Audi will unveil the next generation of the R8 super car in the third quarter of 2014. The supercar will compete Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche and the Germans want to ensure the success by using the most advanced technology available in aerodynamics, electronics and manufacturing.

The model will be inspired by the concept of E-Tron and the body will be made of aluminum. The R8 will benefit from a more spacious cabin, a central engine and standard four-wheel drive.

The supercar will be lighter, as the basic version will have a mass close to 1500 kg, which makes for a difference of only 60 kg, but the advantage is that the engines are more efficient and the active and passive safety systems are more numerous.

R8’s engines will keep the aspirated configuration, the displacement and the number of cylinders, but will meet the Euro 6 requirements and will more powerful and more effective.

The website Autocar claims that the V8 version will develop around 450 hp, while the V10 model will develop around 550 hp. The R8 will be equipped with a Start / Stop automatic system, brake energy regeneration and a “sailing” function, which idles the engine on downhill stretches.

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“You have Apple and you have other products. This is what VW wants to be,” VW CC exterior design chief, Martin Kropp, said at the CC’s launch in France.

VW wants to be an Apple in the automotive industry because of the way the Cupertino company has conquered the world with its innovative products.

“You enjoy looking at all these products,” he said. “You know there is the function and engineering behind the products, but you also enjoying looking at them. You want simple designs and this is what we’re trying to achieve.”

Kropp believes that small technical improvements can help the German brand stand out from its competitors.

“We’re now looking at the fine details to really push ahead,” he said. “The head and tail lights of the new CC for instance now have lots of fine lines and intricate styling details.”

“The CC is one of the last VWs to get the new corporate face, but everything has been improved in the quality of the look. We’ve taken inspiration from the Phaeton for it.”

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Although the carmaker isn’t slipping a word on whether it will put the car into production, designers believe it has a strong chance to do so.

“This is a serious proposal for a speedster Beetle and I am sure it will come for production”, said designer Mark Lichter, “we just need to find the business case”.

Lichter revealed that for the creation of the E-Bugster concept he was inspired by his own Porsche 964 911 Speedster.

The car is powered by an electric motor that generates 114 HP and 270 Nm of torque (199 lb-ft).

The lithium-ion battery takes just 30 minutes to charge up to 80 percent.

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Dieter Zetsche, the CEO of Mercedes, introduced the model with a direct reference to one of its most famous customers.

Zetsche talked about Jobs’ passion for the German car and his habit of buying one every six months. The head of the Stuttgart company also explained why the former Apple CEO never registered his car.

“Mr Jobs always drove his Mercedes-Benz SL AMG without the Californian licence plates. In part I’m sure because they detracted from the beauty of the car and our designers would certainly agree with that,” said Zetsce.

“Jobs got away with that by exploiting a loophole in California law that gave new car owners up to six months to get permanent plates. To ensure he never technically violated the law he reportedly would get a new Mercedes SL every six months. To me that’s all the more proof of the man’s true genius.”

Unfortunately, Steve Jobs didn’t get to see the latest, all-new Mercedes-Benz SL that officially debuted at the Detroit Motor Show and will arrive in showrooms in the coming months.

[Source: drive.com.au]

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The British manufacturer is about to separate from its owners, Malaysians from Proton who plan to sell it to an auto group with greater economic power.

No official announcement has been made yet but discussions are ongoing and GM would be the manufacturer in the best position to make the recovery of the small British company.

Lotus sells 2,700 cars annually, managing so far to reach any target set.

Dany Bahar proves to be a good choice for the Hethel manufacturer, as an ardent supporter of the directions towards which the range heads.

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Audi will spend more than $13.7 billion on the “development of new models and on technologies of the future such as electric or hybrid drive.”

“We are aiming to achieve strong growth on an international scale and boost our lightweight construction and electric mobility areas of expertise in particular,” said Thomas Sigi, Audi AG member of the board of management for human resources.

More people than in previous years, a total of 3,500 people joined Audi in 2011. Audi had planned to recruit 1,200 experts but offered more than 1,300 additional jobs in Germany.

The car maker also provided permanent contracts to more than 400 temporary employees and 700 apprentices have started vocational training in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm. The numbers also increased at sites located abroad: more than 1,400 new employees have started work in Györ in 2011 and 270 in Brussels.

At the same time, Audi has confirmed the release in 2012 of the new generation A3 and R8 e-tron in a limited edition by the end of the year.

The prototype of the R8 E-Tron that was presented at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show was powered by a 53 kWh lithium-ion battery and featured four electric motors which were generating 308 horsepower and a 4.500 Nm of torque. The supercar can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.8 seconds.

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“We are speaking to GM about various future technologies but we are not saying anything more beyond that,” a spokesman for BMW said on Saturday.

Under the new partnership, the Bavarian manufacturer will gain access to GM’s fuel-cell technology, while the U.S. corporation can bring them money for further research and development.

According to Wirtschaftswoche, BMW confirmed that it was in discussions with GM and the partnership could be officially announced after the Detroit Motor Show in January.

