Click above for a high-res gallery of the K.07 Spyder

When the K.O7 Spyder broke cover in Geneva we were struck by its bold design (it was penned by the guy who gave us the Enzo and the Quattroporte), but seriously doubted that the track star/supercar would ever see production. Well, a limited run of 99 K.O7s will go on sale on November 1st for the princely sum of 19,500,000 Yen. Yep, that's near-as-makes-no-difference $200,000 -- an awful lot of money for very little car.

And when you consider that it's essentially a modern remake of the fenderless Lotus 340R, which itself seemed expensive back in 2000 at $70,000, you've got to wonder how many more orders Okuyama-san will be taking beyond the 24 cars pre-ordered by Tag-Heuer, who've had a hand in the project since its inception just a year ago. You may remember that the Lotus 340R never reached its performance target of 340 bhp/ton, largely because it was powered by Rover's asthmatic K-series engine. This is why three-hundred and forty 340Rs were built -- the number had to stand for something.

Similar doubts surround the final performance figures for the 750-kg (1,653-pound) K.O7. Okuyama Design say that the good ol' Toyota 2.0-liter found in the Elise and Exige will be good for "200-240bhp", but we don't see a supercharger, nor room for one. However fast it turns out to be, it's a fine looking machine and is bound to remain exclusive.

Check out the gallery of images taken at yesterday's launch deep beneath Tokyo's streets. Note there was an K.O8 electric EV in attendance, sans batteries or electric motor, but since it took Ken just a year to get the 7 from drawing board to production, who knows... we may be back in that garage again in a year's time, reporting for AutoblogGreen.

Gallery: K07 Live from Japan

Gallery: K.O. 7 and K.O. 8

Ken Okuyama 7 going in to production originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Steve Sutcliffe was wrapping up Autocar's annual 0-100-0 test when a well spoken Japanese gentleman wandered over and started checking out the cars. Now what would you do if you had a car park full of supercars, a private track rented for the day and a Formula 1 driver hove in to view?

Give him the keys then grab a video camera? Evidently Steve thinks the same way. Rather than let Taku embarrass Steve's 0-100-0 times "because he's small and lighter" (yes Steve, we're sure that's the only reason he'd be quicker...) Autocar let him off the leash on the full track. Click through to see what Taku, who drives a classic Mini Cooper in the UK and a Honda Beat when in Japan, got up to in his first few minutes in a real supercar -- and why he got red flagged all too early.

Taku, who lost his F1 drive when Super Aguri folded earlier this year, has an official test with Scuderia Toro Rosso on September 18th. On the basis of this video alone, it's a fair bet that Red Bull will finally have a popular spokesperson for the Japanese market next year.

Takuma Sato gatecrashes Autocar's party originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Japan's Subarus get Stereoscopic Vision

Japan's Subarus get Stereoscopic Vision originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The half-mile-long sign you see above broke the Guiness World Record for, err, writing signs with cars by a cool 800, but more importantly Colin's fans raised over $80,000 for the McRae family's chosen charities.

Gallery: Colin McRae's tribute convoy

Continue reading Colin McRae tribute convoy reaches 30-miles long

Colin McRae tribute convoy reaches 30-miles long originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: Lexus LF-A Racecar - Exterior and Interior

Gallery: Lexus LF-A Racecar at the Nurburgring

Rumormill: Lexus LF-A... Stillborn? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The picture at right was taken a just a day after the rally legend was killed in a tragic helicopter crash near his home in Lanarkshire. Without prompting, rally fans from across the UK drove to Scotland to hold a memorial in the McRaes' hometown, which quickly filled up with Subarus, most of them WR blue.

One year on, they've gotten organized. Next Saturday, August 30, Colin's dad, Jimmy, will drive his son's famous 555 Impreza out of Lanark and head for Prodrive's factory in Banbury, southern England. By the time he reaches Birmingham he will have 700 Subarus in his mirrors forming an all-wheel-drive parade that's expected to stretch over 10 miles. Then, on Sunday the 31st, another 600 scoobies are set to join the tailback as it heads to Prodrive's test track in Warwickshire. Yep, that's 1,300 cars in a 20 -plus-mile snake, powered by 5,200 horizontally opposed cylinders.

