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Audi S8 tuned to 640 hp by ABT Sportsline

Volkswagen Group tuning house ABT Sportsline debuted its latest version of Audi's flagship luxury-sport sedan, the Audi S8. The already quick sedan has received a facelift for the 2015 model year, as revealed a few months ago at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show, and it didn't take ABT Sportsline long to get their hands on the latest version. While Audi's changes to the exterior have been relatively mild, with restyled front and rear bumpers and a slightly redesigned grille, the tuning house once again focused on changes under the hood.

May Sale For Regal Bentley

IT’S time to shake the piggy bank as a 1970 Bentley T1 once owned by His Grace the Duke of Devonshire is being offered for sale without reserve at Silverstone Auctions’ May Sale on Saturday 24th May. The car is being offered for sale due to lack of use by its current owner Leslie Bricusse, the English composer famous for writing a string of hits including the theme to James Bond’s Goldfinger, Sammy Davis Jnr’s What kind of fool am I, and Nina Simone’s Feeling Good. During the Duke’s ownership, notable passengers included Her Majesty The Queen, former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, poet and writer Sir John Betjeman, and both Princess Alexandra and Princess Margaret.

New Ford Mustang goes on sale in Europe at UEFA Champions League Final

The new Ford Mustang (pictured) on sale for Football fans The new Ford Mustang is going to be available in the UK, and in right hand drive for the first time, and Ford has decided to make it a bit of an event. Sponsors of the UEFA Champions League since 1992, Ford has decided that the UEFA Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid in Lisbon, when Ford expects 70 million UK and European fans to tune in, is the ideal time to put the new Mustang up for sale. Ford is offering 500 pre-order Mustangs during the final – 130 of which will be RHD for the UK – in a choice of Fastback or convertible and with either the 324bhp 2.3 litre EcoBoost or the 420bhp 5.0 litre V8.

Heathrow congestion charge pondered

DRIVERS travelling to Heathrow could face a congestion charge should the west London airport be chosen for expansion. Bosses at Heathrow will tell the Whitehall-appointed Airports Commission there could be a case for introducing a charge once improvements in public transport in the area are delivered. Such a charge would not apply to surrounding roads such as the M25, the M4 and the A4, but would affect vehicles travelling to the airport.

Alfa Romeo to launch 8 new cars in next 4 years – Alfa MiTo to be dropped

The Alfa Romeo Gloria (pictured) could point to a new Giulia Alfa Romeo has been stuck in the doldrums for quite a while, and is now in the sorry state of having just two cars on sale – the Alfa MiTo and Alfa Giulietta – both compact cars and both with front wheel drive. Not really Alfas, although they’re better than you might expect. But in a brave plan to turn Alfa Romeo in to a proper force again – a plan we reported was on the cards a year ago – Sergio Marchionne has revealed that Alfa is planning to launch eight new cars in the next four years and concentrate on proper RWD cars with proper driver appeal.

Mustang celebrated with Bullit in Silverstone

THE FORD MUSTANG turns 50 this year and to celebrate arguably its finest on-screen hour in the film Bullit, the team behind this year’s Silverstone Classic event in July have filmed their very own homage on the mean streets of…Silverstone. The Highland Green Ford Mustang GT prowls the Northamptonshire village before it catches up with black Dodge Charger R/T, and the actions then switches to the Silverstone circuit itself before the dramatic conclusion. ‘It’s hard to imagine a better way for us to celebrate the Mustang’s forthcoming 50th birthday party than by making this special homage to the classic car chase in Bullitt,” said Nick Wigley, Silverstone Classic Event Director.

Ariel's Atom returns faster than ever

BRITISH firm Ariel has announced an upgraded version of its sensational Atom sportscar that is faster than ever, making it one of the quickest cars on sale today. The Atom 3.5R showcases a number of upgrades over the outgoing model which contribute to the sensational performance. The 2.0-litre Honda V-TEC engine has had its supercharger revised to give 350bhp and over 240lb.ft of torque, while the gearbox is now a six-speed paddleshift system that can manage five downshifts in less than a second.

Motorists Worried About Safety On Smart Motorways

THE IAM is calling for more information and advice on ‘smart’ motorways for drivers. The call comes after a poll conducted by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) discovered that seventy-one per cent of drivers said they would feel less safe on a motorway with no hard shoulder than a motorway with one. One of the main concerns of respondents is the plan to increase the distance between safety refuges with forty-eight per cent believing that safety refuges should be no more than 500 yards apart.

Hybrid Porsche 911, Cayenne Coupe, turbo four and more coming soon

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles outlined its plans for the next five years on Tuesday. Not to be outdone, Porsche revealed some interesting tidbits about the next three years on Thursday. To start: Porsche will produce several 700-hp hybrid versions of its Panamera sedan and stalwart 911.