Last month, Toyota and BMW agreed to a partnership to work on lithium battery technology at the cell level. Hence, Toyota borrow diesel engines from BMW and the latter will get access to its partner’s hybrid technologies.

By 2020, General Motors plans to have one million hydrogen-powered vehicles on the world’s roads.

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Both at the forefront of ecology, the two manufacturers have signed a memorandum of understanding for a mid-to-long-term research collaboration in environment-friendly technologies.

This cooperation will particularly involve the research on lithium-ion batteries, a crucial domain in the coming years with the rise of hybrid cars and the advent of a market for electric cars.

According to the agreement, by 2014 BMW will supply 1.6 liter and 2.0 liter diesel engines and Toyota, which has cut 33 million tones of CO2 emissions thanks to 3.4 million hybrid vehicles sold worldwide, will offer access to its hybrid technology instead.

Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, said: ” Toyota is the leading provider of environment-friendly series technology in the volume segment and the BMW Group is the most innovative and sustainable manufacturer of premium automobiles. We are now joining forces to further develop environment-friendly technologies and to expand our innovation leadership in each of our segments. Supplying Toyota with our fuel efficient and dynamic diesel engines represents another important step in the planned expansion of our sales activities for engines and powertrain system.”

Toyota President Akio Toyoda said: “It is a great joy and a thrill to enter into this mid-to-long-term collaborative relationship with BMW, a company with its own culture and history from its many years of car manufacturing in Europe , and a company that makes cars that are fun to drive. In the spirit of contributing to furthering the development of the auto industry and society, both companies will bring their wide-ranging knowledge-starting with that concerning environmental technologies-to the table and make ever-better cars.”

BMW and Toyota have already announced the development of a common model.

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The Toyota GT 86 has been developed side-by-side with Subaru.

The sportscar outputs 197 horsepower at 7000 rpm and 205 Nm (151 lb-ft) at 6,600 rpm thanks to Subaru’s 2.0-liter Boxer four with a12.5:1 compression ratio and Toyota ’s D-4S injection technology.

Toyota claims the GT 86 has the “world’s most compact four-seat design” to create a car that “benefits from light weight, low inertia and a low centre of gravity to achieve the best possible power-to-weight ratio.”

The GT 86 is 4,240 mm long, 1,285 mm high and 2,570 mm wide and prides itself in the 365mm-diameter steering wheel that Toyota claims is the smallest ever fitted to its road cars.

The name is inspired by the brand’s history and especially the 1980 model of Corolla GT AE86.

The model is expected to hit the market in June of 2012 beginning in the UK.

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The ad shows two engineers getting on the GTI time machine and traveling back in time to Volkswagen’s German headquarters in Wolfsburg in 1976.

“Our travelers – fitted with helmet-cameras and microphones – went to thank the engineers for their efforts in creating such an iconic vehicle. Unfortunately we lost the camera-feed as our adventurers decided to take the GTI Time Machine for a spin through history,” VW UK says.

Nigel Brotherton, national communications manager at VW, explained that the purpose of the ad was to bring the long-term awareness of the model to the forefront.

“GTI, and Golf in general, is different to competitors (that have launched newly titled models), in that it has evolved,” he said. “This makes it so easy to trace the heritage.”

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The unit will be installed on a zero-emission model of the Germans.

Tesla and Mercedes have taken their deal to a new stage. During the conference where Tesla announced the company’s commercial results, CEO Elon Musk revealed that they have reached a new agreement with their partner.

Musk said that Tesla will develop in the years an electric engine for a Mercedes model with zero emissions. The car will also include a powerful battery pack capable of achieving a generous autonomy.

The automaker said in a letter to shareholders that it had a “letter of intent” from Daimler AG (DAI) for “a full powertrain in the Mercedes line.”

Yesterday, during a conference call, Musk said that details of the program may be announced “around the end of the year.”

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The system developed by BMW offers a better synthesis of information, rivaling similar technology used in fighter aircraft.

In January 2004, BMW became the first European car manufacturer to give its customers a HUD as an option.

The careful selection of symbols and their coloring helps drivers spend 50% less time to assimilate the information provided by the HUD.

The HUD is designed so that only the driver can see the information at eye level and is thought to reduce fatigue behind the wheel. The driver no longer has to look up or down and adapt his eyesight to different distances.

All information is provided at the base of the windshield and the HUD changes brightness according to outside light.

Eurofighter test pilot Robert Hierl is highly impressed: “Our monochrome head-up display technology is unable to offer such a brilliant display quality [compared to the BMW HUD].”

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General Motors are following in the footsteps of Volkswagen who announced that hey are testing a driverless car.

GM will use technologies such as GPS, distance-sensing and vehicle-to-vehicle communications in order to allow the vehicle to dodge collisions, identify pedestrians, park itself and pick-up the driver. All of this can be accomplished via systems placed in the vehicle or through a smartphone app.

“The technologies we’re developing will provide an added convenience by partially or even completely taking over the driving duties,” said Alan Taub, GM Vice President of Global Research and Development.

