Jim Miles Fast Cars

Dodge brand CEO Ralf Gilles has confirmed that the Viper will return in 2012 as a 2013 model year car.

Dodge recently ceased production of its halo sports car, while continuing on with certain development aspects, eventually showing a concept car to dealers at a recent national dealer meeting.

Gilles commented that the new Viper, “is not based on anything else,” and that, “There won’t be a part of the car that’s untouched.” That being said, the new Viper may do away with the previous model’s 6.4-liter V10 engine.

Gilles didn’t rule out the use of an engine from it’s new parent company Fiat, which owns Ferrari, but said the next Viper won’t just borrow a powerplant. He did say that the long hood with the cabin near the rear of the car would change.

Previous reports had suggested the car would just be a version of the Alfa Romeo 8C (itself based on the same chassis as the Ferrari California and Maserati GranTurismo), and while there will be some similarities, the proportions will be different.

The goal, says Gilles, will be to make the Dodge brand’s new halo model more accessible. That being said, it will be easier to drive and more forgiving – including having, for the first time, stability control.

The Holden Commodore, sold in Australia, is a four-door sedan that is in an eternal fight with Ford’s Falcon. It handles great, seats four comfortably and has the 7.0L LS7 as an optional engine for the HSV variant. American consumers had versions of the Commodore available to them previously, first in the guise of the Pontiac GTO and later the G8. Now, only the long-wheelbase version, badged as the Chevrolet Caprice, is available and only to law enforcement agencies.

However, Drive.com.au’s Bruce Newton has posted an article that explains that the Commodore might be returning to the United States, this time wearing Chevy’s bowtie emblem.

In the piece, Newton points to two people who have mentioned the Commodore could come stateside. During the L.A. Auto Show, GM Engineer Al Oppenheiser announced that the company was looking into re-importing the car, thanks to the segment gap that was left when GM killed of Pontiac, which some considered the brand with the sporty cars.

One person, who is an anonymous source, said that the deal was done, and that the sedan could be coming to our shores sooner than later.

Thanks to the same architecture and engineering that went into importing the G8, the car shouldn’t have any issues when it comes to crash standards. The engine compartment already takes engines available in the United States, even emission regulations should be relatively straight forward. Plus, thanks to the Chevrolet Caprice, badging and bumper covers are already available.

General Motors on Tuesday unveiled the all-new 2011 Chevrolet Camaro convertible, tearing the roof off the vehicle poised to reclaim the crown of the world’s best-selling muscle car.

The automaker is unveiling the convertible this week at the Los Angeles International Auto Show and says production should begin in January with sales to follow in February. Like the 2010 coupe, the new model will come standard with a 312-horsepower V-6 engine capable of 29 mpg on the highway, and the SS model will feature a 426-horsepower V-8 engine.

Chevrolet had been teasing the Camaro convertible for some time, revealing photos on Facebook and even offering a special edition last month in the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book (all 100 sold out in three minutes).

"The launch of the new convertible opens Camaro design and performance to a new set of potential customers," said Chris Perry, vice president of Chevrolet marketing. "The 21st century revival of Camaro is tremendously popular, so it’s a natural to now expand and elevate the product range in new directions."

GM discontinued the Camaro in 2002 due to sluggish sales, but the automaker resurrected the pony car in spring of 2009 and in June of that year it outsold the Ford Mustang for the first time since 1993.

Sales have continued at a healthy pace, and The Detroit News reports the Camaro is on pace to top the Mustang for yearly sales for the first time in 32 years. Chevrolet sold 71,521 Camaros through October, while Ford sold 64,171 Mustangs.

"I think this rivalry is good for General Motors and Ford," Chris Perry, vice president of Chevrolet marketing, told the newspaper. "America needs a healthy auto industry and this kind of competition is good."

The competition may be good for both automakers, but the sales victory is exclusively good news for GM, which has dominated auto industry headlines this week as it prepares for tomorrow’s initial public stock offering.

Cadillac will return to racing with a two car team in the SCCA World Challenge, echoing previous efforts at LeMans and the former Speed World Challenge series.

The new team will be a factory backed effort fielding two CTS-V Coupes. Drivers and other personnel haven’t been announced yet, but top drivers such as Andy Pilgrim previously piloted the CTS-V sedans that appeared in World Challenge a couple years ago.

GM will also be supporting various teams in the rival Grand-Am series, including those running Camaros in the GS class against their arch rival, the Ford Mustang.

Let’s answer the obvious questions first.

Yes, the Chevrolet Volt is real.

Yes, the electric motor system will take you, in the mild weather in which we drove it, around 40 miles on pure electric power.
Yes, when the battery is low enough that the gasoline inline-4 takes over, the transition is seamless.

Yes, it has very acceptable daily performance with either electric or gas propulsion.

Yes, it will go 100 mph. Honest.

We’ve seen the Volt for enough years that it is no surprise to see one on the road, and yet when you do it looks smaller than it has appeared on auto show stands. The styling is crisp, with a very short rear deck and squared sides back there. Overall, it’s a handsome design and thankfully Chevrolet did not feel the need—as many automakers do—to style its electric car so differently that it comes off as goofy.

Inside, the design is also, well, crisp. The battery pack tends to crowd the center of the car, but there’s decent if not excessive room for four 6-footers inside, riding in comfy seats.

There are plenty of instruments and well-done graphics to not only inform you how frugal you’re being with gas, but also encourage your fuel-saving ways, a la Ford Fusion Hybrid.

Chevrolet figures the electric mode range at 25–50 miles depending on such things as your driving style, accessories being used, both the climate outside the car and how you are using the climate control inside. When in electric mode at speeds lower than about 50 mph, the Volt is very quiet on decent road surfaces. Above that, road noise can rise, its intrusiveness being quite road surface-dependent.

Overall, the Volt is a kick to drive with that sprightly performance and a ride/handling balance that leans toward the sporty side a bit.
Pricing starts at $41,000 including destination, and you can add up to $4000 in options. Leases come in at $350 per month with $2500 down.

What makes the Volt interesting is something of an answer to a Jay Leno line. The comedian figures the range of an electric car is about half as far as you want to go.

That’s when the Volt keeps on going.

We can’t find much fault with the 2011 Ford Fiesta, but if there’s one major gripe, it’s a lack of power (well, and paddle shifters for the dual-clutch gearbox). However, it looks like that lone complaint may be addressed with the introduction of the Fiesta ST, the smaller sibling to the recently revealed Focus ST.

Similar to the mule caught in Detroit earlier this year, the three-door Fiesta is back with a massive front-mount intercooler, revised body work, new wheels and a high-performance exhaust, along with some racy Recaros that probably won’t make the trek from prototype to production.

While it’s doubtful Ford would port over the Focus ST’s 247 horsepower 2.0-liter EcoBoost mill, the 180-hp turbo’d 1.6-liter or rumored EcoBoost 1.4 are definitely in the cards. With the Focus ST finally having a shot in the States, the globally-certified Fiesta ST might come along for the ride. And maybe a set of paddle shifters will be included in the package.