Filed under: Concept Cars, LA Auto Show, Motorsports, Mazda

It wasn’t the number one pick of our readers (earning the silver medal in your voting), but Mazda managed to take the top honors at the LA Design Challenge with its KAAN concept. The design itself is a fanciful look into a future where all the roads in California are paved with… um, sub-level electro-conductive polymer (m’kay), which provides juice to the electronic tires that allow the KAAN to reach speeds of up to 250 mph. Up to 30 KAANs would travel together in formations that would cheat the wind, so MAZDA designed the vehicles so that they could fit tightly together in the peloton.

The theme of the competition was to depict what motorsports would be like in 2025. Chuck Pelly, director of Design Los Angeles, said that the choice was made because Mazda’s entry was “the most innovative and artistic design,” and that the KAAN “ultimately brought unique styling back to motorsports.” Unique? That seems like a major understatement to us. See all of the contenders after the break

[Source: LA Auto Show]

Continue reading LA 2008: Mazda takes top honors in Design Challenge

LA 2008: Mazda takes top honors in Design Challenge originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Filed under: Car Buying, Supercars, Lamborghini, UK, Special/Limited Editions

Click above for high-res image gallery of the final Lamborghini Reventon

Lamborghini has cultivated an image for fast and exclusive supercars, but the Reventon broke the mold. Although rumors at one point suggested that the exotic automaker would increase the production run, Lamborghini stuck to its guns by producing just 20 examples as originally promised, all of which were spoken for almost immediately after the announcement was made despite a whopping million-euro price tag. Now the last one has rumbled out the factory gates in Sant’Agata Bolognese into the hands of one elated new owner.

Well, we’d be elated, but the car’s owner was instead described as “understandably delighted”. That’s British understatement for you. The car was sold from a dealership in Birmingham, England, which had the honor of hocking the only Reventon to make it to the car-crazed UK. Fortunately for British supercars fans, the owner - whose identity was not disclosed and his face blurred out in the photo - pledges to drive the machine and will start by driving it across Europe from Italy to Engand.

[Source: Lamborghini]

Continue reading Lamborghini delivers final Reventon to British customer

Lamborghini delivers final Reventon to British customer originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Filed under: LA Auto Show, Supercars

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Gumpert Apollos

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Gumpert Apollo isn’t the prettiest car. Its garish and over-emphasized styling make it look cartoonish, but what it lacks in the visual department is made up with one of the most capable chassis and motor combinations ever produced. In fact, a pair of Apollos were tucked away in one of the connecting halls at the LA Auto Show, and as far as we know they are the only two examples in the country. We’ve seen the black one tackling speed bumps and taking on the Gumball 3000, and Streetfire featured the orange one a few months back. We’re always up for new photos of interesting cars, so behold the gallery of high-res photos below.

Live photos copyright (C)2008 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

LA 2008: Two Gumperts are uglier than one originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Filed under: LA Auto Show, Convertibles, Supercars, Ferrari

Click above for a high-res image gallery of the Ferrari California

The Ferrari California delves into new territory for Ferrari, both in theme and design. Many faithful to the marque may be against its styling, but the true test will be sales numbers. As Porsche has proved over the last few years, the addition of successful new models can be a valuable asset to a company’s finances, and we’re all in favor of Ferrari’s increased capability to improve the breed. The LA Auto Show is the first time we’ve seen the car in its namesake state, and we took the chance to give it another close inspection after our recent first encounter with the Ferrari California in Sicily. The style is definitely growing on us, and we dearly loved the car in Azzurro Blue. Still on the fence? Check out the gallery below and see if you can make up your mind.

Live photos copyright (C)2008 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

LA 2008: Ferrari California comes home originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Filed under: Tech, Supercars, Nissan

It appears that GT-R owners won’t have to worry about voiding their warranties if they use Launch Control — for the 2010 model year, the car won’t come with the feature. Inside Line is quoting a Nissan exec as saying “It’s gone. We just don’t want to deal with the warranty nightmare anymore. It’ll make the 2009 GT-R really special. It’ll be the only R35 with launch control.”

We’ve previously reported cases where Nissan GT-R owners have brought their cars to the dealership with transmission trouble only to be told their warranties won’t cover it. It turns out that disabling the car’s VDC (Vehicle Dynamic Control) too often, in order to use the Launch Control function, meant Nissan wasn’t covering the repairs. The cost to fix/replace the transmission is only $20,000, so you can imagine owners weren’t too upset. Apparently the GT-R owner’s manual states that damage to the transmission is not covered if it is proven to be the result of using Launch Control with the VDC turned off. In fact, the manual states that the only reason you should turn off VDC is to “rock” the vehicle when stuck in mud or snow. We await Nissan’s revised performance numbers.

Thanks for the tip, Mike!

[Source: Inside Line]

Nissan drops Launch Control from 2010 GT-R originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read