It could be said that no auto show is as glamorous as the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. Held on the picturesque shores of Lake Como in northern Italy, the annual concours is sponsored by . So it only stands to reason that the Bavarian automaker wouldn’t let the show come and go without making a splash on its own.
Previous years saw BMW roll into Cernobbio with such show-stopping concepts as the and the , but this year it’s not looking back on its history to draw its inspiration. Instead it’s teamed up with celebrated Italian coachbuilder Zagato to dream up the concept you see here.
A rare instance of Munich reaching beyond its own design department, the BMW Zagato Coupé is a one-off concept, but is far from a fragile show car. The shape is aerodynamically optimized and the car is fully road registered in Germany, and has already undergone high-speed testing at BMW’s own test facility. The Bavarian automaker remains tight-lipped on its underpinnings and running gear, but the obvious conclusion – whether ultimately correct or not – is that it’s based on the roadster.
Whatever lies beneath the hand-crafted aluminum shape, however, is of less consequence than its design. Reinvigorating a tradition of collaboration that goes back to the 1959 BMW 3200 Michelotti Vignale through to the Giugiaro-designed M1 of 1978, the Zagato Coupé concept aptly embodies design cues attributable to both BMW and Zagato – from the twin-kidney grille (whose mesh is made up of little Zs), over the double-bubble roof (a hallmark of Zagato styling originally intended to accommodate a racing helmet in early designs) to the Kamm tail that BMW and Zagato both claim as common heritage.
The greenhouse is set way back and the hood is longer than it took us to put together the immense gallery of high-resolution images BMW has released of the show-stopping concept, which you’ll want to check out in detail along with the full press release .
You can now attack the configurator with tame abandon. Why tame? Because there are hardly any options; understandable for – just about everything is standard or included in a trim package.
The proceedings (plus $920 for destination) for the front-wheel drive XTS Standard, rising in increments of about $5,000 through three additional trims: Luxury, which adds ornamentation like dual stainless exhaust tips, , and more seat functions; Premium, which upgrades the to a 14-speaker Bose system and adds the 12.3-inch reconfigurable dash cluster, plus tri-zone climate control; and Platinum, which swaps for 20-inch wheels and installs power and manual rear shades. Step over to the all-wheel drive XTS and the bar moves up to $51,835 and begins at Luxury, moving through Premium to top out at $61,305 for the AWD Platinum.
There are five colors from which to choose, and on all but a few models there are just two cost options that aren’t already checked: the $75 engine block heater and the $350 compact spare tire. On the Luxury trim you can add the $1,450 UltraView power sunroof and $795 upgraded CUE system, on the Premium you can add the $250 power rear sunshade. There is nothing else for your fancy to do.
The only shocker we found were interior options: the trims below Platinum get four color options, including a couple of contrasting two-tones like the beautiful caramel and jet black (inset). The Platinum trim only gets two interior color choices, caramel not one of them. Checking all two boxes on the Platinum leaves you with a heady $62,725 for the lot. We’d advise you not to take our word for it, though, and get over to the configurator and start virtually outfitting one for yourself.
According to the 2012 U.S. Automotive Industry Survey and Confidence Index by Booz & Co., alternative vehicle powertrains may take up as much as 10 percent of the total market by 2020, but only if the federal government continues to support development.
Without a helping hand from Uncle Sam, only 30 percent of the researchers, executives and consumers who participated in the survey believe alternative-fuel machines will be able to carve out that small slice of the market. Specifically, federal tax incentives for potential buyers could help push the technology forward in the future.
According to Wards Auto, further development faces a double hurdle. First, additional urban planning is required to demonstrate plug-in hybrids and EVs will be viable options for buyers, but at the same time, government agencies also need to see fuel cell and battery costs come down before being willing to pony up for chargers or incentives.
Even so, 70 percent of those surveyed said they were more confident about future hybrid demand than they were in 2011. Take a look at the full survey results .
The numbers haven’t been definitively crunched, but it is expected that the estimated 32,310 traffic fatalities in 2011 were the lowest on record in the 62 years that records have been kept. Yet the good news about the total number of fatalities masks regrettable news for traffic safety authorities: automobile fatalities are down, but motorcycle fatalities are up.
After a steady rise in motorcyclist death rates through the first decade of the new century, in 2009 and the beginning of 2010. Observers hoped the trend would continue, but that didn’t happen when deaths ticked up slightly over the course of 2010 and stayed steady through 2011.
Causes are varied, from high gas prices leading more people to ride motorcycles to inadequate training for both riders and automobile drivers on how to ply the roads safely. A report breaking down the numbers also “noted that 29 percent of fatally injured riders in 2010 had a blood-alcohol concentration at or above the legal limit, and 35 percent of motorcycle riders involved in fatal crashes were speeding.” It didn’t, however, indicate how much of those numbers overlapped – how many of those riders were over the limit when they died.
