The 2011 BMW 5-Series is slowly undressing as far as camouflage goes, and its looks are going the "more substantial" route to match its more substantial, modified 7 Series chassis along with a dose of 5 Series Gran Turismo in back. The front end gets a less sculpted treatment while, if the swirls don't deceive us, the rear glasshouse slopes more steeply into the trunk lid. The lower rear fascia gets the same severe angle as that on the 5Series GT.
Inside – at least according to the forms, since everything but the shift lever and iDrive is covered – it is beginning to look like a 7 Series in miniature.
Under the hood will be the usual suspects, with the 550i supposedly getting the brand's eight-speed auto. There are also rumors of a turbocharged four-cylinder and Active Hybrid. The car should make its first public appearance sometime early next year.
The Inden Design SL will turn your ordinary aging SL 500 into a previous-gen SL65 AMG lookalike and then some. The firm installs fascias front and rear and exhaust pipes that mimic the SL65, then the whole body is given the blackout treatment right down to the door handles. And could we even call it German tuning if it didn't get a set of custom 20-inch wheels tucked fender-deep on Pirelli rubber bands?
Interior bits get some varnish, the SL65 steering wheel makes an appearance, and to combat that ridiculous ride height an adjustable suspension module is installed to provide 50mm of vertical movement. The engine, however, only gets a 15-hp upgrade to 330 horsepower. So if you see any real SL65 AMGs, you'll probably want to keep looking straight ahead.
Who says Twitter is good for nothing? Making fun of derivative Chinese car designs (cough Geely cough) is like shooting fish in a barrel. Only the barrel has no water in it, is only six-inches deep and you're using a shotgun. Still, we're thinking this Jianghuai sedan might be taking a cake or two. Obviously, the front end is a bit much. And looking at the car in profile, the Jianghuai isn't just influenced by the Infiniti G35 -- it is the G35. Stare harder at that C-pillar if you don't believe us. But why completely rip off one car when you can jack two?
The 2010 Dodge Ram Heavy Duty is ready to put some pressure on Ford and Chevrolet with new sheet metal and added capability, as well as lead the way as the first product under the new Ram brand banner. But the Ram team isn't content to compete on product alone, as Chrysler's horned division is also revealing some very competitive pricing today. The Dodge Ram's bread and butter work truck, the 2500 4X2 ST Regular Cab with the eight foot box, starts at $28,165 including $950 destination, which is $1,970 cheaper than the 2009 model. Dodge is also offering a Crew Cab configuration for the first time. Choose the 2500 crew cab SLT 4x4 and you pay $39,430 or $40 less than the 2009 Quad Cab.
If a three-quarter ton pickup isn't manly enough for you, the new 3500 can be had for a few more greenbacks. The 3500 4x2 Reg Cab ST with the eight-foot box retails for $35,630, but if you like to do your trucking in the lap of luxury you can also opt for the 3500 4x4 Crew Cab Laramie for (gulp) $51,095. The Ram brand has also seen fit to resurrect ye old Power Wagon moniker as an available trim level. Available only as a 2500 4x4 Crew Cab model with a 6-foot-4-inch box, the Power Wagon starts at $45,780 and features electric-locking front and rear differentials, an electronic disconnecting sway bar, Bilstein shocks, 32-inch BFGoodrich off-road tires, underbody skid plate protection, a 4.56 axle ratio for hill climbing and a custom-built Warn 12,000-pound winch. Aesthetically, the Power Wagon gets unique graphics and a lower two-tone paint scheme.
After several years of selling small volumes of its Altima sedan using Toyota's hybrid drive system, Nissan is finally ready to roll out its first gas-electric model using technology developed in-house. The first model to be so equipped will be the new Fuga sedan, a car sold in North America as the Infiniti M.
Unlike the electronic CVT systems used by Toyota, Ford and General Motors, Nissan has opted to configure its system using a conventional automatic transmission – in this case, a seven-speed unit. The electric drive is provided by a single motor sandwiched between the engine and the transmission. A pair of electronically controlled clutches sit on either side of the motor allowing the engine or the enginemotor combination to be completely de-coupled from the transmission.
According to Nissan, the motor has an output of 50 kW (67 horsepower) and 270 Nm (200 pound-feet) of torque, and the system is able to propel the FugaM electrically at speeds of up 62 mph. The engine is a 3.5-liter version of Nissan's renowned VQ V6 modified to run with an Atkinson cycle for greater efficiency.
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It would be tempting to call this year's Tokyo Motor Show an entirely domestic affair, but that's not entirely accurate, as a few smaller specialty automakers like Lotus and Alpina took advantage of a surplus of available square footage by nailing down prime floor space for themselves. As a belated addition to the festivities, Caterham, England's merry band of Colin Chapman acolytes marked the occasion with the world debut of its CSR 175.
The new model slots in as a new bottom rung to the CSR franchise, which is paradoxically the marque's premium range. The 175 joins the range's existing trio of variants, the 200 bhp CSR200, the 260bhp CSR260 and the full-house 260 bhp CSR Superlight. If you're paying attention, you can therefore deduce that the new addition possesses 175 bhp. That may not sound like a lot of power, but in a car that weighs as much as an anorexic gnat, we reckon the Ford-sourced 2.3-liter Duratec four-pot will still be plenty entertaining.
