There's a new arrival on the way in the Rolls-Royce family!
This is the best look yet at the new luxury saloon, and when it goes on sale here in 2009, it will provide Rolls-Royce with a long-awaited baby brother to its Phantom limousine.
Following recent news from parent company BMW that the project had got the green light, we can bring you all the details on the exciting new model, which will go head-to-head with Bentley’s Continental Flying Spur.
The newcomer is set to be priced at around £150,000, and will prove crucial to securing the future of the famous luxury car manufacturer. Rolls currently sells around 800 Phantoms each year. But it plans to more than triple output at its plant in Goodwood, West Sussex, by producing around 3,000 examples of the new model annually from next year.
Engineers are well underway developing the car, and our spies have caught this BMW 7-Series-based prototype undergoing trials in Germany. At first glance, the test mule may not look like anything out of the ordinary. But with its stretched bonnet, long wheelbase and flared arches, it’s clear that this is a very special model. Although the new Rolls-Royce shares its chassis with the next-generation 7-Series, it will be significantly bigger than the forthcoming BMW flagship.
Baby Phantom targets Bentley
Audi R8 V12 TDI Concept Revealed
Gobsmacked. Flabbergasted. Utterly speechless. When the sheets were pulled off of the Audi R8 V12 TDI - Audi's latest study model, the sound of jaws hitting the floor was impressive. About as impressive as the gasoline powered Audi R8 is in real life, we can only imagine what the diesel TDI version can do when it is let loose on the roads. After all, the R10 diesel race car is about as succesful as the R8 is.
The Audi R8 is of course a major success for the four-ringed brand from Germany. R8's are sold out for the remainder of the year and this 500 hp / 1,000 Nm torque Grace Silver monster is sure to be picked up as fast as Audi can make them should the German Manufacturer decide to proceed with production, but the entire WCF crew is united on this topic, please Audi, don't make us go without!
Just to drop some numbers, 0 – 100 km/h takes just 4.2 seconds and has a top speed of well over 300 km/h with peak torque at just 1,750 rpm. The engine is Euro 6 compliant, expected to be enforced by 2014.
Spy Shots: Production BMW 135tii
Few models in the BMW lineup have as much tuning potential as the newly released 135i, and the Bavarian boys and girls are intent to capture as much of that market as possible. The BMW 1-series tii concept proved that BMW was serious about offering performance parts to boost (and possibly lighten) its new turbo'd coupe, and a member of 1addicts posted photos of what could be the first 135 to get the in-house tuner treatment.
Most of the parts shown are carryovers from the tii concept, including the revised front fascia, side skirts, carbon fiber diffuser and matching rear wing. The C.F. hood may have been swapped out for a stock aluminum piece, but we're guessing the weave has been covered in matching white paint. The upgraded brakes are one of the most obvious additions, while inside, there's plenty of Alcantara covered kit, from the shift boot to the seats, which are also dead ringers for the thrones shown on the concept. The steering wheel is new however, sporting more grippy suede and complete with three different sections packed with LEDs. Your guess is as good as ours about the two displays mounted at 11 and 1, but the center mounted LED arrangement is likely a shift-light/rev meter.
[source: Autoblog]
Lamborghini's latest comes shroud in carbon fibre bodywork and more power than an LP640
Here’s a Lamborghini for those who think the Murcielago is just too shy and retiring! This is the Reventón, a special edition of the brand’s flagship supercar, sporting a striking new body and a ￡787,250 price tag.
As only 20 have been made available, it’s certainly exclusive. But can it really be worth nearly five times as much as the model it’s based on?
One thing is for sure: it’s absolutely stunning. The carbon fibre bodywork, which has been penned by the Lambor-ghini Style Centre in Italy, is influenced by the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter.
Add camouflage-style paintwork and matt black wheels, and it looks as though it’s escaped from an air force base. According to company sources, the design isn’t a one-off, either. All future Lamborghinis for the next decade will follow the Reventón’s cues.
Power comes from the same 6.5-litre V12 engine as in the Murcielago LP640, but with an additional 10bhp – taking the total output to a storming 641bhp. The 0-62mph sprint still takes 3.4 seconds, but the Reventón is even more responsive in-gear. It sounds incred-ible, delivering a raucous bark that can be heard from miles away.
There is great fun to be had from blipping the revs on the downchange, but the standard-fit e-gear semi-auto box – which features steering wheel paddles – is jerky at low speeds.
