Monday, 27 November 2017

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Saleen Teases All-New Car Ahead Of LA Auto Show Unveiling

Posted: 27 Nov 2017 04:30 AM PST


During this year's LA Auto Show, Saleen Automotive CEO, Steve Saleen will be showing off his company's latest project, dubbed the Saleen 1, or S1 for short.

The S1, which actually surfaced in China two weeks ago, has been designed and engineered entirely by Stave Saleen and his team in California, and manufacturing for the car is said to begin immediately.

LA Auto Show visitors looking to see the vehicle in person should head down to the West Hall Atrium on Thursday, November 30, at 10:30 AM, otherwise, stay tuned here and we'll bring you the latest on the car, as more details are expected to surface in a few days time.

Plans to build the Saleen 1 began when JSAT (Jiangsu Saleen Automotive Technologies Group), purchased the "tooling and remnants" of the Artega GT, a mid-engined RWD sports car produced in Germany between 2009 and 2012. Instead of modernizing the Artega GT, Steve Saleen decided to build an entirely new vehicle from scratch.

While all Saleen 1 vehicles will be build initially in North America, the JSAT factory in Rugao, China will eventually oversee production for an entirely new line of Saleen vehicles, including the S1.

Can Someone Spot Us $600k To Buy A 1985 Lancia?

Posted: 27 Nov 2017 04:01 AM PST


The only car Lancia makes today is the Ypsilon. It's only sold in Italy, and it starts at around €13k. So why on earth would we be tempted to spend nearly 40 times that on an old one? It's not like this is a Stratos or something, right? It's only a Delta.

Well, that may be what the name says. But as you might have guessed, this is no ordinary Delta.

This is a 1985 Lancia Delta S4 Stradale, which shares about as much in common with the budget hatchback which it was designed to resemble as Martin Truex Jr's NASCAR Cup-winning "stock car" shares with a road-going Toyota Camry. Which is, to say, very little.

The Delta S4 was a purpose-built Group B rally machine that was based more closely on the Lancia 037. It employed a tubular space frame chassis, in the middle of which sat a 1.8-liter twin-charged inline four driving all four wheels.

Though the homologation rules for Group B were quite lax, Lancia was required to make a couple hundred road-going examples, each priced at about a hundred million Lire – or five times the price of the most expensive road-going Delta HF Turbo (which itself was no slouch).

It had to be detuned slightly from the competition version. So instead of 500 horsepower, it packed less than 250, sent through three differentials to send it to 60 in about six seconds and on to a top speed of 140 mph. Hardly supercar figures by today's standards, but there are probably still few cars that could wind their way up an unpaved mountain road in any conditions as fast as one of these could.

This particular example has barely been used, with fewer than 500 miles on the clock. Given its highly original condition, it's listed for sale on JamesEdition by Jean Lain Vintage for €500,000 – or nearly $600k at current exchange rates.

Photo Gallery

Formula One Reveals A New Logo For A New Era

Posted: 27 Nov 2017 03:32 AM PST


In case you haven't noticed, Formula One is under new management these days. Out are CVC Capital Partners and Bernie Ecclestone, in are Liberty Media, its mustachioed representative Chase Carey, and his anointed deputies.

With the new management will come big changes for the sport, including the jettisoning of its old logo and the introduction of a completely new one.

Revealed today in the off-season between the 2017 and 2018 world championship seasons, the new logo aims to represent a new era at the pinnacle of motor racing. And while it may take some getting used to, as long as the old one was around, we kinda dig it already.

Expect to see the new graphic wherever F1 is represented. And with Liberty's plans to bring the sort to a wider audience, you can bet it'll be showing up a lot in the years ahead.

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What's Land Rover Got Cookin' With This Discovery Sport Mule?

Posted: 27 Nov 2017 03:02 AM PST


Land Rover kicked off a slew of new models with the introduction of the Discovery Sport – but that was just a couple of years ago. So what's going on with this test mule?

Spotted by the intrepid paparazzi at CarPix undergoing testing, this partially camouflaged Disco Sport sports a few telltale signs that JLR has some revisions in the works.

For one, the fuel cap has moved. For another, the single exhausts on each side of the current model have been replaced by twin tips on the left side. And the very fact that it's out testing tells us there has to be something going on.

Just what that is, we don't know. It could be a new version of the existing model. (That new cap could well be a charging port.) It could be an early prototype for its replacement. It could be preparing for a new Evoque, the current model (sized similar to the Discovery Sport) having been on the market for over six and a half years already. Or it could be something else entirely that's simply wearing the current model's bodywork.

