Car Blog News: Birthdays & Facelifts

Cars, cars, cars and... scoops. Don't you think it's about time we made a little a break from all that metal and see what’s going around the automotive blogsphere? Thought so. First up we saw that our Autoblog friends (the dot com ones) performed their own… facelift by redesigning their site -nice job John. To celebrate it, they’re giving away a brand new, 2008 Dodge Nitro. Believe you’re the chosen one? Try your luck by clicking here. A few thousands miles on other side of the Atlantic, our Spanish pals over at Motorpasion are celebrating their 2nd birthday as their first post went online on March 24, 2005. “Feliz Cumpleaños” guys and hope you’ll be around for many years to come! Links: Autoblog.com & Motorpasion

2009 Seat Bolero: Spanish Firm Unveils Details On Its Audi A4 Sized Sedan

Once upon a time, VW Group wanted to transform Seat, whom it had acquired (or rather saved) from Fiat, to a Spanish “Alfa Romeo”. Then all of a sudden we saw Seat presenting models like the Toledo, the Altea XL and recently, the Freetrack... Well, looks like VW’s white-collar workers have learned their lessons. Along with the announcement that they’ll present an all new C/D segment model available in sedan and station-wagon bodies in 2009, Seat also released a set of sketches featuring the sedan version. And yes, it has nothing to do with the abomination called Toledo.

Most probably based on the same, Audi A3/VW Golf/Seat Leon stretched platform that the VW Passat uses, the Toledo’s successor is rumored to be named Bolero. Judging from other VW models, the Bolero will probably get the Group’s latest 1.4 TSI and 2.0 TFSI engines. According to Seat, it will be built at the Martorell plant with the market launch planned for 2009. -Follow the jump for pics an the press release

PROGRESSES IN IMPROVEMENT PLAN FAVOUR DECISION

SEAT to produce two new C/D-segment models in Martorell

The Spanish car maker SEAT, S.A. will manufacture two new C/D-segment models at its plant in Martorell. This was announced today by SEAT chairman Erich Schmitt, during a meeting with several media representatives at the SEAT headquarters. In the future, SEAT will have two versions: a saloon and an estate car.

The decision to produce these models in Martorell, whose market launch is planned for 2009, contributes to considerably improve the capacity utilization of the Spanish plant. This announcement is the first made by SEAT since the dissolution of the brand groups and supports the progress of the Improvement Plan that was set in motion at the beginning of 2007 and whose most important objectives have been met by now.

Erich Schmitt said: “The assignment of the two new C/D-segment models to the plant in Martorell is an historic step for SEAT. By these means, we enlarge our current product range, which does not only give our clients the possibility to grow with the brand, but also enables us to increase the profitability of our dealer network thanks to the availability of these new models.”

Technorati: Seat, Toledo, Bolero, cars, Carscoop

Peugeot 308: First Official Pictures!

These are the first official pictures of Peugeot’s brand new compact hatch, the 308 which will succeed the 307 in the French carmaker’s range. Its design, which combines styling elements from the 207, the 407 and its predecessor, the 307, comes to no surprise as we’ve already had the chance to see various uncamouflaged prototypes on the road the past weeks. Still, as we’ve already noted before, we expected something more than a bloated 207 from Peugeot.

While the 308’s designers followed the same path in the interior borrowing most of the 207’s design elements, thanks to minor variations like the Italian-styled circular air-vents and the different climate controls, it actually looks distinct to the untrained eye. The pictures might be official; however, the car hasn’t been announced by Peugeot. Meaning, no official info rmation -yet(...). From what our sources told us though, the new Golf sized Pug will be available with the 207's new 120Hp 1.6 and 150 & 170 Hp 1.6 Turbo engines with sales starting this autumn.

Technorati: Peugeot+308, cars, Carscoop

Hamann Ferrari F430 Spider

Another week, another Hamann Ferrari F430. Well, this time it’s the rag-top F430 and thanks God, without all the “Black Miracle” coloured blasphemy. Hamann’s Spider has received a discreet bodykit promising to optimize aerodynamics with the addition of a front spoiler, a newly designed rear diffuser and a rear spoiler -we could do without that. Interestingly, all add-on parts are optionally available in carbon-kevlar or fiberglass version. You can also choose between a variety of multispoke 19’’ or 20’’ rims. Mechanic-wise, Hamann’s Spider gets the same treatment as the Black “plague” Miracle with a new high-performance sports exhaust system including a high-performance collector and sports catalysts that allows a a performance increase of 50Hp putting up the total output to 540Hp.Via: Motorpassion , Source Hamann
-High-res pics after the jump

Porn Star Claims Highway Trooper Ignored Drugs In Exchange For An Oral Favor...

