Market Snapshot

According to Ward’s Auto, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars unveiled its new Phantom Drophead Convertible in France. It will be handcrafted at the automaker’s headquarters in Goodwood, United Kingdom. The first vehicles are expected to be delivered in late summer.

The Drophead will be a two-door, four-passenger vehicle, measuring 220.8 inches in length and 78.2 inches in width, with a wheelbase of 130.7 inches. It’s powered by a 48-valve V12 engine, putting out 453 hp and 531 lb.-ft. of torque at 5,350 rpm. 

Discover Financial Services recently conducted a survey asking consumers what they would be willing to do to save money during this time of high gas prices. According to an article in the Detroit Free Press, the survey found that 80% of Americans say their car or truck is very important to their everyday lives.

According to The Car Connection, here is what's new for Lincoln in 2008:

According to WardsAuto, the Hummer H2 has become the modern icon of conspicuous consumption. For the specialty-equipment market, it has become somewhat of an icon for customization. For 2008, the next Hummer H2 will be more powerful than ever.

The limited-production Volkswagen R32 will be one of the cars with a lot of appeal for the sport-compact market, but it won’t be easy to get. And according to WardsAuto, its price tag will be more than twice that of the $15,000 base-model Rabbit hatchback and will have exotic-car performance.

According to Honda, the next-generation FCX Concept fuel-cell vehicle made its European driving debut at the Gotland Ring in Sweden. They claim the vehicle is 60% energy efficient, about three times that of a petrol-engine vehicle and twice that of a hybrid.

Mercedes-Benz just announced pricing for its C class models, according to AutoWeek. The automaker actually cut the cost of the upper trim levels of the 2008 C class, but increased the base price by $1,500. The new C class will be available on August 7 in sport and luxury trim levels that feature suspension tuning and distinctive front ends, wheels and interior trim.

According to AutoWeek, Detroit’s automakers are working quickly to install fuel-saving diesel engines in their light trucks. And Nissan and Toyota may join them as well. Diesels have been common in the domestic automakers’ heavy-duty pickups, but as fuel economy concerns grow, as well as pressures form the competition, we may start seeing them in the light-duty trucks as well.

The Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, which according to AutoWeek will go on sale in spring 2008, is expected to challenge BMW’s new M3 for outright driver appeal. Tobias Moers of Mercedes-Benz says that the C63 has more development miles than any other cars in AMG’s 40-year history.

Hydraulic components are found many places in the automotive and specialty-equipment industries. They can be found on carbon-fiber hoods and the lift gates of SUVs. They are often slow and noisy. But some people have developed a product that could potentially replace standard hydraulics—the electromagnetic actuator.