(Credit: Nissan)

Nissan will be showing its updated 370Z at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show.

The news that Nissan updated the 370Z for the 2013 model year seemed promising. The update that took it from the 350Z to the 370Z produced a brilliant little sports car.

But after reading the press release and looking at the photos, published in conjunction with the 2013 370Z’s unveiling at the Chicago Auto Show, this is not a car to get particularly excited about. When Nissan launched the 370Z in 2009, it came out with a shorter wheelbase and more power than the outgoing 350Z. The 2013 370Z changes little from the 2012 model, with mostly cosmetic touches.

2013 Nissan 370Z preview (photos)

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AutoNews Now: Taking aim at MPG rule

New NADA president Bill Underriner says questions the rush toward costly fuel-economy mandates, plus other short tease

GM should revive crossover from the rubble of Saab

General Motors has a perfectly good crossover that’s waiting to be produced. Actually it was produced; several hundred were assembled before production was halted. I’m talking about the Saab 9-4X.

Fisker stops work at Delaware plant to renegotiate DOE loan

Electric car startup Fisker Automotive said on Monday it has suspended work at its U.S. manufacturing plant and laid off 26 workers while it renegotiates the terms of its $529 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Tesla hits us with an orgy of new cars, Spotify heads into Ford dashboards, a new superfast wireless to rock cars soon and we drive the 2012 VW Jetta GLI.

Car Tech Live 250: Tesla Model X and Model S orgy!

Listen now: Download today’s podcast

EPISODE 250

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Calif. Insurer Group Opposes Proposed Regulations Meant to Benefit Body Shops

The California Department of Insurance (CDI) recently held a workshop to discuss proposed labor rate survey and steering regulations that would be be…

Chrysler, Hyundai set pace as industry sales rise 11%; SAAR hits 14.2M

Chrysler Group, Volkswagen Group, Hyundai and Kia set the pace as U.S. light vehicle sales rose 11 percent in January from a year ago. Chrysler’s sales advanced by 44 percent, and volume climbed 40 percent at the Volkswagen Group.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

BMW is the first automaker to integrate an online music selection service into a production car.

My iPhone, with 8GB of memory, can hold about 1,700 tracks. A BMW’s internal hard drive has room for almost 3,000 tracks. Now, BMW’s new Mog integration puts 14 million tracks at a driver’s fingertips.

I sat in the driver’s seat of a 2012 BMW 650i, with Robert Passaro, the head of BMW’s App Center, in the passenger seat. But we weren’t going anywhere. Our entire focus was on the stereo.

Passaro slotted an iPhone 4S into the BMW’s cradle, nestled in the console compartment. Tapping the Mog icon on the phone, the app launched, but showed a custom graphic with the BMW logo instead of the standard Mog iPhone interface.

On the wide, 10.2-inch LCD mounted in the 650i’s dashboard, a Mog entry asserted itself among the list of onboard audio sources. With the car’s iDrive controller, I selected it and was treated to a screen showing cover art for the current track, along with a set of icons on the left for search, track skipping, marking a track as a favorite, and reviewing the current playlist. The icons of this screen were all arranged in the familiar BMW iDrive format.

BMW integrated the Mog app with its latest cars late last year, making it the first automaker to integrate an online, on-demand music selection service. Many automakers have or are starting t… [Read more]

Domestics gained market share in California last year

Domestic automakers gained in the California new-vehicle market last year as Japanese automakers suffered disaster-related product shortages.

AutoNews Now: Selling Lexuses with a smile?

Lexus tops BMW in dealer satisfaction; Yazaki, Denso to plead guilty in price-fixing case, and eternal teens to edible curtains: a Super Bowl ad preview.

Auto hacking seen as growing risk with electronics frenzy

Drivers can talk with each other via Bluetooth phone connections, ask their cars for directions and dial up satellite radio. The same cars use electronic components to signal the gas pedal to accelerate and control stability.

(Credit: David Freeman/CNET)

The BMW 5 Series can be equipped with both a proximity detection system and an around-view camera system.

Last time, we took a look at how cars protect their passengers in the event of a crash. This week, we’re taking a look at a few high-tech ways that modern vehicles can help prevent accidents in the first place.

