A few new details have surfaced surrounding the future Toyota-Subaru compact sports car. Apparently the vehicle’s official debut will be made at the end of 2011, however it will be powered by a smaller engine than originally anticipated in order to reduce emissions and increase fuel efficiency.
Under the hood the automakers will keep the 2.0 Liter boxer engine, except that instead of having 200 direct injected horses on tap, at the moment it will only make 160 HP, some 40 HP less than previously anticipated. The gears will initially still be shifted by a 6 speed manual transmission with an automatic version being offered later on.
One of the future AE86’s keys to success is a lightweight fun to drive formula, so weight for the future Toyobaru sport compact is expected to be around 1200 kg. The engineers will have to keep off every unnecessary pound in order to get the most out of the detuned power plant.
The last new Audi RS4 to roll out of a showroom was back in early 2008. At the end of that year the German automaker has already released a new generation A4 with the theme of downsizing for efficiency. With the new body also comes a new RS4. Audi prefers to wait until they are closer to the end of their product’s life cycle before developing and all out factory tuned hot rod and so the word has just broken that the next four-ringed sports car to wear the RS4 badge will go n sale in the spring of 2010.
It is possible that the German automaker is aiming for a Geneva Motor Show launch, looking forward to embarrassing competitors offerings like the Mercedes Benz C63 AMG, the BMW M3 and the Lexus IS-F. The current trend is a high horsepower combination of speed and luxury, however none of these other high performance machines can match the handling performance of Audi’s Quattro all wheel drive system.
The 2010 Audi RS4 will be powered by a V8 engine that will deliver an impressive 450 HP, a gain of 30 HP compared to the old 4.2 Liter FSI equipped RS4. The future super sedan will also feature larger air intakes in the front bumper, inspired by the Audi TT-RS and the upcoming RS5. Like all of the rennsport models, the RS4 will wear a more aggressively styled aero kit.
Now that the Indian automaker, Tata Motors is the new owner of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, the manufacturer has announced that all future models will use light weight bodies made from aluminum in order to reduce not only their own costs, but it will also increase fuel efficiency because the engines will be pushing around less mass and as a result they will experience a reduced fuel consumption and lowered emissions in their vehicles. In an even more environmentally conscious step, both brands are also preparing a host of hybrid engines.
In a recent interview, Tata Motors Chairman, Ratan Tata said that "Jaguar and Land Rover is planning to have all its future cars constructed with light weight aluminum bodies resulting in considerable savings in weight, and reduction in CO2 emissions."
Just a short reminder, the 2010 Jaguar XJ is the first Jaguar model built on the one time English automaker’s aerospace-inspired aluminum structure technology. Aside from all of the green advantages that come with a light weight body, one very important aspect is that both straight line speed and a vehicle’s ability to go around a corner is greatly increased as well.
Now that the Swedish automaker Saab is under Koenigsegg’s ownership, their future looks very bright. Maybe by accident (or not!) a document revealing the future Saab’s line-up has surfaced on the internet. It shows all the models to be launched by 2017, and it looks very promising we might add (but we were still hopping to see a production version for the Aero-X).
In 2010 Saab will debut the next generation 9-5, followed by the 9-4X. In 2011 we will see the station wagon version for the 9-5 and a first for Saab, start/stop technology. In 2012 they will bring the new generation 9-3 and the new mini 9-1. In 2013 a crossover vehicle based on the 9-5 Sportcombi will come to life and a new 9-3 Convertible.
2015 looks to be a very promising year for the Swedish company: they plan to bring back the Sonett brand from the 1960s and 1970s, and also a new model placed above the retro comeback, by SAAB will bring out a new generation of the 9-5.
As you the classic compact British automaker, Mini, is planning on unveiling the new speedster concept this September at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Aside from the open-air roadster project, the German manufacturer is also working on a new coupe that will be called Broadspeed. The title comes from the 1966 Broadspeed GT Coupe that was based on a Mark 1 Austin Mini Cooper 1275 S and was also the name of a racing team that campaigned the agile Mini Coopers in the mid 1960’s.
It is speculated that the special edition Broadspeed will make its official debut before the speedster and it is expected to be available for purchase sometime early in 2011 and be the automaker’s most hardcore offering to date when offered in JCW trim. Like the upcoming speedster, the Broadspeed will be based on the R57 platform and will be some of the last Minis to use the current vehicle’s drive train.
