Nouveau Audi A3 – Eastern Europe Special?
Eastern Europe has proved to be the gift that keeps on giving over the past couple of days. First, images of the Volvo V40 leaked via a Polish Facebook page, Latvian loonies Dartz announced their Prombron Black Dragon, and now a Russian Web site has spilled a plethora of images of the A3 to be unveiled at the Geneva motor show next month.
The car is both unmistakably A3 and utterly Audi-nouveau, with the more trapezoidal grille from the latest larger exemplars of the line and taillights reminiscent of those on the A6.
The Russians note that this FWD three-door will be available with either a 1.6-liter diesel or your choice of turbocharged direct-injection gasoline engines making either 122 hp or 180 hp. Transmission choices include a dual-clutch, seven-speed S-Tronic or a six-speed manual. Four-door sedan and five-door hatch models will follow.
Other future developments in store for the A3, according to Google’s translation of the Russian article? Besides the obvious addition of a quattro system, Audi is at work on a hybrid model, as well as on one that burns compressed natural gas.
Naturally, don’t expect every upcoming iteration of the premium C-segment machine to reach our shores, no matter how much certain Audiphiles might beg
Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120223/GENEVA/120229921#ixzz1nKtbg9va
Maserati Kubang, Volvo Concept You & Mercedes-Benz F125
The car Volvo unveiled on Tuesday at the Frankfurt motor show follows in the path of the Universe concept shown in Shanghai, with more sporty styling and a strong emphasis in the interior. Chief designer Peter Horbury says the fastback shape was dictated by customer preferences.
Maserati revealed the Kubang concept Tuesday at the Frankfurt motor show, and the vehicle is a strong indication of what the production SUV will look like. It will use Jeep underpinnings but has a completely unique, Italian-styled body penned in Modena.
At the Frankfurt motor show, Mercedes-Benz revealed its vision of how the range-topping S-class coupe will evolve against a backdrop of increasingly tightening emission standards with the unveiling of a bold new research vehicle called the F125.
Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110912/FRANKFURT/110919974#ixzz1XriHIxsh
Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110913/FRANKFURT/110919961#ixzz1Xri6wL7E
Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110913/FRANKFURT/110919962#ixzz1Xri1vtdK
BMW celebrates 328 Roadster’s 75th Anniversary
SEE THE CONCEPT CAR 2011CONCEPTCAR
When the foundations were laid for the construction of the BMW 328 in the early 1930s, the car‘s creators Rudolf Schleicher and Fritz Fiedler had little idea of the significance the sporty two-seater would one day attain. Several decades on, this Roadster, with its powerful 2-litre six-cylinder motor, is still lauded as the most beautiful and successful sports car of its time. Schleicher and Fiedler made the ideal engineering team for such a project. In addition to their deep knowledge in many areas of automotive construction, the two men could call on many years of experience, a wealth of ideas and, above all, ambition. They complemented each other perfectly, the engine specialist Schleicher blending his talents with Fiedler’s expertise in vehicle construction to outstanding effect.
In the BMW 328 they developed a refined sports car, whose qualities would provide one of the pillars for further developments over the decades that followed. The cars wheeled out for those successful early races were in fact prototype versions developed in the simplest of surroundings. Nowadays the creation of a new car evolves as part of a process costing millions and is drawn out over several years. It includes the contributions of hundreds of engineers and designers working under the strictest secrecy in development centres and design studios. By extreme contrast, the BMW 328 was put together in double-quick time with minimal use of materials and manpower. When Mssrs Schleicher and Fiedler conceived the BMW 328, there was no such thing as market research, a design department or a wind tunnel at BMW, never mind the electronic tools their counterparts take for granted today.
Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110512/CARNEWS/110519948#ixzz1MAQzrMp3
Art of the State 