The new autonomous Peugeot Instinct concept looks promising

The new autonomous Peugeot Instinct concept looks promising: The 2017 Geneva Motor Show is getting closer and as it does, we get more and more details uncovered of the cars we will see out there. Here’s a glimpse of the new Peugeot Instinct, which is going to be an autonomous concept powered by a PHEV powertrain.

The French automakers are not really considered as the pioneers of the industry, but this Peugeot Instinct concept does seem to be a proper thing capable of going toe to toe with the latest and greatest experimental autonomous vehicles we see more and more these days. The company has put all they have got into building this concept, and then some. The 300 Ps shooting brake family car comes a number of driving modes, such as Boost and Relax, that includes an Autonomous mode which itself includes ‘Autonomous Soft’ or ‘Autonomous Sharp’. Peugeot Instinct also features an application of ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) platform which not only syncs with your devices and all that, it learn from interacting with you what habits and interests you have and adjust stuff like driving mode, seat and interface settings, ambient lighting and audio all by itself. You will not see these amazing technologies in next year’s Peugeots or even the ones after that. But eventually these are the type of features that will become common in the cars of future.

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Top 3 most popular pickup trucks of this month

Top 3 most popular pickup trucks of this month: Pickup trucks are those vehicles used primarily as work but not anymore. It could have happened until the 1950s when consumers used to buy pickups because they needed to use them in work, now they buy them because they love them. The pickup truck is now the top-selling vehicle in the United States.

Domestically, the three top-selling vehicles for the month of January are all trucks. The Ford Motor Co. F-Series took the number one spot, with nearly 60,000 vehicles sold last month. Chevrolet Silverado from General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) sold 35,553 vehicles and the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) Dodge Ram sold 33,769 vehicles. The next highest selling vehicle only moved around 29,000 for the month. Perhaps the pickup segment is one of the most profitable within the automotive industry. In particular this segment has given carmakers room to offer deals and motivation to make market share grabs.

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Pininfarina H600 eco luxury sedan to debut in a week

Pininfarina H600 eco luxury sedan to debut in a week: Ininfarina the Mahindra owned carmaker is gearing up for two world premieres at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show which is set to commence on March 7 (press day). In addition to the Fittipaldi EF7 Vision Gran Turismo concept which was teased a few days ago, Pininfarina will also showcase the H600 ‘eco-sustainable’ luxury sedan.

Designed and manufactured by Pininfarina for the Chinese automotive firm Hybrid Kinetic Group, the H600 is described as the “perfect combination of pure design and eco-friendly technology”. The two teaser images show a futuristic luxury sedan which is not far from production. The front fascia is composed of a hexagonal honeycomb grille with vertical chrome slats, sleek LED headlamps, boomerang-shaped LED foglights and a neatly contoured bonnet. The ultra modern dashboard features fully digital instrument console in addition to a large touchscreen multimedia infotainment system.

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Donald Trump's 2007 Ferrari F430 F1 up for auction

Donald Trump's 2007 Ferrari F430 F1 up for auction: Do you wanna have a car who belonged to the current U.S. president Donald Trump? You won’t just find out what kind of fancy life he had before, but also you will get a chance to own a really amazing car. This 2007 Ferrari F430 F1 was bought by him back in the years and will get sold out for $250,000 as a starting price.

It’s well known that President Trump appreciates the finer things in life, and this Ferrari F430 is no exception. At the time of its release, it was one of the most technologically advanced performance cars on the market. Already a low production vehicle, its provenance is significantly increased by President Trump’s ownership. The car, which has a 4.3-liter, 490hp V8 engine capable of reaching 196 mph, had a little over 2,400 miles on it when Mr. Trump sold it in August 2011. And the mileage has remained low, less than 6,000 miles total. The interior is beige leather with Daytona-style seats and a light brown carpet.

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Another happy customer shared with us his opinion

The full-efficient Porsche Panamera Turbo S E to debut soon

The full-efficient Porsche Panamera Turbo S E to debut soon: We love all Porsche’s cars, because they are powerful, they look good and they drive insanely fast, and here’s its new hybrid model Porsche Panamera Turbo S E with a V8 engine. The new hybrid is going to debut with other cool and fast cars at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. We think this car is the real proof that we don’t have to sacrifice anymore performance for fuel efficient.

