Wanna buy the new Porsche 918 Spyder that wowed everyone at the Geneva Auto Show?  Well, it will possibly be available soon.  It is a hybrid supercar, and Porsche wants to get 1000 seriously interested people in order to make a case to build this 918 Spyder. I would think that that won’t be a problem.  900 people have already said they are interested.  What’s 100 more?  Of course, these people are just interested. They didn’t commit to buying.  I can’t imagine that there aren’t 1000 people interested in this new Porsche.  It’s really nice looking….

A new AP poll done in March shows that Americans prefer a domestic vehicle over an Asian one.  Thirty-eight percent of Americans favor domestic vehicles with 32% saying that Asians vehicles are superior products.  Ford has become quite popular helping lead the domestic vehicles.  Big shocker is that Toyota’s loyal customers has dropped from 25% in 2006 to 15% in March.  Over 90% of GM, Ford, Honda, or Toyota customers were satisfied with their vehicles.  People willing to purchase an alternative fuel vehicle dropped from 70% in 2006 to 61% in 2010.  Interesting. I wonder why???  People are more aware of their choices and the details of these alternative fuel vehicles, and that made them disinterested?? I don’t know.

I have some crazy facts about Buick in China.  First of all, over 90% of new car sales in China are paid for in cash.  I mean actual cash, no checks. The biggest bill/coin in China is 100 Yuan, so if someone is paying like $40,000 for a vehicle (or about 280,000 Yuan) that’s alot of money to hand off at the dealership. Crazy, right?  Buick dealers in America sell less than 100 cars a year.  In the large cities in China, a Buick dealer sells over 2000 vehicles a year!  Buicks spend on average less than 20 days on a lot.

So, to sum it up, sign up to buy your Porsche 918 Spyder, buy an American car (cause that’s more preferred,) and if you go to live in China, you better have cold, hard cash to bring to the dealership to buy your car!!!

Ford is making some noise at the China Auto Show this week with their concept car called the Start.  It is a four-door vehicle with a 3-cylinder engine.  Ford’s new EcoBoost engine is in this car.  The Start is very lightweight and uses numerous elements to try to create more aerodynamics and make the car more efficient.  The gas mileage has not been disclosed by Ford, but they promise that it is “highly efficient.”  If you have ever read anything about how to make your car more efficient, aerodynamics play a part.  If they are better, you should be more fuel efficient.

The specs are that the Start has a 1-liter, 3-cylinder EcoBoost engine.  This car is considered a micro car, and really not a lot of details have been given about it.  Ford is trying to show the world that we can downsize engines by using turbos and direct injection.  Ford’s My Touch mobile system is on the dash in this car as well.

The goal of Ford was supposedly make a vehicle good for urban driving.  They want it to be practical, efficient, and I guess we will love it as well!  We’ll see about that last one for sure.  I personally am not sure I like the look of this car at all, but who knows. Maybe it will be the norm in the future.

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Lamborghini has unveiled a special edition of the Murcielago LP 670-4 Super Veloce at the China Auto Show.  There will be just 10 of these Murcielagos made.  The color and design of the cars are unique.  You will definitely stand out if you buy one of these Lamborghinis.  Lamborghini is really trying to get the Chinese market. These special editions are only available in China.  I’m not sure how many people will be dying for these, but then again there are only 10 that have to be sold.

The Murcielago LP 670-4 has a 6.5-liter V12 engine that has 670 horsepower.  This car is really light as well. The ratio of power-to-weight is 5.1 pounds per horsepower.  The top speed is 209 mph.  No price but you can just assume the price will be insane.

So if you are heading to the China Auto Show and interested in this special edition Lamborghini, buy it fast before they are all gone…..or not.

Friday the China Auto Show opens up for the press.  The Associated Press gave some facts of the China Auto Show that I found interesting. This is a huge show, by the way.  China is so important for automakers globally.  China just recently became the world’s largest auto market.  Chinese auto sales are expected to grow another 17% this year to 16 million cars and trucks. J.D. Power and Associates forecast that the passenger vehicles (cars, SUVs, and minivans) will grow to 13.55 million by 2015 which would be a 55% increase over 2009 (by the way, the U.S. sold 10.5 million vehicles in 2009.)  Wow!  So, with all of this said it’s really important that automakers make a good impression at the China Auto Show and get a piece of this pie!  990 foreign brands will be on display at this show.

So, here’s some of the highlights from the AP:

- GM’s on a high right now letting the world know that they paid off their government loan in full about 5 years early, so they are anxious and excited to show off their stuff.  

-GM will be premiering the Chevy Volt MPV5 concept here, a Chinese-made minivan, and a compact sedan.

-Toyota says it will have 50 vehicles on display.  This includes the latest Prius hybrid and an electric concept car. The sales have not taken a hit in China for Toyota as they have in the U.S. Only a couple thousand vehicles were recalled. 

-Chinese automakers will have 75 new sedans, SUV’s, and “experimental green cars.” The Chinese automakers need to compete with all the foreign brands as best as they can, so they are aggressively marketing at the China Auto Show this year. 

-Chery Automobile Co, China’s biggest domestic auto brand will have 29 vehicles at the show. 

-Geely Holding Group, which just bought Volvo Cars from Ford for a mere $1.8 million will have 55 vehicles there, including 11 new ones. 

So, I guess some news in the next few weeks will be coming from the China Auto Show. We’ll have to wait and see what the good/bad word is.

Lots of exciting things and talk are going on as the New York Auto Show opens to the public on Saturday.  The smallest car, the Smart Fortwo, is at the show to check out and sit in.  It is on sale for $11,900. Then you have the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe, the most expensive car at the New York Auto Show for $518,800.  Quite a contrast between the two, and then there are lots of cars and trucks in between there that are being showcased at the show.  By the way, there are currently about 100 of these Rolls-Royce’s driven in the U.S. these days. I’m surprised there are that many, honestly.

