Heavy fluctuations in the value of the U.S. dollar versus the Euro has made building vehicles in the U.S. a very attractive proposition for European automakers. BMW is looking to expand its U.S. operations by spending over $1B to increase capacity at its South Carolina plant, add more parts distribution centers, and expand its U.S. headquarters in New Jersey. The majority of the money, about $750M, will be spent on increasing production at its plant South Carolina plant from 160,000 units to 240,000 by 2012. The move makes abundant sense given the fact that the German automaker is taking a massive hit by shipping vehicles from higher cost Europe to the lower cost U.S.
BMW is spending $100M on expanding its headquarters and another $170M to increase parts distribution centers, which should be welcome news for BMW owners who can face high wait times for parts. BMW has been tearing up the sales charts in the U.S. for quite a while, and with an added $1B getting spent on facilities Stateside, it looks like the Germans want the good times to continue to roll.
While Villeneuve and Montoya are adapting well to their new home in NASCAR, their German-speaking former colleagues might be headed to their own sedan-based racing series at home.
Reports indicate that, against the advice of his older brother, Ralf Schumacher climbed into the cabin of a Mercedes C-Class DTM race car for a trial test at the Estoril track on Tuesday.
Austrian driver Christian Klien, who was passed over for the last seat at Force India in favor of Giancarlo Fisichella, is believed to have also participated in the test. The Mercedes-AMG team in the popular German touring car series recently suffered the loss of Mika Hakkinen, and is tipped to be eager to replace him with another big F1 name.
click above to view more high-res images of the Team Lexus IS-F
No single car better demonstrates the determination of Lexus to stick it to the Germans than the IS-F. The high-performance sports sedan gives the BMW M3, Mercedes C63 AMG and Audi RS4 a real run for their deutschemarks euros. But Lexus isn't about to let it rest there. That is, not if the rumors are to be believed.
A few days ago we brought you a preview image of the IS-F Racing Concept, which Lexus is bringing to its home-court Tokyo Auto Salon later this week. But while it certainly looks the part, emerging reports now suggest that the concept is no mere concept at all, but that Lexus is actually planning on using it to compete in Germany's domestic (and both highly popular and ultra-competitive) DTM touring car series. The rumors are fueled by the image you see above, posted mysteriously on TeamLexus.com. If the reports turn out to be true, the IS-F could find itself trading paint with race-prepped AMG Mercedes C-Classes and Audi A4s before long.
However a seemingly conflicting report suggests that the racing IS-F pictured above is actually a GT2 car destined to succeed the previous IS300-based racer that Lexus campaigned in the 2006 American Le Mans Series (ALMS). Enough differences exist between the dark concept headed for Tokyo and the orange one in the new images to allow for the possibility that Lexus could be relentlessly pursuing perfection in two distinct classes with racers based on the same sports sedan. Check out the images in the gallery below for more angles.
Drifting a supercar takes a certain amount of fortitude in the trouser department. All the more so on narrow mountain roads. And even more so when the car you're drifting is the Porsche Carrera GT, which aside from being worth a good half-a-mill easy, is also reputed to be one of the most difficult cars to control.
That's what makes this video so damned impressive. If you're a fan of supercars, of Porsches or of drifting – and chances are if you're reading Autoblog you're in at least two of those camps – then this video can't be missed. Never mind that the spoken language is German. "Vroom" is universal.
In most countries, acts like murder, treason, or plotting to overthrow the government rank among the most heinous crimes a person can commit. In Italy, stealing secrets from Ferrari ranks right up near the top of the list, too.
Following a long, drawn out process, two former Scuderia Ferrari engineers, who stood accused of stealing secrets from Maranello and giving them to rivals at Toyota F1, have been convicted. Pending appeal, Angelo Santini was sentenced to nine months and Mauro Iacconi to 16 behind bars on charges of industrial espionage.
Back at the start of the 2003 season, Toyota built a wind-tunnel down the road from Ferrari in Sant'Agata Bolognese, near the Lamborghini factory. Naturally the project recruited the talents of many former Ferrari engineers, but when the season kicked off, Toyota's car looked suspiciously like Ferrari's. Complaints were filed in Italy and in Germany, and the case against Santini and Iacconi went to court a year ago. Toyota's former team principal, chief designer and chief aerodynamicist were all charged in Germany, where the case against them is pending prosecution.
