has let slip a few additional teasers for the company’s concept headed to the Geneva Motor Show in March. As you may recall, the vehicle is an engineering study designed to evaluate what kind of emission reductions can be accomplished in the city car segment without resorting to exotic materials or science-fiction drivetrains. Toyota says the concept emits around 50 percent less CO2 than your run-of-the-mill supermini thanks in part to the fact that it tips the scales at a feathery 1,763 pounds.
The hybrid’s aerodynamic shape and efficient powertrain also contribute to the reduction. While the FT-Bh isn’t headed to production any time soon, there’s a good chance some of the vehicle’s tricks may show up on consumer models in the near future. to check out a short teaser video and the press release, and be sure to stay tuned for our live Geneva Motor Show coverage.
You’ve seen the Grand Sport. You’ve seen the Super Sport. Now meet the Super Grand Sport.
Actually, calls its latest version of the the Vitesse – French for “speed” – but it is essentially a combination of the best traits of the Grand Sport and Super Sport models. The Grand Sport, as you may recall, is the convertible (or targa) version of the Alsatian supercar, while the Super Sport is the more powerful, record-breaking version.
As expected, Molsheim has taken the 1,200-horsepower version of the Veyron’s engine – all eight liters, sixteen cylinders, four turbochargers and (while we’re counting) ten radiators of it – from the Super Sport and combined it with the open-top body-style of the Grand Sport. The result is what Bugatti calls (and we have every reason to believe is indeed) the most powerful production roadster of all time, and with time, it will undoubtedly prove the fastest too.
In the meantime, Bugatti plans to unveil its newest seven-figure model at the rapidly approaching , but you can check it out now in the pair of high-resolution images below and the press release after the jump.
It’s been seen by millions of viewers on television and the internet, it’s been on both sides of the aisle and it’s been . And, according to YouTube, staring Clint Eastwood has been named the top Super Bowl car commercial of 2012.
For those keeping track of such things, Chrysler’s commercial has over 10.5 million views on YouTube, though we do feel the need to remind everyone that the video was , which we’d imagine is one of the highest traffic times for such advertisements.
The only other commercial from an automotive company that made YouTube’s top five Super Bowl commercials was – itself controversial due to before it aired on the worldwide stage.
The number one ad, you ask? That would be M&M’s “Just My Shell” commercial. Guess there really is no accounting for taste… we prefer our M&Ms to be green, just like everyone else. Feel free to watch Chrysler’s winning ad one more time .
Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, few automobile shapes are as imitated as the legendary Jaguar E-Type. Of course, itself has drawn inspiration from its most iconic sportscar with the contemporary and the more recent concept. has reinterpreted the classic with modern accoutrements. And about a year ago a Swedish designer by the name of Bo Zolland rendered a sumptuously retro re-imagination of the form with the .
That design was by a firm called Visualtech, but now the design has resurfaced under a new moniker: Lyonheart. Based on a tweaked version of Zolland’s renderings, designer Robert Palm has given the retro E a slightly more aggressive look, with more catlike headlamps and retro touches that are somehow even more pronounced.
The new Anglo-Swiss outfit intends to render the shape in carbon fiber, stainless steel, brushed aluminum, chrome, leather and wood veneer and put it into limited production in England for 495,000 euros a pop – equivalent to about $650K. Power is slated to come from a supercharged 5.0-liter V8 with 550 metric horsepower (542 by our standards) and 500 pound-feet of torque, which – coupled with a curb weight targeted under 3,500 lbs – aims to propel the Lyonheart K from 0-62 mph in under four seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 300 kph (186 mph).
for the press release and scope out the fresh renderings in the high-res image gallery above for a closer look.
Exclusive can be an overused word in the automotive industry, but if anyone can claim the description, it’s Mosler. The Florida-based supercar manufacturer recently announced that it will be limiting production of its MT900S Photon supercar to a single unit for 2012. Having that sort of exclusivity comes at a cost, though, and the customer that decides to pick up Mosler’s 2012 allocation will have to shell out upwards of $479,000.
