Future cars in the making. Should they be an innocent drawing, a fine computer rendering or real driving concept, they always preview the cars of the future in some aspects.
When little-known supercar builder, Vencer, started teasing its latest creation, we knew there was something special going on at the Dutch automaker’s offices. The Sarthe remained a well-kept secret from its initial teaser image all the way through its debut in Top Marques Monaco, so much so that to date, Vencer hasn’t even released images of it .
Well, we managed to scour around the Interwebz and dig up some images from Top Marques Monaco’s Facebook page. We’re not too sure exactly what to think of what we saw at Top Marques, as the Sarthe is your typical supercar with no real surprises. This could be engineering genius or maybe a complete flop – that decision is ultimately up to those of you with the funds in the bank to buy one.
We already knew what kind of pop the Sarthe would have, as Vencer reveled all of that information pretty early on in the teasing process.
Click past the jump to see all of the images of the Vencer Sarthe.
UPDATE 4/23/2013: The Sarthe officially debuted at the 2013 Top Marques Monaco over the weekend. Some images of the production model made their way onto Facebook, and many of the official details have been revealed. See more after the jump
Rumors have been swirling since 2011 regarding the Chevrolet SS and we were amongst the first to start discussing it. The rumors cooled off up until a few weeks ago when after 40 years of using the “SS” logo, GM finally decided to trademark it. Later the rumors became even more certain, as OnStar, GM’s in-vehicle communication system, mistakenly put the 2014 model lineup on its site. Within that lineup was a model dubbed the SS Performance.
This all adds up to a solid case that the Chevrolet SS Performance is on its way to the U.S. According to the rumormill, this would also result in the Holden Commodore SS, which was once used as the Pontiac G8, becoming the vehicle that dons the 2014 SS Perfomance badges.
With this release, Chevy would finally have a performance sedan to stack up against the likes of the Charger R/T and the Ford Taurus SHO.
UPDATE 04/23/2013: The 2013 New York International Auto Show closed its doors long time ago, but now Chevrolet decided to drop a new video on its SS sports sedan. The video features John Fitzpatrick, marketing manager for Chevrolet performance cars, giving an official walk around of the 2014 Chevrolet SS. Enjoy!
Click past the jump to read our full review of the anticipated SS Performance and how it stacks up against the competition.
The current Mercedes SLS line-up is quickly filling up with a Coupe, a Roadster, a GT3 version, and, sometime in the near future, an E-Cell version. However, Mercedes isn’t done yet. As promised yesterday the fifth model in the line-up has been officially announced today: the SLS AMG Black Series.
The new SLS Black Series has borrowed some of the styling cues seen first on the GT3 version and of course combines them with some of the usual Black Series design elements. But first Mercedes worked on reducing the car’s total weight: they added lots of carbon fiber elements, a new titanium-made exhaust system, new wheels and some lightweight sports seats. As a result the new Black Series is about 154 lbs lighter than the current model.
When you add an improved engine under the hood: a 622 HP V8 engine, you will easily notice that the car’s performance numbers have also improved: the 0 to 60 mph sprint time drops 0.2 seconds and top speed is now 195 mph.
Updated 04/23/2012: Mercedes AMG has unveiled a new video on the SLS AMG Black Series. The supercar has been shown in action at the Le Castellet Race Track. Enjoy!
Hit the jump to read more about the new Mercedes SLS AMG Black Series.
This year’s Shanghai Auto Show comes with great news, and not only for the Chinese market. In an interview with AutoCar, Audi technical chief, Wolfgang Durheimer, said that he is pushing to expand Audi’s SUV lineup with a new model placed above the current Q7 and a Q2.
The SUV placed above the current Q7 would likely be named Q8 and will "combine a Range Rover Sport-style sporting look with a very luxurious interior." Durheimer said that Audi has been inspired by Bentley’s decision to offer a SUV and he is also "encouraging" Lamborghini to progress with its SUV – remember, Lambo is under Audi’s control.
If built, the three SUVs - Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini - will most likely be developed in the same time, because, according to Durheimer VW encourages internal competition, as long as the models don’t overlap one another.
Until we will see the Q8 on the market, another SUV has priority: the Q2. It was previewed by the Crosslane Coupe Concept and Durheimer calls is a “top priority” within Audi. Rumor has it that the Q2 could arrive sometime in 2014.
Click past the jump to read about the Crosslane Coupe Concept
This weekend at the 2013 Auto Shanghai motor show, Mercedes unveiled the GLA Concept - the initial preview for the company’s fifth SUV. The production version of the GLA-Class will arrive sometime in 2015 and will be the smallest SUV offered by Mercedes.
The production version GLA-Class will be built on the same front-wheel-drive architecture that features transversely mounted engines, just like the new-generation A-Class and B-Class. From the A-Class, the future SUV will also borrow the engine lineup, including the most powerful one offered in the AMG version.