The numbers it produces beggars belief. It churns out 680 hp and 626 lb.-ft. of torque which performance-wise means the huge luxury saloon accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds (3.3 seconds for the Executive model) and has a top track speed of 192 mph. If this is too rich for your taste you can still order the non-S variant with a V6. For the car geeks among you, the hybrid system in the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid features a 136 hp electric motor with a 550 hp twin-turbo V8 engine, a decoupler actuated electromechanically by an electric clutch actuator (ECA), quick-shifting eight-speed Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) dual-clutch transmission, active all-wheel drive system with Porsche Traction Management (PTM), and liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery with an energy capacity of 14.1 kWh which has a charging time of less than three hours and as mentioned delivers up to 50 km of pure electric drive.

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Volkswagen's sales expected to increase up to 13.6%

Volkswagen's sales expected to increase up to 13.6%: We’ve got a new forecast for you, before the real car sales results get revealed at the beginning of March. Expect for the auto market to sell 1,331,787 new cars and trucks in the US this month. This will be a 17% increase from last month, but a 1% decrease from February 2016. Also it was estimated that approximately 3.4 million used vehicles will be sold in February, compared to 3 million last month.

The long Presidents' Day holiday weekend undoubtedly contributed to the increase in sales from January. Typically, the holiday boosts sales volume by 20% compared to an average February weekend. The holiday weekend is likely a contributing factor to strong sales in February, but we're also seeing signs that automakers are starting to be a bit more aggressive to move cars off the lot. Fleet sales were higher than average in February, and incentives are continuing to rise. While trucks and SUVs don't need as much help to find interested buyers, inventories of passenger cars are starting to build.

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The 2017 Gemballa Avalanche Teased Ahead of Geneva Debut

The 2017 Gemballa Avalanche Teased Ahead of Geneva Debut: If someone wants to say that the current Porsche 911 Turbo is lacking for power, than you’ll find hundreds of reasons to prove him wrong. But, just because it is really powerful, doesn’t mean there can’t be other carmakers who will try to take the throne. The latest creation of German tuning shop Gemballa third-generation Avalanche, is turning out 808 horsepower and 700 lb-ft of torque from a turbocharged flat-six engine. Oh, and it's bright purple and has a three-tier rear wing that looks big enough to live in.

Gemballa is known for a lot of things- Nürburgring lap records, for example - but subtlety isn't one of them. All of the company's current offerings are either Porsche or McLaren models that have been worked over inside and out with new body panels, wings, and interior touches to compliment a hefty boost in power. It's not a look for everyone, but you can't say the company doesn't try.

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Study reveals Lexus and Porsche as the most dependable car brands

Study reveals Lexus and Porsche as the most dependable car brands: After 3 years of vehicles ownership the most dependable carmakers seem to be Porsche and Lexus.The non-premium label is lead my Toyota. For the sixth year in a raw Lexus tops the list of the most dependable car brands of US. The streak puts Lexus halfway to tying its record of 12 consecutive titles for most dependable brand from 1997 to 2008.

Toyota, Buick and Mercedes-Benz rounded out the top five brands overall. Mercedes, Hyundai(No. 6), BMW (No. 7) and Jaguar (No. 10) were newcomers to the Top 10 this year, while GMC, Acura, Ram and Lincoln dropped out. The industry averaged 156 problems per 100 vehicles in the latest dependability study, up by four problems per 100 vehicles from 2016. The increase in problems, the second in as many years, was driven in large part by audio, communication, entertainment and navigation systems, which combined to account for 22 percent of all reported problems.

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The coupe-ish SUV- Range Rover Velar

The coupe-ish SUV- Range Rover Velar: We got some teasers of the new Range Rover for you guys. The automaker has finally revealed us the concept of its new coupe-ish SUV, after a few spy shots which came out a few weeks before. It'll join the lineup as the fourth model in the Range Rover subbrand, alongside the Evoque, Range Rover Sport, and the full-size Range Rover.