This coming September Bugatti will unveil an all new model at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Not like the image helps, but the future Italian super car will be a four door sedan that will compete head to head with with future ultra luxurious high speed machines like the the new Grand Bentley or the Rolls Royce Ghost.
The new Bugatti sports saloon will be built in celebration of the company’s 100th anniversary and this is the first ever image is the only visual tangible proof from the automaker. All it reveals is that the future Bugatti will feature a set of high-tech LED tail lamps and a vertically stacked center high mounted stop light. Stay tuned, we’ll get back to you with more details as soon as they come in!
In Skoda’s line-up there are currently five model (Fabia, Roomster, Octavia, Fabia and Yeti), but in the next five years the company wants to extend it to a least seven. And a five-door coupe model is one of them. It will be revealed in 2012-13 and will compete with models like Ford Focus or Opel Astra.
According to a Skoda insider: "Determination to elevate the brand and our presence in 100 markets globally means we have to widen our product footprint. But as the Roomster and Yeti show, we do not always do the obvious thing."
The new model will share the same platform with the Volkswagen Golf and will be powered the VW Group’s small-capacity normally aspirated and turbocharged petrol engines, plus DSG transmissions.
Next to it, Skoda also plans its own version for the Volkswagen Up city car.
GM announced it will build a new luxury stretch sedan called the Cadillac XTS. The new sedan, next to the upcoming Buick Regal, a redesigned Chevrolet Impala and current Chevrolet Camaro are the big hope for the company.
The new Cadillac XTS will be the largest four-door sedan Cadillac’s line-up. It will come to replace the DTS and will compete with models from BMW, Audi and Lexus. The car will go into production in December 2011.
Next to the Impala and Regal, the new Cadillac XTS will be built on GM’s global Epsilon platform. This means GM will built three different models for three different brands - Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac - based on the same basic vehicle underpinnings - that can be translated into smaller costs.
"It gives GM the flexibility to juggle the production mix to meet the market," said one source familiar with the company’s plans. "That is something that GM has not had the full-scale opportunity to do. In the past, they’ve built assembly lines dedicated to one vehicle, they run the piss out of it, and they throw money at to make the public buy it whether you want to or not. That’s passé. That’s the bad old days we hope will never come again."
Like their luxury cousins at Audi, Volkswagen is also focusing on shedding some weight from their future models. The German automaker is currently preparing a Golf with a bodyshell that’s 30% lighter than a standard five-door’s. The knowledge that the structural engineering teams learn from the SuperlightCar project will be directly applied to production models by 2012.
The Volkswagen design team had to use a melting pot full of different metals in order to achieve the strength and durability necessary for a road going vehicle, with all of the economical weight saving benefits. This project is being constructed from from a combination of steel, magnesium and aluminum. Volkswagen has built three of these different concepts in order to learn as much as possible: one made purely of steel, one with mixed materials but built to a low cost standard and one with more expensive mixed materials. The final high dollar version was able to cut the weight of the Mk5 Golf by as much as 41%. Not bad, 35 MPG here they come.
This economic crisis has hit the automobile industry quite hard, first Chrysler filed for bankruptcy and now GM is going through the Chapter 11 proceedings. The impact has also been felt overseas, with European manufacturers canceling everything that isn’t guaranteed to turn a profit. So long super cars, bye-bye baby SUVs. If you are not a viable option at the moment see you later. It is a shame that this has to happen, because now some truly amazing cars that could have been will be put on the back burner or get swept away into a dark closet somewhere never to see the light of day again.
Our friends over at CAR have compiled a list of over 40 vehicles that are currently on hold, with no guarantee of ever returning to the manufacturer’s list of future production cars anytime soon. They include cars like the speedster versions of the Audi TT and Porsche Boxster, also on hold is the German sports car maker’s Roxster crossover. An S-Class coupe would have been an interesting luxury limousine to see sitting in a booth at an auto show, although we’re not sure if Volkswagen really needs a replacement for the Phaeton. There are two cars on the list that made us shed a tear. The first being the retro restyled BMW M1 super car and the other being a GT1 version of Porsche’s fabulous 911. Oh, when will this damn crisis be over?
Full list after the jump.
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