We can never have enough of supercar rallies. Recently, a gathering of over 100 supercars converged at Wilton House in the UK for a charity supercar show that was attended by over 6,000 people from all walks of life. Among the festivities during the event included a race on a hillclimb course leading up to the gathering at Wilton House.
Toyota UK has launched a new top of the line version for the Aygo compact car. Called Platinum, the new version is based on the Aygo+ model and adds: 14-inch multi-spoke alloy wheels, Crystal Silver metallic paint, six-speaker audio system, Alcantara and leather upholstery and leather gear knob trim.
The new Aygo Platinum is available in either three or five-door versions, both being powered by a 1.0-litre VVT-I petrol engine with Toyota Optimal Drive – winner of the sub-one-liter class of the International Engine of the Year awards for the past three years. Five-speed manual transmission is fitted as standard, with the option of Toyota’s Multimode system.
Toyota is also offering a new Aygo Xtra Protected pack for the new Platinum edition. The package adds: rear parking sensors and additional side and rear protection mouldings to help guard against the rough and tumble of urban driving. Vehicle Stability Control can also be specified as an option.
Prices start at £8995 for the Platinum edition and adds an extra £380 for the Aygo Xtra Protected pack.
Hot off the release of the Kia Soul Samba, Kia’s UK Division is moving ahead with plans of releasing another limited edition Soul in November. Called the ‘Tempest’ the special edition Soul is the next-in-line to be released as part of Kia’s Original Collection.
The car, which will be sold for £12,845, comes with a 1.6-liter engine in either gas or diesel variants. Its Titanium Silver finish goes well with the black high-gloss bumper inserts, giving it a sleek and aggressive look. The black 18-inch alloy wheels also compliments the overall burnished effect of the Soul Tempest.
For a vehicle that comes with a pretty affordable price tag, the Tempest’s interior has also been upgraded to the brim. It has a black seat trim with metallic centre fascia that goes well with the overall theme of the car. The Tempest also has a reverse camera system with electrochromatic rear-view mirror and a fully-prepped sound system that has a dash-top speaker, an external amplifier, and a rear sub-woofer.
It goes without saying that a car that comes with a plethora of features and only sells for £12,845 is a downright good deal in every sense of the word.
While most of us are drooling over the prospect of driving off into the sunset with the supercar of our dreams, two people who attended the recent RM Auction in London went home with their own supercars that they can now proudly call their own.
Two of the main attractions at the said auction were a pair Mercedes-Benz CLK GTRs – one was a 2005 Coupe version and the other was of the 2006 Roadster variety. Expensive and rare – only 20 coupes and five roadsters were ever built – at the same time, the CLK GTRs sold for a combined £1.1 million – a ‘somewhat’ bargain price considering the ‘beyond exclusive’ tag attached to these two cars.
While the two new – and lucky – owners of these cars were not identified, we do know that the 2005 CLK GTR Coupe sold for £522,500 while the 2006 Roadster version fetched a pretty cool £616,000.
It also goes without saying that the GTRs are not your prototypical Mercedeses. Fine-tuned by no less than HWA, the cars come with a 6.9-liter V12 engine that’s capable of churning out up to 612 horsepower. In addition to that, the two models also came with reinforced features including a six-speed sequential manual gearbox, a dual independent double-wishbone suspension, and carbon fiber brakes.
For the record, we don’t have that kind of money so the very idea of purchasing these cars shall, and will forever be a pipe dream for us. But in the wishful scenario that we did have £1.1 million to throw around, then investing on not one, but two cars of this stature is something that we’d also do in a heartbeat.
After the global financial crisis threatened to torpedo its existence, P1, the ultra-exclusive British supercar club, has finally risen from the ashes and will be re-launched at the tail-end of 2009.
The club, which allows its members to use a roster of some of the world’s fastest and most expensive cars, is ready to accept memberships again after suffering through some financial difficulties as a result of the global recession, which affected a variety of industries across the board.
The downside of P1’s return is that most of its original members will have to resign with the prestigious club, although P1 is trying to alleviate the unexpected added costs by offering the original members all their outstanding tier points, which are used by members in exchange for a supercar rental.
According to P1 founder, Michael Breen, "In the event that they come back, our old members will be able to transfer all their benefits and unused mileages on top of their new annual quota."
With a fleet of over 30 supercars, including newly-released exotics such as the Ferrari 458 Italia, the McLaren MP4-12C, and the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing, in addition to club mainstays like the Aston Martin DBS, the Ferrari 430 Spider, and the Nissan GT-R, Breen is hoping that the allure of driving these cars without any financial risks will be enough for customers – old and new – to apply for memberships. As it stands, at least 50 members have renewed their membership to the exclusive club. While the figure is a hopeful start, it still falls way short from the company’s peak of having 240 members.
Like usual the UK got all the coll cars! And the new Honda Civic Type R Mugen is no exception. Designed especially for the British roads, the new Type R Mugen is now officially into production and will be limited to only 20 units, each priced at £38,599 (around $64,000 at the current rates).
