Autoblog

Click above for more shots of the "Mystery Vette"

Someone slipped Jalopnik a new pair of shots of the mysterious Corvette concept that's appearing in next year's Transformers sequel. So far, we've seen good views of the car from the front and side, but rear-end shots had yet to surface. Well, that's over. The concept -- now a confirmed product of the GM Design studios (note the plate in back), has large ducts in back that mimic the openings in front and presumably also hide the car's taillamps. Four big centrally-mounted exhaust outlets poke through the bodywork as well. Frankly, the rear view is the car's least appealing, with that chunky boattail mixed in with all those sharp angles. There's also a new detail shot of the front quarter, which focuses on that very traditional Corvette fender shape. Is it just a movie character or also a concept that GM's going to drop on us somewhere along the line? Your guess is as good as ours, and the trickle of spy shots is probably far from over.

[Source: Jalopnik]

We knew the Chevy Beat was making an appearance in the overly-named Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The new news is that one of its "triplet" siblings, the Chevy Trax concept, is joining it, as you can see above. The two are chasing/following Bumblebee on Philadelphia's JFK Boulevard. Proof of GM's new commitment to building more smaller, fuel-efficient cars, you ask? Eh, well, as you may remember, Trax and the third triplet, Groove, were not slated for production like the Beat, so this is (unfortunately) probably just a movie special. At least one Autoblogger is happy, though (raises hand), because Trax is the one he voted for last year. Transformers Live Action Movie Blog wonders if the Beat and Trax might be portraying the Autobot "Twins" in the sequel. Sacrilege? Well, if the movie Bumblebee can be a Camaro instead of a VW beetle, there's no reason Sideswipe and Sunstreaker can't be Chevy-branded "world cars" instead of twin Countaches. If that turns out to be the case, though, it does kinda make one wish Lambo paid to be part of Michael Bay's party instead of Batman.

[Source: Jalopnik via TFLAMB]

Click above for a photo gallery courtesy of AB reader Aleks Witko

Thanks to reader Aleks Witko, who sent in the enclosed shots of the SS-ified (but certainly not sissified) 2008 edition of Bumblebee. The Transformers crew was shooting scenes at Drexel University in Philly, and Aleks scored some nice overhead shots of the car down on the street below. (One nice thing about movie sets: the lighting's going to be good.) Even better (for him), he reports, " Lucky for me, I also got to meet Megan Fox." Lucky, indeed.


[Source and Photos: Aleks Wytko]

We're shooting from the hip this week for Podcast #71. Rather than prepare, we're going with gut reactions. Starting it off, we mull over the loss of the USGP from Indianapolis, and postulate on where else F1 may pop up in the US. An F1 race on the Vegas strip would be the bomb. Staying with motorsports, we marvel at how Team SARD spanked everyone extremely hard at Tokachi with a hybridized Supra GT. We're sure that racing will improve the hybrid breed at a much steeper pace than conventional powerplants. In other racing news, Dale Junior has split from Budweiser, so he'll have new livery to plaster all over his left-turn machine.

Moving on from racing, we ponder the leakage and eventual announcement of the Porsche 911 GT2. It's as unassuming as a Porsche can get, but it packs 530 horsepower and uses the rear wheels to push top speed to the 200 MPH realm, while being a docile everyday car. While Porsches always make us giddy little schoolboys, Subaru's recent model line revisions have us alternating between cheers and jeers. The good: the Legacy SUS, or whatever the heck they call their Outback sedan is kaput. The bad: so is the straight Legacy wagon. We devolve into a styling review of Subaru's new corporate language for a while before surfacing again to discuss the inanity surrounding presidential candidates and hybrid vehicles. Idiocy, 'nuff said.

On a lighter note, we discuss the rumored sequel to Disney/Pixar's "Cars." Not surprising when you consider how lucrative the tie-ins usually are. Off entertainment and on to entertaining cars, we ogle the leaked pictures of the FPV Falcon, and discuss the future plans of that platform here in the US. It does look mean, so thanks to that janitor who picked these renderings out of the trash. Our pithy cavalcade keeps rolling along, and we chew over Bob Lutz's latest comments about the future of diesel powerplants in the US. It's odd that Bob is cool on diesel just as GM is poised to roll out new oil-burners. Wrapping up, we put out the call to action again for the Reader Ride - add your pix to the Flickr pool and include details! The hour duration of Podcast #71 will give you enjoyment to and from work, enjoy!

