Spada Codatronca Monza

Taking center stage today at the Top Marques show, Monaco, was the Spada Codatronca Monza. Essentially a roofless, hardcore track focused version of the 2007 Coupe, the Monza is a pure sports car. Penned by Ercole Spada, the Monza is a light weight sports car that retains the taught, angular surfacing of the coupe and familar aggressive DRG and tapered rear but loses all forms of weather proofing in the name of weight.

Audi A1 Quattro models ‘on the way’

Audi has confirmed it is testing four-wheel drive Quattro versions of the A1 – indicating an imminent expansion of Audi’s supermini range. Although showcased as this one-off at a Quattro publicity event in Montreal, Canada, to celebrate 30 years of the all-corner drive system, Ingolstadt acknowledged at last autumn’s 2010 Paris motor show that Quattro versions of the A1 were in the pipeline. The production A1 Quattro will use the Haldex differential to split drive to both axles; it’s a similar technology to that found in A3 and TT Quattros, as opposed to the mechanical Torsen diff found in larger Quattro models.

BMW ActiveE: Electric BMW 1-Series at Geneva

BMW 1-Series Electric - BMW ActiveE It’s been a while since we first saw the BMW ActiveE, the BMW 1-Series with the gubbins from the MINI E bolted under the bonnet (and various other places) and intended as the next instalment in BMW’s plans to charge its customers to do real-world development and research. In fact, the electric BMW 1-Series first crossed our radar in December 2009 and went on to be shown as a concept at the Detroit Motor Show a month later. And now it’s back at the Geneva Motor Show in March, only now it’s production-ready.