Friday, April 30, 2010

The New Cars Donkervoort D8 GT

Pink Donkervoort D8 GT Cars
Pink Donkervoort D8 GT Cars

Black Donkervoort D8 GT Cars
Black Donkervoort D8 GT Cars

The New Cars Devon GTX

Black Devon GTX Cars
Black Devon GTX Cars

Red Devon GTX Cars
Red Devon GTX Cars

The New Cars Daimler Super Eight

White Daimler Super Eight Cars
White Daimler Super Eight Cars



Blue Daimler Super Eight Cars
Blue Daimler Super Eight Cars

Black Daimler Super Eight Cars
Black Daimler Super Eight Cars

Front Of Daimler Super Eight Cars
Front Of Daimler Super Eight Cars

Daimler Super Eight Cars From Behind
Daimler Super Eight Cars From Behind

The New Cars Dacia Duster

Silver Cars Dacia Duster
Silver Cars Dacia Duster

Blue Dacia Duster Cars
Blue Dacia Duster Cars

Fron Of Dacia Duster Cars
Fron Of Dacia Duster Cars

Behins Of Dacia Duster Cars
Behins Of Dacia Duster Cars

Dacia Duster Cars From Back
Dacia Duster Cars From Back

The New Cars Covini C6W Spider

Silver Covini C6W Spider Cars
Silver Covini C6W Spider Cars

Covini C6W Spider Cars from Back
Covini C6W Spider Cars from Back

Covini C6W Spider Cars From Behind
Covini C6W Spider Cars From Behind

Front Of Covini C6W Spider Cars
Front Of Covini C6W Spider Cars

White Cars Covini C6W Spider
White Cars Covini C6W Spider

The New Cars Citroen DS3 Racing

front Of Citroen DS3 Racing Cars
front Of Citroen DS3 Racing Cars

Phink Citroen DS3 Racing Cars
Phink Citroen DS3 Racing Cars

Citroen DS3 Racing Cars From Back
Citroen DS3 Racing Cars From Back

Citroen DS3 Racing From Behind
Citroen DS3 Racing From Behind

White Cars Of Citroen DS3 Racing
White Cars Of Citroen DS3 Racing

Ford Fiesta revised for 2010 (UK)

Ford has upgraded its entire Fiesta range, giving every model standard electronic stability program (ESP) and retuning many of the engines.

There are upgrades to some of the trims: Studio models now get electrically adjustable/heated door mirrors, steering wheel-mounted audio controls, auxiliary entertainment socket and two additional speakers.


Flagship Titanium models also now get Bluetooth and USB connection as standard (previously worth around £200).

All models now have a new paint option called Ink Blue. The Titanium model can now be specified with a cheaper Titanium X pack. This consists of leather seats, 17” alloy wheels and rear electric windows for £750 (£1k previously), however, this pack is only available on the 1.6 litre petrol engine whereas it was also available on the 1.6 TDCi engine.

Ford has also retuned or altered much of the Fiesta's engine range. To comply with Euro V emissions standards, all diesel engines now have a particulate filter fitted, including Econetic models.

Power for the 1.6 TDCi diesel engine is also raised from 89bhp to 95bhp. Petrol engines have been tweaked as well to lower emissions:

• 1.25 litre 80bhp

CO2 emissions - 129g/km. Previously 133g/km, saving 4g/km

• 1.6 litre 95bhp

CO2 emissions - 107g/km. Previously 110g/km, saving 3g/km

• 1.6 litre 118bhp

CO2 emissions - 134g/km. Previously 138g/km, saving 4g/km.

The changes place the 1.25 litre engine into a lower VED band (D), lowering the tax from £110 to £90 a year.

The revised Fiesta is on sale now from £11,645 for the entry-level Studio 3dr and £11,945 for the Studio 5dr. While that sounds steep, discounts of upto £4k + off the list price are available.

Subaru Impreza receives free upgrades (UK)

Subaru is offering complimentary performance upgrades worth £3,200 to buyers of its top Impreza models.

The Subaru Impreza WRX and STI Type UK will come fitted with the popular Prodrive Performance Pack, which cuts 0-62mph acceleration times from 6.5 seconds to 5.9 and 5.2 seconds to 4.8 respectively.

