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Chevy bringing Spark RS Concept to SEMA

Well, the SEMA mess has well and truly begun. Every year, an increasing number of automakers flock to the Las Vegas auto show, bringing accessories and concept vehicles that are both awesome as well as occasionally questionable. Chevy will bring an RS concept of the new Spark to SEMA, signaling that its styling package will be applied to the brand's smallest vehicle in the near future. We can expect the usual stuff in a production Spark RS – larger wheels, a slightly sportier cabin, a more aggressive body kit, and a small drop in ride height – but for the concept, Chevy wasn't restrained by things like budget. The front splitter, and sill extensions, foglight surrounds, and rear bumper insert are all finished in carbon fiber. The 17-inch alloys are apparently inspired by the Corvette Z06's Z07 package, while the Dark Liquid Switchblade Silver paint is broken up only by a driver's-side stripe. The company is also using SEMA to show its new Red Line accessories, features both concept and production parts for the Trax, Camaro, Malibu, Colorado, and Sierra. Every vehicle gets Enhanced Silver Metallic paint, a charcoal finish on the roof, satin graphite/red graphics, black/red badge kits, and aside from the Colorado, tinted lamps. Individual mods for the Trax include relatively simple tweaks, including new 18-inch wheels, blacked-out bowtie badges, a lowered ride height, and custom badging. It's a similar story on the Malibu, except that its 19-inch wheels are a smidge larger, and its lowered ride height is the result of a concept kit. The first concept based on the new Camaro opts for 20-inch wheels, while adding a few more performance items. The ride height has been lowered, there's a new air intake system, and an upgraded brake package. Chevy has also replaced the front upper and lower grilles inserts with red accents. On the pickup side of the coin, the Colorado gets 18-inch wheels, new intake and exhaust systems, Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude tires, and flared wheelarches. The Silverado gets similar intake and exhaust upgrades, as well as the largest wheels of them all, with 22s at all four corners. The full-size truck also gets a Brembo brake package, while every vehicle, aside from the Camaro, gets Thule roof-mounted accessories. You can check out all six concepts in the gallery above, and then be sure to keep an eye open for live images from the floor of the 2015 SEMA show, slated to open next month.

Chevy Volt 'acceptable,' Nissan Leaf 'poor' in new IIHS safety tests

Ford C-Max Hybrid also scored "acceptable" rating. With US Nissan Leaf sales up almost 30 percent during the first half of the year, the only thing that might be able to stop the battery-electric vehicle is a good, stiff barrier. Unfortunately, thing's aren't always pretty when that happens in the real world, according to new tests from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Things with the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in are a little bit rosier, though. The two plug-in vehicles were part of a batch of a dozen vehicles that just went through the IIHS's "small overlap" test, in which the driver's side front corner of the vehicle is crashed into a rigid barrier at 40 miles per hour. Out of the dozen, only the Mini Cooper Countryman was given a "good" rating. Five vehicles, including the Volt and the Ford C-Max Hybrid, were rated "acceptable," two were "marginal" and two, including the Leaf, were "poor." Plug-in vehicles are unique in the crash-test context because of their relatively large battery sizes. In the Volt's case, the driver had a "low risk" of injury, said the IIHS. But the Leaf's crash substantially pushed back the instrument panel and steering column, creating a scenario where the driver was "likely" to sustain leg injuries. The batteries in both the Leaf and the Volt passed safety tests specifically targeted at things like thermo and electrical properties and overall integrity. "Nissan is proud of the Leaf's 'Good' rating in all other IIHS tests, a 4-star NCAP rating from NHTSA and its IIHS Top Safety Pick rating in all previous years since the car's release," the company said in an e-mail sent to AutoblogGreen. "As for the performance of the 2014 Leaf in the 'small overlap frontal test,' Nissan will continue to review these and other results from the IIHS 'small overlap frontal test' as we seek opportunities for improvement." Check out the IIHS's press release and small car crash-test video footage below. Range of ratings: Small car ratings run the gamut in challenging small overlap front test The Mini Cooper Countryman is the only small car to earn a good rating among the latest group of 12 cars subjected to the Institute's small overlap front crash test. Two electric models and a hybrid also are in the mix, with varied results. The electric-powered Chevrolet Volt (with a gasoline engine "range extender") earns an acceptable rating, while its battery-electric rival, the Nissan Leaf, earns a poor rating.

VW, Jeep and Cadillac top list of most-tattooed car brands

Most car enthusiasts own at least one piece of gear with their favorite brand's logo on it. It can be a T-shirt, a pen, a hat, or a garage sign, for example. It takes a much greater degree of dedication to get a car-themed tattoo, and a study suggests this sky-scraping level of obsession is most often found in Volkswagen, Jeep, and Cadillac fans. Compare the Market analyzed Instagram hashtags and posts to compile a list of the most commonly tattooed brands. Volkswagen came out on top, with 5,507 posts; note that anything related to the Wolfsburg-based brand earns it a point, whether it's a logo, a cutaway diagram of the Beetle's air-cooled flat-four engine, or a Touareg V10's firing order. Jeep finished second with 2,139 posts, followed by Cadillac at 1,775 posts. Surprisingly, the fourth spot is occupied by Pontiac, which appeared in 1,609 posts in spite of the fact that it hasn't built a car since 2010. Holden appears near the very bottom of the top-20 chart, ahead of Lamborghini, and its result might be influenced by the fact that General Motors announced plans to shutter it earlier in 2020. BMW and Mercedes-Benz are in sixth and 12th place, respectively. Alfa Romeo doesn't appear in the top 20, though its decades-old Quadrifoglio logo (pictured) can easily be mistaken for a symbol of Irish luck. Searching for posts that show a tattoo of a specific model uncovered even bigger surprises. According to the same study, the most-tattoed nameplate is the Chevrolet Impala, which appears in 823 posts. Odds are the earlier generations, like Dr. Dre's famous six-four, are more often tattooed than the final-generation model, which unceremoniously went out of production in February 2020 without a direct replacement waiting in the wings. Second place goes to the DeLorean DMC-12, which has transcended its status as an esoteric fiasco on wheels thanks to its role as a time machine in "Back to the Future." It appeared in 800 posts. Chevrolet's Corvette takes a distant third with 180 posts, followed by the Volkswagen Beetle (147 posts) and the Mini Cooper (116 posts). All told, car-themed tattoos are relatively rare. To put some of the aforementioned numbers into context, searching Instagram for the hashtag Volkswagen yields over 15 million posts, while the hashtag tattoo appears in over three million publications. Auto News Cadillac Chevrolet Jeep