has released a passel of official photosd of the 2013 , the sedan it “would like to make #1 if customers agree.” While the new styling might take getting used to, the other changes are all welcomed: it’s lighter, has a revised transmission, will return 38 miles per gallon if equipped with the four-cylinder, and starts at $21,500 before the $760 destination charge.
Now that the Altima and are known quantities, the pending reveal of the will fill out the field and then we’ll have a better idea of the fight to come. Until then, have a closer look at the new Altima in the photo gallery above.
It takes a fast and agile car to keep pace with MotoGP racing bikes. Fortunately the M division is up to the task, providing safety cars (or what we’d call pace cars on this side of the Atlantic) to the race organizers of the top-level motorcycle racing series.
The most recent vehicles to perform the duties have been the and the crossover, but now BMW is introducing a the new coupe to the mix. It’ll debut in safety car guise as pictured above at the Nürburgring this weekend.
While it’s unclear whether any modifications have been made to the 552-horsepower twin-turbo V8, the M6 MotoGP safety car has been upgraded with new spoilers front and rear, special lighting equipment and BMW’s traditional blue, blue and red striping on a white body. And if we were betting men, we’d put our money on some upgrades to the brakes, suspension and tires, too.
If you need to haul some stuff in a big hurry, you could do a lot worse than the Estate wagon. It offers all the power of its coupe and sedan siblings, only with the added cargo space that so many European customers prefer over the betrunked versions. But if the stock 457 horsepower isn’t enough, the good folks over at Edo Competition are glad to help out with an upgrade of their own.
That upgrade, it turns out, is anything but negligible, pumping output up by nearly 150 horsepower to a stonking 600. Torque has also been boosted from 442 lb-ft stock to 501, where that extra single measure of twist makes all the difference.
The boost comes courtesy of new exhaust, headers, cats and filters, supplemented by 19-inch modular alloys riding on suitably low-profile Michelin rubber, with a slew of interior enhancements to make the Edo C63 feel all the more special.
The exterior, however, remains decidedly low-key – all the better for messing with the head of drivers on the Autobahn while hauling the whole family and all their gear. Check it out in the press release below and the high-res image gallery above.
If you’re in the market and mood for a 6.5-ton cab-over truck that also offers power to all its wheels, Fuso would like you to have a look at its new Canter 4×4. With the addition of selectable four-wheel drive, Fuso is hoping to expand the 4×2 Canter’s traditional market into unpaved uses like construction and municipal services.
Power comes from a 3.0-liter, four-cylinder turbodiesel with 175 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque. A stop/start system is also used to improve efficiency. Standard features include a locking rear differential, exhaust brake, approach and departure angles that are nearly doubled over the 4×2 model, and a 40,000-kilometer maintenance interval. Options are plentiful, including single or crew-cab bodies, two wheelbase choices, payload up to 3,725 kilograms, 320 millimeters of ground clearance and 100 plain, metallic and pearl-finish paint colors.
For truck fans, there’s a press release below and a high-res gallery of the Canter 4×4 in all kinds of poses.
Automakers are usually pretty decisive. They either build a car or they don’t. But has embarked down a bumpier road with Lagonda.
Aston bought the Lagonda marque way back in 1947, but after operating it as a separate brand for a few years, it let the brand peter out in the 1950s and 60s. The moniker was revived as a nameplate on a handful of Aston Martin sedans beginning in the 1970s, but that was pretty much the last we saw of it until the 2009 .
That’s when the British automaker unveiled the rather unusual concept vehicle (pictured above) to revive the Lagonda name once again as a separate brand. It was meant to test the waters, and the response was not favorable. So it had appeared that AML was dropping the L from its initials and the entire project along with it. But as a stand-alone niche automaker looking to stay afloat in a rapidly amalgamating industry, Aston needs to produce more than front-engined, rear-drive, two-door GTs. And the sedan apparently isn’t going to be enough, so it looks as if that the Lagonda project could be back on the table.
