The world debut of the new Audi A8 will not be happening on any auto shows in the near future.
No; for this occasion, Audi wants to hog the spotlight all to itself and rightfully so. The flagship A8 sedan will make its world unveiling at the Audi Pavilion on November 30 - the eve of the yearly art-fest ’Design Miami’. If you don’t know where that is, it’s actually
a temporary museum structure located in Miami.
Some of you might find the decision a little curious, especially since the upcoming LA Auto Show figures to be the perfect setting for the A8 to be revealed. But the decision ultimately rested on the shoulders of the folks from Ingolstadt and they figured that the A8 would be best-served to have the stage all the itself.
As far as the venue-of-choice is concerned, Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG, decided that Miami’s Design District would be the ideal location because, as he said: "Our claim "Vorsprung durch Technik" also embraces design, which is one of the outstanding elements of the Audi signature. And as top design has now emerged as an acknowledged art form, we see the bridge between art and architecture as a logical step in advancing our brand."
We don’t really have any preference as to where Audi decides to unveil the new A8, although their decision to skip the auto show scene has led us to believe that they may have something up their sleeve as far as the world unveiling of the A8 is concerned.
News of Maybach’s apparent demise may end up being premature after Mercedes’ luxury car brand recently released new photos of its flagship luxury sedan, the 2010 Zeppelin.
The all-new Zeppelin comes with a 6.0-liter V12 bi-turbo engine that produces 640 hp and over 1,000 Nm of torque. As far as the interior is concerned, the new Zeppelin comes with a number of subtle upgrades over most standard Maybachs, including chrome-finished 20” wheels, a special-edition two-tone paint finish, dark red tail lights, the ‘Zeppelin’ lettering embossed on the grille emblem, and streamlined exterior mirrors.
The new Zeppelin, which comes in two models – the 57 and the 62 – will b extremely limited, with only 100 units set for production. The 57 Zeppelin – the shorter of the two – will come with a price tag of €406,000 while the longer 62 Zeppelin will sell for €473,200.
We still don’t know the long term future of Mercedes’ luxury brand, but this does come as encouraging news for fans of the Maybach, especially when it was only a few months ago where the Maybach was this close to meeting its maker.
We have said it before and we will say it again, modern engines and computer tuning have made it so easy to get more horse power from your car that the days of changing camshafts and getting your hands dirty are a thing of the past. That is because the amount of potential that can be unlocked with a simple microchip, when tuned correctly, is the simplest and most practical method of squeezing every last drop of output out of your car’s 21st century motor. One perfect example is the Porsche Panamera, from the factory the four door sports car is available with a hearty 500 HP under the hood.
The engine computer re calibration specialists at McChip already have a program that is designed to boost the Panamera’s 4.8 Liter turbocharged V8 by another 50 HP and bring torque up as far as 624 lb-ft when equipped with Porsche’s Sportchrono package. That’s not all, because with more power comes more responsibility, like the kind you experience at 193 MPH, the chipped Panamera’s new top speed. Although the German tuners McChip are asking more for this particular unit than you would expect to pay for an ordinary car, at $2,250 this is well within the range of power hungry Porsche owners, and they won’t even have to worry about getting greasy.
In Europe it is known as the Opel Insignia, but for the North American market General Motors decided to revive a name first used back in 1973: Regal. Sales of the new Buick Regal sport sedan will begin in the second quarter of 2010, and its main competitors will be the Japanese Acura TSX and Swedish Volvo S60.
The 2011 Regal will be offered only in the CXL trim (additional ones will be added for the 2012 model year). The Regal CXL will be offered standard with a 2.4 Liter Ecotec direct injected four cylinder engine that delivers a maximum output of 182 HP, however a 2.0 Liter direct gasoline injected turbocharged Ecotec cranking out 220 HP will be offered as an option. Both engines will come mated to a six-speed automatic transmission with driver-shift control.
There is nothing much to say about the new Regal’s design, anyone can recognize the Insignia underneath the Buick badge. With its aggressive styling and tailored applications of Buick’s signature design cues, such as the waterfall grill, select use of chrome trim and superior fit and finish of the exterior panels. While the interior consists of all the latest technologies to keep it up to date in the 21st century: navigation, Harmon Kardon sound system, internal flash drive (1GB), hard drive with 10GB for music and USB port.
