1972 BMW 3.0 CSi – Click above for high-res image gallery
An increasing portion of revenue in recent years has come from dealing in older cars. The Munich brand’s certified pre-owned program that reconditions and sells warranted used cars has reportedly been very profitable. Now BMW is taking that idea to a whole new level by . The Classic Center offers a variety of services from parts re-manufacturing to full vehicle restorations.
The facility recently finished its first complete restoration of a 1972 BMW 3.0 CSi coupe. In addition to bringing the CSi back to pristine condition, the owner had BMW convert the coupe’s transmission, originally a manual, to an automatic. The owner took possession of his restored beauty at the BMW Welt in Munich, which until now has only been used for new car deliveries.
The first production examples of the are hitting dealer showrooms as you read this, and whether you’re seriously considering buying your own 556-horsepower coupe or just feel like killing a little time dreaming, now has a fully-functional configurator online.
It takes at least $63,465 (plus another $825 for destination) to get your own super-Caddy, which comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission, navigation and premium sound system. Another $3,400 nets you a set of race-ready Recaro performance seats, and if you opt for the up-level thrones, a suede-rimmed steering wheel and shift knob combo is available for another $300. If rowing your own gear isn’t appealing, you ought to be ashamed of yourself the six-speed automatic is a $1,300 option. Check every conceivable box, including an up-level paint job and you’re looking at a $72,560 sticker. That’s a lot of cheddar no matter how you slice it, but a quick comparison against the other mega-performance coupes on the market shows that this Caddy is a relative bargain. Have fun blown two-door Caddy. Thanks for the tip, Khalid!
2011 Audi RS5 – Click above for high-res image gallery
The on-again/off-again rumors about whether or not Americans will get to sample the hotter-than-hot end now – the automaker has officially stated that the coupe will hit the States sometime in 2012. Yes, that’s a bit later , but we’re still stoked that has decided to include us on the RS5 goodness. No mechanical changes will be made to the coupe before it launches in the U.S., so the high-revving 450-horsepower V8 will still be intact. Awesome.
But in the meantime, we have lots of other Audi hotness hitting the streets, including the sexy , which goes on sale next month. Audi has officially priced the topless R8 from $161,000 (not including the $1,250 destination charge) for six-speed manual models. If you want the six-speed R-tronic manu-matic (and you don’t), be prepared to shell out an additional … wait for it … $9,000. Just stick with the manual – trust us on this one.
The full details are available in Audi’s press release after the jump, and be sure to scroll through the galleries below to gaze upon the RS5 and R8 Spyder in all their glory.
conducted another in its series of webchats and this time product marketing director Roger McCormack attended the party. One of the first real signs of the brand’s rebirth came three years ago with the debut of the . Since then, Buick has focused on launching its mainstream, higher volume products like the LaCrosse and Regal, and the Riviera coupe has languished on the sidelines.
However, McCormack says the coupe concept could live on as a production model. He acknowledged that a and admitted that a convertible would help excite customers, but wasn’t prepared to make any announcements. Even a wagon was not ruled out and could be among the first to join the lineup. A be-hatched version of the Insignia already exists in Europe and a prototype with badges has been spotted in Michigan in the past. No doubt Buick will be watching the sales of the when it arrives this fall in deciding what to do with the Regal. The full transcript of the chat is .
Fifth Gear hangs out with the Chevrolet Camaro SS – Click above to watch
The has been in U.S. dealerships for over a year now, and demand for Chevy’s newest pony car has been strong from the get-go. And though the Camaro is based off the Australian Zeta platform and built in Oshawa, Canada, it still rocks a Bowtie badge and carries a 6.2-liter small block V8 under the hood. That makes the Camaro an American pony car in our book; one that will (finally) officially go on sale in England early next year.
But before our allies to the east get a chance to pick up a Camaro of their own, Fifth Gear host Jason Plato took the reins of a Bumblebee-flavored Camaro out on the track. to watch Plato show no mercy to the 3,860-pound coupe. In typical UK-reviewer-on-American-car-ese, we definitely hear words like “lazy” and “heavy,” but Plato still looks like a very happy man behind the wheel. If you like smoking tires, oversteer and burnouts you’ll definitely like this video.
A few months back, word began to spread that AMG is working on a of one of Mercedes’ smallest cars. If true, it would not only mean giving the hi-po treatment to a segment hitherto untouched by the gents at Affalterbach, it could entail swapping a front-wheel drive hatch for a RWD platform. A month later, this were found out: the Golf R, Audi S3 and BMW 1 Series. And a month after that the around the B-Class as AMG’s subject of choice.
