TimeSport

= Official pictures and details of the BMW Concept X4, ahead of its debut at the Shanghai Motor Show

We already know BMW is planning to plug the gaps in its standard line-up with the 2 Series and 4 Series. Now it’s turning its attention to its X models as it introduces the Concept X4 at the Shanghai Motor Show later this month.

This previews a production car set to be unveiled early next year – just as BMW introduced the 4 Series Coupe Concept at the start of this year, with the production model set for release at September’s Frankfurt Motor Show. Tone down the lights, wheels and bumpers, and the idea is you’re looking at a showroom-ready car.

There’s a clear design link between the 4 Series Coupe Concept and the X3, with both featuring a fresh LED headlamp pattern that flows straight into the grille. The shape of the lights is a little more angular than the curvy units fitted to the 4 Series.

In profile, the X4 has the same low-slung, high-riding silhouette as the X6. There’s a rising feature line running back from the front wing, joined by another which curves up around the rear wheelarches. The chunky wheelarches are almost squared off – a trick Jeep uses to make its cars look more muscular.

As with other BMW X models, matt black plastic cladding surrounds the wheelarches and runs along the side skirts.

From head-on, BMW has marked out the X4 as one of its coupés by making the outer air intakes a lot more pronounced than the central intake.

Move to the rear, and the car looks a bit like the new 3 Series GT. The bumper is a lot deeper, though, and features some rugged underbody protection and two large exhaust pipes.

BMW has altered the dimensions of the X3 to help create a more dynamic look for the X4. It’s exactly the same length, at 4,648mm, and has the same 2,810mm wheelbase, but it’s 53mm lower and 34mm wider. This gives a similarly planted look to the X6.

That extra width could be added to the track of the X4 – as it is in the X6 – which could help make it feel a little more stable through corners. Add the lower roofline and lower centre of gravity, and the X4 looks set to be one of the best-handling SUVs in the BMW line-up.

No pictures of the interior have been released yet, but BMW will probably keep the layout near-identical to the X3’s, as it has done with the X6, in an effort to minimise development costs. Due to the sloping roofline, there’ll be a little less headroom and a smaller boot – so while the X3 has a 550-litre load area, the X4 will probably have around 500 litres of space.

BMW hasn’t provided any details about engines or transmissions – only that the X4 will come with the xDrive four-wheel-drive system.

The car will probably share engines with the X3, as the X6 shares X5 engines. That means a 181bhp 2.0-litre diesel in the X4 20d, a 254bhp 3.0-litre straight-six in the X4 30d and a flagship using the same engine but producing 309bhp.

BMW does offer a rear-wheel-drive version of the X3, but hasn’t confirmed whether a 2WD X4 will be available.

The company will be hoping to continue the success story started by the X6, which has consistently sold well since it was introduced in 2008. For every two-and-a-half X5s that found homes globally last year, BMW sold one X6. Similar sales figures for the X4 are likely.

The car will be built alongside the X3, X5 and X6 at the Spartanburg plant in South Carolina, US. Prices are expected to start at around £30,000 when order books for the X4 open early next year.

Jimmy Durante was born of humble circumstances on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the dark days of the 1890s, but went on to become one of the most well-respected and highest grossing stars of the Jazz era. Yet however great was his regard, when he was eventually enshrined in pop music by Cole Porter with “You’re the Top,” Durante was memorialized solely for his signature sniffer. To quote: You’re a rose/You’re Inferno’s Dante/You’re the nose/On the great Durante.

Similarly, though it began as the offspring of workaday Japanese automaker Honda in the dark days of the 1980s, Acura went on to become one of the most well respected and best-selling car brands of the post-Malaise era, producing immortal and beloved hits like the Integra, the first generation Legend, and the original TSX. Yet when reviewers write about the brand today, they’re always certain to lead with a reference to the straked and argent beak Acura designers stuck on their models in the late aughts. To quote: You’re an axe/You’re Charles Barkley’s razor/You’re a shield/That could block Spock’s phaser.

This snooty reaction isn’t limited to the snoot. Neither is it solely the fault of the AutoCAD wielders in Tokyo and Torrance, Calif. Somewhere along the way, just as Durante lost his radio mojo to TV, Acura lost its keel to complacency, crossover dependency, the rear-wheel drive revival and an institutional sight-lowering that Honda once fought with innovations like CVCC instead of caving to catalytic converters, but has grown to accept in this century.

