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LUMMA CLR X 650 M to debut in Geneva

Maria Palma — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:45:15 +0000

Germany based LUMMA Design and russian tuner TOPCAR Moscow are working on a new model based on the BMW X6 M. Dubbed CLR X 650 M, the new LUMMA model takes the level of aggressiveness found in the X6 M to a whole new level. The CLR X 650 M features an aggressive aero kit with new bumpers, aerodynamic side skirts, extended fender flares and a rear diffuser. The usual chrome seen on some of the BMW models is replaced with a black matte paint, including the front-grille. A massive rear spoiler comes to complete the aggressive look. The LUMMA CLR X 650 M sits on a pair of 23-inch wheels that cover the high-performance Brembo brakes. Even though not officially confirmed, the CLR X 650 M is rumored to receive a power upgrade as well, 650 horsepower and 612 lb-ft of torque (830 Nm). The car will be unveiled at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. [Source: Worldcarfans ]

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LUMMA CLR X 650 M to debut in Geneva

Photo Gallery: 2011 BMW 530d in Portugal

Horisly — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:21:18 +0000

BMW diesel engines have always been sort of our favorites here at BMWBLOG and after we posted the 2011 BMW 530d test drive , we realized what a great combination it actually brings: the luxury and sportiness of the new 5, associated with a powerful, competitive but still efficient diesel engine. Available in Europe only, the BMW 530d is equipped with a single turbocharger version of the same 3.0-liter inline-six diesel engine used in the 335d in North America. It is matted to the new ZF eight-speed automatic transmission that comes with steering wheel mounted paddle shifters for the true enthusiasts. The engine outputs 242 horsepower and 540Nm (398 lb-ft) of torque. Top speed is limited at 155 mph. The 2011 BMW 530d was unveiled for the first time at the International Media Launch that took place in Portugal two weeks ago. Shortly after the event, BMW has released a new serious of photos, portraying the car in all its glory.

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Photo Gallery: 2011 BMW 530d in Portugal

Saab Product Plans for 2010 and Beyond â€“ Car News

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:59:58 +0000

By now, youâ€™ve probably heard that, following years of careless stewardship at the hands of a neglectful American foster family, the quirky Saab brand has been adopted by Dutch supercar builder Spyker . But if trouble-prone Saab is to be healthy, its future offerings need to quickly get competitive with some standout products from BMW, Audi, Cadillac, and others. What might future Saabs be like? Well, Spyker has just provided details on the new models it plans to introduce over the next two years, as well as its vision for the brand over the longer term. Keep Reading: Saab Product Plans for 2010 and Beyond – Car News Related posts: Saab Sale to Spyker Finalized – Car News Saab Sale to Supercar Maker Koenigsegg Pending – Car News The Not-so-Small Koenigsegg Group AB Puts Saab Back in Swedish Hands – Car News Continued here: Saab Product Plans for 2010 and Beyond â€“ Car News

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Saab Product Plans for 2010 and Beyond â€“ Car News

Camaro Convertible Spotted Sporting Horrific Color Combo [Spy Photos]

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:15:00 +0000

The quick-to-the-shutter KGP photogs caught the Chevy Camaro Convertible very close to production. A drop-top Camaro could solve some visibility issues but please, for the love of all that’s holy and mulleted, don’t give it this beige-on-silver color combo. Ghastly. Of course maybe this is some sort of new camouflage. Spy Photog #1 : “Was that a Camaro convertible ?” Spy Photog #2 : “Naw, just a Solara I think…” Photo Credit: KGP Photography Originally posted here: Camaro Convertible Spotted Sporting Horrific Color Combo [Spy Photos]

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Camaro Convertible Spotted Sporting Horrific Color Combo [Spy Photos]

Commenter Of The Day: Gourmet Grocery Stores [Commenter Of The Day]

