Lambo caught fire at Portland Auto Show
Motor Authority broke the news that a hot exotic car (the world famous Lamborghini Gallardo) got even hotter when it caught fire at the Portland auto show.
The website revealed, “Fire marshals at the show, quite reasonably, won’t let any car enter the building with more than a quarter-tank of fuel. The Gallardo attempted to enter with an undisclosed greater amount, however, and was refused. Makes good sense so far.”
According to the automotive website, “That’s when the story gets stupid.”
Instead of figuring a way to extract the fuel from the tank, taking it for a quick 50-mile spin, or just swapping it for another Gallardo, the display staff decided it’d be a good idea to just sit in the car and rev it to redline in neutral. Not so good for the car, but, in a pinch, excusable–perhaps.
The person behind the wheel soon grew tired of the limiter-popping, however, and decided to automate the process with a piece of wood lodged between the seat and the gas pedal.
It was then that the unthinkable happened — because of the auto show staff’s creative engineering feat, Motor Authority says, “Yes, a piece of wood…” [with an implied D'OH!]
“After sitting idle at full song for several minutes, the completely predictable, inevitable, and foreseeable occurred: it overheated and caught fire.”
That is not the right way to treat any car — let alone a hot one like the Lamborghini Gallardo (an exotic car capable of going 202+ miles per hour).
And for the record, the gas mileage on a Lambo Gallardo is roughly 20 MPG on the highway and 13 MPG when tooling around town conservatively… so exactly how long those jokers thought they could abuse the car that way before using up a tank of gasoline is all the more mind boggling.
Tata Motors Recalling World’s Cheapest Car, the Nano, to Upgrade Starter
Tata Motors, the Indian automotive giant that owns the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, has issued the biggest ever recall action in India, concerning a little over 115,000 Nano city cars to replace the starter motor.
However, the company prefers to use the term "upgrade" instead of "recall" as it claims there is no safety hazard associated with the old starter motor.
The maker of the world's cheapest automobile said the installation of the new starter motor began in October this year and that it has already replaced the starter in 50,000 Nano cars.
Report: Canada lagging behind U.S. auto recovery
Filed under: Government/Legal, Chrysler, Ford, GM, UAW/Unions, Canada
The Detroit Three are in much better financial shape than three years ago. General Motors and Ford are now profitable, and Chrysler appears poised to begin making real money soon. That success has lead to plans to spend billions of dollars on North American plants, but Automotive News reports that our friends to the north aren’t seeing much of the money.
Ford, GM and Chrysler are reportedly planning to spend at least $13.3 billion in the U.S. in the next four years, but investment in Canadian plants is dropping fast. In fact, there was only $1.2 billion in plant spending in Canada in 2011, down 62 percent versus the average of the last decade. A big reason for the decline in spending is the strength of the Canadian dollar and the relative weakness of the U.S. dollar.
Automakers are also spending more in the U.S. thanks to a new labor agreement with the United Auto Workers, which helps level labor costs compared to foreign rivals. Meanwhile, automakers and the Canadian Auto Workers are now working on a new contract for 2012. The CAW has so far fought many of the cost cuts that the UAW has accepted.
To make matters worse for our northern neighbors, Ford closed the St. Thomas plant that once built the Lincoln Town Car and Ford Crown Victoria, and GM ha reportedly announced plans to build two models in the U.S. that are currently being built in Canada.
We’re guessing that while the Canada announcements have been few and far between in the past year or two, that could change if the CAW makes a few concessions at the bargaining table in 2012. If not, auto jobs in Canada could be in real trouble.
Canada lagging behind U.S. auto recovery originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
