We often talk about power, torque but sometimes watching this video is more impressive than all figures.
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Lesson: how to build a W16
Frank Stephenson, head of design at Alfa Romeo
Frank Stephenson, who recently lost his job as head of design at Fiat, has been appointed for the same position at Alfa Romeo. He will replace Wolfgang Egger who joined Audi. Gossipmongers will say he was given the job because it was too expensive to fire him, but we prefer to think he had the job thanks to his talent.Born in Morocco and master of as many languages as an electronic translator, he changed position quite regularly the past few years moving from BMW, where he designed the masterpiece New Mini, to Rolls-Royce, then shortly to Ferrari before landing at Fiat where he practised his retro-design talent on the next Fiat 500 due to be sold in July.
The loss of Wolfgang Egger who designed the magnificent 8c Competizione was a surprise at a time when the Italian manufacturer has big expansion plan: a baby Alfa, the new 149 and the American conquest.
3000 USD Renault?
According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, Renault is seriously considering building a 3,000 USD car that would be sold in India. The French carmaker is so serious about this business that it plans to open a new Technocentre (Renault’s jargon for R&D department) in India. The newspaper also reveals that the car wouldn’t be sold in Europe because it wouldn’t meet the European safety requirements.The very low cost car idea has been lauched by the Indian giant Tata in October 2005. Since then, engineers worked night and days in order present the Indian “Volkswagen” at the New Dehli motor show in January 2008. The car will have four doors, will be equipped with a 0.6 litre engine and will be sold at the incredible price tag of 1,250 GBP.
Instead of developing a new car, Renault could recycle the Renault 4 launched in 1961 and sold until 1992. Like the future Tata, it had 4 doors and its engine had a similar capacity of 0.7 litre. It was also very robust and very appreciated in French countryside.
Spyshots: undisguised RS6
The last spyshots show an undisguised RS6 giving some clue concerning the body changes. Compared to the S6, the RS6 appears to lose the LED light strips on the front bumper in order to allow bigger air intakes. At the back, the RS6 replaces the dual exhaust pipes by a single one and a larger diffuser.
The RS6 will get a boosted V10 derived from the Lamborghini Gallardo. According to insiders, it would produce 572 bhp, 143 more than the detuned S6’s engine but more 52 more than the Gallardo.
Mazda 6 at Frankfurt
Some of us expected it for the Chicago motorshow but the Mazda 6 successor will be revealed at the next Frankfurt motorshow in September. With the new model, Mazda will pursue its strategy: make zoom zoom cars. But following the example of Alfa Romeo with its 159, the next Mazda 6 should be more upmarket thanks to its new platform CD3 2 that is bigger than the current one according to insiders.The next Mazda 6 will also get a new V6 engine. The last time it got a V6 engine was in 1993 with the KL 2.5 litres engine. Smoother than sporty, it had a dull output of 165 bhp. This time, the next 6 will inherit the Ford V6 Duratec 35. With its cubic capacity of 3.5 litres, it has more power than the most powerful model, the MPS, in the current range. Let us hope that Mazda engineers have the good idea to add a turbo. The V6 engine could produce more than 350 bhp!
Tom Gale joins Cerberus
Tom Gale joins Cerberus advisory team. It’s a big news for Chrysler. Indeed Tom Gale is amongst the key men responsible for the Chrysler rebirth at the end of the eighties and in the nineties.Born in Flint in 1943, he studied industrial design at Michigan State University before joining Chrysler in 1967, not as a designer but as an engineer. He built up his reputation when he was sent to Mitsubishi at the beginning at the eighties. There he designed the Mitsubishi 3000GT/Dodge Stealth and the Plymouth Laser/Eagel Talon/Mitsubishi Eclipse. In 1985, he took over from Don Delarossa as head of design. He persuaded Lee Lacocca to raise the status pf design at the same level of the other departments.
Under his leardership, Chrysler revealed astonishing concept cars such as the Portofino in 1987. Some of them were put into production such as the Viper in 1992, three years after making itas debut at a motorshow. The following year, the Prowler was revealed and put into production in 1997, but with less success.
Each year Detroit motor show became the Chrysler’s motorshow where it revealed Thunderbolt, Atlantic and Phaeton concept cars. Before retiring he persuaded Chrysler to choose a rear-wheel drive platform and to favor an appealing design for future 300C.
R-Class competitor from Volvo?
According to the Swedish car magazine Auto Motor Und Sport, Volvo is rumored to be working on a new luxury model positioned above the XC90 and S80 and possibly labelled the XC100. Expected to be a luxury
wagon, it would compete with the Mercedes R-Class on the American and Asian markets.It is not the first time a luxury wagon has been mentioned: Volvo revealed the luxury VCC concept car at the 2003 Geneva Motor Show. 193" long, the concept car was as big as a Volvo S80 and provided a luxury atmosphere based on thick saddle-quality leather and anodised aluminium. Although inspired by the concept car, the future XC100 would be able to seat up to seven passengers. It could also be equipped with a hybrid drivetrain.
At a time when the R-Class is not selling well, Volvo’s approach is surprising. The XC, expected to be produced at a low volume, is unlikely to make a significant contribution to the carmaker’s sales target of 600,000 vehicles per year over the next few years.
Launched in April 2006, 11, 783 S80 were sold by December the same year. The first trimester of 2007 looks better with 11,788 sales and the annual target of 40,000 seems achievable. However, the C30 still needs to prove it can succeed in this highly competitive market segment.
For the XC100, 20,000 vehicles might be an ambitious target. Obviously the XC90’s success proves that Volvo has a strong brand image in the luxury wagon/SUV market. But the R-Class experience shows that
customers are not ready to buy just any vehicle based on a strong brand image alone. That is, unless Volvo has found the magic potion…
Mercedes consider launch of small roadster
Mercedes might launch a small roadster in 2011. The new toy would compete with the Mazda MX5 and potentially also the BMW Z2 and Lancia Fulvia. It is not the first time that such a project has been mentioned, but the technical choices made for the next A-Class are more favorable to a convertible body than in the past.
Indeed, the future small Mercedes will share components with the new C-Class: rear wheel drive and front engines. The next A-Class will also lose the patented “Sandwich“ floor. Apart from its high production cost, this particular floor does not allow Mercedes to extend the range as easily as BMW is able to with the 1-Series. Today a small roadster would require a specific platform, making it hard to break-even with a low production figure.
Mercedes revealed a concept car called SLA at the 2000 Detroit Motor Show. 148“ long, it took inspiration from the SLR roadster but with an astonishing bonnet and surprising front lights. The rear-end was more conventional with a luggage carrier. Inside the layout was minimalistic: a wheel, a gearstick and a few buttons. The SLA had a 1.9 litre engine with an modest output of 123 bhp.
Source: Autozeitung
Laguna III pictures
Expected to be launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show next September, the new Laguna might be revealed sooner according to a Renault website dedicated to its new breed.
Renault will soon launch a special website at www.insidenewlaguna.com. The top page of the website is currently blank but a preview is available at www.insidenewlaguna.com/site. A countdown is set at 38 days but the veracity of this countdown has not been confirmed. A gallery also provides some pictures of the interior (shown below).
Spyshots: Mercedes-Benz C-Class Estate
The website worldcarfans.com revealed a video of the next C-Class estate earlier today. It should appear officially at the Frankfurt motor show, six months after the sedan, as is the common practice for Mercedes.Like its predecessor, the estate is expected to be fitted with the same type of engines used in the sedan but is likely to be sportier than the current model.