Undercover Jobs in the Auto Industry

02/14/2012

by Eileen Marable

The automotive industry is big business. When a new car model is released its success can make or break an entire season for the carmaker.  It stands to reason then the teams working on these cars want to keep the details about their new models pretty close to the vest so competitors and consumers don’t get information before the cars are ready.

There are several critical periods for a car where information – and actual parts – can go missing.  It’s a given that security at the automaker and their plant is tight; no one wants leaked plans or parts to leave the factory.  The lid is placed pretty tight on plans and prototype models.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But there are times during the development process where the car leaves the factory and the car could go under the microscope.  These are the auto trials, where engineering teams test the cars in the harshest of real world conditions.  Whether it is in the California deserts where temps soar over 100 or in a snowy northern terrain, the cars are put through their paces on the road.

Enter the automotive spy photographer.  The title sounds a bit harsh doesn’t it?  Their job it to get the coveted first look at the car and break the story with automotive magazines, blogs or industry publications, all of whom crave giving their readers the scoop.

Velocity's Weekly News Round Up: Week of January 31st

02/10/2012

by Eileen Marable

Hi Velocity Fans! We made it through an exciting Mecum Auction in Kissimmee AND the Super Bowl. That's a lot of action in one week. With that in mind we've pulled together just a few light news items and would love to have you weigh in with your thoughts - like what's going to be the new classic?  You tell us!

Most Viral Super Bowl Ads?

We know pretty much everyone had the Super Bowl car commercials on their mind last week.  Which one would make the biggest splash?

According to the website Superbowladsforgeeks.com, the top five most viral commercials were all car commercials. Go figure! Here’s the list:

Transactions Extended Version, with Jerry Seinfeld – Acura NSX

Official 2012 Honda CR-V Game Day Commercial – Matthew’s Day Off

Audi 2012 Game day Commercial – Vampire Party

The Dog Strikes Back: 2012 Volkswagen Game Day Commercial

Chevy Happy Grad| Chevy Super Bowl XLVI Ads| Chevrolet Commercial

What do you think? Were these ads worthy in the scheme of all the ads out there? 

The Hagerty Hot List

According to our friends over at Autoweek, Hagerty’s released their latest Hagerty Hot List last week. What is that? It’s the classic car insurer’s list of the cars they expect to become future classics. These are cars that are under a $100K price tag but are expected to appreciate in value. What made the list? There were 10 cars total, ranging from a $22K Fiat 500 Abarth to the Nissan GT-R Black Edition tipping in at over $95K

2012 Fiat Abarth. Photo by Manufacturer, via Autoweek.com

The guys at Autoweek had a few others they wanted to add to the list – one that stuck out for me was the BMW 1-series M coupe coming in at $47K.

What cars are your picks for classics of the future? C’mon, we know you have opinions so don’t be shy.

And speaking of Autoweek, don’t forget to tune in to next week’s Autoweek’s Vinsetta Garage, Tuesday at 8:30.  Courtney finds that the quickest way to a car guy's heart is through his stomach. This episode is all about what fuels us--food, glorious food! Watch as Courtney and her guest, racing's Scott Pruett, enjoy the food and enjoy the ride.

  

Range Rover Gets Snow Tested

The Range Rover 2013 gets back to its roots with tough terrain in snow testing, although as the gang over at Automotive.com note this luxury SUV is probably more likely to see runs to the grocery store. Here’s hoping at least some of these SUV’s get to see some hard action like it’s ancestors traditionally have – and when it releases in Europe it is likely to with all that snow and ice!

The Phantom Corsair – One Classic Car!

I had to share a photo of the Phatom Corsair, which totally blew me away when I stumbled upon it.  According to Wikipedia, “The Phantom Corsair is a  six-passenger coupé prototype automobile built in 1938. Designer Rust Heinz planned to put the car into limited production. However, Heinz’s death in a car accident in July 1939 ended those plans, leaving the prototype Corsair as the only one ever built.” I love this car and can’t imagine the unspeakable joy it must bring the owner.

Photo courtesy of: The Retronaut

So Velocity fans - do you want to hear more about the Phantom Corsair and other cars that never made it past a prototype?  What would YOU like to talk about? Just let us know!

Velocity Weekly Round Up: Week of January 9th 2012

01/22/2012

It was a busy week here at Velocity – we were on the lookout for the best news out of the Detroit International Auto Show, the Dakar Rally and every other place where cars are rolling.

