If you thought it seemed a little odd that Poland – a country without much of a history of producing exportable cars – would suddenly come out with a high-performance supercar, well… we’re afraid you may be right. Because the latest reports out of the Eastern European country suggest that the Arrinera project is nothing more than a reclothed replicar.
Arrinera, as you may recall, is a project to build a supercar in Poland. Specifications recently hit the interwebs, indicating a $160,000 list price and a 6.2-liter V8 with 650 horsepower driving the rear wheels through a Graziano gearbox for a 3.2-second sprint to 62 and a 211 mph top end.
Now reports coming out of Poland – citing a certain Jacek Balkan who seems to be the Slavic version of Jeremy Clarkson – are calling the whole project into question. According to the word on the Warsaw boulevard, the people at Arrinera took a Lamborghini replica made by another Polish outfit called Bojar Tuning and gave it a new skin. Interior components were reportedly borrowed from the Opel Corsa and late-90s , all in an effort to raise funds on the stock market.
The question we’re left with is, if the project started as a replica but now has its own design and identity, should its humbler beginnings matter? If the specs are right and legendary chassis tuner Lee Noble is involved, the Arrinera could still emerge as a winner. Of course, we’d have to drive it in order to tell for sure, but we’ve got some openings in our calendar coming up…
Say what you want about the German-based tuner Mansory, but the company definitely has a style all its own. The same can be said for their latest creation, the Monaco Edition, which is channeling quite a bit of the Ferrari Enzo on its snout.
Mansory says that the new body panels, all of which are constructed of lightweight carbon fiber, save a little over 130 pounds, and with power boosted to 590 horsepower the car is capable of hitting 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) in 3.2 seconds and reaching a top speed of 205 mph. The interior of the 458 Spider Monaco Edition gets the Mansory treatment as well, with custom upholstery done in leather, Alcantara and carbon fiber in a combination of red and white.
Mansory says it will produce just three of the Monaco Edition Ferrari 458 Spiders. No word on pricing, although we can’t imagine the changes come cheap. to read the official details from Mansory.
RM Auctions only just finished pulling in record numbers at its , but it’s already gearing up for the next event set to take place during weekend in Monterey, California.
Headlining the Canadian specialist auctioneer’s catalog for the August event are the rare 1955 410 Sport Berlinetta and the timelessly elegant 1938 Talbot-Lago Teardrop Coupe pictured together above.
Considered by some to be one of the world’s most desirable Ferrari classic road car, this particular 410 Sport Berlinetta is the second of just four built and the only fixed-roof coupe. Chassis 0594 CM features bodywork by Scaglietti in ivory with blue leather. It will be making its first appearance both in North America and at auction, having only traded hands a few times between private European collectors until now.
The Talbot, meanwhile, is one of only five of its kind built (of four remaining) and the only such coupe built upon a four-seat chassis. The winner of several concours, this particular example of French art deco in motion is expected to fetch $2.5 to $3.2 million. for the full press release and peruse the high-resolution images of the two cars together in Monaco for a sneak preview.
Few marques get auto collectors riled up quite like , and of classic Ferraris, few are as highly sought-after as the legendary Testa Rossa. We’re talking, of course, about the 50s-era roadster (as opposed to the 80s-era cheesegrater supercar), and the originals continue to fetch top dollar (or euro) whenever and wherever their fortunate owners are willing to part with them.
That when and where came this past weekend in Monte Carlo during the Historical Grand Prix of Monaco where RM Auctions sold some highly desirable classic metal. Topping the list was the rare 1957 Ferrari 625 TRC Spider you see here, one of only two built, which sold for a whopping €5,040,000 – equivalent to over $6.4 million at today’s exchange rates. That’s considerably more than the that RM auctioned last year, but substantially less than the record in 2009.
Of course the Testa Rossa wasn’t the only car sold at the event, which brought in an astonishing €33.5 million (~$43m) in sales on 87 percent of all lots sold. In fact it wasn’t even the only Ferrari represented there, though it was the most expensive by a wide margin. A 1966 Ferrari 206 S Dino Spyder and a 1952 Ferrari 225 Sport Spyder ‘Tuboscocca’ (one of only 12 Vignale Spyders produced) each fetched €2.5 million ($3.2m), a rare factory Daytona Spyder brought in over €1 million ($1.3m), the car which Michael Schumacher drove to the 2000 Formula One World Championship and that each brought in over €800k (about a million greenbacks).