Although official entry to the event is now closed, organizers expect even more Subarus to show up on the day. Details of the route can be found at http://www.mcrae-gathering.co.uk/

20-mile-long convoy of Subarus to celebrate life of Colin McRae originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Just under a year since the concept was announced, two brand new 2009 Formula Nippon chassis, designed and built by California's Swift Engineering, have gone through shakedown trials at Fuji Speedway. Autoblog spoke to Team Toyota TOM'S Andre Lotterer, one of the first two F'pon pilots to take the radically designed machine out for a spin, to see what he thought of the exceptionally wide single seater.

First off, they seem to be pretty well put together. In an unusual turn of events for a brand new car, nothing broke or fell off during the its first outing in anger. Equally unusual, the new design is almost as quick as the Lola chassis it replaces, and with a few adjustments is destined to be even quicker. That's saying something: Andre has managed to lap Fuji in 1 minute 23 seconds in the 2008 Formula Nippon car, less than 5 seconds off Lewis Hamilton's record of 1:18.7

Although the chassis currently lacks mechanical grip, pitching the car in to crowd pleasing slides in slow corners, Andre reckons that the gigantic 6' 4" wide front wing and sculpted sidepods are generating plenty of downforce, keeping the car planted through higher-speed bends. Unfortunately, those advanced aerodynamics won't be able to prevent incidents such as F1 refugee Yuji Ide's aerobatics at Suzuka earlier this year, and super rookie Kohei Hirate's wince inducing flight into the barriers at Motegi a few weeks ago, but the Swift monocoque is even stronger than the 2008 Lola tub that saved those drivers from serious injury.

American-made Formula Nippon car debuts at Fuji originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Takuma Sato's fans had pretty much given up on seeing their idol on track this past weekend at the British Grand Prix. Many of them had bought plane and/or GP tickets well in advance, only to be disappointed when Super Aguri followed Minardi, and Arrows in to the annals of Formula 1 history just two months ago.

Takuma Sato back on Track originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: Subaru Exiga Impressions

Gallery: 2008 Subaru Exiga

Continue reading Subaru Exiga: Up close and personal

Subaru Exiga: Up close and personal originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hundreds of European GT-R buyers, who have put down large down payments on cars that they won't see until next spring at the earliest, have received a small consolation gift from Nissan: a tape measure.

The highly cool GT-R-embossed little box is to be used to measure their heads, so Nissan will know what sized helmets to prepare for them when they show up for their free lessons in how to extract the best from their new steeds at Silverstone or (where else?) the Nürburgring.

That's one good reason to buy from Nissan, rather than from the numerous grey importers of surprisingly cheap second-hand R35s that are already hitting Japanese websites. Thanks for the tip (and pic) Philippe!

[Source: Autocar]

Free tape measure, 'Ring tuition for European GT-R buyers originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Dad, I've totalled the (insert name of first car here)." Chances are that even if you haven't had to use that phrase, you know someone who has. But in an unusual twist, Anthony Hamilton may be making the sheepish call to his son this morning.

Lewis Hamilton's dad has put someone's Carrera GT through a hedge just a couple of hundred meters from the family home in the village of Tewin, just north of London. He's not saying who the Porsche belongs to, but it appears to have German license plates, which unfortunately makes it unlikely that the car belongs to new Swiss immigrant Lewis. That would have made the story so much sweeter.

Follow the jump to The Daily Mail's version of events, but we take the tabloid's assertation that Mr. Hamilton "somehow lost control on a straight road," with a pinch of salt. The road is a sweeping right hander and was greasy at the time of the accident. Given the proximity to the Hamilton home and the GT's reputation for snap over steer, it's pretty easy to imagine what happened. Thanks for the tip Robert!

[Source: The Daily Mail]

Hamilton Senior takes a Carrera GT for a spin originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Marketing folks at Rover used to boast that the first car most people of the world ever saw was a Land Rover. That's a pretty spurious claim, but anyone who has travelled in Asia will agree that the first vehicle that most of Earth's residents *owned* was and is the venerable Honda Cub.

