last January. Chrysler's 300 continues on slippin', slippin'; shedding 9.7 percent from last year's total. Ford Fusion sales were uncharacteristically low, dropping 12.8 percent. Camry held steady, showing a 0.4 percent increase. The Honda Accord's redesign hasn't helped it much so far; sales are down 6.8 percent from the same month last year. 

Truck-based SUVs

The mass exodus from massive SUVs continues. Chevrolet Tahoe sales dropped 12.1% from last January. The Ford Explorer ended the month 18.7 percent lower. The Dodge Durango took it on the chin, tumbling a jaw-dropping 32.8 percent. Instead of tracking 4Runner this year, we'll see if Toyota's redesign has any effect on Sequoia's numbers. For now it seems to be working. The Sequoia finished the month 15.5 percent ahead of last January.

CUVs

The current CUV poster child, the GMC Acadia, is up 335 percent from last January. That's not quite as startling as it seems. The model was introduced in January '07; production had just begun. The Ford Edge has edged the Ford Escape out of our charts. The Edge is up 94.9 percent for the same reason as Acadia. Toyota recently redesigned the Highlander, so we'll follow it instead of RAV-4. As the newish Highlander was up 19.4 percent from last January, the redesign was a good thing. Will it have legs? Honda's Pilot may not. It makes a less-than-spectacular debut on our charts, finishing the month 10.7 percent below last year's sales totals.

Prius

Is the hybrid boom going to go bust? If you assume that the Prius IS the hybrid boom– a fair assumption considering that the gas-electric sedan has no real sales competition– we're still booming. The Prius gained a whopping 37.1 percent over last January's totals. Whether sales will continue to grow remains to be seen, but this is one of the few models that's helped by rising gas prices. 

Total Sales

Anyone who looked at the business page or any automotive publication knows GM finished in the black in what was an otherwise dismal month. GM's sales were up 2.6 percent over last January's, but it must be remembered that last January was horrific for The General. Ford was down 3.9 percent and Toyota and Honda were both down 2.3 percent. Chrysler really took another head shot, starting the year 12.1 percent below last year.  

The Future

GM and Ford analysts have pretty much written off financial quarters one through three. And for good reasons: a moribund housing market killing consumer confidence, the possibility of widespread car loan defaults, rising subprime interest rates tightening consumer credit, bankrupt suppliers, rising production costs, rising gas prices and changing markets. Now more than ever, survival of the fittest are the industry watchwords. And watch we will. 

Source: By The Numbers January ‘08: A Not-So-Happy New Year

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Sebastian Blanco
Filed under: Ethanol, Africa

I’m pretty sure this is AutoblogGreen’s first story about Guinea Bissau, the small west African country. An official in that country’s Defense Ministry said last week that Guinea Bissau Armed Forces has a plan to make ethanol “within a few years” through a military program. In the short posting of this news over on Macauhub there is no mention of the feedstock that the ethanol will be made from. Instead, the article mentions why the military would be involved in growing crops for biofuel: too many members of the armed forces. The Guinea Bissau military apparently has 3,000 too many staff that can be ordered to grow fuel (and raise cattle). The Defense Ministry’s production, modernization and social action department is responsible for the program.

[Source: Macauhub]

Source: Guinea Bissau’s excess military staff will grow crops, produce ethanol

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Sebastian Blanco
Filed under: MPG, Green Daily

I’m not quite sure why I put “likely” in the headline to this post. I can’t think of any scenario where the ultra-cheap Tata Nano sells millions of units in India and China and other “developing” countries but doesn’t have an effect on gas prices in the rest of the world. I mean, if a million more people need to buy gas (or more gas, if they’re used to scooters) to get around, that’s a lot less gas that’s available to the people who use it today, no?

This possibility is the subject of a CNN story that quotes oil analyst Peter Beutel as saying that, “We’ll get into a situation where we’ll have to compete with them for gasoline, $4, $5 a gallon, who knows how high we could go.” Beutel’s estimate is that $4 or $5 gallons of gasoline could come to the U.S. much sooner than 2015. Considering that the 50+mpg Nano is kind of a gateway car and that larger, thirstier vehicles will be offered to the people who use then outgrow the Nano, then what?

Related:

• VIDEO: Live reveal of the $2,500 Tata Nano
• Here’s the $2,500 Tata Nano, the Indian peoples car

[Source: CNN via Autoblog]

Source: If successful, the Tata Nano will likely push up gas prices

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By Bill Visnic

General Motors Corp.’s announcement this week of a large investment to produce a new variant of its largest diesel engine, one that complies with emissions standards in all 50 states, likely foretells of GM’s plan to use the engine for the Chevrolet Suburban SUV, in addition to other large SUVs, pickups and vans already using the current 6.6-liter Duramax diesel V8.

