With the Ford Focus ST due for a mid-cycle refresh in Europe, Ford apparently announced a diesel version of their hot hatch at a dinner after Day 1 of the Geneva Auto Show.
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How about a Volkswagen Golf that emits less CO2 than a Toyota Prius and makes as much power as a GTI?
Back in September, I wrote a piece lamenting the death of Honda’s high-perofrmance hallmark, the twin-cam VTEC 4-cylinder engine. It was just the sort of article many of you are fed up with: a lengthy piece filled with flowery prose and Honda fanboy-ism sprinkled with a condescending explanation of the auto industry’s inner workings. Miraculously, it was fairly well-received. But I’ve had a change of heart.
Geneva marks the first in-the-flesh appearance for the BMW 2-Series Active Tourer, the brand’s first front-drive car that doesn’t wear a MINI badge. It’s honestly not a bad idea.
The Maserati Alfieri will preview the next-generation sports car from FCA’s sort-of-exotic premium brand. Most surprising is the fact that Maserati eschewed the trend of turbocharged motors for the familiar 4.7-liter V8 engine with 460 hp and 384 lb-ft of torque. Given the emissions and fuel consumption requirements that exist today, things could change.
When the first pictures of the new Škoda VisionC concept appeared online, it quickly became one of the most popular cars in the “proof that Americans can’t have nice things and Europe is heaven” realm. The sleek “five-door coupe”, or liftback with a swooping roofline bears striking similarity with other VW Group’s sedan-coupes. So it’s only natural that most people started speculating about forthcoming “Octavia Coupe” – something like Passat-based Volkswagen CC, or Audi A5 and A7 “five-door coupes”. The budget, or “value” nature of Škoda brand is against that, but how else to explain a suspiciously production-ready concept like this?
Looking like an Alfa-fied Elise, the 4C Spider loses its roof and gains a custom made exhaust by Akrapovic, best known for making very loud aftermarket systems. Sound’s good to me (no pun intended).
Another example of what can be done with MQB: a targa top clone of the Juke using the 2.0T engine and Halex AWD.
With the wife and kids out of the house on Sunday I finally had a little private time. Naturally, I did what a lot of men do when they find themselves home alone – I caught up on the current season of Top Gear. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about the world’s most popular television program. On the one hand I am generally unimpressed with lengthy reviews of million dollar hyper cars or high end luxury cars, the seats of which my ass will never grace, but I do enjoy the challenges and the occasional look back at cars of the past. Naturally, I was quite taken by this season’s premiere episode, a modern day test of the hot hatches of the 1980s. Read More >
Long rumored to wear the Alfa Romeo badge, the next-generation Mazda MX-5 may instead don a Fiat or Abarth necklace in 2015 if Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne has the last word.
Porsche 919 Hybrid LeMans Racer Goes After The Two Thirds of Gasoline’s Energy That’s Wasted As Heat
The problem with battery electric and fuel cell cars is gasoline. Petrol is genuinely a superior fuel, at least in terms of energy. It has so much energy per gallon, 116,000 btu/gal, that we can use it in an engine whose theoretical maximum efficiency is only 37%. That means that with all the gizmos a modern gasoline powered internal combustion engine has that increase fuel economy, still two thirds or more of the energy in the fuel is being turned into unusable heat, not motive force.
UPDATE: Mere minutes after our prior editorial was published Chrysler announced that they will be withdrawing their request for funding from the Canadian government, and
“…confirmed its intention to begin to allocate to our Windsor, Ontario plant the development and industrialization of the next “people carrier” architecture (the so-called next minivan and derivatives)”
We are awaiting a call from Chrysler to discuss the matter. In the mean time, you can read the official announcement here.
The biggest news for North America’s auto industry was announced at Geneva, and it wasn’t a new product debut. According to Automotive News, FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne has decided on a location for the next assembly plant, and things aren’t looking great for the current plant in Windsor, Ontario.
Just as the B&B suspected, the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge is indeed powered by a twin-turbo V6, and it comes from the Nissan GT-R. With all-wheel drive and a 7-speed gearbox (of an unspecified nature), the Eau Rouge should blast to 60 mph in under 4 seconds. Can’t outshine its big brother, can it?
A sharp-eyed TTAC reader based in Korea has sent us some spy shots of the 2015 Hyundai Sonata. The shots purport to show the car’s front end, interior and a snap of a Korean car magazine claiming AWD and a 6-speed DCT for the KDM model. Authentic? Who knows.
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