All this extra speed is down to a high-flow sports exhaust and remapped engine management software. Handling and looks are also improved, courtesy of 18” multi-spoke alloy wheels.

The price of Impreza WRX has also been reduced by £95, and now costs from £18,995, while the STI Type UK starts at £27,590.

Toyota to build new factory for Prius hybrid

Toyota Prius production is to be ramped up, with Toyota building a third factory in Japan despite falling sales caused by the recent global recalls.

Demand in Japan has outstripped supply since the car was launched - the car is built at two factories and waiting lists were at six months - and while Toyota will have to cut production by about 10%, it predicts demand will rise again.


The main drop-off has been in the U.S, where Prius sales are reported to have fallen 40%. In the UK, more Prius's were sold than ever before, while it has been the best-selling car in Japan for the past 9 months.

Nissan Pathfinder pricing announced (UK)

Nissan has altered its Pathfinder SUV with additional equipment and a new look. The Pathfinder now gets re-designed alloy wheels, new bonnet, grille, rounded bumpers and reshaped headlights.

The interior has also been upgraded with revised door trims, new seat fabric and new instrument dials. Practicality has also been improved due to new door storage bins that can now hold an A3 map book and a 1 litre drinks bottle at the same time.

Nissan is also offering a new integrated navigation, communication and music system called Connect Premium. It's an optional extra costing £1,300 and features live traffic updates and points of interest.

There will be a choice of two diesels; the revised 2.5 litre dCi and an all-new 3.0 litre V6.

The 2.5 litre engine now produces around 190bhp, while pulling power increases to by 47Nm to 450Nm. Nissan claims CO2 emissions have fallen by 40g/km to 224g/km, which drops it two tax bands from the most expensive band M to band K. It also means showroom tax drops from £950 to £550 at current rates.

Nissan has stated the 3.0 litre V6 diesel will produce around 231bhp and will have a maximum pulling power of 550Nm. The engine will be available from June on 2011 MY Pathfinders.

The Pathfinder range starts from £28,495 on the road and is on sale now.


GM to launch Chevrolet in Korea


Daewoo may be General Motors’ only established brand in the Korean auto market, but it will soon add another: Chevrolet. GM revealed today at the Busan motor show that it will begin selling bowtie-badged vehicles in South Korea in 2011.

The Alpheon is being positioned in the Korea market as a luxury model at the top of the Daewoo range. It is fitted with a 3.0-liter V6 and a six-speed automatic transmission. GM Daewoo said the car will go on sale in the second half of the year.

GM Daewoo says the "Alpheon becomes a stand-alone luxury product brand in GM Daewoo's product portfolio." Much like its Korean couterpart, Hyundai, have made inroads into the luxury sedan segment with the Genesis model.






Press Release

GM Daewoo's All-New Luxury Sedan Debuts at 2010 Busan International Motor Show


Alpheon is GM Daewoo's entry into the upper-midsize segment

Busan, Korea - GM Daewoo Auto & Technology (GM Daewoo) unveiled its much-anticipated luxury sedan, the Alpheon, at the 2010 Busan International Motor Show today.

"With the introduction of the all-new Alpheon luxury sedan, we have added another attractive model to our product portfolio and our first entry in the fast-growing upper-midsize segment in Korea," said GM Daewoo President and CEO Mike Arcamone. "I am confident that the Alpheon will surpass the demands of the most sophisticated luxury sedan buyers in Korea."

Another highlight of the GM Daewoo stand is a seven-seat compact multi-purpose vehicle, the Orlando show car, which is making its first appearance at an international motor show in Asia.

In addition, GM Daewoo has on display the Lacetti Premiere and GentraX race cars, and a Matiz mini-car artistically wrapped in pink.

With "Advancing Style" as its theme for this year's Busan International Motor Show, GM Daewoo has 18 vehicles on display that showcase its automotive industry design expertise.

Alpheon - Stylish Luxury Sedan

The Alpheon is based on the same GM global architecture as the Buick LaCrosse, one of the three finalists for 2010 North American Car of the Year.

