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Author: yoann besnard

  • First pictures of the Fiat 500 Abarth

    First pictures of the Fiat 500 Abarth

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    After standing everybody up at the last Tokyo Motor Show, the Fiat 500 Abarth is finally coming to Geneva and here is the first picture of the sporty small car.

    As predicted, the design is bold with an agressive body kit: new bumpers, side skirts, a rear diffuser, widened fenders, a roof spoiler, red mirror caps and two exhaust pipes at the rear end. On the inside, the car comes with two red bucket seats. Without a doubt, the 500 Abarth has already sent the Twingo RS to the forgotten pages of the automotive history books.

    The Fiat 500 Abarth would feature the turbocharged 1.4-litre seen on the Punto. A normal version would have an out put of 120bhp while a esse esse would offer 150bhp.

    Source: CarScoop

  • Video of the Koleos in action

    Video of the Koleos in action

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    After the two videos published yesterday which showed the exterior and interior of the new Renault Koleos, here is a new video that shows a dynamic Koleos trying some off-road exercises.

    As expected, despite sharing its underpinnings with the Nissan X-Trail, the Koleos is engineered for on-road manners rather than mud-plugging ability.

  • More pictures of the new Delta

    More pictures of the new Delta

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    Here are three new pictures of the new Lancia Delta. These three new pictures reveal a bit more about the overall shape of the new Italian compact.

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    A previous post reported more details about the range of the future Delta and also the pricing for the Austrian market. What we need now is more pictures of the interior in order to judge the new company’s philosophy focused on Italian luxury.

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    The Lancia Delta will hit the showrooms in June in France but no launch date has been confirmed for the British market as the marque withdrew in 1995.

    Source: CarScoop

  • Bajaj-Renault-Nissan to finish small car’s plan soon

    Bajaj-Renault-Nissan to finish small car’s plan soon

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    Bajaj Auto, which plans to develop a low-cost small car in partnership with Renault-Nissan, is expected to announce the final details of the project in a “few weeks” according to the company’s CEO Rajiv Bajaj.

    The small car project set to compete with the Tata Nano, was earlier pursued by only Bajaj Auto and Renault and later joined by Nissan.

    Last year, Bajaj Auto and Renault had announced that they were in preliminary deliberations for exploring the small car project together. Since then, Nissan has joined as a partner in the project.

    After Tata’s Nano was unveiled at Auto Expo, Carlos Ghosn decreased the targeted price of the future small car, saying that the expected cost would be around 2,550 dollars from the earlier stated 3,000 dollars.

  • Rolls Royce unveils the Phantom Coupe

    Rolls Royce unveils the Phantom Coupe

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    Rolls Royce has announced it will reveal the new Phantom Coupe at the Geneva Motor Show.

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    The new Phantom Coupe will reinforce the lineup along the Phantom limousine and the Phantom Drophead Coupe. Like the latter, the new Coupe is gigantic but still beautifully proportioned. It also features the famous rear-hinged front coach-doors which ease access for the passengers and improves the character of the car.

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    The new Phantom Coupe is powered by the company’s 6.75-litre V12 which has an power output of 453bhp and at torque of 531 lb ft. The carmaker claims the engine is more efficient and added to an increased fuel capacity, the range will allow the lucky owner to go everywhere he wants.

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    Despite a 5,710 lb weight, the Phantom Coupe can run the 0-62mph in 5.8 seconds and reach the limited top speed of 155mph.

    Click here to see all the pictures

  • Number plate “1” sells for record £7.4 million

    Number plate “1” sells for record £7.4 million

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    A new world record has been broken as someone paid the highest amount ever for the number plate “1” in the Middle East.

    An Emirati businessman placed a bid of 52.2 million dirhams, about £7.4 million, for plate number ‘1’ at an auction in Abu Dhabi. The owner was ready to bid up 100 million dirhams to acquire the plate.

    Buyer Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khouri told local reporters from ArabianBusiness that he hadn’t bought the plate as investment but predicted its value would likely double within two years.

    Source photo: ArabianBusiness

  • Land Rover to refresh the Range Rover Sport

    Land Rover to refresh the Range Rover Sport

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    A revamped Range Rover Sport has been spotted during testing. The refresh will likely appear with the launch of the new V8 engine.

    The news comes as a surprise. However, the British star will slightly change. The spotted vehicle was sporting a new grille similar to the Freelander’s.

    The minor facelift will likely be launched at the same time as the new V8 engine. With a displacement of 5.0-litre, the new V8 will be offer either 350bhp or 460bhp.

    Click here to see all the pictures

    Source: Autoblog

  • Pagani Zonda R won’t be shown at Geneva

    Pagani Zonda R won’t be shown at Geneva

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    Pagani has announced it won’t launch the Zonda R at Geneva as it’s still waiting to sell the 10 planned cars.

    Only 10 of these supercars will be made but still the Italian carmaker encounters difficulties to get people to sign the check. Pagani needs to sell all the cars to cover the cost of the project. When done, it will be able to officially launch the Zonda R.

    The Zonda R is a sportier version of the normal Zonda whose power has been boosted to 750bhp. If you want one, it will cost you £890,000.

  • Leaked pictures of the new XC60

    Leaked pictures of the new XC60

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    Volvo planned to unveil the first official pictures of the new XC60 on wednesday, but once again an image gallery of all-new Swedish compact crossover was leaked into the Internet yesterday.

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    As expected the XC 60 exterior styling is very close to the concept car unveiled a last year’s Detroit Auto Show. The new XC60 features the new corporate design that will appear on all new future models. The boxy design is still present but the flat lines are replaced by long flatten curves.

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    On the inside, there is also a revolution as Volvo’s typical dashboard evolves by adopting a larger central console. The multimedia/navigation screen is integrated. The interior mixes beige leather and dark plastic panels in a way that only Swedish knows. The wood panels and aluminum trims achieve to convince that Volvo has nothing to learn from the German clique.

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    The final spec of the XC60 remains unknown. although it is almost certain that it will share its engines with the S40/V50 models. The entry level will be powered by a 1.8-litre petrol engine, likely to be followed by the excellent five cylinder unit. The topping range might be the 3.2-litre V6 engine seen on the Freelander as both vehicles share the same platform.

  • Daewoo opens a new factory to build gearboxes

    Daewoo opens a new factory to build gearboxes

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    Daewoo has opened a new facility to build automatic gearboxes at a large scale: 550,000 gearboxes per year. The factory is located in Boryeong, South Korea.

    The new factory will build 250,000 four-speed automatic transmission but the most interesting bit are the 300,000 six-speed automatic gearboxes expected to be built every year. The six-speed gearbox was featured for the first time on the new Tosca Premium 6 model last month

    The company expect to double the six-speed transmission by 2010.