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Autoweek divulges details on Presidential limo

Ever since the latest presidential limousine, also known as The Beast, debuted in 2009, we've wondered what's underneath that black Cadillac body. We already know a few details, like the fact it isn't a Cadillac at all, but a very heavy duty truck chassis from General Motors with a body that resembles a super-sized Caddy. Autoweek, however, has managed to extract new details from veteran Secret Service agents about the closely guarded presidential limo. Their methods, of course, are classified.
Designed to be a rolling office, bunker and escape pod all in one, the current presidential limo is far different from previous presidential state cars, which were heavily modified production vehicles. As we would expect, The Beast uses thick, military-grade body armor (eight inches on the doors), an armored fuel tank, special run-flat tires with Kevlar lining, an encrypted satellite phone, a fully sealed cabin with its own oxygen supply and a trunk full of weapons and medical equipment that includes a supply of the President's blood type (in case the car gets cut off from the ambulance that's always present in the President's motorcade).
The Beast also comes with a Halon fire-suppression system, night vision and is powered by a V8 engine, which we already knew runs on gas and not diesel, that returns an EPA-unfriendly estimated 3.7 miles per gallon. The Secret Service operates a fleet of 12 limos and each Beast costs $1.5 million. Lastly, AW estimates that the 18-foot-long state car weighs 15,000 pounds, and each Secret Service agent that drives the car must be specially trained to maneuver such a massive vehicle.

Cadillac ATS Coupe headed for Detroit reveal

Cadillac wouldn't be Cadillac without its two-door models. But the XLR has been discontinued for over four years now, the Elmiraj concept may never see production and the future of the CTS Coupe is still up in the air. That leaves just the ELR, which may not be conventional enough for traditional Cadillac coupe buyers. Fortunately a new coupe is coming along to fill the void.
According to Edmunds, Cadillac will reveal the new ATS coupe just a couple of months from now at the Detroit Auto Show. Expected to mechanically mirror the existing ATS sedan, the new coupe will also more conventionally resemble its four-door counterpart than the CTS, whose coupe version was distinguished by a rakishly sloping roofline.
Expect the same choice of engines to carry over, with a 2.5-liter four serving as the base engine, and both a 2.0-liter turbo four and a 3.6-liter V6 offering more power for those looking for that extra bit of oomph. Following the Detroit reveal, sources anticipate the ATS coupe to go on sale next summer.

Ford C-Max spot aimed squarely at Cadillac ELR 'Poolside' hubris [UPDATE]

If we had tried to predict the first video response to the controversial Poolside video for the Cadillac ELR, we would not have thought it would center on compost. But, hey, it's always nice to be reminded that the real world is sometimes better than fiction. Instead of the chic swagger of 'Poolside,' 'Anything Is Possible' is all about getting dirty. The new short in question is called Upside: Anything Is Possible and it promotes two things: Detroit Dirt and the Ford C-Max Energi. As in the ELR ad, Ford's plug-in C-Max only makes an appearance at the tail end of the spot, but instead of the chic swagger of Poolside, Anything Is Possible is all about getting dirty. The ad stars Pashon Murray, co-founder of Detroit Dirt, which takes natural waste from around Detroit, composts it into soil and then spreads that around "forgotten parcels" of Detroit to create urban farms. Detroit Dirt gets its bio-waste from a lot of sources, including the Detroit Zoological Society (all that herbivore manure has to go somewhere), Ford and General Motors, but this particular ad was the idea of Ford's PR agency, Team Detroit. It was a frenetic shoot, filmed with an LA-based director right after a big winter storm blew through Detroit, and Murray couldn't be happier with the result. "This was Ford Motor Company pushing my story, letting me tell the story that I believe in," Murray tells AutoblogGreen. "I get to help push this car and I get to tell my story." She says that the Team Detroit and Ford had to agree on the message, "from my understanding, [YouTube] is where they wanted to start, not where they wanted to finish." The ad is already getting a positive response on Twitter, so we won't be surprised if it shows up in more places soon. "It's not saying Ford is better than GM. It's telling the story of a black woman who's working hard in Detroit." As Detroit Dirt has off-screen support from both GM and Ford, it's unsurprising to hear Murray say that the video "is not a rivalry thing." She notes that the ad agency Team Detroit came to her and offered to tell the Detroit Dirt story using the framework of the GM ad. "It's a parody on this commercial, but it's not saying Ford is better than GM," she said. "It's telling the story of a black woman who's working hard in Detroit." What is that story? It's about urban farming, recovery and recycling. Murray tells us that for the last seven or eight years, she's been dedicated to sustainability.