We've seen this SUV in spy shots before. Earlier this month we got a good look a a camouflaged prototype near the factory. Everything we've heard so far is that the Velar will be positioned between the Evoque and Range Rover Sport and share a platform with the Jaguar F-Pace. The roofline isn't as aggressive as some "coupe-ish" SUVs, adopting more of a 4:5 scale Range Rover Sport feel. If you're wondering about the name, it dates back to the 1969 prototype for the vehicle that would become the original Range Rover – a SUV that seriously altered the public's perception of the refinement and comfort that a rugged 4x4 could provide.

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Global car sales risking more than ever!

Global car sales risking more than ever!: Predictions for the 2017 global light vehicle sales say that they might reach 93.5 million units, that’s a growth rate of 1.5% over 2016. But even so, industry risk in mature markets is at the highest level it has been since the Lehman Brothers collapse and global industry downturn from 2008 through 2010, and will be a key factor for the near future. Engine propulsion options are expected to have an influence as well.

Political uncertainty could cause a significant rift in light vehicle sales both in the U.S. and Europe, as both regions are undergoing fluctuations in policy, leadership and other dynamics. In addition, expect in 2017 for a decline of diesel vehicle sales share in Europe. This represents just the start of a growing trend of diesel decline expected in the coming years, due in part to significant challenges around RDE regulation alongside the arrival of the EU6d emission standards. Despite the daily publicity, sales of BEV (battery electric vehicles) and PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles)light vehicles also were relatively flat between 2015 and 2016, despite the ever-present longer-term growth fundamentals. Global BEV production remains significantly below 1 million units and will represent just 0.7 percent of new vehicle supply globally in 2017.

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SsangYong XAVL SUV concept will debut at this year’s Geneva Motor Show

SsangYong XAVL SUV concept will debut at this year’s Geneva Motor Show: SsangYong, a Korean popular car maker has been on its peak the latest year thanks to its amazing concept SUVs. Each time they reveal their new vehicles, everyone keeps their eyes on the car brand, cause they know something interesting is coming out. That’s the main reason why we are waiting so patiently for its new SsangYong XAVL SUV concept, which is going to debut at this year’s Geneva Motor Show.

Looking like a more mature Tivoli designed for the Martian market, the new SsangYong XAVL SUV concept – whose name, by the way, is a good example of word torture as it stands for eXciting Authentic Vehicle Long – is designed to blend the good sides of a MPV (multi purpose vehicle or minivan) with the cool looks and charisma of a sport utility vehicle.

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Finally GM and Ford admit that US car sales declined

Finally GM and Ford admit that US car sales declined: US car sales declined during January, we think the reason is pretty obvious: high incentive in December, low sales in January. Even so, the analysts are pretty sure that vehicles sales last month showed good results, and it won’t be the same for February. Customer confidence, better deals on vehicles and low gasoline prices will raise the demand for vehicles once summer sets. The seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate stood at 17.6 million vehicles for the month as compared with 17.9 million vehicles from the last year. Here's a detailed look at the auto sales of the automakers.

General Motors said that its sales dropped 3.8% to 195,909 vehicles in January. Retail sales plunged 4.9%. Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac witnessed declining sales each. In contrast, GMC brand sales were a bit encouraging. Again, fleet sales surged 1%. Moreover, the Detroit automaker's average transaction price got boosted by $1,200 per unit to $34,500 per unit.

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Find through RepoKar’s inventory your new favorite car during our Presidents’ Day sale and drive it home

The 2017 BMW M2 Performance Edition finally revealed

The 2017 BMW M2 Performance Edition finally revealed: If you like the BMW M2 you might have been thinking of how would it be it the model gets redisigned and simplified expressly for the driver. Well, the answer to your requests finally got an answer, 150 Performance Edition models of the BMW are going up for sale soon. The sports coupe will have a suggested MSRP of $61,695 (including shipping) and will be sold only in the United States. A spokesman confirmed the M2 Performance Edition Friday morning and said it can be ordered now at certain dealerships. An official release with images is expected next week. Essentially, the Performance Edition brings together several sporty options, like the M Driver's package, into one trim level, while getting rid some frills.

