OFFICIAL! - Ferrari presents the new 458 Italia

It's been a while since people have started talking about the replacement for Ferrari F430 Modena. There have even been some photographs of the car being tested, but now we have official information on the new car. It will be called 458 Italia.



The new car is the first Ferrari equipped with a direct fuel injection engine, something that will help the Italian automaker reduce consumption with no compromise to performance. The new engine used by Ferrari 458 Italia is an all-aluminium 4.5-litre (4,499 cm³) V8 that generates 570 bhp at 9,000 rpm and 540 Nm at 6,000 rpm. Also new is the seven-speed dual clutch transmission with automated gearshifts, a sort of gearbox that will soon be seen in all Fiat vehicles.

Ferrari 458 (displacement and number of cylinders) Italia is 4.53 m long, 1.94 m wide, 1.21 m tall and counts on a wheelbase of 2.65 m. Its dry weight is 1,380 kg, what gives the car a power-to-weight ration of 2.42 kg/bhp. Weight distribution is 42% at the front and 58% at the rear, for better traction, considering the car is rear wheel drive. Tyres are 235/35 ZR 20 in front and 295/35 ZR20 at the back. Top speed is 325 km/h and acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h is 3.4 s.

The new car also features its E-Diff and F1-Trac controlled by the same ECU, what improves longitudinal acceleration out of corners. As expected, the brakes are also much better than in F430. High performance ABS and a system that maximizes braking speed has lowered 100 km/h-0 stopping distance to 32.5 m.

The new car will be present at the Frankfurt Motor Show this year. There is no word on when sales will begin, but we believe they will happen soon after the car presentation.





Source: Ferrari

JOSS will present its Super Car, the first Australian... you know what

There are cars that have names that may not seem very creative, but at least they leave no doubts about what is their mission. This is the case for JOSS Super Car, the first Australian supercar. It is not only beautiful, but also incredibly mean.



First of all, although it is a not a small car (4.15 m long, 1.86 m wide and 1.05 m tall, with a wheelbase of 2.56 m), it is very light, with a weight of only 940 kg. This is due to the lightweight materials used in its construction, which are aluminium (both for the chassis and for the 6.8-litre engine) and carbon fibre (for the body). Considering the engine, produced exclusively for this car, generates 500 bhp at 5,750 rpm and 650 Nm at 2,800 rpm, its performance puts this car into the very exclusive club of supercars. And not only because of its name.

Accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in this machine took only 3.7 s in its first test, but the final figure is expected to reach something around 3 s. Top speed is 320 km/h. At first. JOSS also expects it to get even better, to something over 340 km/h.

There will only be 25 units of this car every year, at a cost of around US$ 500,000. Since the first 15 units are already bought, anyone interested in the car will have to wait in line to puts hands on the steering wheel and the right foot down on the gas pedal.










Source: JOSS via
AutoBlog

OFFICIAL! - GM releases first renderings of Chevrolet Agile

GM has just released the first official renderings of the new Chevrolet Agile, a subcompact hatchback that will be produced in Argentina in order to be sold in Latin America and which may also be the car that will be produced in the USA to face the new Ford Fiesta.



Although Agile will be built in Argentina, it has been completely developed in Brazil, at a cost of US$ 400 million, entirely raised by GM do Brasil, or else, with no foreign investments, such as the US taxpayers' money.

Agile must also be produced in the USA, where it is supposed to replace Aveo, something the magazine Motor Trend has already confirmed. The plant of Lake Orion, Michigan, has been chosen to produce the new hatchback, which is set to challenge Ford Fiesta.

The platform of the car is said to be Gamma II, the same one used by the so called Corsa D, the fourth generation of the car. The new Agile will bear a wheelbase of 2.51 m, what will make it be able to face newer small cars, such as Ford Fiesta and the upcoming VW Polo V. Engines are expected to be the same ones already in use in South America, or else, two petrol options, a 105 bhp 1.4-litre and a 129 bhp 1.8-litre. No word, so far, on a diesel option.

Besides the hatchback, in three and five doors, we can expect for a sedan, a pick-up truck and a SUV inspired on the GPix concept.




Source: GM

Rendered speculation: will the new Jaguar XJC look like this?

