1970 Chevrolet C-10 Pickup Truck - Restomod on 2040-cars

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The cars and trucks of 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts'

The latest spectacle in the Transformers franchise is about to hit the theaters. The final trailer was released, giving us peeks at what appears to be a pretty boilerplate story about the end of the world. There's some kind of ancient interplanetary war brewing and it's up to some teenagers to sort it out with the help of their robot buddies. But this is Autoblog, so we're not even going to try to suss out a plot so thin it won't hold a spittle globule's worth of water. We'll just go over the cars. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts | Official Final Trailer (2023 Movie) Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.8: Mirage So far the star of the film, car-wise, looks to be a blue-on-silver 964 Porsche named Mirage that is voiced by Pete Davidson. It's been the most promoted of the movie cars, even more so than formerly central characters like Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. Except, this isn't just any ordinary 911; it's a Carrera RS 3.8, a European-exclusive model of which Porsche only built 55 units. As the name implies, it came with a bored-out M64 turbo flat-six as opposed to the 964 Turbo's 3.6. It wore the Turbo's wide-body badonk with a bi-level rear wing, but Porsche reportedly stripped out 570 pounds' worth of weight despite embiggening key performance parts like brakes and wheels. Fortunately, no actual RS 3.8s were used in the movie. Producers instead built five cars for different purposes — shooting closeups of actors, jumps, the obligatory driving backwards real fast — out of lesser 911s. However, the sound department did record the engine note of an actual RS 3.8 for accuracy, as the higher crank speeds of the 3.8 have a distinctive sound.  In the original 1984 Transformers lineup Mirage was a Ligier JS11 Formula 1 car, complete with faux Gitanes cigarette branding (on a children's toy!). An F1 racer would raise an eyebrow on the streets, so it made sense to update to a street-legal sports car. If you're wondering why this Porsche isn't the character Jazz, whose original vehicle mode was an ultra-cool Martini-liveried Porsche 935, well, he was remade into a Pontiac Solstice voiced by Darius McCrary during the GM product placement rewrite in 2007's Transformers reboot, then unceremoniously killed. 1977 Chevrolet Camaro: Bumblebee Formerly the franchise star, Bumblebee gets far less screen time in the trailers. He's still a Camaro, but because Transformers: Rise of the Beasts takes place in 1994 he's not a fith-gen.

Chevy, GMC and Ram dealers are worried they'll run out of new pickups

One of the unexpected side effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is a shortage of pickups at Chevrolet, GMC and Ram dealers. Supplies are running out, and the factories that build these trucks remain closed. Stores across the nation began increasing incentives in March, when the first stay-at-home orders were issued, in a bid to continue luring buyers into showrooms. They also launched online sales channels, or expanded their existing digital business. Sales nonetheless plummeted in April 2020, but in-demand vehicles, like the Ram 1500 and the Chevrolet Silverado, are still selling relatively well thanks in part to the aforementioned incentives. Pickups outsold sedans for the first time in April 2020, according to The Detroit News, by 17,000 units. The problem is that General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), and Ford temporarily closed their factories in March. "The pipeline is very dry," said Mike Maroone, the CEO of a large dealership group named Maroone USA, in an interview with Automotive News. He told the publication his Chevrolet stores are sitting on a 30-day supply of the Silverado, which is one of America's best-selling vehicles. "That is a problem for us," he concluded. Coronavirus-related lockdowns and factory closures compound problems already faced by dealerships who represent General Motors-owned brands. They entered 2020 with a thinner inventory than a year earlier due to the 40-day United Auto Workers (UAW) strike that paralyzed the company late in 2019, and the 0%, 84-month offers announced in March have sapped supply. Ram wasn't affected by a strike, but it has relied heavily on generous incentives to move trucks off lots. Ford, on the other hand, limited incentives to 2019 models. Inventory levels differ greatly from region to region. The national average for the Silverado stood at an 82-day supply in March 2020, down from 120 in March 2019. Ram stores had a 114-day supply of the 1500 (compared to 134 a year earlier), while Ford bucked that trend with a 111-day supply versus 84 in 2019. Don't panic if you're in the market for a truck; we're not facing a complete drought. Automotive News added that America's light-duty pickup inventory could fall to 400,000 units by the end of May, and drop further to 260,000 units in June. For context, there were about 700,000 light-duty trucks in stock in May and June of 2019. That's unquestionably a sharp drop, but there will still be over a quarter of a million trucks to choose from.

GM isn't liable for punitive damages in ignition switch cases

NEW YORK — A federal appeals court said General Motors is not liable for punitive damages over accidents that occurred after its 2009 bankruptcy and involved vehicles it produced earlier, including vehicles with faulty ignition switches. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said on Tuesday that the automaker did not agree to contractually assume liability for punitive damages as part of its federally-backed Chapter 11 reorganization. GM filed for bankruptcy in June 2009, and its best assets were transferred to a new Detroit-based company with the same name. The other assets and many liabilities stayed with "Old GM," which is also known as Motors Liquidation Co. Tuesday's 3-0 decision may help GM reduce its ultimate exposure in nationwide litigation over defective ignition switches in several Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn models. It is also a defeat for drivers involved in post-bankruptcy accidents, including those who collided with older GM vehicles driven by others, as well as their law firms. The ignition switch defect could cause engine stalls and keep airbags from deploying, and has been linked to 124 deaths. A lawyer for the drivers and their law firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment. GM had no comment. Circuit Judge Dennis Jacobs said GM's agreement to acquire assets "free and clear" of most liabilities excused it from punitive damages claims for Old GM's conduct. He also noted that the judge who oversaw the bankruptcy concluded that the new company could not be liable for claims that the "deeply insolvent" Old GM would never have paid. The decision upheld a May 2018 ruling by U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan, who oversees the ignition switch litigation. Drivers have sought a variety of damages in that litigation, including for declining resale values. GM has recalled more than 2.6 million vehicles since 2014 over ignition switch problems. It has also paid more than $2.6 billion in related penalties and settlements, including $900 million to settle a U.S. Department of Justice criminal case. The case is In re: Motors Liquidation Co, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 18-1940. Government/Legal Chevrolet Pontiac Saturn Safety gm ignition switch