This story has it all; porn star, drugs, sex, cops, video tapes and… blogs! The incident allegedly took place on May 7 in Wilson County near Highway 840 and Interstate 40 when a Tennessee Highway Trooper named James Randy Moss stopped porn-star Barbie Cummings (…) aka Justis Richert –yeah, we prefer the alias too, for a speeding ticket. He found drugs in her car and decided –always according to Barbie, to let her off if she “orally” pleased him. Which she did… Moss is on paid leave now until the situation clears up.

According to Barbie’s story, after stopping her, the Trooper asked her whether or not she had illegal drugs in her car. The 21-year-old porn star admitted of having “happy-pills” and the officer told her that a drug charge would mean she could not leave the state. Cummings replied that would be a problem because she frequently travels from Tennessee to L.A. for her work at which point she “blew” her job description. The trooper then pulled up her website in his patrol car and well, lets put it this way, asked for an oral favour –you catch our dirty drift.

Barbie says she has photos and video footage of the encounter sent to her by the trooper along with a speeding ticket. Allegedly, Barbie had put up the photos and video on her blog but the latter was taken down due to maintenance reasons. -Follow the jump to read what Barbie wrote on her blog

Via: Wate

Here’s what Barbie wrote on her blog. The content, where it was sexually explicit, was edited by 6 News

This event is almost unbelievable, but I haven't lied about anything so far, so believe what you want. (I do have pictures to prove this).

I was at my aunt's house yesterday, about two and a half hours away in another part of Tennessee. (I want to be light with words, don't want anyone to lose their job)

I headed home late at night, almost early in the morning. I had to get home cause my puppies were home alone.

I was on the phone with Billy when I seen blue lights behind me. Ugh... not again.

Well, I had been drinking, wasn't drunk by any means, but had been drinking some. He put his light in my car and seen some liquor I had in the back seat, which I had forgotten about. oops

So, I answer all of his questions.

"Do you have any weapons, such as guns, knives, etc?" "Do you have any illegal drugs in the car?" "Do you have any drug paraphernalia in the car?"

Well, I am standing outside of my car and answer yes to a few of these questions and no to a few others.

I had some "narcotics" in the car, or as I refer to them in other blogs, some "happy pills."

I sometimes have these pills as I may take one or two before going to a club, and thats it. I have no addiction and use these more so, recreationally.

However, they are a "level 4 is the term I think he used. Crack is a 2, Marijuana is a 6... He starts talking about the minimum punishment for this offense. It was an 11-29 with 30%, which means they sentence you to 11 months and 29 days in jail and you have to serve a minimum of 30%. Then he said I would be on six months of monitored probation, which means the likely hood of them allowing me to go to California, would probably be very minimal, if at all.

Thats when we start chatting about my trips to Los Angeles...

You all know where this is going?

I tell him I make dirty movies. He says he wished he had gotten into that industry.

I want to mind you all that I have been arrested many times before and was trying my hardest to be respectful, that always used to help.

So, I am answering the questions he is asking me about (**expletive deleted**), with "Yes sir" and "No sir."

He kept saying to me, and now I understand why, "are you sure you aren't hiding anything on your persons?" He asked me that about ten times, and I just thought it was routine. Well, now I understand what he wanted me to do.

So, he asks me about what I do. I tell him internet and movies. He asks me one of the sites, I tell him to go to my blog (this one). He then proceeds to open his lap top in his car. (I mind you, at this point I am sitting in the front seat of his car with him)

He brings up my blog and we watch two of my video clips. I don't even know what to do at this point, I thought I was going to jail.

He says to me, while staring at the screen, (**expletive deleted**)

Oh dear...

Now, I understand.

So, he gets out of the car with the narcotics in hand and walks around to the side I am sitting in. He asks me if I would stand up and walk in front of the car, and told me I look even more beautiful in person. I smile.

He takes the hand full of pills and scatters them in the brush next to the interstate. Then he asks me, what does it cost for someone like me to get anything like you.

I said to him, "If you weren't working..."

and he said, "don't worry about me working!"

I said, "Okay, right now?"

He asks me to follow him to some desolate place he knew about, I did.

I get out of my car, walk to his car and (**expletive deleted**)

We moved to the back of the car, cause he didn't want to take the chance of anyone pulling in. We were in the middle of nowhere, and it was 3 am-ish, there was no one to be found. Either way, he wanted to be safe.

So, behind his cop car (**expletive deleted**)

He asked me if he could take photos, I said yes, only if I can have them, he said okay.