Currently, even the largest versions of the Suburban have made due with GM’s gasoline 6-liter V8. The gasoline-engine Suburban 2500’s 12 mpg city and 17 mpg highway fuel-economy ratings appear to be an increasing liability, however – one diesel power could help to alleviate.

But there’s a new complication: current federal Tier II emissions standards created a new category of vehicles – Medium Duty Passenger Vehicles – that beginning in 2009 must meet the same emissions standards as every other passenger vehicle on the road.

The MDPV category snares vehicles – such as the Suburban 2500, the Hummer H2 and full-size passenger vans, to name a few – that previously used to thunder through a loophole that allowed vehicles of more than 8,500 lbs. gross vehicle weight (GVWR) to bypass emissions compliance.

It was long assumed vehicles of more than 8,500 lbs. GVWR (the combined weight of the vehicle and its maximum amount of passengers and cargo) were used for “work” or business purposes, but vehicles such as the largest Suburbans and the Hummer H2 (and former competitors such as Ford’s now-dead Excursion), which exceed the 8,500-lb. threshold, are primary used for personal transportation.

Beginning in 2009, all “passenger” vehicles with GVWR between 8,500 lbs. and 10,000 lbs. are covered by the new MDPV classification – meaning they must comply with the same federal and California emissions standards as every other light-duty vehicle. Many of GM’s largest trucks and SUVs, which currently use the Duramax diesel, will be classified as MDPVs and face emissions compliance.

Thus GM’s announcement that it is investing $69 million in the Duramax diesel-engine plant in Moraine, OH, to produce the next-generation of the engine that will allow vehicles it powers to meet light-vehicle emissions standards in all 50 states. The nationwide compliance is particularly difficult for diesels, which produce excess oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions. Many automakers planning to launch diesel-powered vehicles will use the same NOx-reducing system GM plans for the Duramax: so-called selective catalytic reduction, which injects a urea solution in the exhaust stream to cut NOx to Tier II- and California LEV 2-acceptable levels.

The new emissions-compliant Duramax, coming in 2010, says GM, will be required to allow the company to continue selling its full-size passenger vans – which will be classified as MDPVs – in all 50 states, although the’09 model year could be skipped until the new Duramax is ready. Duramax-powered Chevrolet and GMC 2500HD pickups also would be 50-state legal, although those models may continue to be permitted to comply with less-stringent heavy-duty diesel emissions regulations if they are not deemed “passenger” vehicles.

Most important, however, the new Duramax would make possible diesel- powered variants of the largest Suburbans, as well as the Hummer H2, which currently has a GVWR of 8,600 lbs. – and diesel power could markedly improve these vehicles’ real-world fuel economy.

GM currently is working on an innovatively designed diesel V8 earmarked for light-duty vehicles, starting with its full-size pickups) in 2010, but that unit, at 4.5-liters, presumably would not be powerful enough for vehicles in the MDPV category. GM sources have insinuated the smaller 4.5-liter diesel, installed in a diesel-powered Suburban unveiled at SEMA last year, could be used in any number of trucks, SUVs and crossovers – even passenger cars – as it was designed to fit in the same space as today’s gasoline V8s.

Photos by GM

1 - GM Powertrain Vice President Global Manufacturing John Buttermore (left to right), Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, DMAX HR Director Rod Kirkham and DMAX CEO Maho Mitsuya stand with the new Duramax 6.6-liter V-8 turbo diesel engine after GM announced its investment in Ohio to produce new diesel engines.

2 - Ohio Governor Ted Strickland comments on GM’s announcement of a $69 million investment in the Moraine , OH DMAX plant to manufacture new diesel engines. Seated in the rear are (left to right)  GM Powertrain Vice President Global Manufacturing John Buttermore, IUE President Jim Clark, DAMX CEO Maho Mitsuya and Congressman Mike Turner.

3 - GM’s Suburbans would benefit from diesel power to improve their 12 mpg city and 17 mpg highway fuel economy, but would require the new diesel GM will produce in 2010 to meet 50-state emissions standards.

Source: GM Duramax Investment Presages Diesel Power for Suburban, Hummer

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Finally, after God knows how many spy shots and leaks, Dodge unleashed official details and images of the Challenger coupe that will make it first public appearance at the Chicago Auto Show. We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again; while we like the Challenger’s retro-penned exterior the interior looks somewhat tacky -to say the least. But, you can’t have it all.

Initially, the Challenger will be available in a limited edition SRT8 version that’s powered by Chrysler’s 6.1-liter V8 Hemi (425 HP and 420 lb.-ft. of torque) mated to a 5-speed automatic transmission with AutoStick.

According to Dodge, performance targets include a 0-60 mph (96 km/h) time in the low 5-second range, 0-100-0 mph in less than 17 seconds, a ¼-mile elapsed time of less than 14 seconds, 60-0 mph braking distance of approximately 100 feet, and a skid pad performance of 0.88 g. Set to go on sale this spring, the Challenger SRT8 will carry an MSRP of $37,995. –Details and high-res pics after the jump