Which brings us to the brand’s new flagship, which, despite Acura’s marketing tagline for it — "Luxury Defined by You" — is not called the UL, but rather RLX. As in, Frankie say.

Sit down in its cushy captain’s chair, start up the actively noise-cancelled engine, roll up the insulating laminated windows, and begin coasting along on resonator-equipped frequency-reducing wheels, and you’ll see what we mean. As if there were any doubts about the car’s intent, at the launch, an Acura executive described it as providing the kind of “relaxed driving situation” wherein one could pilot it with one hand lightly touching the wheel, making it an ideal competitor for that 1978 Lincoln you were cross-shopping.

The new RLX is actually slightly sportier than that, with an iVTEC V-6 that's smaller but more potent than the powerplant it replaces. The downsized 3.5 liter unit’s 10 hp bump to 310 hp is accomplished through Acura’s first use of direct injection, and when combined with a 76-lb steelectomy, should translate to slightly better acceleration than the old RL. Fuel economy rises as it must, from 17/24 mpg in the RL to 20/31 mpg. So to does the acronym count, with the requisite collision, lane departure, lane keeping, adaptive cruise, and low-speed following systems, all of which work appropriately well if you turn them on, which we mostly didn’t because, well, we’re generally in favor of being the ones to drive the cars when we’re driving them.

 

 The most relevant acronym here though is PAWS, which stands not for Prow All Wreathed in Silver (sorry), but Precision All Wheel Steering, a trick system that uses a pair of electronic actuators to provide unique toe-in or toe-out angles to each rear wheel. If this sounds like something Honda might have invented in the '80s, it is, kind of. But it’s much more sophisticated and computerized and magical than the four-wheel-steering setup on the 3^rd-generation Prelude. In a wet slaloming comparison with a Mercedes E-Class and BMW 5-Series, we found PAWS to be seamless yet evident, providing the RLX with a more balanced feel than one would expect of a cushy, nose-heavy front driver.

Speaking of heavy noses, the Acura still suffers from the aforementioned familial endowment, though its prominence has been dissipated by the distracting presence of its new Signature Jewel Eye headlights. These definitely look …distinctive, though the unique toe-in and toe-out angles applied to each of the lamp’s five sets of LED nodules give them the appearance of a pair of stacked engagement rings lumpily crafted by Jared after a few trips to the champagne fountain.

Our own engagement with the RLX over a variety of roadkill-littered Northern California roads was sadly similar: gemlike, yet misaligned. The cabin is finely crafted, with clean lines and smart materials, and hosts a surprisingly roomy rear bench — the result of a two-inch wheelbase stretch back there. But the space feels '90s austere, lacking the flourishes of color and handcrafted richness one now expects in the category. The dual LCD screens—the lower one controlling ventilation and media, the upper dedicated to the nav and multifarious AcuraLink features that this car’s aging buyers will never use — nicely split functions you’d want to access simultaneously, but are no more user-friendly or less distracting than they’d be on one screen. (Whom do we have to bribe to get some knurled knobs up in here?) And the 6-speed automatic transmission couples well with the engine, but lacks the bandwith, sharpness, and efficiency of the 7- and 8-speeds in its competitors

Overall, we kept thinking: this is a very nice car. But at $60,450 for the fully equipped models we were driving, we had to ask, is it twice as nice as Honda’s lovely $30,000 Accord V-6, or once as nice as a similarly kitted-out Audi A6? The answer was always no.

Perhaps our minds will be changed by the addition of 60 hp and two more drive wheels when the range-topping Super Handling All Wheel Drive version arrives later this year. We hope so. With the enticing NSX 2.0 Concept it just displayed at Detroit, Acura has shown that it can sniff out its moxie, so it’s not impossible to imagine the brand blowing past its current limitations. It worked for the Schnozolla. As no less than Frank Sinatra sang in his 1955 revision to Burton Lane’s “How About You?” I’m mad about good books/Can’t get my fill/And James Durante’s looks/Give me a thrill. Thrill us, Acura. Please.

