Vauxhall, a GM brand in the UK, has introduced a “lifetime” warranty for the original owner of any Vauxhall vehicle registered after August 1, 2010. What’s the catch? Vauxhall defines the “lifetime” of the car as 100,000 miles. At first glance, that would make their warranty coverage comparable to coverage offered by Hyundai and Kia (10 years, 100,000 mile powertrain warranty) or even by GM divisions (5 years, 100,000 mile powertrain warranty) in the United States.

Autoevolution points out a few significant differences, though. First, the Vauxhall warranty doesn’t appear to have a time limitation, so if it takes you 20 years to rack up the miles, you’re still covered. Next, the Vauxhall warranty covers more than just the powertrain; in addition, it covers the steering system, braking system and electrical system for the same period. Wear parts, such as tires and brake pads, would be excluded from warranty coverage.

To verify that the car is being properly maintained, Vauxhall will require owners to schedule an annual inspection, which is done at no charge to the car owner. The warranty is also transferable to the second owner of the car, but a fee for the warranty transfer applies.

The overall build quality of cars has been increasing steadily for the past ten years, and I’d go so far as to say that no one builds bad cars anymore. It will be interesting to see if this kind of a premium warranty makes its way across the pond; if it does, I’d expect to see it in GM’s premium brands (like Cadillac and Buick) first.

Opel/Vauxhall is bringing the Flextreme GT/E concept car to Geneva this year. It’s like the Volt, only faster and better looking. The car can cruise at 125 miles per hour while achieving 175 miles per gallon. Like the Volt, it’s powered by electric motors and batteries, with an internal-combustion engine that drives a generator for extended-range. The Flextreme uses slide-out panels that deflect air around its rear to achieve a staggering .22 drag coefficient. I like the way it looks, but at the pace the auto industry moves, we won’t see a design like this hit the market for, say, 50 years.

Source: Gizmag

It’s been a long, hard road for Opel/Vauxhall of late, up for sale but being bounced around between two competing bidders like WWE contestants bouncing off of those bungee-cord ring ropes. That being said, the saga is (almost) over, as GM wants to sell to Magna provided that the German government kicks in some money, the unions involved agree to cut their own salaries, and a pig somewhere flies, however briefly. We should note that Magna, a Canadian multinational, is partnered with some unpronounceable Russian banking oligarchy for this transaction, so we expect a friendly iron curtain to soon descend over GM’s German operations just as soon as they can get all the details sorted out. Don’t hold yer breath.

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Importing a grey market vehicle is a long, arduous, expensive task, which is generally why only those people employed by government-bankrolled investment firms or the Columbian cartel can afford to do it. Plebes like us are forced to make do with whatever the dealer has in stock or, more likely, whatever we can find on Craigslist for under 5 grand. If you have an “in” with the U.S. Department of Commerce and unlimited funds, however, there are 10 cars that are totally worth trying to smuggle through customs.

1. Ford Focus RS

This is not the same Focus that you see parked 10 abreast and 30 deep at the community college, this is the Ford Focus RS. Tagged a Lancer Evo-fighter without a trace of facetiousness, the Focus RS is a mean little machine thanks entirely to the low-pressure turbo genius of Volvo. Equipped with a 2.5L turbocharged inline 5, the Focus RS churns out a staggering 305-horsepower and 325 lb-ft of torque. Ordinarily, that much power coupled with a FWD layout is a recipe for one ugly, habitual understeer, but amazingly the Focus RS cuts corners on the track with razor-edge precision. The real deal-clincher? All of this can be had for around £25k (not including any relevant bribes, of course).

2. Fiat 500 Abarth

The Fiat 500 Abarth has a turbocharged and intercooled 1.4L four cylinder that puts out 150-horsepower, which is laughable for a full-sized sedan but translates to a real white-knuckle experience under the hood of a 139.8 inch long, 65.0 inch wide, 58.2 inch tall, 2282 pound compact. It can break the 0-62 mph mark in 7.9 seconds while still averaging 44 mpg, and even when it’s optioned out its $23k price tag won’t break the bank. Basically, the Fiat 500 Abarth gives you all the benefits of a MINI Cooper without making you look like you’re big into dudes.