Modern tech cars can be equipped with a host of driver aid systems that help make driving easier for your average commuter. From road-aware cruise control systems to self-aware headlight systems, cars are getting smarter every day.

Adaptive cruise control
If the standard cruise control system was the first step toward vehicular autonomy, then adaptive cruise control system is the giant leap, so to speak.

Just as with standard cruise control, users can preset the adaptive system’s speed and the vehicle will attempt to maintain its velocity. However, adaptive cruise control uses forward-facing sensors (either laser- or radar-based) that allow it to “see” the road ahead, monitoring for other vehicles. In the event that a vehicle is detected, the system will match the speed of the car ahead and maintain a safe driving distance. For example, you approach a 50 mph vehicle while doing 65. The adaptive cruise control will match the 50 mph rate at a re… [Read more]

California weighs major change to zero-emission mandate by 2025

California will require 15.4 percent of new vehicles sold in the state to be electric, fuel-cell or plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2025 if environmental regulators adopt a new set of rules aimed at improving air quality.

Hyundai: Elantra sales growth to slow on tight factory capacity

Hyundai’s U.S. sales unit said the increase in the number of Elantra compact sedans sold this year will slow compared with last year’s 41 percent gain because of tight factory capacity.

Honda’s Ito sees profit surge in year of ‘complete rebound’

Honda President Takanobu Ito forecast that earnings at Japan’s third-biggest automaker will climb to the highest in at least five years, led by sales of Accord sedans and Civic compacts in North America.

The Dearman Engine Company is developing an engine that uses liquid air as fuel. (Credit: Dearman Engine Company)

The Dearman Engine Company is developing an engine that runs on what most people would not think of as fuel, liquid air.

Call it a new kind of cold fusion. The pistons get pushed by the pressure of rapidly expanding air in the cylinder. Liquid air is stored at -256 degrees Fahrenheit. The engine pumps liquid air into the cylinder along with what Dearman calls a heat exchange fluid. The liquid air very quickly changes to a gaseous state as it reaches ambient temperature, expanding at the same time.

When the exhaust valves open, the only emission is air.

Using a temperature difference to power the engine is a workable concept, but is it practical? The Dearman Web site points out that, unlike hydrogen or new battery technology, its engine relies on existing infrastructure and no exotic materials.

The liquid air is not so much a fuel as an energy carrier. It would have to be cooled to a liquid state, which would require energy from an existing source, then put into an insulated tank. Unlike batteries, it should take only minutes to refill a tank with liquid air. And unlike hydrogen, liquid air is stored at normal atmospheric pressure.

However, even in an insulated tank, liquid air is likely to slowly evaporat… [Read more]

Front and Center With Mazda’s Don Romano

Smart companies can use social media to defuse a potential crisis, Mazda’s Don Romano says. Disgruntled consumers can also use social media to hurt inattentive companies.

Collision Repair Education Foundation Asks for Help for Tornado-Devastated School

The Collision Repair Education Foundation is calling on the collision industry to support Franklin Technology Center (FTC) of Joplin, Mo., which was …

State Farm Settles Two Lawsuits in One Week with Gunder’s

Upon receipt of a Complaint and Civil Remedy Notice, State Farm has elected to pay the full demands to settle a lawsuit levied against them by Ray …

The Coalition for Collision Repair Excellence Announces March Seminar Series: ‘Declare Your Independence’

The Coalition for Collision Repair Excellence (CCRE) announces its Spring Seminar Series, "Declare Your Independence," to be held in Philadelphia…

Published CBR Auto Body San Jose News : 1-23-12.

(Credit: Declan McCullagh)

The Supreme Court struck down the U.S. government’s argument that it can use GPS to track a suspect’s vehicle without a warrant.

In a unanimous decision, the court said the Fourth Amendment protection of “persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” would be violated if law enforcement agencies were allowed to attach a GPS location to a suspect’s vehicle without obtaining a warrant.

Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, and Chief Justice John Roberts sided with that opinion. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Samuel Alito issued opinions saying that the tracking violates a person’s “reasonable expectation of privacy.” Ultimately, however, all the judges agreed with the final decision to require warrants for GPS tracking.

The Obama administration might not be too happy to hear of the decision. It has argued that a warrant should not be required to track vehicles with GPS technology.

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  Published CBR Auto Body San Jose News : 1-22-12.