So what’s so special about the Mosler MT900S Photon? For starters, it’s one of the lightest supercars on the market, weighing in at just under 2,500 pounds thanks to a composite chassis and carbon fiber body panels. Motivation comes from a 7.0-liter V8 borrowed from tuned to deliver 535 horsepower, allowing the Mosler to reach 60 mph in less than three seconds and a top speed of over 200 mph. Despite having a design that’s more than a decade old, the Mosler still looks somewhat modern (if kit-car like), particularly with in Proton guise that adds additional aerodynamic modications.
for the brief press release from Mosler Automotive, or have a look at the car in more detail in the gallery above.
There are any of a number of places you’d expect to find a : at the race track, on the auction block, in the showroom, parked in front of the swankiest restaurants in town… To see one in the water usually spells trouble, but history is not without its exceptions.
Back in the 1980s, Italian boatbuilder Riva collaborated with Ferrari for a rather Testarossa-inspired speedboat, but long before that, the House that Enzo Built lent its expertise and 4.5-liter V12 engine to Achille Castoldi to build the hydroplane power boat you see here.
Castoldi was bent on setting a new speed record on the water, and with this spectacular watercraft – dubbed Arno XI – he did just that. The Ferrari-powered vessel hit an astonishing 150.19 miles per hour at Lake Iseo in northern Italy on October 15, 1953. That’s mighty impressive in its own right, but what’s even more astounding is that the record stands in the 800kg category to this day.
To get there, Ferrari and Castoldi took the same Type 375 4.5-liter V12 engine that powered José Florian Gonzalez to his first grand prix victory at Silverstone, marinized it and fitted two superchargers to crank out more than 600 horsepower.
Now Arno XI is heading to the auction block in Monaco, where RM Auctions expects it will fetch around $1.5 million. Whether you’ve got that kind of cash or not – and whether or not Monte Carlo is in your travel plans for May – you can pull up alongside it in the gallery of high-resolution studio and archival images above.
As Danica Patrick prepares for her first NASCAR Sprint Cup race next weekend in the Daytona 500, she’s apparently taking advantage of the publicity to try to remediate her image. After seven years of promoting her attractiveness with nearly equal billing to her race driving acumen, Patrick has asked the media to quit calling her “sexy.”
According to USA Today, Patrick said “If there is a pretty girl, (reporters) don’t know how to describe her other than being sexy. It has such a negative connotation to it … Why can’t there be other words for it? Why does it have to be somewhat negatively twisted?”
Patrick was featured in the , and has appeared in that also played up her looks. She has also made several “sexiest” lists, including one compiled by Victoria’s Secret and two by FHM magazine.
Patrick’s big break came in her first Indy 500 appearance, when she became the first woman to lead the race. She finished fourth that year, in the same position she qualified. Patrick raced in the Indy Racing League for seven years, while also competing in ARCA and NASCAR’s Nationwide Series in 2010 and 2011 in preparation for this year’s transition to Sprint Cup.
With dozens of major automakers competing to separate us from our hard-earned cash in return for the newest, greatest development in motorized transportation, there are new cars making their debut just about every day. But the vast majority of them are not, of course, from . Even with four production model lines, the purveyor of exotic performance machinery doesn’t have a new model to roll out every day. But that rare occurrence is coming up, and in typical Maranello style, it’s coming up fast.
We’re talking, of course, about the F620 GT, a new front-engined, rear-drive V12 supercar designed to succeed the . We’ve brought you spy shots of the prototype undergoing testing at Fiorano and seemingly countless rumors of its composition, but soon we won’t have to squint at spy shots and speculate at details as the car’s unveiling is just around the corner.
Although the supercar’s public debut is expected to take place at the in just a couple of weeks from now, Ferrari will reveal the car it calls its most powerful to date in all its glory a little before that, on February 29. In the meantime, you’re invited to crank up the speakers, strap on a bib and for a teaser video where a camouflaged prototype clears its throat in spectacular fashion.
