German Mercedes tuner Carlsson has announced a 25-unit, limited-edition C25 coupe based on the Mercedes CL and the ancient nightmares of dread Cthulu. Sure, it has a 735 hp turbocharged V12, but that isn’t why people will buy it. The real ownership pitch: Carlsson will only sell one per country, thereby “guaranteeing exclusivity” for its buyers. Which begs the question: would Carlsson have sold that many C25s on their own merits? We think not.
Russian President Vladimir Putin first showed off his badass camo Lada Niva early last year, in an attempt to boost the fortunes of the floundering state-supported Russian automaker AvtoVAZ. What Putin didn’t reveal until just now is that his Niva isn’t exactly stock.”I won’t hide it [anymore?] , the car I bought has an Opel engine,” he tells the WaPo. “It turns out that it’s more powerful.” Now wonder Russian parliamentarians are starting to advocate dumping AvtoVAZ on Renault, which in turn is drawing a familiar homerism from local pols in Russia’s Detroit, Tolyatti. In other car-salesman-in-chief developments today, Barack Obama revealed that he believes GM is a world-class automaker because his Cadillac is so badass.
Buick has announced that it’s bringing a high(er)-performance GS version of its Opel Insignia-based Buick Regal to the Detroit Auto Show, and later, to the US market. And for once we’re left wishing we were getting a rebadge. After all, for the first several years of US sales, Insignias will be imported from Germany, meaning GM could easily have brought the thoroughly mad Insignia VXR/OPC as a quick-and-dirty (if not cheap) rebadge. After all, the point of the Regal (and especially the GS) is that “we’re trying to rebuild the performance credentials that Buick once held,” as GM reps put it. The European OPC/VXR version gets a 325 HP version of the turbocharged V6 found in the SRX and Saab TurboX, while the GS gets only a 255 hp version of the 2.0 Turbo found in the Solstice GXP. That engine can reportedly be tuned to an easy 310 hp and 300 lb-ft of torque, making the “base” Regal CXL with the 220 hp 2.0T engine a much smarter buy. Unless the idea of tuning a Buick is simply more cognitive dissonance than you can handle. Otherwise, the only thing the GS really brings to the table is AWD and a bodykit with more front-end venting than the United States Senate. Still, if you’re young enough to not get a discount at Denny’s and you have to own a Buick, the Regal is the way to go… especially once an enterprising tuner starts offering Opel badging and grilles in the US market.
As a kid, I remember playing a little game to help pass the time on road trips: every time something low, wide and red drove past I’d shout “Ferrari!” and laugh as the other kids in the car got whiplash trying to catch a glimpse of the Corvette, Trans-Am, or 3000GT I’d purposefully misidentified. Perhaps Hofele had that game in mind when it designed this R8-alike-ish bodykit for the A5. Of course, it’s also possible that they just though it looks good. You never know with tuners.
“The Krom Rogue will look a little more masculine,” [Patrick Steiner, director of sales and marketing for Nissan North America’s Specialty Vehicles and Accessories unit] said while standing alongside a prototype black Krom model at Nissan’s North American headquarters here. “We think it will attract a higher percentage of male buyers.”
Manly men can expect to pay $2,000-$4,000 over base for the Krom Edition Rogue’s masculinity defining “entirely new front end with a mesh grille, fog lights, rear spoiler, tinted glass, center exhaust pipes and 17-inch alloy wheels.” [Autoweek, via MSN]
It’s not every day that our friends over at Autoblog rip someone, anyone, a new NSFW. In fact, have they ever done it? Well, now they have. “SEMA 2009 Worst of Show: This Car Stinks” tears into a modded Dodge Charger with scissor doors like nothing I’ve ever read on the Gray Lady of autoblogs. “The why and the how of this particular example of aftermarket hubris and wretched, mindless – and let’s not forget pointless – excess don’t really matter now, as the poor thing will spend the next 15 years quietly rotting in the side yard of some shop in Joliet, Illinois waiting to either shrug off this mortal coil or get turned into a fine LeMons car right around 2025 – whichever comes first.” Looks like Mr. Lieberman is channeling his inner TTAC. Oh wait; he cut his teeth on this very website. So, to thine own TTAC be true? Yes, BUT—who built the cat piss special? On this point, Mr. Lieberman and/or his editors are not-so-surprisingly silent. So I turn to our Best and Brightest to answer two simple questions. First, why is this car any worse than the other abominations cluttering the SEMA ho’ down? Second, who done done it?
