ma section - featured

Peugeot will unveil a concept version of a new diesel-hybrid powered 308 hatchback at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show. Until now, most carmakers relied on petrol engines for their hybrid cars but it makes sense to use a diesel as the oil-burners are already more efficient than petrol...

It was fifty years ago that British racing legend Stirling Moss broke the class F land speed record at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats in the streamlined MG EX181. The Class F rules stipulated that the engine had to displace between 1.1 and 1.5L. Moss reached an amazing 245.64mph in the tadpole...

Flavio Briatore has suggested that McLaren was only able to keep up with Ferrari this year because of the spy scandal. The Renault boss, who respectively beat McLaren and Ferrari for the world championships in 2005 and 2006, said he does not believe his counterpart Ron Dennis that no-one except...

Toyota has told its parts suppliers to expect its production numbers to surpass ten million vehicles next year as sales numbers in the US and new emerging markets continue to grow. Execs are predicting production will rise in ’08 by six percent on current levels, topping out at an estimated...

Kia has released a second image of its upcoming Pro-cee’d, which is set for its world debut at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show. The new three-door hatch will be joining the cee’d five-door and the soon to be released cee’d wagon models in the European market and was...

Volkswagen's deal with Daimler to use Bluetec engines in America is in trouble. VW, Audi, and Mercedes Benz had announced a collaboration where they would jointly market diesels under the Bluetec brand in November last year. However, VW is now announcing it will revert back to its own TDI branding...

Diesels have long been the preferred choice of fuel across Europe, and, slowly, it’s starting to penetrate the US market, but, surprisingly, motorists in Japan have never really taken to the efficient fuel. Now, Nissan hopes to make inroads in its home market with the introduction of a diesel...

With the historic sale of Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management concluding last Friday, the born again carmaker will be reverting to its classic Pentastar logo and also gets a new CEO in the process. Stepping in as the new Chief and Chairman is former Home Depot boss Bob Nardelli, who replaces...

Researchers at MIT have been testing a prototype of a new internal combustion engine design that’s said to improve fuel-efficiency by up to 25% and runs on regular petrol. Labeled homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI), the new technology works by achieving combustion with only...

The first of a total of 25 Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberias have departed from Moscow on an epic journey that will take them on a 6,200km trek across the roughs of Siberia. The drivers will be crossing numerous public roads, gravel tracks, icy rivers and the Gobi desert, before finishing up at...

For the first time in the US auto industry’s 102 year history American carmakers in July commanded less than 50% of the market. Import brands accounted for 51.9% of sales in July, with GM, Chrysler and Ford making up the remaining 48.1%. Only a year ago, the statistics were reversed. Actual...

BMW’s Z4 M Coupé has been out of the spotlight as of late but that hasn’t stopped Germany’s AC Schnitzer from developing a new tuning kit for the car. Labelled the Profile, the new kit comes with a 350hp version of the venerable 3.2L straight six, which has gone in for some...

At next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show Volkswagen will be presenting more than fifty different models, eight of which will be making their world debuts. The newcomers on VW’s stands will be the new Tiguan SUV, six new economical BlueMotion models and a rear-engined minicar concept. CEO...

In 1975 Aston Martin was sold to a pair of North American businessmen named Peter Sprague and George Minden. One year later the iconic Lagonda was introduced to the world, a futuristic car designed by stylist William Towns. However, that same year, Towns sketched up an even more radical version of...

Only in its third season, the calendar of the fledgling A1GP has expanded to eleven events and sees several location changes for the 2007/08 season. Launched back in March of 2004, the A1GP is described as the World Cup of Motorsport as competing teams represent individual countries instead of...

It’s finally official. Alfa Romeo will return to U.S. shores next year with the debut of the 8C Competizione supercar. Maserati North America boss Jim Selwa made the announcement at the unveiling of the final production version of the U.S.-spec 8C at the Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance over...

The Hennessey-tuned Venom 1000 Dodge Viper has eclipsed the world’s fastest car, the Bugatti Veyron, in a 0-200mph winner takes all shoot-out conducted by Road & Track, The twin-turbocharged Viper managed a best time of 20.3 seconds, almost four full seconds clear of the quad-turbo Veyron in...

MG under the guidance of China’s Nanjing has developed a new hatchback model based on the original Rover 25 that was sold up until 2005. When MG and Rover were split, Nanjing Auto managed to scoop up the tooling for the car and as evidenced by these latest spy shots a new MG3 has already...

General Motors has beat market expectations by posting a $891 million profit for the second quarter, stark contrast to the $3.4 billion loss it made in the same period only one year ago. This was the third straight quarter of profits for GM, which cited improve sales in new markets as the main...

Following the success of the new 500, Fiat is considering adding another model to the minicar segment to compete with similar cars expected from Toyota and Renault. If given the green light, the new minicar could arrive on the market by the end of the decade with a price tag close to €5,000...