Rumors about an open-top version of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 circulated for a long time now, but we were finally able to see the vehicle during its official launch at the Pebble Beach Lodge on August 16, 2008.
Called the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport, the new Bugatti will be a roadster with a unique, removable roof. The open-top Grand Sport allows driver and passenger to feel even closer to the car’s breathtaking power. Those who consider the wind in their hair and the roar of a thoroughbred racing engine in their ears to be essential to true driving enjoyment will find their perfect motor car in this new Bugatti. Even with the top on the Grand Sport does not loose any of its fascination and conveys to the passenger a new exciting panoramic view.
Production began in Spring 2009.
Updated 01/27/2011: Bugatti came to the Qatar Motor Show for the first time ever and brought the 2009 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport along with them for the ride. It may be an old model, but it was the perfect occasion to reveal new images of the supercar, and to christen Bugatti’s first appearance. Hopefully they will grace us with their presence at future show! Check out the gallery to see the new pictures of the Grand Sport!
UPDATE 04/27/2012: Bugatti has unveiled a new video for their Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport showing the car in action with a closed roof. A second video presents the Blanc Noir version with an open roof. Enjoy!
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Mercedes warmed the crowds up at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show by displaying the SL 63 AMG, but next month at the 2012 New York Auto Show, things will be heating up as the company will be bringing an even more powerful version for the current SL-Class: the SL 65 AMG.
While the current SL 63 AMG is powered by a 5.5-liter V8 engine that delivers a total of 537 HP and 590 lb-ft of torque, the SL 65 AMG will be powered by a AMG 6.0-liter V12 biturbo engine that delivers a total of 621 HP and a maximum torque of 738 lb-ft. With this amount of power the SL 65 AMG will sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds, while top speed goes up to an impressive 186 mph (in Europe it will be limited to 155 mph).
In Germany, the new SL 65 AMG will go on sale in September 2012 at a starting price of 236,334 euro (about $310,000 at the current exchange rates). Prices for the US market will be announced at a later date.
UPDATE 04/24/2012: Mercedes has unveiled a new promo video showing off the brand new SL 63 AMG and SL 65 AMG as they drive through the beautiful Tenerife. Enjoy!
Hit the jump to read more about the new Mercedes SL 65 AMG.
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Safety and parenting issues notwithstanding, this video is about as cute as it gets. We all remember Cris Ostberg as the dude who once put his then 18-month old daughter in the front passenger seat of his Audi R8 V10 Spyder while she gleefully shouted "turbo!" every chance she got.
Fast forward to 2012 and the little sweetheart is now three years old. But while she’s gotten bigger, her love for the Audi R8 V10 Spyder doesn’t appear to have waned in the least. In this new video, Ostberg was careful to follow all the safety precautions to ensure that his daughter wouldn’t be hurt, including switching off the passenger airbags.
Understandably, some folks might have a problem with Ostberg’s rather loose interpretation of responsible parenting, but if you can put that aside, the sight of his daughter continuing in her "turbo!!!" exaltation is just too cute to ignore.
Let’s just hope that dear old Cris doesn’t get any genius ideas and let his daughter drive the R8 V10 Spyder on her 4th birthday.
It’s been close to four years since noted Mercedes tuner Brabus got their hands on a new Mercedes SL Roadster. But now that Mercedes has introduced the new 2013 SL, Brabus wasted little time getting re-acclimated with the drop-top sports car.
With the delivery of the new SL500 still fresh, Brabus has yet to work their magic on the car. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t expect the usual array of goodies that has become a staple from the Mercedes tuner extraordinaire.
What that means is we’re expecting nothing less than ’spectacular’ from these guys. A new wide body kit should be in the offering, as are suspension modifications, a dressed-up interior, and a comprehensive performance upgrade that only Brabus can build. We have extremely high expectations for these guys knowing that they can deliver the goods without even breaking a sweat.
No timetable has been given as to when the new program for the SL500 will be completed, but we do expect it to make its debut at a major auto show later this year. It doesn’t matter if it’s Frankfurt, Paris, or even Los Angeles. We just can’t wait to see what Brabus does with the 2013 SL500 Roadster.
Mercedes has been hot to trot lately with an onslaught of different models just spilling out of the German manufacturer. The SLS AMG is fresh and so is the SLK Roadster. And, as a next logical step, the SL-Class has also entered a whole new generation. The new SL continues the tradition started by its predecessor, but offers considerably more comfort and athletic character, setting new standards in the luxury roadster class.
The US market will only get the SL550 version - a model powered by a 4663 cc V8 engine that delivers a total of 429 HP and 516 lb-ft of torque. The engine will be combined with ECO stop/start function as standard equipment and a 7-Speed Driver-Adaptive automatic transmission. The European market will benefit from that model, as well as an SL350 version that will use a V6 engine with an output of 306 HP.
UPDATE 04/17/2012: Mercedes USA has released a new walk around video of the SL-Class Roadster. Be sure to give it a watch because the SL’s product manager, Dave Larsen, will be the one taking you through everything you need to know about the new member of Mercedes’ legendary SL line. Check out the video after the jump!