According to Autocar, the real impetus, however, could be coming from emerging markets in Asia – particularly China, but also the Middle East and Russia. The timing for a high-end luxury crossover built by a company known for its exotic sports cars, however, could prove to be good timing or poor: , and are all entering the segment in the coming years, so if Aston wants to get a slice of that lucrative pie pioneered by , it had better get those wheels in motion.
There are driving simulators and there are racing simulators. They tend to cross over, but what divides them are the types of cars and the types of roads used in the game. Drive racing cars on digitally recreated racing circuits and you’re looking at a racing sim. Street cars on public roads (whether simulated or replicated) and you’re playing a driving game. The Forza Motorsport franchise has always been more of a racing simulator than a driving game, but the minority of open roads that have appeared in the four iterations of the series so far are about to jump into their own game altogether with the launch of Forza Horizon.
Having made the initial announced back in March, Microsoft hand Turn 10 Studios have now released the box cover art and a single frame of in-game footage, both depicting the new SRT Viper on the open road. The cover, as you can see, shows a yellow Viper with black stripes speeding out of a mountain town, while the screenshot shows us a metallic Viper – like the one we saw at its unveiling in – on a desert highway in what looks like Carburator County from Pixar’s Cars.
About a year and a half (if you can believe it) since the launch of Forza 4, the arrival of Forza Horizon will surely come as welcome and eagerly anticipated by the legions of racing and gaming fans that have enjoyed the various iterations of the franchise until now. All we know about its release is that it’s coming sometime in the fall, but with the E3 gaming convention just a couple of weeks away, we should have more to bring you soon, so watch this space.
There was nary a peep of discontent about the looks of the revealed at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show. But when everyone was clamoring for Scooby to transfer the Advanced Tourer’s looks to a production vehicle, never once did people ask for that transfer to be foisted on the WRX. A report in Motor Trend, though, says that’s what’s happening: the concept “was actually an early look at the next-generation .”
MT’s sources said the front end Advanced Tourer’s front end will go onto the WRX, with other aspects of the concept made more aggressive to suit the personality of Subaru’s rally-ready racer. And if the concept also presages the next WRX’s dimensions, then you can expect the next-generation sedan and hatchback to be larger (though in truth we don’t anticipate a big gain in footprint).
Notice the name “” hasn’t appeared anywhere in our discussion yet. Subaru is reportedly dropping the name in an attempt to get more ‘Likes’ for the WRX by making it more approachable, so the next model will relinquish its association with the Impreza line and be more performanced focused even as it is receives a better interior and is morphed into a “more-mature sporty grand tourer.” Engine choices are still being debated for the car due in 2015; the rumored options include 1.6-liter and 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinders and a hybrid version of the 1.6-liter.
, in an attempt to make its purchase of more profitable, has been marketing rebadged and Chrysler models in Europe with .
Europeans apparently love the Fiat Freemont, known as a Dodge here in the States. Fiat sold almost 6,500 of the crossovers over there in the first quarter and hopes to move 30,000 by year’s end. Sales were helped by Fiat’s large European dealer network as well as an MSRP lower than the model it replaced. Since the Journey is built in Mexico, it can be imported into Europe tariff-free, which helps keep the sticker price lower.
On the other hand, sales of the Lancia Thema () and Lancia Voyager () are not doing so well due to several factors. One is the limited reach of the Lancia brand outside Italy. Then there’s the 10 percent import tariff since they’re both built in Canada, a yearly 500 euro luxury tax (about $630 USD) on the Thema, and a limited advertising budget for the two cars.
Only 1,342 Voyagers were sold in Europe in the first quarter of this year, which means the 11,000 unit goal for the year will probably be missed. Lancia sold only 480 Themas during the same period, well short of the 2,500 Fiat had hoped to sell.