Soon after the new Jaguar XJ was introduced, Ian Callum said Jaguar is also developing a coupé version of the new flagship sedan. It will be the first time in more than 30 years the car will have a XJC version, a car that was produced from 1973 to 1978 with in-line six cylinder engines and powerful V12 as well. With that in mind, the "automotive manipulator" Theophilus Chin (we would call him the Photoshop magician, instead) has designed what he thinks the new XJC may look like. And we would certainly hope his version is an anticipation of the future.



According to Chin, he has reduced the rear overhang, removed the window frames and took away the black D-pillar, something that most people did not find very beautiful. The XJC will naturally be a little shorter than the new XJ, which is 5.12 m long and bears a wheelbase of 3.03 m, but other measures must remain the same: 1.90 m wide and 1.46 m tall (operhaps a little lower). The new coupé will be built over the same all-aluminium platform from XJ.

As for the engines, the new XJC may offer the same four engine options from the XJ, one diesel and three petrol units. The diesel powerplant may be a 3-litre V6 that produces 275 bhp at 4,000 rpm and 600 Nm at 2,000 rpm. The direct injection petrol units are a naturally aspirated 5-litre V8 and two supercharged powerplants, one producing 470 bhp at 6,000 rpm and 575 Nm from 2,500 rpm to 5,500 rpm and the other generating 510 bhp from 6,000 rpm to 6,500 rpm and 625 Nm from 2,500 rpm to 5,500 rpm. All versions of XJ come with a six-speed automatic transmission with manual gear changes with throttles behind the wheel. The XJC is sure to follow that. It is only a pity no 12 cylinder unit will make it to these cars. You know, low emission standards...



Source: Theophilus Chin

Una Bugatti per Damiano: forgotten Bugatti Brescia Type 22 is rescued to help people

Damiano Tamagni was a 22-years-old Swiss lad that was beaten to death by three young criminals in a Carnival night in Locarno, Swiss. His parents, instead of only mourning, created a foundation in order to prevent juvenile violence, the Fondazione Damiano Tamagni. What does this have to do with cars, you may ask, but, in this case, everything. In order to work, this foundation has to count on financial help and it has received a very nice one from a lady that was lying at the bottom of the lake Maggiore, in Switzerland. Her name? Bugatti Type 22 Brescia.



People do not have a real idea of how this precious car was ever sunk, but it seems the car was one of three vehicles ordered by a Swiss dealer of Bugatti. Since only two clients paid the import taxes, the remaining car could not enter the country. Why it has been sunk makes no sense at all to us, but... The fact is that the car was in the water for over 80 years, at least. It was first delivered in Nancy, France, in April 11, 1925.

The Type 22 comes from the Type 13, the first car Bugatti has mass-produced (2,005 units). The name Brescia has emerged from a victory that happened in 1921 in this Italian city in which all first four places included Bugatti Type 13 vehicles. The road legal versions of the car were named "Brescia modifiée", or Brescia modified. The Type 13 was a light car (450 kg) powered by a four-cylinder 1,4-litre engine (more precisely 1,368 cm³). It delivered 40 hp at 4,500 rpm. As with most cars of that time, Bugatti only sold the structure of the car (chassis and engine), which was taken to a coachbuilder in order to have a body. The one that was built for the Bugatti in the lake Maggiore was a service from Emaille, a coachbuilder that must not be that popular, once no one knows of other works it might have performed.

Now the car will be restored (believe, it is possible) and sold. The money will be given to Fondazione Damiano Tamagni. This is why the operation to save the car, officially announced in November 2008, was called "Una Bugatti per Damiano", or "A Bugatti for Damiano". It is a pity the car can't bring Damiano back, but at least it will help some other young guys not to leave so soon.



These are pictures that gives us an idea on what the car may look like when its restoration is completed. This is a 1923 Type 22, once driven by Colonel B. Austin, a disabled man (he had no legs) that entered the car in 16 races and won 11 of them. This helped change laws in the United Kingdom in order to allow handicapped people to drive. The pictures are at The Annex to The Green Dragon at Picasa and we have received the kind authorization of its owner to publish them here. What a noble car this is...










Source: Una Bugatti per Damiano and The Annex to The Green Dragon at Picasa