Senate unanimously rules in favor of noisy hybrids, electric cars

Regardless of whether or not there’s an actual need for pedestrian warning systems for hybrid and electric vehicles, the U.S. Senate has voted unanimously to approve a measure that would make the noise-adding setup standard on all vehicles that can operate – even if just momentarily – without the burble of an engine.

The measure, called the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010 and backed by Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, aims to establish standards for alerting pedestrians of the possible danger of an approaching vehicle that moves in near silence. With the Senate voting in favor of the bill, it will now head off to the House of Representatives, where it’s expected to pass with ease.

Corvette Z06 Carbon Edition to start

General Motors unveiled the 2011 Corvette Z06 Carbon Edition at the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in March, and the special edition Z06 immediately piqued our interest. In addition to The General’s free-breathing 7.0-liter V8, the Z06 Carbon gets our mouths watering with the addition of carbon fiber body panels, Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes and Magnetic Selective Ride Control. Those ZR1-style dark-painted wheels are pure hotness, as well.

Now, the enthusiast site Corvette Blogger is reporting that GM’s Corvette product marketing manager, Harlan Charles, spilled the beans on pricing and availability, saying that the Z06 Carbon will reportedly carry an MSRP of $90,960 when it goes on sale in the first quarter of 2011. 

Fully optioned, this special Corvette will run all the way up to $99,925. That’s a lot of money, but it’s still several thousand dollars less than the ZR1, and while the latter may be faster out on the road, the Z06 Carbon is indeed all the more exclusive.

2011 Volkswagen Jetta SEL

The Jetta has always disguised its cost controls beneath a veneer of high quality materials and tidy manners. Interiors have been like Audis in training, with suspensions so supple the world’s largest automakers dissect the bushings to learn their secrets. This long view emphasizes the recent disappointment with this new larger, U.S.-centric Jetta.

Early reports sounded the alarm; the new Jetta is shockingly cheap. That’s a positive statement regarding the $15,995 base price, down from $17,735 for the 2010 model, and Volkswagen is touting it prominently with its “Great for the price of Good” advertising tagline. While some cry foul, sales are up. For its first month on the market, the 2011 Jetta posted 12.6 percent better numbers than the old model managed for the same month a year prior.

To achieve that sub-$16,000 number, things had to go, though good stuff remains. We wanted to give der neue Jetta a chance to wow us, so we spent a week with a Jetta 2.5 SEL to find out if it’s been overwhelmed by a too-intense focus on price.

Audi Sport Quattro designer calls his iconic creation “ugly”

Audiphiles, prepare to have your lederhosen wrinkled. While speaking with Autocar, Peter Birtwhistle went and called the legendary SWB Sport Quattro “bloody ugly.” While Birtwhistle is currently the chief designer at Mazda Europe, he’s particularly well-suited to comment on the lines of the boxy Audi. After all, he designed the thing. 

According to the designer, the biggest problem facing the car is that it rides on the Audi 80 platform, and massaging the Sport Quattro design over those cumbersome bones required some sacrifices. Still, when taken a grain of salt borrowed from the time period, the car is as good-looking as it gets.

Of course, our opinion could be slightly tainted by the fact that Audi only minted a mere 200 of the cars as homologation specials. Anything built to justify a race car nets an automatic win in our book, and the SWB Sport Quattro is no different.

Corvette Z06 Carbon Edition to start at $90,960

General Motors unveiled the 2011 Corvette Z06 Carbon Edition at the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in March, and the special edition Z06 immediately piqued our interest. 

In addition to The General’s free-breathing 7.0-liter V8, the Z06 Carbon gets our mouths watering with the addition of carbon fiber body panels, Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes and Magnetic Selective Ride Control. Those ZR1-style dark-painted wheels are pure hotness, as well.

Now, the enthusiast site Corvette Blogger is reporting that GM’s Corvette product marketing manager, Harlan Charles, spilled the beans on pricing and availability, saying that the Z06 Carbon will reportedly carry an MSRP of $90,960 when it goes on sale in the first quarter of 2011. Fully optioned, this special Corvette will run all the way up to $99,925. 

That’s a lot of money, but it’s still several thousand dollars less than the ZR1, and while the latter may be faster out on the road, the Z06 Carbon is indeed all the more exclusive.

The 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic at the Mullin Museum

My first time going to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance was back in 2003. There were some incredible classic cars on the 18th fairway, with Ford celebrating its 100th anniversary and Bugatti as the featured marque. In the multitude of millions of dollars worth of cars, though, there was one car that stood out from all the others – Peter Williamson’s 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic. Despite my complete lack of knowledge of pre-war cars at the time, even I could recognize that the car had a presence about it that no other vehicle at the show could boast. My intuition was right, and the Bugatti eventually went on to win the coveted Best of Show award that year.

The Bugatti made the news again earlier this year when Gooding & Company announced it had sold the car to an unnamed buyer in the range of a record $30-$40 million. Soon after, it was announced that the car would be on display at the recently-opened Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, CA. Since I’m always looking for an excuse for the museum to let me look at their incredible collection of cars, I called them up and convinced them to let me have a look.

After an hour of inspecting and photographing every inch of the car, I’m declaring the 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic worthy of its title as the world’s most expensive car. Hit the jump for my top ten reasons why.

 

Hennessey HPE700 when one wants to imitate the CAMARO ZR1 automotive Car

In addition to the control and handle upgrade and Hennessey will also be present an exterior aerodynamics package to get better down force at high speed and this automotive car is designed by British designer and used in this car latest technology I mean this is latest upgrade just like carbon fiber rear lip spoiler, carbon fiber side rocker panel, carbon fiber front splitter, front fascia with hideaway-look headlights and many more.

Finishing the look of the HPE700 is a ZR1 car inspired hood design with window showing off the Hennessey’s tweak LS9 power plant.

And the Americans the latest symbol of control and Hennessey has offered technical HPE700 particular package dedicated to the latest CAMARO car whose ambition to emerge with ZR1 beguiling force. The operation of the tuner is to replant the propeller LS9 of the Vetter growing power and torque without any discretion. Such a great and high advance conceptual technology based CAMARO ZR1 automotive Car.

Hennessey HPE700 when one wants to imitate the CAMARO ZR1 automotive Car

In addition to the control and handle upgrade and Hennessey will also be present an exterior aerodynamics package to get better down force at high speed and this automotive car is designed by British designer and used in this car latest technology I mean this is latest upgrade just like carbon fiber rear lip spoiler, carbon fiber side rocker panel, carbon fiber front splitter, front fascia with hideaway-look headlights and many more.

Finishing the look of the HPE700 is a ZR1 car inspired hood design with window showing off the Hennessey’s tweak LS9 power plant.

And the Americans the latest symbol of control and Hennessey has offered technical HPE700 particular package dedicated to the latest CAMARO car whose ambition to emerge with ZR1 beguiling force. The operation of the tuner is to replant the propeller LS9 of the Vetter growing power and torque without any discretion. Such a great and high advance conceptual technology based CAMARO ZR1 automotive Car.