2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Under Investigation Over Fuel Leak Complaints

Federal safety officials are looking into allegations for possible fuel leaks on the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta equipped with a 2.0-liter turbo diesel engine (TDI).

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA] said that so far, it has received seven complaints alleging leakage from the fuel line to the No2 fuel injector, all from vehicles with low mileages ranging from 2,470 to 7,764 miles.

The safety agency added that it is also aware of a single complaint claiming leakage from the No2 fuel injector line in a Volkswagen Golf model equipped with a 2.0-liter TDI engine.

"A Preliminary Evaluation has been opened to assess the scope, frequency and potential safety consequences of the alleged defect," NHTSA said in a statement.

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As Nano Sales Fall, Tata Motors Invests on Jaguar and Land Rover to Raise Profits

When Tata Motors bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford in 2008, it had great plans for both brands. Driven by sales of the sub-$5,000 Nano, the Indian conglomerate would have enough funds to secure their future. Now it seems that the tables have turned, and it's the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) unit that may have to bring in the profits.

Tata Motors reported an 8.5% drop in sales in India for the first quarter of 2011, due to rising interest rates in a country where, according to Bloomberg, 80% of new car sales are based on loans.

Demand for the Nano dropped by a whopping 48% in the last two months alone. Jaguar's global sales dropped even more in the first quarter, as the luxury carmaker reported a 27% decrease.

“Tata Motors had a pretty flat quarter as far as Jaguar sales are concerned, and Indian passenger vehicles sales went down” said Juergen Maier, a manager at Raiffeisen Capital Management in Vienna.

“Everyone is looking at the Evoque and also the product launches from Jaguar that will help increase sales”. Ashvin Chotai, the managing director of Intelligence Automotive Asia, agrees: “The company now revolves around the JLR unit and not the other way around”.

Fortunately for Tata, Land Rover is doing quite well: its sales in the past quarter grew by 22% to 50,747 units. And the Range Rover Evoque has already 18,000 orders even before it officially goes on sale in September, something that according to the brand’s director, John Edwards, will create a waiting list “well into next year” for new buyers.

Tata also has in the pipeline several Jaguar products including a Sport Break version of the XF and the exotic 200 mph C-X75 hybrid supercar. More importantly, Jaguar will launch a small sedan to rival luxury models like BMW’s 3-Series (hopefully with better results than the X-type).

In order to achieve its goals, the Tata Group plans to invest $2.4 billion annually in the development of 40 new products and variations of Jaguar and Land Rover models in the next five years.

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Ferrari, Ferrari 458, Frankfurt Motor Show

We recently told you about a report from German car magazine Auto Motor und Sport saying that Ferrari is planning to hold the world premiere of the open-top 458 Italia Spider at next month's 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show.

While the report stated that the Spider would get a "soft top", Darren from Teamspeed came in contact with Carscoop and told us that the Italian exotic will definitely feature a retractable hardtop and that they have seen the car "first hand".

Well, it won't be long before we find out, but in the meantime, scroll down to check out the artist renderings of the 458 Italia Spider.

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ABT, Audi, Audi Q3, Frankfurt Motor Show, Tuning

ABT Sportsline, the German tuning company that has long specialized in modifying anything produced by the Volkswagen Group, has released details on its upcoming program for the new Audi Q3 small crossover.

Cosmetically, the tuning house has developed a bespoke front grille, a new front bumper with larger air inlets on both corners, rocker panels, a rear apron that makes space for the quad tail pipes, a roof spoiler and carbon fiber trim splats.

Buyers will also be able to choose from two alloy wheel designs in sizes from 18- to 20-inches.

Under the hood, ABT Sportsline will offer a variety of power kits for both diesel and petrol engines. The 140HP 2.0 TDI jumps to 170HP, the 177HP 2.0 TDI to 195HP, the 170HP 2.0 TSI is bumped to 210HP and the 211HP 2.0 TSI to 250HP.

A lowered sports suspension will also be available when ABT launches the program later this year.

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Japan, Scoops, Toyota, Toyota Camry, Toyota Scoops

We've seen official teaser shots and unofficial video footage of the next generation of the 2012 Toyota Camry that give us a rough idea of what the North American market version will look like when it arrives in showrooms later this year,

However, the USA and Canada aren’t the only markets expecting the new Camry. So is the Asia Pacific region, albeit in a slightly modified form.

Now, thanks to a forum member of VW Vortex we have what appears to be scans from an unnamed magazine allegedly featuring brochure shots of the Japanese domestic market [JDM] 2012 Toyota Camry.

If these pictures do indeed show the real thing (we can't be 100 percent sure), then the JDM Camry will get a different fascia with reshaped headlamps as well as modified tail lights.

In the brochure we see that there are two engines listed, a 2.5-liter unit codenamed 2AR-FXE and a 2.4-liter powerplant identified as the 2AZ-FXE. Both engines are linked to an electric motor (hence the two different output numbers) and will be offered on the Camry Hybrid.

Under the engine list, we find a fuel economy rating of 26.5 km/lt that equals 62.3mpg US and 3.7lt/100km, however, this number denotes the Japanese driving cycle and as such, cannot be directly compared to U.S. or Euro figures.

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2012 Toyota Camry: New Leak from Canadian Auto Guide Reveals All

While Toyota continues the 2012 Camry striptease with the weekly release of cropped images of the mid-size sedan, an Autoblog.com reader got his hands on a newly released Canadian auto guide in French that has a full set of photos and details of the North American model! Our French is nothing to brag about, so if you any of you readers could translate and post some of the article's highlights after the break in the comments section, we'd appreciate it.

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Ferrari, Ferrari 599 GTB, Ferrari Scoops, Scoops

After the launch of the 458 Italia and more recently, the four-seater FF, Ferrari is now concentrating on the development of its next supercar, which will replace the 599 GTB Fiorano and is currently known by its F152 codename.

Our spy photographers caught up with a test mule of the F152 wearing a modified body shell of the current 599 GTO over a new chassis that is believed to share many components with the FF.

Ferrari's four-seat supercar will also lend its new 6.3-liter V12 with direct-injection technology to the F152, but further honed to develop around 700 horsepower. However, we won't see the FF's all-wheel drive system as Ferrari will keep the F152 strictly rear-wheel drive.

Power will likely be transferred to the road through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and an electronic differential on the rear-axle.

The 599's replacement will make extensive use of composite panels to further reduce the car's weight and boost performance and handling.

While Maranello continues to be silent on the matter, recent reports suggest that the production version of the Ferrari F152 may be revealed as early as next year at the 2012 Geneva auto show.

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2012 Lexus IS F: European Model gets Revised Chassis

Even though only a year has passed since Lexus revised its European market IS with a Euro 5 compliant 5.0-liter V8 and some minor styling tweaks such as the LED front lights and a new instrument panel design, the Japanese carmaker has just introduced a 2012MY version of its high-performance sports sedan.

The big news for the new model year IS-F is the updated chassis with Lexus promising a better overall driving experience and improved comfort thanks to the new shock absorbers, larger stabilizer bars and a revised suspension geometry.

The IS-F's 5.0-liter V8 engine with 423-horses that allows it to accelerate from standstill to 100km/h (62mph) in 4.7 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 270 km/h (168mph), remains unchanged.

In addition to the chassis tweaks, the Japanese automaker added two new features to the options list including a set of 19-inch alloy wheels in a 14-spoke design from BBS, and an available two-tone, black and crimson leather trim for the interior.

Lexus said that pricing remains unaffected with the IS F starting from €70,600 (equal to about US$101,500) in Germany.

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