Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Chevrolet

For the truly hard-core Corvette fanatic who likes to spend weekends thrashing his or her car at the track, there is only one Corvette worthy of consideration: the Z06. However, thanks to the ZR1, the lightweight, normally aspirated 7.0-liter coupe is no longer the absolute quickest Vette, but it is felt to have the most responsive handling. What it doesn't have is the uber-cool carbon-ceramic brakes, carbon-fiber body panels and magnetic ride active damping system of its supercharged sibling. That can now be changed to past tense with the birth of the Z06 Carbon edition announced today by General Motors.

The Z06 Carbon was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first appearance of the Corvette at the 24 Hours of Le Mans when John Fitch and Briggs Cunningham won their class and finished eighth overall. The Carbon edition is essentially a Z06 with a ZR1 chassis and some of the carbon skin. When production starts this fall, only 500 examples will be made and they will only come in two colors, Inferno Orange and Supersonic Blue. All examples get black-painted wheels and a black interior upholstered in leather and suede. Follow the jump and we'll tell you more.



[Source: Chevrolet]

Continue reading 2011 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Carbon slots in right below ZR1

2011 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Carbon slots in right below ZR1 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: SUV, Videos, Off-Road

The vintage FJ Landcruiser tuners at Icon turn out highly detailed 4x4s with custom-designed suspensions comprised of top-shelf parts, powdercoated exteriors and German military convertible tops. We've sampled the firm's wares before and those details turn Icon vehicles into impressive - if spendy - SUVs: $79,000 gets you a look at the bottom of the barrel, more than $100,000 is needed for a taste of the cream. Are they worth it? StreetFire takes a look at three Icons, and along with our own Johnny Liberman and PickupTrucks.com's Mike Levine, renders the muddy verdict. Follow the jump for all the action.

[Source: StreetFire]

Continue reading Video: Icon's ultimate 4x4s from another perspective

Video: Icon's ultimate 4x4s from another perspective originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Car Buying, Marketing/Advertising, GM, Toyota

Recently, General Motors has been offering special buying incentives specifically tailored to steer people away from Toyota and Lexus dealerships, and even get current Toyota owners out of their cars. And while most people look at this as just a clever marketing technique to promote other automakers in the wake of Toyota's recall wound, a group of dealers are none too happy about the marketing campaign. What's more, because the U.S. government currently owns a 60 percent stake in GM, Toyota dealers have made accusations that American taxpayer dollars are being used to fund these incentives.

The Toyota National Dealer Council, which represents approximately 1,250 Toyota dealers across the United States, claims that using taxpayer dollars for this purpose is "reckless, unfair and detrimental to the entire auto industry." And while we believe it's a potentially rational argument for the TNDC to make, we must remember that no specific evidence has been presented to completely prove their point. GM may be mostly owned by the U.S. government, but it's still an autonomous company, and no one can say for sure if its marketing decisions are, in any way, influenced by the officials in Washington, D.C. Hit the jump to read the entire TNDC press release.

[Source: Toyota National Dealer Council | Image: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images]

Continue reading Toyota dealer group peeved over tax dollar use for GM incentives targeted at Toyota owners

Toyota dealer group peeved over tax dollar use for GM incentives targeted at Toyota owners originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Daily U-Turn: What you missed on 3.9.10 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Audi

We already know that Audi plans to fit the standard R8's 420-hp, 4.2-liter V8 into its all-new Spyder variant early next year, and now comes word that at least one more version of the R8 is in the pipeline and that the R tronic sequential automatic might not be long for this world.

According to company insiders speaking with Car and Driver, the herky-jerky gearbox will likely be dispatched in favor of Audi's new seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. There's no word on the amount of torque the DCT can handle, but considering how much better the R8 V10 performed with the standard sequential tranny, we'd suspect that the dual-clutch setup will make its way onto the V8 models only. And if you're worried about the gated six-speed manual being nixed from the options list, don't be - it will continue to be available on all models.

C&D also reports that a sportier version of the R8, inspired by the LMS model, could be in the cards, packing more power (think: Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera) and a not-so-insignificant weight reduction thanks to the liberal use of carbon fiber. Expect that to only be available on the V10 model and yes, a fully-electric version based on the original e-tron concept is supposedly on the way and due to arrive in a few year's time.



Photos by Drew Phillips / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: Car and Driver]

Report: Audi R8 to spawn sportier model, dual-clutch gearbox cometh originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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