Autoblog

Speculation about Ferrari building a sedan has repeatedly cropped up over the past couple decades, and Ferrari denies it every time it does. As Aston Martin, Porsche and now Lamborghini have been working on four-door cars lately, the idea that Ferrari might has gained even more traction. It looks like the Sultan of Brunei will have to continue relying on Pininfarina and other coach builders for his four-door Ferraris. Today in Paris, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo applied full carbon brakes to that theory as he stated in no uncertain terms that as long as he was holding the top office at the sports car maker, "We will never do a four-door." Wtih Ferrari selling its sports cars and GTs as fast as they can be built, Montezemolo is content to let corporate sibling Maserati handle the task of building exotic Italian four-doors.

While Ferrari owners are by definition people of considerable means, they and the company are still not immune to modern realities when it comes to both fuel prices and environmental regulation. At this years Detroit Auto Show, Ferrari displayed an F430 Spyder that could run on E85 ethanol. Similarly, the F1 side of the house is currently developing a kinetic energy recovery (KERS) hybrid drive system that, like current semi-automatic transmissions, could migrate to production vehicles. According to Montezemolo, Ferrari will not be building a V10 engine either as an upgrade to the V8 or downgrade from the V12.

[Source: Automobile]

You've got about $130,000 to buy a luxury sedan. We know, it's a terrible situation to put yourself in, but bear with us. You could get the same Audi A8, BMW 760i or Mercedes S-Class as everyone else at the country club. The Jaguar XJ doesn't do it for you and the Bentley Continental Flying Spur is outside your range, so where do you look? The Maserati Quattroporte would be our choice over any of the above, holding down territory as the only four-door exotic on the market. But with newcomers like the Aston Martin Rapide and Porsche Panamera – both from sportscar-makers as reputed as Maserati – the Italians will be keen to hold down their territory. So with an all-new Quattroporte expected around 2012, Ferrari's kid brother is preparing a mid-cycle facelift for its four-door masterpiece.

We've brought you spy shots of camouflaged test mules accumulating development miles, but photos of the revised Maser have now surfaced in cyberspace. From the images – reportedly obtained right from the factory headquarters in Modena – we can see that the physical changes will be kept minimal, but side by side with the outgoing version we're expecting to see new headlights, bumper and grille up front, all subtly reshaped, along with similar revisions to the caboose. What we don't know at this point is whether this facelifted Quattroporte will stick with the same rev-happy engine or swap it out for either the GranTurismo S/Alfa 8C version or the direct-injected variant developed for the upcoming Ferrari California, or if the Trident marque will keep that card up its sleeve for the all-new version to follow. One way or another, the Italians aren't likely to give up to the Germans or the English without putting up a good fight.

[Source: Autospots.nl via World Car Fans]

What we have here is the clearest shot yet of the Porsche Panamera's C-Pillar and backlight. Fast Lane Daily poster mcshin was quick with the shutter and nabbed the green four-door before the chase car could block the view.

It's a very chunky rump, but the lines do flow well, in a 911-tied-to-a-tree kind of way. While the camo on this Panamera is pretty light, there are still more surprises to uncover; check out the panel that covers up the middle of the doors. Could there be more coke bottle under there for us to feast our eyes on? We do hope the large spoiler doesn't make it to production as some sort of stylized version of the cliché whale tail. However it looks, we're sure that it'll perform like a Porsche, and we await the day a production Panamera winds up in the Autoblog Garage.

[Source: Fastlane Daily]

This is cooler than the Marcos. Aston Martin is calling on Volvo's formidable safety expertise to help develop the forthcoming Rapide. Volvo's safety systems will be integrated into the new four-door Aston, which means we should look to see an active stability control system and possibly some of Volvo's newer tricks like blind-spot monitoring, collision avoidance and at-the-ready brakes. Volvo's skill at developing a strong safety cage into a rigid unit-body will also play a part in developing the Rapide.

We're dreaming, but it would be fun to see that development work lead to a new 1800. Not bloody likely, but once the work on the Aston is done, there'll be all that pent up fast-car energy in Goteborg. Regardless of what Volvo ends up doing, the Rapide is set to drop in late 2008, at which point we're looking forward to a Panamera/Quattroporte/Rapide three-way smackdown.

[Source: Auto Motor & Sport via Motor Authority]