autos

Volkswagen, Honda, and Toyota picked up the laurels at this morning's IAG Automotive Advertising Awards at the kickoff event for the 2007 New York International Auto Show. Commercials for the Volkswagen Passat Wagon, the Honda Pilot, and the Toyota Yaris won the awards for most-liked ad; best nameplate launch, and best new nameplate launch, respectively.

We're going to be wrestling the crowds at the Javits Convention Center here in Manhattan to bring you the scoop on the latest models as they are unveiled.

We've barely managed to get our breath back following our review of the 2007 Shelby GT500, and now Ford has unveiled a more powerful version of its resurrected muscle car. The 2008 Ford Shelby GT500KR (the last two letters stand for "King of the Road," in case you were wondering) will make its official debut at this week's New York auto show. The GT500KR will feature a tweaked version of the GT500's 5.4-liter supercharged V-8, capable of an estimated 540 horsepower.

According to Ford, the KR's advanced ignition timing, cold air intake system, … Read more

Rockstar Games took the wraps off the teaser trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV yesterday afternoon, giving gamers their first look at the highly anticipated sequel. While only about a minute long, the trailer offers some key details about the new game. The graphics have gotten a big next-gen upgrade, the setting is clearly a skewed version of New York City, and the game puts you in the shoes of an Eastern European protagonist. Tor Thorsen over at GameSpot offers some additional details, but the big news is that all of the footage in the trailer was captured "in … Read more

OK, you heard it here first: the Nokia 330 portable navigation system is headed for the United States. We got a little heads-up from Nokia tonight that it's going to announce the U.S. availability of the Nokia 330 Auto Navigation unit tomorrow with an expected ship date of April. It'll come preloaded with Navteq maps and features a 3.5-inch touch screen, turn-by-turn, voice-guided directions, and multimedia capabilities (music and video player and image viewer). You know, pretty much like every other portable in-car GPS device out there. Will it offer any compelling reasons to fork over $… Read more

I love the Geneva auto show for its blend of fashion and engineering; concept cars to showroom rides. The 2007 event did not disappoint. As with every major car show I cover, the first thing people ask me is "what did you like?" So here's my personal Top 5 from Geneva (excluding the Hotel des Bergues, which is always my favorite thing about Geneva.)

5. New Ford Mondeo - Because I dream of Ford bringing its cool Euro cars here one day.

4. New Mercedes C Class - Because it's a C Class you won't … Read more

Motorcycle maker KTM's success in racing, including repeated first place wins in the Paris-to-Dakar rally, led it to venture into four-wheel racing. The X-Bow, shown at the 2007 Geneva Auto Show, is built as a track car, with a body designed specifically for racing. Style loses out to function when it comes to necessities such as an exposed suspension spring over the hood or massive air intakes in front of the rear wheels. X-Bow's tech specifications are very impressive. The car weighs just over 1,500 pounds and is powered by an Audi-sourced 2-liter turbocharged four cylinder engine. … Read more

The grueling Paris-to-Dakar rally finished last month, and a few proud automakers showed off their winning cars. Mitsubishi has the honor of many consecutive first place wins with its Pajero SUV. One of the Team Repsol Pajeros, which took first place, is on display in Mitsubishi's booth at the 2007 Geneva Auto Show. Another successful entrant, which placed in the top 10, was the X-Raid diesel-powered BMW X3. Volkswagen, which put out a lot of press during the rally about its top 10 placing Touareg entrants, neglected to bring any of its cars to Geneva.

We generated a little controversy last year at CNET Car Tech by rating the Lexus LS 460L a perfect 10. Subsequently, the LS 460L also won our Tech Car of the Year award. Lexus shows off a cutaway model of what's likely to be this year's perfect 10 at the 2007 Geneva Auto Show, the Lexus LS 600h. This car takes the LS 460 and simply adds a hybrid system, increasing drivetrain power and efficiency. Lexus is using the Geneva show to push its hybrids in the European market, showing off and advertising its RX 400h and GS … Read more

Car designer Bertone has been around for a long, long time. To celebrate its 95th anniversary, the company did what it does best: it designed a car. Shown at the 2007 Geneva auto show, the Bertone roadster takes a retro design and adds modern components. The doors swing up on hinges integrated into the rear wheel fenders. Transparent inserts in the doors show off the use of modern plastics in body components.

The Bertone roadster shape hearkens back to the 1947 Fiat 500, an example of which is also on display in the Bertone booth. The Bertone roadster is built … Read more