Blog on 2040Parts

Audi RS6 Avant makes £120,000 for Elton John Charity

Elton John & David Furnish pictured with the Audi RS6 Avant auctioned for EJAF. Audi has a history of donating cars for auction at Elton John’s annual White Tie & Tiara Ball, and this year it was an RS6 Avant. But it wasn’t just any old Audi RS6 Avant, it was an RS6 with an interior signed by Audi-driving Hollywood start Gwyneth Paltrow.

Mazda 3 (2014)

The third-generation Mazda 3 is the also the third model from the Hiroshima-based company to be developed under its much-flaunted ‘Skyactiv', high-efficiency mantra and its Kodo design language. Outside it's a clear relative of the previous Kodo (Japanese for ‘soul of motion') Mazdas, the D-segment 6 and CX5 compact SUV. Its DRG is familiar from those cars with a deep, five-sided grille with a sharp chrome accent that spears into the wide lamps.

Sebastian Vettel takes delivery of his eponymous Infiniti FX Vettel Edition

Sebastian Vettel `(pictured) takes delivery of his Infiniti FX Vettel Edition The Infiniti FX50 is Infiniti’s take on the Porsche Cayenne, so we suppose the FX Vettel Edition, with extra power and titivations, should be compared to the Cayenne GTS. But unlike the Cayenne GTS, the Infiniti FX Vettel Edition is a very limited edition car – just 200 are being built – and costs an eye-watering amount of money – £100,000. For your £100k you get an Infiniti FX50 that’s had a raft of titivations to let Vettel reach a higher top speed on his regular joints up the Autobahn in Germany, as well as cosmetic additions to justify the price.

Jaguar shuffles executives as it goes for growth (2013)

Jaguar-Land Rover has a new engineering boss and product delivery enforcer, as it gears up for an unprecedented new model push. Announced today and effective from 1 August 2013, Dr Wolfgang Ziebart becomes group engineering director, replacing Bob Joyce who moves into the new role of product creation and delivery director. Ziebart worked in R&D at BMW for 23 years, before moving onto key suppliers Continental and semi-conductor maker Infineon.

Honda & GM to work together on next generation Hydrogen Fuel Cells

GM’s history with hydrogen fuel cell development Hydrogen Fuel Cells are, in many ways, the answer to our dependency on oil. But any future that uses hydrogen fuel cells to power an electric motor in a car means that not only must the fuel cells be more economical to produce than they now are, but that a refuelling infrastructure is developed. To help achieve that end, Honda and GM have announced that they are to collaborate on developing not just the next generation fuel cells for vehicles but to advance a refuelling structure too.

007's Lotus Esprit Series 1 submarine car to be auctioned

The famous Lotus Esprit Series 1 submarine car from the “The Spy Who Loved Me” will be up for grabs at RM Auction's Battersea Park, London event slated for Sept. 8 and 9. Every James Bond fan loves the use of Jags, Lotuses and, of course, Astons in the famous franchise, and now you'll have the chance to fulfill your fantasy of being Bond by putting one in your garage -- or at least your boathouse.

Hertz brings back rent-a-racer program with Dream Cars

In 1966 -- at the dawn of the horsepower wars -- Carroll Shelby made a deal with the Hertz Corporation to produce a line of Shelby GT350 Mustangs for rent. Later, the cars would be refreshed and repurposed for sale as GT350-H models. Just as the horsepower wars have returned, so has Hertz' rent-a-racer program.

GM to drop plans for range-topping Cadillac sedan

General Motors has decided to deep-freeze a range-topping ultraluxury sedan it was developing for Cadillac, according to three people with knowledge of the company’s plans. GM executives recently concluded that the rear-wheel-drive car, which would have been a low-volume showstopper priced well north of $100,000, didn’t offer enough brand-building pizzazz to justify the investment, the sources said. Designers recently were taken off the program and reassigned.

One Lap of the Web: Toyota in the Motor City, GPS-enabled headlamps and a mobile Fiat shop

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- From Bring a Trailer, it's a 1966 Fiat Furgone panel van equipped as a mobile workshop.

VIDEO: Sebastien Loeb's run up Pikes Peak

World Rally champ Sebastien Loeb demolished the standing record at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on Sunday, with a time of 8 minutes, 13.878 seconds. He broke Hyundai driver Rhys Millen's record by 1 minute, 33 seconds. This morning, the full video of his run up the 12.42-mile hill was uploaded to YouTube.

Alfa Romeo 4C hits the track (video)

The Alfa Romeo 4C (pictured) out on track – on video The Alfa Romeo 4C has been on its way for longer than it should have been. But Alfa Romeo finally got round to revealing the 4C in prodiction spec at the Geneva Motor Show in March, and visitors to this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed later this month will get to see the 4C strutting its stuff up the hillclimb. But ahead of that dynamic debut, Alfa has released new video of the 4C out playing on the Balocco Racetrack in Italy, with a few wailing exhausts notes but far to much dramatic music as a soundtrack.

