AutoWeek Daily Drive — Wednesday, April 7, 2010

HOME   |   CAR NEWS   |   CAR REVIEWS   |   RACING   |   AUTOSHOWS   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   MARKETPLACE Wednesday, April 07, 2010                  The Audi R8 spyder's fabric roof with electro-hydraulic mechanism weighs just 93 pounds.... 2011 Audi R8 spyder drops the top and sets its sights on some heavy Italian competition Just two days after Audi unveiled the A1 at the Geneva motor show-- the smallest, least expensive car in the company's rapidly expanding lineup--it unleashed one of its most expensive, most outrageous cars to date: the R8 spyder. These two cars, while sharing basics such as the four rings in the grille and quattro all-wheel drive, are at polar opposites of the spectrum. One is an entry-level...   Daimler, Renault-Nissan announce alliance Daimler and Renault-Nissan unveiled the details of an international alliance on Wednesday in a landmark collaboration designed to fortify the three historic automakers by sharing technology and reducing costs around the world. AutoWeek first broke news of the deal last week. Renault-...   Strangers in a strange land It was midnight before I noticed the light was still on. I was who-knows-where, 45 minutes outside of Le Mans, which itself is basically who-knows-where, at least with respect to my hotel room. In Paris. Two and a half hours away. The warning blinked on shortly after I left Le Mans maybe five hours ...   2010 BMW 128i Coupe, an AW Drivers Log MOTORSPORTS EDITOR MAC MORRISON: I've been a big fan of the 1-series since I first drove it a couple years ago, and I remain one. Certainly the twin-turbo 135i is the performance-driver's choice, but the 128i is no slouch whatsoever, and it puts a smile on your face during hard driving....   GM begins clearance sale for Hummer General Motors is shutting down the Hummer brand for good, taking the last of its four discarded U.S. brands off the market. GM had said it would consider offers to buy Hummer after a deal to sell the brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery failed to receive Chinese government... You May Have Missed...   2010 Chevrolet Camaro Indy 500 pace-car replicas to be sold to the public Camaro's long history at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will mark another chapter with the launch of a replica version of the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro pace car.Chevrolet will make up to 200 copies of the Camaro that will lead off the Indy 500 in May. The cars will sticker for $41,950 each, including...   Dodge uncages 2010 Viper SRT10 Final Edition Packing 600 hp and clad in a sinister black-and-gray paint scheme, the ominously named 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 Final Edition was unwrapped on Tuesday.This snake is yet another special edition of the supercar as Dodge celebrates the final year of the current generation. The car’s future is...   NHRA teams say no to four-wide racing By a vote of 60 to 3, members of the NHRA's Professional Racers Owners Organization (PRO) have given a thumbs-down to four-wide racing, which debuted at zMax Dragway at Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte, N.C., on March 25-28.PRO sent a letter to NHRA president Tom Compton on March 31 to inform...   March Madness I get excited at the beginning of a month when the car and light-truck sales numbers come out. Completely dorky, I know, but I can't help it. I love sifting through them for the winners and losers, which individual models are hot, hints of what's to come this year. Maybe it's my son-of-a-dealer...   2010 Suzuki Kizashi: An AW Performance Profile Suzuki takes its biggest step up yet in the U.S. market with the Kizashi sedan. A spunky four-cylinder engine and a finely finished interior gives Suzuki an entry that just might attract some attention from Toyota Camry and Honda Accord buyers....   Graham Rahal to drive for Sarah Fisher Racing in Long Beach Izod IndyCar Series entrant Sarah Fisher Racing said Tuesday that Graham Rahal, 21, will drive a third race for the team, at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 18. Rahal made his debut for the team at the end of March in St. Petersburg, Fla., and is scheduled to drive for the team next...   Koons's BMW Art Car to race at Le Mans BMW will field the latest in its long series of Art Cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, June 12-13. This is the 17th Art Car commissioned by BMW.Jeff Koons follows others such as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Jenny Holzer in designing an Art Car. The BMW M3 GT2 Le Mans car from Koons will be a...   Red Alert: Audi reveals new color for ‘R15 plus’ Audi revealed striking new livery this week for the R15 TDI for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Last year, the car was mostly silver. Now it’s very red but still has plenty of silver and black carbon-fiber accents. Internally, this racer is known as the “R15 plus.”We’ll get our...   VW diesels win green award Volkswagen's BlueMotion line of diesel cars has been named the 2010 Green Car of the Year by the World Car of the Year group. VW design chief Walter de'Silva accepted the award during the New York auto show.The Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight were the other finalists for the award this year.The... CLICK HERE TO UNSUBSCRIBE from the AutoWeek Daily Drive E-mail or to sign up for other AutoWeek e-mail products. IMPORTANT: Please add AutoWeek.com to your E-mail Address Book to ensure you will continue to receive our newsletters. Please DO NOT reply to this e-mail. 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