Good news, you can buy a Hyundai Equus luxury sedan for about $50,000 and there is an Apple iPad in it.  You can also get a Jaguar XJL Supersport for $80,000 to $115,000.

Lots of hybrids of course. That’s no surprise.  With the fuel efficiency changing pretty drastically by 2016, I guess the automakers have to make hybrids and other fuel efficient vehicles to follows the rules.  I don’t have a problem with hybrids and good fuel efficient vehicles, but what’s going to be a problem for me and potentially everyone is the price that we will have to pay for cars in the near future. They will have to cost more. It costs more to make these vehicles more efficient or hybrids. It’s inevitable that we will suffer. Not looking forward to that, but right now I’m just talking about the New York Auto Show. I’ll stick with that.

If you live in the New York City area, you might want to go and check out the cars and trucks at the show until next Sunday.

Has anyone ever heard of the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival?  I hadn’t, but now after reading an article about it on autoweek.com, I’m totally into it.  It’s a different kind of auto show. Remember how I said the other day when I was writing about the New York Auto Show that I was looking for something different, well here it is.  The Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival will feature 375 historic race cars that you can check out.  You can check out their engines and talk to their owners.  This festival is part of the Wine Country Classic in the Sonoma Valley on June 5-6.  So while you are checking out these fabulous historic race cars, you can taste some fabulous wine as well.  Take a trip and go to this auto show, much different, and in my opinion sounds better!

The New York International Auto Show starts this weekend.  Is anyone overly excited about it?  Sure there will be some new concept vehicles there, and the buzz will be fuel efficiency, hybrid, and electric, but I’m sorry I just can’t get excited about another auto show.  We’ve already had like 3 big ones this year, and none have really interested me.  I like to quickly check out the far-fetched, wacky concept that someone will bring, but other than that (yawn) they bore me.  I want different and outrageous, and as of late at these shows I don’t see that.

I guess I should mention the big buzz so far for the show, the anticipation of GM’s Chevrolet Cruze.  GM will debut the Cruze.  This car will supposedly get 40 miles per gallon on the highway with a 1.4-liter Ecotec turbocharged engine.  This car will be available later this year.  The price hasn’t been announced yet, but it’s supposed to be reasonable.

So, there you have it the buzz of the New York Auto Show.  I’m still bored so far….

So, the Chicago Auto Show came and and it will go on Sunday, with not too much talk or excitement. Of course a few new concepts were introduced, but really quite boring I would say.  Now we are moving on to the Geneva International Auto Show which starts on March 4-14.  Maybe there will be alittle more buzz at this show, though my guess is not. We haven’t had a lot of excitement from any of the major shows so far this year.  The automakers are trying to create sparks, but it’s hard when they are so concerned to not lose more money.  There is one interesting debut to come out at the Geneva Auto Show. Ford will be unveiling the production versions of the new C-Max and Grand C-Max wagons at the Geneva Auto Show, according to autoweek.com.  Wagons are coming back.  I like it!

The C-Max is a 5 seater and the Grand C-Max is a 7 seater and they will go on sale in Europe later this year.  In late 2011, the Grand C-Max (which will be known as the C-Max) will be sold in the U.S. Confused?  The 7 seat Grand C-Max has twin sliding doors.  Both cars are part of Ford’s idea to show the medium size car.  All we ever talk about these days are the small vehicles, so it’s a nice change and something for those not looking for the small Honda Fit or others like it.  The Ford Focus is another medium sized car debuting next year.  I look forward to a slight shift and “bigger” cars being debuted!  I think we should at least check out the Ford C-Max and Grand C-Max. They look different and that can be worthwhile.

The Chicago Auto Show starts tomorrow.  Are you excited? I’m alittle excited because I really want to hear what Toyota will say at their press conference tomorrow.  After the Toyota Prius was recalled in Japan the other day, the problems continue for Toyota, but I really think that their reputation is strong and they will recover with these recalls just being a distant memory soon.  They just need to say the right things at the press conference.  So, that’s one thing I’m anxious to see at the Chicago Auto Show. After that…..hmmm not sure there is anything standing out that interests me about this show, but I’m sure there will be some interesting pieces from the Chicago Auto Show as it begins tomorrow and opens to the public on Friday.

Honda plans to unveil a new Honda Odyssey concept and Toyota supposedly will be showing us some new stuff as well. I like to check out all the new models and upgrades that are unveiled at these shows.  The concept cars are the best though.  Hopefully there will be some funky concepts to check out.  There always are.  I also like to read the winners and losers of the shows.  I’m hoping the Chicago Auto Show will continue to show promise and excitement for our auto industry this year.  Stay tuned for updates from the show.

In case you haven’t had the time to check out the auto news lately, I thought I would give you some things of importance (at least in my mind!)

1. The Detroit Auto Show is over and the Chicago Auto Show will begin in the middle of February.  Lots of concept cars were unveiled with certainly more to come at the Chicago Auto Show.

2.  GM is finally getting rid of Saab. Spyker is going to be the new proud owner of Saab. Good news for Saab lovers that desperately did not want to see Saab die.

3.  After the latest recall for Toyota, they have “halted” sales of all models that were recalled.  This continues to be bad news for Toyota. They are a good company so I bet they will find some way to get back on top, but some work will definitely need to be done.

4.  GM will start making their own electric motors for their vehicles in 2012 lower costs and improve quality.

Keep up to date with important/interesting auto news here at centercaps.net!