Back on August 24th Motortrend and Automobile magazine got together for a one of a kind test to put the new Ecoboost powered Lincoln MKS to the test against some of the world’s most luxurious perfromance machines. The field included a Mercedes Benz E550, Maserati Quattroporte, BMW 550i and a Jaguar XF Premium 5.0 Liter V8; all competing against the new twin turbocharged V6 Lincoln MKS sedan, in a classic 6 versus 8 competition.
Leaving all bench racing aside and concentrating on the the cold hard facts, each vehicle was raced up Loveland Pass, a treacherous, winding road with thousand foot drop offs and torturous hairpin turns in the heart of the Rocky Mountains located in Colorado. The man who was lucky enough to be selected to pilot these performance automobiles was none other than the multiple time hill climb champion Rod Millen, his ability to squeeze the most out of every vehicle combined with his ability to make use of every last inch of pavement made the New Zeland native the perfect candidate for the contest. Although the Lincoln MKS seceded to the BMW 550, it did manage to come in a close second and at the end of the day walked away with the highest top speed of any of the European machines.
Lumma Design, in cooperation with G-Power revealed today the CLR 730 RS - one of the fastest limousine out there. The car is based on the M5 E60 and improves both performances and the car’s look.
The most amazing thing about the car is the 730 hp V10 bi-compressor engine developed by G-power. It is the most powerful engine ever used in a BMW. And the results are amazing: 0 to 60 mph in 4 seconds and a top speed of 228 mph.
The body kit includes: a hood, a trunk lid with integrated tearing edge, mirror caps, door handles, entrance strips and fenders - all made of carbon. The car sits on 21" wheels and features an original brake system.
The car’s interior is defined by a bicolor complete leather interior in red/white with stitched diamond patterns and white fancy seems.
Even if it will not be officially unveiled until March 2010 at the Geneva Motor Show, Volvo revealed today the first images of the 2011 S60 luxury sedan. Production will start in early summer 2010 at the Volvo Cars plant in Ghent, Belgium.
"The all-new Volvo S60 is sculpted to move you. It looks and drives like no other Volvo before and the car’s technology will help you to be safer and more confident behind the wheel," says Stephen Odell, President and CEO of Volvo Cars.
While the exterior design lines are clearly inspired by the concept unveiled at the Detroit Motor Show, the front of the car is... well just not right. But we’ll need to wait and see.
After months of speculations, BMW officially announced today that the 2011 5-Series sedan will make its world debut on November 23rd. The future sedan will feature a "sporting and elegant design", inspired by both the 7-Series limousine and the sports activity vehicle 5-Series GT.
The next BMW 5-Series should be based on three elements: larger, lower and lighter. The car is expected to share a chassis with the 7-Series, but it will weight less because the engine lineup is expected to use smaller engines with turbochargers.
In an effort to hop aboard the hybrid bandwagon, perennial luxury carmaker, Rolls Royce recently announced of their plans to produce a hybrid drivetrain for the new Ghost sedan that will effectively cut the car’s gas-guzzling capabilities by as much as 15%.
The word floating around is that since the Ghost uses the a platform that was pegged from the BMW 7-Series, the new hybrid version of the Ghost will also use the same ActiveHybrid 7-Series from BMW.
According to Autocar, the hybrid model of the Ghost will still come with the same 6.2-liter V12 engine found on the traditional model, but with the addition of an electric motor that’s integrated into the Ghost’s eight-speed auto transmission, which if form holds, will amount to the hybrid Ghost saving 15% of its fuel compared to the traditional counterpart.
If plans move along – and they are moving rather quickly, as a matter of fact – we could very well see a hybrid Rolls Royce – who would’ve thought that day would come – rolling out of production lots sooner than we thought.
Suzuki announced prices for the 2010 Kizashi sedan which will go on sale in December 2009. Prices will start from $18,999 for a well-equipped entry-level Kizashi S and from $21,749 for AWD version.
The Kizashi SE FWD will range from $21,499 to $22,749 and the GTS version from $22,499. The prices for the SLS will range from $24,399 for FWD M/T to $26,749 for AWD CVT. The top of the line, the CTS AWD CVT will be priced at $24,849.
Standard options will include: leather seats, power passenger seat, heated front seats, auto dimming rear view mirror with Homelink®3 Universal garage door opener, heated outside mirrors, automatic rain sensing wipers, automatic headlamps and rear proximity sensors.
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