World Concept Cars

Suzuki is adding a pinch of sportiness to its Kizashi mid-size sedan for the 2011 model year. If you're expecting a more powerful engine than the standard 178HP 2.4-liter four-cylinder that's offered across the range, then you'll be disappointed as the 'Sport' grade is mostly about looks.

Offered exclusively on the Kizashi GTS and SLS trim levels, Suzuki's definition of 'Sport' (talk about a word losing its meaning...) translates to custom light weight 18-inch alloy wheels and a 10mm lower ride plus a honeycomb lower grille, chrome accents on the front bumper and doors, discreet side skirts and a boot lid spoiler.

Inside, the Kizasi Sport gets aluminum accents and perforated leather on the steering wheel and, when equipped with black leather interior, contrasting stitching on the leather seats, shifter boot and emergency brake boot.

The new Kizashi Sport is scheduled to go on sale in the United States this August, with pricing to be announced closer to the vehicle's arrival in showrooms.

Source: Carscoop

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The first photos of the new Mercedes SLS GT3 race car have leaked out onto the web ahead of the car's official unveiling in a few weeks time.

The new aerokit makes the Mercedes SLS GT3 look pretty butch…

It does indeed, and that huge rear wing does a lot to balance out the long, long nose of the SLS AMG. The big wing is matched to a monster diffuser, chunky front splitter, aero spats around the nose, deep side sills and a vented rear bumper. A new bonnet and some rather garish red trim complete the exterior makeover.

As for inside the SLS GT3, you won't find much there – the plump leather seats, multimedia system and airbag-equipped steering wheel have all been pulled out. In their place is a seriously hefty roll cage, a solitary carbonfibre race seat, a carbon-trimmed centre console, a tiny little steering wheel and a dash-mounted data display.

Other details are still scant – the SLS GT3 won’t be officially revealed for a few more weeks – but the suspension will be adjustable, the new alloys are shod with slicks and the racer is expected to use a tweaked version of the road cars's naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8, good for over 600bhp. The price tag should be north of £500k too, but then not every race car has gullwing doors for posing in the pitlane.

Source: Carmagazine.co.uk

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The BMW Sequence GT is the brainchild of Seungmo Lim, a graduate student at Pforzheim University in Germany.

Lim explains that the "Electric Gran Turismo Sequence" project started out with two questions: 1) "How important is the appearance of green cars?", and 2) "What is 'Efficient dynamics'?"

"In other words these two questions mean, 'What kind of qualification does a blue or green car have to have in order to get a BMW badge in the future?'"

I've got no idea, so it's good that he came up with an answer: Combining "driving pleasure with blue architecture."

The concept would make use of wheel-mounted motors (optimizing space) while featuring new kidney placement (for motor-cooling and BMW-ness).

With those oddly-placed kidneys and nose prongs, the Sequence sure is interesting to look at. Lim says, "Another important feature of Sequence is a big twisting surface starting from front fender to the shoulder. It gives the car a very characteristic and dramatic appearance."

The designer also has high hopes for the future by making use of Better Place's recharging system, which ideally "allows you to drive into the station where a machine, installed under the ground, changes the battery within one minute. The station then uses solar panels to recharge the batteries without any emissions."

I guess now Hollywood has a car for a Minority Report sequel.

Source: Carscoop

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At a joint press conference held in Washington D.C., BMW and Carbon Motors announced a strategic partnership that will see the German automaker supplying the American law enforcement vehicle manufacturer with diesel engines.

The agreement calls for delivery of BMW's 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder diesel engines complete with cooling and exhaust gas system and 6-speed automatic transmission for the Carbon E7 rear-wheel drive purpose-built police vehicle.

In the U.S. market 335d and X5 35d, the straight-six diesel produces 265-horsepower at 4,200 rpm and 425 lb-ft of peak torque between 1,750 and 2,250 rpm, while returning 23mpg city / 36mpg highway and 19mpg city / 26mpg highway respectively.

Carbon Motors, which was founded in 2003, said it is estimated that the U.S. law enforcement fleet consumes around 1.5 billion gallons of gasoline and emits an estimated 14 million tons of CO2 annually.

The company believes that the BMW-diesel-powered Carbon E7 will cut both figures by up to 40 percent.

"America's largest, and most visible fleets of government-owned vehicles, now in excess of 450,000 units, deserve the most durable, efficient and reliable powertrain available," said William Santana Li, chairman and chief executive officer, Carbon Motors Corporation.

"The strength of BMW as a partner will allow us to provide our women and men in uniform with a diesel engine capable of the performance they desire along with the significant reduction in fuel consumption and emissions that U.S. taxpayers need."

When it enters full production, the Carbon C7 will compete with the new FWD/AWD Ford Taurus Interceptor powered by either naturally aspirated or turbocharged V6s, GM's new RWD Chevy Caprice Police car offered with V8 powertrains and the current Dodge Charger. The police car market in the U.S. comprises about 65,000 vehicles annually.

Source: Carscoop

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CAR is at McLaren HQ in Woking, Berkshire, today to hear the full specification of the new company's new MP4-12C supercar.Scroll to our video player below for live footage broadcast straight from the event at McLaren Automotive. The video will begin at 10.30am GMT on Thursday 18 March 2010 and we'll upload the full video for playback as soon as it's ready.

