Chevrolet Bel Air Reviews

Designed by Warnie last year for Hot Wheels, the Spin King features a huge rear spoiler and a triangular flaming exhaust, finished in electric blue paint and rolling on black wheels. The car also features Warne’s lucky cricket and footy shirt number 23 on both the side of the rear spoiler and on the engine cover. Mattel Hot Wheels says the model is on sale for $7.99 in a 'limited edition of less than 100,000', which sounds like a lot until you realise they sell 6 million cars per year. Warne joins an eminent list of model car designers for Hot Wheels, including NASCAR star Danic Patrick and F1 driver Felipe Massa.  The cricketing legend says he was inspired to join the design team by his own passion for cars and for collecting models as a kid. He worked with the Hot Wheels team to design the car, but was given creative control over the project, and allowed to add his own touches. “I‘ve always had a passion for cars,” Warne said. “I used to play with Hot Wheels™ cars as a kid, so when they offered me the chance to design my own, I jumped at it.” “I loved every minute of the design process and working with the team at Hot Wheels™ was great fun. The ‘Spin King’ is a fusion between all of my favourite fast cars and it’s been great seeing my vision come to life.”  

And Australia could be one of the markets, with Holden saying they are looking at the car very closely to slot in under the Captiva 5 and Captiva 7. The Korean-designed Trax SUV was first seen at New York motor show in 2007 along with two other GM-Daewoo concepts, the Beat and Groove.At the time, GM had the public vote on which should be built, and the Beat won out – but the Trax has now been given the green light. The baby SUV, which in New York carried a 1.0-litre petrol engine, hasn’t been completely out of the public eye. It had a supporting role in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in 2009 as the vehicle mode for the Autobot, Mudflap.Based on the platform for the Aveo, which we see here as the Holden Barina, the Trax has a chance of coming to Australia with a Holden badge, although a Holden spokesperson said there was no commitment at the moment.  "It looks like a very exciting product and we going to be taking a very close look at it," the spokesperson said. "The compact SUV market is increasing in popularity, and we have several SUV models -- Captiva 5, Captiva 7 and the larger coming Colorado. So a small SUV makes a lot of sense."Chevrolet says the Trax will allow the brand to enter the booming smaller end of the SUV field. "Trax provides Chevrolet an entry into a growing small SUV segment and delivers the flexibility, great fuel economy and car-like handling that urban explorers require," Chevrolet Europe managing director Susan Docherty said. Trax will start rolling out into European showrooms in the second quarter of 2013.

And its latest incarnation has the sort of numbers local musclecar drivers would be keen to sample.  The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 - which will wear a US$58,000 pricetag when it goes on sale in North America - is boasting a top speed near 300km/h and a sprint to 100km/h in under four seconds.  The heart of the ZL1 is a Roots-supercharged and intercooled version of the 6.2-litre V8, which kicks out 432kW and 754Nm - the most powerful production Camaro ever. It also has an active exhaust and the choice of a six-speed manual or automatic transmission.  Chevrolet have also endowed the ZL1 with the third-incarnation of the Magnetic Ride suspension system, which uses dampers with magneto-rheological (MR) fluid that can be quickly altered by means of an electric current to change the suspension firmness according to road conditions and driving behaviour. Driver behaviour will also be tempered by the system Chev calls "Performance Traction Management" - the system is taken from the ZR1 Corvette and oversees the magnetic ride control, stability and traction control, the electric power steering and launch control systems. The latter - only on offer with the manual transmission - automatically monitors (1000 times a second) and if required restrains the engine's torque to offer the best balance between acceleration and wheel spin. Of course, that's a track-only pursuit. Also on the ZL1's features list are a rear-differential cooler, integrated engine and transmission oil coolers, and brake-cooling ducts as standard, with the cabin getting leather-trimmed seats, a nine-speaker Boston Acoustics sound system, USB and Bluetooth connectivity, rear parking sensors and a rear camera. Options are limited to the six-speed auto, 20in polished alloy wheels, a sunroof, striping package, a suede interior upgrade or - for the subtle and low-key owner - an unpainted carbon fibre bonnet insert. Don't hold your breath for the ZL1 to pop up in Holden dealerships any time soon - Holden says there's no business case for RHD production of the current Camaro model - but the well-funded Camaro fans might yet be saved by the private importers, but the asking price is likely to be well north of the US$58,000 tag it wears in North America. The Camaro ZL1 Coupe will go on sale in the northern hemisphere spring next year, with a convertible to follow in the summer months of that year, but the droptop's price is yet to be revealed.  Queensland importer Performax International currently bring in a number of US musclecars, including Camaro and Mustang models.  Performax International general manager Glenn Soper says they have a customer-ordered Camaro ZL1 destined for the workshop shortly after its February release in the US.  "The ZL1 differs from the ordinary Camaro in having electric-assisted power steering, which will be a complex job to convert to RHD while ensuring no loss of function for all the interconnected electronic chassis systems," he says. Mr Soper says the company's previous experience with the Ford Mustang electric power steering and Australian Design Rule approval will help, but it won't be cheap.  "As we are a small-volume importer, our prices are always subject to prevailing exchange rates. Including conversion cost and Luxury Car Tax, a registration-ready Australian version of the Camaro ZL1 may cost in the region of $140,000-$150,000, however, a privately-imported vehicle brought to us for conversion and compliance would cost less.  "We don't expect to sell many, but no doubt there will be a few enthusiasts who will just have to have one of the most exciting Chevys ever produced," Mr Soper says.  

