by Noah Joseph

DaimlerChrysler clearly spent big this year at the Detroit show. The Mercedes-Benz “cars on ice” display was impressive, but the Jeep’s presence was even more so. In addition to the trippy waterfall – we swear, it was making shapes – the neo-Flinstones display had a new Wrangler Unlimited mounted on the side of a big faux-rock tower. You look up and think, “whoa, there’s a Jeep up there”, but for those left wondering how they did it, this brief two-and-a-half-minute video shows the inside story. Not as simple as you might think.

[Source: Winding Road]

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by Noah Joseph

While the new 600-horsepower Viper was attracting all the press at the Detroit show like so many moths to a flame, around back at the Dodge booth sat a tricked out beast dripping venom from its fangs, a showcase of what the Chrysler Group’s aftermarket performance division Mopar has in store for the company’s juiced up new flagship.

As impressive as the magic 600-horsepower figure is in the new Viper, it’s no huge mystery how Dodge squeezed out the extra 90 horses over the old model. “No replacement for displacement” is the name of the game, and the Viper’s engine is a monstrous 8.4-liter V10 from which Mopar tapped an additional 75 horses (thanks largely to better cooling) for a total of 675. (Yes, that’s right… 675 horsepower. In one car.)

To go with the added juice, Mopar fitted an adjustable suspension and blacked-out 19″ lightweight alloy wheels with accompanying Michelin rubber. The Mopar Viper was also displayed in a striking anthracite-gray paint job with an offset neon-red stripe running up the front, over the roof and on to the giant rear wing. You know, just in case the *ahem* ordinary Viper wasn’t visually imposing enough.

[Source Autoblog]

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As promised, the Detroit Auto Show marked Maseratis debut of the fully automatic transmission they’re to begin offering in the beautiful Quattroporte sedan. The sumptuous Italian four-door was previously offered exclusively with the DuoSelect manu-matic transmission, derived from Ferrari’s F1 gearbox and offered in the two-door Maserati range as Cambriocorsa. While the sequential transmission, which remains on offer alongside the new automatic, has improved greatly over the years, the bean-counters evidently thought Maserati could sell more Quattroportes if it had a smoother-shifting conventional automatic, with torque-converter and all. The transmission they fitted is a ZF-sourced six-speed unit; the high-revving Ferrari-designed V8, super-luxe interior, jaw-dropping Italian styling and everything else carry over from before.
Apparently viewing the Quattroporte as more vital to their North American sales, Maserati opted not to show the rest of their range at the Detroit show, so the GranSport and MC12 had to sit this one out to make room for three of their bigger brothers. The Quattroportes weren’t lonely, though…Maserati brought in some leggy models to keep them company.

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