Whatever it is, Land Rover is clearly not asleep at the wheel – especially as the market for SUVs continues to grow at a faster pace than just about any other segment in the industry.

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Valtteri Bottas Wins Final Race In 2017 F1 Championship

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 07:21 PM PST


Valtteri Bottas has finished the 2017 F1 World Championship on a high after taking victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver started the race from pole position ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton. After making a fantastic start, the Finn opened a crucial 2-second gap to Hamilton and throughout most of the race, this gap remained fairly consistent. Despite Hamilton's best efforts, he was unable to overtake Bottas.

Further down the field, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, and Kimi Raikkonen held third, fourth and fifth positions for most of the race. However, Ricciardo was forced to retire with a hydraulic issue, allowing Max Verstappen to inherent fifth place.

As the drivers' championship and the top four positions in the constructors' championship were already secured before the race weekend, the results weren't unexpected. However, what was unexpected was seeing Renault leapfrog Toro Rosso in the constructors' championship thanks to Nico Hulkenberg's sixth position. By claiming sixth in the title race, Renault will receive about $13.5 million more in prize money than they would have if they'd finished seventh behind the junior Red Bull team.

Speaking about the win, Bottas said it was hugely encouraging to finish the season in such dominant fashion.

"It's a really important win for me. After having a pretty difficult start to the second half of the year, working hard on all of the issues and getting better and better with everything and this weekend just went all ... I couldn't be happier than to end the season like this. I was third (in the championship) this year, hopefully better next year."

PHOTO GALLERY

Fire-Damaged Ferrari 512 BB Could Somehow Sell For Over $40,000

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 06:02 PM PST


Purchasing a Ferrari 512 BB for around $40,000 may seem like the bargain of the century but such a price tag for an utterly destroyed example seems absurd.

This 512 BB, currently being auctioned off by Copart, has attracted a highest bid of $39,750, despite being destroyed by fire and completely unrepairable.

No details about what caused the fire have been made public, but based on the images, it appears as if the fire started in either the engine bay or in the cabin. In either case, the engine and transmission have been wrecked by the flames and the interior left as nothing more than a charcoaled mess of plastic, metal and rubber.

Quite often, flood-damaged cars fetch a decent amount of money at auction as their parts can be sold off to private buyers. However, we're not entirely sure why someone would be willing to spend roughly $40,000 on a 512 BB like this.

PHOTO GALLERY

Jay Leno Experiences The Hilarious Ariel Nomad

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 05:04 PM PST


The Ariel Nomad may look unconventional but it is a serious performance machine on all road surfaces, as Jay Leno recently discovered.

This isn't Leno's first rodeo with an Ariel. In fact, he is the owner of one of the first Atom models ever built. Considering that the Nomad shares the same lightweight philosophy as the Atom, it's not surprising that the former late-night host is a fan of Ariel's second production model.

The Ariel Nomad which Leno jumped behind the wheel of was the Tactical variant. It is powered by a supercharged 2.4-liter Honda engine delivering 300 hp. That powertrain is mated to a six-speed manual transmission sending power through the rear wheels.

In a change for the Jay Leno's Garage series, we actually have the chance to see Leno take a vehicle off-road, fully exploring the Nomad's capabilities and showing just how capable it is.

VIDEO

Truck Drivers Apparently Don't Care About The Tesla Semi's Performance

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 04:03 PM PST


In announcing the Tesla Semi, Elon Musk made no secret of the fact that it will be much quicker than any diesel alternatives.

However, do long-haul truck drivers even care about performance? According to the UK's Road Haulage Association (RHA), they don't.

Speaking to Autocar earlier this week, RHA policy advisor Rod McKenzie said performance figures aren't relevant to truck drivers and the lack of charging points and minimal range of the Tesla are huge concerns.

"Hauliers don't care about these claimed figures. They're not relevant to us. We're not looking for performance, not least because lorries' speed is limited to 56mph.

"The Tesla Semi has a reported range of 500 miles. That's quite a lot less than a diesel lorry. It means charging. First of all, where are the charging points? There aren't many around. And lorries can be filled up with diesel very quickly.

"Musk said there would be quick-charging in 30 minutes but I think we need to see charging times in real terms. Any loss of time greatly reduces our operational efficiency," McKenzie said.

According to Musk, the Tesla Semi will accelerate to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 20 seconds with an 80,000 lbs payload. Without a trailer, it'll complete the sprint in five seconds. While truck drivers may not care about this straight-line performance, many car drivers will, particularly if it means they won't get stuck behind a slow-moving truck when pulling away from traffic lights.