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A few weeks ago, Jaguar officially revealed the first spy shots for the upcoming F-Type roadster. The F-Type will be announced later in 2012 and will borrow about 95% of its design elements from the C-X16 Concept announced at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. We couldn’t wait to see the final product, so we went to the drawing board for a quick glimpse into the future.
The future Jaguar F-Type will be powered by a new 3.0-liter V6 engine that delivers a total of 250 HP in a normally aspirated version and 375 HP in the supercharged R version. Jaguar has also confirmed that the future F-Type will be built as a two-seater convertible and will feature all-aluminum construction. The model will be priced under the current XK, or at about $85,000.
Let us know what you think of the rendering for the upcoming Jaguar F-Type roadster in the comment section below!
Life is indeed imitating art in the case of Robert Downey Jr.
No, he hasn’t turned his Hollywood gig of a full-fledged super hero into a real life career, but what he did do is attend the Avengers premier in Hollywood the only way his on-screen alter-ego, Tony Stark, knows how: in grand style.
Instead of being driven in a limousine that is pretty much SOP with premieres, Downey, together with his wife, decided to drive the $9 million Acura NSX Roadster to the premiere at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.
Sticking with the movie, the NSX Roadster was accompanied by a number of Acura models bearing the S.H.I.E.L.D emblem, possibly to keep Downey Jr. safe in case Loki comes out and tries to eviscerate him.
For a man that revived his career with one hit after another, Downey could very well end up becoming associated as Tony Stark - and for some hard core fans, Iron Man - in the real world.
And if you’re going to try to fit into those shoes, you might as well do it looking ridiculously cool behind the wheel of a $9 million movie/superduper car.
Technically speaking, this car can be called the Scion FR-S Speedster with the only caveat being that this hot convertible wasn’t made by Scion.
The brains behind this vehicle are the folks from Cartel Customs, which took a standard FR-S sports coupe and took off the roof, as well as made a host of other aerodynamic modifications. In order to fully commit to the roadster look, Cartel Customs added a number of new components, including a custom hood, custom fenders, a 61" carbon fiber wing, a sporty rear deck lid, tinted headlights, a custom paint finish, a custom bespoke interior, and a new set of 18" wheels. Other enhancements done on the overall set-up of the FR-S include an upgraded clutch, a new exhaust system, Wilwood brakes, and an improved suspension set-up.
No word yet on what kind of performance enhancements the FR-S Speedster has under its hood, but we do expect it to retain its 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Whether it has its standard 200-horsepower and 151 lb/ft of torque figures still remains to be seen.
The Scion FR-S Speedster will be making its public debut at the Long Beach Grand Prix on April 13, 2012 where it will drive parade laps leading up to the event’s opening ceremonies.
Now that the world has officially been introduced to the new generation SRT Viper, the most logical next step would be to imagine the roadster version of the sports car. While an official debut is still at least one year away, here’s our first rendering of the drop top Viper.
The roadster version will keep the same exterior design language with aerodynamically functional details integrated into the high-tech carbon fiber and aluminum skin. The main, and more than likely only, difference will be the fabric roof (seen in recent spy shots) that replaces the fixed roof.
Under the hood, the Viper Roadster will maintain the 8.4-liter all-aluminum, V-10 overhead-valve engine found in the coupe model with an output of 640 HP and 600 lb-ft of torque. This engine will be mated to an improved Tremec TR6060 six-speed manual transmission.
Expect to see the future Viper Roadster launched sometime at the beginning of 2013, most likely at a major show. Do we smell a Detroit reveal?
Now that we have seen the official images of the Acura NSX Coupe, everyone is expecting a roadster version for the sports car. This will surely happen in the near future considering Acura has already filed a patent for a roadster’s design, but until the production NSX Roadster shows up in 2014, we get another opportunity to take a gander at its design.
Acura has just officially unveiled the one-off NSX model that will be driven by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the new "Avengers" movie. This new sports car is a $9million project, and this is the first official image of the concept!
The concept is powered by a palladium-powered 80,000 TOHC 32-valve engine with titanium-forged block and nitrous fuel-injection system combined with a 9-Speed HYPER-Shift transmission. There aren’t any details on the engine’s output, but the concept can achieve 234 mpg in city traffic and 302 mpg on the highway. Now that’s efficiency!
The exterior of the concept shows off an underbody kit with an aero-dynamic spoiler lip and black-night painted-wheels with particle matter technology. Since this is a superhero movie car, it was also equipped with plenty of defensive systems like advanced radar-deflecting capabilities with wave modifier, a bullet and foreign element-proof clear coat, and metal skin and bulletproof hyper-traction tires.
"Acura is developing an impressive second chapter as the official vehicle of the cutting-edge S.H.I.E.L.D. organization, enabling us to reinforce Acura’s brand philosophy of innovation and advancement, and leverage excitement for the new ILX, RDX and NSX supercar concept product news announced earlier this year," said Susie Rossick, Acura Brand Manager.
