Audi TT Clubsport Quattro Concept

It looks like Audi will be revealing the Audi TT Club Sport Quattro Concep at the Wörthersee tuner show in Austria. The car is a concept study based on the Audi TT Roadster and uses the Porsche 356 Speedster as inspiration for its design. The concept has no top and no rear view mirrors, instead relying on a small windshield and side mirrors that have the turn indicators embedded within. Also new is the front end, now with a huge grille.

Callaway C16 goes topless

Callaway will be showing its latest model, a drop-top version of its C16 Coupe, at the 2007 New York Auto Show this April. The convertible will feature the same engine options as the coupe, meaning either 560 or 616 horsepower will be available from the supercharged 6.0-liter V8, depending on which state of tune the buyer selects.Transmission options also remain the same, namely a manual six-speed box or a six-speed paddle-shift semi-automatic. As expected, the Callaway C16 Convertible won’t come cheap, prices going up to $130,000.

Alar, The Ugliest Lamborghini Ever

Lamborghini released first official photos of Alar, which could quite possibly be the world’s ugliest Lamborghini. We understand that aerodynamics are important, but to do that to a Lambo, well, that’s a crime.

500+ hp Audi R8 GT3 unveiled

Audi has officially announced that they’ll offer a new sports car, based on they’re Audi R8 hit. The ‘racing’ R8 conforms to the production- based GT3 regulations and it will be available from autumn 2009. “The R8 is the first production Audi bearing the name and genes of a successful racing sportscar and is therefore an excellent base from which to build up our first big customer sport program,” explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. The new R8 will offer more than 500 horsepower and adds things like a rear wing, full roll cage, heat extractors over the engine bay, a longer spoiler.

Gorgeous concept: The Lotus Europa i6

Well one thing we sure aren’t missing these days are awesome concepts, after the Datsun 240Z by a polish designer, this time, south-african Idries Noah served us with this beautiful rendering of his Lotus Europa i6. He also said that it is a concept on a mid-engined car, rear wheel driven that wants to combine the classic Europa and Elite models with the newer cars from the English manufacturer.

Peugeot announces the 29 design contest finalists

Peugeot has announced that the 29 finalists of its 5th edition design contest have been chosen. The 29 design were selected from more than 2,500 submissions. This year’s theme is “Imagine the Peugeot in the worldwide megalopolis of tomorrow” (Create a Concept Car which is designed to evolve within the cities of the future, whilst retaining the key values of the 21st century. The projects should bear Peugeot’s stylistic codes and must contain the following four aspects included in this design competition: environmental awareness, social harmony, interactive mobility and economic efficiency). The winner of this competition will be announced in October and, besides the €10,000 prize, will get his design created on a 1:1 scale as a design study and shown to the public at the 2009 Shanghai Motor Show.

The 10 finalists of Peugeot’s design competition

After last month Peugeot has announced the 29 finalists of their design competition, today only 10 entries made it to the next round. Unfortunately, our favorite design, the Rayo, got kicked out, which leaves us with another favorite, the GALapagos, pictured above. To check out the remaining designs and vote for your favorite one, check out the contest’s website.

Mazda Kiyora Concept

Before the Paris Motor Show, we told you that one of Mazda’s debuts will be the Mazda Kiyora Concept. The Kyiora is a small city car concept aimed at young urban drivers and it previews a future Mazda car in this segment. The concept is powered by next generation 1.3-litre DISI (direct injection spark ignition) engine mated to a newly developed automatic transmission. Combined to a rigid and lightweight body shell, the car manages to achieve high fuel efficiency and low emissions (under 90 CO2 g/km). Kiyora’s design supports these technologies with aesthetic features that are expressive of its water theme yet highly functional.

Peugeot RC HYmotion4 Concept

The Peugeot RC HYmotion4 is a four doors, four seats and four wheel drive coupe, that follows the two RC concepts presented back in 2002 and the 908 RC.Though, as expected, the concept will never make it into production, it previews several technologies Peugeot plans on introducing on its production vehicles. The powertrain features a 1.6 litre THP engine ?tted at the rear of the vehicle, combined with a 95 hp (70 kW) electric motor (powered by “lithium-ion” batteries recharged by an energy recovery system which operates during both deceleration and braking). The end result is a maximum power of 313 hp (230 kW), a fuel consumption of 4.5 litres/100 km (52.2 US mpg) and CO2 emissions in the combined cycle of only 109 g/km, or zero in electric only drive mode.

Carbon ‘E7’, the world’s first purpose-built law enforcement vehicle

To be honest, I’m surprised nobody thought about this before though, given the current economy, I don’t know if the project will be successful. What we’re talking about is the Carbon ‘E7′, the world’s first purpose-built law enforcement vehicle, developed by Carbon Motors. The E7 (which is only a temporary name), was created with the help of over 1,700 law enforcement professionals, representing all 50 US States, who gave their input to the Carbon Motors team, so that the vehicle could be fully equipped with a suite of purpose-built performance and safety features.

