New Mazda3 to drive 9,300 miles from Hiroshima, Japan, to Frankfurt, Germany

The new Mazda3 (pictured) is trekking from Hiroshima to Frankfurt If you’re going to set a challenge for a new car, a drive from Hiroshima to Frankfurt – 9,300 miles – is probably one designed to show any flaws. And that’s exactly what Mazda are doing with the new Mazda3. The ‘Mazda Route3 – Hiroshima to Frankfurt Challenger Tour 2013′ will see eight new Mazda3s setting off from the Mazda factory in Hiroshima, heading for Russia, through Belarus and Poland before ending up in Frankfurt, Germany.

Audi outlines seven tech innovations

Audi has revealed details of seven new innovations being explored by its designers and engineers including electromobility, ultra-lightweight construction, networked mobility and lighting technology. Lighting design The team in charge of lighting design – an area in which the company is the current leader in terms of LED daytime running lights and headlights – and next up they plan on introducing OLED technology (Organic Light Emitting Diode) to its vehicle range. Only a few nanometers thick, this paste-like material spans the space between the anode and cathode, both of which are enveloped in an electrically conductive coating.

One Lap of the Web: A 1,000 hp hearse, behind the Jean Claude Van Damme Volvo shoot and a secret Argentinian racetrack

-- We've said it before, and we'll say it again: There's something a little bit different about "professional car" people. Not bad, mind you, just different -- it takes a special sort of person to rock a vintage ambulance or hearse. But a blown Caprice corpsewagon kicking out 1,000 hp?