Interestingly, McKenzie went on to suggest that most hauliers are conservative and not willing to take risks, and that includes ditching a reliable diesel vehicle for an unproven semi from a company that can't make any money.

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There's Something Delightfully Incongruous About A Base-Spec Exotic

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 03:05 PM PST


Automakers are doing their best these days to make even their most basic, budget-friendly vehicles look polished. But there are some you can expect to see in base spec – mostly for professional use and deployment as part of large fleets.

We're talking about work-a-day vehicles like the Ram Tradesman, for example, or the Opel Corsavan. But an exotic supercar? Perish the thought!

That's precisely the delightful incongruity we've been seeing these lately, albeit only in the digital realm: six-figure supercars and even seven-figure hypercars stripped of their painted bumpers and flashy wheels, fitted instead with matte black noses and tails and plain old steel rims.

Of course, even if you could, ordering one that way wouldn't put much of a dent in the purchase price of something as expensive as a Bugatti Chiron, Koenigsegg Agera, Pagani Huayra, or even something as relatively "affordable" as a Lamborghini Huracan, Aston Martin DB11, or Mercedes-AMG GT.

It'd ruin the handling too, and make your big-buck exotic look like it were in the middle of being repaired. So we're thankful that none of these exist in reality, but it's still funny to look at these curious renderings from Nikita Aksyonov and chuckle at the "what if" of it all.

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2017 LA Auto Show: A-Z Production And Concept Car Debut Guide

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 01:52 PM PST


Our product guide to the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show has everything you need to know about the new cars, world debuts and launches taking place at the downtown LA Convention Center from December 1 to 10.

That's when the show will open to the public, but before that, we'll have the AutoMobility LA, a four-day press and trade event from November 27 to 30, covering both the vehicle and technology presentations, as well as the conferences.

On this page, we're rounding up all the world and North American premieres with daily coverage and updates as they're confirmed.

The product highlights of this year's event have a little something for every taste bud, whether you're looking for seven seats in a crossover like the new Subaru Ascent and Lexus RX L, an open air view for two such as BMW's i8 Roadster (or Spyder) or to gaze at the future with concepts like the Toyota FT-AC and Mazda's stunning Vision sports sedan. Tesla will also have a booth in LA.

Take a look at the links below to read our full stories on all the new models and studies and be sure to keep checking back, as we'll be continuously updating these pages!

Note: F/L = Facelift, NC = Not Confirmed

PRODUCTION CARS


CONCEPT MODELS

Nissan's Getting Serious About Its Autech Sub-Brand In Japan

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 01:02 PM PST


Want to sportify your Nissan in Japan? There are two names to know: Nismo, of course, but also Autech.

Described as a line of "sporty, high-performance models with enhanced quality and comfort," the Autech range is out to upgrade existing Nissan models in the Japanese domestic market.

The relaunched sub-brand brings together models labeled until now as Axis, Rider, Bolero, and Mode Premier – all of which will now be integrated under the Autech name.

That starts with the Nissan Serena Autech, which launches today in Japan, giving the angular minivan more of a custom look and feel.

"Nissan will offer different core values through our two sub-brands, NISMO and AUTECH," said Takao Katagiri, head of Nissan's performance operations. "We'll continue offering a variety of programs to help our customers enjoy their Nissan vehicles even more."

While Nismo models will continue to focus purely on performance, the Autech line will take a more tangible quality-driven approach, emphasizing "premium craftsmanship, with top-quality materials and immaculate attention to detail."

The unification of the Autech range follows the recent expansion of the Nismo lineup, which has already grown to include performance versions of the GT-R, 370Z, Juke, Note, March, and Serena.

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The Maserati MC12 Makes The Enzo Look Common By Comparison

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 11:57 AM PST


Ferrari, by design, never makes enough of its flagship hypercars to satisfy demand. But one of the most coveted didn't wear a Prancing Horse logo at all. It wore the Trident badge of its sister brand Maserati.

That, of course, was the MC12 – essentially a modified version of the Enzo, homologated for racing. Ferrari essentially made the MC12 for Maserati, but only made 50 of them for public consumption.

This compared to the relative ubiquity of the Enzo, of which Ferrari made 400... that's eight times as many. If the automaker had applied that same ratio again to the Enzo, it would have been as common as the 550 Maranello (of which over 3,000 were made).

The relative scarcity of the MC12 hasn't proven enough, however, to overcome the magnetic draw of the Prancing Horse badge, with prices for both the MC12 and the Enzo hovering around the same level. RM Sotheby's, for example, has sold three Enzos this year, for €2.3 million, $2.7 million, and £1.8 million, respectively – or a converted average of $2.6m.

