Tag: official

Official: VŪHL says it has enough orders to put 05 roadster into production [w/video]

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Plants/Manufacturing, MISC

Vuhl 05

If we had a nickel for every independent sportscar project started by people we’d never heard of and that never came to fruition, well… we might actually have enough money to put one of them into production. But every once in a while we end up pleasantly surprised. And we just might be by the VŪHL 05.

The project, as you may recall, is the brainchild of a pair of Mexican brothers based in Detroit, and calls for a lightweight track car along the lines of the Ariel Atom, KTM X-Bow or BAC Mono. VŪHL Automotive launched the 05 just last month at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it was driven up Lord March’s lawn by F1 driver Esteban Gutierrez. Its featherlike 1,500-pound curb weight is motivated by a 2.0-liter turbo four sourced from Ford and mounted amidships, driving 285 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque through a six-speed manual to the rear wheels for a claimed 0-62 time of 3.7 seconds.

The numbers sound impressive enough, and have apparently impressed enough customers that VŪHL is putting it into production as planned. The initial run will consist of twenty Edition One models, which VŪHL will start building in November for delivery next spring. In the meantime, the Echeverria brothers will be taking their creation to London to rub shoulders with supercars at the Salon Privé. Scroll down to watch the video below, where you’ll also find a press release.

Continue reading VŪHL says it has enough orders to put 05 roadster into production [w/video]

VŪHL says it has enough orders to put 05 roadster into production [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 Aug 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Nissan’s Dacia Duster-based Terrano revealed

Filed under: Spy Photos, Budget, SUV, Nissan, India

Nissan Terrano - front three-quarter view

The new Nissan Terrano has appeared in production form after an apparent August 20 launch in India, but the small sport utility vehicle remains sadly aloof from the US market. We’ve had our eyes on the Terrano ever since we learned it would be produced as an upscale alternative to the Dacia Duster on which it’s based, but currently Nissan has no plans to import it here. Blame safety and perhaps emissions laws – the Duster was never designed for our market.

Even with these less-than-high resolution images, it’s clear that the beyond the obvious badges, Nissan’s signature trapezoidal grille and a slightly altered rear end with new taillights are the biggest visual clues that this is the Terrano, but those with astute eyes will also notice a slightly redesigned hood and blacked-out door pillars instead of the Duster’s body-colored items. Either way, it looks to be a handsome, low-cost little brute – the sort of simple and rugged SUV that’s hard to come by in today’s marketplace.

Nissan’s Dacia Duster-based Terrano revealed originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 Aug 2013 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Porsche 911 Carrera 4S named Motor Trend Best Driver’s Car [w/video]

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Porsche, Racing, Comparisons

Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Best Driver's Car video

Motor Trend has named the 2013 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S its best driver’s car for 2013. The annual
competition for the title included some of the best performance cars that have gone on sale in the past year. The new C4S follows the 2012 Best Driver’s Car award winner, a two-wheel-drive Carrera S.

Determining the winner of the coveted title isn’t easy. Each vehicle is pushed through Motor Trend‘s normal battery of instrumented tests. Editors then spend time with each car over a 500-mile tour of mixed conditions before a final batch of testing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, with pro racer Randy Pobst at the wheel.

The video below features one of the Carrera’s hot laps with Pobst at the wheel, providing commentary on just what the car is like at its limits. Also, there’s plenty of that sweet, distinctive, Porsche flat-six howl. Take a look below for the full video.

Continue reading Porsche 911 Carrera 4S named Motor Trend Best Driver’s Car [w/video]

Porsche 911 Carrera 4S named Motor Trend Best Driver’s Car [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 Aug 2013 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Ford looks to space robots to improve car-to-car communications [w/video]

Filed under: Technology, Videos, Ford, Russia

Ford has partnered with St. Petersburg Polytechnic University for three years to research various kinds of connected vehicle communications. The university tie-up is part of its study of space robots, NASA systems created to enable space-to-Earth communication, and the university’s own development of systems that enable communication between the International Space State and Earth.

The objective is for Ford to engineer layers of robust networks and redundancy systems that will allow your car to speak to other cars, to emergency vehicles, to infrastructure like traffic lights and buildings, and to the cloud. Benefits would come in just about every area of transit, from avoiding accidents, to getting medical workers to an accident more quickly, to improving the flow of traffic during rush hour.

