2011 Chrysler 300

Chrysler's lineup of models was pretty short when they entered bankruptcy protection, but they've managed to improve this situation in the months to follow, and we can see their results this year with the launch of 16 new and refreshed models.

New products like the Chrysler 300 and the Jeep Grand Cherokee have greatly improved the automaker's portfolio, but according to our colleges from AutoWeek, the company's target of rolling out new models may have truncated the 2011 model year. Many of these newly introduced models didn't make it into the showrooms until the Q1 2011, while others, like the aforementioned 300 and the Dodge Durango will hit the dealerships in the following period.

This late availability of the 2011 models will not happen in 2012, as Ralph Kisiel, who is Chrysler's spokesperson said that most of the 2012MY will go into production in July and the dealers will be able to order the new models as early as May.

Source: AutoWeek via Autoblog

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Chrysler, To Have Short 2011 Model Year

Collaboration between cars' and computers' manufacturers has lately become sort of a tradition, all with the objective to create new technology devices and innovating systems.

Into this category of coalitions can be integrated the Asus and Lamborghini team too, with their new round of computer products. Consequently, for the past few year, various Asus laptops have suffered some design touches under the influence of the Italian car producer. This time, the result is a VX7 gaming laptop model, inspired by the Murcielago LP640 car, and which features premium leather-lined palm-rest, some taillights out back after the Lamborghini style and the sports car manufacturer's logo; it also comes in two colors, orange and carbon fiber.

Technically speaking, the laptop is based on Intel’s Huron River platform, and it boasts, among many other things, 16GB of RAM, up to 1.5TB of storage space, a Blu-ray combo drive, a 2.0 megapixel webcam and an 8-in-1 card reader. The Lamborghini VX7 comes with a pre-installed Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit and is currently up for pre-order at €1,995.

[Source: Tcmagazine, Photo]

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Lamborghini Laptops from Asus

Just about every car manufacturer in the world today wants to make lighter cars that are more fuel efficient and friendlier to the environment. Following this trend, Ford will be using bubble-infused plastics on future cars that will shave off from 200 to 750 pounds. Dubbed MuCell, this technology was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and consists of pumping tiny bubbles of nitrogen or carbon into standard injection-molded plastics.

Despite the fact that bubbly plastic is a little bit weaker in comparison to the standard stuff, the automaker says that the difference will be minor as the plastic parts are engineered to be 50 to 100% stronger than they should ever need to be.

Although the implementation of this new technology is in development, the car manufacturer said that they want MuCell plastics in all cars by 2020. This technology isn't new as it has been around since 1995, but now with the "green" trend, automakers are looking for new ways of rolling out more eco-friendly cars.

Source: Ford via Autoblog

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Ford Plans On Using Bubble-Infused Plastics For Shaving Off Hundreds Of Pounds

Simply because technology allows to create fun games doesn’t mean that we can’t make them useful. A good example for this is the latest project the U.S. Border Patrol has been working on, along with a team of researchers at a government-funded laboratory. Shortly, they’ve built a giant touchscreen video game to help them simulate the control techniques they use for capturing illegal aliens and reveal smuggled goods.

The Borders High Level Model (HLM) is bound to improve performance from the U.S. Border Patrol service and give them insights as to what they could do better. The whole thing costs about $1 million and although it may seem a lot, apparently, it’s not. Here’s an explanatory video from Sandia Labs:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Do you think this kind of applications for gaming could prove to be more useful than other methods? Do you believe in gamification?

Via Kotaku.

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U.S. borders simulator to make control systems more efficient

Ford Mondeo (Next-Gen)

Our colleges from Autoblog have managed to grab a couple of spy shots with the forthcoming new generation of the Ford Mondeo. These pictures show us a camouflaged version of the popular mid-size sedan, waiting to be transported to its next testing location. We can easily see that the new Mondeo will benefit from the same Kinetic design language as we seen in the Focus.

Ford Mondeo (Next-Gen)

Just like the Focus and the Fiesta, the next generation of the Mondeo will be a true global model. Both Ford and Lincoln will use the new model as the foundation for the Fusion and MCZ models. According to various reports, the future Mondeo will be offered as an estate and a 4-door coupe to boost up sales for the automaker.

Ford Mondeo (Next-Gen)

Source: Autoblog

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Spy Shots – Next-gen Ford Mondeo

Hyundai is trying to give a new spin to its products and keep up with the cool crowd, so it’s taken to 3D projections in order to promote the new Accent. Their current slogan: “New Thinking. New Possibilities.”