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That there will be a Transformers 2 is a foregone conclusion. The film's $222,000,000 domestic box-office tally in under two weeks makes the sequel a lock to happen. Tack another $100,000,000 on if you want to factor in the foreign b/o, too. Before a sequel happens, however, there will be the DVD, and we expect the TF disc to be loaded with extras. (Bay's films in the past have spawned outstanding, content-laden special-edition home versions.) Our Weblogs, Inc. pals over at Cinematical report that Mark Ryan, who voices everyone's favorite Camaro, told an interviewer, "I recently recorded more material for the DVD release of the film. It has to do with the prequel that will set up the second film."

Speculation continues after the jump.

[Source: Cinematical]

Never thought we'd see the day when Bob Lutz was dubbed "Mr. October," but our eyes do not deceive us. General Motors has available for download a pinup calendar of sorts over at Flickr featuring the product boss with a GM Sequel for the month of October. In addition to the photo, the calendar features important dates from GM's past, present and future.

The calendar's entries evoke both sweet and bitter memories, depending upon your sensibilities. For example, on October 1, 1908, Buick became part of the GM family. On October 5, 1998, the calendar reminds us that current chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner was elevated to president of the company. It also provides a heads up for future events of notice, including the opening of the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney on October 26.

Future months have yet to be uploaded, but it is an interesting way of getting folks over to the GM Fastlane Blog photostream at Flickr, where photos of loving fans of GM vehicles abound.

[Source: Flickr via the GM Fastlane Blog]

Now that the hype has died down after General Motors' debut of the Sequel crossover fuel cell vehicle (check out AutoblogGreen's ride-and-drive with the vehicle), Bob Lutz is using GM's FastLane blog to dampen some of the unrealistic expectations out in the marketplace, and answer (sort of) everyone's question: "When can we buy one?"

The key thing to remember about GM's oft-mentioned 2010 goal for its fuel cell/zero-emissions car program is that the 2010 target vehicle is described as "marketable," which is to say that it could be sold, but almost certainly won't be.

In his FastLane post, Lutz predicts that the next step beyond the 100 vehicle demo fleet announced recently would be a 1000 vehicle fleet in the 2010-2012 timeframe, with more significant numbers later in the decade if cost can be driven down and infrastructure barriers (i.e., access to hydrogen) can be reduced.

[Source: GM FastLane Blog]

We had a big news week to cover in the Autoblog Podcast, Episode #40. Damon and I kick off the show with a debate over Ford's chances for survival after its new CEO, Alan Mulally, settles in. Somehow we manage a smooth segway into talking about GM's new 5-year / 100,000-mile warranty and what it means for the General's longstanding problem with perceived quality. Finally, we round out our 40th episode with GM's sequel to its Sequel hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle and Audi's announcement that it's going to drop the LeMans-winning V12 TDI diesel engine into the Q7. Enjoy the show!

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Hosts
John Neff and Damon Lavrinc

Producer
John Neff

Length
37:14

During the 2005 Detroit Auto Show, General Motors unveiled a prototype for a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, dubbed the Sequel. At the time, the concept flew under the GM banner, today, the General's vice president of R&D, Larry Burns, announced that the next version will bear the Chevrolet moniker.

The move to badge the fuel-cell vehicle a Chevy is an effort to bring hydrogen power to the masses via its Everyman brand. If GM had decided to place the crossover in one of its luxury divisions, it would give an air of exclusivity that the automaker feels may be detrimental to the future of mass-market fuel-cell vehicles.

The new Sequel is equipped with all-wheel-drive and power is provided by the aforementioned hydrogen fuel-cell system, along with electric motors feeding off of a bank of lithium-ion batteries. Approximately 97 hp will come from the hydrogen fuel cell and 87 hp from the electric motors.

Our friends over at Winding Road have been graciously afforded the first test drive of two fully functional versions of the Chevy Sequel and will be reporting on their experiences in a future issue.

The full press release, along with a few more photos is available after the jump.

[Source: GM via Winding Road]