Custom made Jaguar logo shaped motorbike

What do you get when you put together a designer and a motorbike fanatic? Usually, you get something really cool, and the bike you see in these photos is a perfect example for that. The custom made bike was created by designer Lee J. Rowland and motorbike fan Barend Hemmes, from Bermondsey, South London, with the help of South Yorkshire motorcycle maker Polar Cycles. Hemmes, 36, came up with the idea when, combining corporate logos with morobikes, suddenly realised that the Jaguar logo and the motorbike went really well together.

McLaren’s future supercar

After ending its partnership with Mercedes Benz on the SLR project, it looks like McLaren are back to work on their new project, a successor of the famous McLaren F1, photographed by one of Auto Express readers, while testing. Codenamed P11, not much is known about the car, except that it’s scheduled to go on sale in 2010 and, priced somewhere between £150,000 and £300,000 (around $263,000-$527,000), the car will be smaller than the F1 and it will compete supercars like the Ferrari F430 and the Lamborghini Gallardo.

Production ready Arash AF-10 unveiled

Arash Cars has been working on their supercar since 2005 and now they finally unveiled the production ready model of the Arash AF-10 supercar. The car will be powered by a GM 7.0-litre engine that delivers 550 hp and which, mated to a 6-speed Grazianno manual gearbox, allows the car to sprint from 0 to 60 mph (96.5 km/h) in under 3.4 seconds, and to achieve a top speed of over 200 mph (320 km/h). The AF-10 will also get 19-inch wheels (plus optional 21-inch), leather interior, satellite navigation, MP3 player and rear view camera with integrated touchscreen. In order to be as lightweight as possible, the Arash AF-10 will get a carbon fiber body shell and chassis

Bloodhound SSC car to break 1,000 mph

On October 15, 1997, the ThrustSSC, driven by RAF pilot Andy Green, broke the land speed record, being clocked at 1,228 km/h (763 mph). It was also the first car to break the sound barrier. Now, more than 10 years after, Richard Noble and Andy Green are hoping to break the record again, by doing 1,000 mph (Mach 1.4) in this, the Bloodhound SSC. This will also exceed the low altitude speed record for aircraft, currently at 994 mph. A scale model of the 42-foot, 6-ton car was unveiled today at London’s Science Museum, and the team is currently looking to raise the £10 million ($16 million) they need for the project.

RMC Scorpion hydrogen supercar

The car you see pictured here is the RMC Scorpion supercar, created by Ronn Motor Company. What really interesting about this car is that it uses a revolutionary gas fuel injection system that mixes hydrogen with petrol and injects it into the air-intake manifold. The hydrogen comes from the water stored into an on-board 1.5 gallon tank. This means better performance and less fuel consumption. Ronn Motor Company has announced two versions of the Scorpion, one powered by a 300 hp 3.5 liter Honda V6 returning 40 mpg and the other one powered by a twin-turbocharged HX version of the same engine, which delivers 450 hp, goes from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and goes over 200 mph.

Audi signs partnership with Prada

It looks like Prada, the Italian fashion giant, is really fond of the automotive market, because after last year we announced a partnership with Hyundai for a special edition of the Genesis Sedan, a couple of days ago Prada announced another deal with a very important car maker, Audi. So far there’s no word about possible special editions of Audi models, instead, the two companies will work together this year for some high-profile events, the first one being the yacht “Luna Rossa” during the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series.

Chrome platted Mercedes Benz C63 AMG

For someone who like to draw attention to himself, Dubai is one challenging city, because there, everyday you get to see houndreds or thousands of expensive cars. So, what do you do when you have a “modest” Mercedes Benz C63 AMG? You go for chrome. But not for the front grille or the door handles. No, no, you go with chrome for the whole thing. It’s true, you’re gonna get some heads turning your way, but you’re definitely also get some stomachs turned upside down.

Electric Opel Ampera

Today, GM has announced that March’s Geneva Motor Show will mark the debut of the Opel Ampera, an electric five-door, four-seat concept. According to GM, the Ampera, which is based on the Voltec powertrain, will offer 60 km (37 miles) of zero emissions driving, while for longer distances, the car will be powered by the same electric motor, powered by a small internal combustion engine. Opel claims this system suits Europeans perfectly, recent surveys showing that, for example, 80 percent of Germans drive less than 50 km every day.

