Panoz Abruzzi Spirit of Le Mans – Click above for high-res image gallery
As Le Mans week has begun in France, ALMS founder Don Panoz has revealed the new limited production Abruzzi Spirit of Le Mans road car. From a design perspective, the Abruzzi clearly draws on the GTR-1 “Batmobile” racer of the late-1990s, Like the GTR-1, the Abruzzi is a front mid-engine design with an unspecified engine providing 600+ horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque mounted low and behind the front axle. Also following in the footsteps of its predecessor, the Abruzzi has its radiators mounted in the rear with cooling air being drawn from a duct in the roof and along the rear side windows.
Uniquely, only 81 cars will be built over three years, each corresponding to a Le Mans race up until 2013, and all of the cars will be delivered at Le Mans. Each buyer will be given a driving course with the car on the Bugatti circuit at Le Mans and invited to the next race as a guest of Panoz and race organizer Automobile Club de l’Ouest where they will have the opportunity to drive their cars on the full circuit prior to the race. For the moment, at least, the Abruzzi is only being homologated to European road regulations. No pricing has been announced yet, but we’re pretty confident it won’t fit into most bloggers’ budgets.
Lamborghini Navarra concept by Adam Denning – Click above for high-res image gallery
Has ’s current styling direction run its course? Those enamored by the Raging Bulls’ sharp creases and intersecting lines would surely protest, but sooner or later, like any other automaker, Sant’Agata will need to look for a new direction. And given that the company’s current design language – first seen on the Reventon supercar and inspired by the F-22 Raptor fighter jet – where better to turn for the next step than back to the designers at Lockheed Martin, the aerospace concern that lead its development?
In penning the Navarra concept depicted here, Adam Denning – an American designer with Lockheed Martin who earned his masters in automotive design at Milan’s Scuola Politecnica di Design – took into account Lamborghini’s succession of V12 supercars from the Miura to the , taking the company’s current sharp-edged language one step further by blending it with organic shapes inspired by classical Renaissance sculpture. The Navarro’s packaging is a touch shorter than the Murcielago’s but rides on a slightly longer wheelbase, envisioned to be built largely out of carbon fiber.
With already speeding , Lamborghini has likely already signed off on its design. But just the same, is this the direction the tentatively-dubbed “Jota” should be taking? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Enough is enough here, people. Sure, Mansory has given us a couple of lookers, like the and the . But there isn’t enough carbon fiber in the world to make up for some of its more questionable lapses in judgment. We’re talking here about the , the , and this latest .
Now which Mansory released back in October didn’t look bad, per se. At least not in relation to the unfortunately-shaped vehicle on which it is based. But somewhere along the line from conception to realization, all measure of good taste appears to have gone right out the window. One of the many windows, anyway.
It’s hard to argue with what Mansory has done under that long front hood. After all, what’s not to like about boosting the Turbo’s output from 500 horsepower all the way up to 690? The claimed four-second 0-62 sprint is hard to find fault with too. But they’ve lost us after that. The exterior has been fitted with an outlandish carbon fiber body kit, including front skirt, hood, LED running lights, wheel arches, side skirts, diffuser and rear wing. And those specially-designed wheels, of course. But if you can’t stand the sight of the garish bodywork, don’t even dare check out the custom interior with its Polo-Sport-on-acid two-tone leather upholstery. If you’re a glutton for punishment, though, you can check it all out in the gallery below. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you.
These interwebs are full or rumor and conjecture. The juiciest tidbits we publish here for your consideration and amusement. The latest? That the of the Ferrari 458 Italia will receive a retractable hard top.
Now if you’re thinking – given the “unavoidable” extra weight – that a hard top on a performance exotic makes about as much sense as a screen door on a proverbial submarine, we dare to challenge that assumption. Maybe that was once the case, and arguably still is for most automakers, but ’s carved out a niche for itself as an expert in lightweight construction and advanced design.
Say what you will about the , but during its development Maranello claims to have found the use of a was actually lighter in weight than an equivalent fabric roof would have been. (Not to mention that, in true Prancing Horse style, it’s the fastest in the business.) And remember the Superamerica it made out of the 575M with that invented by former Pininfarina designer (and deputy Ferrari GM) Leonardo Fioravanti?
Couple those past experiences with that the convertible version of arch-rival McLaren’s MP4-12C could also go drop-tin-top, and suddenly a 458 Spider with a hard top doesn’t seem quite so far-fetched.