Check out the press release below for details on what Ford wants to learn from the JUSTIN Humanoid and NASA Robonaut R2, and a video of technical leader Oleg Gusikhin discussing his interest in the project.

Continue reading Ford looks to space robots to improve car-to-car communications [w/video]

Ford looks to space robots to improve car-to-car communications [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Lexus IS to get Deviant at SEMA

Filed under: Aftermarket, Concept Cars, SEMA Show, Sedan, Lexus, Luxury

It’s time to start gathering intel on SEMA, and it starts with this drawing of a modified 2014 Lexus IS. Lexus ran a competition on DeviantART, an online community for artists, to find a suitably modified IS that it could build and display at the temple of all things aftermarket in Las Vegas. The winner, as judged by a four-person panel from among more than 600 entries, is the IS rendered above by Rob Evans.

The winner looks like the beginning of a build for an IS entry into Japan’s Super GT series, with a seriously exaggerated front spoiler and rear diffuser and fender flares that aren’t just punched out, they’re throwing 12-punch combinations.

Evans will have his car built by VIP Auto Salon and plastered all over Lexus materials promoting its presence at the show. Oh, and he gets an IS F-Sport for a year, among other prizes. Second place went to Lucia Lee, third place to Guangho Huang. A press release below has more on the competition and the winner.

Continue reading Lexus IS to get Deviant at SEMA

Lexus IS to get Deviant at SEMA originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: TMG still developing Lexus LS Sports 650 [w/video]

Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Europe, Lexus, Toyota

TMG Sports 650

If you’re going to make a super sedan, you’d better do it in Germany. That’s where Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz do it, along with third parties like Alpina, Brabus and G-Power, among others. Deutschland is the epicenter of the movement, regularly churning out the most powerful four-door rockets in the world. It’s also where one of the racing divisions for Toyota has been hard at work on the TMG Sports 650.

Toyota Motorsport GmbH started with a Lexus LS and turned it into a 641-horsepower, twin-turbocharged super sedan it revealed late last year at the Essen Motor Show. But though we haven’t heard much about it since then, the team behind Toyota’s F1 and Le Mans efforts are apparently still hard at work on the project.

Speaking with Lexus’ own UK blog, TMG chief Alastair Moffitt revealed that the project started way back in 2010, shortly after Toyota shut down its F1 program and left the racing team with nothing to do. The 5.0-liter twin-turbo V8 was initially producing as much as 800 horsepower, but has since been refined to 650 so that it could theoretically be put into production and onto the road.

That’s something TMG hasn’t done before, but is keen to start, positioning itself alongside Toyota Racing Development in the US and Gazoo Racing in Japan as an in-house tuning division which Toyota and Lexus could rely on for this kind of project. To that end, TMG has been testing its prototype at the Nürburgring – less than an hour’s drive from its headquarters in Cologne – and has already found it’ll run to 60 in the same 3.9 seconds as the new Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG and top out at 200 mph.

The next step will be to set a hot lap on the Nordschleife, and we’ll be keeping an eye out to see how it does. In the meantime, check out the video below.

Continue reading TMG still developing Lexus LS Sports 650 [w/video]

TMG still developing Lexus LS Sports 650 [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 14:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Camal Studio pays tribute to the Maserati GranTurismo

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Maserati, Design/Style, Luxury

Camal Studio Tributo - front view

Although the Maserati GranTurismo may have looked pretty hot when it hit the scene in 2007, eight years on, it’s starting to show its age. Maserati is focusing its attention on the new Quattroporte, Ghibli and upcoming Levante utility vehicle, but Camal Studio is evidently keen to pick up what Maserati has let fall by the wayside.

The design house, as you may recall, was founded by former Pininfarina designers – the same firm that penned the GranTurimso (among other Maseratis) in the first place. Camal calls its redesign the Tributo (a name which should require no translation) and it draws its inspiration from Maserati GTs past like the original Ghibli, Bora and Khamsin. The resulting design comes across as clean enough, but to our eyes somewhat unremarkable. And if you’re going to go to the trouble of coachbuilding a Maserati, you might as well go for a bit more visual impact. But that’s judging solely from the renderings, and that’s just our opinion – the financially well-endowed customers Camal is going after may feel otherwise once they see it in the flesh.