The car will feature an M Performance coilover suspension that will provide a firmer ride and an M Performance exhaust with titanium tips. The top speed is raised to 168 miles per hour from the base M2's 155-limit. There's no change in horsepower, which remains 365 from the 3.0-liter inline six. Visually, the M2 Performance models will stand out with Alpine White exterior paint (a regular M2 is shown above), which will highlight the black accent pieces, including the kidney grille, side gills, and mirror caps. The car will also have M Performance illuminated side sills and LED light projectors that display an "M Performance" graphic.

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Electric car sales have risen up by 36% in 2016

Electric car sales have risen up by 36% in 2016: We’ve had a lot of signs that the electric car market has been rising for a lot of time, and its shares have risen through 2016 even more, but now we know that they shot up by 37%. We’ve got approximately over 30 battery-powered and plug-in hybrids offerings on the market, that’s like 159,139 vehicles for the US.

It’s the 70 percent year-over-year increase in monthly sales, which helped build the momentum to stronger overall sales. Of course, the sales jump by 37% comes following a five percent decline in sales from 2014 to 2015. The slight increase has spurred a new class of electric vehicles from investor-funded startups. Although, some of these companies also rely on poaching talent from premium automakers. Lucid Motors is one such company, founded in 2007 under the former name Atieva. The Menlo Park-based automaker rolled out its first electric car in 2014. Some of Lucid Motor’s investors include Venrock, China’s Beijing Automotive Industry Holding and Japan’s Mitsui.

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Trump's Cadillac up for sale in UK

Trump's Cadillac up for sale in UK: This Cadillac Trump was supposed to be a limited edition car built by the brand in partnership with the current U.S. president Donald Trump. The limited run was going to be 50 units, but the outcome of project was only two Cadillac Trumps. So Trump started with a grand scheme which failed and ended up something much, much smaller than he was anticipating.

Come to think of it, this whole episode is the perfect metaphor for his presidency. If the Cadillac Trump is any indication, that wall is going to be like like 3 feet tall and about a mile long. At any rate, if you interested in Trump’s old and likely smelly (it’s had five previous owners which, one would imagine, used the car mostly for hen nights) Cadillac which has 45,000 miles on it, go to a dealership in Gloucester with 50 grand.

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Survey reveals that 63% of consumers are ready to buy cars online

Survey reveals that 63% of consumers are ready to buy cars online: A new advertising survey has just revealed the news all the car dealers would like to hide from you, 63% of consumers are ready to buy cars online.

More than 1000 U.S. consumers have participated at the survey we’re talking about right now, and it seems like people have no more doubts about buying cars online, they have seen that it is totally real and is 100% worth it. Data shows that the public demand for such services is still evolving. Although the survey has found intense interest for buying vehicles online, a recent report from dealer software provider told another story when it said that a mere one-third of shoppers want to complete an entire transaction online.

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Tata Motors reported 96 % profit plunge as Land Rover sales decline

The Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company Tata Motors reported a 96 percent fall in net profit for its third quarter, citing sharply lower earnings at its British luxury automaker Jaguar Land Rover and losses in its domestic business. Consolidated net profit for the three months to Dec. 31 fell to 1.12 billion rupees ($16.7 million) from 29.53 billion a year earlier. Total income from operations fell 4.3 percent to 685.41 billion rupees.

Retail sales of its Jaguar sedans and Land Rover SUVs rose 8 percent to 149,288 vehicles in the three months through December from a year before, helped by a 38 percent rise in sales in China. While Jaguar retail sales rose about 90 percent to 45,364 vehicles, Land Rover sales fell 9 percent to 103,924 vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover’s net profit declined to 167 million pounds ($208 million) from 440 million a year ago, on revenue up 13.1 percent to 6.5 billion. Tata Motors’ domestic business reported a net loss of 10.46 billion rupees as it revamped its passenger cars business to boost sales and gain market share. Read more 

2018 Jaguar XE, XF, F-Pace updates with new engine options

Jaguar has announced changes and updates to its 2018 XE, XF, and F-Pace models, and the big one is a brand-new Ingenium four-cylinder engine. It replaces an older four-cylinder that was available on the 2017 XE line, and it will be the first gasoline four available on both the bigger XF sedan and the F-Pace crossover. The Ingenium engine is a turbocharged 2.0-liter gasoline four-cylinder, that makes 247 hp and 269 pound-feet of torque, which are improvements of 7 hp and 18 lb-ft over the XE’s old turbocharged four. Plus, peak torque is also available a bit lower than with the previous engine, at 1,200 rpm versus 1,750.