With co-branding arrangements in place with an increasing array of luxury labels, doesn’t limit its brand just to cars these days. But of all the sunglasses, wallets, pens, skis and cashmere scarves licensed by the British purveyor of super-luxury automobiles, few are as well established as its partnership with Breitling.
The Swiss watchmaker has been with Bentley for years, and has celebrated every milestone along the way. So with the introduction of the new V8-powered , Breitling wasn’t about to miss the opportunity to dazzle us with another piece of shiny wrist candy.
Limited to just 250 examples, the Breitling for Bentley GMT V8 chronograph features an additional hour hand that displays the time in a second time zone, and a rotating red inner bezel displaying major cities in time zones around the world. It’s powered by a COSC-certified chronometer mechanism with a 30-second sweep, encased in steel and affixed to the wrist with either a metal bracelet or unique rubber strap.
We wouldn’t dare ask how the timepiece sells for, but considering the Bentley customers they’re selling to, we’d expect suitably Bentley-like prices.
A year-and-a-half-ago we heard that the model to replace the Ferrari Enzo was at the for inspiration. Then we heard, nearly one year ago, that this Ferrari . Add those two ingredients to a 7.3-liter V12 and stir in Ferrari’s talk of light weight, and the resulting supercar will be a 920-peak-horsepower celestial stallion that weighs just 2,500 pounds, according to a report in Automobile.
The V12 will be responsible for 800 of those horses, 100 more than the replacement, the F620, that will use a and that we’ll see at the in early March. The supplemental 120 hp will be provided by a KERS hybrid setup.
The carbon fiber body is expected to hold largesse down to around 2,500 pounds, which – if all of these numbers come true – would mean a supercar that weighs 500 pounds less than 651-hp Enzo, and about the same as the 2,546-pound, track-only FXX, but that has about 100 more ponies. If all goes to plan we’ll see it in the fall – until it starts moving, at least, when we’ll just have to listen for the sonic booms.
It was only a matter of time before someone took a crack at parodying the most recent Super Bowl commercial from . Saturday Night Live has stepped up to the plate with a new skit featuring none other than Bill Hader in Clint Eastwood’s shoes and scowl. The spot pokes fun at the unintentionally political ad, with Hader scowling his way through a third-quarter speech. We won’t ruin the ending for you, but we will say the skit features the phrase “tiny little chicken legs.” Comedy gold.
Chrysler came under fire shortly after the company’s game-day spot aired. The commercial featured Clint Eastwood drawing parallels between the fall and resurrection of Detroit and the rest of America. Critics complained the spot was a thinly veiled argument for a second term for the Obama Administration. Eastwood, a republican who was vocally against the auto bailout, quickly denied those claims. for both the SNL skit and the original ad.
All things being equal, we’d generally rather have more cylinders than fewer. But upset that particular applecart with the latest . Not only is the 500-horsepower V8 version less expensive than the 567-hp W12, it also boasts better handling (thanks to less weight in the nose) and better fuel economy, too – all with a scant 67 less horsepower.
So why would anyone want the twelve-cylinder version? That’s a good question, and one which Bentley is apparently not afraid to ask itself.
Some customers will likely opt for the W12 for snobbery’s sake or because their last Conti had one, but the crew at Crewe aren’t about to let that stand at the extent of it. So word has it that the British automaker is gearing up to substantially improve its W12 engine in due course.
So what will those improvements encompass? Hard to say, but sources in the UK suggest a similar process that brought the -sourced V8 up to Bentley specifications. The speculation is also that an eight-speed automatic is in the cards to replace the current six, and that hybrid technology is under consideration, too.
Aside from the fuel economy aspect, however, we ought to be looking at around 600 horsepower from the updated W12 – and that’s just in base trim, with the Speed model and maybe even a new Supersport version to pack even more.
