VIDEO: MINI Diesel gets V8 Roar Thanks to Active Sound Design System

Diesel engines have a lot of advantages over their petrol counterparts, the most significant being their impressive fuel economy and monstrous torque. But there's one thing they don't have and that's the right sound. However, the BMW Group appears to have a solution for the problem - albeit in prototype form for now.

It's called Active Sound Design or ASD for short and it has been applied on two prototype diesel-powered models, a MINI Clubman and a BMW 635d Coupe.

ASD is an electro-acoustic system that makes use of microphones and the vehicle's sound system to change the engine's sound characteristics. The further enhance the acoustic experience, BMW's engineers also used different sound and vibration deadening materials in the engine bay and under the body of the car.

Read more �

Ferrari Boss Announces 599 GTB Roadster Special

The next new model to come out of the Maranello shop will be a roadster version of the 599 GTB supercar. Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo dropped the news himself yesterday morning during a special press gathering in Central London.

"This is a very unusual car and it will certainly surprise you," said Montezemelo. "It's only going to be available to a very select number of clients who've been asking us for an open-top version of the 12-cylinder for quite some time now. We won't be unveiling it at a show though. Instead we'll be organizing private presentations," Ferrari's boss added.

Read more �

GM Recalling Over 1.5 Million Vehicles Worldwide for Fire Danger

A massive recall is underway for numerous General Motors cars and trucks sold globally over a glitch in the wind shield wiper fluid heating system that could ignite a fire. The recall concerns a total of 1.53 million Buick, Hummer, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC and Saturn models, with 1.36 million of those sold in the U.S.

Read more �

Volkswagen Group to Build New Factory in Foshan, China

The Volkswagen Group announced on Wednesday plans to expand its production capacities in China with the construction of a new automotive plant in at Foshan, in the Southern Chinese region of Guangdong. The new production facility will have the capacity to assemble 300,000 vehicles annually and will begin operations in mid-2013.

"China has become the Volkswagen Group's largest and most important sales market. We intend to continue above-average growth side by side with our partners. With our unprecedented investment program, we intend to double our capacities in China to three million vehicles per year by 2013/14," said VW boss, Martin Winterkorn.

Read more �

Sticky Pedal Virus Hits Chrysler, More than 25,000 Dodge Caliber and Jeep Compass Models Being Recalled

The Chrysler Group is the latest automaker to issue a recall over potential problems related one way or another with gas pedals. The Detroit manufacturer said that it is going to recall a total of 25,336 2007MY Dodge Caliber and Jeep Compass models to address complaints about sticky gas pedals.

Read more �

Rumorville: BMW Gran Coup� Concept Coming with 6-Series Badge in 2012

An unnamed BMW source has allegedly told British car magazine Autocar that the Bavarian firm's Gran Coup� sports sedan concept will enter production in the second quarter of 2012. Furthermore, the BMW insider said that the production model will most likely carry a 6-series badge.

If true, we're guessing that the sedan will also bear a second moniker in the likes of the 5-Series GT to avoid confusing with the two-door coupe and convertible models of the 6-Series.

Read more �

Rolls Royce Sales Surge 146% in the First Five Months of 2010

Boosted by its new "entry-level" Ghost limousine that was launched in most markets in December '09, Rolls Royce sales surged to 678 cars in the first five months of 2010, recording an impressive 146 per cent increase on a year ago.

The new Ghost sells for around $250,000 compared with $380,000 to $450,000 price tag of the four available variants of the British firm's flagship Phantom series, thus opening a new market for Rolls Royce.

Read more �

Chrysler Group Announces Another Round of Incentives

With a U.S. sales increase of 33 percent in May '10 for a total of 104,819 units - the first time that Chrysler's monthly sales topped the 100,000 threshold since March 2009, the Chrysler Group isn't about to let go of its incentive program. The Detroit automaker wants to keep the sales momentum going by announcing a new round of incentives that are valid through June 30.

Read more �

Spyker to Begin Selling Sports Cars at Saab Showrooms

In a move that won't surprise anyone in the automotive industry, Spyker Cars NV and Saab Automobile owner, Victor Muller, confirmed plans to sell Spyker's high-end sports cars through Saab retailers by the end of the year.

"We are signing up Spyker dealerships left, right and center," Muller said in an interview with the Bloomberg news agency at Saab's headquarters in Trollhaettan, Sweden.

Read more �

Chevrolet Camaro Outsells Ford Mustang by Almost 20,000 Units at Year One, But Loses in May '10

Yesterday we learned that the refreshed and more powerful 2011 Ford Mustang sold 10,225 units in May 2010 beating GM's Chevrolet Camaro by almost 1,300 units (8,931 sales monthly total).

The General's reaction? Early this morning, the Detroit automaker came out with a press release stating that from May 2009 (the 2010 Camaro's first full month of sales) to May 2010, Chevy's pony car posted 99,872 total sales, outselling the Ford Mustang by nearly 20,000 vehicles (80,340 units total).

The company added that the Camaro has led the pony car sales race for 11 of the last 12 months.