The concept version unveiled in Shanghai features a futuristic design language, but for the production version Mercedes will adopt a more conventional look, pretty much similar to what we have seen in the A-Class. To help give you an idea of what the production GLA-Class will look like, we have created a rendering, which you can see above.
Hit the jump to read more about the production version Mercedes GLA-Class.
Bentley’s next addition to its lineup is a production version for the EXP 9 F SUV, but in the long-term, the company could also develop a four-door coupe model as a competitor for top versions variants of the BMW 6-Series GranCoupe and Mercedes CLS.
In a recent interview, Bentley CEO Wolfgang Schreiber said that the company would really enjoy developing such a model, but it won’t happen "any time soon, that’s for sure, but maybe in the longer term." According to Schreiber, such a model would sit below the current Mulsanne and would be just one of the models needed by the company to raise sales from 8,510 units in 2012 to 15,000 by 2018. The future four-door coupe, if produced, would be priced at about £130,000 ($198,000 at the current exchange rates).
In the same interview, Schreiber confirmed that the SUV will arrive on the market by 2015 at a starting price of £120,000 ($182,000). It will be completely redesigned from the EXP 9 F concept and Bentley has already received 2,000 orders for it.
Click past the jump to check out some of the competition a four-door coupe Bentley would face
The first rumors about a new Maserati sedan placed under the current Quattroporte appeared at the beginning of 2010, but after a couple of months of heating up the air waves, the new car fell by the wayside while everyone made room for the new Audis, Ferraris, and such. Now, with just two weeks before the car’s official debut in Shanghai, Maserati has dropped the first details on its latest addition to the lineup.
Based on the same platform as the new generation Quattroporte, the new Ghibli sedan features a sportier character when compared to its big brother. Also, unlike previous rumors, for the new Ghibli, Maserati will only use two V-6 engines, while the V-8 engine used in the Quattroporte won’t be used.
Maserati revealed nothing on the car’s price just yet, but considering the new Ghibli will play a significant role in Maserati’s growth plan to sell 50,000 cars per year, we expect the price to be kept somewhere in the $70k area.
UPDATE 04/21/2013: Maserati has unveiled more official details on the new Ghibli sedan at the 2013 Shanghai Motor Show. Unfortunately, no additional images were released yet.
Hit the jump to read more about the future Maserati Ghibili.
The auto industry is full of brands that have gone by the wayside, for one reason or another.
It’s not uncommon given the competitiveness of the industry and yet for some of the legendary brands of yesteryear, there’s always that hope that the brand will be reborn if there’s somebody willing to finance it.
Over in Poland, Syrena was once a brand that roamed its streets back in the 50s up to the early ’70’s. But while it did last for quite some time, the irony is the model that most people associate with Syrena was the one that never made it into production: the Syrena Sport.
But thanks to entrepreneur, Rafal Czubaj, the Syrena Sport may finally see the light of production. With the help of a team that includes designer Pavlo Burkatskyy - one of the people that helped pen the Arrinera supercar - Czubaj is determined to finally bring the Syrena Sport to life.
Click past the jump to read more about the Czubaj’s plans for the Syrena Sport
The Mercedes G-Class has had a very long history in the automotive industry. Currently the model comes in four versions: G, GL, ML and GLK. Starting 2014, however, a fifth version will be added to the lineup. Called the GLA, the new model will be an SUV coupe.
The Mercedes GLA will be built on the same front-wheel-drive architecture that features transversely mounted engines, as found in the next A and B-Classes. The production version of the GLA will also borrow lots of its design elements from the same A-Class that inspired it, but of course with an increased ride height.
Updated 04/18/2013: After the first images surfaced on the Internet the other day, Mercedes dropped the official details on the new GLA Concept set to be unveiled at the 2013 Auto Shanghai motor show on April 21st.
Hit the jump to read more about the new Mercedes GLA.
Lamborghini unveiled the Gallardo back in 2003 in a time when Ferrari was still offered the 360 Modena. Since then, Ferrari brought two other supercars on the market: the F430 and the 458 Italia, but somehow the Gallardo managed to survive.
But in life everything good comes to an end, and the Gallardo is no exception, as the Italian supercar builder is already preparing the successor for it, which is currently known as the Cabrera. However, until the Cabrera becomes official, Lamborghini is considering a special "Good bye!" for the aging Gallardo.
According to Lamborghini of America chief operating officer Michael Lock, the last Gallardo units will be offered as a special edition that features a rear-wheel-drive system and, most importantly, a manual gearbox.
According to Lock, this will be a "stripped-down, manual-transmission Gallardo send-off edition." After that, Lamborghini will focus on the supercar’s successor, a model that will have to "preserve Lamborghini’s heritage of outrageous styling."
Click past the jump to read all about the Gallardo