Each and every Civic Type R Mugen will be hand-built at MUGEN Euro, based in Northampton – with customers receiving a unique, involved experience during the build process of each car. Under the hood there is a 2.0-litre i-VTEC engine that delivers a total of 240 hp - 20% increase over a standard model. The extra power of the tuned engine is transferred to road or track via a limited slip differential, and grip and handling are also significantly improved through a completely revised suspension set-up, with custom-made springs and dampers employed.
All the 20 units will be painted in Championship White – the traditional racing color of the brand and will will wear a special badge inside on the center console, listing the serial number of each unique model.
A while ago Top Speed reported about what is worth to be #1 when Saeed Abdul Ghafour Khouri shelled out $14.3 Million for the right to bear the a very exclusive number plate. Now the oil rich nations of the middle east have become a mecca for over the top indulgence and excess, especially when it comes to their automobiles, so the exclusivity of being #1 is a very esteemed honor.
Now the Bugatti Veyron is by its nature a very expensive car, so you can only imagine what it is worth when wearing an equally unique F1 number plate. It turns out that the F1 tag is almost as good as being number one. So you can only imagine the crowds that the very rare and exotic F1 Veyron would attract. That is exactly what the promoters of the upcoming MPH Show at London’s Earls Court from November 5th through the 8th. The very rare Bugatti’s owner, Afzal Kahn, was kind enough to offer up one of his prized possessions for the display. So if you happen to be in the area, then you can stop by to not only see the F1 Bugatti Veyron, but a few other high speed machines like the Ferrari FXX, Lamborghini GT600, Pagani Zonda R and the ultra exotic GT by Citroen as well.
There are plenty of cars from around the world that never go on sale here in the U.S. market, one of them is the shapely Euro only Ford Mondeo. While the Mondeo was previously a true world car, being sold around the globe, the full size family car hasn’t been sold in America for almost a decade. Aside from missing out on the attractive styling of the fourth generation Mondeo, we are also missing out on Ford U.K.’s latest economical offer. The Ford Mondeo Titanium ECOnetic is a next generation turbo diesel powered family sedan that offers outstanding fuel mileage at a very affordable price, not to mention a few stylish options.
The ECOnetic part of the Mondeo’s nameplate comes from the car’s 2.0 Liter TDCi power plant that produces a maximum output of 115 HP that with the help of an optimal gear indicator helps the turbo diesel Mondeo to get an estimated average of 54.3 MPG. These numbers alone would be impressive for any vehicle, but when you consider that the new Mondeo ECOnetic is available with a set of stylish lightweight 16 or 17 inch rims, a lowered suspension as well as an optimized aero package complete with air deflectors and a rear spoiler all aimed at reducing fuel mileage robbing parasitic loss from heavy spinning items and aerodynamic drag that acts like a parachute pulling the car back from its intended direction of travel. In addition to all the items that make the ECOnetic Mondeo so great, the price trumps tem all; starting at only £23,295 for the space saving five door model and £24,545 for the estate.
In celebration of Ford’s newfound success with the compact Fiesta hatchback in Europe, moving over 100,000 models in its first year of production, the blue oval is adding another version of the fun to drive city car to the Fiesta’s lineup. In addition to the well appointed Studio, Edge, ECOnetic, Zetec, Titanium and Zetec S models; Ford is also making the diminutive Fiesta available as a Titanium Individual model.
The new top of the line Fiesta Titanium Individual will be made available in six different exterior colors and a very special red leather appointment for the interior. The Fiesta Titanium Individual rides on a set of stylish 16 inch seven spoke alloy wheels that take the Fiesta’s exterior to sporty new heights. Including all of the amenities of the Titanium model like Bluetooth wireless connectivity and a USB port for MP3 players and other devices, the Individual model offers all of the lavishness of the high end hatchback at a saving of about £100. Marketing Director for Ford of Britain, Mark Simpson said that "we have sold more than 100,000 Fiestas in its first year and we know our customers like to personalise their Fiestas. The new line up with the fabulous Individual special edition will help them achieve this." Now if they could only start selling them in the U.S. as well.
We mentioned yesterday the first public showroom sighting of the Audi R8 Spider at the new Audi showroom in London, England. And while the mere sight of the convertible version of the R8 left us wanting to book the next flight to London, we couldn’t go by a day without mentioning just how enormous the new dealership is.
Covering 190,000 square feet, the five-story Audi dealership is being touted as the company’s largest dealership in the world, and justifiably so considering that it took six years for the building to be completed.
In addition to the five-stories – the first three of which are showroom floors that Audi says can hold as many as 120 cars, while the top two floors occupy the “Audi Quattro Rooms”, the complex’s business and creative floors – the new Audi dealership at West London also has two basement floors where a 32-bay maintenance area is located, as well as parking spaces for employees and guests alike.
A workplace of this magnitude needs a lot of serviceable and efficient employees and Audi has said that the dealership will have at least 100 employees working together to provide the best Audi service possible.
Ambitious as it may be for Audi to move-in to an enormous dealership, the brand sees it as the first step in increasing the brand’s significance in the UK. According to Jeremy Hicks, director of Audi UK, “In its scope, size and complexity, West London Audi is like nothing we’ve built before. It is 100 times more complicated than a normal retail centre."
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