Other notable racing machinery sold at the auction included a Peugeot 908 LMP (which won several Le Mans Series races), a LP600 GT3 (raced by Blancpain CEO Mark Hayek in the Super Trofeo series), a Ferrari FXX Evoluzione and a pair of Ducati Desmosedici MotoGP racing bikes. Follow the jump for all the juicy details and scope out the headline Testa Rossa in the high-res image gallery above.
By all accounts, Marussia is just another exotic automaker hoping to sell a few supercars but just as likely to disappear into obscurity. Except that it hasn’t, and may not for some time.
Having potentially overextended itself by buying the majority of a Formula One racing team from Virgin, the Russian upstart needed its newest product – dubbed the B2 – to be the runaway success that the (relatively) less dramatically-styled B1 wasn’t. And so it appears it will be as reports indicate that Marussia has sold out its entire production run of 500 vehicles.
In order to keep up with demand, production is reportedly shifting from Marussia’s own facility in Moscow to Valmet in Finland, the same place where the is built now and the and were before it. Cosworth will then be shipping the 3.5-liter V6 that provides between 300 and 420 horsepower (depending on customer specification) to drive the 2,425-pound lightweight supercar to 60 in as little as 3.2 seconds.
Check out the pair in the fresh image gallery above for a closer look.
There are a handful of countries where you’d expect most any supercar to come from. Italy, Germany, England… and even these United States have produced their fare share, and there’ve been a handful from Japan. Even France and Sweden have produced some notables. But Poland?
Hardly the first country that would come to mind, but the folks behind Arrinera Automotive aim to fix that. We first reported last year on the supercar the Polish outfit has been developing, and now they’ve released a whole slew of details – including specifications and pricing.
The as-yet unnamed vehicle (aside from the Arrinera marque, anyway) is powered by a 6.2-liter V8 that’s been supercharged up to 650 metric horsepower (641 by our measures) and 605 pound-feet of torque, driving through a Graziano gearbox for a 3.2-second sprint to 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) and a claimed 340 km/h (211 mph) top end.
Lee Noble – the talented engineer behind supercars marketed under the Ultima, Ascari, Rossion, Fenix and Noble names – has set up the suspension, with 380-millimeter brakes providing the stopping power up front and 350-millimeter discs in the back. The 1300-kilogram (2866-pound) package is made up of a high-strength steel frame with bodywork that’s carbon-intensive and similar in appearance to a Lamborghini, but that’s no bad thing.
Production is slated to begin later this year, with pricing starting at £100,000 (about $160,000 at current exchange rates). Scope it out in the extensive and fresh gallery of high-resolution images above.
Business has been good for . Thanks in no small part to expanding its activities in developing markets, the racing team turned automaker raked in 556 million euros in revenues to generate 42.1 million euros in profit in the first quarter of this year alone – an increase of 13.2 and 17.2 percent, respectively. Those figures are driven by increased sales that amounted to 1,733 units produced and delivered in the first quarter out of an exciting model range that includes the and , the recently revised , the innovative and the brand-new F12 Berlinetta. But the House that Enzo built is not about to stop there.
Buried deep within the company’s financial report (which you can delve into after below the fold should you be so inclined) comes confirmation direct from the company’s affable chairman (and possible next Italian prime minister) Luca di Montezemolo: “At the end of the year, we’ll also be unveiling the new , a limited series model and our first ever hybrid car.”
So there we have it, straight from the proverbial lion’s mouth and in no uncertain terms. Before we flip the calendar to 2013, we’ll have the latest in the long line of earth-shattering supercars that started with the 288 GTO, continued with the legendary F40, through the open-top F50 and on to the radical Enzo. And yes, it will be a hybrid, coupling an electric motor to a revised version of the V12 in the new F12 Berlinetta, as Ferrari at the .
General Motors is having a hard time nailing down its European operations. The automaker reported its first-quarter earnings slid by $1 billion, down from $3.2 billion in the first quarter of last year. The drop was partially attributable to a one-time loss that included changes in accounting for the automaker’s European pensions.
While GM earned $1.69 billion in North American before taxes, Opel lost $246 million in the first quarter. Surprisingly, that marks the second best quarter for the automaker in a year. Even so, GM CEO Dan Akerson said that the manufacturer’s European operations are headed for substantial revision.
Akerson said the situation is a “four-alarm fire” while speaking during a public radio interview. The executive declined to elaborate on any plans to help stem Opel’s losses beyond saying “We’re going to have to restructure again.”