Ken Block might not be the world’s best World Rally Championship driver, but he might be the sport’s best entertainer. The superstar knows how to rack up YouTube views with jaw-dropping stunts and a panache that most of us can only dream of.
Beyond the jump is the latest Ken Block production, but instead of the real KB, we get funnyman Nick Swardson dressed up in full Block gear. Swardson pokes fun of Block just about every way imaginable, and the real Block sits in disguised as the interviewer.
It’s hilarious, and you can watch it . We’d watch it again, but we’re too busy looking for Ken-chantment cologne on Amazon.
There’s little question that Caterham is on the rise. The British automaker may still be known primarily for building continuation models of the classic Seven, but under the new ownership of AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes, it is expanding in a big way.
The company teamed up with Lola for the SP/300.R, one of the only vehicles Caterham has ever made that was not based on the Seven. Caterham now also has its own F1 team, and has promoted the team’s technical director Mike Gascoyne – a longtime F1 engineer and chassis designer – as chief technical officer for the entire group, overseeing the road car division, the advanced composites operation, the new R&D center and the motorsport division.
That’s not all, though. Caterham has been rumored to be working on a new model line – to be developed and built in-house completely separate from the Seven and SP/300.R – details of which are just beginning to emerge. Although Caterham has reportedly considered going mid-engine with its new model, it is likely to stick with the traditional front-engine, rear-drive setup, with a monocoque chassis built around an F1-style tub, but likely not made of carbon fiber.
Caterham is reportedly intent on keeping both price and weight to a minimum, but the new model is being designed with more creature comforts than its existing stablemates. Both coupe and convertible versions are envisioned from the outset, and while powertrain is still being negotiated with potential suppliers, a supercharged version could be in the cards as well. Discussions are repprtedly also underway with various design studios, but one thing’s for sure: this one won’t be designed by Colin Chapman.
There are a few car photographers out there that we count among our favorites. Our own is at the top of the list for obvious reasons (have you seen his recent ?), but close behind is Jordan Shiraki. We’ve shown you his work before, including a where the came face to face with the supercar that’s replacing it.
Jordan mainly shoots Lambos, rare ones at that, and he shoots them well. Recently, however, he decided to do something extra special for a shoot with an ultra rare . Only 12 of these special edition Gallardos were made; this one is #11. So to set this shoot apart, Jordan decided to try his hand at producing video, and the result is .
The three and a half minute video is every bit as beautiful as his still photography, if not more so. We suggest setting the YouTube player to 720p and turning up the sound. Oh, and he didn’t forget to pull out his DSLR during the shoot either, so check out the gallery below.
Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. But most of all, give us your supercars.
There have been far too many that were never homologated for the American market, but thankfully the new McLaren MP4-12C isn’t one of them. McLaren Automotive has set up an entire network of dealers across these United States – and even one in Canada! Which is all well and fine, but ain’t worth jack if they don’t have stock.
Fortunately that’s exactly what has arrived at the Port of Baltimore and proliferated across the country. It’s enough to have us looking at what our extraneous organs would be worth on the black market, and you can see it for yourself in the . (Pay close attention and you just might notice one passing something rather unique on Rodeo Drive.)
What We Like: There is no joy in Bimmerville. Not any more. In truth, BMW has not really been advertising “Joy of Driving,” or “Joy” anything, for about a year. It had already returned to using the world’s best ad slogan, “The Ultimate Driving Machine,” after many months of defending “Joy,” as well as some executive changes. But a new ad effort for the all-new 3 Series puts UDM center stage again in a way that underscores the company’s commitment to an ad slogan everyone seems to love.
There are six video shorts running mostly on the web, but also as TV ads. In fact, one of the shorts, touting the car’s system that reads email aloud to the driver, ran as a local ad during the . Each “short” ad, which focuses on a single feature of the car, ends with a hunky-sounding voiceover asserting with no doubt in his voice: “We only make one thing. The Ultimate Driving Machine.”