On Thursday night’s Autoline After Hours, SRT boss Ralph Gilles sat down with show hosts John McElroy and Peter DeLorenzo, along with Autoblog and AOL Autos staffers to talk all things . Among the interesting tidbits disclosed about the 640-horsepowersupercar are plans for a new dealer certification process designed to encourage the sort of purchasing, service and ownership experience that buyers of six-digit cars have come to expect.
According to Gilles:
“It’s going to be a qualified dealer situation… The ones who do the dealer training in terms of the tech. I want a tech. I want a display car. I want all these things. There’s going to be a list. It’s not going to be impossible, it’s just that someone has to put in the extra effort and say ‘I’m an SRT dealer.
Off the air, Gilles told Autoblog that officials have already approached a number of dealers with a strong record of Viper and SRT sales to discuss how the certification process will work, gaining valuable feedback in the process. A document outlining the new certification program will go out to dealers next month.
Chrysler has yet to announce official pricing and the Viper won’t go on sale until sometime in the fourth quarter of the year, but that hasn’t stopped a queue of customer deposits from piling up. According to Gilles, one particularly strong Viper dealer already has around 90 such deposits in-hand. Considering that Viper sales averaged about 1,600 units in past years, that’s a substantial figure.
In other news, Chrysler officials have been making a big point of talking about the 2013 Viper’s newfound refinements, from reduced NVH to nicer interior materials and improved drivability thanks to the institution of technologies like stability control and traction control. Gilles says that great care has been taken to ensure the model’s core personality still shines through, but given that much of the Viper’s mystique is centered on its raw, leg-burning, hairy-knuckled persona, we couldn’t help but wonder aloud if the new model’s refinements have left room for a stripped-out hardcore version for Viper purists and racers. With raised eyebrows, arms gesturing wildly and stifling a smile, Gilles wryly said: “I love how you think. Next subject!”
To watch the Autoline After Hours episode in its entirety, .
No, that’s not a in a fat suit, it’s the automaker’s brand-new all-electric race car, and it’s set to take on the in July. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an EV enter the Pike’s Peak challenge – for battle last year, a car that set the bar for all future electric racers.
says that its race car, dubbed i-MiEV Evolution, uses the same motor, drive battery and other major components as the standard, bean-shaped electric car that we haven’t quite grown to love. Aside from the additional bodywork, the chassis has clearly been lengthened and widened, and the race car now uses an all-wheel-drive configuration rather than the rear-wheel drive of the standard i-MiEV.
To give you an idea of just how big the racer is, a quick glance of Mitsubishi’s specs show that the i-MiEV Evolution’s dimensions are within a few inches of the stock . We wouldn’t be surprised if the all-wheel-drive system was sourced from the Lancer, as well.
Mitsubishi will also be bringing two more of its EVs to the Pike’s Peak event, including an i that has been updated with a more aerodynamic front bumper and new safety equipment, as well as a bone stock model. for the official press blast.
It’s official. You really can build anything from Lego blocks. Behold a fully-functional 1:8.5 scale version of a Land Rover Defender 110. This radio-controlled machine features a five-speed transmission with reverse, a two-speed transfer case that offers both four-wheel and two-wheel drive modes and functional disc brakes on all four corners. It’s cool. We’ll wait while you pick your jaw up off the floor. The machine was also built with fully functional steering that uses the same number of turns-to-lock as the real deal. All told, there are nearly 2,800 parts in the build, including seven motors.
There’s a full solid-axle suspension underneath with long-travel springs. Top speed is around 2.5 mph. What’s more, the whole body can be removed with just four pins to see the workings underneath.
If that’s not cool enough, the machine has been picked up over at Lego CUUSOO. If it gets 10,000 votes, Lego will produce a kit based off of this creation. That’s right – this masterwork isn’t a kit – an independent Lego maniac by the name of Sheepo came up with it. Head for more information, and be sure to to check out a video of the machine.
is an automaker not without its own racing pedigree, but the bulk of that is anchored in the 1920s and at Le Mans, to which it returned in winning form in the earlier part of the new millennium with the . The latest development could, however, see the Flying B marque enter into another class of motorsport competition altogether.
