Blog on 2040Parts

MG TF LE500 production scheduled

By Ben Pulman Motor Industry 08 May 2008 13:12 Another twist in the will-they-won't-they MG TF saga. The company has announced that production of the roadster will start again at Longbridge from early August 2008, and cars will be in dealerships by September. The first 500 cars off the Longbridge line will be the limited-edition, high-spec LE500.

Driven: Honda FRV

The Honda FRV is a misunderstood car. It's a European market orientated compact MPV that unusually has two rows of three seats, a configuration shared only with the earlier Fiat Multipla design. But unlike the bulbous, short, tall and deep-windowed Italian, the Honda shares almost identical dimensions to the five seat Renault Scenic that is the compact MPV market leader (the longer wheel base Scenic and other compact MPVs with three rows of seats to seat seven people is about a foot longer).

Vauxhall VXR8 gets new V8

By Ben Pulman First Official Pictures 06 May 2008 10:06 Vauxhall’s VXR8 is getting a new V8. The latest bent eight – designated LS3 – gains an extra 195cc to take power up to 425bhp. The 6.2-litre V8 is same engine that has also found its way into the revised Corvette and Pontiac’s version of the VXR8, the G8.

Commentary: Auto China 2008

China is a country that's been trading its bicycles for a more modern mode of transport: the car. And while modernization as a whole can be viewed as a good thing, the alarming rate of growth can also be a severe drawback. Our recent trip to Beijing for Auto China 2008 is case in point.

Nissan GT-R to be revised for Europe

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 01 May 2008 18:14 Nissan is fettling its GT-R before it goes on sale in the UK in April 2009. It might have just announced a new lap record at the Nurburgring – chief test driver Tochio Suzuki shaved nine seconds off the GT-R's previous record of 7min 38 – but Nissan's engineers are already working on upgrades to the everyman's supercar.Chief vehicle engineer Kazutoshi Mizuno told CAR Online that the GT-R models bound for the American market would benefit from a range of small tweaks, including three harder engine mounts and a stiffer transaxle mount to stop the mechancial parts from moving under extreme cornering. It's detail like this that enabled the new 7min 29sec...Nissan GT-R: detail changes'The new mounts make the car feel more together in extreme circumstances,' he said.

Video: BMW M1 Hommage

BMW took the wraps off its latest concept car at the Concorso d'Eleganza in Villa d'Este this past weekend. Called the M1 Hommage, the concept is exactly what it says on the tin: pay homage to the iconic M1 designed by Giorgio Giugiaro, which celebrates its 30th birthday this year. The design of the M1 Hommage concept is a thoroughly modern interpretation of the original - compete with a louvered rear window - but it has grown in size over its thirty year old forebear.

Stile Bertone goes independent

Stile Bertone is to forge an independent future under a new managing director by splitting with its coachbuilding arm and following a new business strategy. The changes were rubber-stamped at a meeting in Turin on Monday. The new managing director is former Aprilia CEO Teresio Gaudio, who has been a consultant to the Bertone family while the future of the business was sorted out.

Win a Porsche track day and other goodies

By Tim Pollard Competitions 28 April 2008 17:25 To mark our Porsche special, CAR has teamed up with Porsche to give away an official Porsche Driving Experience to one lucky reader. You'll be offered one of the first places at the new facility being built at Silverstone in the UK. Click here for your chance to win It opens in late summer 2008 and you and a guest will spend half a day driving a 911 or other Porsche of your choice (subject to availability, but they'll do their level best to source your preferred Porsche).

BMW M1 Hommage concept (2008): first official pictures

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 27 April 2008 12:47 The new BMW M1 Hommage was a surprise debutant at the Concorso d’Eleganza 2008 di Villa d’Este this weekend. No prizes for guessing what it is: this is an official concept car to mark the 30th anniversary of the original M1 supercar. The Hommage is a clever reinterpretation of the 1978 coupe, bristling with echoes of the original.

Audi Q5

Audi has chosen the Beijing Motor Show to unveil its new mid-sized Q5 SUV. The newcomer's exterior design is a thoroughly orthodox development of current Audi themes: a mix of Avant and Q7 ideas housed in a deeper body section than one is used to seeing. The rear relates most strongly to the Q7, with its full-width powered tailgate design, where the tail lamps open with the tailgate and auxiliary lamps in the bumper house the mandatory lamp functions.