3. Audi RS6 Avant

In 1990, Volvo introduced the 960 turbo wagon with the slogan, “Until Ferrari makes a wagon, this is it.” When the 960 was discontinued in the late 90′s, nothing stepped up to take its place. To this day there isn’t anything in the U.S. that rivals the turbo brick,and blatant Volvo bias forces us to maintain that there isn’t anything that rivals it overseas either, but if it was possible to replace the 960, the RS6 Avant would be our number one pick.

4. GTbyCITROEN

Ok we admit, it’s a media whore, and for that we loathe it, but c’mon, look at it! Tearing up the asphalt around Piccadilly Circus while playing Gran Turismo Prolouge5 is one thing, but actually doing it behind the wheel of a full-scale, real-life model? That’ll earn you so much street cred, the ladies won’t even care that you live in your mother’s basement. Or that you’re 40 years old. And balding. And a little chubby.

5. Ford RS200 Evolution

An unfortunate crash during WRC Portugal lead to the sudden cancellation of the RS200 in 1986, but not before Ford had already introduced the RS200 Evolution. Designed by F1 engineers for Ford of Great Britain to blow the window nets off other rally racers, the RS200 Evo was basically an STi with extreme ‘roid rage. A beefed-up version of the already-chunky Cosworth BDA sat longitudinally mounted in the rear of the Evo and, depending on who you’re talking to and which factory upgrade they had, put out anywhere from 550 horsepower to an almost unbelievable 815-horsepower. What’s more, the most powerful RS200 Evos were able to sprint from 0-60 mph in 3.07 seconds, earning the Ford RS200 Evo a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for 12 years as the fastest production car ever.

6. Renault Mégane R26.R

Three words: Six-point harness. A limited edition Mégane Sport model, the R26.R comes with a 6-point aviation-style restraint system and a 4-point roll cage that looks as badass as it sounds. To cut down on drag, the tail lights and rear window are made out of polycarbonate tinted just dark enough to pass for glass. The 2-liter inline 4 cranks out 230-horsepower and 229 lb-ft of torque, which wouldn’t usually be particularly noteworthy were it not for the fact that the RS6.2 managed to lap the Nürburgring in 8m 17s. To achieve this, Renault dispensed with any frivolous accoutrements like the radio, the rear seats, and the airbags.

7. Audi A5 Sportback

There’s only one reason we covet the A5 Sportback: aesthetics. The average age of car buyers is apparently on a steady decline, and to appeal to the new emerging market both BMW and Audi have created this new, thing. It’s not the Avant your PTA president drives, but it could still haul just as many crappy cupcakes to the bake sale, and it’s not the coupe the douche in finance who lives next door drives, but it could still weave in and out of traffic with the same finesse.

8. Vauxhall VXR8

It’s the Pontiac G8. ‘Nuff said.

9. Alfa Romeo MiTo

Its engines only produce a range from 99 to 150-horsepower, the DNA drive switch that has critics salivating has been done countless times before in some form or another, and the car itself is just a rebadged Fiat Punto. It’s not much to speak of on the track, but gas mileage is great and the whole shebang can be had for under $22k, which means you can put a brand new Alfa Romeo in your garage for a fraction of the price of its predecessor, the 8C Competizione. So yeah, the performance might be mediocre, but it’s an Alfa Romeo for crying out loud…

10. Holden VE Ute

El Camino, anyone? Had Pontiac not been on such a treacherous road to ruin, we might have seen this stateside in the form of the Pontiac G8 Sport truck. Unfortunately, it was cancelled before it ever hit production and the Holden VE Ute is the only remaining evidence it ever existed.

