Artega GT

Up-start automaker Artega has unveiled its Artega GT. Designed by Henrik Fisker — a former Aston Martin designer — the sports car uses a rear-engine configuration and measures in at 157 inches long and 74 inches wide. The Artega GT is powered by a VW-sourced 3.6L V6 mated to a DSG transmission.

Power output has not been released for the Artega GT, although the automaker claims the car can accelerate from 0-60 in under five seconds on its way to a top speed north of 155 mph.

The Artega GT is slated for European production with an estimated price tag of €70,000।

Fioravanti Celebrates its 20th Anniversary With the Hidra

Last year, Fioravanti has presented the Thalia Concept at last year’s edition of the Geneva Motor Show। It was basically a five-door coupe that aimed to propose a new way to store alternative sources of energy. For 2008, the year in which Fioravanti completes 20 years of activities, Geneva will witness the appearance of the Hidra Concept, basically a five-door coupe that aims to propose a new way to store alternative sources of energy. We know that “déjà vu” is a French expression, but it will suit the Italian design studio just fine. Apart from the different tops, Thalia and Hidra look exactly the same. Maybe this is because the official press release is not in Fioravanti’s site so far (anyone willing to get more information could solve the problem with Thalia’ pictures and information).

Since we have mentioned info (technical specs, engines etc.), we are sorry to say there is none besides what VirtualCar.it and cars-space have brought us: the car will present revolutionary solutions for glass surfaces and will be an MPC (Multi Purpose Coupe)। More information on the vehicle will only be released at the Geneva Motor Show.

KTM to present production ready version of X-Bow at Geneva

We don’t have stats that are different from the old ones on this yet, but KTM will shoot off its X-Bow at the Geneva Motor Show, for the first time in production form. Yeah, months after all the teasers and concept drives, the real thing is about to hit the public like a bulls eye.

KTM will be producing the X-Bow at its Austrian factory in Graz where X-Bow will be built alongside KTM’s All-Terrain-Vehicles (ATVs) or Quads. Some changes have taken place for the street vehicle where carbon-fibre body panels play a starring role, limited slip differential features for take-off purposes, removable steering wheel – those who get in have to get out somehow – and a Dallara-tuned racing chassis. In fact, the car to be shown will be a limited Dallara edition which is one of only 100 being manufactured. Dallara of course, makes racing cars for leagues such as IRL, GP2 and Formula 3.

Unless things have dramatically changed, the X-Bow should still be running a 2.0-litre, 4 cylinder TFSI Audi engine with 177kW/ 237 bhp on tap, good for a 0 – 100km/h time of 3.9 seconds. And it sits two. What more do you want?

Press Release

The car being shown at Geneva features a number of modifications to the KTM X-Bow previously shown in concept form. The car will be a completely black, fully carbon-equipped X-Bow Dallara edition – one of just 100 being made – and features a long list of extras, including carbon-fibre body panels, a limited slip differential, a removable steering wheel and a racing chassis tuned by Italian sports car specialists Dallara. A plaque with a unique serial number and special graphics mark out the limited-run Dallara X-Bow cars, which are sure to become coveted collectors’ items.

The debut of the production-ready KTM X-Bow coincides with the start of full series production of the car at a new four-wheel KTM factory in Graz, Austria. This facility has been specially created to handle the production of the X-Bow and the company’s new four-wheel off-road All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs).

KTM would welcome you to join its Press Conference on 4 March at 17:30hrs, when you can hear more about the X-Bow Dallara edition and KTM’s future plans.

KTM will be at Stand 2050, which is in Hall 2.
Source: KTM


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Bolwell Nagari Revival First Photos Released

Just last week Australian kit car maker, Bolwell, announced their triumphant return in 2008 with an all-new 2008 Nagari sports car revival by presenting a preliminary design sketch. And now, after three years of design and development work, Bolwell has released first images of the Nagari beginning its final assembly.

