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And This Time, It's Personal



In order to understand this review of the 2012 Hyundai Veloster, you first need to understand a bit about me. I'm a mid-twenty-something urbanite. My closet is full of obscure band t-shirts, striped hooded sweatshirts and Converse. My black-framed glasses match my messy dyed black hair. I go to a lot of concerts starring bands you've never heard of, I drink Pabst Blue Ribbon at dive bars that I 'check in' to on Facebook. Every photo I take has an Instagram filter. My Twitter feed is one big sarcastic abyss.

I'll sheepishly admit to being sort of a hipster, only without the Arcade Fire shirt and stupid mustache.

More to the point, I look like I stepped right out of a commercial for the Hyundai Veloster. All of the smiling, energetic folks pictured in the brochure at the dealership? They could pass as my friends.

It's no secret that Hyundai's new hatch is aimed squarely at my demographic – the always-connected scenester who works hard and plays harder. But does this new Veloster adequately meet the demands of my lifestyle? Forget about the fact that I'm an enthusiast first and a consumer second. If I had to go out and buy a new car tomorrow, would the Hyundai dealership be my destination?

When Chrysler showed off the new SRT Viper logo earlier this week, something struck us as odd. It looked familiar. A little too familiar. And not just in the Cobra Command way.

It took until this morning and a tip from our friend John to make the connection. Look at the new Viper logo, then look at the Flying Lizard Motorsports on the right. Coincidence? Surely. But still, there's got to be more than one way to draw a nice asp...

You wouldn't expect something called the Roadyacht to weigh as little as 1,030 kilos (2,270 pounds), but that's the curb weight that niche Dutch automaker Savage Rivale is claiming for its new GTR racing model. Couple that with between 700 and 800 horsepower, and what started out as a boulevard cruiser is shaping up as a serious performance machine.

That boulevard cruiser, as you may recall, is the Savage Rivale Roadyacht GTS, a four-door exotic hardtop convertible, which in roadgoing spec is already pegged to pack 600 horsepower from its Chevrolet Corvette Z06-sourced 7.0-liter V8.

The GTR packs an extra one or two hundred horses (this time from a turbocharged 6.2-liter V8), and while its creators were initially hoping to claim the Nürburgring lap record for four-doors, that the racing model has just two doors – and makes no such claim – leaves us wondering where the plans changed.

The finished product is set to make the mid-April trip from The Hague to Monte Carlo for the Top Marques Monaco show, after which no more than 69 examples will be made available at €141,250 (before taxes, or roughly $185k) – which is significantly less than the €257,000 sticker price originally forecasted for the street version (around $335k). Follow the jump for the brief announcement and full specifications, and scope out the high-res images in the gallery for a closer look.

Toyota can attribute much of its uptick in sales last month to fleets. While the automaker saw its sales leap by 7.5 percent compared to a year earlier, Newsday.com reports Toyota sold 47 percent more cars and trucks to fleet customers in the U.S. than in January 2011. Without the fleet sales, the improvement would have been less than one percent. All told, rental companies accounted for 93 percent of the automaker's fleet sales in January, with the remainder going to other organizations.

Toyota and other Japanese automakers have always been reticent to embrace fleet sales. Doing so is not only generally less profitable than individual consumer sales, but can also lead to degraded brand image and resale value. Last month, Ford was cited for having 45 percent of the company's Focus going toward fleets.

Toyota, meanwhile, says the news isn't the start of a trend. When Toyota factories were hobbled by earthquake and tsunami activity in Japan last year, the automaker put a stop to fleet sales altogether to keep its dealerships fed. According to Bob Carter, Toyota U.S. sales chief, the company promised to make up deliveries to its fleet customers, and January represents the automaker fulfilling that promise. Carter also said that while fleet sales will be high once again in February, things should return to normal once again in March.

Ready or not, here comes Transformers 4. The Huffington Post reports that Transformers directory Michael Bay has signed a contract with Paramount Pictures to extend the money-minting movie franchise. Yeah, we know. Most everyone says the movies are terrible, with the exception of some eye-popping (yet very overdone) CGI.

It's hard to blame Paramount or Bay for going back to the well for more Autobot love. After all, the movies gross hundreds of millions of dollars, which makes us think that at least some of you are ponying up at the local movie theater.