It turns out that the A-Class will be the first in line for an AMG makeover and the Ford Focus RS is also one of its targets. The diminutive Benz will get a four-cylinder, direct-injection engine with a pressure-wave supercharger that’s looking at an output of somewhere around 270 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. That gumption will reportedly get to the wheels through a dual-clutch gearbox and then navigate yet more clutches in the rear-biased all-wheel-drive system.
A two-car line-up is planned: a five-door hatch and a CLS-like sedan. But we won’t see any of this until 2012 or so, when the next-generation A-Class arrives. And the U.S. is only expected to get the sedan version, which will wear the name CLC, salvaged from the C-Class sport coupe that ended production not a moment too soon.
Autoblog livery for Forza Motorsport 3 – Click above for high-res image gallery
This. Is. Awesome. Autoblog reader Jason L. over at Second Method Graphic Design has been so kind as to share a couple of skins he’s devised for both the and the in Forza Motorsports 3. Why do we care? Because these particular wraps are a tribute to a certain blog that obsessively covers the auto industry. Call us vain, but there’s something cool about seeing our logo slathered all down the sides of two very lust worthy pieces of metal, even if they only live in the virtual realm.
Maybe we should talk to about getting into a long-term tester with a similar theme. Something tells us that McLaren would be somewhat less receptive. Leder says that you can purchase either of the two designs through his Forza storefront for a nominal fee. The guy also has a slew of other very attractive liveries in case you don’t feel like sporting your AB pride on your fenders. It’s fine, we won’t be offended. In fact, might we suggest The Simpsons-inspired Datsun 510 in Mr. Sparkle livery or the Ikea ?
It looks like may have accidentally kicked over a hive of hornets by rolling out its new two-door . We recently heard all about as to whether or not to build an X4 to compete with the crossover, and now Auto Express is reporting that may be game to take on the newcomer as well. We’re not talking about the Countryman here, either. The site claims that the head honchos at Mini are mulling bringing a two-door version of the high-rider to life, and that it will be called the Canyon when it arrives.
Auto Express doesn’t cite any sources or point to any hard evidence of this decision (no surprise there). Instead, the site has chosen to rely on the fact that the company has been kicking around the idea of a vehicle like the Canyon since 2005. Now that the Countryman is headed for production, the logic is that it wouldn’t take too much effort to slim the platform, throw on two doors and bolt up one very coupe-looking roof. Thing is, until we hear word from Mini itself, we’re going to have to approach this one with a whole heap of skepticism.
Fifth Gear’s Tiff Needell tries to outdo David Coulthard in the SLS AMG – Click above to watch video
David Coulthard was called to the Isle of Man to pilot an for a scene in a 3-D film. To ensure that DC could strut the coupe’s stuff, some of the island’s roads were closed to the public. That meant a place with no speed limits also had no traffic. And that meant Fifth Gear’s Tiff Needell felt the need to join DC and take the wheel himself. His goal: beat David’s top speed of 160 miles per hour. The sound of him making the effort alone is worth for the video.
Being the number one dealership for 11 years has its perks – like being able to pick up the phone and tell the suits up at Auburn Hills that you’d like a convertible version of the diabolical Viper ACR. According to AutoWeek, that’s exactly what Woodhouse Dodge did after hearing that its cash cow was headed to the slaughterhouse, and surprisingly enough, Dodge obliged. What resulted was a mere 20 examples of a drop-top ACR, complete the coupe’s tweaked suspension, mammoth brakes and special final gears in the transmission.
If you’re thinking that hacking the roof off of a standard is bound to play havoc with the car’s rigidity and aerodynamics, you’re probably right. That’s exactly why the ACR crew had to completely reinvent the roadster’s aero package with a stubbier rear wing and a redesigned front splitter – just to suit the topless car. As for rigidity, well, that’s just a sacrifice buyers are going to have to be willing to make. Dodge built just 20 of the cars for Woodhouse, complete with the same 21B build code set aside for the hard top cars. If you want one, get on the horn with Woodhouse Dodge in Blair, Nebraska. Just make sure you’ve got $107,310 to blow at the same time. Short of cash? Dream the impossible dream by checking out AutoWeek’s photos at the link below.
The automotive landscape must be stacked to the sky with kindling right now. It seems like it takes little more than a spark of interest in one odd duckling of a model to create a wildfire of a new segment. From the monsoon of crossovers currently drowning our fair nation’s freeways to weird hatch/crossover/sedan creations like the and , market segmentation is all the rage right now, and it doesn’t look like it’ll be slowing up anytime soon.