The Nagari is intended as an everyday car capable of carrying a set of golf clubs. With a mid-engine layout, carbon fibre composite monocoque body, powered by a quad-cam Toyota 3.5-liter supercharged V6, the Nagari accelerates from 0 – 100 km/h in a blistering 4 seconds. Including design elements reminiscent of the original Nagari from the early 1970's, the latest incarnation includes a unique, custom-designed windscreen and compound-curvature and fully opening door windows.

The Nagari makes its world debut at the Melbourne Motor show is on February 29.

Source: Bolwell

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Six-Wheeled Stretch Hummer

With enough room inside for a mechanic to work on a Fiat 500, this stretched six-wheel Hummer is as big as my old college dorm room. Someone likely irritated by this monster's inability to conform to parking lot etiquette clicked these photos in Moscow and sent them to English Russia.

An apparent hatch at the top, the owner can easily escape the ridicule he so rightly deserves. Seems he also left the license plates off the truck, so we can't track him down and throw things at him.

Granted, this is not the worst abomination we've seen in Russia. The Touareg/Cayenne cross still makes a little bit of vomit come up into my mouth. That glow-in-the-dark Toyota MR-2 is pretty nasty, too.

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PGO P22 Concept Car

Prototype of the future

PGO Automobiles is a young manufacturer still working on building up its brand name. The PGO Automobiles P22 concept car is the result of close collaboration between the company's Design and Research and Development divisions.

The teams from each of these departments came together to design it with a simple idea in mind: to develop the awareness of the make by creating a vehicle with an exclusive identity. The teams emphasized the internal flows and aerodynamics of the car. This stylistic research gives us an image of what the manufacturer's future models might look like.

The bodywork has been entirely modeled and sculpted by hand, making this concept car a model that has been conceived of and produced by man, thus respecting a certain tradition of French craftsmanship and know-how.

The overall volume is enhanced by the generous curves where nothing is superfluous. The curves are well structured and the construction lines emphasized, giving the car an appearance that underlines its racy and sporting character.

The purity of the contours is strengthened by the integration of everything that interferes with the volume of the car (exhaust pipe, rear-view mirrors, door handles, etc.). Everything has been designed to make the concept car as smooth and aerodynamic as possible.

The front mouth is a harmonious blend of the "neo-retro" appearance of classical models and the shapes of tomorrow. The front headlight blocks are fitted with a triangle which for each block includes the indicators and an air inlet for brake cooling.

The prominence of the fenders is underlined by the trim which comes from the mouth along the wings, providing an original look and a better distribution of volume.

The bodyline which drops down towards the back is typical of English roadsters and provides the vehicle with a dynamic and sporty look. The height of the flank by the rear tyres underscores the vehicle's forward dynamism.

This coupe, with its separate assembly items, has been designed as a response to another of the model's varieties: the convertible.

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Geneva preview: PGO Cevennes Turbo-CNG

Considering that the number of natural gas powered vehicles in Switzerland more than doubled last year, PGO determined that the Geneva Auto Show would be an excellent location to debut their newest offering.

Looking vaguely like an early Porsche cabriolet, the PGO Cévennes Turbo-CNG is equipped with a 1.6L turbo engine that is good for 150hp. Only emitting 118 grams of CO2 per kilometer, the car can travel up to 450km on a single tank and get from 0 to 100km in 6.5 seconds. A joint effort between PGO Automobiles of France and BRA GmbH in Germany, the car will go into production soon and cost an equivalent of 44,000 euros.

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n2a SLR Will Use Cadillac XLR Platform

All of the cars planned or built by n2a Motors, such as the 789, use the base of the Chevrolet Corvette C6, right? Not exactly, as Gene Langmesser, the president of Kanter Concepts and also in charge of n2a Motors, has told World Car Fans. There will be an n2a car with have Cadillac genes, more specifically the ones found on the XLR. The name of the new vehicle (not related to Mercedes-Benz) has so far been defined as the SLR, as you can exclusively see here.