Video: Buick Invicta

General Motor's Buick brand is blossoming in China, so the automaker chose the largest Chinese Auto Show this year to unveil its latest concept: the Invicta. Unlike the Riviera concept shown in Shanghai last year, the Invicta is slated for production soon given the level of refinement we saw when we viewed the car in Beijing. And unlike some market-specific new cars unveiled at the show, the Invicta will make its way to other markets across the globe. Click on the image on the left to see a video of the development and the designers who worked on the Invicta concept car.

Renault's future performance models

By Richard Yarrow Motor Industry 24 April 2008 10:20 There has never been a hot version of the Laguna from Renaultsport – the performance arm of the French car maker – and our advice is don’t hold your breath for one any time soon. With the MkIII Laguna launched last year, the timing would be perfect for the debut of a flagship model on the home turf of the Paris motor show in October 2008. But Patrick Pelata, Renault’s director of product planning, told CAR Online the quality of other super-saloons coupled with environmental concerns meant it wasn’t likely.

Peugeot RC Z will be built

By Ben Pulman Motor Industry 24 April 2008 12:50 The Peugeot RC Z has been confirmed for production. After claims about gauging public reaction, and teasing us with drives in a concept car that felt production-ready, the French manufacturer has done the decent thing and decided to build the RC Z. The production model will be shown at the 2009 Frankfurt show, two years after the concept was first unveiled.

Audi S3 Sportback and A3 facelift first official pictures

By Ben Pulman First Official Pictures 24 April 2008 15:16 Audi has facelifted the A3 and while the tweaks can at best be described as mild, a new S3 Sportback has joined the line-up. The hot five-door runs the same 261bhp 2.0-litre TFSI engine found in the three-door S3, and of course the quattro four-wheel drive system is standard. The exterior cosmetic surgery brings the looks of the A3 Cabriolet to the rest of the range.

Keating SKR and TKR (2008): first official pictures

By Ben Pulman First Official Pictures 23 April 2008 08:30 A British Bugatti costing £90,000? Or another loopy sports car from Lancashire? The Keating SKR and TKR launched today have 1500bhp potential and top speeds that challenge the Veyron's - but it's difficult to dispel our innate cynicism about yet another new British supercar manufacturer.

AC Cars returns to UK

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 23 April 2008 14:28 AC Cars is coming back to Britain to build its sports car range at Brooklands. It follows an unsuccessful foray to manufacture cars in Malta – which has ended in a legal dispute over the island factory. The company will make the original AC Ace, the AC MK11, the AC MK11 FIA and the AC MK111 at an AC specialist based in Surrey, England, employing artisans to make the aluminium chassis.

Beijing motor show: China means (auto) business

By Guy Bird Motor Shows 22 April 2008 05:34 Only a fool wandering around this week's Beijing motor show would still dismiss China as some also-ran automotive market full of rip-off designs and outdated ‘new’ cars based on old Western designs. While all of those clichés were still in evidence at the Chinese auto show, the copycat mentality is much less obvious than even a year ago at last year's Shanghai show. And every western car exec CAR spoke to was in awe of the upward sales trajectory that means China is still the place to do business in 2008.Yes, there are still some odd automotive fish, usually small ‘three-box’ saloon in shape such as the Chinese market only Citroen C-Elysee and the VW Lavida (a Jetta/Bora Plus car with less style).

Roewe 550 - the next MG?

By Keith Adams Motor Shows 22 April 2008 12:53 The new Roewe 550 unveiled at Beijing this week is Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation’s promising new mid-range hatch, but could yet turn into the next MG saloon - and be built in Europe. Although it doesn’t look like a groundbreaking effort, the Roewe 550 is one of the Beijing motor show’s hottest debutants. Designed as SAIC's successor to the Rover 45, the car has been designed and engineered in Britain by ex-MG Rover engineers.

Jaguar Land Rover boss dies (2008)

Geoff Polites, Jaguar Land Rover CEO: 1948-2008 By Gavin Green Motor Industry 21 April 2008 06:53 Geoff Polites, who died yesterday aged 60, will go down as one of the great British car industry bosses. He took over as CEO of Jaguar Land Rover in September 2005, when the Jaguar half of the business was at its lowest ebb. Sales of the lame duck X- and S-types were fast evaporating; Jaguar was consistently failing to hit its financial forecasts; morale was poor.

Audi Q5 unveiled at Beijing

By Guy Bird Motor Shows 21 April 2008 10:22 How does the new Audi Q5 stack up in the metal? CAR Online is reporting from the Beijing motor show - and we pored over the newcomer and met its designers at a preview night. The Q5 looks refreshingly better than in the spyshots and artists’ impressions doing the rounds.