Read more �

NADA Issues Statement on Ford's Decision to Kill Mercury

The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), which represents some 17,000 dealers with about 37,500 franchises in the U.S., has issued a statement through its chairman, Ed Tonkin, expressing some concerns about Ford's decision to discontinue its Mercury brand (click here for more details) and end production at the end of this year. Read the statement after the jump.Read more �

It's Official: Ford Dumps Mercury Brand

Like GM, Ford Motor Company is continuing to shrink its brand portfolio. Following the recent sale of Volvo Cars to China's Geely, with which it completed the dismantling of the premium group that once included Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover, the Deaborn automaker made it official today that it will terminate the Mercury division in the fourth quarter of this year.

Given Mercury's declining sales over the years (the brand holds a pitiful 0.8 percent market share in the U.S. - overall Ford has 16%) and the fact that its entire lineup comprises of re-grilled / re-badged Ford models, the announcement was no surprise.

Some had suggested in the past that Mercury should do what GM is doing with Buick - enhance its U.S. lineup with Ford's European models, but apparently that role is partially going to Ford with the new Euro-style Fiesta and Focus cars.

Ford admitted that the majority of current Mercury sales are to fleet buyers and customers purchasing through employee, retiree and friends and family discounts, which the company anticipates can be satisfied by Ford brand vehicles.

Read more �

BMW M's Boss Officially Confirms M Version of 1-Series Coupe, on Sale in 2011

For the past year or so, we've been hearing all sorts of rumors about a possible M-badged variant of the 1-Series. We've also seen many spy videos and photographs of what appeared to be a prototype version of the sports car testing at the Nurburgring circuit. But nothing was official, until now, that is.

In an interview with German webzine "Auto-News", BMW M GmbH's Managing Director Dr. Kay Segler for the first time officially acknowledged the Bavarian automaker's plans to introduce an M-variant of the 1-Series Coupe.

Read more �

Ford May Announce Mercury's Death at a 3:00 PM EST Press Conference

If we are to believe a report from Detroit News, Ford Motor Company may very well confirm the axing of its Mercury brand in a press conference this afternoon in which the automaker is said to talk about "brand and product strategy". The report goes on to say that Ford is also likely to announce that the new compact model that was planned for Mercury will be launched under the Lincoln brand. Stay tuned on Carscoop for more details on this developing story.

Read more �

Honda to Raise Regular Workers' Pay in China to $280 Per Month to Stop Strike

Honda is trying to get employees to return to work in China after nearly 2,000 factory workers -including about 600 interns- staged a walkout at all four of its Chinese plants more than two weeks ago.

The workers have been demanding an increase of over 50 per cent in pay and benefits (don't be quick to judge them until you read the details below...) as well as promises that no one would go after them for participating in the strike.

Read more �

2011 Chevy Camaro with Re-Rated 312HP V6 and HUD Priced

Apparently GM has conveniently leaked pricing of its 2011 Chevrolet Camaro that goes on sale later this month [June]. According to the tipster, prices remain unchanged for all models sans the 2LT V6 and the 2SS V8 that both get a $350 increase due to the addition of the Head-Up-Display (HUD) system to the standard equipment.

Read more �

Ring a Bell? Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan Probed for Floor Mats After Complaints About Sticky Accelerators...

Remember Toyota's recall-woes over specific floor mats that could slip forward and snag the gas pedal? Well, we could be heading for a second round of recalls on the same issue but for a different automaker.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a formal investigation into the 2010MY Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan models to examine allegations about pedals becoming trapped in the depressed position by unsecured floor mats.

Read more �

Spyker Searching for a Partner to Build Modern-Day SAAB 92

Saab's automobile range may be expanded in the near future with a new small car inspired by the Swedish firm's teardrop-shaped 92 model of the 1950s if the company's CEO Victor Muller gets his way.

In a telephone interview with Bloomberg, Muller revealed that his company is in talks with automakers to share technology and a platform for the modern-day 92 or in Saab's current lingo, the 9-2.

Read more �

Report: Ford Planning to Kill Mercury Division, Maybe as Soon as Year's End

Mercury, the maker of higher grade Ford models with waterfall grilles such as the Milan and Grande Marquis, will have the same fate of GM's Pontiac and Saturn brands, according to a report from Bloomberg citing two unnamed people familiar with the plan.

The news agency said that Ford Motor Co executives could ask the automaker's board of directors as early as July to green-lit the (eventual) axing of the Mercury brand.

Read more �

Infiniti Developing 'IPL' Performance Division?

Does Infiniti dare take on the likes of BMW's M, Mercedes-Benz's AMG, and Audi's S/RS/quattro? Probably not immediately, but recent reports indicate that something performance-minded is going on at Nissan's luxury brand. Infiniti has begun the process of establishing IPL, or the Infiniti Performance Line.

IPL is likely to be much like Nismo, providing sport suspensions, spoilers, seats, and shift knobs. For those wanting more (like a supercharged M luxo-barge), there's some light at the end of the tunnel. According to the filings, Infiniti's high-performance division may work to develop supercharger / turbocharger applications.

Read more �