A Supercar is a sports car, typically an exotic or rare one, whose performance is highly superlative to its contemporary sports cars. They are pure bestial look and performance. Even if you never own one of these they will change the way you feel about cars just by looking at them.
Unveiled at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, the new LaFerrari is going to hold the front page for many weeks. Today, Ferrari announced that more than one thousand customers placed request for the new supercar, despite its huge price of more than $1 million, which is still unconfirmed.
Still, Ferrari will not build more than 499 units in an attempt to keep it exclusive. The company also announced that the LaFerrari is "an extraordinary car, destined to our collectors," so, if you were planning to buy one, but you don’t have an large number of Prancing Horses in your garage you have to forget about it!
As a reminder, the new LaFerrari uses a hybrid system that delivers a total of 963 horsepower. It sprints from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds and from 0 to 186 mph in just 15 seconds. Top speed is limited to 217 mph.
To learn more about the new LaFerrari, check its new official web page: http://www.laferrari.com.
Chris Harris was at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show and he was among the first to review all the latest supercars announced at the show: the McLaren P1 and the new LaFerrari - two of the greatest models seen in Geneva, and it’s not only us saying it! Along with these supercars, Harris also takes a look at cars like the new Alfa Romeo 4C and the new-generation Golf GTI.
He also took a trip outside where he did a short review on the new Mercedes E63 AMG - a car that apparently did quite an impression on him.
Can you guess which one of the new supercars was his favorite? We will tell you which ones he did not like: the Lamborghini Veneno and the new KTM X-Bow GT. The real test is whether his opinions are shared among other experts or is he just strange?
With 700 horsepower under its hood, the Aventador is a supercar that needs no upgrades - not on the exterior, and especially not in its engine bay. Still, British tuner, Kahn Design, seems to disagree with Lamborghini when it says it has developed the ultimate supercar and today it announced an upgrade kit for the Aventador.
In true Kahn Design spirit, only the Aventador’s interior has been modified, while the exterior updates have been kept to minimum and only includes new 20-inch Kahn Santagata wheels finished in hyper or liquid silver.
On the interior, the two sports seats were covered in Nappa leather with white stitching. The tuner also installed a quilted steering wheel with airbags, instrument surround and center console in Nappa leather.
Each customer will have the possibility to customize the look of his supercar depending on his personal taste. Kahn Design is offering them the possibility to choose from an infinite palette of colors, fabric, leather and trim pieces.
When McLaren was testing the P1 prototypes, it announced that the company will focus on obtaining the best street and track performance, while top speed was left in second place. In an interview at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, Ron Dennis announced the P1 will smash world records on both the Nürburgring and the Top Gear lap record at Dunsfold.
He claimed that the P1 will lap Nürburgring in under 7 seconds - a very ambitious plan considering the only two models that have managed to obtain this result were the Radical SR8 (6:55) and SR8 LM (6:48). Considering the MP4-12C lapped the famous ring in just 7:28, we presume that all the updates the P1 received are enough to considerably improve the supercar’s lap time.
When it comes about the Top Gear lap record, Dennis announced the lap time will be improved by 10 seconds when compared to the time obtained by the Pagani Huayra.
We are not too sure if these results will really be obtained, but for sure it was an attempt to steal the show back from the LaFerrari.
Ferrari impressed the world with its new LaFerrari supercar that it unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. For those of you who didn’t have the chance to be in Geneva, YouTube user, Marchettino, prepared a surprise: a video of the new supercar shot on the show floor.
The video reveals the supercar on both the exterior and the interior, so you will have the chance to admire the amazing design language and the carbon-fiber-wrapped cabin.
As a reminder, the LaFerrari features a hybrid system that combines a 6.3-liter V-12 engine with two electric motors for a total output of 963 horsepower. It goes from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds and up to a top speed of more than 217 mph.
The problem is that the new LaFerrari will be limited to only 499 units and will be priced at an astonishing €1.3 million (about $1.7 million at the current exchange rates). It has been rumored that most of the units have already been spoken for.
Rumors of Audi’s plans to build a Le Mans-inspired supercar have been floating around for the past couple of months. Expected to be called the R20, speculation has run rampant on the technical details of the supercar.
While Audi has resisted from making any comments regarding what it plans on doing with the car, technical chief, Wolganf Durheimer, bared some refreshing news at the Geneva Motor Show. Talking to Autocar, Durheimer commented that the proposed supercar is currently under "production evaluation"
More importantly, Durheimer believes that development of the car will go far enough that we could see a prototype later this year at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
“We run product evaluation on different ideas, looking at market positioning, brand image, development cost and time to market,” Dürheimer said. “Once this is done we will have a clear decision on what happens next. I would expect an update on this project in September at Frankfurt."
