With spotty Internet coverage at Cobo, some of the photographs and stories created for TTAC’s readers during the day are just now making it our desk. So, here are some comments on the Veloster Turbo and Genesis Coupe from Speed:Sport:Life’s Byron Hurd:
Scion debuted a “racing” version of its FR-S at Detroit today. The word “racing” appears in quotes because this vehicle will actually compete in Formula DRIFT, which is no more “racing” than it is “championship chess”. When a real racing FR-S appears — and it certainly will — it’s likely that the Grand-Am Continental Tire Series or Speed World Challenge will be its first port of call.
Race teams who want to make sure their FR-S arrives in time to participate in the 2012 season might want to take advantage of another bit of FR-S news… a “hand-raiser” opportunity to be one of the first eighty-six owners in the United States.
“SL” traditionally stood for “Sport Leicht” or “Sport Light”, but the last SL to be truly worthy of that name was the original 300SL. With aluminum-intensive construction, the new SL is meant to be considerably lighter — 275 pounds, SL550 v. SL550 — than its remarkably chunky predecessor. “Light” is relative. With a 429-horsepower V-8, the SL550 will be quick. So “Sport”, too, after a fashion.
The hilarity came when Mercedes reps made a claim about the SL that is unlikely to ever be true…
Our man Ronnie Schreiber was on the ground for the introduction of the Acura NSX concept. It’s supposed to be an Ohio-built, SH-AWD wondercar. Ronnie will have detailed notes for us later. Until then, check out Speed:Sport:Life for the best NSX photo gallery on the Web right now!
With the Hyundai Veloster getting a 201 horsepower turbocharged engine, the Genesis Coupe needed some love. Aside from the visual changes, the Genesis Coupe gets a power bump across the board, as well as chassis tweaks.
Rotating alone on a turntable: the Subaru BRZ. Looks good, if you ask me. Unfortunately we couldn’t touch the dashboard for all of you dash-touchers out there… more shots after the jump.
Since its introduction, the Bentley Continental GT has been a fascinating lesson in how “luxury” operates. Fundamentally identical to the VW Phaeton, the Conti sold for twice as much — and did volumes between ten and thirty times what the uber-VW ever managed in the United States.
This platform is about to celebrate its tenth year in production. How do you revitalize it when there are plenty of $70,000 used Contis out there? Simple: you turn down the power.
You’re looking at the Q3 Vail. Named in honor of a place where the self-important meet for a little apres-ski, the “Vail” features a butched-up body kit and all sorts of technical details that, let’s face it, have nothing to do with the Q3 your mom will end up asking you about leasing in six months. More photos from Zerin Dube of Speed:Sport:Life after the jump.
“You know,” Mark Templin of Lexus told the press, “the first time I saw this car, I was speechless.” I know I have that quote correct, because it was in the copy of the speech handed out after the press event.
Speeches about speechlessness aside, however, this is the new styling direction of Lexus. That much is obvious from the pinched grille. What else can we learn about it?
The new 3! All new! And it looks like it finally has some decent brakes. About three and a half inches longer, it’s also now finally available in Audi “Atmospheres” the Sportline / Luxuryline / Modernline trim levels that BMW has used, in one fashion or another, in Europe for Averylongtime.
What you see before you will be the best-selling Porsche 911. It is sad but true: in the watercooled era, the convertible has generally outsold the coupe. For that reason alone, Porsche was eager to introduce a droptop 991. Add all-wheel-drive and a PDK transmission, and you have a sickening parody of Butzi Porsche’s original 901 concept a great way for high-net-worth people to get to their yoga lessons.
With 8.16 million cars delivered globally, sales of the Volkswagen group grew14.3 percent from 7.14 million in 2010. Volkswagen estimates that the global passenger car market grew only 5.1 percent, therefore, the Wolfsburg group expanded its global market share. With GM (due to report next month) expected to be in the low 9 million, and Toyota expected to be in the high 7 million, Volkswagen will end the year as the world’s #2 auto maker, behind GM and before Toyota. (Read More…)
Yes, the usual suspects are crying foul about the Nissan Pathfinder moving back to a unibody crossover style platform. Who cares? I would love to see some data on the number of Pathfinder users taking their cars off-road, on anything more rugged than a gravel driveway.
Like the Infiniti JX, the Pathfinder will have three rows of seats, but Nissan did not announce powertrain details. Knowing Nissan, it will probably have some kind of VQ V6 and a CVT gearbox with an all-wheel drive setup. People taking their kids to and from soccer and ballet probably couldn’t care less.
The Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid combines two entities hated most by car fans – the new Volkswagen Jetta, and hybrids – on to which auto enthusiasts can project their deep-seated anger issues.
What don’t you know about the Dart? I will tell you something: it is spacious inside. The rear seat is no-kidding suitable for full-sized adults In fact, it’s quite nice to sit in, front and back. Click the jump for some comments from Speed:Sport:Life’s Byron Hurd:
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