yanked back the sheets on the company’s at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, and the grinning horse has plenty cause to smile. It boasts a ludicrous 740 horsepower V12 under its hood that’s capable of launching the vehicle to 62 mph in 3.1 seconds. Hesitate for another 5.3 seconds, and you’ll waltz through the triple-digit barrier with ease.
Ferrari took the time to let the F12 Berlinetta loose for a few blistering laps around Fiorano, and the coupe managed to snatch the lap record from the . The newcomer did the deed in a scant 1:23, besting the previous champ by a full second, and the mighty Ferrari Enzo by two seconds.
Engineers positioned most of the vehicle’s weight toward the hind quarters, with 54 percent of the vehicle’s curb weight pushing on the rear rubber. While the styling certainly isn’t for everyone (see below for a gallery of the car’s styling buck from Pininfarina), there’s no denying the performance on tap. for the full press release.
The wins hearts and wallets by trading in large measure on its unassailable cuteness and compact dimensions. But that’s not enough for Sergio Marchionne and Company, who are looking to broaden the range’s appeal with this new 500L. Certainly, it’s bigger by nearly every measure, but after having clapped eyes on this thing in person at the , we think it gives up a disturbing amount of the standard car’s adorableness in exchange for the extra utility.
Clearly, it’s not for lack of trying – has splashed out not just on a lot of new sheetmetal and light fixtures, it has also opted for a very different (and markedly more conservative) instrument panel inside. The family-minded Cinquecento has a roofline that apes that of the , but like the 500, there should be no lack of customizability, including a whopping 30 different paint colors.
When it launches in Europe at the end of this year, the 500L will be available with Fiat’s groundbreaking 900cc, two-cylinder TwinAir and 1.4-liter four-cylinder gasoline engines, along with a 1.3-liter MultiJet diesel. No North American release date has been made public, though the model is expected to be available in our market before too long. Check out the gallery of live shots above, then for a short officialvideo and press release.
Not every item on your list of 1,001 Car Things To Do Before You Die will involve , or . This week we slow things down a bit with an oft requested item for The List: Visit an automotive museum.
Many towns across the nation have their own automotive museum, but for The List, we visited what’s considered by many to be the premier one in the country: the in Los Angeles, California.
Come with as they get a special tour of what the Petersen museum offers, and go behind the scenes with us to see how an operation like this works.
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It doesn’t get much more hard-core than the Gumpert Apollo. The German supercar is about as close as it gets to a race car for the road. But an outfit like Gumpert isn’t about to sit around and let its product speak for itself. You can count on it taking the extreme to an even further extreme, and that’s exactly what it’s done here at the with not one, but two new versions of the Apollo.
What you’re looking at above is called the Apollo Enraged, which Gumpert calls the most powerful street-legal car ever to leave its factory. Limited to just three examples, the Apollo Enraged ups the output from its -sourced supercharged 4.2-liter V8 to 780 horsepower and trims weight down to 1,175 kg. Further details are scarce, but the vehicle looks positively scary.
Joining it on the Gumpert show stand is the Apollo R (above right), a customer racing version that, while not street-legal, packs a whopping 860 horsepower. Burdened by just 1,100 kg of dry weight, the Apollo R promises to be just as devastating on whatever track it’s driven as the hybrid prototype that Heinz-Harald Frentzen 24-hour race in 2008.
Both models pack more wings than a Boeing factory and “Pure German Speed” decals that would still raise a few eyebrows in parts of Eastern Europe, but are, in typical Gumpert style, positively menacing. for the full press release, and scope out the live and official images in our collection of galleries for a closer look.
If you’re a sucker for high-riding shooting brakes, the Hyundai i-oniq concept has what you’re after, albeit with a certain anonymity we haven’t seen from of late.
Complete with elongated gullwing doors and an expansive greenhouse featuring curved glass both behind the A-pillar and on the hatch, the i-oniq is the latest interpretation of Hyundai’s “fluidic sculpture” design language. It’s a beautiful profile and a classy shape, but the front fascia has shades of Citroën while the rear is more amorphous bulge than svelte hatch. It’s pretty, but it’s just not striking.
Inside, the i-oniq embodies concept car chic, with layers upon layers of materials, textures and tiers spanning the dash, seats and door panels.
Hyundai claims a 1.0-liter, three-cylinder gasoline engine is fitted under the hood, but its 60 horsepower doesn’t reach the wheels. The engine is strictly a generator, juicing up a lithium-ion battery pack that sends power to a single-speed transmission and on to a 100-hp electric motor.
As with most high-style concepts, the i-oniq isn’t headed to production, but some kind of series hybrid drivetrain is certainly in the cards for future Hyundai models. for the details.
We’ve seen plenty of Evora GTE models over the last two years. , and now this, a carbon fiber-bodied to celebrate Lotus’ Formula 1 heritage and .