As for Shia LaBeouf and the rest of the Transformers cast, word is that they will not be back for movie number four. But you can bet that Bumblebee, Optimus and the remaining cast of bad guys will be back. Bay claims the movie will hit the big screen on June 29, 2014, but there is no script at this point. Many will no doubt debate that there will be no script on June 30, 2014, either.

General Motors today reported its earnings for last year and the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011. The automaker's profits for 2011 totaled $7.6 billion, up from $4.7 billion in 2010.

While the news was excellent for the full year, fourth quarter net income was only $472 million, or about the same as Q4 2010. While that makes eight straight quarters of positive numbers since the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2009, the earnings were weighed down by losses of $562 million in Europe from GM's Opel subsidiary.

There were also a number of one-time events that affected earnings in the fourth quarter, without which GM's profit would've nearly doubled to $900 million.

Still, the company counts 2011 as a successful year, and the stats tend to agree. TrueCar.com reports that GM increased its sales by over 13 percent, increased market share by half a point, grew average transaction prices by over $1,100 and lowered incentive spending by five percent. Based on that performance, all 47,500 hourly employees will receive profit sharing checks of up to $7,000. Check out The General's official press release after the jump.

Don't call it the Cajun anymore. Porsche has officially announced the company's upcoming small sport utility vehicle will be called the Macan. As with the vehicle's larger brother, the Cayenne, the Porsche Macan will blend the seemingly incongruous worlds of tall-riding off roaders and low-slung sports cars with performance to match.

The Macan is the latest effort in Porsche's plan to expand its portfolio by 2018. While true purists may once again cry foul at the notion of another non-sports car with the Porsche shield on the hood, something tells us this Porsche will meet with far less skepticism this time around. The Cayenne and the Panamera have proven Porsche can successfully expand into segments beyond sports coupes without sacrificing its core principles. The Macan is likely to toe that line as well.

From what we've seen, the Macan will arrive on the same chassis as the Audi Q5, though with suspension, brake and engine tweaks suitable to the Porsche range. Rumors have also hinted toward both hybrid and three-door iterations as well.

The automotive world has been mistakenly calling the upcoming baby Porsche the Cajun for more than a year after Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn mentioned the name in an interview. Click past the jump for the full press release on the Macan name, as well as a quick introductory video.

Subaru Canada ran a contest with the artist web site deviantART to see how wild imaginations would treat the theme of Driving Confidence. For three weeks, creators in any medium were asked to upload "original creations that celebrate the bold design, superior handling, and meticulous engineering that Subaru vehicles are renowned for."

The contest specifically instructed artists to "push your creativity to the limit," which is why there are plenty of images out of our species and galaxy. The first place winner (pictured) won $2,500 for "Born to Rally in the Snow," the second place getter got $1,000 for "Unleash the Beast," third place took $500 for "Subaru Slot Car Set," and the runner-up was "Subaru Impreza WRC Rally 'The Pass 2'."

All of the entries are on display now in a "space-defying gallery" in Subaru's booth at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toroto, and in our gallery of high-res images.

There are two additional performance versions of the Renault Twingo joining the base model introduced earlier this year: the Twingo R.S. and Twingo Gordini R.S. They are set apart from the donor hatch by a lower bumper element meant to mimic the nose of an F1 car (Mercedes-Benz once did something similar with its sporty cars). The rear bumper is also reshaped, getting a diffuser and "aerodynamic extensions," and the tailgate is topped by a spoiler.

Flared wheel arches set the tone along the flanks of the R.S., but the optional Design Package and 16-inch wheels add contrasting accents, and the Gordini R.S. swaps for 17-inch diamond-effect black rims. Yellow stitching, white and gloss-black inserts highlight the interior, and an optional telemetry system called R.S. Monitor can highlight your driving. Under the hood is the familiar 1.6-liter four-cylinder with 133 horsepower.

Both machines go on sale this month in France and will roll out 19 other countries in March, the U.S. not among them. The Twingo R.S. will require €16,900 ($22,187 U.S.) of your hard-earned cash in France, while the top-flite Gordini R.S. needs €18,100 ($23,762 U.S.). Follow the jump for the press release and more info.

Pitting the Nissan GT-R against the all-new BMW M5 is ridiculous. They're two different beasts in two different classes with two different purposes. It's a cynical, SEO-optimized comparison. And even worse, it's already been done. But...

We can't help but post on it. Not because it's clicky or that a few of us have man-crushes on Chris Harris. No. It's because watching the two cars being flogged back-to-back on a damp circuit demonstrates how technologically sophisticated each one is and how they go about putting the power down so differently. You can actually see the GT-R – traction control switched off – trying to right itself as Harris flings it sideways, while the M5 slackens and goes neutral while the turbocharged eight responds like a naturally aspirated mill.

