Cars

There was an automotive saying back in the muscle car glory days during the sixties and seventies: “What wins at the drag strip on Sunday, sells in the showroom on Monday”. And- at least with the younger car buyers- it seemed there was some truth to this adage, as demonstrated by ever increasing muscle car sales at the dealerships. What events could have caught the imagination of an entire car buying generation? In my opinion, Jungle Jim Liberman was an influential drag racer of his time, and one that brought the cool factor of muscle cars to the masses.

The Infiniti G37 is one of my favorite luxury sports sedans and the fact that it is relatively affordable makes it that much more likable. The very same vehicle is known as the Nissan Skyline in Japan and Wald International, a Takatsuki-based tuning company, has released a Sports Line Black Bison Edition package for the car.

The upgrade package for the luxury sedan is purely cosmetic and perfect for those who are satisfied with the generous 328 horsepower and 269 ft-lb of torque. The Sports Line Black Bison Edition package includes a redesigned bumper which features LED lights the corners, new side rocker panels, and a more aggressive rear bumper along with a diffuser. The package blacks out the front grille, Infiniti logos, as well as blacked out Wald logos. Wald has also incorporated a double edged boot lid spoiler on the trunk.

South Korean automakers, Kia and Hyundai, have been extremely busy these last few years with introducing fantastic cars to the market.  And they have done it once again by releasing official photographs of its brand new flagship sedan, the KH or K9, which will be launched in South Korea summer of 2012.

Initially, the sedan was referred to as the ‘KH’ but Kia has now confirmed that it will be named ‘K9’ in South Korean market. No word on the exact release date for other markets or the official export name. With that being said, Kia is asking their facebook fans for help in naming the sedan.

Mercedes-Benz had several vehicles to show off at the 2012 Beijing Auto Show and one of them is the Viano Vision Diamond offering luxurious appointments for business travelers or casual city driving with all the comforts one would ever want or need. This chauffeur vehicle is hard to miss with its two tone paint job, chrome, and gold all over the van.  Even the five-spoke wheels have the black and white theme.

The Viano Vision Diamond is handsome on the outside but we all know it’s what’s on the inside that counts. And Mercedes-Benz makes it count. For starters, passengers in the rear can play around with an innovative multimedia system which allows passengers to choose between a business setting or a more comforting ambiance for a more relaxing feel.

The highly collectible and extremely limited production Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato is one of the most beautiful classic sports cars in the world, if you really want one; it’s going to cost you a 7-figure sum because only 25 examples were built.  The car was a collaboration between Aston Martin and Zagato and initially 19 cars were built in 1963 with 4 more built in 1991 and a couple more in the year 2000.  The most recent auction for the DB4 Zagato ended up costing the owner $1.9 million.

Mercedes-Benz has finally revealed the new ‘CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake’ after an on-line teaser video showing minor details of the vehicle. Like its sedan counterpart, the CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake features a 5.5-liter V8 bi-turbo engine which produces 518 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque while achieving the 0-100km/h in 4.4 seconds.

If this amount of power is insufficient, Mercedes also offers a performance package available on the ‘Edition 1’ model helping boost power to 550 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque which helps increase the 0-100km/h dash by 0.1 seconds to 4.3 seconds. Both variants have an electronically limited top speed of 250km/h (155mph).

A Kahn Design has released a tuning package for the sporty Range Rover Evoque called the Dark Tungsten RS250 Evoque, not related to the Dark Knight.  The tune consists of an exterior styling package and interior upgrades that feature lots of leather and Alcantara.

The exterior upgrades include a new front bumper that’s a lot cleaner than the stock bumper with two large air-inlets and mesh grill inserts in the upper and lower parts of the hood and bumper.  The front bumper comes with a lower