That opposite end of the endurance racing spectrum is the torturous Dakar rally. We first published of Crewe’s consideration of the possibility back in November, but according to CAR Magazine, those rumors are apparently kicking into high gear.
That much is owed largely to the emergence of the above-pictured EXP 9 F program, Bentley’s concept SUV currently under development. Well, sorta. Bentley’s parent company recently withdrew from the Dakar rally after winning it three times in a row – ostensibly to focus on its new World Rally Championship effort, but spurring rumors all the same of it transferring the team to another brand.
Given that the EXP 9 F is based (or would be, anyway) on an architecture related to the – the race model of which is what the VW team used to dominate the event – the facilitation of Bentley’s take-over of the program could prove even more straight-forward than the manner in which successfully supported Bentley’s Le Mans team.
To wit, the boys from Crewe are said to be in the process of buying back all the rigs – complete with their 2.5-liter twin-turbo diesels producing 300 horsepower and 442 lb-ft of torque – that Volkswagen sold to privateer teams upon its departure, suggesting rather poor planning and perhaps only a passing resemblance to the eventual production EXP 9 F (which, incidentally, isn’t expected to look like the concept above).
There was a lot of built-up excitement surrounding the larger and less costly , but the anticipation deflated among critics when the model’s less-than-impressive interior was revealed to the world. Critics chided the cheapened cabin, and quite a few negative reviews followed.
It’s tough to argue that in the process of its upsizing, the Jetta’s interior wasn’t downgraded with lesser plastics and trim. The does a much better job in this regard, but even then there are some areas where it feels like cost has been taken out of the cabin. But none of that is apparently enough to stop designer Jae Min from taking issue with these characterizations. Ward’s Automotive reports that VW’s chief U.S. designer claims that the Jetta and Passat interiors were not the victims of cost-cutting. Min claims that the money was simply re-purposed, with money shifting “from here to there.” The designer went on to add that the automaker was able to lower the starting price of both vehicles in part because of more flexible vehicle architectures and shifting production from Germany to the States.
While Min sounds convinced that no pennies were pinched, we’re not so sure – unless when he says money was shifted “from here to there” he means “from where you can see and feel to where you can’t.” Regardless of what we think, one statistic is impossible to argue: Jetta sales have shot up 43.9 percent this year and Passat sales have skyrocketed by 80.9 percent. That, ladies and gentlemen, is letting the numbers do the talking.
Farmer, car dealer, Le Mans winner, sports-car maker, businessman and tuner on May 11. To honor his contribution to the numerous segments of the auto industry he impacted, cable network Velocity will be airing a three-hour, three-part miniseries on Sunday, May 20.
Called “King of the Road: Carroll Shelby,” each hour-long episode will chronicle an era in Shelby’s life: his journey from a Texas farm to the top step at Le Mans and building the ; his partnership with and the ; and the road that car followed into becoming the .
Have a read of the press release , and tune into Velocity at 8 p.m. EST on Sunday for a lesson in the hardest-charging gentleman racer ever.
How many people can you fit into a car? It’s a question that’s been asked about any number of small cars. They’re usually models, and those determined to find the answer are most likely to be a group of relatively small and flexible individuals. But has taken a different approach.
The American automaker’s British division wants to know how many rugby players can fit inside a new – one of its smallest vehicles, also known as the on this side of the Mayflower’s journey. But rather than answer the question itself, it has launched a competition across the UK. With the rugby season about to kick off, whichever team fits the most of its players into an Aveo by the end of the year will win a whole mess of new equipment.
Our money’s on the local grade school’s team. Check out the press release for more.
Slammed Skodas, Seats, and Polos are all well and nice, but at the end of the day, the annual gathering of performance enthusiasts at Lake Wörthersee in Austria is about the . That much isn’t lost on Volkswagen, so in addition to bringing the new along with all the aforementioned corporate cousins, the German automaker has rolled into the lakeside expo with the tricked-out concept car you see here.
