We have a thing for high-end detailing jobs. We’re not talking about what the guy at your local drive-through car wash does for an extra $10. We’re talking about the kind of detailing done by highly trained professionals that costs thousands of dollars and could take hundreds of hours to complete.
We normally get our fix of before-and-after photos from friend-of-the-site , whose work we’ve featured on Autoblog before. This time, however, we bring you some work done on a well worn Ferrari Enzo by a company in the UK called .
Instead of before-and-after images, Polished Bliss produced an excellent six-minute video with production quality that matches the 144-hour(!) detailing job it chronicles. If you’ve ever wanted to watch these masters practice their craft, then to start the show.
has just unveiled a special concept version of the company’s Q3 at this week’s 2012 Beijing Motor Show to commemorate the year of the dragon. The 2012 Q3 Jinlong Yufeng, or “Golden Dragon In The Wind,” caters to the kite surfers of the world thanks to its two roof-mounted carbon-fiber reinforced polymer boards and a clever kite pouch that can also be used to hold wet articles of clothing or serve as a beach umbrella. Designers have also thrown in a set of removable, wireless video cameras that can easily be attached to a sail bar or helmet.
The Q3 Jinlong Yufeng wears Liuli Yellow paint outside as well as a few special off-road body components based on production pieces. Brushed stainless steel running boards, LED spotlights mounted in the grille and integrated dual-exit exhaust are all part of the package. Indoors, designers have stitched the vehicle’s surfaces with yellow contrasting thread. The seats use woven leather covers and each door panel features a yellow leather insert.
A turbocharged 2.5-liter direct-injection five-cylinder engine delivers 310 horsepower through a seven-speed transmission and Quattro all-wheel drive – enough, Audi says,to power the Q3 Jinlong Yufeng to 62 mph in 5.5 seconds. Hit the jump for the full press release.
Considering the rate at which the Chinese market gobbles up models, you’d think it would be a prime market for . Yet the House of the wasn’t present in China at all in recent years, as the brand has just announced at the its return to the Chinese market.
In the coming months, it will begin selling both the 300C and the Grand Voyager, and to mark the occasion it has presented a special designconcept of its top-of-the-line sedan. Much like sister-brand for its special-edition , the Chrysler brand went with the Ruyi – a scepter-like object symbolizing prosperity and good fortune – for its 300 show car.
The design concept is distinguished by unique ten-spoke 22-inch wheels, dark chrome trim to complement the black paint and tone-on-tone “speed stripe,” aero kit, custom grille, tinted glass and special badging. Meanwhile the interior is done up in a variety of metal finishes, with French-stitched beige suede and leather upholstery. Check it out in the gallery above and the press release by .
We’ve already seen the production-ready . In fact, we named it after it officially debuted at the earlier this month. But what we haven’t seen is the full color palette that will be offered, and our spy photographers recently caught a Viper prototype out testing sporting a fresh coat of yellow paint, as well as some new, more sedate wheels.
As for that color, we aren’t sure how we feel about it just yet, granted, we’ll want to see it in person and without all of the hastily bolted-together panel gaps of this prototype. Moreover, we’d like to see how the new SRT looks in a proper GTS white/blue paint job. Be sure to let us know what you think of the new yellow paint in the comments.
The don’t-call-it-a- Viper officially launches this year, boasting 640 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque from its monstrous 8.4-liter V10. We’re eagerly awaiting our first stint behind the wheel, but for now, this new batch of high-res photos will have to suffice.
MG has taken to the 2012 Beijing Motor Show with its Icon Concept, a hatch that’s somehow intended to pay tribute to the MGA and MGB GT models of old. The automaker is marking its 50th anniversary this year, and chose the Chinese show to mark the occasion with the funky-looking concept you see above. Aside from a general hatchback shape, we don’t see too much of the Icon’s predecessors in the design – in fact, we see as much anything else. The tall ride height and flashy wheels certainly look as if they’d be at home on a modern roadway, however.
Details are scarce as far as the concept’s drivetrain is concerned, though MG says the Icon can accommodate four occupants, and the rear seats fold into the floor to optimize the available cargo area. A brief press release is .
Every year on Holocaust Remembrance Day, the people of Israel take two minutes to honor those who died in the Holocaust. When the sirens go off, everything stops, including traffic. This year, the two-minute ceremony was unfortunately marked with a pair of accidents due to the abrupt stop in traffic.
The Times of Israel reports that a woman in her 60s was run over as she was standing outside her car and another was struck as she stood by her vehicle on the highway. Both women were hurt badly enough to require medical attention and the older woman was listed in serious condition.
