CarFab.com

The long wait is over: starting tomorrow, the Audi A1 will be available at dealers in Germany for a test drive. Deliveries will simultaneously begin in Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland, followed by most other European markets from mid-September. With a starting price of €15,800, the A1 impresses with its progressive design, superb workmanship and state-of-the-art infotainment technologies. The new Audi offers a vast number of possibilities for customization and can be ordered in over 800 different exterior versions.

“Reports from our international dealers show us that interest in the A1 is exceeding our expectations considerably,” commented Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management for Marketing and Sales at AUDI AG. “We will therefore increase our production capacity by 20 percent.” Audi had previously expected average production volumes of 100,000 A1 units per year, primarily for the European market at first. However the new Audi will now also be launched in the Asia-Pacific region and in South America in early 2011. “And we are now also thinking about bringing this generation of the A1 to China,” added Schwarzenbauer. A total of 50,000 units are scheduled to roll off the production line in Brussels by the end of 2010.

Mercedes-Benz, as part of its collaboration with Tesla Motors, will produce 500 battery-powered “E-Cell” versions of its small A-Class, introducing the car at the Paris auto show in October.

According to Shirin Emeera,  a Daimler spokeswoman, details of the electric car will be announced on Sept. 15. She said the car would be produced at the Mercedes Rastatt plant, near Stuttgart, Germany, where the A-Class (which is not sold in the United States) is produced. Delivery of the cars will begin early next year.

As we lament the disappearance of manual transmissions, Buick is actually coming out with its first manual in 22 years with the upcoming 2011 Buick Regal GS.

The Regal GS, based on the Opel Insignia in Europe, will be available with a 6-speed manual transmission by the end of the year. Price is expected to be in the high $30,000 range.

Nathan Fillion, star of ABC’s “Castle,” sent the following Twitter message: “I found it! I found my spaceship! It’s real and I’m getting it! http://arcimoto.com/”.

That night, at 10:26 p.m., someone at Arcimoto, maker of the Pulse electric vehicle prototype, sent a Twitter message of its own: “@NathanFillion And that, friends and neighbors, is how you crash a Web site. You da man! We’ll be back up soon.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration  said on Tuesday it would grant a consumer group’s request to investigate whether an estimated three million Jeep Grand Cherokees had gas tanks that were too vulnerable to fires after a rear impact.

The petition to investigate the 1993–2004 Jeeps was made last October by the Center for Auto Safety, which says the gas-tank design is defective.