In 2011, GM lost $747 million on its European operations, and with the looming debt crisis continuing to undermine consumer confidence in the EU, the company is desperate to ward off a repeat performance. Analysts believe that yet another restructuring will be a lengthy, drawn-out process, but likely won’t result in any actual plant closings.
Introduced back in 2008, the Q5 was about due for a mid-life refresh, which is exactly what the German automaker has given it. Not that you’d be easily able to tell from looking at it, though: the styling updates to the popular CUV are rather subtle, as are the enhancements to the interior, which center around the control surfaces. No, what’s really new about the 2013 version of the is what lurks in the engine bay.
As part of the update, Audi has installed a completely new range of engines across the board that increase both output and efficiency for a win-win combination. In different markets around the world, the Q5 will now be available with three diesels, two gasoline engines and – for the first time – a hybrid. The smaller of the TDIs displaces 2.0 liters and can be had in either 143- or 177-horsepower states of tune, while the larger 3.0-liter V6 oil-burner offers 245 hp and will likely be the only diesel offered in the United States.
The gasoline range starts at the 2.0-liter turbo four with 225 hp, while the 3.2-liter V6 is replaced by a new 3.0-liter supercharged V6 that delivers 272 hp and 295 pound-feet of torque. The big news, however, is the hybrid powertrain that pairs a 211-hp version of the 2.0-liter turbo four with a 54-hp electric motor, driving through an eight-speed automatic to all four wheels for a 7.1-second 0-62 time, a combined rating of 34 miles per gallon and an electric-only range of two miles at 37 mph.
Pricing for the new range in the United States has yet to be revealed. But for comparison’s sake, European MSRP has only gone up around €150 ($200 USD), so we wouldn’t expect the sticker to jump by much in American showrooms, either. Scope out the extensive high-res image gallery above and the videos and press release by for a closer look.
How well is doing with its new made-in-America ? What if we told you that sales in February were up 14,523.2 percent? Okay, perhaps that isn’t the best measure of performance, given that there wasn’t actually a 2011 model year Passat. But VW moved 8,189 of the midsize sedans last month after selling 6,318 in January.
While that’s but a fraction of the 34,543 February sales for the , it’s enough that VW is adding another 800 jobs at its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant that builds the car. That’s the second ramp-up this year – VW already announced last month.
“Quite plainly, we need more Passats to meet the market demand and I’m glad that we can respond so quickly by adding staff in Chattanooga,” said VW’s U.S. President and CEO, Jonathan Browning.
VW currently employs over 2,700 people at the plant, though 500 actually work for a “staffing partner.” VW says the new jobs will be filled both by those contract employees already working at the plant and by new hires. Positions include production, supervisors, quality engineers, and other professionals roles. Click to read the full press release.
hiring 800 workers in Chattanooga to meet Passat demand
Remember when that Sergio Marchionne didn’t receive a paycheck from during 2011? As it turns out, it’s because he was busy raking in the big bucks from .
Automotive News reports that Marchionne earned 14.5 million euros ($19 million U.S.) in 2011. The pay includes seven million shares of Fiat stock, which can be exercised between 2012 and 2015, plus a base salary of 2.45 million euros ($3.2 million U.S.).
That’s a lot of money for the vast majority of us, but the Chrysler/Fiat CEO is being paid close to what all the other successful chief executives are receiving. The most direct comparison (since both companies are based out of Europe) is CEO Martin Winterkorn, who made 17.5 million euro ($23 million U.S.) in 2011. Given that VW in 2011, we’re thinking Winterkorn has a good argument for saying he’s worth the extra $4M.
The replacement for the aging is expected to debut at next January’s , and when it does, a brand-new Pentastar powertrain will reportedly be spinning underhood. According to Automotive News, will offer a downsized 3.2-liter V6 in the Liberty mated to a nine-speed automatic transmission sourced from ZF. The current Pentastar V6 displaces 3.6 liters and has been well-received by both critics and buyers in everything from the refreshed to new .
Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne reiterated to AN that efficient transmissions play a huge role in the development of engines. “If we had known the eight-speed was coming, we could have made the [3.6-liter] Pentastar a 3.2-liter,” he said.
Currently, the Liberty is available with a 3.7-liter SOHC V6 that produces 210 horsepower and 235 pound-feet of torque backed by a four-speed automatic transmission. This new 3.2-liter/nine-speed combo will surely improve performance, not to mention overall efficiency, though specific power and fuel economy details are still up in the air at this time.