Fifty years ago, Honda knocked out just 24,000 of the ground breaking mopeds, but last year factories around the world built a whopping 4.7 million of the little blighters and now the 60 millionth Cub has rolled off one of Honda's multiple production lines.

To put things in perspective, 35 million Corollas have been sold to date, 30 million F-Series trucks have left Ford dealers and VW sold a paltry 21.5 million original Beetles. How many of those 60 million Cubs are still putting along is anyone's guess, but having watched The Discovery Channel try to destroy one, we think it's fair to say "most".

[Source: Honda]

Honda Super Cub: 0 to 60 million in 50 years originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 May 2008 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When we reported on this SM themed Agent Provocateur Mini Clubman, we took an impossible-to-resist shot at Max Moseley, but now Mini and the AIDS charity Life Ball may be making the most of the FIA president's infamous escape, too. In order to publicize the car's upcoming auction, the black and pink police car has been photographed with, you guessed it, four whip-wielding dominatrixes wearing Gestapo-esque caps... and not a whole lot else. This Dutch website has been diligent enough to post a video of the photoshoot (WARNING: NSFW video).

BMW's contribution to Life Ball is commendable, but seems somewhat odd since the boys from Bavaria were among the first to publicly call for Mr. Moseley's resignation from the FIA following his indiscrete trip to a London SM dungeon.

In a related development, The Times newspaper has revealed that the prostitute who videoed Max's exploits is married to a serving (for now) MI5 officer and as such appears to be genuine agent provocateur, much to the delight of conspiracy theorists and the FIA president's lawyers alike.

Mini does a Max originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 20 May 2008 08:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Click above for a gallery of the new Toyota Alphard and Vellfire

Six years after Toyota's luxury minivan, the Alphard, hit Japanese (and a few SE Asian) showrooms, the company has given its flagship people mover a facelift, and a twin brother. Noting that one in four family cars in Japan are minivans but that the outgoing Alphard appealed more to grandfathers than fathers, the second-gen model remains conservatively styled, while a meaner, more aggressive-looking stablemate, the Vellfire (above), is hoped to grab the attention of Japanese family men in their 30s who have erstwhile bought Nissan Elgrands and Honda Elysions.

The new Alphard (shown at right) is longer, wider and roomier than the outgoing version. Its slightly lower roofline (by 45mm) is offset by a cabin floor that's been lowered 55 mm, so the new van actually boasts more cabin height even though it's not quite as tall as its predecessor. Power comes from either a 170 PS (167 hp) 2.4L four or a 280 PS (276 hp) 3.5L V6 driving the front wheels. In August, a 4WD variant will join the lineup.

While Toyota's press release acknowledges that the new models are a bit spacier and safer than the old one, it neatly ignores the fact that the Alphard Hybrid has been quietly dropped. This could well be the first such occurrence for the company and given the number of eggs Toyota currently has in the hybrid basket, its no surprise that its PR department is doing its best to gloss over the retirement.

So, how long until Modellista cooks up an ultra-snazzy Royal Lounge package for the new vans?

Hit the jump for a video of the Alphard in action. Thanks for the tip, Paul!

Gallery: 2008 Toyota Alphard / Vellfire

Continue reading Toyota Alphard gets facelift, Vellfire sibling

Toyota Alphard gets facelift, Vellfire sibling originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 13 May 2008 13:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

James Bond used them to elude Goldfinger's foot soldiers, but now revolving license plates have hit the open market in (where else?) China. Apparently over half of all speeders caught on camera in the south of the country get away scot-free by using false or occluded plates. A basic remote controlled plate switcher costs just 800 Yuan ($115), but more sophisticated gadgets that get the job done in just three seconds cost over twice that amount.

So, would fitting one of these make your vehicle a Q Car?

[Source: Reuters]

Revolving License Plates Help Chinese Speeders originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 May 2008 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Click above for a huge, high-res gallery of Rd. 3 of the '08 SuperGT season.

After previous incarnations of the Nissan GT-R ran away with successive JGTC titles, Japan's GT Association decided to inflict "success ballast" on race winners in an attempt to level the playing field (i.e give Toyota and Honda a chance).

