Car Bay

Ford’s brand portfolio is set to get smaller by the end of the year. Following the sale of Aston Martin, Land Rover, Jaguar and most recently Volvo (to Chinese automaker Geely), the Blue Oval has now announced the demise of its ‘middle of the range’ Mercury brand, with production of the last vehicles set to cease at the end of 2010.

In a statement released to media, Ford announced that the shuttering of the 71-year old Mercury brand was in the interest of focusing on Lincoln, the automaker’s only remaining premium brand. According to Ford, ‘more investment and attention on standout product design’ will now be made available to Lincoln, and the brand will see the addition of seven all-new or significantly refreshed vehicles in the next four years. Lincoln will also welcome its first-ever C-segment vehicle to the range, speculated to take the form of the C Concept revealed at the 2009 NAIAS in Detroit.

News of the forthcoming termination of Mercury has been a long time coming; the ill-fated brand has been creating rebadged Ford vehicles with little differentiation for a while now, so it’s really no surprise. Current offerings in the lineup range from the mid-size Milan (a mildly revised Ford Fusion) and full-size Grand Marquis (a clone of the soon to be defunct Crown Victoria) sedans to the Mariner (Escape) and Mountaineer (Explorer) SUVs. Read More »

For 2010 they’ve made the Shiver more user friendly by lowering and narrowing the seat. They’ve also improved the sporting side of the Aprilia by giving the new bike higher and further set back pegs, slightly different bars, narrower rear wheel, and improving the brakes with racy wavy discs. Suspension has also been firmed up slightly. Cosmetically it’s been given a sportier new look and new noise.

Engine

Engine wise the Shiver remains virtually unchanged, however Aprilia admit to playing around with the fuelling and fly by wire to make the fuelling smoother. This means power and torque is the same as before 95bhp and 60ftlb of torque, which is enough for a top speed of around 130mph. You don’t really need to bounce the Shiver off its rev limiter as there is plenty of usable torque for a brisk road ride.

Ride and Handling

The lower and narrow seat means you’re slightly more involved with the bike, more in it than on it. Suspension has been slightly stiffened for 2010 and the additional rear set pegs give the Shiver a sporting edge. Brakes are strong and progressive. Over long distances it’s not perfect but fine for a long days riding with a few breaks. Read More »

In 1926, the concept of the wristwatch lost its land bound status with the addition of a waterproof casing. Though the idea of waterproofing may seem practical only to deep sea divers, the concept stuck. In 1953 the world was introduced to the very first Rolex Submariner, a watch that could withstand water depths of up to 330 feet. Through time, the Rolex Submariner was redesigned and enhanced to withstand water depths of up to 1,000 feet. Despite gaining a technical advantage, the watch was still able to retain its classic Rolex look. As expected with a brand like Rolex, the price of the Submariner today ranges anywhere from $6,000 to $9,500, far surpassing the price of a basic waterproof watch. While such prices may cause the average consumer to shy away from the brand, a replica Rolex Submariner watch can be found for as little as $100 without losing the practicality that the original Submariner offers. Despite being a replica Rolex watch, the considerably cheaper counterpart still offers the same features. The replica, like the original, is built water resistant with an ability to withstand water at a depth of 1,000 feet. There is also no lack of choices in terms of style with a replica as there are several different schemes to choose from (one of which being a limited edition Coca Cola design). The replica Submariner comes equipped with a full stainless steel band and casing, just as its name brand counterpart would. To ensure the owner would still feel like they own a real Rolex, each replica is laser etched with the Rolex signature. With a chance to save up to $5,000 while sacrificing no more than just the brand name, it’s plain to see that purchasing a Rolex replica is nothing to shy away from.

Ferrari doesn’t make a new GTO very often. About every 21 years, on average.

So with the 599 GTO landing in a giant, drifty plume of tyre smoke just a couple of months back, it’s hyper-unlikely that we’ll see any other current Ferraris converted to GTO spec in the near future.