Kia Sportage and Soul recall – affects 7000 UK cars

5,787 UK Kia Sportage models (pictured) are being recalled. Recalls are a fact of life for car makers, but at least the industry now tries to respond to problems as they arise, and before they cause damage to people of vehicles. This latest recall comes from Kia in the UK, which is recalling a total of 5,785 Sportage models and 1.432 Soul models to address a problem that ha been identified with the seat belt pre-tensioner mechanism.

What horrible fate has befallen these Aston Martin DB9s?

We're not really sure what is happening in this photo posted by Reddit user Stage1V8. Ok, that's not entirely true -- what's happening is more or less self-evident: Three Aston Martin DB9s of indeterminate vintage are being hauled on a flatbed trailer big enough for only two. The why remains a mystery.

Special Edition Bmw M5 Packing More Power Is Launched

BMW’S popular M5 performance saloon has reached an important milestone – it’s 30 years old. And to celebrate, the German car maker has unveiled a limited edition model boasting more power than any previous M5. Branded the M5 30 Jahre Edition, this limited run ’30 Years’ version packs 600 horsepower – 40 more than the standard car.

Alarming number of drivers lack road sign knowledge

A THIRD OF DRIVERS in the UK do not know even the most basic road signs such as the National Speed Limit and Slippery Road warnings. This is the finding of a survey by More Than, which found that 34% of drivers in the UK did not know what the National Speed Limit sign was. The Slippery Road sign was misunderstood by one in seven drivers as meaning ‘paint on the road.’ With research conducted alongside 29 police forces, the survey found 20% of UK drivers had received penalty points for speeding in the past 10 years.

Chevrolet prices CNG-ready Impala for 2015

Chevrolet announced pricing for the upcoming CNG-capable 2015 Impala sedan, which can run both on gasoline and compressed natural gas. The sedan will start at $38,210 and will go on sale in late fall of 2014. This version of the Impala will be available in base LS trim as well as the more luxurious LT trim, though Chevrolet has not announced pricing specific to the higher-spec LT model.

Cadillac recalls SRX for acceleration lag

Cadillac is recalling certain 2013 model year SRX crossovers for an issue that can cause a three to four second lag in acceleration due to a problem with the transmission control module. Such a lag may increase the risk of a crash, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This recall concerns only the SRX models equipped with the 3.6-liter V6 engine, and the affected vehicles were manufactured between May 29, 2012 and June 26, 2013.

'Smartest' UK drivers revealed

DRIVERS aged 50-65 from the Midlands have been judged to be Britain’s 'smartest' – displaying the most fuel efficient and safe driving behaviours – while people aged 18-30 from Wales and the South West are more like driving dunces, new research claims. Youngsters in the north of England are the nation’s smartest young drivers, but overall older drivers reign supreme on the road. The Shell FuelSave Smarter Driving research ranked young (aged 18-30) and older motorists (aged 50-65) on their ‘smart’ and ‘not-smart’ driving behaviours towards fuel efficiency and safety – everything from smooth driving to wearing appropriate footwear behind the wheel.

Project Car Hell, Unidentifiable German Coupes Edition: Borgward Isabella Coup

Welcome back to Project Car Hell, where every iron atom always finds the oxygen it seeks, every vehicle ran when parked, and the parts you need are always in another continent! Last week, we got all patriotic with a couple of classic American muscle cars, and that just whetted our appetite for cars that were smaller and more, you know, German. We gave you a tough choice between a couple of air-cooled Volkswagens not long ago, but this time we're interested in German marques that disappeared in the 1960s: NSU and Borgward.

One Lap of the Web: No school like old school

-- You don't see a Packard-powered hot rod very often, and we have to wonder why. Stuff your Ford flatheads, ditch your boring V8s! Few things in the world are cooler than eight cylinders lined up in unwavering authority, to the tune of 327ci, with a McCullough supercharger feeding four Stromberg 97 carburetors above aluminum heads.

Peugeot Releases Special Edition RCZ With All The Trimmings

FLUSHED with the success of its racy RCZ sports coupe, Peugeot has launched a ‘Red Carbon’ LE special edition model. Combining high specification, bespoke trim and ‘Red Carbon’ badging, the car is distinguished from the regular RCZ models by a red-stitched interior. Limited to 300 models, the ‘Red Carbon’ LE is derived from the regular Sport model.

Call for ban on on vehicle-side advertising

ALL ADVERTISING and promotional banners on commercial vehicles should be banned as they are distracting to other drivers and tempt them to use mobile phones while driving. This is the call from Flexed, a car leasing company, which has carried out a survey that shows a quarter (23%) of drivers admit to trying to type a website address into smartphone after seeing an advert on a lorry. A further 10% of drivers admitted they had tried to take a camera phone photo of an advertisement on a commercial vehicle to use later.

