LEAKED! - Dacia Duster appear in its final form in Romenian forum

One more automotive mystery is over. The series-production Dacia Duster, developed under the codename H79, has appeared with no disguises at the Romenian forum DaciaClub.ro and soon in the pages of Autos Segredos, from our friend Marlos Ney Vidal, who has warned us about the scoop and authorised us to publish the images.



Duster may follow the same dimensions its concept has presented, or else, it can be 4.25 m long, 1.50 m high and 1.64 m wide, with a wheelbase of 2.80 m. Which such a wheelbase, the same one of a full size car, 7 cm longer than a Ford Fusion. That will make this small and low cost SUV be able to carry five or seven people, possibly in different versions, as it happens with Nissan Livina and Nissan Grand Livina, for example. The version that has been photographed must be the five-seater.

Dacia H79 must really adopt the name Duster and be presented at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. Engines are expected to be the petrol units 1.6-litre and 2-litre that are already used by Renault, as well as some diesel options.




If you want to check the images in a bigger way, click below to see the original images, made by "balaurel_cli", in high definition.





Source: DaciaClub.ro via Autos Segredos

Fiat presents its new Strada Cabine Dupla (double cab) in Brazil

Some of you may have already heard about the new Fiat Strada Cabine Dupla (which stands for double cab). Even if you have not heard about it so far, it is worth taking a look at the first double cab small pick-up truck based on a car of the world.



Fiat Strada is based on Palio, a car that is sold all over the world, but only in emerging countries (what has made it be called third world car instead of world car, as Fiat wanted it to be known). With this new version, it intends to keep its leadership in its market segment in the Brazilian car market. It also wants to be a solution that many countries of the world will want to have. Strada is the most exported car produced by Fiat in South America.

Equipped with a flexfuel 1.8-litre engine that generates 112 bhp with petrol and 114 bhp with ethanol, Fiat Strada CD is 4.46 m long, 1.74 m wide, 1.63 m tall and bears a wheelbase of 2.75 m. Besides the 1.8-litre engine, there will be a 1.4-litre engine version for exports and also for Brazilian companies. Fiat denies it is working on this version, but it has also denied there would ever be a double cab Strada.

Presented in Itaipu, the biggest hydroelectric powerplant of the world in operation, Strada CD has no room for more than four people. The two back passengers also suffer from lack of space, unless they are small people, such as children. They should not be taller than 1.75 m, anyway. Anyone that is taller than that will have no headroom and, depending on how tall is the driver, will also have to travel with its legs open in order to fit in the car.

The car will cost R$ 46,440, about US$ 23,800. If you are not Brazilian, this may sound excessive to you, but I can assure you this price, in the Brazilian market, is highly competitive. In other words, Brazilian people are so rich they accept to pay insanely high prices for cars that could cost half of what they pay. In fact, they cost half in other countries where they are sold. Carmakers blame the government and the government calls automakers greedy. With no one to blame, it gets difficult to have a fair price on cars.





















Source: Fiat

OFFICIAL - Lamborghini pays homage to Valentino Balboni with Gallardo LP 550-2

If you are a fan of Lamborghini, you certainly already have heard of Valentino Balboni. He is the man that has helped develop most of the most important Lamborghini from all times. Now that he has decided to retire, Lamborghini pays him a beautiful homage by creating a car in his honour: the LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni. With only 250 units, each car will cost 162,000 euros.



The name, as usual, states the output of the 5.2-litre V10 engine (550 bhp) and the fact that this is a rear wheel drive car, something Balboni must have missed from the old days (all modern Lamborghini, since Audi took the brand over, are all wheel drive). This 1,380 kg baby accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.9 s and reaches a top speed of 320 km/h. It is surely something that will make "papa" Balboni extremely proud and with a sense that he has fullfiled his mission.






Source: Lamborghini

Aston Martin and Toyota join forces to offer luxury city car, the Cygnet

Sign of the times... Who would ever imagine to see a small car with the badge of Aston Martin? Well, that day is about to come, if we mean a functional car. If we don't, it is already possible to see how that functional car will look like with the picture below. Call it Cygnet.



The day we have referred to will be in September, when the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show opens its doors. Aston Martin plans to present the car as a "new luxury commuter concept".

If this car looks familiar, you have your reasons. Aston Martin admits it has asked for Toyota's help developing this car, since it is based on the new iQ. We would bet it to be based on the new iQ 1.33, which features a 1.33-litre engine able to produce 98 bhp and 125 Nm, if not something even stronger, in order to honour its new badge.

The aim of this daring proposal is clear: besides improving its product range, Aston Martin needs to lower its carbon dioxide emission levels. Nothing would be better to do so than a partnership with a company that is already concerned about that. The only thing that will remais high will be the price of the car, well above 20,000 euros. For a vehicle that is only 3 m long, affordability will still be out of Aston Martin's vocabulary. On purpose, of course.

Source: Aston Martin

GTbyCitroën gets close to reality in the streets of London

There is at least one fantasy supercar that will become reality. The GTbyCitroën, created for the video game Gran Turismo, has also made an appearance at the Paris Motor Show last year and has been so widely praised by consumers Citroën apparently has decided to give it a small run series. We only doubt it will be powered by fuel cells, as in Gran Turismo 5. We would bet on a powerful diesel, similar to the ones that have been used by Peugeot to win this year's edition of Le Mans. Anyway, we would love to know what has powered it around the streets of London, where it has decided to show off a little bit, as you can see below.



GTbyCitroën is 4.96 m long, 2.08 m wide and only 1.09 m tall and, as we have said, it uses fuel cells on Gran Turismo 5. They feed its powerful electric engine and helps it face hot cars like Nissan GT-R with no emissions but water. Besides riding around London, this car will also be at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which starts on July 3.







Source: Citroën