Ferrari has the One To One Personalisation Programme, so it makes since that its sister brand, Maserati, would get one too. The Italian automaker unveiled its own customization program called the MC Sport Line today at the Bologna Motor Show, and this one is meant to amp up the sporting nature of its cars. Since the GranTurismo S is the model in Maserati's line-up, it was chosen to stand on display at the show wearing the functional bits and pieces from the MC Sport Line. GranTuriso S owners will be able to start ordering parts in early 2009 from the new line, which includes front and rear carbon fiber spoilers, side skirts, carbon fiber mirror housings, CF door handles and gloss black 20-inch wheels. Interior options include door sills monogramed with "MC Sport Line" that are made out of – you guessed it – carbon fiber, which is also the material of choice for the new steering wheel rim and panels that cover the doors, dashboard and central tunnel.
Aside from additional aerodynamic aid provided by the new spoilers and the fact that all these parts weigh less than their non-CF parts they're replacing, the only other functional hardware available from the factory is a new suspension setup that stiffens the springs and lowers the GranTurismo S by 10mm.
The Maserati GranTurismo S outfitted with the entire MC Sport Line catalogue seems like a no-brainer for someone with enough coin to be shopping in this segment, though Maserati has not yet revealed how much these new parts will balloon the car's substantial price tag.
The second generation of Volkswagen's Golf Plus has made its official debut (after an earlier blooper-style unveil) today at the Bologna Motor Show in Italy. Like the first edition that debuted back in 2004 and was based on the MK V Golf architecture, the new Plus is a raised-roof MPV version of the new sixth-gen Golf. We think it's quite fetching in a mini-minivanish sort of way, especially when equipped with the optional 18-inch alloys as seen above. Although the official powerplant options have yet to be revealed, the European market, which is where this new model will be sold, is sure to dictate that a range of diesel and petrol engines are on the menu.
VeeDub's cool ParkAssist system will also be optional on the new Golf Plus. The technology displays a real-time image of what's directly behind the car and can take control of the steering wheel to guide the car into a parking spot. Expect the official launch to take place next Spring in the UK.
Mazda has officially taken the wraps off its five-door hatchback version of the redesigned Mazda3 at the Bologna Motor Show today. As you can see in the gallery of new high-res pics below, the Mazda3 five-door gets the same swoopy sheetmetal as its four-door brethren, including the super happy smiley front end face. What's new is an extended roofline that drops down at a steep angle to create a wagon-esque profile. With a D-pillar that kinks up at a swept back angle, the look is very similar to that of a Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix that's been stepped on by a giant. The new cargo capacity will no doubt be appreciated by families who can put every extra cubic foot to good use, and if the current generation Mazda3 is any indication, this will also be the basis for the Mazdaspeed model.
At the moment, all the specs for the new Mazda3 five-door hatchback are for the European market, so don't expect its new 2.2L and carryover 1.6L turbo diesel engines to be available in the U.S. Europeans will also have a choice of 1.6L and 2.0L gas engines, though we expect the U.S.-spec model to offer the same 2.0L and new 2.5L four-cylinder engines as the sedan.
Today we've given another glimpse of the production Honda Insight before it debuts next month at the Detroit Auto Show. Aside from the minor details (e.g., door handles and exterior mirrors) that go from concept stylized to production practical, the official photo reveals an Insight that looks nearly identical to the concept that was shown at the Paris Motor Show in October, and the Los Angeles Show two weeks ago. Honda is expecting to sell about 100,000 copies of the Priu... err, Insight in North America once it goes on sale in the spring of 2009 with a base price expected to come in below $20,000.
Just one short year after Fisker debuted its plug-in hybrid Karma show car at the Detroit Auto Show, the house that Henrik built will be returning to the Motor City to debut the production version of its ambitious project. Fisker says the production model, which is shown above in this just-released official pic, will only vary slightly in design from the show car, including a different upper grille that's a bit larger towards the outer edges and a larger lower air intake. The exhaust pipe from the internal combustion engine will also exit from an odd place: behind the front wheels. We'll also get our first view of the Karma's production interior in Detroit next month.