“The primary goal, though, is safety. Future generation safety systems will eliminate the crash altogether by interceding on behalf of drivers before they’re even aware of a hazardous situation. In the coming years, we believe the industry will experience a dramatic leap in activity safety systems, and hopefully, a dramatic decline in injuries and fatalities on our roadways. GM has made a commitment to be at the forefront of this development.”

The Chevrolet EN-V urban mobility concept will be presented this week at the ITS World Congress.

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The German manufacturer plans to launch a zero-emission version of the Mercedes S-Class. The electric sedan could debut somewhere between 2020 and 2025 and it would only use the propulsion of motors kept alive by the revolutionary lithium-sulfur batteries.

Automotive News reports that Thomas Weber, research boss for Mercedes parent company Daimler, hinted at an electric version during an interview at the Frankfurt auto show.

“This is a visionary outlook that’s the direction we have to go with large cars,” he said.

The same official argued that with the F125 concept! We’re looking at the next generation S-Class.

“This research car was built with the perspective of, what does a car in 2025 look like? – more than two generations ahead,” Weber said.

“If zero emission mobility will be necessary, and that’s what we believe, it’s clear we have to change to electric mobility,” he concluded.

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The Japanese manufacturer announced today the development of a revolutionary car charger, developed in collaboration with Japan ’s Kansai University.

The technology consists of changing the electrode inside a capacitor from carbon to tungsten oxide and vanadium oxide to improve power. The innovation could reduce charging time from 8 hours to just 10 minutes.

The fastest charging time so far is about 30 minutes but it could take up to 10 years to actually commercialize the technology.

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The 25-year-old Mean Girls star is being chased by Los Angeles-based Elite ­Transportation Limo and Security Services, who charge $6,000 an hour.

The company says Lohan used its services, which cost of $33,978, from February 2009 to May 2009.

TMZ reports that with penalties and late charges, the $33,978 bill has now become $90,585.79.

However, reports also show that Lindsay recently bought an $80,000 Porsche Panamera in a dealership in downtown Los Angeles after signing a deal with designer Phillip Plein to become the brand’s spokesmodel.

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The car is a 1995 made Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Special Edition, a model which is quite rare as it was part of a special edition, limited to 29 units. Back in the ‘70s, it was one of the best sports cars and today it is regarded as an expensive piece of art, a real four-wheel treasure, coveted by collectors.

The story goes like this: in 1970, Tom Wellmer received a special graduation gift from his parents in the form of a Special Edition Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing

However, after only one year, the transmission failed. Wellmer decided he would fix it later and left it in a Santa Monica garage, where it eventually remained for the next 40 years.

Fortunately for the supercar, it was discovered by classic car restorer Rudi Koniczek who convinced Wellmer to sell it for $2.5 million.

The identity of the new owner is not known but Wellmer demanded that the Gullwing is fully restored to its original condition.

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Nissan announced that it would be collaborating with the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland (EPFL) on a car that could predict its driver’s intentions.

The human driver will continue to be the one that maintains the vehicle’s control. Thus, the car will read the driver’s thoughts in order to prepare itself for the next maneuver. For example, when the driver will prepare to turn right, the car will adopt the speed and position necessary to perform this action.

Professor José del R. Millán, leading the project, said: “The idea is to blend driver and vehicle intelligence together in such a way that eliminates conflicts between them, leading to a safer motoring environment.”

This summer, the scientists at EPFL teamed up with a researcher from Nissan, Lucian Gheorghe, originally from Romania but who has spent the last 14 years of his life in Japan . Lucian joined Nissan’s Mobility Research Center after graduating in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from Kobe University.

Lucian was responsible for researching Driver Assist systems and searching for new methods of adapting brain science programs into automobile development.

“Brain wave analysis has helped me understand driver burden in order to reduce driver stress. During our collaboration with EPFL, I believe we will not only be able to contribute to the scientific community but we will also find engineering solutions that will bring us close to providing easy access to personal mobility for everyone,” he said.

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In the spring of next year, Mercedes will expand its family of models with a younger brother of the current CLS. The long awaited CLC, a four-door coupe, is aimed at young audiences who want quality and comfort of the Stuttgart brand.

“This will be a real Mercedes-Benz,” one executive said

The model will complete the lineup consisting of C-Class sedan, the C-Class Estate and C-Class Coupe.

According to unofficial sources, Mercedes is also planning a compact SUV that will be called GLC.

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The vehicle’s Canadian designers used 3D printing technology to build the car’s body layer by layer.

In the “additive manufacturing process”, ultra thin composites were fused together to form the body work.

A series of electric engines with a conventional single-cylinder aggregate functioning by ethanol can be found inside Urbee. Thanks to this combination, the car can output 8 horsepower that can sprint to 100 km / h.

With these figures, you can drive over 100 miles on the highway with only 1.17 liters of ethanol, while consumption in the city is double.

In addition, the company that developed the concept, Kor EcoLogic, says that solar panels can be mounted on it to recharge batteries.

“This process could revolutionize how we make things. It has certainly changed my way of thinking about manufacturing,” Kor told the BBC.

Estimated price ranges from $10,000 – $50,000 based on whether the Urbee will enter mass production.

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