May 5, 2008

Tesla Motors Opens Los Angeles Showroom

The long-awaited Tesla electric sports car is now on sale, but you may have to wait a lot longer to get one. This week marks the opening of the first Tesla dealership in Los Angeles, but you can’t just walk into the beautiful factory-owned showroom and drive off in the lithium-ion battery-powered car. The 2008 models, which can go up to 225 miles on a single charge and reach 125 mph, are sold out, and the wait for the 2009 model now stands at 15 months despite its $109,000 price tag. Owners of the car are rumored to include Governor Schwarzenegger and Jay Leno, although Jenny McCarthy, Jenna Elfman, and Quincy Jones attended the opening night party catered by Akasha. "There is great enthusiasm about the program, and we are now working on a prototype for a four-passenger sedan," says Elon Musk, founder and Chairman of Tesla Motors. More dealerships are planned for Menlo Park, Calif., Chicago, Seattle and Miami.

For more information, visit www.teslamotors.com.

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April 18, 2008

General Motors Expands OnStar's Turn-by-Turn Navigation Options

To help reduce the legions of frustrated drivers on the road clamoring for cell phones and road maps, General Motors is expanding the capabilities of its onboard Turn-by-Turn navigation service through OnStar. Currently, to use the Turn-by-Turn service, motorists must park in order to input their destination. Now, with OnStar’s Destination Download service, drivers can contact an OnStar Advisor and have directions downloaded into the car’s navigation console remotely. The other new service is OnStar eNav, which allows drivers to plan a route at MapQuest.com and download the directions in the vehicle later. Most of GM’s 2009 vehicles with the Turn-by-Turn service will include these features as well. OnStar eNav will be available retroactively to any current Turn-by-Turn capable GM vehicle.

For more information, visit www.gm.com.

In addition to the 1,000 models of the 2008 40th Anniversary Edition Shelby GT500KR “King of the Road” Mustangs, Ford announced that it will offer to sell another 746 units for the 2009 model year. Of these, 571 will be offered in the U.S. market, creating a total that equals the number of original GT500KRs built in 1968. These 540-horsepower beasts have 5.4-liter V8 engines and Tremec TR6060 six-speed manual transmissions. The cars will be available at select Ford dealerships this spring, retailing at a heart-stopping $80,155 per car.

For more information, visit www.ford.com.