McLaren F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were on hand to talk about their experiences with the 12C – they drove it hard at Goodwood earlier this month – and you can read their thoughts at the foot of the page. Remembering, of course, that they're paid by Ron Dennis to say nice things about McLarens.

Further details of the McLaren MP4-12C were released today, including some limited performance claims and other information hitherto only speculated about. Highlights include:

• McLaren F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have tested the MP4-12C
• 'When can I have one,' asks Lewis as he exits the car
• 'It's soft on the straights and stiffens up for corners' – Lewis
• MP4-12C will be one of a series of high-performance roadgoing McLarens
• The one-piece carbonfibre tub – weighing just 80kg – is a world-first on a road car
• Price to be below £175,000, on sale early 2011
• Dimensions: 4507mm L, 1908mm W, 1199mm H
• 3.8-litre twin-turbo 'M838T' V8 revs to 8500rpm
• 592bhp @ 7000rpm
• 442lb ft @ 3000rpm
• 80% of peak torque available below 2000rpm
• CO2 emissions 'below 300g/km'
• Dry kerbweight 'below 1300kg' – even with fluids will weigh less than 458 Italia
• Front:rear weight distribution 43:57
• 0-124mph 'in less than 10sec'
• Top speed 'over 200mph', still not defined
• 'MP4-12C delivers the highest horsepower to CO2 ratio of any car on the market today with an internal combustion engine...and that includes petrol and diesel hybrids' – Antony Sheriff, McLaren Automotive MD
• Brakes with forged aluminium hubs save 8kg – weigh less than optional carbon ceramic brakes
• Engine radiators mounted at the rear, as close to the engine as possible, to minimise pipework and fluids within them
• McLaren targeting 4% of the core V8 supercar market, with 1000 sales in first year
• This market for junior supercars topped 28,000 in 2007
• Seamless Shift Gearbox twin-clutch 'box has Normal, Sport, Automatic, Launch Control and Winter modes
• Pre-Cog acts like auto-focus; a light press on the paddle pre-selects the next gear, banging in with a full press

Lewis Hamilton: 'I'm excited to see the new car; Ron took me down and showed me an orange car. I'm a huge fan of it already... I drove it at Goodwood on 2 March. We had an amazing time. We weren't allowed on the track flat-out together, so we couldn't race properly!'

Jenson Button: 'We're some of the lucky few who've driven the car before launch. It's a good experience – it's tricky to drive a road car on a circuit, you normally don't get that feeling of good grip. It's so different to driving on the road. So I had to really remember I wasn't driving a racing car. In a straight line the 12C is very calm – you move into a corner and it has very good grip. It was a really good experience, nice to be involved in a project like this.'

LH: 'They took a part out of the video where I said, "Jenson's going to break it!" We weren't supposed to be driving flat-out straight away...'

JB: 'But she's strong!'

LH: 'It was great fun. I got on the phone to Ron afterwards and said, "When can I get delivery?" but he hasn't come back to me yet.'

JB: 'I normally love three things as a racing driver: power, grip and the look of the car. Those things are done very well on the 12C, but when you talk about a car, you talk about horsepower and torque. It has a lot of that, but it's a light car which is so important. It has a racing car pedigree – it's built under the same roof as our racing cars.'

LH: 'The engine has great power; you don't hear too much turbo – it's very smooth. The gearshift is a lot lighter than the F1 car's. But the click of the paddle and reaction time feels the same. The technology we use under this roof is the same to develop both cars. So many supercars are built around the world, but they're not set up like F1 teams set up their cars. This car handles like a real car should handle; you can take it to the track or drive it on the road in comfort.'

JB: 'We should be able to get used to any car we get into. When driving a car you want to feel a part of it, not just like you're sitting on top of a machine. Visibility is good in the 12C, not that I'm that bothered about this. What's important when you're racing wheel to wheel it's important to know where the edges of the car are.'

LH: 'The ride quality is very comfortable; in a straight line it's quite soft, but it stiffens up at high speed. I'm seriously impressed by how much grip there is through corners.'

JB: 'I'm impressed by how you can balance it on the throttle.'

Ron Dennis: 'These guys are going to have cars. The question is how much they pay for them – and that depends on how many races they win and how we do in the championship! When Lewis started talking about speccing his car, I was surprised it wasn't white with chrome wheels!'

Source: Carmagazine.co.uk

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Paris: In honor of the MX-5's 20th French birthday, Mazda rolled out the MX-5 Black & Matte Edition at the Salon du Cabriolet, Coupé & SUV, an event that I have never heard of before in my entire life.

From the French press release, it sounds like Mazda teamed up with a local designer to throw itself a party; fine by me, but the invitations must have been lost in the mail, because I ain't there.

Starting with a 2.0 liter Roadster Coupe, Paris design house LK (run by Laure Kczekotowska) seems to have taken the black, matte Miata and covered it "with rhinestones, gems, [and] crystals". I don't see no rhinestones, Kenny.

Anyway, the point is this: PARIS. SPECIAL EDITION. MX-5. HAUTE COUTURE. SOMETHING SOMETHING. PARTY. You get the idea.

Source: Carscoop

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