“It is still alive and I’m pushing for it,” he added.
Should the proposed R20 progress to the point that it could be green lighted for production, Audi believes that a lot of people would go nuts for the car, something the automaker is looking for as it tries to align its Le Mans program with a dedicated road car. Should that end up being the case, it’s likely that the R20 will carry some sort of a diesel-electric hybrid powertrain, similar to what the automaker uses on its R18 Le Mans racer.
Ultimately, Durheimer believes that hybrid supercars are becoming an important aspect of a brand’s focus.
“The market for these cars is fairly limited, but they are so important for brand image and perception,” he said.
“I think we need to do this car and show clearly where racing goes.”
Back in late January, FAB Design surprised the Tokyo Auto Salon with the unveiling of its new program for the McLaren MP4-12C Spyder. Following in the veins of last year’s program for the coupe version, FAB Design went about and called this one "Terso", although as a Japan-exclusive model that was limited to only 10 units, that model came to be completely known as the MP4-12C Spyder Terso Japan Limited Edition.
Fast forward to the Geneva Motor Show and FAB Design has officially taken the covers off of the "regular" Terso program for the roofless McLaren supercar.
Similar to last year’s Terso program for the coupe version of the MP4-12C, this version comes chock-full with new aerodynamic components that include: a wider front and rear wings, new side skirts, enlarged air intakes in the front spoiler and a humongous diffuser just under the new rear spoiler.
The new FAB sport exhaust system plays a huge role in increasing the MP4-12C Spyder’s output to about 630 horsepower, 15 more than the standard output of the British supercar.
A set of 20-inch ultra-light, three-piece forged EvoLution wheels were fitted into the car and wrapped in a new set of Dunlop tires.
Diving into the interior, you’ll notice that FAB Design went to great lengths to ensure that the MP4-12C Spyer’s interior was treated to only the finest of materials. The new sport seats and the "ergonomically designed" sports steering wheel both received fine-upholstered leather while the aluminum pedal system sparkles in the foot-well also received its share of the upgrades.
The unveiling of the Ferrari LaFerrari was met with widespread adulation from all over the world, including in Germany where one aftermarket company didn’t waste time releasing a concept rendering of what the LaFerrari would look like if it got its hands on one.
German tuner, DMC, took to Facebook to show its fans its concept rendering of the supercar. It even came up with a name for it: LaQuattro.
Unfortunately, DMC, like everybody else, will likely have to wait before it can get its hands on the LaFerrari. But knowing how the aftermarket brand works and the reputation it has established as one of the best supercar tuners in the world, don’t be surprised if it somehow gets its hands on a LaFerrari soon.
And when it does, this concept rendering of the "LaQuattro" will more than likely be more than just a figment of our imaginations. Here’s to hoping this actually happens.
We’ll update this review once DMC releases the information on the LaQuattro.
The third - and last - special edition developed by Bugatti for the 2013 Geneva Motor Show is the 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse Fire Finch Bronze Carbon. As its name suggest, this special edition is painted in a nice "Fire Finch" tone - a color composition called "Ying & Yang" – used here for the first time.
Bronze-colored carbon was used for the car’s rear, the cowlings, the roof frame and on the A-pillars. A complementary brown "Fire Finch" has been used for the side panels, the rear air intake grilles and the exterior mirrors. The ventilation grilles and brake calipers are offered in a neutral black.
For the interior, Bugatti combined a powerful orange ("Burnt Orange") and a dark brown ("Coffee"). The steering wheel spokes, steering wheel center and 12 o’clock ring are in a polished-aluminum finish. To help set the interior off, Bugatti used Orange highlight stitching on the Coffee-colored leather center tunnel.
This one-off edition will be priced at €1.95 million - around $2.5 million at the current exchange rates.
Last November, news came out that Gumpert was getting back on its feet after a recent rash of orders kept the company’s head above water. At that time, insolvency administrator, Görge Scheid, said that the company was still in the middle of looking for investors that would keep the company alive.
Well, good news has arrived for Gumpert, as the supercar maker confirmed that it has not only secured a new investor but more importantly, it’s about to launch an expanded product range in the future.
“Our distribution and dealer networks are being expanded worldwide and sister models will soon be added to the Apollo,” company founder, Roland Gumpert, said.
For now, the company is keeping its plans under lock and key, although Gumpert did give some hints that one of the first models of the re-launched Gumpert will arrive this year at a "major trade fair".
Maybe the Frankfurt Motor Show later this year?
Whenever that is, it’s great to see Gumpert back on its feet. We probably speak for everyone when we say that we can’t wait for its next range of models to once again challenge for the title of "fastest car in the world.”