When we initially reported on the that would be up for sale at Gooding & Company’s Amelia Island auction, we figured that many of the cars would command impressive sums. Now that it’s over, we doubt that even the auction house could have guessed just how successful the sale could be.
Held in conjunction with the Amelia Island Concours in the beginning of March, the auction smashed eleven world records for Porsches. A 1973 917/30 Can-Am Spyder broke the record for both the most expensive Porsche and a 917 at $4.4 million, a 1955 Porsche 550 dropped the hammer at a record $3.685 million, and a 1974 Porsche Carrera RSR Turbo sold for $3.245 million. Other records broken include top prices for a Porsche 935, 962, 911 GT1, 906, 934, 924, 968 and 944. In total, ten cars sold for more than a million dollars, and all sales combined for a final sum of $36 million.
for more details on Gooding & Company’s 2012 Amelia Island auction as well as a full list of the most expensive cars sold.
It’s the battle of 1986: The best Shelby “Goes Like Hell” extant or a four-wheel-drive Vanagon powered by a flat six from a . Both of these awesome rides popped up in our inbox this morning, thanks to our favorite automotive classifieds site, Bring A Trailer. Argument ensued, with good cases made for both.
The Shelby Dodge is, of course, based on the Omni econobox. But with a turbocharged 2.2-liter four making 175 horsepower and a curb weight around 2,200 pounds, the GLHS was a real performance car. With a bit of tuning, the turbo Dodge engines were capable of topping 200 hp; this in an era in which V8 GT’s were barely pumping out 200 horses. Given that only 500 Shelby GLHS’s were built, we’ve got to imagine you’d be hard-pressed to find a better example than this one, claimed to have just 6,600 miles on the odo. It’s for sale by a Michigan dealer .
The Vanagon is the sort of project we all dream of undertaking in our backyards. With a 3.2-liter, air-cooled six pulled from an ‘89 911, we don’t imagine this Syncro will have any problems making it up any mountain passes. Dumping the VW wasserboxer is a favorite Vanagon owner pastime, and given the historic relationship between the companies, we think it’s only right to source power rather than the more common Subaru engine swap. The Syncro is for sale on .
So help us resolve the Autoblog Staff Argument of the Day and vote in our poll, and click on the galleries below to see lots of photos of these two sweet vehicles.
Classic car aficionados are currently making arrangements to be in Northeast Florida for the second week of March for the Amelia Island Concours, but not everyone will be headed to Florida just to see cars. Plenty of collectors come to the annual event with cash burning in their pockets, and the various auction houses are happy to oblige with a selection of special cars on offer.
One of the highlights of the weekend’s auction action will surely be this incredible collection slated to cross the block at Gooding & Company. Owned by the late Matthew Drendel, the collection consists of 18 classic Porsches from a rare 1973 917/30 Can-Am Spyder with an estimated value of up to $3.25-$4 million to a very attainable 1991 944 S2 Cabriolet worth around $30,000. Also of note are a two-time Daytona 24 winning 1984 Porsche 962, the very first Porsche 935 built and a 1997 Porsche 911 GT1 Evolution that is one of just four factory team cars.
Follow the jump for more details on the auction and the Drendel Porsche collection, or take a closer look at the drool-worthy cars in the gallery above.
Which were the best-performing brands and automakers in 2011? We’ll tell you, and the answers may be surprising. The top two best-performing brands surprised us. led the pack with a 44.04-percent sales increase for the year, followed by , whose sales jumped 40.07 percent.
Behind those two are the two brands we knew early on would have great years: and . Kia gained significant ground on fellow South Korean automaker last year by posting a larger sales increase for the year, 36.27 percent to 19.97 percent, respectively. Volkswagen, meanwhile, proved everyone wrong who questioned its decision to make the redesigned more cost competitive with a sales gain of 26.21 percent for the year on the back of that little compact car’s 54.5-percent increase in sales.
The bottom of our table is also not surprisingly occupied almost entirely by , and their luxury brands, which are joined by and . One could too easily argue that Toyota’s and Honda’s sales trouble in the U.S. last year had everything to do with natural disasters and their effect on production, but that would be ignoring their aging fleet of products, some not-so-well-received redesigns and how much more fierce their competition has become.
Finally, since we teased you last month with a select group of particular sales races we were interested in, we thought we’d let you know which models won.