According to Autocar, may have started something with its LRX . The site claims that may be looking to broaden its X lineup with the addition of an X4 – which would predictably fall just above the X3 and below the – to do battle with the new low-riding Land Rover. Odds are that where Land Rover and BMW trod, others soon will follow. Autocar even goes on to say that an X4 would make it easy for the company to roll out an X4 M, complete with a 350-horsepower 3.0-liter twin-turbo I6 borrowed from the upcoming M Coupe. Yes, it would probably sell like hotcakes, even if we can see no reason to blast the X stable into ever finer divisions.
[Source: ] Photo by Drew Phillips / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
and terminated the contracts of thousands of dealers while the automakers were in bankruptcy proceedings; a move that was required by the Obama Administration’s auto task force as a condition of bankruptcy. The scheme was heralded as a way to save the struggling automakers millions or even billions of dollars, but special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) Neil Barofsky claims in an audit that the dealer closings weren’t “necessarily critical to the manufacturers’ viability.” Barofsky added in his TARP audit that the closing of dealerships would add thousands of workers to the unemployment lines “without sufficient consideration of the decisions’ broader economic impact.”
The U.S. Treasury, obviously, doesn’t agree with Barofsky’s assessment. The Detroit Free Press quotes an anonymous source who points out that it was well known in the auto industry that Detroit automakers have too many dealers. Toyota, for instance, has a much smaller dealer body than GM. And the dealers Toyota does have average much higher sales volumes than dealers of domestic products. That theoretically leads to dealers with more marketing muscle in their perspective markets. Not all automaker executives wanted to shrink their dealer networks, either. Some feared the loss of sales that would follow shutting down retail outlets, but the task force reportedly felt those lost sales would be recouped within a few years
But while arguments can be made for or against shrinking the pool of retail outlets around the country, one fact is hard to ignore. A reported 35,000 dealer employees lost their jobs in 2009 and 2010, or over three percent of all dealership employees around the country – roughly equal to the 32,000 jobs lost within the industry.
Barofsky also touched on the process which both Chrysler and GM used to determine which dealers should stay and which should go. The auditor claimed that Chrysler stuck to its plan throughout, which is evidenced by the fact that only 28 dealers won their arbitration cases out of 789 stores that were closed last year. Barofsky claims that GM wasn’t so strict in determining which dealers to cut, and there wasn’t much documentation to show how and why the General cut its dealers. GM has since restated 666 of the 1,454 dealers it cut, though the company gave dealers more than a year to wind down operations, while Team Pentastar cut off its under-performing dealerships almost immediately.
2011 Mercedes-Benz CL-Class active steering correction – Click above for high-res image gallery
The refreshed 2011 Mercedes-Benz CL-Class coupe is a prime example of how engineers are starting to take some of the disparate hardware technology that has been introduced over the last decade and integrate it to provide new functionality. The CL employs the various optical camera and radar sensors used for features like adaptive cruise control to help prevent accidents by first warning the driver and then intervening if the driver doesn’t respond.
We’ve had various lane departure and blind spot warning systems for several years now and like those, the Mercedes system starts by alerting the driver. At first, the blind spot system illuminates a yellow lamp in the relevant mirror, which changes to red and adds an audible warning if the driver doesn’t react. If the driver keeps moving into the path of another vehicle, a motor sends a rumble through the steering wheel and the brakes on the car’s opposite side are applied to pull it back in line.
has had similar lane-keep functionality for several years, but the CL is first car we’re aware of that integrates it with a blind-spot warning system.
Ferraris have been known to have the fire inside, and sometimes the coupes like to give their owners a . Literally. The gent in the photo was cruising through Paris in his new 458 Italia when he noticed that the rear fender was on fire. While he bolted from the driver’s seat and left the car burning in the middle of the street, a passerby happened to have a fire extinguisher and put the flames to rest before the 458 got an even blacker paint job.
We presume that was a different passerby than the one with the camera, who just took lots of photos of the car-b-que. Click the link for more of them, and watch out for flaming stallions in Paris.
Rendering of a next generation Chrysler PT Cruiser – Click above for high-res image gallery
The end of production of the prompted a reader at the to try his hand at rendering what could have been a next-generation edition of the retro hatchback. It’s often been said that following up a retro design is particularly difficult, though admittedly, has managed to do so with the .
