Ford Sells Volvo to Geely

One less car badge that would have a “Made in the USA” tag. Ford officially announced that it will be selling Volvo to Zheijang Geely Holding Group. The deal is expected to close by the third quarter and has to go through all the necessary bureaucratic hoopla.

Anyway, Geely will be shelling out $1.8 billion for Volvo which Geely will be paying in form of a note worth $200 million and the rest by cash. Jeez. How rich are the Chinese these days? Richer than you, that is.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally says that the sale will allow Ford to focus more on its brand.

While the most profitable of the Detroit Three (Chrysler’s even questionable now that it’s owned by the Italians), Ford is struggling to keep pace with other automakers. Hyundai overtook Ford as the world’s fourth largest automaker last year.

I wonder if ever being Chinese-owned will affect Volvo’s track record of safety. Maybe they’d start painting the car with lead-based paint and use panels made up of toxic plastic.

Lexus LFA Special Edition

So Lexus has finally come out with the LFA and many would probably agree that it’s a good car but it’s probably not worth its £300k+ price tag. I still believe that you’d get a way better buck per bang with the Nissan GT-R that it’s supposed to trash.

Anyway, here’s a new meaner version of the LFA – the Lexus LFA Special Edition. The car promises to be a mean track machine having been developed at the ultimate proving ground for many production cars – the Nurburgring.

The car is powered by the same 4.8L V10 engine but the exhaust system and a tweaks to its ECU to dish out 552 bhp. The improved transmission also trims down the shift speeds by 0.05 seconds so shift times now occur in just 0.15 seconds.

The car also sports an aero kit which include a larger rear wing and a new front splitter. The suspensions are also tweaked for added stiffness. The car sits on lightweight rims with semi-slick styles.

Video: Toyota Demo on Stopping Runaway Vehicle

So you’re paranoid that your Toyota vehicle will be your ultimate demise. You’ve heard so many “stories” about some runaway Prius that nearly killed or killed its owners that you whisper “Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me” to your vehicle whenever you’re out in it.

Toyota assures everyone that your Toyota vehicle is “safe” to drive. They even gives us these videos demonstrating the proper ways to stop your vehicle in cases that you feel that it’s out to get you.

How to Stop a Toyota Hybrid

How to Stop a Toyota with Stuck Accelerator Pedal

Ralliart Closes Shop

That’s it for Ralliart, folks. The economy has claimed yet another victim. Ralliart announced that it will be closing shop effective April 1, 2010.

The drop in demand for Mitsubishi and the overall crash of the car market, however, has forced Ralliart to call it quits.

Fans of the Ralliart badge of Mitsubishi performance vehicles, however, need not weep as the Ralliart models slated in Mitsubishi’s lineup will endure the closure.

Ralliart was established by former racing driver Andrew Cowan as Andrew Cowan Motorsports in 1983. It forged a partnership with Mitsubishi building performance parts and tuning cars for motorsports.

Ralliart has served as Mitsubishi’s motorsport arm building epic machines that won the WRC and the Dakar rally.

Toyota FT-86 with Predecessors

Here’s a sporty family picture of Toyota’s latest sports coupe together with is predecessors – the Supra, the Celica and the AE86.

The FT-86 was initially heralded as the replacement to the iconic AE86/Corolla GT/Corolla Levin/Trueno Sprinter but was also reported as the Celica replacement. Fact is, the FT-86 is Toyota’s latest sports coupe and it does look like it took off from all of these cars.

The FT-86 is a joint project with Subaru. Powering the car is a 2.0L boxer engine from Subaru. The FT-86 will maintain the AE86’s RWD heritage though.

The car’s also built with lightweightedness in mind to give it the agility to round corners. It’s got a proper LSD to boot making the car a possible drifting monster.

A Subaru model with 4WD is expected to come out soon.

New Nissan Micra Unveiled

It’s the Geneva motor show so we can just expect more pictures and details on the slew of debuts. This here’s the unveiled new Nissan Micra.

The Euro-spec version of the car is powered by a choice of two engines – a 1.2L 3-cylinder gasoline engine that dishes out 79bhp and 80 lb-ft of torque and supercharged 1.2L engine that dishes out 97 bhp and 105 lb-ft of torque. The supercharged version will feature a start-stop system as well.

Buyers will be able to choose between a CVT transmission and a proper manual. The car will also have a collection of add-ons like parking sensors with “parking space measurement,” touch-screen sat nav and automatic wipers.

The new version’s built on an all-new global V-platform that’s designed in Japan but will be built in various Nissan plants in Mexico, China, Thailand, and India. European sales are set to begin in Europe.