It seems that Toyota will stop at nothing to catch up to Ferrari, and when hiring a Schumacher didn't work, less legal means were employed.
In an effort to reduce emissions, increase drivability and/or prolong the life of the engine, most automakers spend an exhaustive amount of time balancing performance and usability on the factory engine computer. Before jumping headlong into modifications, one of the more effective ways of boosting output, particularly on turbocharged engines, is to have a reputable shop perform a reflash on the factory ECU or to install a piggyback computer to eek out any extra power left on the table by the OEM.
Naturally, tweaking some of these parameters may bring an otherwise law-abiding engine out sync with local regulations and this fact has garnered the attention of German authorities.
It looks like Ingolstadt has been humming along, readying the S5 for sale. Tipster dasboost pointed us to this video of S5 eye candy. It's nice to get close up angles of some details on this hot-looking coupe. Audi typically sweats the details, especially on the inside, and the S5 looks like it faithfully follows that tradition. We like the chiseling that goes on outside - it's a slight evolution of the Audi design ethos, and perfect for a coupe, lending a more muscular appearance. Hopefully nobody has read this far into the post, as we expect everyone's going to skip over all of our babble and go straight to the video, which is after the jump. If you did read this far, what are you doing? Go and watch the video!
It's buzz time for the Audi group as they gear up the the A5 preview at the Geneva show in March. Audi has pledged to do more marketing on the Internet lately and they've built themselves a micro-site to gear up all the Audi-files for their next dream vehicle. Micro-sites give glimpses of product and cool-looking graphics to would-be purchasers just to give them enough to want more. It starts with a shot of our planet and zooms down to the top of the A5. To get any closer you'll have to register. Take a look.
As each of us gets older and has a harder time remembering when all we wanted for Christmas were toys, it's healthy to find a way to dive back in the past and relive those simpler times. That's a tough exercise to pull off with TPS reports that need copying and a 9-5 that doesn't allow for play time. Enter the "Race in a Briefcase", which is our name for this German-engineered executive toy that marries a very serious looking stainless steel briefcase with a 2-meter long toy car track on which two racers can compete. The track is slotted, and unlike the kiddy kind of yesteryear that only called for a trigger finger strong enough to last ten laps, the "Race in a Briefcase" requires deft throttle control to stay on course and not send your car flying off the boardroom table. The track uses a standard 9 volt battery that powers the fun for five hours, and a stopwatch is even included to officially time your runs. It looks like a sweet toy that can be easily slipped by your boss for hours of on-the-clock fun. Be prepared to cough up a paycheck for the privelage, however, as the "Race in a Briefcase" costs €598.00 (about $766).
German newspaper Bild am Sonntag has announced the six winners of its Golden Steering Wheel Award, a prize decided on by 25 select automotive experts from various countries. Seemingly the equivalent of a set of golden calipers, the Golden Steering Wheel prize is highly sought after by automakers and, if the translations we've read are correct, can be used the following year by each recipient in ads for the winning models. Below is the list of winners in each class.
As each of us gets older and has a harder time remembering when all we wanted for Christmas were toys, it's healthy to find a way to dive back in the past and relive those simpler times. That's a tough exercise to pull off with TPS reports that need copying and a 9-5 that doesn't allow for play time. Enter the "Race in a Briefcase", which is our name for this German-engineered executive toy that marries a very serious looking stainless steel briefcase with a 2-meter long toy car track on which two racers can compete. The track is slotted, and unlike the kiddy kind of yesteryear that only called for a trigger finger strong enough to last ten laps, the "Race in a Briefcase" requires deft throttle control to stay on course and not send your car flying off the boardroom table. The track uses a standard 9 volt battery that powers the fun for five hours, and a stopwatch is even included to officially time your runs. It looks like a sweet toy that can be easily slipped by your boss for hours of on-the-clock fun. Be prepared to cough up a paycheck for the privelage, however, as the "Race in a Briefcase" costs €598.00 (about $766). 
2010 Nissan Cube breaks cover in Japan
Officially Official: 2010 Ford Mustang!
2010 Ford Mustang revealed early on Ford's own website!
2009 Nissan 370Z rolls out early in So. Cal
VIDEO: 2009 Nissan 370Z revealed early in So. Cal.
In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 HUMMER H3T Alpha
In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 Mercedes Benz C63 AMG
In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 Hyundai Genesis
In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 Chevrolet Traverse LT