The Murcielago’s optional 380mm ceramic brakes are also included, and they provide outstanding stopping power. With ultra-wide Pirelli tyres and four-wheel-drive traction, there’s lots of grip – but only the very talen-ted will tame the Lambo on the limit. Inside, the Alcantara-trimmed bucket seats are unforgivingly hard, but the digital display on the dash is neat.
It can switch between analogue dials or an aero-influenced readout, complete with G-force meter! Similar to the set-up in jet fighters, it shows the pull being exerted while braking, accelerating and cornering. So the car provides a remarkable experience, but is it really worth nearly ￡800,000? Well, all 20 examples of the Reventón have been sold – one is in the UK. For those buyers, the answer is an emphatic yes.
Rival: Bugatti Veyron
The Lamborghini is no match for the ￡810,000 Veyron on the road. But both are amazing to look at and true collectors’ items. As all Reventóns have been sold, well heeled fans of the exclusive supercar experience will have to go knocking on Bugatti’s door.
Audi A3 Cabrio’s fast show
The lid has been lifted on Audi’s new drop-top. Meet the A3 Cabriolet, which gets an electric roof and looks that will turn heads wherever it goes.Arriving here in March, the newcomer will go up against BMW’s 1-Series Convertible and the new MINI Convertible, providing style-conscious sun-worshippers with a cheaper option to the A4 Cabriolet.Thanks to the hood’s super-fast set-up, it will be ideal for Britain’s unpredictable weather. And that’s because the new A3 goes from topless to top up in only nine seconds – considerably faster than its 1-Series rival’s 22-second figure.Completely automatic and requiring no catches to be released, the mechanism is controlled by a switch on the centre console, or via the key fob. It folds flush behind the rear seats, and can be raised or lowered at speeds of up to around 20mph.
Renault's flamboyant new Laguna coupe Test
it’s the super-coupé that’s got added Va Va Voom! And it proves that Ren-ault is swapping safe for sexy.
Reaching UK dealers at the end of next year, the sensational new Lag-una Coupe shows the French brand is returning to flamboyant design – building on the legacy of the Avan-time MPV and the luxury Vel Satis.
However, unlike those models, it will be no sales flop. The newcomer is set to mark the revival of the affordable coupé, and will join the reborn Volkswagen Scirocco and the forthcoming Hyundai Coupe in a market sector where style and head-turning looks don’t have to come at a huge price. Tipped to cost around ?20,000 when it arrives in the UK in Decem-ber 2008, the two-door is certain to sell like hot croissants – so we caught up with it at Renault’s test track in northern France to see what buyers can expect.
Revealed at September’s Frankfurt Motor Show, the Coupé looks every bit as amazing on the road as it did on the stand. It’s part of Renault’s plan to challenge the likes of BMW and Audi, and bosses know that improving reliability and quality alone isn’t enough – the car needs style, too.
To this end, the Coupé is everything its hatch brother isn’t: daring, dynamic and desirable, with shades of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage from the rear. You could park it next to a BMW 3-Series Coupé and plenty of people would prefer the Renault on looks. Stephane Janin, the man in charge of Renault’s concept car des-ign, is pleased with the results.
LA Auto Show 2007: Mercedes S400 Bluetec Hybrid - it's new, we think
Mercedes-Benz is confusing the blog out of us with its nomenclature. Sure, it's usually pretty straightforward: one letter for the class, three numbers for the (approximate) engine displacement. Tack on 4Matic for all-wheel-drive, chop off a zero and add AMG for the performance models. But they just about lost us on this one.
In Frankfurt Mercedes unveiled two new hybrid versions of the S-Class: the S300 Bluetec Hybrid with diesel-electric power, and the S400 Hybrid with gas-electric power. In Los Angeles, however, they took the wraps off the S400 Bluetec Hybrid. Still with us? Well, they lost us, too. This version packs a V6 diesel coupled with an electric motor to provide 265 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque, resulting in what Mercedes calls V8 performance with four-cylinder economy: 0-60 in 7.2 seconds and 40.5 mpg on the highway.
While the previous S400 Hybrid unveiled in Frankfurt was gas-electric, the S300 Bluetec Hybrid unveiled with it was stated as producing 413 lb-ft of torque to this S400 Bluetec Hybrid's stated 465. Still, the press materials didn't specifically differentiate it from its Frankfurt-revealed stablemate, and nobody at the Mercedes booth here in LA could tell us if this was actually a different model. Think you can make sense of it? The press release is after the jump.
