Car News
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In response to changing trends, the popular Australian touring car series known as V8 Supercars has been rebranded with a new name that does away with the “V8” component. The FIA-sanctioned series from July 1 will be known as Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, with airline Virgin Australia signing up for the role of naming rights partner for at least the next five years. CHECK OUT: 2017 Porsche 911 GT3 spy shots The move is in preparation for significant changes to the series set to start in 2017. New rules known as Gen2 will allow the use of turbocharged 4- and 6-cylinder...
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2017 Audi A4 L debuts at 2016 Beijing Auto Show
Yet another China-exclusive long-wheelbase sedan has debuted at this week’s 2016 Beijing Auto Show. The latest is the A4 L based on the new “B9” A4. Its wheelbase measures 114 inches in length or about 1.6 in more than on the standard A4. This translates to more interior space for...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
VW drops Golf R 400 in favor of 306-horsepower GTI Clubsport S
Volkswagen is out testing a new version of its GTI. The car offers more performance than last year’s 261-horsepower (286 hp with overboost) GTI Clubsport and makes its world debut at the upcoming Wörthersee Tour GTI tuning fest in Austria. The car may look like the previous GTI Clubsport...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Parking via smartphones and tablets: technology is ready, regulations aren't
It’s been nearly ten years since Lexus introduced to the U.S. market a system through which its big luxury sedan, the LS, could park itself. Since then there have been many luxury models, and even some relatively inexpensive mainstream models, to adopt versions of such a system, which sizes...
Bengt Halvorson -
Porsche's Patrick Long takes a 911 R on historic Tour de France Automobile stage
As Porsche factory driver Patrick Long points out in this last installment of his driver's training course video series, 55 corners and 2300 feet of elevation change over the course of 7.5 miles is bound to be a good time in the proper car. But it is even more fun when the driver has the proper...
Andrew Ganz -
Tesla's upgraded Model S is the first 300-mile electric car
The first mass-production electric car to boast a highway range greater than 300 miles on a single charge is here. It's the 2016 Tesla Model S 90D. Tesla's updated Model S 90D is now rated at 303.2 miles of highway range, according to measurements taken by the EPA. CHECK OUT: How turbocharger...
Andrew Ganz -
Europeans will now have access to Ford Motor Company's [NYSE:F] newest line of diesel engines, which fall under the EcoBlue banner. Ford today unveiled the 2.0-liter version of its EcoBlue, but it says that more new turbodiesels are headed to showrooms in Europe. ALSO SEE: FreeValve camless engine shown in Qoros concept at 2016 Beijing Auto Show The 2.0-liter will be available in a range of tunes, starting with a 100-ps output (about 98 horsepower) and working up to a 240-ps output (about 237 horsepower). Initially, they'll arrive under the hood of Ford's Transit and Transit Custom van range...
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Porsche begins making deliveries at Atlanta Experience Center
Porsche enthusiasts now have a new option for taking delivery of their new sports cars (and crossovers). That's because Porsche has opened an Experience Center located on the grounds of the automaker's new Atlanta, Georgia, headquarters. The Experience Center officially opened yesterday with...
Andrew Ganz -
Buick unveils China-only LaCrosse Hybrid
Buick's largest market is also now home to the brand's most fuel-efficient sedan. No, that's not the United States. It's China, where Buick took to the stage at this week's 2016 Beijing Auto Show to unveil the LaCrosse Hybrid Electric Vehicle (or HEV). CHECK OUT: Tesla's upgraded Model S is the...
Andrew Ganz -
BMW X3 M, Mercedes sports car platform, new Citroën C6: Car News Headlines
BMW’s next-generation X3 is set to receive the M treatment. Today we spotted a prototype for the new X3 M. What's immediately clear is that the prototype is wider, lower and much more aggressive looking than testers for the regular version of the upcoming SUV. Mercedes-Benz is out testing its...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
FreeValve 'camless' engine shown in Qoros concept at 2016 Beijing auto show
Engineering outfit FreeValve, a sister company to Swedish supercar marque Koenigsegg, is developing a new type of engine that does away with the camshaft. The so-called “camless” engine relies on pneumatic valve actuators to open valves, which are then closed by air pressure or springs...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Report: Geely to go global with new Volvo-based brand
Chinese automaker Geely may be about to introduce a new mainstream brand selling cars developed with Volvo. Since acquiring the Swedish automaker from Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] in 2010, Geely has set about transforming it into a luxury marque. That leaves room for Geely to compete in mainstream...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Lego enthusiasts can now put together their own Porsche. The Danish toy manufacturer has unveiled a brick-by-brick version of Porsche's 911 GT3 RS sports car. Although it looks slightly bionic, the Lego 911 GT3 RS is full of proper Porsche cues all the way down to a script RS logo on the model's wheel centers. CHECK OUT: How turbocharger wastegates work With 2,704 pieces to assemble, Lego's version of the 911 GT3 RS isn't for the faint of heart. Then again, neither is the actual production car with its naturally-aspirated flat-6 that spins to 9,000 rpm. Lego hasn't released performance...
