CARSCOOP

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• All-New 2014 Maserati Ghibli Sports Sedan: First Official Photos?
• Meet Pyeonghwa Motors, North Korea's Only Modern Day Automaker [w/Videos]
• How to Drive a Lamborghini Aventador Like an Obnoxious Asshat Through London
• Classic Land Rover Defender to Be Made in Sri Lanka as Well
• Firefighters Cut Car to Extinguish Fire, Turns Out Smoke Came from an Auxiliary Heating System...
• Lamborghini Ganador Supercar Design Study Goes Wedge
• Spy Shots: 2014 Honda Civic Wagon Takes Production Form
• Nürburgring Nordschleife Closed Down After…Giant Penis Graffiti Spotted on Track
• Maserati Blinds us with Ghibli Teaser, First Photos to Be Released April 10
• Scoop: New Porsche Macan Nabbed on the Road, Shows Interior
• Watch Two Brothers Break the Guinness World Record for Tightest Parallel Park
• Dealer Kept Brand New 1996 Nissan 300ZX Coupe with Only 144 Miles on the Odo in Showroom!
• Mini Exec Says Some Models will Be Discontinued, Rocketman May Not Be Produced
• Oh, My...Topless Female Activists Flash Putin and Merkel at VW’s Hannover Stand [NSFW]
• All-Electric Westfield iRacer Silently Takes to the Track [w/Video]
• Volvo Takes Common Rail Diesels into the Future With i-ART Tech
• Russian President Putin Checks Out VW’s XL1 Together with German Chancellor Merkel
• Mercedes Launches New C-Class Edition C, and C 220 CDI 4MATIC Entry-Level AWD Model
• Volvo S60 Driver Tries to Overtake Motorcyclists on the Grass, Pays the Price…
• Bugatti Teaser of "Latest Example of Exceptional Performance" Shows Absolutely Nothing
• Honda to Present Production C Sedan and S MPV, Plus New Concept and Acura Study in Shanghai
• New Citroen DS Wild Rubis is a Mystery Concept Heading to the Shanghai Auto Show [w/Video]
• New Renault Twin’Z is an All-Electric RWD Concept that Previews Next Twingo [75 Photos]

All-New 2014 Maserati Ghibli Sports Sedan: First Official Photos? Posted: 08 Apr 2013 06:21 PM PDT Only a few hours ago, we shared a teaser video of the upcoming 2014 Maserati Ghibli in which the Italian carmaker promised to drop the first images of the car later this week, ahead of its world premiere at the Auto China 2013 in Shanghai on April 20. Apparently, they didn't check for…a leak, as the Czech team over at Autoforum (in case you didn't notice the red logo) are laying claims to the first official shots of the production Ghibli. While we can't be 100 percent certain at this time, our initial impression is that they're the real deal. Read more »

Meet Pyeonghwa Motors, North Korea's Only Modern Day Automaker [w/Videos] Posted: 08 Apr 2013 05:24 PM PDT As North Korea has been all over the news recently, we thought it would be a good idea to check out the country's recent automotive history, and to our surprise, we actually found something - Pyeonghwa ("peace," in Korean) Motors. It is a domestic North Korean automaker, which was founded back in 1999 by Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church (from South Korea), as well as the local government-owned Ryonbong General Corporation. Now, despite being out of business, the company is still the only one in the country with the right to build, buy and sell used cars. Read more »

How to Drive a Lamborghini Aventador Like an Obnoxious Asshat Through London Posted: 08 Apr 2013 04:45 PM PDT Londoners and noisy supercars driven by rich boy racers from various parts of the world are not the best combination, as you've probably seen in the report we posted earlier this year. While residents are enraged from the noise made by the exotic supercars and the reckless driving behavior of some of the foreign guests, the latter view London as their playground and often mistake its streets for racetracks… Read more »

Classic Land Rover Defender to Be Made in Sri Lanka as Well Posted: 08 Apr 2013 04:21 PM PDT The Land Rover Defender – it's been around so long, its name should not even use capitals any more – it is what it is, a land rover defender, which has been moving itself over land and defending countries for decades now. Sure it may have evolved considerably from its Series I predecessor of 1948, but it's shape is instantly recognizable. Now, in the wake of a modern replacement, the Defender as we all know it, is being given another home, on the peaceful island of Sri Lanka, just off the southern tip of India. Read more »

Firefighters Cut Car to Extinguish Fire, Turns Out Smoke Came from an Auxiliary Heating System... Posted: 08 Apr 2013 04:04 PM PDT There's nothing wrong about being a vigilant citizen and alerting authorities when you think there's a problem. That's exactly what a woman from Baia Mare, Romania, did when she saw smoke coming out of a parked car's engine compartment. Suspecting a fire, she called the firefighters. What she didn't know was that the old Audi A6 had an…"auxiliary heating system running on fuel" that had been turned on by the owner via a remote control. Read more »