Like the rest of the GTE Evoras, this variant is a road-going version of . Power is provided by the same 444-horsepower supercharged V6, with overall weight reduced by some 200 pounds, making it the fastest roadworthy Lotus in the company’s history. And it’s only fitting that the F1 edition wears the marque’s storied black and gold livery both inside and out.
Automakers are engaged in a constant struggle to get their products noticed. From clever advertising to sneaky movie deals and , putting a vehicle in front of the public is the first step toward wrangling better sales figures. recently took a different approach for the upcoming hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the F-Cell. While the company rolled out a special version of the car in front of the public, it did its best to hide the hatchback behind a veil of special LED matting. The LEDs were paired to a Canon 5D Mark II on the other side of the car, which supplied video.
As a result, the LEDs project an image of what’s on the other side of the vehicle, making the F-Cell effectively invisible. Why hide a new car behind a curtain of techno wizardry? Mercedes-Benz wants to underscore the fact that the F-Cell is a zero-emission vehicle, making it practically invisible in terms of pollution. We see what you did there, Mercedes-Benz. Check out the video for yourself .
Nissan’s stables are already all ate up with crossovers – they’ve got the , the , the and the new , not to mention overseas models like the wildly popular Qashqai or corner cases like the . So what’s one more thrown into the mix? Enter the Nissan Hi-Cross. Officially a concept, the Hi-Cross could just be a peek at the next-generation Murano, or it could be a look at a new Euro-market entrant? It could just be a pure concept, but it seems to be too rational and free of show car excess to not be production-minded.
Despite looking a skosh smaller than the current Murano, the Hi-Cross concept seats seven, and it’s powered by a direct-injected 2.0-liter gasoline engine backed by an electric motor that says produces power similar to a conventional 2.5-liter engine. Given the fact that this is a three-row concept and has such a small engine, perhaps the Hi-Cross is just hinting at a production CUV for the European market, as the Pathfinder would likely be perceived as too large to drive on The Continent. Of course, that’s why Nissan already sells the long-wheelbase Qashqai+2, right? Color us confused.
Regardless of what it is, you can take a closer look with our gallery of live photos and the official press release .
admits it only needs to sell a half dozen to cover its development costs. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the 2013 Audi RS4 Avant. execs have made it clear that its hottest midsize Avant won’t be coming to the States anytime soon, so if you’re particularly sensitive to forbidden fruit, stop reading now.
Like the RS5, the RS4 Avant packs Audi’s meticulously crafted 4.2-liter V8 putting out 450 horsepower at a stratospheric 8,250 RPM and 317 pound-feet of torque from 4,000 to 6,000 RPM. A seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox sends power to Audi’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system, including a beefed up version of the ’s torque vectoring rear differential. The run to 60 blows past in the high four-second range and while the “standard” top speed is limited to 155 miles per hour, grease the palms at the Audi service department and you’ll max out at 174 mph.
The 14.4-inch front rotors are framed by standard 19-inch lightweight wheels, with optional 14.9-inch carbon ceramic discs barely obscured by 20-inch hoops. A customizable, active suspension is fitted at all four corners, dropping the RS4 by nearly an inch over its standard Avant counterpart.
Pricing hasn’t been set, but sales are due to begin this fall in Germany. And if Audi can make the case in the States, we hear the next generation could be a global model.
A few months back, told us that it had listened to consumers and wanted to . Starting today, the Blue Oval will begin shipping out USB drives to owners of 2013 and models, allowing them to install the latest version of the software from the comfort of their garages.
The update addresses many gripes that both the public and press have had with the MyFord Touch and MyLincoln Touch interface since its launch in 2010. The graphics have undergone a relatively major overhaul with bolder text and a cleaner, more user friendly UI. Just as important, the touchsceen lag we’ve complained about in the past should be all but eradicated and voice recognition has also improved. No word from Ford on how it’s dealt with the , but we know that it was a top priority for engineers.
Ford’s wonks have also added more phone support, Audible audiobook integration, a revamped mapping and navigation system and the ability to link a variety of tablet devices to the Sync platform.
Ford is shipping both a USB flash drive that contains the update and an SD card with all-new mapping data. Ford claims the installation should take around an hour, but if you’re hazy on the install process, it can be performed at your local Ford or Lincoln dealer. for the official details.
Although the made its unofficial Internet appearance , we’re now seeing the fruits of Audi’s labor for the first time here at . With 42 models in its lineup, the Ingolstadt brand didn’t want its stalwart and next-smallest car to get lost in the traffic, so it’s thrown quite a bit of goodness into the mix.
