New details about the future Toyota/Subaru compact sports car

A few new details have surfaced surrounding the future Toyota-Subaru compact sports car. Apparently the vehicle’s official debut will be made at the end of 2011, however it will be powered by a smaller engine than originally anticipated in order to reduce emissions and increase fuel efficiency.

Under the hood the automakers will keep the 2.0 Liter boxer engine, except that instead of having 200 direct injected horses on tap, at the moment it will only make 160 HP, some 40 HP less than previously anticipated. The gears will initially still be shifted by a 6 speed manual transmission with an automatic version being offered later on.

One of the future AE86’s keys to success is a lightweight fun to drive formula, so weight for the future Toyobaru sport compact is expected to be around 1200 kg. The engineers will have to keep off every unnecessary pound in order to get the most out of the detuned power plant.

Fisker will add smaller electric car in 2010

The electric vehicle builder Fisker already has the lithium-ion powered Karma sedan and soon to be Karma Sunset convertible. But for 2010 the Tesla Motors competitor would like to offer something different, a more compact plug-in vehicle.

"We’re first doing the four-door and then we’re doing the convertible and then we’re planning some third derivative off the Karma platform. Then we’re planning a high-volume vehicle for a lower price. We’ve applied for a Department of Energy grant. If that loan comes through, we’ll have this vehicle on the road in 29 months" said Fisker himself.

Tesla releases photos of Model S being taken for a ride

We still haven’t recovered from oogling over the photos of Tesla’s new Roadster Sport when the electric car makers decided to satiate our appetites even more by releasing all-new photos of its other ‘new’ car – the Tesla Model S. Normally, we’d have to pause and catch our breaths after seeing such stunning photos like those of the Roadster Sport but in this case, it’s like getting desert one after another. And knowing us, we’ll never turn our backs on mouth-watering treats.

So here are the new photos of the Model S, which is being tested by no other than Franz Von Holzhausen, the man who designed this car in the first place.

Unfortunately for a lot us, this is the closest we’ll come to seeing a Model S out on the road until 2011, the date where the car is set to roll out of the lots. In the meantime, the two-year wait should be excruciatingly long, especially after seeing these photos that only makes us a little bit more eager to see the car out on the road.

Dodge Circuit EV confirmed for production

Revealed earlier this year at the Detroit Auto Show, the Dodge Circuit EV has been finally confirmed for production. Lou Rhodes, Chrysler’s ENVI division president has stated that the automaker’s first all-electric vehicle will be launched next year. The electrified sports car will compete with mdoels like the Tesla Roadster, but at a lower cost.

The car’s chassis will be assembled in Europe by the engineers at Lotus and then shipped back to U.S. for the electric drivetrain to be installed. The car has already undergone significant testing. After the Circuit EV is launched, Chrysler will add a lineup of electric sedans, SUVs and crossover models to their range of vehicles.

The Circuit EV is powered by a completely electric ENVI drivetrain that delivers a maximum output of 268 HP. That much power allows the Circuit EV concept to go from 0 to 60 MPH in less than 5 seconds, while top speed goes up to 120 MPH.

GM’s future plans revealed

The automobile industry is going through a tough on a global scale, and thing have gotten especially bad here at home, severe enough that the U.S. Government has stepped in to offer incentives to new car buyers to trade in their worthless clunkers. Both Chrysler and General Motors have gone through bankruptcy hearings and are undergoing major restructurings, at the moment it looks like Ford is standing at the top of the hill. Despite the poor outlook, the General has plans for a very bright future and they involve a few changes in the Cadillac lineup.

First of all there will be a production version of the Cadillac CTS Coupe, it will first make a debut as a concept in February and go into production in May, the road going model will then be followed up with a factory tuned high performance V-Series version a few months later. The CTS Coupe will be powered by a gasoline direct injected V6 that will deliver 270 HP. The big boy CTS-V on the other hand, will be powered by a 556 HP 6.2 Liter supercharged V8, the same engine that is found in the sedan.

Cadillac is also preparing a new concept car called ATS, the production version of the ATS will be available in both sedan and coupe body styles and is the General’s answer to the entry level luxury category dominating BMW 3-Series. While the larger Cadillac DTS is set to be replaced by a new model that is much sleeker, currently known as the Cadillac XTS, a model to be placed on top the Buick LaCrosse.

The more mundane next generation Chevrolet Malibu will go into production in 2012, while an all-new midsize model from Buick is scheduled to go into production in the next 24 months.