The incidents scarred an already solemn occasion, but after watching the post-jump video, we’re surprised more people aren’t injured. to watch the unorganized chaos of freeway drivers pulling over at different times. Just as unorganized is the minute after the sirens stop, when everyone seems to want to leave as quickly as possible.
has created the BMW i sub-brand for its upcoming production plug-in models, which currently include three concepts: the and the i8 Spyder. After keeping that third model away from our eager cameras at the New York Auto Show, BMW finally showed off the i8 Spyder Concept in the metal at the today.
The car itself we’ve already , but seeing it on stage shows once again that BMW is serious about putting cars like these on the road (toned down from the concept’s style, of course, perhaps with ). We’re more than ready for the through-the-road, plug-in hybrid that packs a 96-kW (131-horsepower) electric motor in front and a turbocharged three-cylinder gas engine offering 223 hp in back. 0-62 in five seconds and maybe 78 MPGe? Yes, please.
BMW is also making official the “eDrive” name, which is the new catch-all name for all of the electric drivetrain components: motor, battery and motor management system. First , the eDrive designation will be used “for the drive technology of all future electric and plug-in hybrid cars,” so get used to seeing it a lot.
The super-SUV is, arguably, the most significant debut of the . Maybe not in terms of sales volume, but at it’s a completely new direction for the modern Lamborghini brand (nevermind the “Rambo Lambo” from the ’80s), and moreover, it shows the first glimpse into the new premium SUV architecture that will gradually make its way through the entire Volkswagen Group portfolio.
We’ve already divulged about the Urus, including the meaning behind its questionable name (it’s a Spanish bull – go figure), but now it’s time to take a look at the bruiser live on the stage in Beijing. Before its debut, we were skeptical about how a high-riding Lamborghini SUV would look, but if we’re honest, we like what we see. It’s absolutely in-tune with the rest of Lambo’s design language, and it’s not nearly as enormous as you might think. We just wonder how much space there is in the back seat and how much utility is offered by the cargo bay.
Click above to peruse through a high-resolution gallery of images live from Beijing, and to watch a video of the SUV’s unveiling live from the Chinese expo.
Eterniti Motors chose the 2012 Beijing Motor Show to unveil the Artemis, an engineering prototype of the we saw at the Frankfurt Motor Show earlier this year. From the looks of things, the boutique automaker has ditched the -inspired front for a fascia that borrows a bit more heavily from the playbook. The company says the vehicles on display are currently running prototypes used for testing and that finished examples should be in production by this summer.
Designed to offer buyers new levels of luxury and performance, Eterniti calls the Artemis a Super SUV. The cabin boasts absurd levels of hand-crafted detail, including quilted carpets with lambswool rugs, natural wood veneers with carbon fiber and piano black accents and twin reclining rear seats. Eterniti stitched the SUV’s body from carbon composite and massive 23-inch wheels are standard equipment. Under the hood, a 4.8-liter twin-turbo V8 (?) dumps 600 horsepower to the ground and helps the machine dart to 62 mph in a scant 4.5 seconds.
Buyers may purchase their own Artemis for around $337,785 at current conversion rates, complete with a two-year, 100,000-mile warranty. Eterniti thoughtfully offers insurance and financing for those who don’t have that sort of cash on hand. for the full press release.
Starting with the , Nissan will be launching in the United States over the next 15 months. And while the sedan you see here is initially heading to China as the Nissan Sylphy, it’ll be heading to our shores as the later this year, albeit with a few market-specific tweaks.
For now, Nissan has released a short video teaser of the North American-spec 2013 Sentra, which you can view . The video shows the new compact sedan in its SR trim, which Autoblog has learned is only a North American-specific trim package. The rest of the Sylphy’s styling appears to carry over largely unchanged, with new details like LED running lamps and taillamps rounding out a design that’s essentially a downsized version of what we see on the new Altima.
In China, the Sylphy will be launched with a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine mated to Nissan’s next-generation Xtronic continuously variable transmission. It might not be an all-new powertrain, but remember, this is the same strategy that Nissan is using with the new Altima – one that has paid big dividends in fuel economy. The engines themselves haven’t changed, but with an improved CVT, we should see gains in not only performance but fuel economy, as well.
We’ll see the North American-spec 2013 Sentra this summer with the car officially going on sale this fall. to watch a teaser video of the Sentra SR, and to read the full press materials about the Chinese-market Sylphy.
Just about every brand under the Group umbrella has its own performance line these days. Marques like , and may not need them, but Volkswagen has the R line, has the RS range, Skoda offers the vRS models, and Seat badges its under the Cupra name.
It’s a nameplate that’s become synonymous with Latin-flavored hot hatches in markets around the world, and one of those vital markets is China. Little wonder, then, that Seat chose the to launch its latest Cupra model.
