Porsche test engineer killed in autobahn crash originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Spy Shots: Mazda CX-7 nip/tuck spotted originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Click above for more images of the 2010 Buick Regal

Two weeks ago we showed you spy shots of a 2010 Buick Regal caught testing in China that appeared to be nothing more than a rebadged Opel Insignia. (As you may recall, we'll be getting the 2010 Buick LaCrosse in the States.) All three of those cars are based on GM's Epsilon II platform, which we will also likely see under future vehicles from Saab, Saturn and Chevrolet. The Buick brand, and the popular Regal, are doing very well in China. As such, it's no surprise to see these latest spy shots of the barely disguised four-door Regal dipped in red, and it looks great despite being a badge job. The production version is expected to debut at the Guangzhou Auto Show in November. Thanks for the tip, Jason!

Gallery: 2010 Buick Regal - Spy Shots in Red

Chinese Buick Regal caught dressed in red originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: Jaguar XF-R - spy shots

Continue reading Spy Shots: Jaguar XF-R mules testing in Death Valley

Spy Shots: Jaguar XF-R mules testing in Death Valley originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Spot any similarities? Holden surprised and delighted when it rolled out the Coupe 60 at the Melbourne Auto Show this past week. Motor Trend put two and two together and dug up some three-year-old photos that show off essentially the same car wearing a Pontiac suit, instead. The nose on the original concept shows what GM was planning for the next-gen GTO at the time. We're glad the prototype styling was deemed too expensive for production; the world wasn't ready for a modern interpretation of the 1982 J2000.

The Coupe 60 started life as Pontiac's replacement for the sales-proof GTO, but Motor Trend reports that development stopped when GM went full bore at getting its next-gen full-size GMT900 trucks to market early. The reappropriation of this past work to create the stunning new Holden show car could signal a return of the Monaro, which could trickle down to North America as another page in the G8 brochure, or a new GTO, but don't start holding your breath yet.

Gallery: Holden Coupe 60

MT claims Holden Coupe 60 is really 3-year-old Pontiac GTO replacement originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 09:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sith Pickup: Toyota Tundra Warrior originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

click above to view more images of the 1980 Ferrari Pinin show car

Ferrari won't be building a four-door model now - that's what the Maserati Quattroporte, developed under Ferrari's tutelage, is for. But there was a time when Enzo himself considered the prospect. What spurred his interest was what you see above: the Ferrari Pinin show car, unveiled by Pininfarina on its 50th anniversary at the 1980 Turin auto show.

In the end, the rumored discussions between Enzo Ferrari and Sergio Pininfarina didn't yield a small production run of four-door Pinins, and only this one prototype was ever built. It's been sitting in the private collection of noted Ferrari collector and racer Jacques Swaters, who is putting it up for sale at the upcoming second annual "Leggenda e Passione" event run by Canadian auctioneers RM Auctions. The Ferrari and Maserati auction is scheduled to take place on May 18 at the Fiorano race track in Maranello.

Only a one-off as unique as the Pinin could manage to relegate this pair to "also ran" status: not one, but two Ferrari 250 California Spyders will also be up for auction, each estimated to fetch in the neighborhood of $5 million (give or take a mil). S/N 0923GT, a red 1958 long-wheelbase version (like the one Ferris Bueller crashed), was once owned by Hollywood actor James Coburn, and s/n 2377GT is a black 1961 short-wheelbase model. Only 100 examples of the 250 California Spyder were made, making them one of the most sought-after Ferraris out there.

[Source: Argentina Auto Blog and RM Auctions via Italiaspeed]

Gallery: 1980 Ferrari Pinin

4-door Ferrari Pinin to headline RM Auction at Maranello originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Never a moment's rest for the team at Aston Martin Racing. Not since Prodrive chief David Richards took over with his consortium of investors, at least. With the announcement of the V8 Vantage GT2, the team has expanded into every class of GT racing in the Le Mans Series, campaigning racing DB9s in GT1 and GT3 and competition-spec V8 Vantages in GT2 and GT4. But now that the regulations for the Le Mans Prototype class have been modified to allow for GT1 engines to power LMP cars, Aston Martin is turning its attention to that class, too.

Hot on the heels of the team's unveiling of the retro-tastic Gulf livery for its DBR9 GT1 cars, Aston Martin Racing has announced a collaboration with Charouz Racing Systems, which will campaign a Lola chassis with the DBR9's 6-liter V12 in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the broader European Le Mans Series. Tomas Enge, Stefan Mucke and Jan Charouz will drive the car, and in addition to working in partnership with Lola's engineering team to repackage the V12 for the LMP chassis, Aston Martin Racing's engineers will support Charouz Racing System's cars at the races.

We're looking forward to seeing the car in full race trim and to witnessing Aston Martin taking on the entire field at this year's Le Mans 24. Press release after the jump.

