"All the Dumb (Ferrari) Questions"

"The Real Essence of Alfa Defies Description"

Here she comes . .

2016 Mercedes-AMG GT

"Outperforming Established Engines"

"Even our prototypes are outperforming established engines of the same displacement and there's a lot of development left in there for further weight reduction and performance gains. So we're very optimistic."

Duke Engines

"Scraping Ice"

“If the engineers just sit in laboratories and lose connection to the daily use of the cars, the cars will not be good enough. The engineers have to experience the car personally -- scraping ice, seeing how the defrosters work, seeing how fast the seats heat up.”

Hakan Samuelsson, CEO Volvo

The all-new 2015 Volvo XC90 will be built in Sweden

"Historic for the Industry"

“This is historic for the industry, not just for Ford. To take the No. 1 selling vehicle for 32 years -- it will be 33 soon -- and convert it like this, at this volume, to aluminum, is historic and unprecedented.”

Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of the Americas

Not Your Average Saab Story

The Most Affordable Supercar

"Qualifying"

"I wasn't speeding, I was qualifying."

Sarah Palin

"Like a HoneyBaked Ham on Christmas"

"Say what you want about the 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C, crack wise about suspect Italian engineering, mock its looks, point out its flaws in the cabin and otherwise (and there are more than a few). But literally none of it matters when this car is in its element, carving up asphalt like a HoneyBaked Ham on Christmas. In fact, it did feel like Christmas when we grabbed the keys to this diminutive Alfa." 

Automobile Magazine

"Our Objective Is Clear"

"We are now launching the second phase of the Volkswagen campaign in the U.S. With the midsize SUV, the expansion of the Chattanooga plant and the new development center, the focus is on the wishes of the U.S. customer. Our big objective is clear: By 2018, the Volkswagen brand wants to sell about 800,000 vehicles per year in the U.S."

Martin Winterkorn, Volkswagen CEO

Skunkworks

'The idea is to separate Alfa Romeo as much as possible from the more bread-and-butter brands in the Fiat Chrysler line-up and both reclaim the Alfa uniqueness and close the “phenomenal lead” that German brands have built up over the years.
To that end Alfa Romeo has been given its own “skunkworks” research team lead by two (unnamed) senior heads of Ferrari that will provide what [Alfa Romeo CEO Harald] Wester called a “radical solution” to Alfa’s waywardness and provide input into how the new cars should drive appropriate to Alfa’s DNA. The 4C baby supercar was held up as example of "the perfect embodiment" of the Alfa's DNA.'

SEE: Alfa admits mistakes, promises glorious future

A Thoroughly Dangerous Website

Whatever you do, DO NOT CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE.

The Most Beautiful Mercedes-Benz Ever?

2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S

Worth Waiting For?

2016 BMW M8 Supercar

The first supercar from Bavaria, since 1981 when the last 453 BMW M1 was produced, the 2016 BMW M8 coupe arrives just in time for the carmaker's centennial year.

The M8 exploits carbon fiber, aluminum, magnesium, and titanium for a 2760-pound target weight. It's built on the platform of the i8, a futuristic carbon-fiber plug-in hybrid that uses some 5-series components. An upgraded version of the M5 direct-injected 4.4-liter TwinPower Turbo, coupled to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic, puts down 600-650 horsepower.

A car like this should burnish the rep of BMW Motorsports as BMW downsizes its mainstream models and introduces electric power across its entire line.

Price? $330,000 at current exchange rates (if you have to ask . .)

SEE: Car and Driver

With All That Yankee Cash . .

With all that Yankee cash he's been earning from Jeep and Ram sales in the U.S., Sergio Marchionne can finally start to rebuild his dream Alfa Romeo unit in earnest.  According to Germany's Auto Bild magazine, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) will unveil a slew of new Alfa Romeo models hoping to increase sales from 100,000 per year to 500,000.

In addition to the 4C sports car, to be seen here later in 2014, new models include a:

• convertible Spider* by 2016 (think The Graduate).
• sedan and wagon versions of the Giulia sports sedan in 2017 (to rival BMW 3-Series).
• sedan and wagon versions of the Alfetta sports sedan in 2018 (against BMW 5-Series).
• compact crossover sport utility vehicle (SUV) in 2017.
• larger crossover SUV for 2018

The MiTo and Giulietta hatchbacks not in production will not be replaced (no great loss here, Alfa fans). Fiat acquired Alfa Romeo in 1986, but has failed to restore it to glory despite repeated attempts. Plans to boost sales to half a million by 2014 have been ditched as the car market in Europe has gone into reverse for several years.

The relaunch of the 104-year-old Alfa Romeo brand, along with Maserati, drives FCA's return to profitability in Europe. All Alfas and Maseratis will be produced in Italy.

SEE: Reuters

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*which was to be shared with the new Mazda Miata MX-5 until Marchionne changed his mind about that.

Alfa Romeo 4C Takes on Porsche Cayman

Hypercar Makes One Megawatt of Power

Koenigsegg One:1 hypercar

The mid-engined Koenigsegg One:1, with a 5.0 liter twin-turbocharged V8, makes an even megawatt (1000kW) of power. With its lightweight carbon-fiber chassis it will hit 400km/h (248.5 mph) from rest in 20 seconds.

The Swedish supercar specialist behind this hypercar named it One:1 because its metric horsepower (1360PS) output equals its weight in kilograms (1360kg)—a power-to-weight ratio of exactly 1:1.

Unprecedented in a production road car. The expected 273 mph (440km/h) top speed makes it the world's fastest limited production car, soundly beating the Hennessey Venom GT.

Add to this active aerodynamics that enable the car to sustain 2G in lateral cornering force.

The Koenigsegg hypercar debuts at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, and production will be limited to six cars, all spoken for. Two go to Britain, four on to Chinese customers who asked the automaker for a car like this.

"It was actually our Chinese distributor in Beijing who told us he had a group of customers who want a track car. They had every other kind of car, but they wanted a Koenigsegg track car."

Andreas Petre

Koenigsegg spokesman

SOURCES: "Koenigsegg One:1 Hypercar Revealed" by Tony O'Kane on March 3, 2014; "Exclusive: more on Koenigsegg's One:1" by Vijay Pattni on March 5, 2014.

45 mpg Mercedes?

Mercedes Benz E250 BlueTEC

'Masterpiece'

"I'm proud to say we made another masterpiece that will remain in Alfa's history."

Fiat's European product development head, Mauro Pierallini

It goes 0 to 100kph in just 4.5 seconds, and:

• weighs 895 kilograms
• is 3990 millimeters long
• delivers 240 horsepower
• has a 1.75-liter turbocharged direct-injection gasoline engine

One requirement for engineers was not to go above a weight/power ratio of 4 kg per horsepower. This required using an aluminum subframe for the front and in the rear of the carbon fiber chassis rather than steel, for example.