Camal Studio pays tribute to the Maserati GranTurismo originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Monza concept opens its wings and lets us in on Opel’s future

Filed under: Concept Cars, Frankfurt Motor Show, Coupe, Hybrid, Europe, Opel, Design/Style

Opel Monza Concept

Opel has done a lot to revitalize itself over the past few years, developing a solid product portfolio with hatchbacks, sedans, wagons, minivans and crossovers. What it’s missing, though, is a sports coupe – because, let’s face it, the Cascada cabrio hardly fits the bill.

Hopes were raised when Opel revealed it was working on a new Monza concept, reviving a nameplate borrowed from an Italian racetrack and previously used on a six-cylinder fastback version of the Senator sedan. Opel has now revealed the Monza in full, but it’s neither the sportscar we expected nor the harbinger of a new production model – much less one we could look forward to General Motors porting over as a Buick coupe, for that matter.

What you’re looking at instead is a design study that hints at the way Opel will style its cars moving forward. Sized in between the Astra and Insignia, the Monza concept has two giant gullwing doors to give access to both front and rear seats, which is probably your first clue that this is more of a show car than a pre-production prototype. Inside, the futuristic cabin features an LED projection dashboard with 3D graphics, new social interactive systems and a lot of swoopy forms and curved wood.

The concept is powered by a CNG version of the hybrid powertrain you’d find in the Opel Ampera or Chevrolet Volt, propelling a form that is more sedan than sports coupe, even if it does technically only have two doors. A successor to the original Monza it is not – let alone a replacement for the Lotus Elise-based Speedster or Pontiac Solstice-based GT that followed – but as an indicator of where Opel is heading, it looks promising. But we’ll reserve final judgement for when we see it at the Frankfurt Motor Show in a couple of weeks. For more details, check out our gallery and the official press release below.

Continue reading Monza concept opens its wings and lets us in on Opel’s future

Monza concept opens its wings and lets us in on Opel’s future originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Aug 2013 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Honda invests $215M in Ohio Earth Dreams production

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Technology, Acura, Honda

Honda Ohio Operations

Honda has announced a $215 million investment in a pair of its Ohio operations, taking its total tally for North American operations up to $2.7 billion in three years. The announcement was made at the 2013 Center For Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City.

$180 million of the investment is earmarked for Honda’s Anna, OH engine plant. The money will allow the facility to increase its aluminum die casting and increase production of Honda’s Earth Dreams Technology engines. Think of Earth Dreams as sort of like Mazda’s Skyactiv line, only ED is limited to a new line of engines, rather than a full suite of automotive components. Anna will also be getting a new technical center to train engineers, techs, and line workers on powertrain technology.

The remaining $35 million is slated for Honda’s main Ohio operations in Marysville. A 160,000-square-foot facility will be constructed near Honda’s current properties, which will house another technical training center to focus on automotive manufacturing. The new building will also house Honda’s North American Services group, as well as a new heritage center.

Continue reading Honda invests $215M in Ohio Earth Dreams production

Honda invests $215M in Ohio Earth Dreams production originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Aug 2013 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Kia teases B-segment concept headed to Frankfurt

Filed under: Concept Cars, Frankfurt Motor Show, Kia, Design/Style

Kia Concept Frankfurt Motor Show

It’s not uncommon to see an automaker go a little outside of its comfort zone when creating a concept car, but Kia seems to be going all out for a new small concept it plans to unveil at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Although there is not much information to go on about this unnamed concept, Kia does say that it “hints at a possible future B-segment contender.”

With headlights that would look at home on a C7 Corvette or Jaguar F-Type and door cut lines reminiscent of a Ford GT, we can only imagine how sporty this car will look in the flesh. The wide door openings also give a good glimpse inside the car revealing details deep, flat-bottomed steering wheel with paddle shifters and the peculiar rotary-style shifter, but our attention is on the instrument panel switches. If you look closely, the second switch from the left seems to be for a center differential possibly hinting at a future sporty all-wheel-drive Kia. Yes, please! Scroll down for the brief press release on the car, and stay tuned for more info as we’ll be on hand covering the show next month.

Continue reading Kia teases B-segment concept headed to Frankfurt

Kia teases B-segment concept headed to Frankfurt originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Aug 2013 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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