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S (2008): first official pictures

By Ben Pulman First Official Pictures 21 April 2008 10:47 Because the Porsche Cayenne Turbo isn’t fast enough for everyone, Porsche has just announced the new £89k Turbo S. (Take a deep breath - big numbers ahead...). That’s £15k more than the standard Turbo, the money going on exhaust and engine management tweaks to give the twin-turbo 4.8-litre V8 an excessive-sounding 542bhp.

Buick Excelle and Invicta at Beijing

By Guy Bird Motor Shows 21 April 2008 16:02 Why would such a quintessentially American brand like Buick unveil its cars in China first? Simple economics: China overtook the USA as Buick’s number one market over a year ago, allegedly on the back of the reputation of the old emperor of China having a preference for the brand. Buick (and parent brand GM) couldn’t be happier as the Buick Excelle has become a top ten seller over here. Buick’s double launchGiven this Chinese love it makes perfect sense for GM to launch not one but two cars at the 2008 Beijing motor show.

Mercedes GLK unveiled in Beijing

By Guy Bird Motor Shows 21 April 2008 17:34 Feedback on the forthcoming Mercedes GLK has been mixed to say the least. The final production version at the Beijing motor show is – as predicted – little changed and still ugly, especially in the side profile. However, in ‘on-road’ guise it does have some saving graces… It seems so.

Video: Opel Insignia

After months of teaser photos, GM's Opel division has finally taken the wraps off its new Insignia sedan. Featuring a flowing design demarcated by a coupé-like roofline, the body is accented by a distinctive 'blade' feature line that runs from behind the front wheel along the side of the car, emphasizing its taut, rakish lines. "We've re-defined our design vocabulary," says Mark Adams, Vice President Design, GM Europe.

Audi Q5 (2008) unveiled

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 19 April 2008 12:00 A decade after rival BMW, Audi is finally joining the mid-sized SUV party. The new Q5, unveiled at this weekend's Beijing motor show, is Ingolstadt's answer to its hometown rival the X3, and is based on the oily bits from the A4. Which speaks volumes about its intent.Unsurprisingly, that means it's aimed squarely at on-road performance, where it will shuttle five occupants around in - you'd imagine - saloon car comfort.

Hyundai plots two coupes

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 17 April 2008 05:18 Hyundai is plotting two different sports cars to replace the Coupe, CAR Online has learned: a low-volume, rear-wheel drive model to raise the profile of the Korean brand, and a more conventional coupe to raise sales. The Genesis Coupe, unveiled at the March 2008 New York auto show and aimed principally at the US market, is being touted as Hyundai's answer to the Vauxhall VXR8. It's a big, rear-wheel drive sports car that's powered by a choice of 306bhp 3.8-litre V6 and 210bhp 2.0-litre turbo.It's the bright red car pictured in the main image in our gallery above.

Vauxhall Insignia (2008): first pictures

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 17 April 2008 23:43 You’ve seen the leaked images and the scoops, but now the wait is finally over. These are the first officially sanctioned photographs of the new Vauxhall Insignia – marking the end of two decade of the Vectra, which replaced the Cavalier back in 1988.It’s immediately apparent that the Insignia is way more stylish than today’s dowdy Vectra. Where that car is achingly sober and sensible, the Insignia actually lets its hair down and has a bit of fun.

Driven: Renault Megane Coupe concept

Renault design this century hasn't exactly met with universal approval. The Vel Satis, though radical, was largely unloved. The Avantime lasted only a couple of years in production.

MG SV returns, TF founders

By Keith Adams (additional reporting by Russell Gowers) Motor Industry 15 April 2008 10:14 In the latest twist of the MG Rover saga, and three years after the original MG XPower SV supercar went out of production, the controversial coupe has made a surprise re-appearance. However, the likelihood of us ever seeing the reborn TF roadster seems to be receding by the week.Now known as the XPower WR, the Qvale Mangusta-based supercar has been eased back into production by William Riley – a descendant of the creators of the historic car company bearing the same name.His company, known as MG Sports and Racing Europe Limited, produces the supercharged WR, selling it for between £75,000 and £90,000 depending in specification. The rights to the car – and its badge – were bought from MG Rover administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2005.

Mercedes GLK 'will come in right hand drive'

By Georg Kacher Motor Industry 15 April 2008 16:31 It´s still top secret, but there is a 99 percent chance that the new Mercedes GLK will be available in right-hand drive form by mid-2010. CAR Online has spoken to a senior engineer on the programme and has the inside line on Merc's junior 4x4 - a shrunken, and rather angular, mini M-class. It would be the first right-hooker M-B passenger car with 4-Matic, paving the way for future 4WD versions of the C-class and the next E-class.