The Automotive News Week in Review - October 16, 2009

Bob Lutz Steps Up With Cadillac CTS-V Challenge

The Cadillac CTS-V is already a media darling and one of the fastest four-door sedans in the world, but General Motors would like to show potential buyers just how well the performance vehicle fares against the best of what other car companies have to offer. The latest publicity stunt by GM executive Bob Lutz is called the “CTS-V Challenge,” and it involves pitting Cadillac’s hottest model against any driver out there with a production four-door who thinks they can beat the Cadillac CTS-V’s lap times around the Monticello Motor Club racetrack in New York.

Scheduled to take place October 29, 2009, track rats from across the country will get 5 laps in which to prove the superiority of their machines versus the best of what GM has to offer outside of a Chevrolet Corvette. Anyone over the age of 21 who gets their application in on time will be able to take part in the Challenge, which is shaping up to be a fun publicity stunt on the part of a company that could use as much goodwill as possible from beleaguered car buyers.

Volvo to Introduce Diesels and Hybrids

In an effort to both catch up with some of their European competitors and also differentiate themselves on the eco-friendly car front, Volvo has announced that they will produce alternatively-powered automobiles and bring them to North America. Closest to being ready for prime time is the Volvo V70 PHEV. This hybrid is capable of traveling for up to 30 miles on battery power alone, and features and electric motor driving the rear wheels and a diesel engine spinning those in the front. A more experimental hybrid system known as Volvo ReCharge has also been shown at auto shows, and it extends battery range to 60 miles and swaps in a four-cylinder gasoline engine for the diesel engine. ReCharge disconnects the gasoline-powered mill from the drive wheels, and instead uses it exclusively to charge the vehicle’s lithium-ion battery.

On the diesel front, Volvo plans to produce oil-burning versions of the Volvo C30, Volvo S40 and its Volvo V50 variant. Under the DRIVe banner, these aerodynamically-treated vehicles will all share a common 1.6 liter, four-cylinder diesel engine that should offer fuel economy of at least 50 miles per gallon.

Audi Surprises Industry With Announced Production of Audi e-tron

When Audi proudly showed off the Audi e-tron pure electric sports car at the Frankfurt Auto Show, few in attendance thought that it would ever see the inside of an Audi showroom with an MSRP taped in the window. Shockingly, Audi appears to be serious about launching the Audi e-tron as a road-going vehicle inside of a three year window. The Audi e-tron is not only remarkable for being a pure electric vehicle in a world where few such automobiles exist, but also for its astounding power. Four electric engines provide the Audi e-tron with more than 3,000 lb/ft of torque, as well as 313 horsepower – figures that no other passenger vehicle on the planet comes close to matching. Combined with quattro all-wheel drive, the sports car can hit 60 miles per hour in just 4.8 seconds on its way to a top speed of 154 miles per hour. The Audi e-tron will no doubt give boutique electric car companies like Fisker and Tesla a run for their money in the high-end segment of the market in the coming years.

NASCAR Edition of 2010 Ford Mustang Unveiled

After years of campaigning the Ford Taurus in NASCAR stock car racing competition, Ford has produced a version of the Ford Mustang that is fully qualified to race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Unlike the top-end NASCAR Sprint Cup cars, which are based on a very specific template labeled the “Car of Tomorrow,” NASCAR Nationwide vehicles bear a far greater resemblance to their street-going cousins.

Over the course of the last five years NASCAR has been heavily criticized for moving closer and closer to becoming a spec racing series and deviating from the stock car roots encapsulated by the “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” mentality that permeated NASCAR automotive sponsorship. The NASCAR Ford Mustang’s DNA is clearly derived from the same platform that graces dealer showrooms across the country, and the vehicle is meant to forge stronger ties between NASCAR’s legion of fans and the production cars that the series ultimately promotes. The NASCAR Ford Mustang will hit the track four times in 2010 at some of the series’ most respected venues. At this time, Chevrolet has no plans to retaliate with a NASCAR version of their Chevrolet Camaro muscle car.

Ford Joins the Recall Roll Call

In a Fall season that has seen untold numbers of cars recalled by a variety of manufacturers due to safety and quality concerns, Ford has been forced to add another 4.5 million vehicles to the list. Thanks to a defective cruise control switch, Ford has expanded a recall that originally began in 1999 in an effort to head off a possible fire hazard. The cruise control switches in question have been known to overheat and ignite flammable materials inside a vehicle, and perhaps scariest of all, this can all occur even with the engine off. Ford’ solution to the problem is to install a wiring harness with a fuse that should eliminate the risk of a conflagration.

In total, Ford has recalled 14 million cars and trucks facing this specific problem. Vehicles subject to the recall were built between 1992 and 2003, and include certain models of the Ford Windstar, Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer, Ford Ranger, Ford Excursion, Ford F-Series Super Duty (diesel editions), and the Ford Econoline van.