CDR Trend Insight – Downsizing the ‘Allroad’ Aesthetic

The ‘Allroad' aesthetic is trickling down to the A-segment. The look is so-called because it was led by Audi's range of Allroad products, which raise the ride height, add lower body cladding and subtly change detailing of the mainstream estate car products. Volvo's XC and Skoda's Scout models do similar things, but until now, we've not seen this aesthetic approach applied to the smallest segment of cars.

Subaru XV gets another price cut – down by £2300 across the XV range

The Subaru XV (pictured) gets a price cut of £2,300 across the range Over a year ago, Subaru launched the new XV in the UK with a starting point of £21,995, Which was decent value for an able Crossover/SUV. But by May of 2013, Subaru had decided there was room to play with the XV’s price – or at least on the 1.6 litre petrol version – and they announced a £1300 price drop for the entry-level petrol XV. But now, just six weeks later, Subaru has decided that the weakening Yen has given them more room to manoeuvre on price and have announced they’re cutting prices across the whole XV range by £2300 (which actually means £1,000 off the new price for the 1.6 litre petrol).

Sebastian Loeb smashes Pikes Peak record in Peugeot 208 T16 (video)

Sebastian Loeb smashes Pikes Peak record in Peugeot 208 T16 (pictured) This weekend saw the Pikes Peak hillcimb action, with powerful cars tackling the more than 12 mile course, with all its twists and turns, in a thrilling spectacle. But no spectacle was more thrilling that the run by Sebastian Loeb in the Peugeot 208 T16. The Peugeot 208 T16 (which bears about as much resemblance to your 208 as Loeb’s driving does to your Granny’s) gets a 3.2 litre twin turbo V6 with 875bhp, enough to hit 62mph in a scant 1.8 seconds and on to 150mph.

New VW Golf Estate costs from £17,915

The New VW Golf Estate (pictured) costs from £17,915 in the UK The MK 7 VW Golf Estate arrived at the Geneva Motor Show in March, and tomorrow it goes on sale in the UK. The Golf Estate follows pretty much the same specification form as the Golf hatch, with all Estates (the entry level model is the Golf Estate S) getting Bluetooth, iPod connectivity, DAB with 5.8″ touchscreen, XDS E-Diff, and VW’s automatic post-collision braking system. Move up to the Golf Estate SE and you can add stuff like 16″ alloys, auto lights and wipers, driver alert, pre-crash, ADC with Front Assist and City Braking, driver profile selection and a set of reading lights in the back.

New Datsun makes its first appearance

The first new Datsun in a generation )pictured) will be revealed on July 15th As we reported in 2012 Nissan, having spent countless hundreds of millions replacing the Datsun name with Nissan on its cars a generation ago, decided to revive the Datsun brand for a new range of affordable cars for emerging markets. It looks like the new Datsun – codenamed K2 – will be a mix of the current and last generation Micra with new styling and pitched at around £3500 when it launches in the Indian car market. With the same – but de-tuned – 1.2 litre petrol engine as the Micra, the new Datsun is aimed at cars like the Indian market Hyundai i10 and Maruti, and sales are expected to start in early 2014.

British Grand Prix (2013): RESULT

The 2013 British Grand Prix at Silverstone (pictured) saw a rash of tyre failures It’s the ‘home’ Grand Prix at Silvertsone for not just the British drivers, but a chunk of the teams that are based in the UK for their F1 operations. The front row of Mercedes’ Hamilton and Rosberg (based in Brackley) and a second row of Red Bulls (based in Milton Keynes) promised plenty of action, and that’s what we got. But much of it for the wrong reasons.

Top Gear Tonight: Renaultsport Clio 200, Peugeot 208 GTI, Ford Fiesta ST & New Reasonably priced car

Richard Hammond tests the Renaultsport Clio 200 (pictured), Peugeot 208 GTi and Ford Fiesta ST in tonight’s Top Gear It’s been a while since Top Gear filled our Sunday evenings, but it’s back tonight – Series 20, Episode 1 – at 8pm on BBC 2. The usual mayhem and madness (and silliness) will ensue. but the series needs to be set up first, because there’s a new reasonably priced car.

Lotus Esprit James Bond car up for auction

The Lotus Esprit Submarine (pictured) from the James Bond 007 film is up for auction James Bond and cars go together like bacon and eggs and, with the exception of the 007 Aston Martin DB5, the Lotus Esprit ‘Submarine’ car from the Spy Who Loved Me is probably the most iconic Bond car to have hit the big screen. Piloted in the film by Roger Moore – with Mrs Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach, at his side – the underwater version of the Esprit, one of six used in the film, was affectionately know to the crew as ‘Wet Nellie’ and actually piloted for the underwater scenes by former SEAL Don Griffin, who worked as a test pilot for the creators of the Esprit Submarine - Perry Oceanographic. After filming ended it was sent of to a storage unit in Long Island, ten years rent was paid upfront but, when the 10 year rent period ended, no one stepped forward to claim the contents at they were sold off for a song to a local couple.