On December 3rd of 2008, we published an article entitled “9 Detroit Auto Brands We’d Miss the Least” encouraging the Detroit automakers to slim down and get rid of some of their brands. The argument was, that just like Aron Ralston cutting off his own arm to survive, the major US car manufacturers needed to take drastic action and cut off some major portions of their business in order to keep the business alive as a whole.

Almost 7 months later, we’re back with a follow-up to see which of our original 9 brands survived and which ones went the way of Oldsmobile and Geo. Check it:

1. Opel & 2. Vauxhall: SOLD & SOLD

In my original post, I said that Opel is like the Chevy of Europe… huge, with a massive place in the mindshare of the European people. But the big cashmoneys that GM could get from an Opel/Vauxhall sale would be too good to pass up, since it’d give them some much needed breathing room to focus on the more profitable US brands.

A few months after the post, on May 30th, 2009, GM announced it’s deal to sell New GM Europe (Opel and Vauxhall, but not Saab) to a holding company led by the Canadian company Magna International. However, GM has a 35% minority stake in that holding company, so they’re not completely out of the Euromarket.

3. Buick: KEPT

When I wrote the original post, I was focusing on GM’s positions in the United States. That parameter, combined with the fact that Buick is one of the best selling brands in China, led me to conclude that GM would be best served by selling off Buick to a Chinese automaker like Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, then re-investing that money in profitable brands in the US.

Despite the fact that Buick accounts for less than 5% of all GM’s sales, they’ve decided to hold on to the brand, a decision most likely impacted by the huge interest in China. See how pretty the Riviera looks in Chinatalk…

4. Pontiac: GONE

Pontiac is a painful subject for most auto enthusiasts. I really wanted it to work out, really; but I knew it couldn’t. Like when your really cool girlfriend gets too fat. GM even did some studies and tried to work out a way to keep Pontiac by cutting down the number of models to 4 or so, and then focusing on the youth sector of the market. However, on April 27, 2009, they decided to just scrap the brand as a whole… and presumably bury the body in the NJ pinelands somewhere.

However, in an interesting turn of events, in May of 2009, a Michigan Pontiac dealer named Jim Waldron announced that he was interested in buying up the Pontiac brand, logos, and some of the soon-to-be closed GM plants in order to build cars. Plus he said he found financing via some private investors. Initially, GM said that, unlike Saturn, the brand wasn’t for sale. But that statement was made before the official GM bankruptcy. As of mid June, Waldron indicated that he’s currently in talks with GM about buying the brand. We’ll see what happens.

5. Hummer: GONE/SOLD?

This one was fairly obvious to most of the spectators of the automotive world. It was also one of the first brands GM openly talked about getting rid of. On top of the shitty image that the Hummer brand developed among eco-freaks and tree-sexers, the brand was only responsible for 1.5% of all GM sales. It was sort of a no-brainer to lose this one.

Instead of just discontinuing the brand like they originally planned, GM is apparently trying to sell it off to the Chinese company Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery. If the deal goes through, Tengzhong will supposedly keep Hummer based in the US, which is an important thing to remember. Unfortunately for both parties, it looks like the almighty Chinese government is attempting to block the deal under the pretense of an “environmental objection”. The word coming out of China is that the government parasites are blocking the deal because “Hummer is at odds with China’s attempts to decrease pollution” and because “Tengzhong lacks the expertise to produce cars”. Now, why do they care if the company pollutes if it’ll still be based in the US? You can be certain the official reason is not the real reason and that there are some political machinations going on underneath this weirdo business deal.

It’s a scary world we’re living in when politicians dictate financial deals that should be made on the free market, where the people would decide the merits of the business, instead of a few parasitic politicians looking for the most profitable course of action for themselves and their government. Anyway.

6. Saab: SOLD

Another apparent no-brainier and an even more irrelevant brand than Hummer from GM’s point of view. Saab was GM’s single worst selling brand, accounting for less than 1% of all the company’s sales. They were one of the first on GM’s get-gone list. Saab is, however, one of those “big in Europe” brands, and the company has had some of the most intense interest from outside investors.

