skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The new two-seat Coupé from MINI has just landed on the internet, but the British firm is already pushing out its new marketing campaign with the release of the first promo clip. The campaign builds around a new slogan titled “Another Day. Another Adventure.” with the film shot in the style of a movie trailer showcasing the Coupé in exotic locations, such as Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Iceland and Hong Kong.
This first official promo of the new F10 BMW M5 attempts to give us a more dynamic view of the Bavarian sports saloon with scenes from the track. For some reason though, BMW has masked most of the video with a dramatic but redundant music soundtrack since most of us are interested in hearing the sounds of the twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 engine.
No more hiding under conceptual suits and swirly camouflage for MINI’s all-new 2012 Coupé as the firm’s parent company, the BMW Group, officially lifted the veil off the production model on Monday. The sportiest-looking MINI to date is a coupe-flavored version of the hatchback with seating strictly for two. 
The Coupé’s appearance was previewed by the 2009 concept car of the same name and is distinguished by the backwards “helmet roof” design and the more sharply raked A-pillars. The first “three-box” MINI also sits 52mm or 2.05-inches lower than its three-door hatchback counterpart. Notably, it also features an active rear spoiler that extends automatically at 80 km/h (50 mph) to optimize airflow at highway speeds.
Last week, Renault upped the ante for front-wheel drive models by setting a new lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife with its more powerful Mégane Renaultsport Trophy. The 265-horsepower strong special edition posted a lap time of 8 minutes and 7.97 seconds in the hands of Renault test driver Laurent Hurgon, smashing the previous record for a front-wheel drive model held by the older generation Mégane RS R26.R by nine seconds. Buckle up, sit tight and enjoy the record run in the video after the break.
Photos of the mildly refreshed Kia Pro_cee'd are making the internet rounds before the car's scheduled world premiere at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show in early March. The most obvious visual changes concern the restyled front end that brings the three-door version of the European market Cee'd more in line with Kia's latest offerings. Along with the new H-shaped front grille finished in black, the 2011 Pro_cee'd also gains restyled headlamps and a reworked bumper. It is also possible that Kia may have upgraded the three-door model's interior as well as its engine line-up, but we won't know for sure until we get the official press release in our hands. Until then, follow the break to check out the rest of the pictures.
Mercedes-Benz may have wanted to keep the C63 AMG under covers for now, but photos of the high-performance model of the recently revealed 2012 C-Class facelift have already hit the web. The pictures, which appear to be legit, show that the C63 AMG gains a restyled fascia with new headlamps, a single-bar grille and a new bumper design. There's also a single shot of the interior, which features the same basic upgrades as the rest of the C-Class range including the newly designed center console.
An updated version of the Audi A1 1.6 TDI with increased fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions has been introduced into the British market. The Ingolstadt firm’s engineers optimized the 1.6-liter turbo diesel’s fuel system and engine management software, and as a result, reduced CO2 output from 105g/km to 99g/km, and boosted its combined economy figure from 70.6mpg UK to 74.3mpg UK (equal to 3.8 lt/100 km and 61.9mpg US).
After briefly postponing the presentation of its all-new Fit Shuttle due to a variety of problems that arose from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Honda on Thursday officially launched its mini MPV. While keeping the five-seat layout of the regular Fit (called Jazz in Europe), the Shuttle is longer and taller, with the extra space benefiting both the rear passengers and the cargo area.
How do you attract younger buyers into your showrooms? The easy to say, but evidently hard to follow-through, answer would be to design a vehicle(s) from scratch that caters to the needs of the all important 35-to-55-year-old male demographic. 
So what happens when you want to do something about it…yesterday? Well, obviously, the most cost and time efficient method is to enhance the range of your model with a sport trim level. And that is exactly what Lexus is attempting with the latest addition to its top-end model.
Renault has slashed its own longstanding lap record for a front-wheel drive production car at the Nordschleife, which the company held since June 23, 2008, with its new Megane RenaultSport (RS) Trophy special. The 265-horsepower version of the Megane RS completed a full lap around the Nürburgring racetrack in 8 minutes and 7.97 seconds beating the time of the previous generation Mégane Renaultsport R26.R by 9 seconds. In comparison, the now obsolete 305HP Ford Focus RS posted a lap time of 8 minutes and 26 seconds in the summer of 2009.
GM has just released pricing information on its North American replacement for the Chevrolet Aveo, the new Sonic. When the subcompact model goes on sale in the U.S. this fall, it will be available in four-door sedan and five-door hatchback body styles with prices including destination to start from US$14,495 and US$15,395 (€10,290 - €10,930) respectively. There are three trim levels, LS, LT and LTZ. The base models are offered with a naturally aspirated 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 135HP, coupled to a standard five-speed manual or an optional six-speed automatic transmission priced at $1,070.