Mercedes CLA 45 AMG Edition 1 revealed

The launch edition of the CLA AMG – the Mercedes CLA 45 AMG Edition 1 (pictured) has been revealed Launch editions are a way to tempt buyers in to a new model in quick sticks, so Mercedes has revealed the launch model for the new CLA45 – the Mercedes CLA 45 AMG Edition 1. Frankly, we’d be surprised if MB has any real trouble finding buyers for the CLA 45 AMG, but a launch edition with extra goodies is always a ‘nice to have’, and the CLA45 version looks appealing. The changes aren’t huge for the Edition 1, but they do include a gloss black spoiler at the back, graphite grey side stripes, a set of 19″ matte black alloys and red detailing for the mirrors, wheels and grill.

Lewis Hamilton takes pole at British Grand Prix – Mercedes front row

Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg (pictured) celebrate their front row at the British Grand Prix Mercedes may have turned in some stunning qualifying laps this year (although their race performance hasn’t really matched up) but Hamilton’s pole at the 2013 British Grand Prix was a stunner – almost half a second (0.452s) ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg. The pole for Hamilton – his first since the Chinese Grand Prix – was a corker (as was Rosberg’s, to be fair) and left the Red Bulls relegated to the second row with Vettel in third and the newly ‘retired’ Mark Webber in fourth. But whether the stunning lap by Hamilton presages an impossible task for Red Bull tomorrow, we’ll have to wait and see.

Concept Car of the Week: Abarth 2000 (1969)

In 1969, a few years before it was sold to Fiat, Abarth and Pininfarina worked together to develop an attractive sports car prototype. Simply called Abarth 2000 after the displacement of its engine, this red beauty features a sleek wedge silhouette with a roof only 970mm from the ground. The bonnet connects with the pillarless wraparound windscreen for 180-degree vision.

2014 Hemi Ram pickup starts at $24,605

The 2014 Ram 1500 will start at $24,605, including destination, when it goes on sale at the end of the summer. That will get you a two-wheel-drive model with a 395-hp Hemi. The new EcoDiesel V6 will be the top trim level, costing about three grand more than a similarly equipped Hemi-powered version.

1953 Chevrolet Corvette historical video footage

As the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette gets closer to the hands of future owners, the popular model is also turning 60 years old, on June 30 to be specific. With about 1.5 million Corvettes being produced since 1953, the American sports car is still going strong. Enjoy this video from our friends at Bader TV, featuring historic video footage of the original 1953 model, along with some Corvette history factoids from Chevrolet.

Watch: Ford Fiesta Rallycross car showcased in Detroit

The Ford Fiesta ST and the streets of Detroit and Belle Isle are the stars of this promotional video released on June 26 by Ford Racing to help promote the ongoing bid of organizers who are hoping to lure the X Games to the Motor City in 2014. Detroit is one of four finalists for the 2014 X Games, along with Austin, Texas; Charlotte, N.C., and Chicago. An announcement is expected late this summer as to which of the three cities will be awarded the three-year run of Summer X Games.

One Lap of the Web: Green machines, light-up stars and an upside down Porsche

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. To participate in the 24 Hours of LeMons you not only need a sub-$500 car, but you also have to find a gimmick.

TVR set for 2015 comeback

TVR's new owner, Les Edgar, has dated 2015 as the company's comeback, as they plan to have a two-car range costing 50,000-80,000 pounds ($76,155-$121,848). Having produced cars such as the Griffith, the Grantura, the Cerbera, the Chimaera, the Tuscan and the Sagaris, TVR hopes to continue and evolve this spirit after a production hiatus in 2006 due to ownership change. "It is a well-thought-out business plan, and at the root is the requirement to make money,” stated Edgar in an interview with Autocar.

Are Peugeot Citroen set to be bought out by GM?

Could GM take control of Peugeot Citroen? Last year we reported that Peugeot Citroen (PSA) and GM were forming a joint alliance to cut costs and develop new cars. But we questioned if the small savings of €2 billion a year from jointly developing new platforms and engines would do anything to stem the losses both companies were facing in Europe, and wondered if the only solution was a merger.

Audi A4 SE Technik – gets more equipment, costs less

The Audi A4 SE Technik (pictured) gets more equipment and costs less ‘Special Edition’ cars are a way to get more for less from car makers, as long as the goodies on offer at cut price float your boat, and Audi’s Technik upgrade for the new A4 Saloon and Avant is one such upgrade that offers good value. And now it’s got better. The A4 Technik already gets a well-chose list of upgrades from the regular SE trim, with Milano leather, HDD MMI Nav plus, AMI iPod connection and Audi Parking Plus all part of the package at an extra cost of £1,350 over the SE spec.

VW XL1 SEV to take on the hillclimb at Goodwood Festival of Speed

The super frugal – and super slippery – VW XL1 (pictured) will take on the Goodwood hillclimb Visitors to the Goodwood Festival of Speed can spend endless hours watching a seemingly endless precession of supercars take on the hillclimb. But one supercar this year will be a bit different. Volkswagen are taking their super slippery, super frugal supercar – the VW XL1 SEV – to Goodwood next month and are planning on taking it up the hillclimb in the capable hands of former F1 champion Jacky Ickx.