Let’s not waste any time! Off we go…

The Detroit International Auto Show

The Ford Fusion:

The concept cars that hit the blocks at the IAS are all very cool, but could you actually afford or drive any of them? Likely not anytime soon.  So what was the buzz in the “I could actually own one” category?  The 2013 Ford Fusion.  It seems to have won lots of high ratings from the auto blogs covering the show. It has a sleeker updated design and a grand total of FIVE power trains – one naturally aspirated, two turbocharged, one hybrid and one plug in hybrid. This car is jam packed with options and with a projected 26 mpg in the city and 37 mpg highway it’s a real option to take on Japanese models in the mid-size category.

Credit: Rohatynski-Harlow Public Relations, LLC/Detroit International Auto Show

VW Debuts an All-Electric Beetle:

German automaker VW introduced its all-electric E-Bugster concept car. The car is darn cute and while many concept cars look spacey or something out of a futuristic movie, this car actually looks like the next design iteration of the current VW.  In short, you know it’s a Beetle. The car is powered by a 695 lb. Li-ion battery and gives a 100-mile range at full charge. It’s hard to tell where to future of electric vehicles will go given the limited range vehicles introduced to date, but due to it’s pop culture appeal maybe it will help propel greater adoption.

Credit: Rohatynski-Harlow Public Relations, LLC/Detroit International Auto Show

The Plastic Car Bubble    

Sometimes we think so high tech we ignore the low-tech items.  Not so here at Velocity.  We came across this story last week on Technabob – about an inflatable plastic bubble complete with a fan to circulate air around your precious.  The fact that it is see through so you can admire your car is an added bonus.  How much for this strange, yet not entirely crazy snow globe for your car? Starting around $249 and up… 

The Dakar Rally 2011

The infamous long distance, off-road rally was held in South America for the first time this year. It covered 5,025 miles stretching from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Lima, Peru. Stephane Peterhansel, France won his tenth Dakar rally but in a first time vehicle entry: a 315-bhp, 3.0-liter twin-turbo diesel-powered AWD Mini. After a grueling course this year, only 249 of the 443 vehicles entered in the race made it to the finish.  American Robby Gordon came in fifth in a glorious orange Hummer created cloud of dust. Check out the photos over at Jalopnik.

Consumer Electronic Show

It wasn’t just cars getting the showy treatment last week – the world’s largest consumer electronic show convened in Las Vegas. Traditionally, it’s the forum where big computer and electronic gadget makers debut their special products for the year. A round up of all the blogs who attended seemed to agree the real winner in the laptop stakes was the Dell XPS 13. It seems to be taking a swipe at Apple’s Macbook Air with this incredibly thin (6mm at it’s thinnest point) 11 in. “Ultrabook.” The screen is actually a 13in. despite the footprint because Dell has used a near frameless design; the carbon fiber base also stands out, which Dell claims will make it cooler than other laptops.

Other cool items from CES? Tobii’s Eye Tracking Interface – a system in which and infrared camera tracks where your eye is looking and that’s where the cursor goes allowing you to control items at will.  Some suggest it might replace the mouse or trackpads…stay tuned! 

One other item had people talking – AfterShokz headphones.  Apparently based on military special ops bone conduction technology, these headphones don’t rest in your ear, they rest outside them on the high cheekbones right next to your ear. This leaves your ear open to hear ambient noise around you – something that sounds like a pretty good idea given that report on earphone use leading to increased pedestrian deaths.  Dubious? 18th century composer Ludwig van Beethoven, who was almost completely deaf, tried the technique developed earlier by Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia in which he discovered he could hear music through his jawbone by biting a rod attached to his piano. Now that’s a cool fact.

Classic Wrecks

Looking for something a little more interesting to give your car fan? Check out Classic Wrecks – this guy will makes 1:24 scale models of some classic cars. The big difference is they are less shiny and bright and have more of a left on blocks look about them.  A different approach for sure and yet, strangely appealing.

What a busy week! We also had premieres episodes of our new shows including – One of a Kind, Autoweek's Vinsetta’s Garage and Saw Dogs.  There’s only more to come!

As long as we’re talking, what are your thoughts on electric cars – do you think they will ever become a viable alternative?

Velocity News Roundup: Week of January 2, 2012

01/13/2012

Velocity News Roundup: Week of January 2, 2012

Happy New Year folks! The year is starting out with a bang for Velocity with tons of new shows – Autoweek’s Vinsetta Garage, One of a Kind and Saw Dogs. We’re hoping you’ll let us know how you like our new favorites.

Ok, we do realize it’s not all about us. Here’re a few things that caught our eye in the first week of January before things started heating up with the Detroit Auto Show, the Dakar Rally and the start of Daytona trials.