[Source: Aston Martin Racing via Motive]

Continue reading Aston Martin announces expansion into LMP1 class

Aston Martin announces expansion into LMP1 class originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Only days before heading to bankruptcy court, Italian engineering firm and carrozzeria Bertone revealed that it was about to pull a last-minute trick out of its sleeve in an announcement later that day. But when the announcement didn't come, the industry was left wondering if, after 95 years in business, Bertone was about to slip away.

The company's chairwoman and family scion Lili Bertone, however, announced last night that her company would be sold to Gruppo Prototipo chief Domenico Reviglio. Likewise based in Turin, Gruppo Prototipo focuses on testing pre-production vehicle prototypes. It owns the famous Nardo high-speed test facility, and since the late '90s has been the sub-contractor for most of the Fiat Group's testing requirements.

The announcement came as a surprise to the Italian business community, which widely believed negotiations with business mogul Gianmario Rossignolo were near conclusion. Previous negotiations with Fiat had fallen through, and Bertone has a workforce of 1,300 to support despite the lack of contracts to sustain the company. The Italian government, meanwhile, has opted to extend the two-year financial protection it had granted Bertone for an additional two months.

[Source: Italiaspeed]

Bertone sold to Gruppo Prototipo originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: Loremo

Gallery: Loremo live pics

Loremo working prototype debuting in Frankfurt originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: AM General Humvee Prototype - spy shots

Continue reading Spy Shots: AM General Humvee prototype caught!

Spy Shots: AM General Humvee prototype caught! originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 19 Jul 2007 12:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Mercedes developing video-based safety features

Mercedes developing video-based safety features originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 18 Jun 2007 08:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione is clearly an object of desire, but what if it lived up to its literal name by breeding a competition automobile? Picchio has come up with the answer in the form of its new Daytona prototype.

The car is being created by Europe's only Grand Am-certified manufacturer in order to fill an anticipated demand emerging from new regulations in the race series, which allow for a race car's body to be adapted to match an engine supplier's styling. In other words, if it's running an Alfa powerplant, it can and should look like an Alfa.

In anticipation of Alfa Romeo homologating its new V8 engine for racing, Picchio redesigned its DP2 racing chassis to accommodate the engine and adapted the bodywork to mirror the styling of the roadgoing 8C Competition coupe. The result is a beautiful concept that we hope to see on the race track in the near future. As with Alfa Romeo's own impending re-emergence into the US market, until then this car will just have to keep our hearts racing.

Gallery: Picchio Daytona Prototype

[Source: Picchio via Car Body Design]

Alfa Romeo 8C Daytona Prototype by Picchio originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 18 Feb 2007 09:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta is one of the most sought-after collector's cars of all time. It was the first true Ferrari; only 25 of them were built and only a handful remain in existence - these cars were raced, and raced hard. It was an especially big deal to classic automobile aficionados and Ferrari historians when s/n 0052 M was found after nearly fifty years in obscurity, stored by a collector in Arizona.

As exciting as it was to find a 166, nobody had any idea just how unique this car was until Ferrari expert Marcel Massini got it back to his workshop. Massini brokered the purchase of the car from the late owner's estate after his passing, and was commissioned for a full mechanical rebuild. The exterior was to be left as-is in reverence to the car's extensive racing history, but when Massini started disassembling the engine he found the car was actually fitted with a two-liter Formula 2-spec competition engine, with a gear-driven camshaft instead of the conventional chain drive. When the numbers were found to match, it became apparent that this was a factory prototype, built that way from the start, and not retrofitted somewhere down the line.

166 MM Touring Barchetta Speciale s/n 0052 M has a deep racing history, having competed at Le Mans, the Targa Florio, Mille Miglia and took the chequered flag at the 12 Hours of Paris. The restored machine, which appeared on the September/October '06 cover of Cavallino Magazine, re-emerged to the public at the 2007 Cavalinno Classic, and the guys at Ultimatecarpage.com were there to snap some photos. Check it out.

[Source: Ultimatecarpage.com]

Molto Speciale: Ferrari 166 MM Touring Barchetta factory prototype originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Desktop fabricator takes DIY to a new level

Desktop fabricator takes DIY to a new level originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Plug it in, plug it in: GM likely to debut plug-in hyrbrid at Detroit show originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 10 Nov 2006 14:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Caparo T1 unveiled in Monaco
• Caparo T1 to be displayed at Goodwood
• Caparo T1 supercar set for Monaco debut

Continue reading First Caparo T1 prototype completed

First Caparo T1 prototype completed originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 Oct 2006 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Atari chooses gamer-designed concept for Test Drive Unlimited

Atari chooses gamer-designed concept for Test Drive Unlimited originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 24 Jul 2006 07:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Spy Shots: 2008 Lotus Esprit originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 24 Jun 2006 10:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading One last hurrah - Audi R8 races for the final time

One last hurrah - Audi R8 races for the final time originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.