GM designers and engineers from Asia, Europe and North America targeted the luxury sedan as a global product that would meet the highest quality and performance standards in the most sophisticated markets.

At first glance, the Alpheon's sculpting design flows in all directions, giving the vehicle a tightly wrapped appearance and a fast, coupe-like profile. Its dynamic and elegant body styling is highlighted by sharp side lines, short overhangs and fenders wrapped precisely around large wheel housings, giving it the presence of an upscale large sedan (2,837-mm wheelbase and 4,995mm body length).

With a unique emblem on its front "waterfall" grille, the Alpheon becomes a stand-alone luxury product brand in GM Daewoo's product portfolio.

The innovative design philosophy continues in the Alpheon's interior. The flowing shape of its instrument panel design offers a distinct, confident and upscale impression. The refined look is an integrated center stack design that incorporates ice-blue light-emitting diode (LED) ambient lighting along with premium infotainment features. Adding to the use of soft-touch materials and low-gloss trim panels rather than traditional wood applications is indicative of exceptional and luxurious craftsmanship.

Powered by a 3.0-liter V-6 engine combined with a six-speed automatic transmission, the Alpheon will ensure responsive performance when it is launched in the second half of this year in Korea.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

2010 Hartge BMW Z4 Silver Aerodynamic Kits

2010 Hartge BMW Z4 Silver Aerodynamic Kits
2010 Hartge BMW Z4 Silver Aerodynamic Kits
2010 Hartge BMW Z4 Silver Aerodynamic Kits2010 Hartge BMW Z4 Silver Aerodynamic Kits

Hartge has apparent their new aerodynamic kit affairs based on the E89 adaptation of the Roadster. The Hartge BMW Z4 Aerodynamic Kits includes alone a advanced addle-brain and a awning lid lip which ability action added downforce on both axles of the car. The Hartge BMW Z4 Aerodynamic Kit genitalia are fabricated from PU-RIM and are not accordant with the model’s M Aerodynamic package. The Hartge BMW Z4 Silver Aerodynamic Kit additionally sits on new rims.

Aptera Flounders On Lane Change

This is bad news.  If the Aptera, a supposedly well developed and carefully engineered vehicle, can't negotiate a Consumers Union lane change at a measly 45mph, they are in big trouble.  It probably has a lot to do with the tricycle design -- the rear end is likely to want to come around without strong ESC intervention because it has so much less grip than the front.  From CU's blog:

Watched by a large group, including many note-taking and video-taping team members, the three-wheeled Aptera car struggled to find a clean run. More than two dozen attempts were made, with the car routinely sliding enough to topple several cones. In watching, it seemed natural to question how difficult this test is to pass. However, all current production vehicles, from small cars to large trucks, can successfully negotiate this test. We expect the Auto X Prize finalists to do the same.

For reference, just about any mass produced four wheel car can easily negotiate a lane change maneuver at 45mph.

Automotive Companies Doing Business In Iran

The New York Times recently published a list of international companies who are doing business in Iran. Here are the automotive companies on the list which have joint ventures or licensing agreements with Iranian companies:

  • Daimler -- Active
  • Fiat -- Active
  • Kia -- Active
  • Mazda -- Active
  • Suzuki-- Active

Any American who cares about our national security, and particularly anyone who cares about the state of Israel should think carefully before supporting any of these companies.

Mazda is most upsetting to me, because I have owned Mazda vehicles in the past, without knowing that they have a joint production agreement with Bahman of Iran. Bahman is, according to a Rand report, partly owned by the Iranian government.

I will discourage anyone I know from purchasing these brands until they stop doing business on the ground in Iran.



Wednesday, April 28, 2010

New Cars EDAG Light Car Concept

From Behind EDAG Light Cars ConceptFrom Behind EDAG Light Cars Concept

Red EDAG Light Cars ConceptRed EDAG Light Cars Concept

White EDAG Light Cars ConceptWhite EDAG Light Cars Concept

Silver EDAG Light Cars ConceptSilver EDAG Light Cars Concept

Top Luxury Cars | 2010 Lotus Evora - Road Test

Rome or Bust: We flog the new Lotus Evora from England to Rome and back.


