2001 Cadillac Eldorado Etc on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Weekly Recap: Car-pedestrian crashes remained elevated in 2014

The death of American Horror Story: Freak Show star Ben Woolf served as a reminder this week that car crashes involving pedestrians remain a problem, and a new study issued on Thursday reinforced that the situation isn't really getting better. The Governors Highway Safety Association found a slight decline, 2.8 percent, in the number of pedestrian deaths in the first six months of 2014. Fatalities dropped from 2,141 to 2,125 compared with the same period in 2013, though the association says it's a statistical wash when factoring in undercounting. Deaths are still 15-percent higher than in 2009. "The number of deaths remains relatively high and is cause for concern," wrote Allan Williams, who compiled the report and is the former chief scientist at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. This is the first look at data from last year, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will issue its full-year results later. The GHSA found some progress on the roadways, as 24 states and the District of Columbia reported drops in pedestrian deaths. In some states, the problem isn't even a problem at all: Nebraska and Wyoming reported one fatality apiece, though large population centers in urban areas are where most accidents occur. "This is a clearly a good news, bad news scenario," Jonathan Adkins, GHSA executive director, said in a statement. "While we're encouraged that pedestrian fatalities haven't increased over the past two years, progress has been slow." Other News & Notes Cadillac previews CT6 during Oscars Cadillac previewed its upcoming flagship sedan, the CT6, in commercials that aired Sunday during the Oscars. As expected, the creased sedan carries on Cadillac's recent design language, and the car in the commercial looks like a larger version of the CTS and ATS sedans. The CT6 will be revealed this spring at the New York Auto Show and launch late this year. It will be assembled at General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck factory on a rear-wheel-drive chassis, and the CT6 is the first car to use Cadillac's revised alpha-numeric naming scheme. The commercials also kicked off Cadillac's "Dare Greatly" campaign, which is the first with its new advertising agency, Publicis Worldwide. Honda unexpectedly changes CEOs Honda unexpectedly announced this week that it will change CEOs. Current chief Takanobu Ito will step down in June and be replaced by company veteran Takahiro Hachigo.

Cadillac XT4-V on the way?

An anonymous photographer sent Cadillac Society two tightly cropped images of an XT4 crossover wearing two surprising badges. On the right, above the taillight, there's a 2.7 badge, In the lower right corner there's a V Series badge — the full-fat, multicolored V badge, not the monochrome V-Sport version. The images — assuming they're real — elicit more questions and no answers, the first being, is this the XT4 V-Sport that's been rumored since last October? Back then, GM Authority discovered front and rear images of such a vehicle hiding in plain sight, on a Cadillac site landing page. The backside of a thick-hipped XT4 is graced with the old V-Sport badge. We know the carmaker has split its V Series cars into two tiers, the lower intended to be less intimidating than before, the upper tier the continuation of the mongo V Series cars we've known and loved. The hints have been that the entry level will be called V Series, while the upper level takes the name "Blackwing," after the name of Cadillac's new 4.2-liter, twin-turbo V8 engine. With Mark Reuss himself having said, "We got rid of all the V-Sports," this supposed XT4-V offers more proof that V Series effectively represents a new V-Sport line. The only cosmetic giveaways to increased performance we can see are a carbon fiber trim in the license plate area, and an exhaust treatment similar to that on the recently introduced CT4-V. We're not certain what the 2.7 badge means for V branding on crossovers. The standard XT4 wears a 2.0 badge on the tailgate, representing its 2.0-liter four-cylinder with 237 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. The XT5 gets a number, too, but the XT6 does not. GM's 2.7-liter four cylinder with 311 hp and 348 lb-ft first showed up in the Chevy Silverado, will get 320 hp and 369 lb-ft in the coming CT4-V, and has been predicted for the XT4-V. However, V cars — both Sport and Series — have never worn displacement badges. The new CT4-V and CT5-V go without numerical identifiers on their decklids. If there is an XT4-V on the way this year, we only have a few months before we see it and get some answers.

Why the 2015 Detroit Auto Show will be the best since The Crisis

The Detroit Auto Show clearly has its swagger back, and the 2015 edition will be a veritable feast for the enthusiast senses. We're talking serious performance, and it will be exhibited in a variety of forms. Sports cars. Supercars. Muscle-bound luxury cars. They're all set for splashy debuts in January in the Motor City. It's another signpost that companies have recovered from the global economic crisis that gripped the industry from 2008-09. For a while, automakers played it safe at Detroit and other shows. Environmentally friendly cars were important, especially for General Motors and Chrysler that were living on loans from Uncle Sam. Ford, Toyota and other companies generally focused on their best-selling or core models. With a few notable exceptions, recent auto shows have been a bit more buttoned-down than in the past. Boring probably isn't the right word, but austerity has been reality. That's changing. Car companies are making money. Sales are up. Aside from the many nagging recalls – and they are notable – the industry now has the time and energy to make performance cars a priority. That will be offered in hard evidence in Detroit. A year from now when we look back at this auto show, we'll sum it up with one word: Horsepower. But make no mistake, this isn't frivolous. Sports and luxury cars are expensive. They're profitable. They boost images and highlight strengths. With that in mind, here are five significant performance-oriented reveals to watch for when the show kicks off in less than two weeks. 2016 Acura NSX Acura's reborn NSX is a strong bet to earn plenty of votes for our Editors' Choice awards. It's one of the most anticipated – and strung-out – reveals of the year. Think back: we actually saw an NSX concept at the 2012 Detroit show, and Acura has spent the last three years teasing the car in a variety of ways. The slow burn, however, means we know a lot about the NSX. It's will use a mid-mounted twin-turbo hybrid powertrain and run with all-wheel drive. It will also wear an innovative zirconium e-coat paint, a new paint process that Honda says is more environmentally friendly. Honda has also said it will build the new NSX in Ohio, where a large part of the car's development work has been done. The original NSX was produced from 1990-2005 and helped establish Acura's performance credentials in the United States. It was a landmark car and a shot across the bow of Ferrari, Lamborghini and others.