Tupolev 007 aerosled at the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance- Click above for high res gallery
We’ll provide a full recap of the 2010 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance later, but this morning, we wanted to share one of the cooler vehicles on display with you – and while it has gullwing doors and is as exotic as it gets, it’s not even a car. While Cold War-era American astronauts were fished out of the drink by the U.S. Navy after splashdown, Soviet cosmonauts at the time faced a different set of risks when their spacecraft returned to Earth – namely, the possibility of landing in the Siberian wilderness. As such, a recovery vehicle was needed that could traverse varied terrain, operate in sub-zero temperatures, and move fast. Enter Russian aviation legend Aleksei Tupolev. His solution is seen here: the Tupolev 007 aerosled.
The shallow-draft craft is powered by a 9-cylinder radial aircraft engine generating 365 horsepower. Its interesting double-propeller is actually fixed, with the rear prop drafting the front blades to increase efficiency and make operation quieter. At speeds above 50 mph, the driver can engage an airfoil to lift the nose, allowing the 007 to skim the surface, meaning it can race across lakes, marshes, and snow with equal aplomb. The design reportedly won Tupolev the Diploma of Finest Engineer in the USSR (give the Soviets this: they had a flair for super-impressive-sounding awards), and you can go see it yourself if you’re within easy travel distance of Greenwich, CT.
Day 2 of the runs today from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM EDT, with foreign cars the featured element. Admission at the door is $25 (proceeds help benefit AmeriCares), and believe us, it’s money well spent. We’ll be there later today as well, and you can from the show by searching on the hashtag .
Gallery:
Additional info on the Tupolev aerosled sourced from , .
Some of the most famous cars in the history of the auto industry were some of the cheapest ones. The Model T, the Beetle, the Citroen 2CV and the BMC were so successful mainly because they were so affordable.
Now the industry is trying to replicate that success by designing low cost cars for booming developing markets, like India. But they’re discovering that building cheap cars is not nearly as easy as it sounds. And it all has to do with customer expectations.
In the past it was easy to build a cheap car for developing markets. All you had to do was take the tooling for an entry-level car that was being phased out of the market in a modern country and ship it to some backwater in the third world. Since the car was already developed and the tooling was already paid for, an automaker could build it cheaply with local labor. That’s how it was done for the better part of the 20th Century.
But then came the internet. All of a sudden, car buyers in developing nations became fully aware of the outdated designs being foisted upon them. They could easily Google up the latest American, European and Japanese models, pore through the technical specifications, download the photographs and watch videos of them all in action. With their rising standards of living, they were no longer content to buy the clunky cars available in their home markets. They wanted what we have.
John McElroy is host of the TV program and daily web video . Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers.
For safety’s sake, most of what we hear about phones and cars in the same news piece is about not dialing or texting while driving. The rest is usually about connecting your phone to your car… so you don’t have to dial or text while driving. But once in a while it comes down to phones inspired by cars. has done a few, and so has – with a range of manufacturers from to . The latest, however, is the product of Maranello’s partnership with Taiwanese computer firm Acer.
The tie-in has already spawned a number of laptop computers, but as phones get smarter and smarter, they’ve evolved into small computers to the point that computer companies are becoming some of the biggest players in the mobile phone market. Acer’s flagship model is the Liquid E, a touchscreen smartphone with a Snapdragon processor running Google’s Android 2.1 mobile operating system. Now they’ve done up a special edition for Ferrari, decked out all in Rosso Corsa and coming paired up with a similarly trimmed Bluetooth earpiece.
Aside from the racy color treatment, the Ferrari edition Liquid E comes emblazoned with the Prancing Horse badge surrounded by carbon fiber trim, a microphone cutout designed after the air intake on the side of a Scuderia Ferrari F1 car, and will surely come packed with Ferrari-themed wallpapers, icons, screen savers and ring-tones. The model’s just been unveiled at the Computex trade show, so no word on pricing just yet, but expect that to be suitably Ferrari-inspired as well.
We’ve seen showing heavily cloaked prototypes of the 2011 before, but our spy photographers just found the holy grail. Who knows how it happened, but the cover on this Charger prototype (we’re guessing it’s an R/T model) got flipped back to reveal the redesigned sedan’s new snout for the first time and our spies snapped the hell out of it.
The Charger’s new look will apparently be an evolution more than a revolution, with the current sedan’s squared off front end and angry expression receiving several tweaks. The grille, for instance, appears slightly taller and juts out farther creating a schnoz not unlike what you’ll find on the front end of a Mitsubishi Lancer (not a fan of the faux chrome, though). The Charger’s headlights always made the car look pissed off, but the new model appears to be in an even worse mood with a more aggressive scowl. The hood is definitely more chiseled as well, with what appears to be two recesses stamped in on either side of a center spine. Finally, the lower bumper receives new fog lamps and a larger lower air intake.