For as long as most folks at Lotus Cars in Hethel, England, can remember, most everyone has eaten lunch in the office, worked eight-and-a-half hours Monday through Thursday, and then taken off the rest of the day at noon on Friday.

So a weekend at Lotus works out to two-and-a-half days. In the late ’80s, the company’s CEO, Michael Kimberley, suggested to his engineers a new approach for putting miles on Elan prototypes: Leave Hethel at noon and drive to Rome and back, a 2500-mile jaunt. Just be back in your cubicle on Monday morning with a picture of the car at the Colosseum.

Even Lotus’s devoted, monk-like engineers weren’t thrilled with the idea of living in an Elan for two days. The trips were not without setbacks: Once an Elan prototype’s exhaust snapped in half near Lyon, in France. The Lotus suffered the indignity of limping into a Renault repair garage, exhaust dragging and engine blaring. Then the Heth­el crew, which spoke no French, had to mime the problem to the perplexed French repairman. Hours later, after an exchange of francs and Lotus-branded pens and key chains, they were back on the road, the exhaust system welded back together.

A new Lotus model is rare—about as rare as using the words “practical, refined, reliable, and comfortable” to describe the car without the prefixes “im” and “un” in place. For more than 50 years, Lotus’s cars have pushed intoxicating levels of performance and handling, but a general lack of practicality, refinement, reliability, and comfort often left owners feeling exhausted and hung over.

The new Evora held the promise of being different, modern. The idea was to maintain the rabid Lotus-grade handling and perform­ance but throw in a livable interior, a back seat, more room, and the sort of civility that might appeal to Porsche drivers. So how, we wondered, would this new Lotus fare at continually high speeds all the way to Rome and back? Could a Lotus actually be comfortable over 2500 miles? Or would it revert to its old tricks—shedding parts, splitting exhausts, or worse, quitting entirely and forcing us to hitchhike home? We figured we should bring along some Lotus pens just in case.

After a red-eye from Detroit to London and a two-and-a-half-hour, 136-mile trip by car northeast to rural Hethel in Norfolk, I arrive at the gates of the former U.S. Air Force base that frugal Lotus founder Colin Chapman, now long departed, turned into company headquarters in 1966.

And there’s my Evora, sitting silently in a steady rain. This new model is a stylistic departure from the Elise and the Exige—it’s more maturely penned, looking very unlike a wheeled water bug. Like the Elise and the Exige, the Evora sits low, the front of the car barely at shin height, the tops of the front fenders about knee-high.

Getting in doesn’t require the Cirque du Soleil training that the Elise and the Exige do, but slipping between the wide side sills and the steering wheel remains more challenging than getting into any Porsche. There are still some dollar-store touches inside: cheap-looking window switches, the Ford-sourced turn-signal and wiper stalks. But overall, the interior has a style and quality that wouldn’t look out of place in an Audi.

Firm and snug Recaro seats and a tilting and telescoping wheel adjust easily for a comfortable driving position. Looking out, the huge windshield seems to end at your feet; the view ahead is panoramic, interrupted only by the tops of the front fenders, which serve as reference points. When seated on the wrong side of a car and driving on the wrong side of the road—all the while circling London’s Heathrow Airport waiting for a photographer—it’s always useful to know where the front of the car is.

Lensman Tom Salt arrives, and I’m stunned by the amount of gear he has brought along. Kim Kardashian probably packs lighter. The Evora’s six-cubic-foot trunk verges on useless, so we just cram our gear into the 23-cubic-foot back seat. Lotus claims the rear seat is usable by a fifth-percentile female, which basically means that if you’re over five feet tall, riding back there is only slightly better than being waterboarded.

We head into London, just in time for the stress of rush hour. We’re looking for backdrops to prove we’ve been here, so we aim toward Big Ben. That taken care of, we drive southeast out of London, then crawl in traffic for a few hours, and—finally—we sweep onto the M20, which looks like freeways do everywhere else. Fifty uneventful miles later, we tool into Folkestone and the entrance to the great tunnel built under the English Channel. Beyond it is France.