The artist, Andrew Currie, has taken his cue from Mini by retaining the original PT’s basic shape, with the biggest changes applied to the nose. A larger grille with four round, exposed headlamps still retains the flavor of the outgoing model. If the design were applied to a more modern platform with an up-to-date powertrain and better handling, it’s certainly possible it could have been successful. The problem is that such designs tend to be fashion statements, and you know what they say about “One day you’re in …” In part, Mini’s success has come by expanding the concept to different body styles including the , and the upcoming coupe and roadster. It’s not clear that a single PT variant could do the job.
What do you think, could a new PT Cruiser with modern running gear still succeed? Let us know in our poll .
One would think that if was really invested in keeping the upcoming 2011 CLS under wraps, it wouldn’t be conducting an officialphoto shoot right outside of the company’s museum in Stuttgart. Evidently, though, that’s not the case. One keen-eyed visitor to the halls of Silver Arrow lore happened to spot a camera crew snapping photos of what looks to be an undisguised CLS, and was kind enough to share the find with . It’s the clearest look anyone has gotten of the reworked four-door yet.
As expected, the CLS now wears a more upright grille and plenty of familiar nose lines. That means more pronounced front fender flares and a smartly drawn hood are all part of the package now. The look is taken page for page from the same treatment the company spread onto its recently. Toward the rear of the car, buyers will notice more stylized quarter panels as part of an overall departure from the bubble look of this year’s car – if anything, the new CLS doesn’t look quite as swoopy, a bit less ‘four-door coupe’ than its trend-setting antecedent. While the outgoing CLS is plenty attractive as it is, we’re still looking forward to seeing the new model in the flesh – even if it does look a bit more traditional. Head over to for a closer look at the car. Thanks for the tip, Eber and Polandi!
2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe – Click above for high-res image gallery
isn’t content to just sit back and rest on its laurels. Despite the fact its , which was just introduced for the 2009 model year, has earned plenty of praise – including – the Korean automaker has upped the ante for 2011 with a host of new detail changes and one completely new model to spice things up.
The biggest single piece of news is the addition of an R-Spec package for the 3.8 V6-powered coupe. Previously only available on the , the R-Spec model includes all the goodies to make the car go, turn and stop as quickly as possible without adding the frilly stuff to hold it back… or add dollars and unwanted weight.
To the standard 306-horsepower V6 mated up to a six-speed manual transmission, the R-Spec adds 19-inch wheels with a gunmetal finish, Brembo brake package with 13.4-inch ventilated front rotors, stiffer suspension, a limited slip differential and sportier seats with larger bolsters. Naturally, appropriate badging is also included.
All Genesis Coupe models get a refinished interior for 2011 with soft-touch, matte-finish surfaces and dark metal-grain accents on key bits and pieces, along with softer leather on the steering wheel and cloth-wrapping on the A-pillars. There’s also new chrome trim on the shifter bezel, center stack knobs and gauge cluster rings.
There’s plenty more for the truly obsessive to, um… obsess over, so feel free to check out all the details in the press release .
has a lot on its plate at the moment. In addition to the spy shots we’ve seen of the next-generation , , and , our men in the trees have spotted this mule out roaming the streets, giving us a glimpse at what the all-new flagship Benz will have in store when it launches in the next few years.
Up front, it appears that the headlamps have been reduced in size and our spies indicate that full-LED units will be in place for the 2012 model year. Additionally, the front grille appears larger, mimicking what we’ve seen in the . Under the hood, we expect a full range of new engines, including gasoline, diesel and hybrid variations, keeping the big S-Class competitive with what the rest of the luxury barges coming to market in the next few years.
We fully expect to see more spy shots of the new S-Class as development continues, so stay tuned. As for the official reveal, look for that to happen sometime in 2011 with production models hitting the road in 2012.
2010 Local Motors Rally Fighter – Click above to see video
Local Motors hasn’t generated a whole lot of publicity since it debuted its crowd-sourced Rally Fighter off-road coupe at last year’s SEMA show, but that doesn’t mean the small-scale, forward-thinking builder hasn’t been busy. We haven’t managed to convince them to hand over the keys to one of their lunar buggies just yet, so we’re still patiently waiting in line to get behind the wheel. Who wouldn’t want to drive a giant 3,100-pound dune buggy with a fighter-plane-inspired sports coupe body and a torquey diesel under the hood?
When we finally do get to drive this fun and funky beast, we promise not to paint it orange or to put a big “01″ on the doors or even a Confederate flag on the roof. We can’t promise, however, that we won’t try our best to replicate this Bo and Luke-worthy stunt. The company has sent along a video to show that the Rally Fighter does indeed have off-roading chops, in case you doubted it after their . So check out the short clip and turn your sound up so you too can hear John Fogerty while it spools up and Waylon Jennings wailin’ while the Rally Fighter soars.