Scary with a capital "F?" Indeed. But just as educating as it is entertaining. See for yourself below the fold.

BMW apparently set a precedent when it teased its trio of M-fettled diesels. That video showed a speeding X6 with all the tell-tale bits of kit blurred out. Now, BMW is ready to give us a taste of its new 1 Series fitted with an assortment of M Performance baubles and it's taking a similar tact to tease us.

In the video after the jump you'll see the 2012 BMW 1 Series hatch running around the paddock and the track with all the "important" M stuff – fascias, mirrors, etc. – strategically blurred out.

Like the M diesels, we're hoping this is more than just an assortment of tacked-on body mods and more of a comprehensive, factory-approved upgrade path. We'll find out soon enough, as there's a solid change we'll see the M Performance 1 Series in Geneva next month.

The Cadillac CTS has always been a bit of a anomaly in the luxury segment, spanning the space between the entry-level BMW 3 Series/Mercedes-Benz C-Class/Audi A4 and mid-size 5 Series/E-Class/A6. But with the introduction of the 2013 Cadillac ATS, the CTS has room to grow, and based on these first set of spy shots, it's doing just that.

Based off a stretched version of the Alpha platform that's underpinning its smaller sibling, the 2014 CTS' wheelbase is likely to grow a few inches, affording rear seat passengers up to 40 inches of leg room. While the front overhangs are still short and will continue on with Cadillac's Art and Science design motif with angular headlamps that stretch up the front fenders, the rear will likely extend a bit further back, maximizing trunk room in the process.

It's expected that the base engine will continue to be a V6, but churning out something in the neighborhood of 350 horsepower, possibly through the use of forced induction. The current six-speed automatic will likely be swapped in favor of a new eight-speed auto 'box to keep up with the rest of the luxury set.

If we had to place bets, we'd put our money on the 2014 CTS debuting at the Detroit Auto Show next year, with sales beginning late in 2013.

Engines keep getting smaller, but that doesn't mean they're getting weaker. Case in point: Ford, which is developing a new 2.3-liter four with turbocharging and direct injection. It's rumored to go into the Mustang in a couple of years, but sources from across the pond (read: Hot Hatch country) expect it to power the next Focus RS.

The engine would crank out at least 320 horsepower, and replace the 2.5-liter inline-five that Ford borrowed from Volvo (from which it has since divested) for the previous Focus RS. If you're worried that a turbo four would lack the roar of the previous five, Ford is reportedly preparing to equip the new Focus RS with active noise cancellation and pipe in sound to replace it.

Ford is reportedly ruling out the all-wheel drive you'd expect from other hot hatches like the Subaru WRX or Volkswagen Golf R, due to high weight and cost, in favor of the RevoKnuckle torque-steer compensation system found in the previous Focus RS, and similar to the systems used in the Renaultsport Megane and Vauxhall Astra VXR.

Since the new Focus has yet to appear in any form other than four-door sedan, five-door wagon or five-door hatch, Top Gear expects the new Focus RS to pack five doors where the previous model had three.

Cars get their names from a wide variety of sources: animals, places, the founders of the company that makes them... Some, of course, have completely meaningless names concocted by marketing departments, or bear alphanumeric codes that show where they stand in the company's line-up. But this car was named for a king.

The young King Alfonso XIII of Spain was an early gentleman driver, motoring enthusiast and patron of Hispano-Suiza. He was such a fan, in fact, that he owned a good 30 of them, and drove them around Europe. The company, honored by his patronage, named its Type 15T in his honor: Type Alfonso XIII.

Few such examples, rare as they are, ever change hands, but the example you see here is destined for the auction block when RM Auctions sets up shop March 10 at Amelia Island. This 1913 model – chassis # 718 – is one of only four built, and packs a 3.6-liter inline four with 64 horsepower – not much by today's standards, but a veritable supercar in its time, capable of hitting a top speed of 80 miles an hour. It's also got more patina to it than an antique shop, but that's not all: it also comes with two bodies, one for the winter (pictured here) and open coachwork that could be installed for the summer.

It's expected to fetch between $750,000 and a cool million when the hammer drops, but if that's not entirely within your budget, you can check it out in the gallery of high-resolution images above, along with the auctioneer's description after the jump.