Called the GTI Black Dynamic, the show car is the work of nine lucky (and apparently talented) student interns at Volkswagen. The team dropped the suspension 35 mm lower than stock, bumped the output up by 150 horsepower to a prodigious 360, upgraded the gearbox and brakes to cope with the extra power and fitted an 1,800-watt sound system.
Of course all that kit couldn’t go unnoticed, so the Black Dynamic GTI was also treated to a deep black paint job with matte anthracite trim and red detailing. The team even went so far as to hand-craft the GTI letters on the lift-gate and gave the car a custom interior, too. You can read more about it in the pair of press releases , or better yet see it from all the angles in the high-res image gallery above.
recently unveiled of the impossibly old – promised to be the final one before a complete redesign. But the overripe vintage of the first SUV to fall from Volvo’s vine isn’t stopping corporate parent Geely from absconding with the platform to launch a new high-end brand for China.
According to China Car Times, Volvo’s will be launching in 2014, and after that the original will soldier on in China, at least in some form. The report does not make clear whether the first-generation XC90 will merely be re-badged, or if the platform will be used for a new Geely design.
Geely launched its first SUV, the GX7, at this year’s , according to the report.
GTI Treffen may have started out as a gathering for owners of pocket rockets, but by now it’s blown into a full-on celebration of everything related to hot hatches and more. And though it remains a grassroots event by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, Volkswagen is wise not to ignore it. These days, it comes to the annual lakeside gathering in Austria with a handful of show cars in tow, and brings its sister-brands along for the ride, too.
has already announced the concept destined for Wörthersee, and Skoda is coming with a pair of Citigo concepts – one made up as a DJ booth and the other as a rally car. Now their Spanish cousins at Seat have revealed the veritable motorcade of show cars it’s bringing to the meet-up.
Seat will be showcasing the it unveiled in Beijing, but that’s not all. It’ll also display a customized Ibiza FR and Leon Cupra R, a Mii city car (that’s the Spanish version of the Volkswagen Up!) imagined in sporty FR trim and, most enticing of all, a pair of racing models that are ready to hit the track.
The Ibiza SC Trophy packs a 180-horsepower turbo four with DSG, locking differential, upgraded brakes, modified oil sump and competition-spec suspension, available to aspiring racers for 31,500 euros (before taxes, or about $40K). The Leon Super Copa, meanwhile, is closely mirrored on the car that Seat ran in the World Touring Car Championship and packs a 300-horse 2.0-liter turbo four with all the trimmings, available for 63,000 euros (about $80K). Both can be fielded in spec-racing series across Europe and arrive at Wörthersee in grey with fluorescent orange accents.
Check out the full spread in the high-res image gallery above and the press release .
If you thought the Group was about to wind down the endless stream of concept cars based on the new Up! city car, think again. Because not only is the Volkswagen brand itself keeping the train a-moving, so are its sister brands.
Skoda has its own version of the Up called the Citigo. But what racing fans know the Czech subsidiary for best is its rally program that has become a dominant force in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge and the basis for VW’s own foray into the World Rally Championship. Now Skoda is bringing the two together with an exciting concept car previewed by the rendering above and confirmed in the press release below.
Following in the footsteps of the tantalizing unveiled last year, the Citigo Rally concept is to be the centerpiece of the Skoda display at the Volkswagen Group’s annual hot-hatch gathering at Lake Wörthersee in Austria. Details are scarce, but the show car will feature rally-inspired bodywork complete with 18-inch white alloys packed into aggressively flared wheel arches, a substantial rear wing and vents aplenty.
It will be joined by a second Citigo converted into a mobile DJ booth with a 100,000-watt sound system that will be scoring the Skoda booth at Wörthersee, but our eyes will be on the rally concept.
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.