The name of Ferrari’s new flagship has been under question for sometime. Many expected it to be called the F70, and then it was rumored to be the F150 (highly amusing for us in America). The name LaFerrari however, is even worse — hearkening back to the Dodge La Femme of 1956 —  but this is Ferrari. It can, and will, do whatever it likes.
When the sheets were removed, the Ferrari stand at Geneva erupted into cheers, clapping, and rather a lot of pushing and shoving. And for good reason, too. LaFerrari is simply beautiful. In fact, it looks better than expected, as it presents sleek, swooping lines, and limits the aggressive edge of the Enzo. That ferociousness is still present at the front with its massive hood vents and sharp chin, but it blends elegance and speed in a wondrous fashion. The interior looks as breathtaking and futuristic as you would expect as well, with its digital display cluster and Alcantara wrapped surfaces.
Beneath the skin, LaFerrari does not disappoint. A V-12 motor punches out 800 hp, but when you add the 163 additional hp provided by the coupled electric motor, a grand total of 963 raging ponies are unleashed, comfortably outdoing the 903 hp produced by LaFerrari’s arch nemesis, the McLaren P1.

A company "Speed ​​Art" for the new amendments to the package Porsche Cayenne deals gorgeous blue and granted by the fantastic form and a larger force makes impressed.

The new amendments included an object mathematically a new hood, front spoiler, rear and Saddam by Daviuser, along with rear wing.
The company added some spare parts, including sports suspension system is adjustable, and a new dual exhaust system director highlights from the middle of the rear of the car, along with a LSC-FORGED wheels 21-inch size is surrounded by high-performance tires.
If the previous amendments are inadequate to the owner of the car "Porsche Cayenne", the "Speed ​​Art" displays many of the amendments to the cabin, where they can get new skin along Costume Exchanges new and steering wheel covers for floor and carbon fiber gives the cabin a form wonderful.
With regard to the performance of the car company has issued 3 stages of amendments to improve the car's performance to become the engine power 345 hp after the first stage, and 360 in the second phase, and 400 hp in the third phase, to suit all tastes speed lovers.

Usually graduated we "Bugatti" designs exciting and attractive copy issued by the cars on a regular basis, unlike the methods used in the development of forms of cars that rely on another design copies were issued, the one designers excelled new version of the car as the "Bugatti Gangloff" adapted from the first versionfor Bugatti cars in the thirties Gangloff S57.

The new design makes the car a mix between classic and innovation, you will see in front of your eyes the first version of "Bugatti" has been turned into a piece of candy distinctive among other cars, because of the fine details in the curves and the emergence of the car, and you earn this formal excellence.

Infinity today launched the Red Bull Racing’s 2013 car, the RB9. It comes on the heels of their November announcement of a four-year partnership with the race team.

The new 2013 race car will help not only defend their Formula One titles, but will usher in technological advancements that could find their way onto production Infiniti vehicles.

Campion Red Bull drivers Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Buemi both played a hands-on part in test driving and developing the new Infiniti Q50. Such partnerships have proven valuable to other automakers in the past and this should be no different.

The engineers at Infinity have been hard at work developing, building and testing the new 2013 racer. The video below gives a glimpse of the entire process, while showing Infiniti engineers march to their own beats.

General Motors is taking big steps with the U.S. Department of Energy and 12 other companies in creating charging stations for their employees’ electric vehicles.

The DOE’s Workplace Charging Challenge is designed to increase the number of employers with workplace charging systems tenfold within five years. The hope is to expand the electric vehicle infrastructure and consumer exposure to the idea of driving electric vehicles.

“Since the introduction of the Chevrolet Volt, we have made a commitment to lead by example on workplace charging and to engage in encouraging other companies to help provide the infrastructure supporting the electric vehicle market,” said Mike Robinson, GM vice president.

Participating companies are 3M, Chrysler, Duke Energy, Eli Lilly and Company, Ford, General Electric, Google, Nissan, San Diego Gas & Electric, Siemens, Tesla, and Verizon.

The companies are also promoting their EV Everywhere Challenge that is dedicated to the development and commercialization of next generation electric vehicles that compete with today’s gas-powered vehicles.
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Chevrolet is scheduled to debut the SS performance sedan one week before the Daytona 500, says Jim Campbell, Chevy’s Vice President of performance vehicles and motorsports.

The SS is the consumer version of the newest NASCAR Sprint Cup Chevrolet is racing and will be marketed as a low-volume sports sedan slotted above the Impala.

Not much is know about the details, but we know it’s built on the Zeta platform that already underpins the Holden Commodore (think Pontiac G8), Chevrolet Camaro, and Chevrolet PPV Police Interceptor. Power will likely come from the 6.2-liter V-8 already found in the other cars.