Either way, traditional minimalist roadsters like the Se7en have never been about terminal velocity, they've always been predicated on leech-like cornering and giant-kiling acceleration. And given that the 175 shares the CSR family's stiffer spaceframe chassis, updated suspension and refined aerodynamics, Caterham's latest should continue corner like a cat on carpet. And given the vast empty expanses of the stuff here at the show, we'd be tickled if someone handed us the keys for a bit of after-hours fun...
One of the coolest concept cars here at the Tokyo Motor Show isn't even new. In fact, it's almost forty years old. Originally displayed at the Tokyo show in 1970, this Mazda RX-500 Concept features styling similar to the legendary Ferrari 250 GTO Breadvan, gullwing doors that swing forward, and a 491cc rotary engine just behind the seats. Weighing in at just 1873 pounds, the 247-horsepower concept was said to have reached nearly 150 mph on Mazda's test track.
The car was recently restored in partnership with the Hiroshima City Transportation Museum where it has apparently been on display for the last year. Lucky for us, they decided to bring it to the show for us to enjoy as well.
We've always thought that Infiniti's current M35M45 sedan deserved greater consideration from American consumers than it has typically received. With a strong VQ-series powerplant and entertaining rear-wheel drive handling, there has always been a lot to like from behind the wheel, but its restrained styling has seemingly always failed to convey the sort of emotion delivered by the driving experience. Thankfully, judging by its just-introduced Nissan Fuga twin here at the Tokyo Motor Show, anonymous styling figures to be less of an Achilles heel going forward.
Powered in the Japanese market by a pair of VQ-series V6 engines displacing 2.5-liters and 3.7-liters respectively (power figures have not been disclosed), the real emphasis for the next-gen model appears to be on advanced safety and creature comfort technology. We're hoping this focus doesn't result in compromised dynamics, but we are very curious to sample such bits of electronic wizardry as Nissan's "Forest AC" that includes a breeze setting and an aroma atomizer, to say nothing of "Intelligent Pedal," a new system that can actually make braking decisions based on data from the sat-nav unit. In our experience, bearing in mind how often the map data has been wrong in a given vehicle's GPS system, we hope that the system doesn't randomly lock up the binders for a phantom hairpin – especially with someone following a bit too closely behind.
Either way, when the Fuga comes to North America next year, we expect it to once again be powered by either the larger of the two VQ-series V6s or a V8 engine. A hybrid model will hit Japan next autumn, and we hear it's also coming Stateside.
Opinions have been mixed over the overall shape of the new Saab 9-5. The detailing, as we found at the pivotal sedan's debut at the recently concluded Frankfurt show, takes the Swedish automaker's aerospace-inspired design to a new level of sophistication, but some believe that the silhouette cut by the sedan's form left something lacking. That could all be fixed, however, if the estate wagon comes out looking as slick as this rendering imagines.
Slated for debut in about a year from now, the 9-5 SportCombi, as Trollhattan calls its wagons, is scheduled to be the first new launch for Saab after leaving GM for Koenigsegg's management. Following the market debut of the sedan, the 9-5 wagon will precede the replacement for the smaller 9-3 and the anticipated new 9-4X crossover to give the Swedes a solid lineup to take on the likes of Audi and company. Engines are expected to include turbo fours displacing 1.6 liters and producing 178 horsepower, two liters with 217 hp and 2.8 liters with 296 hp; to be joined by a 158 hp two-liter turbodiesel and a reported turbocharged hybrid option. Saab's trick proprietary XWD traction system should be available across nearly the entire range.
With all that, plus Swedish practicality and what looks to be a slick wraparound rear windscreen, the next wagon from Scandinavia's quirky stepchild could be a real departure from the usual Saab story.
Gran Turismo 5. We've teased you in the past with constantly shifting debut dates and posted most every video we can find. But today is a new day, and this time we're going to show you... another video. GT5 creator Kazunori Yamauchi sat down with GT Planet to discuss how much work goes into the five-year project known as Gran Turismo 5, along with some speculation as to which vehicle will grace the game's cover.
It's no secret that the Mercedes Benz SLS AMG will be featured in GT5, and Yamauchi actually took the uber-exotic gull-winged supercar for a spin on the legendary Nürburgring to ensure that GT5 has the proper driving dynamics. Both the 'Ring and the SLS AMG were digitally rendered pixel by pixel, aided by the game's physics calculation model. Yamauchi calls the game a driving simulator because the calculation model adds exact information about every physical aspect of each vehicle, ensuring that each one behaves in the game exactly how it drives on the road because "that's something we can't actually touch. If the original car is made well, it'll drive well."
Yamouri likes the SLS AMG so much that the vehicle could hold the honored position of being the cover girl on the upcoming game's packaging. And speaking of the game's cover, the video also shows a few seconds of Yamauchi handing over what appears to be a GT5 box set to a co-worker. The glossy box contained what appears to be black, red and blue Blu-ray cases. We're thinking it's a special edition box set for the most rabid of fans, and we hope we're right