Nor does it look like current developments will allay the trend in the near-term. Only 19 states require riders to wear helmets, Michigan just repealed its compulsory helmet law and five other states are considering such measures. Again, the overall number of fatalities is welcome news considering how many more people and cars there are on the roads now compared to 1949, but the takeaway for motorcyclists is that there is now more reason to be extra careful when you ride.
Used to be if Renault wanted to celebrate a Formula One team with special edition, it would celebrate its own. But having sold the bulk of its own team to and Genii Capital in favor of supplying engines to a greater variety of independent teams, its latest commemorative hot hatches honor the (current) king of them all: Red Bull Racing.
Just a couple of months ago, Renaultsport rolled out the , and is now following up with a similar treatment applied to the smaller Twingo (with a special edition Megane to follow). Celebrating the team’s 2011 constructors’ title and the Renault-powered car that got them there, the Twingo RS Red Bull Racing features a black and yellow livery (though we don’t know what the color scheme has to do with the team that races in dark blue with red), the otherwise optional Cup suspension, blacked-out 17-inch alloys and the RS Monitor onboard telemetry system.
Order books are opening in June across nine markets in Europe and in Japan. But even if you’re not in one of them, you can still for the full press release and scope out the images in the high-resolution image gallery above.
is moving to make its Easy Fill Tire Alert system standard equipment on its 2013 model year vehicles. Taking the tire pressure monitoring system to the next logical step, the Nissan system honks the car’s horn when you’ve inflated your tires to the correct pressure. No more reading the tire pressure placard on the door jamb and hunting around in the glovebox for a pressure gauge.
While Nissan actually introduced this feature beginning with the 2011 minivan, its proliferation throughout the lineup makes sense. After all, it’s a good idea, and , despite its importance for both fuel economy and on-road safety. If Nissan’s system can actually encourage a few of those disinterested drivers to maintain proper tire inflation pressures, it’s a win for all.
to watch a Nissan-produced video demonstrating the feature on the company’s and read the press release.
The has expanded its investigation into Chevrolet Cruze engine fires to two model years.
In April, NHTSA began investigating two complaints concerning fires erupting in engine compartments. Now, Reuters is reporting that the government agency has added 2012 Cruze models to the list, upping the number of total vehicles from 177,000 to 370,000.
General Motors told Reuters it has cooperated with investigators and there have been no reported injuries or accidents related to the probe.
According to a pair of complaints filed on NHTSA’s website, two Cruze sedans were on the the open road when smoke began streaming out from under the hood. A few minutes later, the cars were ravaged by fire.
“In two minutes, the car was fully engulfed and flames were 15-feet high,” one complaint said. “GM needs to find out and correct this problem before someone get [sic] seriously hurt.”
The all-but-lifeless corpse of continues to stagger forward in hopes of finding a juicy investor to sink its teeth into. Autocar reports that National Electric Vehicle Sweden is currently close to buying the brand’s remaining assets. The freshly minted electric car consortium is helmed by none other than Karl-Erling Trogen, the former head of Volvo Trucks. Beyond that, few details are known about the company or its plans for Saab. National Electric Sweden is owned by two bodies, Sun Investment and Mikael Kubu, the president of law firm Ac-Gruppen.
We can only speculate about what the consortium wants with Saab, though fan site SaabsUnited reports the company may have its eyes on an electric rear axle program developed with in conjunction with eAAM. Whether that means we’ll see electric or hybrid Saab models whirring around in the future is still uncertain. If we did, it would probably take quite a while. As SaabsUnited notes, “Saab, the company, right now has nothing in it, no dealership network, no finance structure, no personnel-structure, no communications network, nothing… everything needs to be completely rebuilt from scratch, which will take a huge amount of time.”
At this point, we’ll just be pleasantly surprised if the Griffin brand gets a new owner at all.
General Motors has announced the automaker is recalling certain models for a potential sensor failure. Under hard braking, the vehicle’s sensing and diagnostic module may reset itself, and if that occurs just before an abrupt turn, the vehicle could trick itself into sensing a rollover. In that event, the roof rail airbag could deploy outside of a crash situation. What’s more, the seat belt pretensioners could then fail during a severe crash. Needless to say, it could be a dangerous situation.
The recall covers a total of 4,304 units manufactured between October 24, 2011 and March 31, 2012. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, GM will notify owners and reprogram the sensing and diagnostic module free of charge. The campaign is set to get underway on June 1. Check out the for yourself.
recalls 2013 Malibu Eco over unintended airbag deployment fears
and Tata has reportedly stepped away from a tieup in the Indian market that saw Fiats being built in India, using engines shared with Tata and Maruti models, and being sold through Tata dealers. Neither company commented, but according to analysts, the issue was that in addition to Tata was simply too busy with its other endeavors, especially , to attend to the Fiat deal. Sales of the joint-venture vehicles have declined by more than 20 percent year-on-year.