It shares its architecture with the Ingenium diesel four-cylinder. The XE also gets some powertrain love at the top of the range, borrowing an engine from its bigger siblings. Jaguar is introducing a new XE S model with the 380-hp supercharged 3.0-liter V6. The big news for the XF is that its base price drops ever so slightly now that a four-cylinder model has been added. Read more 

Ford knows what's worth investing

Ford knows what's worth investing: Ford decided to spend lots of money on a high-tech wind tunnel facility. The automaker hopes on improving the fuel economy of its cars with the new technology. The facility will feature tunnels that can handle an array of situations including high speeds, extreme temperatures, and large vehicles.

On the performance front, one of the tunnels will feature special fast-moving belts, also called rolling roads, that will direct air around the car at up to 200 mph depending on how the multi-belt system is configured. That faster belt system will be useful for Ford's sports cars and race cars. Ford also says the five-belt system will be useful for improving aerodynamics for fuel efficiency. 

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Gasoline prices determined the future of PEV sales again

Gasoline prices determined the future of PEV sales again: Gasoline and oil prices just like always determined the future and the present of electric and plug-in car sales. Back in 2014 when oil prices fell down, hybrid vehicles took a hit along with their residual values in several global markets. Plug-in electrified vehicles – battery electric and plug-in hybrid – saw similar trends emerging at first.

However, PEVs have seen unit sales rise significantly in the U.S., Europe, and China during the past two years – as gasoline prices have stayed down. It appears that other market dynamics are influencing PEV sales now more than oil and fuel pump prices. The U.S. is seeing PEV sales increase gradually as fuel prices have stayed down since mid-2014. While they still make for a very small share of new vehicle sales – about 1 percent – PEV sales are seeing a steady increase. PEV sales increased from 114,022 vehicles in the U.S. during 2015 to 157,112 in 2016.

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Ultra-rare, $4 Million Lamborghini recalled

The dozen owners of Lamborghini Venenos – an ultra-rare supercar that cost $4 million and up – will be receiving some bad news via registered mail: their Italian dream machines are being recalled. The 12-cylinder, 750-horsepower models that Automobili Lamborghini SpA billed as a “street-legal racing car” are among about 5,900 Aventadors the automaker will recall worldwide over risks that a fuel system fault could lead to fires.

Included in the recall are the only three Venenos hardtops sold, which carried a price of about $4 million (3 million euros), plus another nine Veneno Roadsters, originally listed at $4.5 million. In the U.S., the recall includes about 1,500 Aventadors, which start at around $400,000, according to a recall notice posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website Tuesday. U.S. owners will be notified by registered mail and can schedule a service appointment at a Lamborghini dealer to upgrade the evaporative system.Read more 

2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel gets 52 mpg on highway

If you celebrate the great US road trip, you can party even more, as the car with the best highway fuel economy among non-electrified vehicles is resolutely American. The 2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel sedan has been officially certified by the US Environmental Protection Agency at 52 miles per gallon on the highway when equipped with a six-speed manual transmission. To put a finer point on it, the hatchback can theoretically go more than 700 miles on a full tank of diesel. For map lovers out there, that’s a trip from New York to Detroit, with about 80 miles to spare.

The manual Cruze also beats the EPA highway rating for the Prius by 2 mpg. That being said, the Prius gets 52 mpg in the combined cycle, so it still beats the Cruze Diesel on that front. And the automatic-equipped Cruze Diesel only gets 47 mpg on the freeway. By the way, both the manual- and automatic-equipped Cruze Diesel get 37 mpg in the combined cycle. Reports surfaced last fall that the Cruze Diesel may get as much as 50 miles per gallon on the highway, so Chevy’s news is a little better than expected, and the General Motors division could use it. Read more