Toyota considers bringing back the MR2 to rival Honda’s upcoming CR-Z

Introduced in 1984, the Toyota MR2 has been a real success for the Japanese carmaker and many car enthusiasts loved the small sports car. However, Toyota decided to cut down its selection of sports cars and replace them with less aggressive “sports packages”, which meant the MR2 production ended in 2007.But now there’s some great news coming from AutoExpress who have spoken with Toyota’s executive VP, Masatami Takimoto at the Geneva Motor Show and found out that the company is currently working on a small hybrid sports car, which will wear the MR2 name tag and which will rival the upcoming Honda CR-Z:

Lamborghini postpones the Estoque

Last Autumn, at the Paris Motor Show, the Lamborghini Estoque four-door coupe made its world debut and everyone, including us, was really thrilled with the car. However, we got some bad news from Autocar, who reports about the Italian car maker deciding to postpone the project. We don’t know if this means the Estoque was actually cancelled, because all Maurizio Reggiani, Lamborghini’s head of R&D said was that “The timing and market conditions are just not right for an additional model line.”

Kia VG Concept (KND-5)

Seoul Motor Show, Kia will unveil their latest vehicle, the KND-5 Concept, which previews the Korean company’s upcoming luxury sedan, so far only known with the codename “VG”. The car will be a direct competitor to near-luxury sedans such as the VW Passat CC and will share its FWD platform with the next generation Hyundai Azera (will debut in Korea in September). According to Kia World, the concept will measure 4945 mm in length, 1850 mm in width and 1475 mm in height, with a wheelbase of 2845 mm. Other than that, the KND-5 concept features headlamps and taillights with LED technology, 20 inch wheels and a huge panoramic glass roof.

The first ever SC 427 Cobra for sale on eBay

The first SC 427 Cobra ever built, one of only two existing gold Cobra’s, is now for sale on eBay. According to the eBay ad, the car is completely original, except for one repaint. The car was recently bought, in January and the new owner wants to sell it due to some upcoming investing opportunities. The new owner will get the original one owner title, original payment book and dealer purchase order. The car is very rare, so the price ain’t pretty, $3,750,000.

2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe

Yesterday I went to see the new Fast and Furious and the movie features a lot of interesting cars. However, a recent report from Inside Line shows that another new hot car was suppose to make an appearance in the movie, the 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe. It looks like Universal Studios requested a car for the movie but several month later announced Hyundai that the car has been dropped from the list. Of course, Hyundai are not very happy with this situation, first because the car would’ve received a lot of attention and second because the vehicle they reserved for the movie was held from other activities. There was no confirmation from Universal but Hyundai suspects another car manufacturer blocked them.

Death Race inspired Chevrolet Camaro

This year’s Moscow Tuning Show featured a special car, a ’70s Chevrolet Camaro modified by a team of students from Russian MHPI design school to look like a car from last year’s movie Death Race (a remake of the 1975 Death Race 2000 movie). The movie’s action takes place in the future, and Jason Statham plays a former race driver who is forced to race armored cars against criminals with life sentences. The movie has a lot of cool car action and it also features super hot Natalie Martinez, as Jason’s co-pilot.

2010 Jaguar XJ teaser

Last week, speaking at the 2009 Shanghai Auto Show, Jaguar’s Managing Director Mike O’Driscoll released the first details about their upcoming Jaguar XJ, which is set to be unveiled this summer in London, on July 9th. According to Mr. O’Driscoll, the new XJ will feature the next generation of Jaguar’s aerospace-inspired aluminium body architecture, together with a range of new ultra-efficient Gen III petrol and diesel powerplants, including the 510 hp supercharged V8 engine. Also, the new XK will be available in standard or long wheelbase. More details will be unveiled closer to debut, but Jaguar promises the new XJ will feature the “highest standards of personal luxury and specification”.

Gemballa Tornado 750 GTS

My God, have you ever seen something more terrifying? And I’m not sure if it’s in a good or a bad way. I mean, imagine cruising down the highway and spotting this thing in your mirrors. Must be pretty scary. Call me crazy, but I absolutely love this, the Gemballa Tornado 750 GTS. Based on the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, the car features an impressive and extremely aggressive body kit, with a front apron extended by 60 mm with integrated aero lip, extensive air inlets, a completely new bonnet which opens forward, body extensions mounted all the way from the front to the rear, new side skirts, rear skirt extended by 40 mm, race diffuser and new rear spoiler with carbon flanks, the exterior package being completed by huge 22-inch GT SPORT forged rims.

Next generation Renault Clio sketches surface

It looks like Renault is working hard preparing for the future, especially in the small car class, where the competition is incredibly taugh. Because here are leaked designs of the next generation Renault Clio, which is most likely to debut in 2011 or 2012, we don’t know yet for sure, since Renault hasn’t even confirmed the model. However, since we didn’t see any spy shots of this car undergoing tests, it’s safe to assume it will be some time before we see it on display at a motor show and what we probably have here are some early design proposals, but we like it so far. What do you think?