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Citroën C6 makes return…as China special
Citroën’s last C6, which bowed out of production in 2012, is one of the best examples of the quirkiness of the French brands that many find so appealing. It's a luxurious, full-size sedan that sports a coupe-like profile—something it featured before the design was the industry du...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Pininfarina designs Formula E race car concepts for Mahindra
The first designs commissioned by Italian legend Pininfarina by the company's new owner has been shown: A trio of Formula E electric race car concepts. Indian conglomerate Mahindra bought Pininfarina late last year, fueling months of speculation about what would happen to the decades-old Italian...
Andrew Ganz -
How turbocharger wastegates work
Your turbocharger. It's the snail of mystery attached to your engine, allowing it to breathe in more deeply. With the wonders of forced induction, a smaller engine can create the horsepower and torque of a larger-displacement engine. There are many parts to a turbocharger, which means you might...
Jeff Glucker -
BMW builds long-wheelbase X1 for China
BMW has been cranking out its X1 compact crossover since 2009, when it debuted for the 2010 model year. The X1 has proven exceedingly popular as global sales of the model have topped 800,000 units. Over 200,000 of those sales came by way of the Chinese market, and it's where BMW will launch a...
Jeff Glucker -
Jay Leno tests the wild Ford Festiva-based Shogun
What happens when you combine one of the humblest small cars of the 1980s with one of the era's most powerful engines? You get the Ford Shogun, an outlandish custom that could have only been born out of the excess of the early 1990s. Not only that, but the Shogun is part of Jay Leno's private...
Andrew Ganz -
Jaguar traveled to the 2016 Beijing Auto Show to unveil a model uniquely tailored to the Chinese market: A long-wheelbase version of the automaker's midsize XF sedan. Dubbed the XFL (which is unrelated to the short-lived alternative professional football league in the United States), the sedan boasts a little more than six additional inches of rear seat legroom compared to the standard XF. It's not clear if the XFL will be offered in markets other than China, though most long-wheelbase midsize sedans are sold primarily in China. DON'T MISS: Long-wheelbase Mercedes-Benz E-Class launches in...
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1966 Le Mans-winning Ford GT40 restoration video, part two: disassembly
Last week we learned that Rob Kaufman, owner of classic car dealer RK Motors Charlotte, purchased the Ford GT40 Mk II that won the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. While chassis number P1046 was in perfectly good shape, it wasn't outfitted as it was when it won Le Mans. It had done time as a transmission...
Kirk Bell -
Infiniti releases more details on QX Sport Inspiration concept
Infiniti has released some additional details about its new QX Sport Inspiration, a show car that will undoubtedly preview the automaker's QX50 replacement and other future SUVs. The QX50, which was previously known as the EX, is getting a little long in the tooth. With the exception of a mild...
Andrew Ganz -
2017 Bentley Mulsanne First Edition debuts at 2016 Beijing Auto Show
Bentley has unveiled the second of its First Edition special edition models. It’s based on the recently updated 2017 Mulsanne flagship and just 50 examples will be built, making it substantially more exclusive than the previous Bentayga First Edition of which 608 were built. The Mulsanne...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
VW T-Prime SUV concept, 2017 Porsche 718 Cayman, 2017 Lexus IS: Today’s Car News
The 2016 Beijing Auto Show is currently underway and one of the big surprises was Volkswagen’s T-Prime Concept GTE. Though we knew VW was bringing an SUV concept to the Chinese show, what we were surprised to learn is that the concept previews a new full-size SUV to be positioned above the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Mazda builds one millionth MX-5 Miata
Sports car fans should mark today as a day to celebrate the one millionth example of Mazda's MX-5 Miata roadster. Miata number 1,000,000 rolled off the line last Friday at the automaker's assembly plant in Hiroshima, Japan. ALSO SEE: 2017 Porsche 718 Cayman debuts at 2016 Beijing Auto Show The...
Andrew Ganz