The overall size is just about the same, but the wheelbase and interior dimensions have grown. Even so, the new A3 has lost weight to the tune of 176 pounds, meaning the 1.4 TFSI model weighs just 2,590 pounds. That 122-horsepower 1.4-liter engine will be one of three offered at launch, along with a 180-hp 1.8-liter TFSI and a 2.0-liter TDI with 150 hp and 236 pound-feet of torque, all driven through the front wheels. Quattro versions come later “for more powerful engines,” as will alternative-fuel powerplants. Shifting will come in either five-speed manual or six-speed S-tronic forms.
Technological conveniences once found only in major-league sedans have made their way to the thick end, with the A3 offering adaptive cruise control, an evolution of park assist and a 17-speaker Bang & Olufsen stereo.
for all the details you might ever want on the new A3, and have a gander at it in the huge galleries of both stock and live images.
We Americans may only be a few calendar flips away from the launch of the 250-horsepower , but in Europe, an even more pint-sized hot hatch is about to be unleashed. Here at the , the Blue Oval’s European counterparts have just unveiled the , a three-door version of the five-door ST concept that we saw at the last November. And while executives have said that they’re “open to the idea” of bringing this model to the States, we’ll wait for official confirmation before we get too excited.
Just like the concept, the production Fiesta ST is powered by a 1.6-liter EcoBoost inline-four delivering 177 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque. That grunt runs to the front wheels via a six-speed manual transmission (no word about an optional dual-clutch unit), and Ford claims that the Fiesta ST will be able to shuffle to 60 miles per hour in less than seven seconds on its way to a top speed somewhere just below the 140-mph mark.
The Fiesta ST will launch in Europe sometime in early 2013. All we can say is, if Ford is going to tease us Americans with ST concepts at U.S. auto shows, it had better be prepared to deliver.
Lighter. Faster. Efficient-er. These three adjectives are things you definitely want to hear when talking about a new sports car, and the embodies all three.
A new all-aluminum body reduces weight by 55 pounds across the model range, meaning the new base Boxster tips the scales at a scant 2,889 pounds, while the more powerful S weighs in at 3,043 pounds. The standard car is powered by a direct-injected 2.7-liter flat-six with 265 horsepower, while the Boxster S uses a DI 3.4-liter flat-six with 315 horsepower – gains of 10 and five horses versus the 2012 models, respectively. A six-speed manual comes as standard kit (sorry, no seven-speed stick here), but buyers can opt for Porsche’s fancy PDK dual-clutch gearbox (that does have seven speeds, by the way).
Performance? The base Boxster with dual-clutch PDK gearbox is estimated to hit 60 miles per hour in just 5.4 seconds and the Boxster S will do that same jaunt in just 4.7. Of course, that’s before you opt for the Sport and Sport Chrono packs that will surely knock a few tenths off of those numbers.
The 2013 Boxster officially hits North American showrooms this summer, priced from $49,500 ($60,900 for the S). We’ll be getting our first stint behind the wheel shortly after the wraps up, so stay tuned for a full report.
With the slowly shuffling off this mortal coil, needs another slinky soft-top to fill out its lineup. In the run-up to the , we assumed that would be a convertible version of the , but we were wrong. This is the Lotus Exige S Convertible, which begs the question: What took ‘em so long?
The only thing that separates the two models is ripping off the fixed roof on the and replacing it with a removable cloth top or optional hard top. The same supercharged 3.5-liter V6 is mounted amidships, outputting 345 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. Mated to the standard six-speed manual, 60 miles per hour comes and goes in 3.8 seconds, but Lotus will also offer the Roadster with its new Serial Precision Shift (SPS) automated manual gearbox, complete with steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters.
Sales are expected to begin throughout Europe later this year, but with the Elise and Exige twins already gone from the U.S., don’t look for the Roadster to hit Stateside Lotus dealers anytime soon.
Now that the has graced the streets of America with its absurdity and ugliness, this convertible somehow doesn’t seem so bad. Don’t get us wrong, we still don’t want one, and honestly, we hope this is one concept that never sees the light of production; but the more we look at it, the more we don’t hate it as much as we probably should.
“We believe that the Evoque lends itself beautifully to the idea of a convertible,” says Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern. Our apologies, sir, but we respectfully disagree.
So, it’s a three-door Evoque without a roof. That’s really all there is to say, though we’d absolutely need to see how it looks with the folding soft top in place. After all, the sleek roofline of the standard Evoque is one of our favorite design elements, and as much as we’d like to squint and make believe that the convertible still looks dashing with its cloth hat on, we’re skeptical.
Check out the droptop Evoque for yourself in our high-res image gallery live from the show floor, and be sure to let us know if you love it or hate it in the Comments.
It certainly isn’t the sexiest car to debut here at the , but let’s be honest: the crossover is hugely important, especially in the U.S. market. And while the 2013 model you see here isn’t an all-new model, it gets a host of upgrades that will make it a fresher, more attractive offering in the luxury CUV segment.
