I thought I’d get everyone up to speed on the auto news from the last few days.

For starters, new details on the 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost were released today.

www.lincah.com

The new Rolls-Royce Ghost that is due out the middle of next year is a nice looking vehicle.  It has unbelievable power with a 6.6-liter, turbocharged V-12 engine that puts out 563 horsepower and 575 lb ft torque.  The top speed is 155 miles per hour and the Rolls-Royce Ghost can get from 0 to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds.  This “smaller, entry-level model will share a platform with the new BMW 7 series.  It has an 8 speed automatic transmission.  The starting price will be somewhere in the low $300,000. A bargain!

More news.  Toyota has announced today that it is no longer profitable in the United States. Toyota has been extremely successful in the last several years in the U.S., but Toyota actually had a full year of operating loss. Not good for the auto industry. They are considering closing a warehouse in California.

The revival plans of the Aston Martin Lagonda, which was introduced at the Geneva Auto Show, have been put on hold and there is a good possibility that the project will be cancelled. 

Mercedes-Benz has done well with their fuel economy on their E-Class Sedans for Europe.  The diesels are getting 45 miles per gallon on average and the gas is getting 33 miles per gallon, which obviously is a lot less but has more power with 184 horsepower and a top speed of 144 mph, compared to the diesel of 136 horsepower and top speed of 130 mph.

And last but not least, General Motors has introduced “Remote Ignition Block” through OnStar.  A few years ago, GM introduced “Stolen Vehicle Slowdown” which would allow OnStar operators to remotely slow down the engine power of a stolen car at the request of police. Well, now they have outdone that with the Remote Ignition Block.  The OnStar operator can remotely access the vehicle’s computer and disable certain functions such as locking the vehicle’s ignition, so once the car is turned off it cannot be restarted.  This would help find stolen vehicles quicker, since the car cannot go anywhere after its turned off, and also hopefully help to prevent high speed chases.

So, there you have it. Alittle car information for your reading pleasure!

  

    

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 8:38 pm and is filed under Automotive Companies, Best/Worst, Car Techology, New Cars. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.