BMW has a raft of new products coming this year and next, as well as rolling out two complex platforms of technology – EfficientDynamics and BMW ConnectDrive. It seems like a good idea to spotlight one product benefit per ad the way this campaign does, and have each play off a few bigger TV ads for the 3 Series that focus on the image of the whole car, and its reputation as the best sports sedan in the world.
What We Don’t Like: The focus on individual features like a heated steering wheel, adjustable seats or emails read aloud in the car seems more than BMW. The voiceover sounds like he drinks whiskey, but the overall feel of the ads and the focus on “fun features” feels more Brandy Alexander.
We note that advertised its soon-to-be launched during the Super Bowl, and referred to the 3 Series as “The best in the world.” We are looking for more ads from BMW’s new ad agency that have some guts, majesty and the faint aroma of burning rubber and brake dust.
Strategy: BMW seems to shy away form the guts, grit and red-blooded desire for a great driving machine that is the heart of its brand image. Yeah, yeah… we know… women are looking for a more approachable BMW. Married men need for their wives to bless the Bimmer purchase. And this collection of video shorts is a step in the right direction. A 30-second ad that shows us the 3 Series zipping around city streets and hairpin turns is even a bigger step as the TV spot also spotlights the 3’s surprising 36 mpg highway few economy. We’d still like to see BMW guts and glory show a nit more often.
Canada ran a contest with the artist web site deviantART to see how wild imaginations would treat the theme of Driving Confidence. For three weeks, creators in any medium were asked to upload “original creations that celebrate the bold design, superior handling, and meticulous engineering that Subaru vehicles are renowned for.”
The contest specifically instructed artists to “push your creativity to the limit,” which is why there are plenty of images out of our species and galaxy. The first place winner (pictured) won $2,500 for “,” the second place getter got $1,000 for “,” third place took $500 for “,” and the runner-up was “.”
All of the entries are on display now in a “space-defying gallery” in Subaru’s booth at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toroto, and in our gallery of high-res images.
Cars get their names from a wide variety of sources: animals, places, the founders of the company that makes them… Some, of course, have completely meaningless names concocted by marketing departments, or bear alphanumeric codes that show where they stand in the company’s line-up. But this car was named for a king.
The young King Alfonso XIII of Spain was an early gentleman driver, motoring enthusiast and patron of Hispano-Suiza. He was such a fan, in fact, that he owned a good 30 of them, and drove them around Europe. The company, honored by his patronage, named its Type 15T in his honor: Type Alfonso XIII.
Few such examples, rare as they are, ever change hands, but the example you see here is destined for the auction block when RM Auctions sets up shop March 10 at Amelia Island. This 1913 model – chassis # 718 – is one of only four built, and packs a 3.6-liter inline four with 64 horsepower – not much by today’s standards, but a veritable supercar in its time, capable of hitting a top speed of 80 miles an hour. It’s also got more patina to it than an antique shop, but that’s not all: it also comes with two bodies, one for the winter (pictured here) and open coachwork that could be installed for the summer.
It’s expected to fetch between $750,000 and a cool million when the hammer drops, but if that’s not entirely within your budget, you can check it out in the gallery of high-resolution images above, along with the auctioneer’s description .
Capitalizing on the allure of attractive models for automotive advertising is anything but a recent phenomenon. Inventing a supermodel, on the other hand, is one of the more inspired tactics we’ve stumbled across in recent memory.
According to the marketing gurus at Adweek, has placed a full-page advertisement in the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition that includes a beautiful blue posing alongside what appears to be an equally beautiful and scantily clad model named Dalena Henriques. A quick Google search on her name, not surprisingly, brings up as the top result.
Here’s where things get a bit tricky. It seems Dalena Henriques may not be a real person at all. A visit to her website shows the stunning brunette in pose after pose with the 2013 Mustang, and her face is never fully in the frame. The Mustang, though, is front and center in every single image. Clever, Ford. Very clever.
