Cars

The Aston Marin Vantage is one of the most elegant looking cars currently produced, although the V12 Vantage (introduced in 2009) is slightly less elegant because of the added hood vents that are required to take away hot air produced by the V12 engine, it still retains the overall sophisticated styling.  Aston Martin has now released a roadster version of the V12 Vantage that looks stunning, minus the hood vents.

Toyota has officially released pictures and details of their all-new 2013 Auris. The Auris is a compact hatchback which will go toe to toe against the Ford Focus, and the Volkswagen Golf  – as well as other vehicles in this segment. The 2013 Toyota Auris will be sold in several markets around the world including Japan and Europe. The 2013 Toyota Auris will be introduced as the Corolla in the Australian market. The vehicle will be making its world premier at the 2012 Paris Motor Show towards end of September.

You may notice that the all-new Auris borrows styling features from newly designed Toyota Prius, as well as the smaller Yaris. The Auris will be available in both hybrid and non-hybrid models as well. This new model has a lower height than the previous model by 2.2 inches, and sits sits lower overall when compared to other C-Segment models.

G-Power, specializing in BMW’s, has turned an already fast 1-Series M Coupe into a 600 horsepower beast. Rather than heavily modify the in-line six 3.0-liter engine, G-Power technicians decided to “borrow” the 4.0-liter V8 engine from the E92 M3 Coupe and decided to call it the G1 V8 HURRICANE RS.

G-Power also installed the entire powertrain from the M3 which includes the DCT double-clutch transmission gearbox and stainless steel exhaust system. The borrowed V8 engine produces 414 horsepower but in order to create the ultimate driving machine, technicians bolted on a customized ASA supercharger system to increase power. In order to squeeze out every little drop of power and make the vehicle as efficient as possible, G-Power performed computer aided simulations to analyze the conditions of the air-ducting engine parts.

Maserati has taken the wraps off the all-new 2014 Quattroporte sports sedan ahead of its official debut at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show in January 2013.

Maserati hasn’t provided any specifications on the drivetrain or any other relevant information, all we get is a handful of pictures and some video footage.  We know is the car will be powered by a V8 engine and is larger than the car it replaces yet lighter.

Those of you waiting for the all-new BMW 3-Series Coupe will be disappointed; there will be no more 3-Series coupes.  Don’t go jumping off buildings, the 3-Series coupe is still alive but now it’ll be called the 4-Series and BMW has just released pictures of it ahead of its official debut at the 2013 Detroit Motor Show and they’re calling it the 4-Series Concept.

BMW is calling the car a concept (for now) but the car is pretty much a production-ready model; we do expect some changes on the road-going version when released.  The rear bumper on the production model will be more conventional and the interior will not come with the over-the-top leather treatment seen on the concept car.

It didn’t take long for Mercedes to release images of the face-lifted 2014 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe and Convertible, after they showed us the E-Class Sedan/Wagon last month.  All of these refreshed 2014 E-Class cars will be officially unveiled at the 2013 Detroit Motor Show.

Like the 4-door E-Class, the coupe and convertible also feature two headlights instead of the 4-lights that have been around for almost two decades, the headlights feature bars of LED daytime running lights that give the headlights a 4-light look.  Unlike the sedan, however, the coupe and convertible keep the pontoon rear fenders (the bulge over the rear wheels).

South Korean automaker, Kia, has given its European customers a sneak peak of the new GT trim which will be available on the Kia pro_cee’d GT and cee’d GT. The new Kia vehicles are scheduled to make their world premiere at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show in March. The differences between the GT and regular models are not yet known but we do know that the cars will be equipped with a turbocharged 1.6-liter GDI petrol engine which will product 201bhp and 195 lb-ft of peak torque. Those are some pretty decent numbers for a 1.6-liter motor.

The Kia pro_cee’d GT and cee’d GT will only be available in a six-speed manual gearbox and will be capable of performing the 0-100km/h in 7.9 seconds. Not the fastest time out there for a vehicle of this size but considering it’s a relatively small motor, I can forgive it.