World Auto News & Reviews

Pam Ruthven, of Beverly Hills, Mich., plans to give a dear friend a very meaningful gift this holiday season – a beautiful woven scarf from Ford’s Warriors in Pink apparel line.

“One of my very good friends was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago, and she got through it,” Ruthven said. “Every year we exchange Christmas presents, and this year I wanted to give her something that had special meaning as opposed to just another trinket.”
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The U.S. Federal Reserve late Wednesday approved a requested by auto and mortgage finance firm GMAC to become a bank holding company, thus making it eligible for government aid. GMAC was spun off from General Motors in 2006 in an effort by the automaker to raise cash. It was since hammered by the credit crisis, prompting it to seek government assistance. Following the Fed’s decision, the struggling company will now have access to a share of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
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Just before the Detroit Three presented their loan guarantee/bailout proposals to Congress, Motor Trend learned that General Motors would shift Opel’s design language from Saturn to Buick. Now we know why.

In the short period between the credit crisis beginning in mid-September and the Capitol Hill appearance in December, GM hatched a plan to weed down its eight North American divisions. It will try to sell Saab and says it’s progressing on a deal to sell Hummer. It will “explore alternatives” for Saturn. (more…)

The 911 Turbo has always been synonymous with performance. Now the car is more capable than ever thanks to a new twin turbo system featuring Variable Turbine Geometry (VTG).
On a conventional turbocharger, the exhaust flow drives a turbine that is connected to a compressor in the air intake tract. By ‘squeezing’ the incoming air, the amount of oxygen in a given volume is increased. Since compression also causes an increase in temperature, the air must be passed through an ‘intercooler’ unit. With more oxygen present in each cylinder charge, more fuel can be burned yielding greater energy. Since higher exhaust pressures generate corresponding loads on the intake side, the intake pressure must be carefully controlled in order to protect the engine. On the new 911 Turbo, the boost pressure is limited using wastegate valves that bypass excess pressure around the twin exhaust turbines.
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Thorney Motorsport, a UK based tuner that specializes on road and track cars has launched its own range of modified Vauxhall Astra and Corsa VXRs (sold in the rest of Europe as the Opel Astra and Corsa OPCs). Both hot hatches are available in two variants, the VXR-S (Sport) and the more heavily modified VXR-R (Race) with Thorney Motorsport announcing that only 25 units of each version will be produced. The entry-level VXR-S models come equipped with a race suspension set up that brings the Astra and Corsa VXRs 30mm closer to the ground, uprated brake pads, lightweight 18-inch black alloy wheels, sport livery, a sport exhaust system and engine upgrades.
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