Of the three MC12s the same auction house has sold, one went for €3m, another for $1.4m, and a third for $2.1m – or an average of $2.4m. The example you see here, captured by Peter Singhof for RM Sotheby's, is set to cross the same auctioneer's block in Paris during Retromobile week this coming February. There it's expected to sell for €2-2.5 million, or about $2.4-3 million at current exchange rates. That'd put it towards the higher end of the spectrum, but hardly out of the ordinary.

What we can't help but wonder is how the relative values of either will play out in the long run. Will the MC12's rarity make it worth more, or will the lure of the Ferrari legend see it gallop past? Only time (and an elite cadre of very wealthy collectors) will tell.

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Mazda's Developing A New Crossover Just For The US

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 11:09 AM PST


Mazda has an all-new crossover in the pipeline, and it's being developed specifically for the North American market.

This according to the latest report from Automotive News, which interviewed Mazda's CEO Masamichi Kogai on the company's future plans.

Though details on the new model have not been revealed, we're expecting to see a new three-row/seven-seat model to slot in between the CX-5 and CX-9. Roughly half of the company's US lineup is currently composed of crossovers, accounting for 57 percent of its sales – a number which Kogai-san wants to increase to 60 percent.

"We have big expectations," said Kogai. "This is our declaration that we are going to grow our business in the U.S."

"We are actually going to introduce a totally new and different type of SUV," he said. "R&D is coordinating with our North American operations on that right now." It's a similar strategy which Mazda followed to create the CX-4 for the Chinese market, or the CX-8 for the Japanese domestic market.

Set to arrive in 2021, the new model could potentially revive the CX-7 nameplate that was discontinued in 2012. Whatever it's called, the new model is projected to take up Mazda's entire 150,000-unit annual capacity at the plant it's building with Toyota somewhere in the United States. Last year, Mazda sold 112,235 examples of the CX-5 crossover that currently stands as its best-selling nameplate.

The new crossover is just one step Mazda is reportedly taking to increase its current market share of 1.7 percent, trailing behind its Japanese and ahead only of Mitsubishi. It has a new lightweight platform in the works, a new design language, and several new powertrain technologies – including an EV, mild hybrid, and Skyactiv-X gasoline engine with diesel-style compression ignition.

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NSFW - VW Arteon's Practicality Tested Using A Young Woman In Ukraine

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 10:00 AM PST


Amateur car reviews never get old, even if they are in a foreign language that we might not understand, such as Russian.

Take this video, for example, which was shot by an enthusiastic Volkswagen Arteon driver, who went the extra mile trying to point out some of the strong things of his new temporary ride and found a way to attract viewers.

What he did was use his Ukrainian girlfriend, making her lie down in the trunk with the rear seats folded, proving that the cargo capacity of the CC's successor is more than generous to haul a young brunette.

Throughout the 20-minute long clip, the man films his girlfriend in various ways next to the Arteon, some of which are quite spicy, so you may want to avoid hitting the play button at work.

The new Volkswagen Arteon doesn't get shipped with a mail order bride, but it does carry a rather steep price of almost €50,000 in Germany, which equals to $58,850 at current exchange rates. That's for the entry-level gasoline version, which is very close to premium territory, as a new Mercedes-Benz CLS starts at €54,800 ($64,499) in its homeland.

PHOTO GALLERY



VIDEO

Aston Martin Vantage And Fisker EMotion Share An Uncanny Resemblance

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 09:14 AM PST


The new Aston Martin Vantage is certainly a departure from the brand's usual design, though the front end seems to be at odds with the rest of the car. However, it is the rear of the Vantage that has us most interested.

A radical departure from the outgoing model, the new car features a single LED strip stretching the width of the rear and curving upwards as part of the car's decklid lip spoiler. Interestingly, this isn't the first time we've seen a car with this design.

Earlier this year, Fisker unveiled photos of its upcoming Model S-rivalling electric sedan, the EMotion, and, surprisingly, the upper part of its rear end looks almost identical to that of the Vantage.

Aston Martin claims that the new Vantage was designed in 2014 and it's almost certain that the EMotion's exterior styling hasn't been around for that long. Interestingly, Henrik Fisker was the man responsible for penning the original Vantage back in 2005.

What do you think's going on here? Did Fisker somehow get his hands on the Vantage's design before anyone else or is it just pure coincidence?

We've reached out to Fisker for an answer, so we'll let you know when it comes in.

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Top Gear's Chris Harris Picks The Best Performance Cars Of 2017

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 10:25 AM PST

As part of Top Gear's ongoing Performance Car of the Year 2017, Chris Harris has selected his seven best performance cars of the past 12 months.

