Car News

BMW’s latest commercial for the M3 shows the new coupe darting around a racetrack. A DNA helix shows little clips of the BMW Sauber F1 machine within the spiral, and the advertisment is designed to signify the use of racetrack technology in the M3. The car can only be heard for a short part...

Volkswagen Group has given itself ten years to catch up with Toyota in terms of productivity and profit as part of CEO Martin Winterkorn’s pledge to close the gap in performance between the two carmakers. The timeframe is backed by Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking, who sees Toyota’s...

With rising fuel costs, small city cars are quickly becoming more popular in both developing and developed markets. While Toyota and VW are about to unveil new minicar concepts at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show, Fiat is now considering building its own rival version. The potential Fiat minicar...

Citroen will be displaying two new concept vehicles at next week’s Frankfurt Motor Show, the previously announced C5 Airscape drop-top as well as the new low-cost C-Cactus. The design ethos for the C-Cactus was to save costs, which is why the concept features innovative manufacturing...

Toyota admits lithium ion battery technology is still too hazardous to use in its production cars despite GM announcing earlier this year that it expects to have a plug-in hybrid vehicle with lithium batteries by the end of the decade. The Japanese giant doesn’t want to rush out products with...

The new electronic driver trainer was not the only fuel-saving technology talked up at Audi’s TechDay 2007 seminar in Germany last week. Officials also gave details about what to expect for a new hybrid version of the carmaker’s Q7 SUV. Though still in concept form, the technology...

Porsche AG is planning to increase its stake in VW to 51% by the beginning of next year according to a new report by “Der Spiegel”, a German weekly magazine. As expected, a spokesman for Porsche said no decision had been made whether to raise the stake above the current 31%. This refers...

The sale of the Dutch formula one team Spyker has been agreed and will be officially confirmed shortly. The buyer is Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, who in recent days joined with the Michiel and Jan Mol consortium in a jointly (US) $110m bid, the local CNBC-TV18 reported on Saturday. Mallya's...

F1's Overtaking Working Group (OWG) has agreed on its first recommendations to improve the spectacle of grand prix racing. Following the mostly processional Turkish grand prix, the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport reports that the group - headed by team technical boffins Paddy Lowe (McLaren)...

The upcoming Dodge Challenger will not be sold in European markets as the car will only be manufactured in limited numbers with many American fans likely to miss out as well. The decision was apparently made by Chrysler’s new owners, Cerberus Capital Management, who actually overturned plans...

The Chinese built Smart Fortwo replica, Shuanghuan’s Noble minicar, will go on sale in Europe despite threats of legal action from Mercedes-Benz. Officials from Mercedes have threatened the European importer of the Chinese vehicles, Martin Motors, who says the cars will still go on sale as...

Toyota has admitted harboring at least a superficial interest in F1's reigning double world champion Fernando Alonso. With the Spaniard plainly unhappy at McLaren in 2007, his former boss and mentor Flavio Briatore this week explained that "everybody" in pitlane would be interested in making a bid...

Volkswagen in the US announced today that it has partnered with the not for profit organization Carbonfund to start a carbon emissions offset program covering the emissions of every car it sells in the States between September 1 this year through until January 2 next year. Programs like the one...

Just a few months following the market debut of the saloon, Mercedes-Benz is now unveilling the estate version of the new C-class. The new model offers a load capacity of 1,500L and includes an automatic opening tailgate for easy access. Compared to the outgoing model, the new estate consumes 12%...

Infiniti will likely add an AWD option to its G37 coupe in the following months to keep it abreast with its closest rival, BMW’s 335i and its recently announced 335xi coupe. According to its communications manager Tim Gallagher, Infiniti’s dealers and customers have been demanding an...

A potent high-performance version of the TT Coupe and Roadster is not very far away, however, specific details of the future model are still hard to come by. There’s been much debate about the power source for the new super-coupe with most suggesting either a twin-turbo version of the current...

In a bid to compete with BMW and its own Google Maps-based ConnectedDrive navigation package, rival Mercedes-Benz today announced that it has teamed up with both Yahoo and Google Maps to deliver an easy to use in-car navigation system. The system will be available on The C, CL and S-class models...

German tuner Novitec Rosso will be displaying a new modified version of the Ferrari 599 GTB at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show that’s set to go on sale immediately after. The new package consists of a subtle styling kit for increased downforace, as well as some mild power and handling...

Lexus has added a new model to its GS lineup, the new GS460 powered by the same 1UR-FSE 4.6L V8 engine as in the LS flagship. However, the GS doesn’t receive the new direct injection system used in the LS, meaning power levels are slightly down. The engine in the GS460 develops its max power...

Contestants for this year’s European Car Of The Year awards have been announced, with this year’s field comprising 32 entrants from around the world. Last year’s comp saw Ford’s S-Max MPV take top honors, edging out the Opel Corsa and Citroen’s Picasso. This...