Autoblog

With Project Genesis in full swing, new revelations from Steven Landry, Chrysler executive vice president for North American Sales, have shed some more light on the corporate strategy to trim waste and turn the company around. As of now, dealers are under the belief that the automaker intends to cut its lineup by one-third to one-half. Supporting that assumption, Landry told a crowd at Northwood University that "twins" -- vehicles built on the same platform yet are sold under different brand names -- are out (think Jeep Liberty / Dodge Nitro). As Chrysler has more than a handful of twins, sold under several different brands, their dilemma will be in choosing which twin gets the axe, and which gets to survive.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

If such a thing is possible, Volvo 240s have an even mustier image in Australia than they do in the United States. That's good for those of us who know that they're anvil tough and respond well to modifications. Being front engine, rear wheel drive and European, the ingredients for a stormer are there, if you care to do some work. Additionally, 240s are super easy to work on, and there's a decent enthusiast base, especially now with the interweb tubes in full swing.

Engine swaps into RWD Volvos are nothing new, Converse Engineering and Jags That Run have been selling kits to provide your "Brick" with a small-block heart transplant for years. A particularly determined Aussie has swapped in a twin-turbo Toyota Supra engine good for 284 horsepower. Sure, the V8s will bump out that pony count all day, but they won't have that inline-six wail. Of course, there's something equally alluring about the rhythm of a V8 doing its work, too. Decisions, decisions. Guess we'd just have to get a few and go swap-crazy. Good thing old Volvos are cheap!

The dyno run video is posted after the jump.

Gallery: Supra powered Volvo

[Source: Carscoop]

Nobody defines the terms "wretched excess" and "gilding the lily" quite like Novitec. Whereas countless other aftermarket tuners make their mark by transforming ordinary road cars into fire-breathing monsters, Novitec starts with the already-hottest-performing cars to grace black asphalt and then endeavors to improve upon them. In this case, the German tuning house is improving upon its own improvements with the Novitec Rosso Ferrari F430 Bi-Compressor Evoluzione.

"Evoluzione" is the magic word in both the Ferrari and Novitec houses, denoting the ludicrous taken to the extreme. (Think of insane examples like the Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione and you're on the right track.) In this case, the latest release from Novitec Rosso starts with their previous twin-supercharged 636-horsepower F430 and raises the stakes by an additional 20 horses, bringing total output up to an Enzo-rivaling 656hp.

In addition to the power spike – resulting from the twin Rotrex superchargers, intercoolers and remapped ECU – Novitec arms its monstrous creation with a full aerodynamic package, wheel and tire upgrade, bigger brakes, beefed-up suspension and the works. If you're the kind of customer who'd be interested in improving upon a Ferrari in the first place, chances are you'd likely be up for re-doing the interior, and Novitec offers a full range of custom leather retrofits that will turn the rare into the positively unique.

Want more? We've got the technical specs after the jump, and a batch of images in the gallery below.

[Source: Novitec via Carscoop]

Hennessey Performance seems to have a knack for producing modified supercars that are as intoxicating as its namesake Cognac. Hennessey specializes in top-level American muscle, having earned its street cred by strapping twin turbochargers to the Dodge Viper to crank power up to 1000 horsepower. Now Hennessey has turned its attention over to the Viper's main rival in the battle for American supercar dominance: the Ford GT.

The Ford GT was, of course, created as rolling homage to the Le Mans-winning GT40 of yore, and the modern retro-mobile lives up to the legend by challenging Ferraris just as it did in the sixties. But cavallino-trouncing performance just wasn't enough to John Hennessey and his crew, so they went to work. Two Garret turbochargers, an intercooler, a new exhaust system, a custom intake manifold, a revised engine management system and a whole slew of other modifications later, the Hennessey Ford GT Twin Turbo puts out Koenigsegg-like levels of power: 850 horsepower and a matching 850 lb-ft of torque. That's enough to propel the throwback sportscar to sixty in a claimed 2.6 seconds, covering the quarter-mile in 10.6 seconds on its way to a very Veyron-like top speed of 240 mph.

The price, of course, is not specified, but for that kind of performance, if you have to ask... But for a customer bent on American domination of even the performance supercar world, price is no object.

[Source: Hennessey]