Horisly — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Because I’m a yuppie, I tend to live near gourmet upscale grocery stores. I mean places that make Whole Foods look like a Piggly Wiggly and are always the combination of two names: Billingham & Jeeves, Lord & Nice, Imbred & Haughty. You can’t get ground chuck, you can only get kobe beer-fed beef ground up with goat cheese. Because I’m a yuppie, I sort of like it. Fresh ingredients are great and variety is fun, but lately these stores seem to exist only to serve crazy expensive crap. Like, if the bodega down the street has fresher, tastier vegetables I’m going there and I don’t really care if you call your junk “organic” and was picked by monks in the Alps. We imagine the guy cooking on his Porsche probably shops at one of these places, unless he’s cooking something else as Elhigh believes. So I’m riding behind this Boxster in E. TN. Paused at a light. Roll right up behind him. Poseurboy adjusts his mirrored shades, and then his rearview mirror. Apparently he views my ancient, peeling Japanese pickup with withering disdain, or he’s royally impatient with the interminable 25-second delay in his personal LeMans. Whatever the cause, he guns his engine. Vroom – not a big vroom like a big-boy’s Porsche, but vroom. Light changes. From the arse end of this little dinky car with the engine in the middle end comes the most Gawdawful Freakin Huge Cloud o’ Smoke. It’s like being the bad guy in Spy Hunter. I couldn’t see a thing – not the road, not the curb, and sure as hell not the Boxster. I backed way off the gas and let the cloud pull ahead. Oh yeah. The Porsche is spewing its guts, or maybe lifeblood. It smells like coolant and oil – in fact, it seems to smell a lot like a blown head gasket. It smells like karma. Keep your vroom to yourself, big guy. Lessee here, when did this happen exactly? About an hour ago. Then I stopped for lunch. And while I smiled around my Wendy’s Double and a copy of Ringworld Engineers, I thought to myself, sometimes Porsches cook a lot more than just meat – sometimes they cook money. Smells like Benjis… See the rest here: Commenter Of The Day: Gourmet Grocery Stores [Commenter Of The Day]

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Commenter Of The Day: Gourmet Grocery Stores [Commenter Of The Day]

New Saab 9-3 by 2012

Horisly — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:56:55 +0000

Saab fans should be ecstatic that their favorite brand didn’t just go flatline for eternity. With Spyker taking control of the brand, there’s a whole new future for Saab and we can all just hope they don’t mess things up. Saab Spyker will be launching an all-new 9-3 in 2012 as part of its overall plan to recover. No word yet on the technical details of the new 9-3 but the announcement that a new one will be coming is a great sign of life for the brand. The company will also look into offering a new entry-level 9-1. Other models to be offered in the future will be the 9-5X as an addition to the four-door saloon and estate models. The 9-4X will be squeezed into the lineup in early 2011. Saab Spyker is intent on being “independent, performance-orientated niche car company with an industry-leading environmental strategy” and will compete with the likes of BMW and Audi. Read more: New Saab 9-3 by 2012

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New Saab 9-3 by 2012

Fiat Should Merge Its Brands

Maria Palma — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:22:03 +0000

So Fiat CEO Segio Marchionne has announced that a merger between brands is the most likely way to go for several of its marquees. Reports from a couple of weeks ago had it thatAlfa, Abarth and Maserati might be merged into one brand. Fans of each of the marquees might be pissed off with the idea but the move makes a lot of sense. Let’s take a look at the brands currently under Fiat right now. They’ve got Fiat, Ferrari, Maserati, Abarth, Alfa Romeo, and Lancia in the European front. And since they acquired Chrysler, they also have Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram. Probably the one brand that absolutely needs help is Alfa. Sure, it’s lauded by people (like the boys of Top Gear) to be the petrolhead’s car but on a business standpoint, the brand has been underperforming for the past years. Its got six models based on three platforms that only manage to sell 100,000 units. That’s very very poor especially when it takes millions of dollars to develop one model. But the problem lies deeper than that. You see Alfa doesn’t quite exactly have a role in Fiat’s lineup. Fiat’s got the small car covered. Abarth’s got the fast small cars. Ferrari’s got the fast cars. Maserati has the tamer Ferraris. Lancia has the classy cars. That leaves Alfa to strive for the gaps and those gaps are just plain crap cars. With Chrysler brands set to class with the market segments of the European brands, that leaves Fiat with a business problem. It’s not like they have the monopoly of the market to saturate it with competing brands. Even if they do have to monopoly, they’d probably end up like British Leyland. And we all know what happened to that. So yeah. Merge ‘em, Sergio. View post: Fiat Should Merge Its Brands