Lamborghini Ganador Supercar Design Study Goes Wedge Posted: 08 Apr 2013 03:41 PM PDT Who can forget the wonderful wedge-shaped concept and production cars, initially from Bertone and then from Pininfarina, Italdesign and other studios in the late 1960s, and which influenced car designers from all around the world well through the 1980s? The most impressive of these wedge-influence cars where shaped like they could fit right under a gigantic door. Even today, young designers look at concepts like Bertone's 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero concept for inspiration in their work. Mohammad Hossein Amini Yekta is one such designer who wanted to bring "wedge: into the 21st century with a new concept study for a Lamborghini sports car named the Ganador. Read more »

Spy Shots: 2014 Honda Civic Wagon Takes Production Form Posted: 08 Apr 2013 03:00 PM PDT Station wagon models are quite popular in the European market, especially in the compact segment. Up until now, Honda has been absent from this category leaving several other automakers, both local, such as VW with the Golf Estate, and Asian, including Toyota with the new Auris Touring Sports and Hyundai with the i30 Touring, to lure customers into their dealerships. Honda has plans to change this with the new Civic Wagon, which it previewed with a very close to production concept at the Geneva Salon back in March. Now, our spies have caught up with a camouflaged test car of the final production model that will launch next year joining the European market Civic five-door hatchback. Read more »

Nürburgring Nordschleife Closed Down After…Giant Penis Graffiti Spotted on Track Posted: 08 Apr 2013 02:00 PM PDT Pranksters are the kind of people who make all our lives better. Sure, life may not be so great for the people getting pranked, but the benefit to humanity in general is beyond comprehension. Would you not laugh at the news that racing around the Nürburgring Nordschleife was stopped recently, because track officials discovered a solid white penis graffiti on the tarmac? Read more »

Maserati Blinds us with Ghibli Teaser, First Photos to Be Released April 10 Posted: 08 Apr 2013 01:29 PM PDT In yet another teaser that doesn't let us see (almost) anything, Maserati announced that it will release the first pictures of its all-new Ghibli sports sedan on April 10, 2013, ten days before the world premiere at the Shanghai Auto Show. The video teaser shows black and white footage from the photo studio where we can see the silhouette of a car in the background. However, apart from the Maserati grille, there's no other clue to help us imagine how the car looks like. Read more »

Scoop: New Porsche Macan Nabbed on the Road, Shows Interior Posted: 08 Apr 2013 12:52 PM PDT After making its mark on the luxury mid-size crossover segment with two generations of the Cayenne, Porsche is now pointing its guns towards the compact section of the premium segment with the upcoming Macan, a lightly camouflaged prototype of which, we spied on German roads. If you're looking at the interior and exterior pictures of the Macan and thinking "mini-Cayenne", we will agree with you. We still can't make out all the details of the front and rear ends due to the trick-plastic makeover, but the main difference from the Cayenne (besides the more compact dimensions), will be the sleeker-looking glasshouse with the more angled rear window. Read more »

Watch Two Brothers Break the Guinness World Record for Tightest Parallel Park Posted: 08 Apr 2013 12:00 PM PDT The world's tightest parallel park has been set at 131 mm (5.16 in) by Brit John Moffatt on the set of the "Officially Amazing" TV show in Hereford, UK. Quite amazingly, the record was equaled by his brother, Alastair Moffatt, during the same event held on December 10 2012. Read more »

Dealer Kept Brand New 1996 Nissan 300ZX Coupe with Only 144 Miles on the Odo in Showroom! Posted: 08 Apr 2013 11:29 AM PDT At the end of the 1980s, Nissan presented a successor to its 300ZX Z31 with a new model that was one of many sports cars to come out from the land of the Rising Sun during that period and through the 1990s, which many rightfully consider as the golden decade for Japanese performance and sports cars. The 300ZX Z32 (called Fairlady in Japan) gained many awards, including Motor Trend's "Import Car of the Year" in 1990, and was very successful, despite edging closer to a grand tourer than an outright sports car in terms of handling and performance, at least in stock form and compared to, let's say, the Mazda RX-7 or Nissan's replacement, the 350Z. Read more »

Mini Exec Says Some Models will Be Discontinued, Rocketman May Not Be Produced Posted: 08 Apr 2013 11:02 AM PDT Under BMW ownership, the Mini brand has expanded big time, covering more and more segments of the luxury small car market. However, not all new models are commercially successful, and BMW plans to get rid of them when they reach the end of their lifecycle. Of course, we're not talking about the core Mini model, the hatchback. Jim McDowell, vice president of Mini USA, told Edmunds that the hatch and the Countryman are the brand's core models, accounting for about 75 percent of sales. In 2012, Mini sold about 66,200 vehicles in the U.S., around 50,000 of which were those two models. Read more »

Oh, My...Topless Female Activists Flash Putin and Merkel at VW’s Hannover Stand [NSFW] Posted: 08 Apr 2013 10:19 AM PDT Warning: Some readers may find the following images and video offensive. Those who don't, are welcome to complete the bubble thought in the opening picture in the comments after the break. If you read our earlier story about Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to VW's booth at the Hannover Messe Industrie 2013, you've probably noticed a grin on his face. While we assumed it had something to do with the XL1, it seems that the reason may very well have been a bizarre scene that occurred a little earlier… Just as Putin and Merkel were preparing to get in the XL1, three topless activists from Ukraine's FEMEN group rushed into the hall screaming and calling the Russian leader a "dictator", among other names. Read more »