And away we go…

Saw Dogs airing Saturdays at 9P E/P

If you happened to see the premiere of Saw Dogs last Saturday (and we hope you did), you’ll have seen some of the mad skills from chainsaw artists. It’s not a craft for the faint hearted and the results are definitely high-class art – no hacked up logs here. Of course we are biased. However, if you find yourself compelled to start sawing things we’ve found just the ticket – the pocket chainsaw. We think it’s a good start anyway.  

 

The New “Supercar” …Direct From India

What the heck is a “supercar?” It’s the term for luxury mid-size sports cars and this one comes to us all the way from India. Announced at the Delhi Auto Show, the new concept from DC Design appears to be vaguely cool.  From what we can tell from the hazy photo anyway…apparently it is so new it doesn’t even have a name yet.  What we do know is it is the first independent project for DC Design and they say the car will have an output of 400hp with a limited body weight of 3,500lbs.  They are said to be capping production at 3,000 units per development year with an asking price of $56K. Given growing consumer demands, we wonder if they’ll lift the ceiling on that if there is a successful launch? 

How Do You Make a Delorean Look Better?

It’s pretty simple. You buff it until aliens can see it in distant galleries. A very detail oriented artiste noted: “This took an insance amount of time, but it was so worth it. Has anyone else done this before?” You betcha. This is a class-mobile people.

Ultimate Parking Skills

 We love to report on people doing strange things, with strange cars, and not getting hurt.  Here’s one for the books. A California man was driving a stolen car at high speeds when a rock and a tree stump got in his way and helped launched him off the ground. Fortunately there was a house to catch him.  The occupants, a boy and his aunt thought it was an earthquake – and the owner of the home, when told there was a car on his roof couldn’t believe it and had to check news reports. Not surprisingly, the driver fled the scene and holed up at his girlfriend’s house where he was later picked up. The biggest surprise in this piece is that the car didn’t crash through the roof.

Next week we’ll bring you highlights from Detroit, the Dakar Rally and more!

Did you come across something cool last week? Let us know! Especially if it was one of our new shows….

 

 

Autoweek's Vinsetta Garage: Cruisin'

01/09/2012

This week's episode of Autoweek's Vinsetta Garage, airing Tuesday at 8:30p E/P, is all about why we love cruising.

The Beach Boys sang about it. Cruising was central to the movie classic American Graffiti. It's a right of passage that almost every American teenager goes through once they get their license and can get out of the house on a Friday or Saturday night. We've driven up and down the main streets of our cities, to football games or parked outside fast food restaurants so we could check each other - and our cars - out.

The fun of checking each others' rides out doesn't stop when you become an adult. In fact, I'd argue that cruising becomes a art form with people waiting all year for their favorite event to show off their car and the work they've had done, engage in a little harmless competition and perhaps most importantly meet up with friends old and new who are just as car-crazy.

Because you are a Velocity fan, and cars are in your blood, you've probably heard about the Woodward Dream Cruise. Held each year in August it brings up to 1.5 million visitors and 40,000 classic cars out to Detroit for a little fun and fundraising by way of a few days of cruising. The original event held back in 1995 was part of a grassroots effort to build a local soccer-field. Now the Cruise supports hundreds of local Detroit charities, all while remaining free of charge to the auto enthusiast thanks to its sponsors.

This week on Autoweek's Vinsetta Garage, join Courtney and guest Tony Michaels - President/CEO Detroit Parade Company & Woodward Dream Cruise - as they discuss the rules of cruising, the reasons why we cruise and explore why we love to participate in and watch these organized traffic jams.

Plus, the Autoweek editors in the bullpen tell us about their favorite cruisin’ rides. That's good stuff!

 

Autoweek's Vinsetta Garage airs Tuesdays at 8:30p E/P. Check it out and then head over here to relive your cruising memories.  Did you meet your spouse while out cruising?  Did you have a favorite hang-out? Did your parents approve?  What's your dream cruising auto?

You want me to start?  Alrighty!

I did not meet my spouse while cruising though he does have an awesome 1979 Holden Panel Van (it's Australian - useful for holding your surfboard). We do enjoy getting out in it does have some quirks. She's a fixer-upper folks, but we love her. You understand.

When I was younger the classic cruising spot was up and down Rockville Pike in Rockville, Maryland; I'm not entirely sure my parents even knew we drove up and back hoping to see some friends and hear about party plans. More often than not we'd just up and head to the IHOP; pancakes never let you down in a world where your Chevy Chevette wasn't much in the speed or looks department.

My dream car to cruise in? If I had the money I would purchase a 1950's era Ford pick up truck. It would need just enough work to keep me busy but be sweet enough to turn some heads on the way to the store.

Now it's your turn. Let's talk cruising and Autoweek's Vinsetta Garage.