AUTO SPORT CARS 2012

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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Shanghai Motor Show-New Cars Show Off

With the Shanghai Motor Show now open we have plenty of new cars to talk about. None is more striking than Stile Bertone's Mantide released this morning. It's based off a Corvette ZR1 chassis and is one of the most spectacular designs released this year.Geely is also at the show with their GT Concept.

On the four-door front, BMW released the restyled 760Li at Shanghai and AMG brought along the S 65 AMG and S 63 AMG performance variants of the S-Class. Surprisingly three more executive sedans were announced: Jaguar's XJ, the Rolls-Royce Ghost and Aston Martin's Rapide. We should also mention the Opel Insignia VXR, Opel Insignia OPC and the FPV F6 E Concept.

Both SMS and Novitec have some exciting news. TuLesto is name of Novitec's new supercar which brings the F430 up to 770 bhp. SMS with Steve Saleen have designed one of the first kits for the 2010 Mustang called the SMS Mustang 460.

On the track, Rocketsports Racing will field the XKR GT2 in ALMS and Volkwagen will debut a variant of their GT4 Scirocco at the ADAC Nurburgring 24 Hours. RM Auctions also announced that a Ferrari 330 P4, better known as the 350 Can-Am, will be sold at their upcoming Leggenda E Passione auction

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2011 Porsche 911 Carrera: Next Generation Model Spied

Not that Porsche really needs to camouflage its next generation 911 as even non-Porschephiles are aware of the fact that every 911 stylistically resembles the previous, sometimes even an earlier model. However, it would be unfair to support that nothing has changed on the new 911 that is internally called the 998. Scheduled to arrive in late 2011, Porsche's new bread-and-butter model will wear the 'same-old' 911 suit refreshed with styling cues from the new Panamera sport sedan, mainly in what concerns the front-end design.

Other than that, these latest spy shots of an early prototype model show that the new 911 sports a lower roofline and a visibly wider rear track, while it also appears that the car has slightly grown in length. The heavily camouflaged rear-end that carefully hides the pop-up wing spoiler leaves a lot to the imagination.

What is clearly visible is the discreet roof spoiler mounted above the rear window that belongs to an extensive aero package that is said to significantly improve the 911's aerodynamics on the move.

We don't know all the details, but it is rumored that the package will also include an active front lip spoiler, variable front air intake(s) while some suggest that Porsche will go even as far as replacing the door mirrors with video cameras. As for the side air-vents seen in the prototype model, we're not quite sure of what to make of them as there is a strong possibility that they are fake.

Despite the fact that Porsche recently updated the current 911's six-cylinder boxer engines in the vehicle's latest facelift in 2008, expect to see some improvements in terms of performance as well as in fuel consumption and emissions. That said, the naturally-aspirated flat-six in the basic Carrera and Carrera S models could produce around 360 and 400 horsepower respectively.

Depending on the version, power will channeled to the rear-wheels or to all four wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox or the optional seven-speed double clutch PDK gearbox which may receive some minor tweaks by then.

The first 911 models to hit the market will be the Carrera and Carrera S coupes in late 2011 followed shortly after by the convertible and targa models, and later on, the Turbo, GT2 and GT3 variants.

2010 Mazda3 in the U.S.

The new 2010 Mazda3 has only been made available in the U.S. market since March 2009, but the subcompact model has already received its first recall. Overall, Mazda will be calling back to its dealerships 25,400 sedans and hatchback models because of a problem concerning the starter motor. More specifically, the company found that the clearance between the engine harness and the housing of starter motor may be inadequate as vibration during operation may cause a short-circuit between certain harness wires and the starter housing.

If this happens the fuse may blow out causing the engine to stall and not restart again. The Japanese firm's dealers will have the engine harness inspected and add a protector clip on the affected section of the harness while if deemed necessary, the harness will be repaired.

New Vauxhall Insignia ecoFLEX with 160HP and 54.7mpg UK

GM's British arm, Vauxhall, has introduced a new eco-friendly version of the Insignia to the UK market. The Insignia ecoFLEX is powered by a 2.0-liter CDTi diesel engine that produces 160HP and 350Nm from 1750-2500 rpm, with overboost to 380Nm. This is the same engine used in the standard 2.0 CDTi model, however, thanks to a series of fuel-saving measures that include improved aerodynamics and the use of low resistant tires, the ecoFLEX achieves a combined fuel economy figure of 54.7mpg UK (45.6mpg US or 5.2lt/100km), or 10 percent improvement over the 2.0 CDTi.

Preview:Bertone Mantide based on Corvette

Don't you just love the media's double standards? If its Chinese, it's junk, if its Western European or American it's a masterpiece. Excuse me, but the first thing that came to mind upon seeing Jason Castriota's Corvette ZR1-based Bertone Mantide Concept was 'hey, this thing looks like it came straight out of the design studio of some random and gawkily named Chinese automaker'. Sure it captures your attention as any concept sportscar would do, but this ain't no Italian beauty... Those that disagree with us may -and should- leave their thoughts in the comment section below.

Bertone Mantide Concept - CarscoopEven though we may not find its design alluring -at least in the classic Italian sense, compared to the Corvette ZR1 donor car, drag has been reduced by 25% to Cd 0.298 while there's also a 30% improvement in down force.

Bertone claims that the Mantide also promises greater performance than the ZR1, due to significant weight savings, achieved through the extensive use of carbon fibre for all body panels, interior trim, seats and even the wheels. The result is that the overall vehicle weight has been reduced by 100 kilos or 220 pounds over the ZR1.

Equipped with the Corvette ZR1's 640Hp supercharged V8, the Mantide sprints from 0 to 62mph (100km/h) in 3.2 seconds and has a top speed of 351km/h (217mph).

The Mantide made its global debut at the Shanghai Auto Show.