Breedlove's Back!

Craig Breedlove, the land-speed racer who set records at over 400, 500 and 600 mph has a new race car on the drawing boards and is the feature of a couple other projects. We caught up with him recently in Los Angeles. It seems Breedlove always had a car project in the works; most recently, he took the Spirit of America Formula Shell LSRV to almost 700 mph on the Black Rock Desert in 1996.

New Subaru WRX STI aiming for a new Isle of Man TT lap record

The new Subaru WRX STI (pictured) is heading to the IoM Three years ago rally driver Mark Higgins went off to the Isle of Man with the last generation Subaru WRX STI and set a new record for a car round the TT course. And he’s about to attempt to beat that record in the new WRX STI. The current record round the challenging TT course is 19m 56.7 seconds – at an average speed of 115mph – a truly astonishing pace for a standard road car on a difficult and challenging road course.

New car sales still rising – April 2014 is 26th monthly improvement

The Ford Fiesta (pictured) is still the best-selling UK car in April 2014 It’s almost become a monthly ritual to roll out yet another rise in new car sales in the UK as the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reveals the latest figures. And April 2014 is no different. In fact, it’s no different to the last 26 months, as that’s how long monthly figures for year on year sales have continued to rise.

Design Development: Ford Edge concept

Vehicle type mid-size SUV ConceptLength 4,689mmWidth (exc. Mirrors) 2,119mm Height 1,699mmWheelbase 2,849mm Chief exterior designer George BucherExterior design manager Kevin GeorgeSenior exterior designers Steve Gilmore, Shawn WehrlyInterior design manager Hak Soo HaInterior lead designers Yuichi Ogura & Zulf AliTechnical build manager Bruce Youngs Project started January 2013 Project completed October 2013Launch Los Angeles Auto Show 2013 The second-generation Edge mid-size crossover will be a global product, sold  in North America, Europe, China and South America by 2015. The 2013 LA Auto Show concept prefaced its arrival closely.  Sitting below the Explorer and above the Escape (or Kuga in Europe), the original Edge was introduced in 2006.

Vote: Would you buy a Toyota Etios Cross?

Millennials are our future, God help us all, and automakers are still trying to figure out to get this supposedly car-averse demographic to part with its money. Of course, the real reason many Millennials aren't buying cars is because they don't have much money to part with. And, in that respect, they're in the same shoes as consumers in developing markets.

Peugeot RCZ Red Carbon Limited Edition launches – price from £26,000

Peugeot RCZ Red Carbon Limited Edition (pictured) All the column inches (or whatever the digital equivalent is) for Peugeot’s RCZ since last year have been about the more powerful RCZ R. But that’s no surprise when it comes with a very agreeable 270bhp to play with – enough to push the RCZ R to 62mph in 5.9 seconds – good looks and decent economy. But Peugeot has a whole selection of RCZs lurking below the R, so as it’s obviously time to garner some attention for the R’s lesser siblings we get a limited edition RCZ to bump up sales and footfall in Peugeot showrooms – the Peugeot RCZ Red Carbon Limited Edition.

Freeman Thomas: “it's easier to create your own rocket than create your own car”

The Industrial Designers Society of America's ‘Designing Innovation' panel discussion took place in San Francisco yesterday. The event was sponsored by Ford, with strategic design director, Freeman Thomas taking a place on the panel. Having parked a C-MAX Energi and new F-150 in the venue, Ford's influence weighed rather heavily, particularly in the early moments.

Keep Cruisin', Marv Spector

For the last 30 years or so, you could belly up to the service counter at Specter Off Road in scorching Chatsworth, Calif., deep in the Valley, underneath the red-and-white arrow that stretches the length of the squat stucco building. You'd first have to stroll past the long and dark row of dizzying Toyota Land Cruisers -- Japanese fire trucks, FJ60s with roof-mounted machine guns and a propane-powered 1973 Baja 1000 champion. Past the glass cases of old photos and model kits and RC cars from Japan.

One-off Mustang GT raffled for Multiple Sclerosis Society

Ford Motor Co. is teaming up with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in an effort to raise money for future research and aid those affected by MS. The Mustang raffle is set for Aug.

Road funding must increase, say MPs

THERE needs to be a big increase in Government funding and a change of approach for England's major road network if predicted traffic increases are correct, according to MPs. But any move towards using road charging to pay for the extra funding couldn't be achieved without broad agreement among politicians and motorists, said the House of Commons Transport Committee. In a report the committee added that it was "not convinced" by the case for establishing the Highways Agency, the body responsible for England's motorways and major A-roads, as a Government-owned company.