Luxury Auto Toys

BMW Classic is writing a further chapter of this historic narrative at the 2009 Mille Miglia. An icon of BMW racing history, normally only on view at the BMW Museum, has been rendered raceworthy again for this year’s Mille Miglia: the BMW 328 Mille Miglia Touring Coupé, overall winner of the 1940 event.

“On the one hand we want to express the high regard in which we hold the Mille Miglia,” says Karl Baumer, head of BMW Classic, “and on the other our aim is to show that the BMW Museum is no dead-end street, but that we also put historic vehicles back on the road for special occasions.” Visitors to the Museum need not miss out on the legendary racing coupé: during its absence a faithfully reproduced replica will be standing in for the original.

As well as the Touring Coupé, several BMW 328 production models will be sent out onto the roads between Rome and Brescia, along with a range of BMW 328 Mille Miglia Roadsters and a BMW 328 Berlin-Rome Roadster. The youngest BMW to make the journey from Munich to Italy will be a BMW 507 built in 1957. In all, nine works cars will be lining up at the start of this year’s Mille Miglia, with seven further teams bearing the blue and white logo also expected in Brescia.

The teams:

No. 71 BMW 328 (Prinz Leopold von Bayern / Peter Lovett)
No. 72 BMW 328 (Ulrich Knieps / Dr. Hans Hamer)
No. 73 BMW 328 (Maximilian Schöberl / Jürgen von Kuczkowski)
No. 74 BMW 328 Mille Miglia Coupé ( Andrea Castronovo / Kristian Ghedina)
No. 75 BMW 328 Berlin-Rome Touring Roadster (Ian Robertson / Charles Lord March)
No.76 BMW 328 (Dr. Friedrich Eichiner / Dieter Pfundt)
No. 77 BMW 328 Mille Miglia Roadster (Heinrich Lingner / Karl Baumer)
No. 78 BMW 328 (Michael Schröder / Daniel Kiess)
No. 365 BMW 507 (Reiner Löslein / Marcel Botterweck)

Source: BMW

Aston Martin gave a clearer indication of the direction the Lagonda brand will take with a concept car in Geneva.

Looking like an SUV, the V12-engine four-wheel drive still retains a few cues from its parent company but displayed more muscle and bulk, coupled with a touch of Bentley stateliness.

Aston Martin’s Chief Executive Dr. Ulrich Bez says the Lagonda brand will enable Aston to enter new markets, and has set a target of 100 global territories, far exceeding the current 30 countries that Aston commands.

Says Bez: “Lagonda will create a new kind of customer relationship, instilling the spirit of travel, adventure and style into a single, formidable package.”

Aston Martin’s association with Lagonda began in 1947 when David Brown, then the marque’s owner, bought over the company first created by American-born Wilbur Gunn in 1899.

Gunn built his first car in 1909, and this Lagonda Concept that Aston Martin is now showing thus marks the centenary of car production for the revived Lagonda brand.

Aston Martin also took the wraps off its £1-million-per-car One-77, for the first time, showing the car in its full aluminium and carbonfibre glory.

A brief recap, the One-77 houses a 7.3-liter, naturally aspirated V12 with an output of over 700bhp, does a 0-60 mph acceleration in about 3.5seconds, and has a top speed over 200mph.

This brand new Bentley Continental GTC Speed was shown this week at the Detroit Auto Show. Obviously, because this is a Bentley it’s pure decadence with breathtaking interiors and bold, grand exterior design to portray both the class and the price tag of this massive car…

It’s an absolute beauty if you ask me, but so is the two hundred and thirty thousand dollar price tag.

The Ferrari Enzo is the dream of every car lover, to be specific, the dream of every sports car lover. It is not easily accessible to the common man as it ranges around a million and a half dollars. But it is a passion for many to owe a Ferrari. In Ferrari Enzo, you are just discovering new things. The sophisticated technology used has made driving an all-new experience. You may win races lose races but the brand stands up with lifted shoulders.

High-end sports cars have different ways to generate lift. The Ferrari Enzo uses down force to the tune if about 300 pounds at 124 mph owing to its low ground clearance of the smooth body, reduced cabin height and with the help of very effective diffusers. It is amazing that they achieve this without the use of add-on down force producers such as rear wings and front splitters. This in addition to maintaining a relatively low CD of .32 shows the class of the genre.

The Enzo has got all the specifications needed for a new generation car. The originality and the style of the vehicle prompted the Sports Cars International to name it as the best three cars in the modern era.

This 2009 Maybach Zeppelin 62 is the prime example of a decadent exotic car. Bathing in luxury with all sorts of decadent accessories (including a $5000 ionizer) , it’s not the kind of car you’ll be seeing at the mall every week. I love it though, and I hope I get a chance to drive one (or be driven in one) some day.