There were rumors that Dodge passenger vehicles would soon be sporting new badges that ditched the horned ram, in light of Ram trucks being spun off as its own brand. This prototype, however, is wearing a traditional Dodge badge with the hooved mammal’s head in relief like always. That doesn’t mean the brand couldn’t swap out badges at the last minute, but if that’s their plan, there’s no evidence here.
When you launch a vehicle during the year’s most over-hyped estrogenfest, you’re obviously trying to appeal to a specific demographic. Specifically, not us. There’s a reason we haven’t taken a crack at the Mercedes-Benz GLK until the sequel to Sex and the City hit the screen. It was just too easy to pigeonhole this cute ‘ute as nothing more than a boxy four-wheeled trinket – a cynical fashion accessory designed to compliment your rat-faced pooch and Manolo Blahniks (yes, we had to look that up).
But a funny thing happened on the way down I-5.
While blasting the stereo and hauling along at a decidedly Germanic clip, all of the stereotypes about the GLK’s target demographic flew out its expansive sunroof. For as much as we dislike the mere idea of “entry-level luxury” – and in particular the scads of pseudo-SUVs that populate it – the GLK started to make sense. It’s well proportioned, has adequate power and comes with nearly enough amenities to match its tri-pointed badge. We actually enjoyed it, even though our manhood might’ve taken a hit in the process.
We’re going to go out on a limb and say… most likely Judging by the and , this single image of the 2012 Ford Explorer appears to be the real deal. And we like what we see.
Although the futuristic lines of the have been considerably toned down, the new crossover is notably more svelte than its predecessors. The exterior styling is more an amalgamation of current design cues, specifically the -like headlamps and de-chromed tri-bar grille. The contouring on the front bumper is an interesting touch and the darkened A-pillars do their best wrap-around windshield impression.
If all goes according to plan, the all-new Explorer should arrive early next year, riding on a /-based unibody platform with EcoBoost power being sent to either the front or all four wheels.
2011 Saab 9-5 – Click above for high-res image gallery
Autoblog has learned that newly emancipated is already looking to boost its enthusiast portfolio with higher-output engines and performance parts, albeit in a temporarily limited fashion. According to company sources, the Swedish automaker is seeking to enhance the performance potential of its and the new 9-5, but it remains hamstrung by agreements signed with Saab’s previous owners that lay out chapter-and-verse about what power levels its products can offer through 2012. Why? Because “We can’t modify these licensed architectures in such a way that it will compete with General Motors products.” In other words, production-line models with stouter drivetrains have been ruled out for the next couple of years, leaving Saab to pursue other ways to bring more power to the people.
As such, company executives have been in talks with leading European Saab tuner Hirsch Performance AG (with whom it has a longstanding relationship) to develop new dealer-installed performance parts to be offered in North America and other markets. As Hirsch is not a well-known entity outside of Europe and diehard Saab enthusiasts, Saab has not yet decided under which name it will market these upgrades. However, these dealer-installed improvements could take the form of everything from ECU upgrades to aero kits, brakes, exhaust systems and other bolt-ons.
Discussions are ongoing, but names under discussion for the parts range include Hirsch, Saab Performance Group (SPG), as well as the Viggen moniker, both of which have been attached to high-performance Saab models in the past. It’s possible that different names will be adopted for different markets, leaving the door open for Hirsch in Europe and another designation in North America.
Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupe by Merdad – Click above for image gallery
Are you a purist who believes should have two or three doors and no more? Not convinced by ? Not impressed by some of the ? Then have a look at this conversion job by aftermarket firm Merdad.
Starting with either the current- or previous-generation , Merdad has chopped the rear passenger doors right off and replaced them with an aggressive body kit. But the British tuning house didn’t stop there: based on the Cayenne Turbo’s twin-snail 4.8-liter V8, Merdad has boosted output by nearly 250 horsepower to bring it up to a prodigious 740 overall, tipped to rocket the coupe-like sport-ute to 60 in under 4.4 seconds. That’s about all that’s available at the moment, but you can check out the renderings in the gallery below for a closer look.
1960 Pininfarina X Concept – Click above for image gallery
The Space Age was all the rage back in the late 50s and early 60s. Man was heading to the moon, the Jetsons were captivating our imaginations and even items as mundane as toasters and hairdryers looked like space ships. Car design was certainly no exception, and this was one of the most radical examples.