All-Electric Westfield iRacer Silently Takes to the Track [w/Video] Posted: 08 Apr 2013 10:20 AM PDT Electric Vehicle technology is still quite expensive nowadays, and that's mostly down to the crazy-high cost of good batteries. It seems that before wider acceptance is to occur, it is down to small limited-production manufacturers to make the really interesting electric cars, leaving mainstream names to tackle the problems of cost, packaging, safety and financial feasibility. Small manufacturers have a very wide assortment of off-the shelf parts which are of high quality and offer great performance for the buck – take the iRacer, which is made by Westfield in the UK, for example. Read more »

Volvo Takes Common Rail Diesels into the Future With i-ART Tech Posted: 08 Apr 2013 09:25 AM PDT The common rail turbo diesel engine makes a lot of sense to a lot of people who do many miles every year, and since it has gained acceptance around the world (in most countries, anyway), it is being constantly and actively developed, because demand is very high, and rising. In Europe, diesels are hugely popular, and all manufacturers are trying to come out with units that are more powerful as well as more economical and cleaner, so as to outdo the competition. Volvo has now announced a new technology, which takes the concept further and promises improved economy. Read more »

Russian President Putin Checks Out VW’s XL1 Together with German Chancellor Merkel Posted: 08 Apr 2013 09:00 AM PDT Whether he's criticizing the Russian auto industry for not being able to provide him with a decent limousine or test driving Russia's latest models before they go on sale, Russian President Vladimir Putin is always in the news when it comes to cars. Read more »

Mercedes Launches New C-Class Edition C, and C 220 CDI 4MATIC Entry-Level AWD Model Posted: 08 Apr 2013 08:33 AM PDT The current-generation of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class is still at least a year away from receiving a successor, so the German carmaker thought about freshening things up a little bit with a new special edition. Called the "Edition C", the new package is available with the C-Class Saloon, Estate and Coupé models and consists of added equipment and design enhancements both inside and out. Read more »

Volvo S60 Driver Tries to Overtake Motorcyclists on the Grass, Pays the Price… Posted: 08 Apr 2013 08:10 AM PDT Here's one incident where we think that both parties are to blame – the group of motorcyclists for spreading out on both lanes and blocking the road for the rest of the motorists, and the driver of the older generation Volvo S60 sedan for trying to overtake them by stepping on the grass and performing a very dangerous move, as it turned out. Read more »

Bugatti Teaser of "Latest Example of Exceptional Performance" Shows Absolutely Nothing Posted: 08 Apr 2013 07:21 AM PDT Bugatti has just released a "teaser" for an upcoming model, but we have absolutely no clue as to what it will be. That is down, in part, to them deliberately being ambiguous with the information they share, and in part to the fact that, the teaser they showed features a set of blue hangar doors, with light protruding through the gap – that's all. So, what is it? The rumored replacement for the ageing Veyron, or another variant of the current car, but with more power, designed to take back the crown as world's fastest car? Read more »

Honda to Present Production C Sedan and S MPV, Plus New Concept and Acura Study in Shanghai Posted: 08 Apr 2013 06:24 AM PDT There will be a lot to see and talk about at the Honda and Acura stands at the upcoming Auto Shanghai 2013 in China next week (April 20 to 29), as the Japanese manufacturer has prepared a multitude of world premieres, beginning with the production versions of the Honda Concept C and S, both of which were displayed for the first time at the 2012 Beijing Auto Show last April. Honda said it will "display models substantially identical to the mass-production versions" of the C mid-size sedan (pictured above) and S compact minivan, both of which are scheduled to be introduced to the market this year. Read more »

New Citroen DS Wild Rubis is a Mystery Concept Heading to the Shanghai Auto Show [w/Video] Posted: 08 Apr 2013 05:47 AM PDT Tease, tease, tease…Only 12 days left for the opening (as in press day) of the 2013 Shanghai Auto Show and Citroen is the latest carmaker to release a cropped image and a shady video of one of the new concept cars it plans to debut at the event. The French manufacturer said that the Wild Rubis concept belongs to its more luxurious DS series, but stopped there stating that it will share more details on the study this Thursday, April 11. Read more »

New Renault Twin’Z is an All-Electric RWD Concept that Previews Next Twingo [75 Photos] Posted: 08 Apr 2013 05:22 AM PDT Renault teased us earlier last month with a few teaser images of a new concept car created in collaboration with British designer Ross Lovegrove – and here it is, in its city car glory: the new Twin'Z study that will eventually lead to the French brand's replacement for the Twingo. If the shape and styling of the Twin'Z look familiar, it's because a sportier version of the same concept in a three-door body-style with a rowdy internal combustion engine named either Twin-Fun or Twin-Run was pictured and filmed in Spain less than two weeks ago. Read more »

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