This marks the first time in 17 years that Chevy has offered a rear-wheel-drive sedan in the United States. The SS will be manufactured in Australia along side its corporate twins. It’s expected to go on sale in late 2013 as a 2014 model, and pricing will likely fall just above the starting price of a Chevy Impala of $27,535.

Stay tuned to Autotalk for our full-coverage of the SS unveiling on February 16.

It’s the day we’d thought would never come. Chevrolet is reentering the diesel sedan market after a long 26-year hiatus. Chevy unveiled their new 2.0-liter turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine at the Chicago Auto Show today.

The engine will find its way into the Chevy Cruze for 2014, and will be offered with a 6-speed automatic transmission. The combination is estimated to achieve a best-in-class 42 mpg highway while producing 148 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque.

For those times when more power is needed, an overboost function allows the engine to produce 280 lb-ft of torque for up to 10-seconds at a time, making for easier passing and interstate merging.

GM says this diesel is the most sophisticated small diesel they’ve ever brought to the states. It’s said to exceed all government diesel emissions regulations by using a particulate filter with urea injection and a precise exhaust gas recirculation control system with a high-capacity cooler.

The Cruze 2.0 TD goes on sale in late 2013 with an MSRP of $25,695. That price includes leather seating, Chevy’s MyLink infotainment system, 17-inch alloy wheels, and a two-year maintenance plan with a five-year 100,000-mile powertrain warranty.

Volkswagen debuted a couple new trim lines for their latest update on the New Beetle at the Chicago Motor Show today. The first is the addition of the R-Line to the Beetle convertible.

Like the R-Line coupe, power comes from the current 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder and is differentiated by 19-inch aluminum-alloy wheels, Bi-Xenon headlights with LED DRLs, and specific R-Line badges. A metallic-finish dash and door trim add character to the interior, along with a flat-bottom steering wheel and navigation.

Output for the R-Line’s 2.0 turbo stays the same at 200 hp and 207 lb-ft of torque.

Power and exclusivity increases with the other trim level though. The GSR scrounges another 10 hp out of the 2.0 turbo and is slated to have a limited production run of only 3,500 models worldwide.

Inspired by the GSR of the 1970’s, the 2014 GSR comes only in yellow and black and features matching interior bits that bring the whole thing together. Black leather-covered seats and steering wheel get a sportier look, along with yellow accent stitching.

A unique GSR shifter for either the 6-speed manual or optional dual-clutch DSG six-speed automatic, along with a leather-covered E-brake handle, further set the interior apart. As icing on the cake, a numbered badge rests on the bottom spoke of the steering wheel denoting the “of 3,500” sequence for each GSR Beetle.

Both R-Line and GSR models will go on sale fall 2013 marked as 2014 models. Volkswagen says pricing will be released closer to the launch

For as long as we care to remember, the full-size van market has been a stagnant pond of complacency. Besides the introduction of the Mercedes/Dodge/Freightliner Sprinter vans a few years back, no significant changes happened from Chevy, Ford, or Dodge.

All that seems to be changing for 2014 as Ford and Dodge, or Ram, rather, are releasing European-style box vans that are a literal game-changer in the business.

Ram just unveiled their new ProMaster van that is a huge departure from what Americans are used to seeing. The ProMaster is based on the Fiat Ducato van Europe has enjoyed for over 30 years. It sits on a unibody platform and is offered with two engine options: Chrysler’s ubiquitous 3.6-liter V-6 and a new 3.0-liter I-4 turbo diesel.

The ProMaster has a unique front-wheel-drive design that is said to lower operating costs and increase fuel economy. Power is delivered through either a 6-speed automatic or an automated manual transmission.

It also features a very low load floor that is large enough to accept full-size pallets being loaded with a forklift. Even the passenger sliding door and optional driver’s side sliding door will accept a pallet.

The 2014 ProMaster is available in two roof heights, three wheelbases, and four body lengths. It can also be ordered as a cutaway and chassis cab. We imagine RV and moving van manufacturers will be excited over that one.

The van will be manufactured in Mexico starting in the third quarter of 2013. Pricing hasn’t been announced as of yet, but it will likely be very competitive with Ford’s new Transit van.

With two thirds of “the big 3” offering new European-styled vans, we can only wonder what General Motors is cooking up.