Up front, the 2013 RX now wears its own version of Lexus’ new corporate face, including the spindle grille that we now see on the , and , complete with LED running lamps. On top of that, there’s a new F Sport model for 2013, incorporating smoked out headlamps and taillamps, darker wheels, and a bolder, sportier front fascia.
The RX 350 and RX 450h models will carry over with largely unchanged powertrains, the former available with a 270-horsepower V6 and the latter with a 295-hp electrically assisted V6. Both models can be had with either front- or all-wheel drive.
Inside, there’s a modestly updated interior with a new steering wheel and IP cluster, as well as a refreshed center stack. Of course, there’s a smattering of luxury options available including a Mark Levinson premium audio system, a HDD navigation unit and Lexus Enform. for the full details and click through our high-res image galleries to see the new RX for yourself.
continues to openly toy with the idea of producing a racy luxury sports coupe, following on the heels of 2009’s Geneva Motor Show star, the . This year, Infiniti has gone in a more overtly sporting direction with this hot little number, the Emerg-E.
Fortunately, this coupe’s styling isn’t as contrived as its name suggests thanks to a rakish form that comes across as more of a supercar than the Essence’s large-scale grand touring aesthetic. The Emerg-E looks even better in person than in photos, with an organic quality to the flowing lines that’s nicely emphasized by the car’s smoky matte finish. If we have any complaints, it’s that the nose looks a bit long, and incongruously, it seems to offer a riff on the spindle grille that is rolling out portfolio-wide. No matter, this is clearly one of this year’s most impressive debuts.
Powered by a 400-horsepower range-extended powertrain, Infiniti says the Emerg-E can bolt to 60 miles per hour in four seconds dead while offering a 300-mile range.
We’re officially ready for Infiniti to stop teasing us with handsome concept cars and get on with producing an upscale sports coupe.
While technically still a concept, has rolled out another version of its that first debuted at the last November. The handsome compact crossover rides on VW’s new transverse matrix architecture and it’s smaller than you think, which means it should be rather entertaining to drive with this iteration’s TDI diesel plug-in hybrid powertrain boasting a combined 302 horsepower.
Reaching 62 miles per hour in 6.5 seconds and pushing on to a top speed of 137 mph, the Cross Coupé seems to offer a solid amount of entertainment along with impressive thrift. On the European cycle, VW says this vehicle should be good for an impressive 130 miles per gallon equivalent, thanks in part to a pure electric range of 28 miles.
We weren’t able to get inside the Cross Coupé concept this time, but if the Tokyo show star was any indication, this vehicle looks production ready – though perhaps without this showcar’s exotic powertrain. Check it out in our full gallery and look in on the official press release .
has been hinting at the possibility of a full-size ultra-luxury SUV for a few years and here in the rumors finally became reality in all their awkwardly majestic glory.
Just as awkward is the ‘ute concept’s name:, which is about as imaginative and puzzling as its styling. If you were to task a sophomore Photoshop wizard to digitally create a Bentley SUV, this would be the result. And that’s probably the most disappointing aspect of the EXP 9 F – its utter predictability.
Grabbing bits from the and range, mounting them up front, raising the ride height and then adding a liftback hatch is the easy way out. Same for the interior, which takes Bentley’s bespoke aesthetic and gives it the Big Gulp treatment. Maybe we’re too plebeian, but for this ute’s target demographic, it just doesn’t carry the gravitas you’d expect of something this large wearing the Flying B.
The same applies to the drivetrain, which utilizes the 6.0-liter W12 that’s been doing duty in the Continental for years. The only interesting propulsion proposition is the possible fitment of Bentley’s new V8, augmented with an electric motor and battery pack to make the world’s largest and least efficient plug-inhybrid.
It’s just bad on all sides, so like the concept before it, we’re hoping Bentley sees the light, heads back to the drawing board and comes up with something befitting of such a storied marque. Just after it quietly pulls it off the show stand, just like did two years ago.
Ah, Europe: The land of forbidden wagons. Automakers like and may have taken a chance and brought out new wagons in the United States over the past few years, but it doesn’t mean that the Yankee market will be flooded with useful premium cargo-haulers anytime soon. A shame, too, since Jaguar’s new is an estate we’d love to see parked at Autoblog Towers. She’s pretty.
We love the look of the refreshed-for-2012 , and thankfully, none of the cat’s sleekness has been tainted with the addition of a larger hind quarters. The car goes on sale in Europe in the third quarter of 2012 with a choice of two diesel engines measuring 2.2 and 3.0 liters. Either powerplant is matched with an eight-speed automatic and sends its power exclusively to the rear wheels.
Take some time to drool over the XF Sportbrake by clicking through our attached high-res image gallery and for the details in Jaguar’s press release.