Designed by Pininfarina to test the limits of aerodynamic efficiency, the X Concept reconfigured the family sedan into something decidedly out of this world. The concept may look like a trike, but it actually has four wheels: one in front, two in the middle and one more around back, to give the wheelbase an X shape. Power came from a 1.1-liter Fiat engine with just 43 horsepower. Hardly enough to propel the little machine into outer orbit, but enough to push its svelte shape – try a drag coefficient of just 0.23 (lower than a ) – down the road.
Only one example was ever made, and now (appropriately enough) the Aero Toy Store in Fort Lauderdale has got it for sale at a staggering $3 million. Sound steep? Try , where the same dealer listed it for less than half that.
Ford Custom Vinyl Graphics – Click above for high-res image gallery
With the launch of the , put an emphasis on customization, primarily in the form of interior amenities and infotainment. But as we learned during our , the range of modifications won’t be limited to the inside – Ford’s making exterior graphics packages available for its new B-segment player, and the Fiesta won’t be the only model from the Blue Oval to don custom vinyl.
Ford’s added the and to the range of vehicles you can coat in a custom wrap, with over 50 available designs ranging from the predictable flames and matte black racing stripes to the decidedly more feminine flowers and bubbles.
If you click on over to you can start creating your own 3M Scotchprint wraps, and within the next few months the entire Ford line-up can be had with multi-colored vinyl to suit every available taste. So if your black-on-white isn’t standing out from the crowd at the soccer field, you can add a smattering of camo and a dash of “faux diamond plate aluminum look” to spruce things up. All of it will be available at a fraction of the cost of a custom paint job and will carry a three-year/36,000-mile warranty when it’s installed by a certified Ford dealership. Hit the jump for the details and check out the gallery below for a few designs.
Advanced Design Tramontana on Jay Leno’s Garage – Click above to watch video
just keeps on living the car-obsessed dream. The comedian recently got a chance to hop into the cockpit of the Advanced Design – answering the question about what would happen if you threw an Ariel Atom, KTM X-Bow and five kilos of cocaine into a blender and left it on for an hour or so. The car weighs around 2,700 pounds, which seems like quite a bit considering that there’s a monocoque at the heart of this beast, but there’s a surprise in the engine bay. A 5.5-liter twin-turbo V12 from Mercedes-Benz provides 750 horsepower to the rear wheels. The faint of heart can dial back the gusto to a more manageable 540 with the flick of a switch.
Advanced Design actually decided to plop an honest-to-goodness sequential six-speed gearbox behind that massive mill. Feel free to to see the full clip from Jay Leno’s Garage, complete with some very wild hair. It’s cool, Jay. We won’t judge.
Advanced Design Tramontana on Jay Leno’s Garage – Click above to watch video
just keeps on living the car-obsessed dream. The comedian recently got a chance to hop into the cockpit of the Advanced Design – answering the question about what would happen if you threw an Ariel Atom, KTM X-Bow and five kilos of cocaine into a blender and left it on for an hour or so. The car weighs around 2,700 pounds, which seems like quite a bit considering that there’s a monocoque at the heart of this beast, but there’s a surprise in the engine bay. A 5.5-liter twin-turbo V12 from Mercedes-Benz provides 750 horsepower to the rear wheels. The faint of heart can dial back the gusto to a more manageable 540 with the flick of a switch.
Advanced Design actually decided to plop an honest-to-goodness sequential six-speed gearbox behind that massive mill. Feel free to to see the full clip from Jay Leno’s Garage, complete with some very wild hair. It’s cool, Jay. We won’t judge.
Our long-termer has over 4,000 thousand miles on it now, and it’s broken in nicely. The six-speed cable shifter has freed up nominally (it’s still a bit notchy), and the turbocharged flat-four is singing as sweetly as ever.
As we , we’re pleased to note that Subaru has already begun making some nominal tweaks to the 2.5GT to make it a bit more special, particularly in the area of cabin furnishings. We find the interior to be a pretty comfortable – and hugely roomy – place to be, but for the range’s dedicated performance model, the 2010 iteration just isn’t adequately differentiated from other models in the series. Thanks to a slew of minor changes, the 2011 model’s interior promises visuals that are more in keeping with the 2.5GT’s sporting temperament.
Oh – another word about those front seats. We’ve taken a few longer drives over the past month, and while they’re still very comfortable, the lower seat cushions are quite short and we can’t help but wonder if this would become a problem for taller folks. We’re going to try to cajole some of our lankier friends into taking a few long drives with us and see how they come down. Either way, we do wish that the GT would rank model-specific seats with significantly more lateral bolstering for the twisties. No such issues with the rear seats – knee, leg and toe room is epic, as is headroom.