2011 Best-Selling Minivan: (111,429), (110,862)
2011 Best-Selling Pony Car: (88,249), (70,438)
2011 Best-Selling Small Car: (240,258) vs. (231,732)
2011 Best-Selling Mid-Size Sedan behind Camry (308,510) and Altima (268,981): (248,067), (235,625)
*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 307 selling days in 2011 and 306 selling days in 2010, so the change in monthly sales volume will be different than the change in average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company.
The December sales numbers are in, most of them anyway, and what we’re seeing is an end to the year that largely mirrors the months that came before.
Our usual players are at the top of the list in green, including , which lead all brands last month with an 82.56-percent increase in monthly sales to end the year. Credit goes to the redesigned sedan, which sold over 760% more units in December than the Sebring did the year before, and the redesigned , which itself enjoyed a 242% increase in sales.
Not far behind are other brands that have been performing well all year long, like with a 42.52-percent gain in sales (the eclipsed the 100,000 annual sales mark in December by selling 9,624 units), and with a 36.18-percent jump.
Last month we also witnessed the last few gasps of breath for , which packed it in by selling just 270 units in December. Other brands that have been operating in the red band of our spectrum all year long finished much the same way. barely eeked out more sales than the year before with a slight 1.9-percent gain, while its luxury division , as well as and , were all behind their 2010 numbers.
*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 27 selling days in December 2011 and 27 selling days in December 2010, so the change in monthly sales volume will be the same as the change in average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company.
launched a total of 13 recall campaigns in 2011 covering over 3.5 million vehicles. Those figures put the Japanese automaker at the top of the most-recalled list for the third year in a row, according to Ward’s Auto. Between 2009 and 2010, Toyota recalled nearly 11.5 million vehicles in North America for a variety of reasons, including troublesome floor mats and sticky accelerators tied to the company’s unintended acceleration woes. The company says that around 85 percent of vehicles involved in the pedal recall have been fixed, with lower volume models continuing to trickle into dealers.
But Toyota wasn’t the only automaker with recall woes in 2011. found itself in second place for the number of vehicles recalled this year with 10 campaigns covering 3.2 million vehicles. For its part, General Motors issued a total of 21 recalls, but the fixes involved far fewer vehicles: 455,901. All told, Ward’s says automakers issued 130 recalls in 2011, down from 136 campaigns in the U.S. last year.
We’ve seen Romeo Ferraris tune all manner of vehicles, but oddly none from the automaker with which it shares the first part of its name. That’s all changing, but not with a current Alfa Romeo model. For their latest project, RF has turned its attention to the recently discontinued Alfa Romeo Brera.
Long considered one of the most beautiful designs mired by a substandard chassis, the Brera went out of production over a year ago. But to give it one last swan song, Romeo Ferraris has teamed up with venerable Alfa tuning firm Autodelta. Together, they’ve given the Brera’s 3.2-liter V6 a supercharger, intercooler, custom exhaust and remapped ECU to boost power up by 97 horsepower for a more substantial 353 hp. That’s tipped to drop the 0-62 time down to five seconds and the top end up to 162 mph.
Naturally a full body kit is also part of the package, as is an adjustable suspension and (we would hope) upgraded brakes as well. A fitting goodbye to one of the best-looking cars ever to grace the roads – and one that will hopefully keep it on them for years to come.
is still looking for a few needles in its haystack of 2001-2003 models, as it expands a . The recall concerns defective driver’s airbag inflators, and it’s a serious issue, one that has already resulted in a dozen injuries and at least one death.
The recall covers the 2001 and 2002 , 2001 to 2003 , 2001 to 2003 , 2002 and 2003 , 2003 , 2002 and 2003 3.2 and 2003 Acura 3.2 CL. This latest expansion of the recall is necessary because Honda still hasn’t found all the defective parts, with 640 of the inflators still unaccounted for. Some were sold as service parts, meaning that their whereabouts cannot be easily traced.
“Because Honda is unable to determine the specific vehicles that may have received the affected service parts through existing information,” said Honda’s statement, “Honda will inspect an additional approximately 603,000 vehicles and replace those parts as necessary.”
Honda will be contacting affected owners by mail later in the month, and the information will also be available on the Honda and Acura websites at and . The automaker’s official press release is available .
Which were the best-performing brands and automakers in 2011? We’ll tell you, and the answers may be surprising. The top two best-performing brands surprised us. led the pack with a 44.04-percent sales increase for the year, followed by , whose sales jumped 40.07 percent.
The December sales numbers are in, most of them anyway, and what we’re seeing is an end to the year that largely mirrors the months that came before.