The Renault-Nissan Alliance’s low-cost Dacia Duster SUV has lost its Romanian badges to cater to the needs of the South American market where it will be sold under the Renault brand. Redesigned for the local market, the Renault Duster SUV makes its regional debut at this week’s Buenos Aires Motor Show. It will first launch in Argentina and Brazil during the last quarter of the year, with more countries to follow after. Production will take place at Renault’s Curitiba plant in Brazil.
If there was ever an award for bad timing, Saab’s UK division would probably be a front-runner this month. You see, there is something fundamentally wrong with announcing pricing and details on a new product when its production has been suspended (even if, as Saab claims, proves to be temporary, in which case, why not wait?). In any case and with Saab’s future depending on deals that still need to be approved from Swedish, European and Chinese officials, the company gave out UK pricing information on the 2012 model year 9-5 range, which benefits from the introduction of the SportWagon and a series of enhancements, including additional features and further reduced CO2 emissions for all engines.
We first brought you news on the European version of third generation Yaris hatchback on Wednesday, but today, Toyota followed up with initial details on its VW Polo and Ford Fiesta rival. Toyota’s newcomer in the European supermini segment will manufactured at the Japanese firm’s Valenciennes factory in France with sales to start before the end of this summer.
After preparing its customers with an announcement in January, Nissan today went ahead and introduced a re-badged version of the Mazda5 MPV (called Premacy in its home market) in the form of the new Lafesta Highway Star. The compact minivan is supplied to Nissan by Mazda on an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) basis, and will be sold exclusively in Japan.
General Motors is releasing a model year update for its Cruze compact sedan. There are no styling changes as the company focused its attention on improving the car’s fuel economy and equipment features. Thanks to a lower axle ratio for the 2012 models equipped with a six speed automatic transmission, the standard Cruze with the 138HP 1.4-liter turbocharged engine returns 38 mpg compared with 36 mpg for the current model, while the Cruze Eco with the same powetrain setup delivers 39 mpg instead of 37 mpg.
When automakers don’t have something truly new to add to one of their models, they tend to introduce special edition versions, which most of the times translates to added equipment features. And that’s the case with the new Peugeot 107 Sportium Special Edition for the British market.
The official performance and fuel economy numbers on the 2012 Buick Regal GS are out. When GM revealed the Buick’s sports sedan in production trim at the Detroit Motor Show this past January, the company estimated that the Regal GS was good for 255HP and a 0-60mph time of less than 7 seconds. Now GM announced that the Regal GS’ 2.0-liter direct-injected turbocharged four-cylinder engine has been SAE-certified to deliver 270 horsepower (201kW) and 295 lb.-ft. of torque (400Nm) fat 2,400 rpm or an estimated 0-60 mph performance of 6.7 seconds, or 0.9 seconds slower than the car’s European sibling, the Opel Insignia OPC that features a 325HP V6 and AWD.
With the first photos of the all-new 2012 M5 making the internet rounds since the early hours of Wednesday morning, BMW decided to lift the embargo and officially present the fifth generation of its high-performance saloon. 
As with all previous M5s since the introduction of the first generation model back in 1984, the most important highlight of the car is tucked away behind the double kidney grilles. This time, BMW’s M division opted for a 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine that replaces the previous M5’s more exotic but less powerful, naturally aspirated 5.0-liter V10 with 507HP.
Toyota has unveiled the European version of the new Yaris, its all-new supermini which will replace the model of the same name in the summer of 2011. The new Yaris is, quite predictably, based on the Yaris HSD Hybrid prototype that we saw last March in Geneva. 
It adopts Toyota’s new design language, with more angular headlights and more prominent creases in the body, although the general shape does not stray too much from the previous generation model.
The Coupé’s appearance was previewed by the 2009 concept car of the same name and is distinguished by the backwards “helmet roof” design and the more sharply raked A-pillars. 
Mercedes-Benz may have wanted to keep the C63 AMG under covers for now, but photos of the high-performance model of the recently revealed 2012 C-Class facelift have already hit the web. 
So what happens when you want to do something about it…yesterday? Well, obviously, the most cost and time efficient method is to enhance the range of your model with a sport trim level. And that is exactly what Lexus is attempting with the latest addition to its top-end model.
As with all previous M5s since the introduction of the first generation model back in 1984, the most important highlight of the car is tucked away behind the double kidney grilles. This time, BMW’s M division opted for a 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine that replaces the previous M5’s more exotic but less powerful, naturally aspirated 5.0-liter V10 with 507HP.
It adopts Toyota’s new design language, with more angular headlights and more prominent creases in the body, although the general shape does not stray too much from the previous generation model.