The Fiat-Tata union isn’t binding, and talk has now centered around Fiat snuggling up with . Suzuki has a huge position in Asia, Suzuki-Maruti being India’s largest carmaker and the Japanese firm having sold more than half its cars in the Asia region, excluding Japan, over the year that ended March 31. Fiat, on the other hand, only sold three percent of its wares in Asia in 2011.
There is debate about how beneficial a Fiat-Suzuki tieup would be. Suzuki’s position is facing pressures, but some observers say the Japanese firm has all the strengths and, at most, would benefit from “a timely supply of engines,” but possibly confuse customers by adding Fiat to its distribution channel. Others think that it would be a good union, with Fiat providing “a sound name” and a technology exchange.
Such a venture would rely on Suzuki extricating itself from its with , an adventure that has probably soured Suzuki on the phrase “technology exchange” for a bit. Among the problematic issues, Suzuki has accused VW of breach-of-contract by not sharing VW technology and that were Suzuki’s reason for the deal. Suzuki and Fiat presently collaborate on the Fiat Sedici/, and when Suzuki instead of VW, the German company accused the Japanese automaker of breach-of-contract. Both over the matter; last we heard, Suzuki , while of the partnership. A VW victory would nix the kind of Suzuki deal with Fiat being speculated now.
recently released its financial report for the the manufacturer’s motorcycle division. Not surprisingly, two-wheel-friendly Asia accounted for a lofty 79 percent of the company’s total sales in 2011. The entirety of North America, meanwhile, soaked up just 1.6 percent of the brand’s total volume last year. What’s more, Honda fully intends to expand its operations in the blooming Indian market. Until last year, Honda worked with Hero MotorCorp to sell its bikes in India. With the two entities officially split, the Japanese company reports it expects to see somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 percent of its sales come from the Indian market by 2020.
India boasts a population of 1.2 billion people, or around 17 percent of the world’s population, making it the second-largest bike market globally. As of right now, Honda is working on chipping out a 20 percent share of that pie, which means it already dominates the country’s motorcycle market as the largest foreign bike manufacturer.
Count this one as a big victory for motorists. A Florida man has won his First Amendment case against the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, who wrongfully ticketed him for flashing his lights to warn other drivers of a speed trap. According to the Orlando Sentinel, a Circuit Court judge not only said that the deputy who ticketed Ryan Kintner had misapplied a state law banning aftermarket flashing emergency lights, but also ruled that flashing your lights to communicate with other drivers qualifies as constitutionally protected speech.
But this victory for Kintner is just a stepping stone towards a larger case. According to the report, his attorney has filed prohibiting the police from ticketing motorists for flashing their brights. The report says that case has a hearing scheduled for next month, so this is certainly not the last we’ll hear on the issue.
Edmunds has taken a closer look at which vehicles are most heavily favored by the federal government by evaluating percentage of model sales in 2011. Not surprisingly the topped off the list with a whopping 79.2 percent of sales going to government agencies, while the out-to-pasture Ford Crown Victoria took second with 57.2 percent of total sales. But that’s pretty much where the predictability comes to a close. The van takes a distant third with 10.7 percent. Like the , which came in fifth at 9.2 percent, we imagine that has more to do with the number of civilian models sold each year rather than any great number of government service vehicles on the road.
Other notable models include the in seventh place, the in eighth and the in ninth. Even the old made the cut with 5.3 percent of its sales heading off to government duty. That’s good enough to nab the machine 10th place. Head over to Edmunds to have a look at the .
Good news, Le Mans fans. Audi has released its “” documentary as a free download on iTunes. As with the first film, this sequel is narrated by none other than Jason Statham and details the Audi battle for its tenth win at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans. As you may recall, the race was a nail-biter for the race team. After seeing its sister entries removed from competition, the #2 R18 TDI went on to take the checkered flag by fighting off three rival Peugeot entries.
But the story was about more than the drivers and the cars. Team engineer Leena Gade officially became the first female in history to lead a Le Mans team to an overall victory.
Audi also made another documentary about the U.S. Ski Team called “Truth in Motion,” and all three films are available for free on iTunes. Check out the below for more information.
Known for unmitigated excess to some, the embodies over-the-top transportation for oil barons and high-rolling hip-hop stars. quotes an unknown senior official saying, “We were finding that for everyone turned on by that image there were four (potential luxury buyers) who were [turned off].” Add in national gas prices flirting with $5 a gallon, and the Escalade seemed destined to join the flamboyant fins of the .