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Fiat Should Merge Its Brands

This Has To Be Fake: Hearse Towed During Funeral [LOLCars]

Horisly — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:00:00 +0000

This is purportedly a real image, but it’s just too ridiculous to believe. Come on, a hearse being hoisted onto a flatbesd for illegal parking as the funeral procession emerges from the church? If it’s real, we’ll feel bad. (Hat tip to Jon!) [ Tweetphoto ] View original post here: This Has To Be Fake: Hearse Towed During Funeral [LOLCars]

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This Has To Be Fake: Hearse Towed During Funeral [LOLCars]

Welcome To The Thunder: This Is Your Hump-Day Trans-Am [Racing]

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:30:00 +0000

Wednesdays suck. 1960s American muscle does not suck. Road racing does not suck. YouTube also does not suck. Can you see where we’re going with this? In-car video of a 7500-rpm AMC Javelin and loud noises below. Eat me, Wednesday. My dad is a funny guy. Because he and I both have weird work schedules, I’ll often go a week or two without talking to him over the phone. We communicate a bit more regularly through email, but even then, it’s limited to sporadic bursts of excellence: 500 words on why the much-abused BMW 2002 race car that we share needs more cam. Three paragraphs on the glory of Mark Donohue ’s The Unfair Advantage . Five sentences on how he needs to buy a Vincent Black Shadow and listen to more Richard Thompson while drinking small-batch bourbon. You get the picture. Of all the things my dad geeks out on, the one subject he repeatedly comes back to is the original Trans-Am. (The racing series, not the Pontiac.) The Trans-American Sedan Championship of the 1960s and early 1970s is one of our shared touchstones, the kind of unspoken father-son weirdness that we both understand and never have to explain. All of this is an elongated way of saying that, a few days ago, Dad sent me the clips below, along with a few appropriate comments (”Holy hell, Marlboro was tiny! “). For a number of different reasons, none of which I will bore you with, I absolutely hate Wednesdays. Maybe you do too. And maybe this will help. Highlights: Peter Revson narrating a lap in his AMC Javelin. Someone saying “…the start, which is frequently a short run to disaster here.” At several points, you catch a glimpse of the all-conquering Penske/Sunoco Camaros . The oft-forgotten Dan Gurney/Swede Savage AAR Plymouth ‘Cuda can be seen peeking its nose through the pack on a start. And Mark Donohue does heroic, Captain Nice Mark Donohue things.) Photo/Screencap Credit: Historic Trans-Am , Dave Friedman/DF Photo Services See the original post here: Welcome To The Thunder: This Is Your Hump-Day Trans-Am [Racing]

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Welcome To The Thunder: This Is Your Hump-Day Trans-Am [Racing]

The Daily Show Skewers Toyota With Toyotathon Of Death [Toyota Recall]

Maria Palma — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Since we’ve decided to fast forward from the calm recall stage all the way to the panic in the disco phase of the Toyota mess it’s about time for The Daily Show to weigh in on the madness. Wait until they find out the Woz maybe doesn’t get how cruise control works… [ The Daily Show ] Original post: The Daily Show Skewers Toyota With Toyotathon Of Death [Toyota Recall]

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The Daily Show Skewers Toyota With Toyotathon Of Death [Toyota Recall]