Technically billed as a “concept,” even Seat admits the vehicle you see here is pretty darn close to the production model that is scheduled to debut later this year. It starts out with the latest Ibiza hatchback (which itself shares its underpinnings with the Volkswagen Polo) and upgrades it with VW’s celebrated 1.4 TSI engine that packs a turbocharger, supercharger and direct injection to produce a solid 180 horsepower. All that juice is driven to the front wheels through an electronic differential and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.
Seat’s also given the Ibiza Cupra Concept a suitably beefed-up look with LED lights and 17-inch wheels and a fully equipped interior, all of which you can read more about in the press release (together with video footage) and scope out in the high-res image gallery above.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. That age-old adage is once again proven by the video you’ll see . In a classic battle of versus , the 1981 Blazer SUV is pitted against the Ford Bronco in a dealer training video designed to give sales staff all the information they needed to sway customers toward the Bowtie and away from the Blue Oval.
The checklist sounds familiar. Horsepower and torque, fuel economy, standard features versus optional equipment, payload and cargo space – each of these categories are compared. Seems the issues that matter most to car-buying consumers haven’t changed much in 30 years. and watch the video to take a stroll down memory lane.
training video extols the virtues of the 1981 Blazer
We may have gotten used to it by now, but the bottom line is that the is an astonishing feat of engineering. The task of summing it all up, then, would fall to one Jeremy Clarkson.
In addition to hosting BBC’s celebrated Top Gear and penning columns in an array of magazines and newspapers, Jezza was tapped by the people behind the Xbox driving sim Forza 4 to voice-over the video clips showcasing some of the exciting cars in the game’s virtual stable, including the Veyron.
You may have already seen it while playing the game, but evidently pleased with the job Clarkson and Turn 10 Studios did, Bugatti itself released the video for your viewing pleasure. to watch the brief clip.
Britain is not without its automakers, even if they are all foreign-owned, but certainly ranks among the most quintessentially British of them all. Parent company has cashed in on this with a succession of special editions that celebrate its Anglophilia.
The latest are called the Hyde Park and Green Park editions, named after public spaces in London. The Hyde Park model comes in off-white with brown trim (which Mini calls “Hot Chocolate”) on the roof, mirror caps and stripes. The Green Park edition has green trim (British Racing Green, naturally) to contrast with the same Pepper White body color.
Owners putting down their deposits for a special new Mini can opt for two body styles (hatchback and wagon) and four engines: 122-horsepower Cooper, 184hp Cooper S, 112hp diesel Cooper D and 143hp diesel Cooper SD.
The interiors have also been spruced up for the special editions, as you can see for yourself in the attached image gallery. More info can be found in the press release below the fold.
There have been plenty of excellent debuts over the past year, but few capture our imagination like the Morgan 3 Wheeler. The V-twin-powered creation looks just like its forebears with its open cockpit, classic metalwork and three-wheel design. Being in love with any vehicle that looks as if it might kill us at any second, the 3 Wheeler is right up our alley.
The videos below haven’t dulled that passion. We’ve amassed a smattering of clips, including a new showcasing the 3 Wheeler as it motors through the countryside.
Of course, should you find backwoods sprints too boring, we’ve also included a few videos that demonstrate just how much fun you can have vaporizing the back tire. (The 3 Wheeler lends itself to donuts like few other machines on the planet.) to take in the goodness for yourself.
Unlike the in South Korea, this is a collaboration between Swiss bike maker BMC and the real Lamborghini car company. The BMC impec Edition is a version of the BMC’s impec bicycle, further developed with Lamborghini’s carbon-fiber experts and assembled using some automotive build techniques. It’s set off by a suede Lamborghini saddle and suede handlebar tape, as well as an -matching Argos Orange downtube.
Only 30 will be offered for sale, and you’ll need to have €20,000 ($26,172 U.S.) handy when you get to the cash register. Still with us? Then you can purchase it at your local Lamborghini dealer or a BMC bike retailer, and it’s on display now at Milan’s Brian&Barry boutique if you want to kick the tires. Softly.
“So here’s the pitch. It’s a movie about a car. But it’s not really about a car. It’s about something else. What that is isn’t important. But it’s got a car in it. Not just one car, but lots of cars. Thousands of them actually. And they’re in almost every scene. But only in the background. And get this: They’re all… wait for it… yellow! And the best part is, we don’t have to pay anything for it, in fact, they’re going to pay us to put our cars in the movie. And it’s going to make our cars famous. But that’s not all. Imagine this: It’s not just one movie, but a hundred movies. And TV shows. Thousands and thousands of hours of entertainment, and our new is going to be the star! Okay, not the star, but an extra. A bright yellow extra. I’m telling you, this idea – it can’t fail!