“The new 62 Zeppelin and Maybach 57 models will take the spotlight at the Geneva Motor Show. Car experts and lovers will surely have praises for the power plants of these vehicles. The Zeppelin sports a biturbo V12 6.0L engine that enhances the cars output by 28 hp or a total of 640 hp brute force. This makes the Zeppelin the most powerful Maybach to date.”

Via Exotic Car News.

Mercedes Benz tries to cope with the slow sales of its premium SUV the GLK class by giving potential buyers better options and packages. The company attributes the slump due to the oversupply of high end versions in the market.

According to company executives, they exported high end models to the United States last January affecting their overall sales.

The different versions of the GLK came in as a surprise to some consumers when the sticker price reached $40000 plus. The price skyrocketed because the packages offered by the dealerships were loaded by options.

Most of the US consumers were expecting see the tag as advertised at $34775 for the two-wheel drive version. The all-wheel drive starts selling at $36775. These prices include shipment of the vehicle.

Mercedes Benz adjusted the interest rate to 1.90% for up to 5 year and 6 months for the GLK class last February. The options for the GLK have also been reconfigured to make the package more appealing to consumers.

Some of the features sought after by consumers like the sunroof was marketed as an option package for $3150 before and is now sold as a stand alone feature tagged at $1450. The multimedia package that came with a navigation system had a sticker of $3350 is now being sold separately for $1800.

GLK owners who purchased packaged options last February or March got a refund of around $2000. Mercedes-Benz did not disclose how many customers received the refund.

The Challenger SRT8 marked the official return last year of the muscle car to the Dodge lineup, and its retro styling, 425-horsepower V8 and tire-shredding capabilities had Mopar enthusiasts giddy with excitement. What, you say, could be much better? Enter Classic Design Concepts.

The Novi, Michigan-based company has been adding its visual touch to cars since 1990, and recently tried its hand at Dodge’s new muscle car. The result? The Group 2 Widebody Challenger that made its debute at SEMA in 2008. We were instantly smitten with the car’s aggressive appearance on the show floor, and were determined to get a closer look if we ever had the chance. Jumping forward a couple of months, we recently learned that the car would be out in Southern California for a Mopar gathering. A phone call to CDC later and we were fortunate enough to land an afternoon behind the wheel of this 575-horsepower bona fide modern musclecar.

-Drew Phillips

The G-Power crew is constantly striving to produce the most insane BMWs on the planet, combining forced induction with thoroughly revised suspensions and aerodynamics to attain completely unreasonable speeds.

It’s latest creation, the M6 Hurricane CS, takes the standard set by its M5 – based Hurricane RS, and straps a duo of superchargers onto the 5.0-liter V10, boosting the coupe’s output to 740 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque.

Combined with a remapped ECU and a titanium exhaust, along with carbon fiber seats and a few other tweaks to reduce the curb weight by around 100 pounds, the CS can run to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, to 124 mph in 9.6 seconds, 187 in 26 seconds and on to a claimed top speed of 230 mph – making it the fastest road-going BMW coupe on Earth.

In addition to the twin superchargers and bespoke body-kit, G-Power fitted the CS with carbon ceramic brakes at all four corners, with the front discs measuring in at 380mm and clamped by six-piston calipers. A coil-over suspension with nine adjustable settings joins front and rear anti-roll bars, and for a scant 390,000 euros, it can be yours. All the details can be found in the press release below the fold.

BMW has given the M treatment to its fleet of SUVs – the X5 and X6, set to make their bow at the New York Auto Show.

Both X duos get significant power upgrades from 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8s, from 400hp to 555hp. What’s more exciting, BMW says there’s 501 lb ft of peak torque available from 1,500 through to 5,650 rpm, which makes these heavy beasts capable of carving corners like an adroit sports car.

An impressive 0-62 mph time of 4.7 seconds lends further credence to their “sports activity” tags, considering this gigantic duo weigh close to 2.5 tonnes each.

Buggati Celebrates: Since its formation in 1909, Bugatti has continued to blaze a path of glory. To commemorate its 100th anniversary, Bugatti pays tribute to its motor-racing roots with the release of four special Veyron Centenaires. The cars were displayed at this year’s Concorso D’Eleganza Villa d’Este alongside the historic Type 35 racers for a one-time only event on 26th April in Lake Como.

Each car not only adopts the name of Bugatti’s most successful racers but also a sheen representing their respective national racing colours: Green for Malcolm Campbell, white for Hermann zu Leiningen, red for Achille Varzi and blue for Jean-Pierre Wimille.

The celebration began with the unveiling of the Blue Centenaire in Geneva and continues with the Pebble Beach Concorso D’Eleganza. The grand finale will be held in Molsheim on 12th September.