AutoWeek Daily Drive — Thursday, September 23, 2010

HOME   |   CAR NEWS   |   CAR REVIEWS   |   RACING   |   AUTOSHOWS   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   MARKETPLACE Thursday, September 23, 2010                  The reskinned Continental GT coupe goes on sale early in 2011.... Future products: Bentley reskins Continentals, works on convertibles Bentley's sales have plummeted as its cars aged and the economy fell into recession. The launch of the Mulsanne flagship this year is cause for optimism, as is the coming reskin of the Continental range, which was introduced in the United States in 2005. Bentley will begin rolling out the new versions of the Continental next year, starting with the GT coupe. Continental: The ...   Paris auto show: Mini jumps into electric scooter field with trio of concepts BMW's Mini brand is bringing its electric-powered Scooter E concept to this year's Paris auto show. It gives Mini a response to the electric-powered scooter concept being shown by the Smart brand of German rival Daimler. The Mini Scooter E is the company's first foray in the two-wheel segment....   2011 Ford F-150 powertrain lineup overhauled WITH VIDEO -- A V6 in America's best-selling pickup? Ford enthusiasts know there has been a six-cylinder engine available in F-Series pickups most years since the truck's debut in 1948. But never has so much combustion efficiency been seen in any of them until now. Ford's 2011 F-150 will...   2011 Aston Martin Vantage V12, an AW Driver's Blog Aston Martin's Vantage is sporty in basic trim, but add the 6.0-liter V12 and things start moving pretty fast. AutoWeek editors Natalie Neff and Jon Wong give us their impressions....   2010 Chrysler Sebring Convertible Limited, an AW Drivers Log EDITORIAL INTERN JAKE LINGEMAN: The Sebring Convertible is not for me. Some may find redeeming value in the triple color scheme, but I do not. Apart from the paint the styling seems gaudy, with too many lines on the body. The chrome wheels add flash to a car that should be trying to hide....   Mitsubishi CEO pledges to stay in U.S., wants to quadruple sales Mitsubishi Motors Corp. President Osamu Masuko says the company won't pull out of the U.S. market and that his personal mid-range sales target is 200,000 units a year, or roughly four times today's level of 50,000. Masuko acknowledged that the Japanese carmaker has fallen hard since its U.S....   F1: Heidfeld ready to get back on track Nick Heidfeld says he's raring to go after being out of a race seat since last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix but admits that it could take him a while to get back into the swing of things. The German returns to Sauber this week as replacement for Pedro de la Rosa, who has been dropped by the Swiss ...   Hankook tire exec calls for global campaign to point out dangers of low tire pressure Anyone driving a car today has certainly heard about the dangers of drinking and driving, and the use of a cell phone and texting while driving. Seung Hwa Suh, vice chairman and CEO of Hankook tires, is hoping more drivers will pay attention to the dangers of low tire pressure and driving. At... You May Have Missed...   NASCAR Hall of Fame class to be announced on Oct. 13 Voting day for the 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame class will take place at the hall in Charlotte, N.C., on Oct. 13, the series announced on Wednesday.The nominees were announced in July and include Bobby Allison, Buck Baker, Red Byron, Richard Childress, Jerry Cook, Richie Evans, Tim Flock, Rick Hendrick,...   Peugeot's electric EX1 concept sets speed records Peugeot's latest concept car, the electric EX1, set six acceleration records on Tuesday at the Montlhéry circuit in France.The EX1, driven by French explorer Nicolas Vanier, broke the quarter-mile, 500-meter and 1,000-meter records held by Opel's GT Electric since 1971. The Peugeot covered the...   NASCAR notebook: Childress and Whitney drivers, teams penalized NASCAR reportedly took a real close look at Clint Bowyer’s No. 33 Chevrolet following the recent race at Richmond, Va., and took another extended look at the team’s car following Bowyer’s win in the Sylvania 300 at Loudon, N.H. The closer examination after Loudon found some...   NASCAR: Win a VIP trip to the Martinsville race Hendrick Motorsports and eBay Motors have teamed up to give NASCAR fans a chance to win a VIP trip to the Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 24.Everyone who enters will have their eBay usernames painted on Mark Martin's No. 5 Chevrolet Impala that will race in the Tums Fast...   GM to test electrified Cruze in South Korea starting next month General Motors Co. will begin testing a fleet of electric-powered Chevrolet Cruze vehicles next month in South Korea.The test vehicles were co-developed with GM Daewoo, LG Chem and LG Electronics. GM plans to announce electric-vehicle demonstration fleets with additional partners later this year....   Formula One: Austin planners say $15 million worth of road improvements needed U.S. Grand Prix promoter Full Throttle Productions LP released its facility master plan on Tuesday night, but Travis County planners in Texas still maintain that the area's roads require massive upgrades to handle the expected swarm of 120,000 race fans.According to an analysis by the planners, $15 ...   Smokin' video: Ken Block carves up France's l'Autodrome in new Gymkhana run Rally star and DC Shoes purveyor Ken Block has delivered another piece of wild driving with his latest Gymkhana video--this time carving up the high-banked track at France's Linas at l'Autodrome.If you can dream it, Block can do it--180-degree and 360-degree turns and figure eights in a custom-... CLICK HERE TO UNSUBSCRIBE from the AutoWeek Daily Drive E-mail or to sign up for other AutoWeek e-mail products. 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