Category Archives: The Octane Lounge

Geneva Motor Show
The Octane Lounge February 26, 2018

Overview

Don’t wait for stories to appear in the store when you can become a member of Wheelbase Media’s weekly news service and save more than 50 percent while gaining instant access to the new features as they’re produced. Click here to get started.If you are not a member of the media, but still wish to read this and other feature stories from Wheelbase Media, visit www.theoctanelounge.com to subscribe to Auto Shift Weekly newsmag, available for your Apple iPad or for your home PC or laptop in pdf format.

Description

For new concept and production cars that combine cutting-edge technology with elegance and visual impact, the annual Geneva Motor Show (March 8-18) continues to be the place to go.
Not surprisingly, this year’s show leaned heavily on electric and hybrid vehicles, although there were plenty of high-performance cars with conventional internal-combustion engines as well.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Sweet home, Alabama
The Octane Lounge February 5, 2018

Overview

Description

What do you think of when you think of Alabama? Nick Saban and five College Football National Championships in the last nine seasons? The Roy Moore senatorial race scandal? “Sweet Home Alabama” or some other Lynyrd Skynyrd Southern-rock anthem? But Alabama as a powerhouse in automotive manufacturing? Yes. In 2017, Germany-based automaker Mercedes-Benz produced its three-millionth vehicle in Alabama.

Please contact us to order this feature.

2018 Corvette ZR1
The Octane Lounge October 16, 2017

Overview

Description

The 2019 ZR1 comes with Chevrolet’s 6.2-liter supercharged LT5 V-8 engine, which produces 755 horsepower and 715 pound-feet of torque. That’s enough to propel this Corvette to a top speed of 212 mph. According to Chevrolet’s specs, 60 mph (from a standing start) comes in less than three seconds, with quarter-mile times in the high-10-second range. It’s the most powerful production Corvette ever built.

Please contact us to order this feature.

URUS
The Octane Lounge October 2, 2017

Overview

Description

Do you remember the last time Lamborghini ventured into the sport-utility-vehicle business? From 1986 to 1993, it manufactured a brutal and ferocious off-road beast known as the LM002, colloquially known as the ‘Rambo Lambo.’ Lamborghini is back in the utility business in a big way, but this time the company has gone in a totally different and much more sensible direction with the new 2019 Urus.
Don’t think predominantly off-road, think Porsche Cayenne Turbo fighter.

Please contact us to order this feature.

SEMA show rides
The Octane Lounge September 18, 2017

Overview

Description

The SEMA Show, which takes place the first week of November every year, is a trade show where corporate buyers do deals with the parts sellers, from running boards, crate engines and shop lifts, to turbochargers, electronics and vinyl-wrap systems.
The show is not open to the public, but it is still enormous. The 2017 SEMA show logged more than 70,000 buyers (25 percent of whom came from outside the United States) who flocked to the Las Vegas Convention Center to see new products and trends, and attend educational seminars.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Mercedes-Benz Project ONE
The Octane Lounge September 4, 2017

Overview

Description

On the rarefied air of exotic hypercars, the global arms race continues to escalate at a rapid pace as automakers develop new technologies that push cars to unheard of levels of performance. Consider the new Mercedes-AMG Project ONE, a two-seat beast that uses Formula One technology to produce astonishing performance levels: Acceleration to 200 km/h (124 mph) from rest takes less than six seconds, which makes the Project ONE quicker than a Bugatti Veyron or a Porsche 918 Spyder. Top speed is a crisp 350 km/h, or about 217 mph.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Millennials actually want cars
The Octane Lounge August 21, 2017

Overview

Description

At first blush, the dire message served up by author Robbie Kellman Baxter sounds an alarming note.
In a press release provocatively titled ‘Is Car Ownership Becoming Obsolete?’ Baxter warns, “People who 10 years ago couldn’t imagine not owning a car now find that today it’s a very viable option. The way consumers view car ownership is shifting dramatically.”

Please contact us to order this feature.

Factory One
The Octane Lounge July 24, 2017

Overview

Description

General Motors has restored and revived a former manufacturing facility that’s one of the most significant sites in the history of the North American auto industry. The Durant-Dort Factory One in Flint, Mich., dates back to the 1880s, when it began life as a cotton textile plant for Flint Woolen Mills. In 1886, William Crapo ‘Billy’ Durant and business partner Josiah Dallas Dort leased the space to run the Flint Road Cart Co. to build horse-drawn carriages.

Please contact us to order this feature.

2018 Honda Accord
The Octane Lounge July 3, 2017

Overview

Description

It’s no secret that car buyers have gobbled up increasing numbers of utility vehicles, making regular family sedans a much harder sell.
For 2018, the two gold standards of midsize sedans, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, are both new and much improved. In June, Toyota rolled out its Camry in press previews and now it’s Honda’s turn to show off the next Accord.

Please contact us to order this feature.

14,115 ‘feat’
The Octane Lounge June 26, 2017

Overview

Description

To succeed in any form of motorsports requires climbing metaphorical mountains. Some require climbing actual mountains, which is every bit as daunting as it sound.
Each June, a special breed of daredevil racer attempts to scale Colorado’s Pikes Peak, on one of the most intense motorsports courses in the world. The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the second-oldest race in the United States, is contested on a 12.42-mile, 156-turn course that starts at an elevation of 9,390 feet and ends at 14,115 feet.