At least that’s the thesis floated by Automotive News to help explain why is so stoked over with its compact van. Beginning in late 2013, the entire New York City taxi fleet will be converting to Nissan’s aesthetically challenged people mover, which will replace the ubiquitous Ford Crown Victoria.
Whether this leads to any burnishing of the Nissan brand remains to be seen, but regardless, AN says the contract is worth 40,000 units in New York alone over the next 10 years. We have to expect that at least some taxi companies outside of the Big Apple won’t be shy about ponying up the thirty-large Nissan is asking for its Mexican-made cab either, as the day when every last Ford Crown Victoria extant has joined the in cabbie Valhalla is certainly coming.
Got 13 minutes to spare? Of course you do – it’s a Friday. Then we’ve got just the way to burn them.
has posted three new SRT videos, the first being a nice seven-minute documentary about Viper history, from its origins to the present.
We’re happy to see the automaker make no attempts to distort the truth here, wisely including period footage of both Carroll Shelby and Bob Lutz, despite the fact that those two automotive legends currently work for its most bitter rivals, and General Motors, respectively. The inclusion of a clip from the Viper TV series, however, was perhaps a less inspired choice. We’d have left that on the cutting room floor in favor of more racing footage, like maybe something from Le Mans.
The second video is three minutes of Ralph Gilles, President and CEO of SRT Brand and Motorsports at Chrysler. Gilles walks us around a static Viper, explaining some of the details in the design that might escape a casual observer – and help the new Viper hit 206 miles per hour.
The final video goes inside Conner Avenue Assembly in Detroit where Chrysler builds the Viper. So maybe Chrysler employees like Shelly Brown Alore, the operations manager at the plant, aren’t quite the celebrity that Gilles is, but then again, we’re exactly the type of car nerds that actually find this stuff interesting.
The has been a bit polarizing since it went on sale last year. And the debate could get more animated if the Korean company does what we think it’s thinking about doing.
At a recent gathering of reporters and executives in Ann Arbor, MI, where the annual takes place every summer, we asked Hyundai Motors America chief John Krafcik what he planned to bring this year (the college town is also home to Hyundai America Technical Center). Last year, they showed off the new Veloster.
Redone ? New ? Neither seems appropriate for the tone of the event. So, we threw this out: “How about chopping the top off the Veloster and see the reaction?”
Krafcik and PR man Jim Trainor started trying to make poker faces, indicating to us that we may well have stumbled on to a future project, Rolling Sculpture or no. But we aren’t sure.
Some thought the Veloster was an answer to a question that nobody had been asking, but the unique coupe is proving to be a great sales and image success for Hyundai. Krafcik has shown a great instinct for design and engineering the Hyundai lineup to successful heights: redesigns of the , , and now Santa Fe. He also had a lot to do with the cleanup of the Azera, and, of course, the and . A former product development executive at , it’s hard to think he would not be the current product development chief in Dearborn had he stayed, and not been scooped up by Hyundai a decade ago.
Hyundai’s sales have been supply constrained on many of its models, including the Veloster. Given a finite supply of Veloster models that it can source from Korea, Krafcik plans to emphasize production of the . That strikes us as a smart move.
We’re excited about the turbo, but we couldn’t resist asking a rendering artist to imagine the Veloster sans roof. What do you think? Is topless a good thing in this case?
In the market for an entry-level sedan from a premium automaker? Your choices are few and far between, it seems. There’s the and , but those are both hatchbacks. That leaves the , which, by all accounts, is a credible entry into the segment. If that’s not quite your style, hopes to tempt you with its new 2013 , and it has announced that the base model will start at $25,900 (*plus $895 destination fee for all models).
For that starting price, buyers will get standard features like Bluetooth connectivity, keyless access with push-button start, Pandora internet radio interface and a moonroof. If you want a leather interior, 17-inch alloy wheels, upgraded audio and Acura’s excellent multi-view backup camera system, your ILX will start at $29,200 with the base 150-horsepower 2.0-liter engine and five-speed automatic transmission.
Acura has two more engine offerings for the ILX, including a 1.5-liter hybrid model that achieves estimated fuel economy ratings of 39 city and 38 highway for $28,900. On the other end of the spectrum is a 2.4-liter model, which pumps out 201 horsepower and is available only with a six-speed manual gearbox. A fully loaded ILX with the Technology package, which includes navigation and an internal hard drive for music storage, will cost $31,400 with the 2.0 or $34,400 with the hybrid drivetrain. Sadly, it’s not possible to order the 2.4-liter engine with the top-level Technology kit.
See the complete pricing breakdown in Acura’s official press release by , and stay tuned for our complete first drive review of the ILX early next week.