He even made little videos too.

(**expletive deleted**)

I loved every minute of it and want to do it again next time I go to my aunt's house.

Lamborghini Murcielago SV: Lightweight version spotted

SV stands for Super Veloce which in Italian, means Super Fast. But hey, doesn’t Lamborghini already have a “sportier” version of the Murcielago, the LP640? They do, and officially, the SV doesn’t exist. However according to the guys at Car magazine and their photographer who snapped some pretty interesting shots, Lamborghini will introduce this special, lightweight version of the Murcielago LP640 at the Frankfurt Show in September. Like the Gallardo Superleggera, the Murcielago SV will go on a diet loosing some 100 kg (220 lbs) thanks to the interior stripping, the addition of carbon ceramic brakes etc. No changes are expected under the (rear) hood with the LP640’s 643Hp V12 continuing to power all-wheels. -Continued below

Source: Car Magazine , Via: Autoblog.it

Lexus RX 400h Ad Banned For Misleading Low-Emissions Implications!

Our friendly British advertising watchdog has done it again by banning a Lexus magazine advert for the RX 400h on the grounds of false claims! For those of you with a hefty memory, the British Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) had banned Ford’s "Focus Zetec Climate" TV ad last year due to complaints from two viewers who said that it was misleading.

The magazine ad for the Lexus RX 400h was headlined "HIGH PERFORMANCE. LOW EMISSIONS. ZERO GUILT". Following the picture of the SUV, there was a text stating "RX 400h. The world's first high performance hybrid SUV ... category-leading low CO2 emissions. A combination without equal. Or compromise". In the small print, Lexus stated that the RX 400h’s carbon dioxide emissions figure was 192g/km CO2. -Continued: Click “Read More…” below

ASA received 10 complainants stating that Lexus’ advert was misleading as it falsely implied that the SUV caused little or no harm to the environment. Lexus argued that the CO2 emissions of the RX 400h were very low compared to those of core competitors within its category and that the prominence of the illustration of the vehicle in the ad clarified the type of car the headline claims referred to and also the class of vehicle to which they applied.

The British advertising watchdog wasn’t convinced. In their release, they scold Lexus not to imply in future that a car caused little or no harm to the environment and had low CO2 emissions in comparison with all cars if that was not the case. Ouch…

ASA PRESS RELEASE

Ad

A magazine ad, for a Lexus RX 400h car, was headlined "HIGH PERFORMANCE. LOW EMISSIONS. ZERO GUILT". Accompanying an illustration of the product, text stated "RX 400h. The world's first high performance hybrid SUV ... category-leading low CO2 emissions. A combination without equal. Or compromise". Text at the foot of the ad stated "... CO2 emissions 192g/km

Issue

Ten complainants believed the claims "LOW EMISSIONS" and "ZERO GUILT" misleadingly implied the car caused little or no harm to the environment and gave a misleading impression of the car's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in comparison with other vehicles. They argued that the "192g/km" emissions figure was high when compared to the emissions of all cars.

Response

Lexus said they had sought approval from the CAP Copy Advice team before launching the ad and explained that, at 192g/km, the CO2 emissions of the RX 400h were very low compared to those of core competitors within its category. They submitted a chart, which compared the fuel emissions of the RX 400h with other vehicles they said were in the same class and showed that the emissions figure of 192g/km was the lowest of all those cars.

Lexus argued that the prominence of the illustration of the vehicle in the ad clarified the type of car the headline claims referred to and also the class of vehicle to which they applied. They believed readers of the ad would understand that the claims were made in relation to sports utility vehicles (SUV) only.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA acknowledged that, based on the evidence submitted, the CO2 emissions rate for the RX 400h was low compared to other cars in its class. We considered, however, that the headline claim "HIGH PERFORMANCE. LOW EMISSIONS. ZERO GUILT" implied the vehicle's emission rate was low regardless of category and readers were likely to understand from it that the car caused little or no harm to the environment, which was not the case, and had low emissions in comparison with all cars, which was also not the case. We noted the body text, which stated " ... category-leading low CO2 emissions ...", clarified that the low emissions claim was made in the context of the cars category only, but considered that that was not prominent enough or linked to the headline claim. Because of that, and because the words "ZERO GUILT" implied the car was environmentally friendly, we concluded that the headline claim was likely to mislead.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness), 19.1 (Other comparisons) and 49.1 (Environmental claims)..

Action

We told Lexus not to imply in future that a car caused little or no harm to the environment and had low CO2 emissions in comparison with all cars if that was not the case.