2010 Subaru Legacy 2.5GT: May 2010
There’s a lot to be said for simplicity over unnecessary complication.
Subaru has recognized the opportunity to substitute faux carbon fiber trim
for all updates.
One other thing we’ve noticed is that not only are the Legacy’s seats comfortable, the ride is extremely forgiving, even on 18-inch Bridgestone summer rubber. The 2.5GT has a surprisingly pliant sort of long-travel feel to it, which has proven to be an asset on the broken roads here in the Midwest. There might be a bit more lean in hard cornering as a consequence, but the tuning seems to mesh nicely with the idea of Subaru’s rally heritage – we can see getting our Scandy-flick on and catching air on modest jumps with few issues in this thing. We plan to have the Legacy live out in California for a few months later this year, where our man Lavrinc will tell us if this somewhat softish feeling is a liability on the state’s well-groomed curvy roads. For now, however, it’s a pleasure, making short work of Detroit’s broken streets.
In the meantime, our Subie continues to win friends on the streets and with family members, some of whom haven’t encountered a modern product from Fuji Heavy. We’ve had a surprising number of unsolicited compliments curbside and at gas stations, and we’re growing used to the design ourselves – those big fenders (purportedly to emphasize the car’s all-wheel drive nature) now almost look like they’re part of a sporty body kit to us – in a good way – and the deep maroon paint hides the car’s size, while the finish appears to be of uniformly high quality.
to check out all updates for our long-term 2011 Subaru Legacy 2.5GT.
The Hispania Racing Team has had a rough start this year in F1. The upstart squad has retired seven times in as many races, failing to score a single championship point so far. Which is still better than Virgin has fared so far – and surprisingly Sauber too – but that’s no way to enter the field. Now the outfit formerly known as Campos Meta 1 has split with its chassis supplier, with reports indicating it’s already looking into another for next season… if not for the remainder of this one.
Rather than design its own chassis from scratch, HRT opted to outsource to veteran constructor Dallara. But despite having managed to reach the grid in time for the start of the season, HRT claims Dallara didn’t put in enough testing time. There’s no question that HRT needs a better car, but where to find one on such short notice?
According to some reports, HRT is reportedly looking to acquire the – the car that would have fielded this year had they not withdrawn – and race that chassis instead. The pair of Toyota cars is reportedly up for sale after another F1 hopeful, , didn’t get a slot on the grid and subsequently defaulted on payments to Toyota. The Cologne-based facility is reportedly still in operation, providing services to other racing teams, and could be prepared to support HRT or any other team with the means to make a go of it.
AudiDesign Foosball Table – Click above for high-res image gallery
We know what you’re thinking. I love me some foosball; if only the game were infused with a bit more… car. Well, Design has answered your prayers, good friend.
The design was initially unveiled a couple of years ago, but is only now entering production, albeit limited: Only 20 examples of this soccer table are being produced by specialist firm Leonhart, each carrying a heft €12,900 (~$16k) price tag.
And yes, you could probably get yourself behind the wheel of a nice used for that amount. But would that be as much fun? Well, probably. But for the fanatic who’s already got an in the driveway, this very well might be the ultimate addition to the gaming room. Details – including endorsement from none other than the head of the Bavarian Table Soccer Association – in the press release after the jump.
A couple of years have passed now since the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) with something that better fits the times. The for creative types to submit ideas for the “Taxi of Tomorrow,” and one of the more interesting proposals to come in over the last couple of years is something called the UniCab.
The groundwork for NYC’s Taxi of Tomorrow is quite simple:
Meets highest safety standards
Superior passenger experience
Superior driver comfort and amenities
Appropriate purchase price and ongoing maintenance and repair costs
Smaller environmental footprint (lower emissions and improved fuel economy)
Smaller physical footprint (with more usable interior room)
Compliance with appropriate Americans with Disabilities Act requirements
Iconic design that will identify the new taxi with New York City
Born out of those guidelines, the UniCab looks nothing like a traditional taxi, aside from the yellow color. The UniCab features seating for four passengers, an automated ramp for those with disabilities, an infotainment center that displays intended routes and attractions along the way and outward sight lines that allow all of the passengers to get a great view of the glorious city of New York. Though nothing more than a design sketch right now, the UniCab could change our perception of taxis in the future and make hailing a cab the hip, green thing to do. Hat tip to Zelda!