General Motors has all-but confirmed it will launch a new Chevrolet SS Performance model next year and there are plenty of pointers to the upcoming VF Commodore as the donor car for the program.  The VF ticks the right boxes for American muscle car fans, and Nascar stock car racing as well, thanks to its V8 engine, large-car body and rear-wheel drive. The Commodore is also certified for sales with a left-side steering wheel thanks to the ambitious, but struggling, plan to win a significant slice of America's large-and-lucrative police car business with a tweaked version of the Holden Caprice. The former president of GM Holden, Mark Reuss, is now the head of GM operations in the USA and a known fan and supporter of the Commodore, but is dodging Carsguide questions on a link between the SS program and the Commodore. Holden chairman, Mike Devereux, also refuses to comment or even acknowledge the strengthening rumours in America which were first triggered by the announcement of a new Nascar racer for 2013 and then grew stronger with confirmation that a Chevrolet SS is in the product plan as a 2014 model. The high-profile SS Performance is expected to take over from the outgoing Impala as GM's Nascar flagship, and the company has already confirmed the bones of its plans. "Team Chevy will be racing a vehicle based on a new nameplate to the brand’s lineup. We are keeping the wraps on the new car for now and will continue to prepare for next season by testing camouflaged vehicles,” says Jim Campbell, vice-president of Chevrolet Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. Joining the dots has been easy for people close to the Detroit brand. "The smart money is betting on a civilian version of the V-8-powered, rear-wheel-drive Chevrolet Caprice PPV, which GM now imports for police fleets from its Holden unit in Australia," says Mark Colias, a reporter with Automotive News in the USA. The biggest challenge to the potential program is the strength of the Australia dollar, which has already culled Holden's exports to the Middle East and continues to make things tough for the Caprice PPV, which wins support from police officers but not their purchasing bosses. But the Commodore has a proven track record in the USA, winning friends and sales during the time the VE model was exported with tweaked bodywork as the Pontiac G8. The program only ended when the Pontiac brand was chopped - together with Hummer - when General Motors was forced into bankruptcy in the USA during the global financial crisis. The Chevrolet SS is part of a product renewal plan that includes the Impala and Malibu. Both cars were listed at Chevrolet's OnStar website for the 2014 model year, together with the SS, although the early leak of the 14 future models was quickly plugged in Detroit. "We're not ready to make any additional announcements or confirm or deny the name, platform or configuration," one GM spokesperson says.  

Load a dual-cab Toyota Hilux in the back of the Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD and the US-built pick-up will cope with another 400kg of tools.

The range-extender hybrid – in Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera form -- won with a convincing victory over the Volkswagen Up and Ford Focus. It was named as champion at the Geneva motor show, following its victories last year in the World Green Car of the Year contest and the North American Car of the Year award and despite recent safety questions, poor sales and a production shutdown in the USA. The Europe COTY is decided by 59 judges from 23 countries and the Volt, which wears a Chevrolet badge also carries Opel Ampera badges in some countries, finished on top of a field of 35 contenders. Its winning margin was a 330-281 whitewash of the Up, with the Focus gaining 256 points. Each of the judges has 25 points to allocate among seven finalists and the other cars that made it to the final round of the competition were the Range Rover Evoque (186 points), Fiat Panda (156 points), Citroen DS5 (144 points) and the Toyota Yaris (122 points). "Our car demonstrates that electric driving can be fun and reliable without ever compromising the owners' lifestyle," says Susan Docherty, presient of Chevrolet Europe. The Geneva show is a major event for car awards, with the three finalists in each of the 2012 World Car of the Year categories also revealed. The finalists for the overall World COTY crown are the Up, the Porsche 911 and the latest BMW 3 Series, while the 911, Lamborghini Aventador and McLaren MP4-12C will compete for World Performance COTY. The World COTY contenders were culled from an initial field of 34 new vehicles from around the world and the winners in all categories - including awards for design and green motoring - will be declared at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday, April 5.