Fisker announced last month that it had chosen General Motors' turbocharged, direct-inject 2.0L four-cylinder as its ICE of choice, and after sampling that engine in the Chevy Cobalt SS Turbo, we're very eager to see what it will do in a hybrid set-up designed to make one very large luxury saloon move like the wind. Combined with the hybrid system's 22.6 kWh electric motor, the drivetrain as a whole is said to produce 408 horsepower and propel the car to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds and onto to a top speed of 125 mph.
If you've been sitting on the car-burying sidelines waiting for Acura's buck-tooth treatment to make its way to the front end of the RDX, we have good news for you. Spy pics of the 2010 RDX show that Honda's premium crossover will soon sport the love-it-or-leave-it shielded grille. Closer inspection of the front clip shows that the fog lamps and front bumper will also receive a visual tweak. The current model's uninterrupted bumper breaks at the lower air dam, which could provide some visual relief to the RDX's somewhat awkward mug. The minor update to the front end comes after only three model years of the inaugural RDX, a trend Honda will likely continue to keep up with the competition. Acura's shielded grille theme hasn't been met with glowing praise so far (TL, anyone?), but perhaps it will look better on the larger face of a crossover... hopefully.
As far as digital images go, there isn't much left to see of the new Porsche Panamera. Still, there's something special about seeing a new car in person, and the first chance the public will get to see the latest Swabian hatchback four-door grand touring sports car will be at the 2009 Shanghai Motor Show in April, not at the Geneva show a month earlier as initially planned.
With Porsche pushing back the Panamera's official intro, the German sports car maker clearly acknowledges that emerging markets such as China are extremely important to its growth. Its sales doubled last year in China while falling in both America and Europe. Experts expect this trend to continue well into 2009, so Porsche will be relying heavily on the Chinese to reach its goal of 20,000 highly-profitable Panameras per year.
Even though Ford hasn't admitted it, we all know what's coming to Detroit. The 2010 Ford Taurus that's been spied and rendered is on its way, and although FoMoCo's design director, J Mays, won't go on the record as saying that the new Taurus will be unveiled in Motor City, he did say the automaker will show off the next iteration of its global styling theme this January.
Ford's North American and European design teams have been working together for the last two years on the successor to the automaker's "kinetic" design language that made its production debut with the Mondeo and continued with the Fiesta and Kuga. Mays calls the new theme "post-kinetic" and says it will "have the best attributes of kinetic, but ... is going to be possibly a little more simple, a little more elegant." The rendering above – "inspired" by a singular spy shot and created by Joshua Byrnes – is a good indication of what's to come, and if that's what Mays means my "simple" and elegant," we're sold.
The Jaguar XF-R is almost complete, and the house of the saltant feline looks to retain its suite of exceptionally modest modifications for the hottest version of its hottest seller. Outside, the car gets hood vents and larger intakes for better breathing, and a sliver of a trunk spoiler hovering over quad tailpipes out back. Larger wheels wearing lower profile rubber hanging off of a seriously firm suspension will be on the menu, all the better to harness the signature trait of an R car: the 500-horsepower supercharged V8 up front. We'll see it some time next year, our bet is at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
Not to be confused with the "24 Hours of LeMans" (that zooty French endurance race), the "24 Hours of LeMons" is an event comprised of low-budget $500 race cars (yeah, "lemons"). The so-called "crap-car enduro" has enticed various members of the Autoblog team over the years into covering, and more recently participating, in the event. When asked to join a team for an upcoming race, we knew it was our obligation to go. We now find ourselves booked for the "Thunderhill Arse-Freeze-Apalooza." The event scheduled during last few days of December promises dreadfully cold weather, but plenty of off-beat racing fun. Our six-part weekly series will take you behind the scenes with our new race partners, the "Tinkerbell Rosso" racing team, and their 1996 Crown Victoria "Police Interceptor."