As a matter of fact, both the Cadillac XLR and the Corvette C6 use the same platform, called Y-body. The major difference between the two cars relate to the chosen engines (XLR uses the 4.6-liter Northstar V8 and the supercharged 4.4L Northstar V8, for the V-Series, while Corvette is served by the 6.2-liter LS3 V8, the 7-liter LS7 V8 and the amazing supercharged 6.2-liter LS9, from the Corvette ZR1) and suspension tuning.

Since the XLR intends to reach customers that are more interested in refinement than in performance, the n2a SLR will also present classic lines and feature all the luxury and comfort equipments that are fitted to the Cadillac roadster, maybe even adding some more to it.

“We have many plans and ideas for different vehicles. Our plan was to release a new vehicle every 6 months”, said Langmesser. “We currently have the capabilities to do so, although we lack in the capital investment, so we are currently releasing new vehicles at the rate of 1 every 13 to 14 months. I am seeking investors to keep our goals alive.”

Besides the SLR, the next n2a car to be presented to the public is the Stinger, clearly inspired on the Corvette Stingray. “We currently have a scale model of the Stinger. It has been developed in clay, finalized December 2007 and its data has been laser scanned and is in 3D surface development. The Stinger is planned on a summer debut with production prior to yearend”, added Langmesser. Let’s hope n2a manages to get the financial support it needs to speed up its plans.






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Phoenix GT/Uirapuru, the 800 hp Brazilian Sports Car

Uirapuru is the name of a very rare Amazonian songbird and its song is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the world. Brazilian native legends state that other songbirds stop singing to listen to the flute-like song of the Uirapuru. This was also the name of a very rare Brazilian sports car (only 76 units until the end of production, in 1967), said to have inspired the Jensen Interceptor’s design, what could be true, since the Uirapuru, also known as Brasinca 4200 GT, was presented in 1964 and the Jensen, only in 1966. About 41 years after it disappeared, the Uirapuru intends to get back to life with modern features and an amazing Judd V10 engine that pumps out up to 800 hp, if not restricted. Even better: it also intends to make an international career.

The first Uirapuru has been created by Rigoberto Soler, but the one that will probably be sold in the next few years is a project of André Soler (incredibly, not related to the original sports car father). When he was a designer student, he decided to propose to establish a link from the college to the work market. The result was the Phoenix GT/Uirapuru and a partnership with GT Racecars, a company that is responsible for the engineering project of the new vehicle.

The car has not reached the prototype stage so far. “We have proposed it to United Arab Emirate investors and negotiations took a whole year, but they ended up with no results because of some divergences. The investors wanted to take the entire project to their country and to change it according to Arab tastes, but we did not agree with that. We have offered to have part of the production and of the project here, but they also did not accept. We currently do not have enough funds to speed the prototype production, so it will take more than we wanted”, said André Soler to World Car Fans. This is the same problem many nice cars are facing, such as the n2a SLRand the new Interlagos.

When it is built, the prototype will be 3,93 m long, 1,90 m wide and 1,17 m high, with a wheelbase of 2,73 m. Alloy wheels will be 18-inch wide, and will use 255/40 ZR18 in the front and 285/40 ZR18 in the rear. With reinforced carbon fiber body and tubular space frame chassis, the car will have conventional doors, independent suspension in all four wheels (double wishbone) and rear wheel drive. Besides the Judd GV5 Sports Racing Engine, that generates over 600 hp when running until 7,800 rpm and more that 800 hp when running at up to 10,000 rpm, the Uirapuru may also have a GM 3.6-liter V6 Alloytec or a V8 engine that is yet to be defined, but should push around 400 hp. Transmition may either be a six-speed manual or a four-speed automatic. In fact, they may be whatever investor and André Soler choose it to be. As long as the car reaches the streets...






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