You might remember EDAG best for its unusual shooting brake conversions for General Motors’ Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky. But the German engineering concern has designs on something bigger for its Geneva Motor Show stand—the LUV Concept.
Based on a Mercedes-Benz GL-Class SUV, the ultra-luxurious concept integrates teak wood surfaces inside and out, in a matter not dissimilar to a yacht. In addition to the comprehensive restyling, EDAG teamed up with highly-regarded Mercedes-Benz tuner Brabus to tune the LUV’s 6.1-liter V-8. All-in, the engine develops 462 horsepower—enough firepower to hit 62 miles-per-hour in just over 6 seconds and top out at 155 mph.
Other notable features include a set of Brabus-designed 22-inch wheels (masking uprated brakes) and a reworked interior that features a pair of UltraMobile PCs in the back seat, and so on.
No word on any production plans for this luxury ute, but one thing’s for sure… this LUV’s a long way from the Chevy small pickup that first carried the name.
(Click through to the jump for additional images and EDAG’s press release)
This is all getting a bit absurd. If you’re just catching up with us, embattled British supercar manufacturer TVR appears to be getting passed around like the clap.
In our last episode, the Blackpool-based concern was purchased out of receivership by Russian plutocrat Nikolai Smolenski—the very man who owned the company before it fell into administration at the hands of PFK Partners. It’s been one week since that time. Now, it turns out, Smolenski has quietly pawned off the marque on a pair of Florida-based businessmen, Adam Burdette and Jean Michel Santacreu.
As the story goes, TVR’s new owners believe that the company can sell about 5000 units per year, and it says they already have 2000 cars ordered by U.S.-based dealers (yes, this sounds fishy to us, too). Further, Burdette and Santacreu apparently only see a trickle of TVRs heading back to Blighty… perhaps 250-500 cars.
So who is going to build ‘em? Ricardo Engineering, a well-regarded supplier, has apparently been tapped for powertrain R&D, and the cars will be assembled in Italy by Bertone. The duo says that they can begin building new TVRs within three months.
Alright. So the Front Runner’s complete absence of wheels means that we’re stretching the whole automotive news angle on this story… but just look at this thing!
The twin-sponson boat, designed by one Joey Ruiter, looks like a cross between a pod racer and a decapitated Volkswagen Beetle. The Front Runner (which debuted earlier this month at the Grand Rapids, Michigan boat show), employs a pair of 215 horsepower jet-drive motors. In other words, an awful lot of thrust in a lightweight, water-skimming package. What’s more, because it’s rendered in aluminum, Ruiter asserts that his whole crazy contraption can be easily recycled.
While this is just a prototype, Ruiter hopes to get the Front Runner in production for around $40,000 a piece. That’s a substantial price premium for the design over other twin-jet drive boats, but it’s hard to argue with the design’s chutzpah.
In the wake of Toyota’s announcement that it would build its eighth U.S. manufacturing plant in Mississippi to build the next generation Highlander by 2009, a Japanese newspaper is reporting that Toyota is already planning its ninth plant, this time in Mexico.
The Japanese media says Toyota will build a new 1.0-liter compact car in this plant, which could get going as soon as 2010.
In the year that Toyota’s expected to overtake GM to go become the largest global automaker, the company’s numbers in North America continue to rock the industry, especially in North America.
In 2006, Toyota posted a record 2.54 million sales (up 12.9 percent) and exported over one million cars to the U.S. for the first time in 20 years. By 2009, Toyota’s production capacity in North America will reach 2.2 million units, but sales are expected to top 3 million units.
(Click through to the jump for Toyota’s official press release on the Miss. plant)
It’s news we thought we’d never hear - Honda is working on a new CRX.
For a whole number of reasons, Honda has for years refused to consider building a successor to one of its greatest enthusiast products, the two generations of tiny, Civic-based coupes that last appeared in the ’90s.
But now, at last, we hear that Honda’s thinking has changed, and a serious design proposal is under way at the company’s R&D design studios. It’s still in its early stages, but within the next couple of months, a decision will be made whether to take it further and approve it for production…
Okay. So you’re a well-heeled track day enthusiast, and your Elise just isn’t cutting it anymore. What’s a Lotus lover to do?
Well, Colin Chapman’s boys will soon be able to outfit you with a new 2-Eleven. This 1,477-pound flyweight promises lively performance, what with its 252 brake-horsepower engine.
Initially available only in “Launch Edition” specification (tri-color Lotus Sport paint scheme and related decals), buyers will have to choose from two different versions. Road Going, which is street legal (under the UK’s Single-Vehicle Approval provision), includes necessities like lighting, a single-plane rear wing, and a catalytic converter. The Track Only model adds enhanced aerodynamic fitments (carbon fiber wing, more aggressive front splitter, and so on), along with brake lights and rear indicators, and an FIA-approved race seat.
What price track day glory? £39,995 (around $78,500). The Track Only model will be available outside of Blighty, so if you manage to plate one in the U.S., just remember your friends here at WINDING ROAD.
(Click through to the jump for more than three dozen additional images and Lotus’ official release)
With the high-speed roll-up to Geneva’s Motor Show, it’s beginning to feel like Supercar Week here at WINDING ROAD. Sadly, our fleet is presently devoid of such exotic machinery, but there would appear to be scads of hypercars lined up for next month’s big show in Switzerland. Surprisingly, Swiss-based company Weber Sportscars isn’t expected to be one of them. The company plans to debut the car at the ultra high-end Topmarques Monaco Auto Show (April 19-22).
Resting on an ultra-stiff, ultra-light aluminum chassis, the carbon-fiber clad car will employ a dry-sump’d, supercharged, 7.2-liter V-8 mounted amidships. Gearshifting will be via a six-speed sequential gearbox, and power will be fed to all wheels….
(Click through to the jump for more images, details, and the link)
Henrik Fisker and his crew appear set to create a lower-cost coupe offering, if the Artega GT Coupe is any indication. We first told you about this car back in September, which is expected to use its own chassis (unlike the company’s current offerings, the Tramonto and Latigo CS).
The diminutive Geneva-bound concept utilizes a 3.6-liter V-6 engine that’s Volkswagen-derived, and it’s estimated to be around the same size as a Mazda MX-5, albeit substantially lower. Expect a top speed of around 165 miles-per-hour, and a price of around €75,000 when production fires up in Delbrueck, Germany in mid-2008.
The former Audi engineers who brought you the Gumpert Apollo will use Geneva’s limelight to bring out an uprated version of the unusual mid-engined supercar, dubbed “Apollo Sport.”
The Sport actually relies on the same Audi-sourced 4.2-liter V-8 that employs two turbochargers to net 800 horsepower. Aerodynamic improvements—including a new rear wing, aid downforce and improve the car’s top speed to 360 km/h (223 mph).
(Click through to the jump for an interior view and the company’s official press release)
During a recent press drive for the Euro-market Civic Type R (which resulted in this month’s WR cover story), our European Editor, Matt Davis, caught some heavy hints that a variant of the hot hatch is indeed headed Stateside in 2010.
Though the assistant chief engineer from Tochigi was loath to talk specifics, the plan is to offer a package in keeping with the Japanese-market Type R (read: four-door sedan), and include a horsepower boost and a limited-slip differential.
(Click through to the jump for more details and images)
You might remember EDAG best for its unusual shooting brake conversions for General Motors’ Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky. But the German engineering concern has designs on something bigger for its Geneva Motor Show stand—the LUV Concept.
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