AutoWeek Daily Drive — Friday, December 3, 2010

HOME   |   CAR NEWS   |   CAR REVIEWS   |   RACING   |   AUTOSHOWS   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   MARKETPLACE Friday, December 03, 2010                  The Audi quattro concept makes extensive use of aluminum and carbon fiber to keep the coupe's weight down to... Audi quattro concept, an AW Flash Drive WITH VIDEO -- What is it? Audi's Paris show car is a rolling homage to the original quattro from 30 years ago, and it looks it, too. The regular Audi quattro coupe debuted at the 1980 Geneva motor show with a distinctly new coupe body. Four years later, the 1984 Sport quattro bowed, destined not only for rally racing but also for a limited production run of 206 cars to meet homologation ...   What’s really under the hood of the 2012 Audi A6 The 2012 Audi A6 will get a broad portfolio of engines in Germany as the company shows off its technological and engineering prowess. But what is really coming to the United States when the sleek sedan launches next year? Americans will get a supercharged, 3.0-liter V6 making about 300 hp and...   2011 Hyundai Sonata GLS, an AW Drivers Log EXECUTIVE EDITOR--AUTOWEEK.COM BOB GRITZINGER: There's a lot to like in this sedan, from the fits and finishes to the styling and sticker price. The fuel economy, as recorded in our lead-footed hands, is fairly remarkable as well. Midsizers such as this tend to get lost in the sea of dull ...   BMW to make Super Bowl comeback BMW North America is returning to the Super Bowl after a 10-year hiatus, as the car maker enters one of the busiest periods of new model and product launches in its history. According to the auto manufacturer--which globally operates out of Germany but has U.S. headquarters in Woodcliff...   Historic Brough Superior hits the auction block Motorcycle pioneer and racer George Brough's 1925 prototype Brough Superior SS 100 Alpine Grand Sport has a shot at breaking the world record for motorcycles at auction on Dec. 15. The iconic piece from the Michael FitzSimons collection could fetch $600,000 to $700,000 at the New York auction...   Dale Earnhardt Jr. named most popular driver Well, as it turns out, Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn’t completely shut out in Sprint Cup this year after all. On Thursday, to the surprise of absolutely nobody at the NASCAR awards banquet in Las Vegas, the Hendrick Motorsports driver was named this year’s Most Popular Driver, the eight...   New Green: Vaughn introduces a natural-gas Honda Civic For all those wanting to save the universe, may we introduce the latest member of the AutoWeek green car fleet--a Honda Civic GX. The GX is a regular Civic in every respect but one--its 1.8-liter four-cylinder internal-combustion engine is powered solely by compressed natural gas. The...   NASCAR partners with American Ethanol NASCAR is continuing its attempt to garner something of a “green” image moving forward. On Thursday, the series announced a new partnership with American Ethanol. The company is led by ethanol-advocacy group Growth Energy. The announcement comes just weeks after NASCAR decided to switch ... You May Have Missed...   Sales enthusiasm? Sports-car and luxury brands show strong market gains Count Porsche among enthusiast and luxury brands enjoying huge sales gains this year. Sales for the German automaker are up 29 percent so far this year-one of the largest increases in the industry. Almost one-third of Porsche's total sales came from the four-door Panamera. The car, often panned by...   Lotus hires former BMW, Ferrari execs Lotus Cars has added former BMW boss Karl-Heinz Kalbfell and ex-Ferrari executive Guillaume Chabin to its management lineup.Kalbfell will advise Lotus CEO Dany Bahar and provide operational support at the company's headquarters in Hethel, England. "It's not often that you get the opportunity to...   NASCAR: Speed released by Team Red Bull Team Red Bull has severed its NASCAR relationship with former Formula One driver Scott Speed, whose stock-car career was only marginally more successful than his short-lived Grand Prix career.Speed posted on his Twitter account that he'd gotten the official termination letter on the Tuesday after...   Shell and Penske unveil their 2011 NASCAR and IndyCar liveries Penske Corporation and Shell Oil Company unveiled their new NASCAR Sprint Cup and Izod IndyCar Series cars for the 2011 season in Las Vegas on Thursday.The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Dodge will be driven next season by 2004 Sprint Cup champion Kurt Busch. Penske's No. 3 Shell V-Powered-Pennzoil Ultra...   Gifts that will rev up the holidays for car fans, an AW daily video for Dec. 2 Mini and Lincoln get new design chiefs, the Ferrari 458 Challenge is ready for track duty and repaired Toyotas may need another fix....   IndyCar modifies TEAM funding program Izod IndyCar Series officials announced that they will modify the Team Enhancement and Allocation Matrix (TEAM) entrant funding program for 2011, as the series seeks “to increase the competitive balance throughout the field.”Though the financial guarantee to full-time IndyCar teams will ...   IndyCar: Servia and Hinchcliffe to test for Newman/Haas IndyCar team Newman/Haas Racing will test in Sebring, Fla., Dec. 13-14 in preparation for the 2011 season. Drivers Oriol Servia and James Hinchcliffe will test both days, according to the team.Servia brought the team a win and seven podium finishes in 2005. Hinchcliffe was runner-up in the 2010... 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