But The Detroit Bureau says saw too much profit in the tanker-sized truck and plans to refresh it in early 2014 as a 2015 model. The Bureau predicts the SUV will continue to be body-on-frame with the new 2013 pickup underpinnings holding it all together. It’s probably safe to assume the luxury will be upsized, the engine uptuned and the price upjacked.
These are spy shots of the facelifted that we expect to see later this year. You’ll need to look very closely at the front to see where the lifting and tucking has been done: new LED headlights inside a slightly reworked grille. Around back are round tailpipes like those on the .
This is a that will hold us until the 2015 Audi R8 arrives – the one with the , and on offer. That last fact is tragic enough because we still love sports cars with sticks, but descends into the catastrophic since the six-speed manual available now is outstanding. We’re sure the next-gen coupe will be awesome, but we’ll enjoy this one while we have it. Check it out in the high-res gallery of spy shots above.
In the latest release of its BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study, market researchers Milward Brown have given the highest ranking of any carmaker, according to Automotive News. – last year’s winner – finished second, followed by , and , according to the report.
BMW had last finished atop the rankings in 2010, according to the report, with Toyota taking the crown from 2006-2009. The highest-ranked American brand was at seventh, trailing sixth-place . The top ten was filled out by , and . Toyota’s drop was attributed to its production interruptions due to the natural disasters that affected all of the Japanese automakers last year, according to AN.
BMW’s win among auto manufacturers was only enough to place it 23rd in the overall brand ranking, with an estimated brand value of $24.6 billion. Apple, the overall winner, according to the report, had a $182.9 billion valuation, ahead of IBM ($116 billion) and Google ($107.9 billion). Toyota’s valuation was $21.8 billion, with Mercedes-Benz and Honda far behind at $16.1 billion and $12.7 billion respectively. No other carmaker had a valuation over $10 billion.
The fourth installment of Ken Block’s Gymkhana series was aptly subtitled We know Ken needs to sell some to pay for these lavish drifting productions, but the sales pitch stole the spotlight from the action in Gymkhana 4. Ever wonder what the video would have been like without the special effects and clothing commercials?
It took them the better part of a year, but DC Shoes has finally released a bonus edit that removes the “Hollywood” parts of the video, leaving just the gymkhana parts that we all clicked Play to watch in the first place.
Cutting out the special effects and infomercial aspects shortens the video from a weighty 9:16 to a lithe and focused 5:11. The difference between the two vids is most apparent by comparing when the Ford Racing rally Focus leaves the starting line. Original video: 1:25. New edit: 0:09. Over a minute was saved just by cutting the clip of Ken Block on fire and nixing the opening credits for his wardrobe. Another two minutes was saved at the end by leaving the Bollywood dance on the cutting room floor.
to watch the new bonus edit that lets the viewer better appreciate the skill required to perform such stunts, as well as the original version. You can also to watch a YouTube Doubler of the videos playing side-by-side.
purists, rejoice. According to F30Post.com, BMW’s North American boss, Ludwig Willisch, has confirmed that the next-generation M3 will be powered by an inline six-cylinder engine. That’s right, the V8 is dead and the have officially been squashed.
To wit, Willisch told F30Post.com that a V6 was under consideration for quite some time, and the original thought was to use a chopped version of the S65 4.0-liter V8 found in the current car. But plans for a V-configuration have indeed been ruled out, and all that’s left to speculate on is exactly how much help the new inline-six will get from forced induction.
In order to be more powerful than the current M3, no less than two turbochargers will likely be bolted to the new six-cylinder powerplant. In fact, we’ve even heard rumors of a being engineered for use in the M3. In any case, expect about 450 horsepower to be on tap.
Unlike his pre-BAR Honda F1 days, Jacques Villeneuve’s NASCAR career has been strewn with potholes – and by “potholes” we mean crashes, mechanical failures and lowly finishes. But there have been a few successes, with third-place finishes at Montreal in 2010 and at Road America in 2011 – both road courses – and pole position at Montreal last year in the Nationwide Series.
Penske Racing is giving Villeneuve a chance to improve those placings, having offered the French-Canadian a drive in the #22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger for both of those races. for regular Penske team driver Brad Keselowski during those two rounds in 2011, adding a 27th in Montreal to his third at Road America.
The adventure will give Villeneuve 12 NASCAR starts in the last five years, and having taken pole position at Montreal and been on the podium twice, it’s not outrageous to figure he’s in with a chance. “I feel, after winning the pole last year at Montreal,” he said, “that we can have a lot of success. A NASCAR victory is something I want.”
In the latest release of its BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study, market researchers Milward Brown have given the highest ranking of any carmaker, according to Automotive News. – last year’s winner – finished second, followed by , and , according to the report.