As the current GT-R race car is built to 2009 Super GT specifications, the GT-A handed it a weight penalty of 50kgs added right from the start of the season. After winning Round 1 in Suzuka car number 23 had to carry an additional 50kgs at Round 2 in Sugo, which it promptly won anyway. Then thanks to also setting numerous fastest laps and other speeding offenses it was deemed that Benoit Treluyer and Satoshi Motoyama's ride would have to port an massive 200ks (440lbs) of ballast at this weekend's race at Fuji Speedway.

That presents a couple of problems. Firstly, where the heck do you safely stow 200kgs of lead? And would the car meet GT-A regulations even if Nissan found a way to do it? The ruling body's compromise was to give the car a 115kg penalty and fit a stifling restrictor to the GT-R's air intake. That knocked 30kph off the GT-R's maximum velocity at the end of Fuji's 1.5km straight, and in the words of Benoit, "Gives us no chance at all."

Follow through the jump to find out if he was right, and to find out how Lightning McQueen faired in GT300 after qualifying on pole yesterday.

Gallery: 2008 Super GT - Round 3

Continue reading Spoiler Alert: Super GT Rd. 3 Results

Spoiler Alert: Super GT Rd. 3 Results originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 05 May 2008 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Thankfully we can officially report that the humongously ugly rendering of a GT-R based SUV, which appeared in Best Car's early February edition, has no basis in reality. Reliable sources, both at Nissan's HQ in Tokyo and at the company's development center in Zama, who typically answer questions with non-committal "can neither confirm nor deny" statements, were adamant that no such project exists.

With the GT-R snatching the Porsche 911's crowns left, right and center, and the upcoming new hardcore Z rumoured to be a Cayman eater, Porsche can relax in the knowledge that the Cayenne, at least, is safe for now.

GT-R SUV that never was, nor will be originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If we were in charge of Tokyo's inner city expressway we probably wouldn't use the Shutoko racer's favorite weapon of choice to promote safe driving. Scratch that, we probably would, but we're amazed that the owners of the Wangan got themselves a new GT-R to publicize their current Tokyo Smart Driver Campaign.

If the fact that this R35 will spend its life pootling along the highway at 80km/h doesn't make you sick to the bottom of your stomach, the Tokyo Smart Driver website certainly will. Truly vomit worthy.

Thanks to PLR of Le Blog Auto for the tip!

GT-R Promotes Smart Driving originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

At first glance this could be Super Aguri's latest F1 contender. It's not like they need any bodywork for all their sponsors' stickers...

But no, it is a limited edition Takuma Sato Play Seat that can be parked in front of your TV for just 60,900 cents/Yen (around $600 USD). There goes that precious living room square footage freed up by last year's purchase of an ultra thin widescreen plasma display. Play Seats are comaptible with PS2s, 3s, Wiis and X-Boxes, and we're just aching to give one, or preferably two, a test drive. Fortunatley, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue came out yesterday and a few of us have it in hand, though we're not sure how we're going to convince AOL that a Play Seat is a required business expense for reviewing the game.

Source: Auto Gallery via Le Blog Auto

Takuma Sato Gets New Seat originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last week's announcement that Toyota wants to raise its stake in Subaru's parent company Fuji Heavy Industries looked to have no down side. Subaru gets $300 million with which to build a new factory, Toyota gets greater access to FHI's high tech batteries for hybrids, and both get to build the affordable RWD/AWD coupe that we're all waiting for.

But the bean counters in Toyota City have noticed that Subaru's kei car division spends a fortune on developing quirky micro cars such as the supercharged Vivio that Colin McRae campaigned in his first rally (above), the worlds smallest four-seat convertible (below) and the fabulous R2D2. The trouble is, profit margins on such marvels of engineering are wafer thin, and that is not the Toyota way. So, come the next decade, Subaru will only sell OEM kei cars made by another member of the Toyota family, Daihatsu.

Most analysts think this this is a good idea, but this one ain't so sure. Eighteen years ago I bought a rear-engined rear-wheel-drive Subaru Sambar. It was such a hoot to drive that I traded up to a Rex, then an RX-R, then a WRX and I now drive a Forester STI. In all likelyhood, my next car will be an Impreza STI.

Will rebadged Daihatsus garner such brand loyalty from young buyers in 2010?

Subaru to stop making Kei Cars originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.