Electric-Car Distance Record: 1,172 Miles In 24 Hours (With Battery Switching)
What can be done to dispel the assertion that the relatively short range of electric cars isn’t suitable for most drivers?
Well, you can either drive around in one yourself, displaying a lack of problems as you drive between work and back each day like millions of other drivers, and encourage others to try the same.
Museo Stanguellini: Exclusive
The name Stanguellini might not ring a bell today, but back in the day it was a very well-known brand in the world of sports cars and motor racing. Stanguellini, to all intents and purposes, was the first Italian tuner, modifying cars like Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Fiat for racing.
The founder of the company Vittorio Stanguellini wasn’t exactly Enzo Ferrari, but he managed to achieve significant success in motorsport, including class wins in Mille Miglia, Targa Florio, and Sebring. He also tried Le Mans, but given the scale of his operations he never managed anything better than fourth place, which is still respectable.
Like other Italian car makers that set up shop in Modena back in the 50s and 60s, Stanguellini began making road going cars to finance their motorsport projects. And again, like other Italian sports car makers of the time, they created some true masterpieces.
Stanguellini was obsessed with using Italian parts for his cars, and almost everything he made used Fiat components. He also benefited from works of local design experts such as Bertone and coach builders like Carrozzeria Reggiano.
In many ways Stanguellini can be considered the Italian Lotus, for their desire to reach performance through lightness. With engines from Fiat 500s and 750s, their cars kinda needed to be light.
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Recession forces Italians to sell their Ferraris
The deepening financial crisis in Europe is hitting Italians where it hurts most, with locals forced to offload their homegrown supercars at a rate triple that of the same time last year.
Data from automotive industry group Unrae reveals the number of second-hand high-performance cars exported from Italy in the first five months of this year increased to 13,633, up from 4923 in the same period in 2011.
Bloomberg reports while old supercars are racing out of the country, demand for new models is also declining. Industry analyst IHS Automotive predicts super-luxury car sales in Italy will fall to less than 600 this year, down almost 50 per cent from 2008, and are not expected to return to pre-global financial crisis levels until at least 2016.
Milan Polytechnic business school associate dean Giuliano Noci, told Bloomberg the country’s fourth recession in 11 years is taking a toll on Italy’s happy-go-lucky lifestyle and intrinsic hunger for sports cars.
“Italy is one of the strongholds of supercars, and those vehicles are now disappearing from the streets,” Noci said. “This has a huge symbolic value and shows how deep the crisis is.”
The Italian government has recently introduced 20 billion euros ($ 24 billion) in austerity measures as it aims to combat a debt that has spiralled out to 1.9 trillion euros ($ 2.2 trillion).
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Roadmap: BMW future products
With Paris Motor Show upon us and the BMW rumormill churning more than ever, we wanted to take the time and look at future BMW products that we might see in the upcoming years. Some of the models we discussed below are set in stone and with a market launch date already set, but there are plenty others that fall under the “Rumor” category and scarce details are known about them.
The assumptions we’re making below are based on information from our own sources as well as using common sense and industry knowledge.
BMW 1 Series / 2 Series
In 2013, BMW will unveil the coupe and convertible variants of the redesigned 1 Series. The two models will be sold under the 2 Series moniker and will make their way into the U.S. market.
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Scout Nav App Adds Offline Routing, Looks to Get More Social
Image: Telenav
In-car navigation is beginning to follow smartphone nav apps into the cloud to deliver fresh map data and dynamic, internet-connected search capabilities. But in areas with spotty data service, nav apps that store mapping data on your phone – at the cost of eating up a lot of memory – may be more reliable in getting you where you want to go.
The latest nav apps that use off-board maps, most notably Google Maps Navigation, offer a data-lite footprint but also cache a route so that you’re not wondering which way to go when you can’t connect to the ‘net. The Scout app from Telenav joins the ranks today with an update on the Apple App Store that includes offline routing for what the company calls “Always There Navigation.” The paid app also adds voice activation that allows users to perform a local-business or address search using spoken commands, although the feature is data-connection dependent. Based on the query, Scout searches for nearby results and creates the best routes based on traffic and current location. The app is also available for the first time segmented into three U.S. regions: Western, Central and Eastern.
But it’s the off-board routing that’s especially geared towards automotive.
Lamborghini Urus SUV and Sesto Elemento coming to hang out at Pebble Beach
Lamborghini will be showing up the Pebble Beach this year with its extremely aggressive Sesto Elemento concept along with the Urus SUV concept.
Check out more news not the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento.
Lamborghini has previously confirmed that it will be producing a limited number of Sesto Elemento units. Power for the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento comes from a V10 engine making 570-hp. Weighing in at just 2,202 pounds the Sesto goes from 0 to 62 mph in just 2.5 seconds. It was recently reported that all 20 units have been sold out.
Check out more news not the Lamborghini Urus.
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McLaren 12C CAN-AM Racing Concept at Pebble Beach
For most, the McLaren MP4 12C was already track-ready enough but if you know McLaren, their history and strive for perfection and performance, it was only a matter of time before they were to introduce a racing version of the 12C.
The McLaren 12C CAN-AM Edition Racing Concept is all go and all show. It’s most striking feature is its unique aerodynamic package that increases downforce by 30%.
As with all race cars, weight and power are addressed as one increases while the other decreases. Weight is down to 1,200 kg from 1,301 (2,640 from 2,862 lb). Horsepower from the twin-turbocharged 3.8L V8 climbs to 630 from 592.
The cabin is all business with a full race-specification rollcage and two racing seats with six-point harnesses.
The McLaren 12C CAN-AM Edition Racing Concept will be unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance this up-coming weekend.
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