Twenty-seven different parties were reportedly interested in buying the company, including BMW, Renault, Hyundai, Renco Group, Tata Motors, Koenigsegg, Geely Automotive, Fiat, Merbanco (a group of Wyoming-based private investors), and Magna International (the same company that bought Opel and Vauxhall). It looks like they’re the belle of the ball.

The future of Saab was up in the air for a while, but as of June 16th, 2009, it looks like supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg will be acquiring it, with the help of some Norwegian investors. Interesting, to say the least… I mean, why would a small supercar manufacturer want Saab? (Leave your speculation in the comment section.)

7. GMC: KEPT

Given that GMC is GM’s second best seller, this one may have been a hasty addition to my original list. However, hindsight is always 20/20, and even GM considered getting rid of the GMC brand for while. As of April 16 of this year, there were rumors that GM was going to dump the brand along with Pontiac and even Buick. So far, these have turned out to be nothing but rumors, and GMC still has a place in the GM lineup. It stands to reason that if they were going to drop this brand, they would have gone public with that information by now. So it seems like GMC is in the clear.

8. Mercury: KEPT

Moving on to Ford: This one is a goddamn mind-boggler. Mercury is probably the least valuable, most redundantly pointless brand on this list… and yet they survive. How?

Instead of Mercury just continuing to be a bizzaro version of the Ford lineup, Ford’s new plan is to phase out the larger Mercury models in favor of Lincoln ones. The Milan will supposedly be the largest Mercury in the new scheme. The brand will then focus on being almost like the Lincoln of small cars, offering “upscale” versions of the smaller Ford models that don’t fit into the Lincoln lineup. Sort of like a buffer between Ford and Lincoln, keeping the Lincoln brand from moving downmarket. It actually sounds like a valid business plan and might turn Mercury into a useful marque. Good luck with that, Ford.

9. Volvo: ???

Ford has been toying with the idea of selling Volvo for a long time now. Just recently, a Chinese newspaper reported that China based Geely Automotive has signed a letter of intent to purchase Volvo from Ford. Both Ford and Volvo denied it, and that particular newspaper was the only source, meaning it’s highly unlikely. Still, we know Ford’s been looking, and if anyone has the money, the Chinese automakers do.

So out of our original list of 9 proposed brands, five are gone from Detroit’s grasp, three are saved, and one is a possible either way. Fairly accurate, I’d say. GM also sold Saturn to Penske Automotive Group and decided to focus on just four brands: Chevy, Buick, Cadilliac, and GMC. Ford is still considering it’s options. By the end of 2010, when all these decisions are finalized, we’ll hopefully see a leaner and more productive Detroit.

Fiat Croma, ironically co-developed with Saab (Saab 9000).

Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

First let us begin by saying that yes, we’re pretty sure that is a dude modeling those gloves but, interestingly enough, that was not the first thing that struck us as being horribly wrong.

Apparently an evil product of the Vauxhall Collective’s support-the-arts program, the eyesores featured above were created exclusively for GM European subsidiary, Vauxhall Motors, by renowned fashion designer Jonathan Kelsey. To bring you up to speed, Jonathan Kelsey is apparently to Britain what Manolo Blahnik is to America, and as a part of Vauxhall’s new campaign to seriously gay up the brand, he was contracted to design an exclusive set of limited edition driving accessories. Dubbed “The Great British Road Trip,” Kelsey’s collection is intended to be a high-fashion, luxurious salute to the exhilarating feel of the open road. “When I first got the brief from Vauxhall, I started to think about the idea of a road trip,” explained Kelsey, “so I decided to focus on the pleasure of the road trip, being out on the open road and the idea of driving being a stylish adventure. I wanted to create something that had a very luxurious feel to it and also celebrated the glamour of road trips in days gone by.”

Mercifully, only 25 pieces of each accessory will be produced, which means it should be relatively easy to locate them all and subsequently kill them with fire.

Source: Vauxhall