Which is why German designer Sasha Selipanov has taken it upon himself to imagine how a 612 Scaglietti GTO might look. An ultra-hardcore version of Ferrari’s four-seater grand tourer, you say? The results are spectacular, and more than a little reminiscent of the One-77 - reports BBC. Read More »

What do you know about the team you hope to protect their property and their families regularly are? It is common for blind trust a Wireless Home Alarm Systems in your home, at work, without taking into account that there is still much to do. However, you need to know a great service to the team a little better. Here are three ways to increase their own knowledge.
1st. Customer service job, In Customer Support on the sea became more common, it is obvious that we still have a long way when it really feel empathy operators and / or does not care a bit.
2nd. Perform the same analysis. You might be surprised if one day you go into the house and forget to be off the alarm.
3rd. Check the attributes less common. You will be surprised if you should communicate the Code alarm almost all the teachers come to your home.

Lockheed Martin - for the uninitiated - is a company that makes big shouty fighter jets and lots of missiles and assorted weapons.

So when one of its designers penned a new Lamborghini concept, we got quite excited. We expected a Lambo with the propensity to transform into a flying merchant of SpeedyDeath using lasers and stuff.

But what we got instead was this - the Lamborghini ‘Navarra’ by designer Adam Denning.

It takes Lambo’s current styling language - a language inspired, don’t forget, by the Lockheed Martin-designed F-22 Raptor jet fighter, which influenced the Reventon - and adds curves. It’s also a styling language we think swears. Profusely. Read More »

The US minivan market as we know it today was born in 1983 when Chrysler introduced the Town & Country minivan. Technically, there had been small, car-based vans on the market before, most notably the Volkswagen Type 2, or Microbus. But the Town & Country really defined a market, and before long, minivans proliferated at each of the major US manufacturers. Japanese makers followed suit, with several generations of minivan quickly sprouting from Toyota, Honda and Nissan by the end of the 1980s. Korean manufacturers took longer to get into the act — Kia’s Sedona didn’t join the fray until 1998, and Hyundai brought the Entourage to our shores from 2007 - 2009.

Today, the minivan market is in retreat. The list of new minivans available for the 2010 model year in the United States is short (2009 sales in parentheses): Read More »

We all know that we need car insurance to insure our vehicles and ourselves in the event that something happens. We all need the best possible insurance, and while that may not be the least expensive thing in the world, there’s still sufficient need that we still get the best quotes for our money. With that said, car insurance options have never been easier than with our service. Since our inception, we have only provided people with the insurance quotes from the leading insurance companies. There is no reason why a person should have to go to ten different websites, entering all sorts of information just to get a good insurance quote. We streamline the process, only giving people the quotes that they need — when they need them. If you’re looking for the best car insurance compare in New York, you’ve come to the right place. We only bring you the most cost-efficient, yet thorough quotes. Read More »

General Motors Co. has ended a partnership with Indian firm Reva Electric Car Co. to produce electric cars and will now develop the vehicle in its hometown of Detroit, the head of its Indian operations said on Thursday.

The announcement follows Indian utility vehicles maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.’s deal on Wednesday to acquire a 55 percent stake in Bangalore-based Reva.

GM India, which had originally planned to launch an electric version of the Chevrolet Spark, will now showcase the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid in the fourth quarter of 2010, after its global launch in November, Karl Slym said.

He did not give a time frame for the introduction of full-fledged electric vehicles in the Indian market.

Slym said the decision to end the agreement with Reva was made about two months ago as GM had a parallel program to develop electric vehicles globally. Read More »

House lawmakers on Thursday accused Toyota of failing to keep its promise to get to the bottom of what caused sudden unintended acceleration in some of its vehicles, despite public statements the automaker made to reassure consumers.

Rep. Henry Waxman, who chairs the House committee investigating Toyota’s massive recalls, accused the automaker on Thursday of relying upon a consulting firm which had conducted a limited review of potential electronic defects and whose mission is “to obfuscate and to find no problems.”

“Toyota has repeatedly told the public that it has conducted extensive testing of its vehicles for electronic defects. We can find no basis for these assertions,” said Waxman, D-Calif. “Toyota’s assertions may be good public relations, but they don’t appear to be true.” - reports MSNBC.

Jim Lentz, Toyota’s top U.S. sales executive, said the company had no evidence that electronics are to blame for the sudden acceleration reports. Toyota has said mechanical problems have been addressed by its recall of more than 8 million vehicles worldwide.

The world’s largest automaker has paid a record $16.4 million fine for a slow response to an accelerator pedal recall and faces hundreds of state and federal lawsuits. The Transportation Department could assess more penalties if it finds evidence the company delayed other recalls. Read More »