Monthly Archives April 2014

2015 BMW M4 Convertible Pricing Guide Available

BMW has released the detailed pricing guide for the 2015 M4 Convertible, including the European delivery option pricing. If you want to order one, you should print out this document before heading to the dealership.

Download the 2015 BMW M4 Convertible pricing guide here.

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Latest Transmission Titbit – Aisin AA80E

Last week I have discussed the GM 8AT and the ZF 9AT, today let’s take a look at the Aisin AA80E, which is used in the Lexus IS350, GS350, LS460, IS-F and the upcoming RC-F.

Aisin_AA80E

Unlike other longitude mounted 8AT such as the ZF 8HP and GM 8L90, the Aisin transmission uses compound planetary gear sets. A compound planetary gear set is a planetary gear set that has multiple sun gears or multiple ring gears. There are different types of them, the one we are interested in is called the Ravingeaux gear set, which has two sun gears, two planet carriers and they share one common ring gear.

One Ravingeaux gear set can provide 4 forward gear ratios and also the neutral and reverse.

T...

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Cadillac Long Wheelbase ATS-L Spyshot and More Details

If you have already known the fact that in the Chinese market, BMW has something like 320Li, Audi has A4L, Mercedes-Benz has C260L, Infiniti has Q70L, Volvo has the S60L, you won’t be surprised that Cadillac is making the ATS-L.

Back in Nov. 1st of 2012, GM Shanghai announced the plan to upgrade its Shanghai Pudong Jin Qiao factory and preparing it for manufacturing the LWB ATS. The upgrade costs GM a total of RMB 1,637,000,000, and the project was completed in December 2013.

Unlike the LWB version of its competitors, the ATS-L has a different front exterior style, which will be similar to the 2015 ATS Coupe with the new Cadillac logo (circumspective readers may have alre...

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VW 7-seater Model Will Be Manufactured in China

When you look at Volkswagen’s product line, you can see it does not has any vehicle that can carry over 5 people at this moment (for VW brand only).

Maybe you have heard VW is filling this gap with a 7-seater model based on the CrossBlue concept SUV recently.

The CrossBlue can carry 6 people, but the production version will change the second row seat to accommodate three people (instead 2 in the concept car), thus increase the total capacity to 7 persons.

While VW has not told us where the US market version will be made, today news come out that at least for the Chinese market, the 7-seat SUV will be made by Shanghai Volkswagen.

For those of you who are not familiar with...

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2014 New York Auto Show Live Photos – Mercedes-Benz

We are publishing live photos taken from the NY auto show. Here is the Mercedes-Benz section.

Please click at each thumbnail to see the full image.

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