The resulting video clip was made for the recent Super Bowl half-time ad space, but has gone wildly viral since, racking up more than 14 million views on Youtube. The footage shows the US band driving a Chevrolet Sonic through ranks of side-tipped pianos, guitars, drums and the expected collection of odd noise-making objects for the track Needing/Getting.With the singer Kulash driving, the Chev was variously used as a giant plectrum, drum stick and an instrument in its own right.The band developed a computer program that would dictate the speed required to have the car hit all the instruments to produce the music and match the rhythm of the song.

Leading importer Performax International has just named the Ascot dealership as the first one in Western Australia to carry their range of right-hand drive converted Corvette, Camaro and Mustang sports cars and the Chevrolet Silverado sports truck.The vehicles are imported and re-engineered to Australian Government right-hand drive specifications by Performax International.Performax has completed factory-standard conversions on thousands of its own and privately imported vehicles over almost 25 years at its factory near the Queensland Sunshine Coast. All conversions carry ISO 9001 Quality Assured certification.The formal appointment of Performance West as a Performax dealer was finalised late last year, but the company has been selling American vehicles for several months."We've already had excellent sales since taking on the dealership and are looking forward to another strong year as demand for these types of vehicles grow. WA buyers are becoming aware that there is now a one stop shop providing professional sales, parts and service at their doorstep." Performance West chief executive Peter Rullo said."The majority have been Chevrolet Silverado trucks, but we've also sold some Camaros and Corvettes. Companies that supply or service the mining industry and some recreational and small business operators make up the majority of Silverado owners. The Silverado is ideal for West Australian conditions with its 6.6 litre V8 diesel engine, four-wheel drive, luxurious comfort and substantial towing and carrying capacity. There simply isn't anything else like it for toughness, performance, comfort and practicality."Performax International general manager Glenn Soper said the dealer appointment would make it easier for West Australian customers to buy and maintain their American vehicles."These are big vehicles for a big State and we're proud to have Performance West aboard to introduce them to more WA drivers. Peter Rullo is a well-known WA businessman and motorsport competitor and his understanding of performance vehicles should give added confidence to our customers," he said."Performance West joins other recently-appointed Performax dealers in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. We now sell and support our range of American cars and trucks throughout Australia."The Chev Silverado has class-leading towing capacity of up to 10.2 tonnes. It attracts buyers from the building, construction and mining industries, plus recreational users who tow big boats, cars, horse floats or luxury vans.

As carmakers turn to the environment as the next tool to market their wares, GM has raised the bar with their Ecologic sticker. It is a step up from the standard fuel consumption stickers seen on new cars in Australia and the US and comes after GM realised many potential buyers want information on what impact their purchase will have on the planet. All 2013 Chevrolets sold in the US will have an Ecologic sticker affixed to the rear driver side window explaining the vehicle's impact on the environment throughout its life cycle. GM North America president Mark Reuss said at last month's Washington Car Show that "customers want companies to be honest and transparent about their environmental efforts and sustainability goals, and rightly so.Putting an Ecologic label on each Chevrolet is just one more way for us to share our environmental progress." The Chevy Sonic that goes on sale in March will be the first vehicle to have the Ecologic labels applied.The sticker shows the environmental impact in three areas: Before the road - aspects related to vehicle manufacturing and assembly. On the road - fuel-saving features such as advanced engine technologies, aerodynamics, lightweight components or low-rolling resistance tyres. After the road - what percentage by weight of the vehicle can be recycled at the end of its lifespan. The data will be verified by Two Tomorrows, an independent sustainability agency that audits companies' environmental initiatives. Holden spokesman Sean Poppitt says there are "no immediate plans" to introduce the innovative label in Australia."As with all GM product and initiatives, we'll look at it to see if it's appropriate for this market and `never say never' as it's a very nice idea," he notes. 

Adam Carolla and Matt Farah pit the Corvette ZR1 against the Mercedes SLS at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.The Mercedes SLS AMG weighs a little over 1678 kg and is powered by a 6.3L V8 producing 414 kW.This will allow the supercar to hit 0-100 km/h in 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 317km/h.The 1,511 kg Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 does a bit better with its 6.2L V8 producing 469 kW.The extra horsepower allows the Corvette to achieve a 0-100 km/h sprint time of 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 322 km/h.