7tune is celebrating the shockingly unnecessary with a look into the world of Prius tuning. And AMS’s first-gen Prius “Terra” bodykit is by far the pick of the litter. But hold onto your comments until you see the front end…. Read More >
Let’s just say she didn’t roll out of the factory this way… What was this before someone decided to sin against nature?
Pistonheads [birthplace of TTAC] reports that Škoda Australia is showcasing a one-off conversion worthy of Jeremy Clarkson’s “pin your labradors to the back window” accolade: the Octavia RS-P. No awning over the toy shop here, mate. Škoda’s boffins remapped the standard vRS’s 197-bhp motor to churn out 254 bhp and 258 lb·ft of torque. They added a three-inch stainless steel exhaust, a bigger air filter, 355mm front and 310mm rear brake discs and popped some Yokohama Advans onto black 18-inch alloys. Oh, did I mention the cross brace in the boot, front and rear strut braces and fully adjustable dampers? I’m thinking front-wheel drive makes this “little nose heavy” Škoda about as useful as tits on a tomcat. So, any good Škoda jokes, then?
I drove an Overfinch Range Rover once. Scared the NSFW out of me. I also shot skeet with a Holland & Holland Royal Over-and-Under. Now that was easy. From the press release:
Based on either the 5.0 litre 503 bhp Supercharged or TDV8 versions of the new 2010 MY car, the Holland & Holland Overfinch features a raft of enhancements that make it unmistakably something very special.
Daryl Greatrex, Managing Director of Holland & Holland, said, “Holland & Holland is globally synonymous with both luxury and supreme functionality. To look at, to handle and shoot with a Holland & Holland is to appreciate 174 years of using the best craftsmanship and technology to make things work supremely well and look even better. It’s ten years since we had a Holland & Holland Range Rover and we decided that working with Overfinch was the only way to do it this time.”
German PR people are my friends. This from abt:
A modern SUV must cut a good figure everywhere—and according to this motto, ABT Sportsline has successfully tuned the Audi models Q7 and Q5 as well as the VW Tiguan and Touareg. A particularly stylish element has now been added to the expressive, powerfully-dominant bodywork kits, which have been developed for the diverse quartet: the stainless steel ABT side step set. This silver design piece gives vehicles even more robust flair, without losing the overall elegant-sporty look. The integrated side steps are not just cool, and do not only perfectly fit the strong character of the Q7, Tiguan, Touareg and Q5, but they also offer maximum side protection against, for example, scratches. In addition the ABT side steps also increase the comfort when getting into the car, which makes sense for these comparatively high vehicles. On top of this the thorough cleaning of the windscreen is also made easier. And thanks to the anti-slip coating, secure footing is guaranteed.
Don’t worry: despite the catchy headline, this isn’t going to become a regular TTAC feature. I think. Anyway, pistonheads reports that this tuned estate’s mill generates 585bhp and 509 lb·ft of torque. But wait! There’s more! “The brakes have been upgraded with six-piston callipers and 390mm drilled discs, and a new differential has been added. But the most obvious changes are to the body, on which Vath has spent considerable time and energy creating a new carbon fibre front lip returning 12kg of downforce, large carbon diffuser and carbon side vents. The whole Vath package is rounded off with 20-inch split rims and new Michelin tyres.” No word on price. But if even if you could afford it, would you?
“Off-roaders are only suitable for terrain; compact means sacrifice and sports cars only appeal to contortionists who have no spine: once prejudices were easier and the choice of the right car was therefore complicated. Who would have thought that the Mercedes GLK would one day turn all these clichés on their head and flirt with an attractive optical package from Sportservice Lorinser?”
Not me.
Well, they didn’t kill the Corvette, but GM’s iced its performance tuning division. Automotive News [sub] reports on the car-nage.
GM today disbanded High Performance Vehicle Operations, which is based at the company’s suburban Detroit technical center, and redeployed its engineers, said spokesman Vince Muniga.
“All high-performance projects are on indefinite hold,” Muniga said. “The engineers are moving into different areas of the organization, and they will work on Cadillacs, Buicks, Chevrolets and Pontiacs.”
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