In a field of 13 seriously impressive vehicles, there is a selection of cars that seemed to stand out to the Top Gear host, particularly the brand new 2017 Ford GT, a car that shares more with a Le Mans racer than any of its road-legal rivals.

Elsewhere, the British journalist is a big fan of the way the Lamborghini Huracan Performante drives, even though he hates how it looks. For those familiar with Harris, you'll know that he has never been a fan of the Huracan, suggesting that it is an understeering mess. With the Performante, Lamborghini seems to have perfected the mid-engine formula.

Other cars selected by Harris include the McLaren 720S and the Porsche 911 GT3. Can you guess which are the rest that made it into his list?

VIDEO

Jaguar Space-Type Concept Comes From The Future, Artificial Intelligence Included

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 07:00 AM PST


Even though this Jaguar concept doesn't come directly from the British automaker, the tech it would supposedly feature is something we'd definitely like to see on most cars in the future.

Starting off with the way it looks, its designer, Spencer Kim, who shared his work on Behance, went for a very futuristic look, which looks good but is highly unlikely to be seen in a production car - but, hey, that's supposed to be a concept after all, so it makes perfect sense.

At its core, the Space-Type is an electric/autonomous vehicle inspired by astronomy and aviation. Meanwhile, its sleek contours and violet "smart glass" enhance its bold looks.

Sitting inside this concept is supposed to feel like being in some type of aircraft. Since the smart-glass extends all the way from the front to the rear, passengers can view the sky perfectly while the car does all the driving.

One feature we really like is the easy-entry seating mechanism, where the seats rise out to aid passengers getting in or out of the car.

According to its designer, the Space-Type is also controlled by an Artificial Intelligence-based system and comes with shared mobility features. It's everything automakers are currently talking about when discussing their future plans, though we'll have to wait a little bit before we see most of them on production cars.

PHOTO GALLERY

BMW Makes Some Bold Claims About The X2 In Their Latest Promo

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 05:59 AM PST


It's a bit far-fetched to claim you can "be unique" by buying a mass produced vehicle such as the new X2, but that's BMW's message in the ad that follows.

Their TV commercial, which is shown here in the long version, makes several bold statements, and it even shows the brand's premium sub-compact crossover destroying a few scale model cubicles in the attempt to make itself more noticeable.

Unveiled nearly a month ago, the BMW X2 is a sportier take on the X1. Its exterior resembles that of a hatchback with a slightly increased ride height, and it follows on the footsteps of the coupe SUV niche of the larger X4 and X6.

Based on the X2 Concept that debuted last year, the production version will become available in several versions, with various equipment, from cloth upholstery to Dakota leather, and from gloss black accents to a panoramic glass roof. It also gets, depending on the specified trim, an 8.8-inch infotainment system, color head-up display, and LED interior lighting, in addition to various wheel sizes that range from 17- to 20-inch.

European customers will have to choose, at launch, from the 192 PS (189 HP) petrol and 190 PS (187 HP) and 231 PS (228 HP) diesels, whereas in the United States, it will be available as the xDrive28i that's powered by a 2.0-liter petrol engine that's good enough for 228 HP (231 PS).

VIDEO

Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series Gets New Set Of Rims Courtesy Of HRE

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 04:57 AM PST


Long before AMG became Mercedes' official performance division, it had named a name for itself by tuning some of the German automaker's models.

One of them was the SL65 AMG Black Series, the hottest version of the previous-gen range-topping model that came with a staggering 670 HP and 738 lb-ft (1,000 Nm) of torque courtesy of the tuned 6.0-liter twin-turbo V12.

That's about 100 HP more than the menacing AMG GT R, and probably very close to the next Black Series model that was scooped on the Nurburgring recently. Naught to 62 mph (100 km/h) took just 3.9 seconds, and top speed was limited to 'just' 199mph (320km/h), which makes it just 0.3 seconds slower off the line than the Beast of the Green Hell.

Now, it appears that there's nothing that you could do to a Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series to make it hotter, but HRE might be on to something with their new multi-spoke rims finished in polished copper.

Described as capable of offering the ultimate street-performance by combining the purposeful lightweight design of race wheels with "an unmatched level of sophisticated design", the wheels are part of the P103 series. They cost at least $9,600 per set, come in different sizes from 19- to 21-inches, and can be finished in a variety of colors.

This particular set doesn't look half bad on this black example, so we guess if any owner wants to change something on his/her Black Series, they might want to try them out for size.

PHOTO GALLERY

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