Although the main idea is not neccesssarily original, they’ve added a little something that made it pretty awesome: they nailed a real Hyundai Accent to the building they projected cool stuff onto! And some dude dressed in a costumes with lights on walked on the wall, got in the car and drove it through a psychedelic, futuristic city.

Do you think this has the potential to go viral? Outside the automotive world, that is.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Is the new Hyundai Accent ad viral?

I'm almost positive that it will happen sooner or later, and these are the first steps for creating an F1 series. According to The Telegraph, FIA's president Jean Todt plans to introduce electric car, single-seat and go-kart events in order to increase the popularity of electric propulsion and develop a foundation for its use in a variety of motorsports applications.

Most likely he will have to face up some serious opposition, coming mostly from F1's boss Bernie Ecclestone. Ex-Ferrari's F1 boss Todt wants to bring hybrid powertrains to the exciting world of Formula 1, but Bernie already said that he doesn't want that to happen, at least not in the near future.

We'll have to wait and see, but I'm certain that sooner all later all F1 cars will be "green", which means that refueling will be replaced by recharging. Imagine Alonso or any other driver sitting in his F1 car at the pit stop waiting for the batteries to be recharged. Epic!

Source: The Telegraph via Autoblog

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FIA President Jean Todt Wants Electric F1 Series

2012 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet

Ford organized a party a couple of days ago for celebrating the arrival of the automaker's supercharged Mustang coupes that are built especially for drag racing. This party was held at the Auto Alliance Mustang factory in Flat Rock, Michigan where the company said that this Mustang model is the fastest accelerating production car in the world.

2012 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet

According to the automaker, when pressed, the Mustang Cobra Jet will do a 60-foot launch in a blazing 1.3 seconds, and the quarter-mile in less than 10 seconds.

2012 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet

The proud new owners of these cars came all the way from Alberta, Calgary and Puerto Rico to participate at this special ceremony and of course, take delivery of their new drag racers.

2012 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet

The 2012 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet is not street legal as it was designed as an out-of-the-box drag racing solution for those of us that are not interested in spending years for engineering and refining our own racer. The newest addition to the 2012 model is the aluminum-block V8 5.4-liter, along with a modified suspension, the low-drag racing brakes, black anodized rims and Goodyear racing slicks. Customers can choose from either a 2.3-liter TVS supercharger or a more powerful 4.0-liter Ford Racing Whipple supercharger.

2012 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet

Both of these superchargers help the car's engine develop 425 hp, making them National Hot Rod Association-complaint. However, they can be easily tweaked to output a lot more horsepower, without any difficulties. The 2010MY fitted with the TVS unit can do the quarter-mile in less than 10 seconds, while the one with the Whipple supercharger can do it in under nine seconds.

2012 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet

The sold-out 2012 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet has a base price of $91,990, and goes all the way up to $103,980 for the fully-loaded model.

Source: Ford via Autoblog

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Ford Starts Deliveries For the 2012 Mustang Cobra Jet

The Japanese automaker Nissan has reached last month a 9.7% market share in the United States, an all-time record for the company. In addition, the manufacturer's overall market share has risen to 9.3% in the first quarter of this year, which is a 0.3% gain, after 2010's 0.4% increase.

The Altima model was named the best-selling sedan in the U.S., yet another company first. Nissan managed to sell last month 121,141 units, from which 32,289 were Altimas. In comparison to the same period of last year, the automaker sold 27% more cars, which is quite impressive if you ask me. We don't know what sort of incentives the company offered in March, but at the moment they are offering zero-percent financing for up to 60 months or 1.9% APR financing for up to 72 months, or $1,250 cash back.

Lastly, Infiniti, which is Nissan's luxury division, also did a good job last month as they've managed to sell 13.5% more cars.

As you can see, 2011 looks like a promising year for Nissan and for good reasons, as (at least) the Altima model is one of the most complete cars available, plus it doesn't look bad either.

Source: Nissan via Autoblog

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Nissan's Altima Model Named Best-Selling Sedan In The U.S.

BMW M3 Competition Package

It was bound to happen sooner or later, the end of BMW M's naturally aspirated models is approaching, as the future generation of the M3 will get a turbocharged engine.

Next year, new emissions standards will be implemented, which means that every single automaker in the world is looking for ways to improve its fleet-wide fuel economy, which means that performance cars will have to suffer from EPA's new regulations.

As far as BMW is concerned, this means switching to turbocharging and start/stop systems, two of the technologies that will help the new M5 to be 25% more fuel efficient when it will hit the dealerships in spring 2012.

It is the end of an era, but the future looks more than promising.

Source: Autoblog

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Current BMW M3 Is The Last Naturally-aspirated M Model