Archive for the ‘Worldwide News’ Category

Marussia – the Russian supercar

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

Russians move one step forward and start making supercars, although a 240 HP model isn’t really a supercar, but let’s bear up their initiative.

marussia-supercar

This supercar was born by Nikkolai Formenko, television star, actor and Russian pilot in the FIA N-GT competition. Nikkolai said that he concentrated all the racing experience he had in realizing this hybrid project.

marussia-supercar-2

Under the hood you’ll find a 3.5 liter engine which develops only 240 HP. But, the most interesting aspect at Marussia is its design, which is without a doubt very spectacular. Also, this model has been equipped with many gadgets, including a Yota 4G network adapter with a transfer rate of 10 Mbps, bluetooth, GPS, a 320 GB hard-disk and many many LCDs.

Russians say that 35% of this model will be built with components made in Russian and it will probably cost somewhere around 100.000$.

Zenvo ST1

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

The Danish guys haven’t really shined in the auto industry, but they now proved what they are capable of. I present you Zenvo ST1, a supercar that would even make Shakespeare to exclaim: “Something is rotten in Denmark”.

zenvo-st1

This project was started in 2004 by the ones from Zenvo Automotive, a group of some ambitious engineers, the first exemplars will hopefully appear in 2009. These first images with this supercar look nice, it seems like Zenvo ST1 is something between Audi R8 and Nissan GT-R, spiced with sharp details from Lamborghini Reventon. The real interesting part is located under the hood, where hides a biturbo V8 of 7 liters which develops 1104 HP.

zenvo-st2-2

This beast only needs 3,2 seconds to reach 100 km/h, and has a maximum speed of 375 km/h. Impressive, I can say.

[Source: Zenvo Automotive]

SSC Ultimate Aero – 1287 HP

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Everybody in the auto industry will face the economic crisis in 2009 as well, but SSC Ultimate Aero wants to exceed the speed records and doesn’t regard the economic crisis as a problem. This time, the target is to achieve a maximum speed of 432 km/h. I’m just wondering, are the 1287 HP enough for such a record? I think they are!

ssc-ultimate-aero-2

In the latest TOP 10 of the fastest cars in the world, SSC Ultimate Aero occupies the first position with 413 km/h, which seems not to be enough for the ones from SSC, they wanting to overcome 420 km/h.

ssc-ultimate-aero

For 2009, the plans are big, as the engine power is, which will increase from 1200 HP to 1287 HP. All these upgrades were possible by adopting a new aluminum engine block for the V8 biturbo propeller, as well as an optimized cooling system. The exterior has been modified in aerodynamic terms, the quantity of carbon fiber that was used increased significantly.

KTM X-Bow – winter package

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Although the KTM X-Bow model is half motorcycle, winter won’t be an enemy for it because the Austrian manufacturer comes with an interesting package.

ktm-x-bow-winter

KTM X-Box somehow comes as a big hit for the very known snowmobiles. Like other models dedicated to the snow, it provides strong sensations in the open air, the driver not being isolated from the outside by glass nor metal. It is cool, amazingly fast and weights just a little.

ktm-x-bow-winter-4

The winter preparation relies on some Pirelli Sottozero tires, and for the really slippery situations, chains are the solution. But, there still remains a problem. How are we going to deal with the cold weather? We shouldn’t forget that the ones from KTM are known more for the motorcycles they make, so making costumes that will keep you warm during the ride was very easy. The helmet also has a heating system and comes from Schubert, a specialist in this field. The equipment costs 950 euros.

BMW Z4 – first official pictures

Sunday, December 14th, 2008

It seems that the retractable hard-top solution which can be seen on both Mercedes SLK generations, is more convenient in terms of marketing. So, the second generation of BMW Z4 said bye bye to the soft-top, adopting the rigid retractable roof. We must mention that BMW Z4 will be the first model that will benefit of the new “sDrive” title.

bmw-z4-001

There will be three motorizations available:

  • BMW Z4 sDrive35i: this model will have 3.0 liter twin-turbo engine, developing 306 HP and 400 Nm. It reaches the speed of 100 km/h in 5.2 seconds.
  • BMW Z4 sDrive30i: 3.0 liters, 258 HP and 210 Nm.
  • BMW Z4 sDrive23i: this will be the base motorization, a V6 of 2.5 liters which develops 204 HP and 250 Nm.

All the models will be compatible with the Euro5 norms.

(more…)

Barack Obama sells his car for 100.000$

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

obama-chrysler-300c.jpgDid you know that Barack Obama had a very powerful Chrysler 300C with HEMI V8 motorization? Which is now available for sale, the starting price being 100,000$ (5 times more than a new model).

If you are that kind of a fanatic Barack Obama fan, and you also have good money to spend, then you might be interested in this offer. Although this car should approximately cost 16,000$, the touch of Obama added some 84,000$ more. I think it pays to be president!