2013 Lamborghini Sesto Elemento

Lamborghini has already confirmed that the Sesto Elemento will indeed be headed to the production line, albeit in a very limited run. With such a minute number being produced, anyone would be hard-pressed to get know when Lamborghini is even actively selling it, let alone be able to grab hold of one of those units. The task of purchasing an Elemento got even harder as a high-end dealership in La Jolla, just north of San Diego, confirmed that Lamborghini was already accepting orders for the car and that only three units were headed over to the United States.

The Lamborghini Sesto Elemento will be offered at a princely sum and rumors suggest that payment will be taken Reventon-style, which means three equal payments of $300,000 or higher with the remainder being paid at the end of the deal. That kind of price tag will bring its owner a 570 HP V10 engine and a power-to-weight ratio of only 1.75 kilograms per HP. This allows the Sesto Elemento to sprint from 0 to 60 mph in a sensational 2.5 seconds, while top speed will be higher than 186 mph.

Anyone willing and able to pay that incredible price tag better have their phone in hand and their bank account numbers handy.

UPDATE 08/21/2012: The Lamborghini Sesto Elemento was on display at the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours where Lambo representatives have confirmed that the model is priced at a cool $2.2 million. Anyone lucky enough to scrap together enough cash will still be heartbroken when they hear that all 20 units have already been sold. (GT Spirit)

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2012 MINI Coupe Targa Raze by RevoZport

When you start thinking about MINI, there’s growing sentiment that the German automaker has become increasingly adept at building some pretty aggressive machines.

Some aftermarket companies has taken notice too, and one of them, RevoZport, has announced their new program for both the MINI Coupe and Roadster, christening it the "Targa Raze."

Built in-house to be the kind of MINI program we just fall head over hells for, the Targa Raze is beyond sick, with a bodykit that includes new bumpers, revised side skirts, and a ventilated hood, all of which are made from carbon and Kevlar. Likewise, a carbon fiber roof and a prominent rear spoiler are part of the program, reducing the car’s weight by 40kg/88 lbs while also widening its profile by 15mm.

Under the hood, RevoZport opted for a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine that now comes with new, larger intercooler, new camshafts, a remapped ECU unit, and a new titanium exhaust system. With all these modifications in tow, the Targa Raze now has an impressive output of 250 horsepower, an increase of 69 ponies from the standard model’s 181-horsepower output.

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Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid achieves 185 mph world record at Bonneville

World speed records are usually associated with vehicles like the Bugatti Veyron, which can hit a high mark of 267 mph and look great while doing it. Advances in hybrid technology, however, have now made it essential to include vehicles like the Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid on the list of top speed records. No, the Jetta was not able to dominate the Veyron’s top speed, or even come close to it, but it has achieved a land speed record of its own at the Bonneville Salt Flats. During the Southern California Timing Association’s Speed Week at Bonneville, the Jetta Hybrid was able to record a 185.394 mph top speed, marking the fastest speed ever achieved by a production-based hybrid on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

"Achieving this speed at Bonneville shows that the all-new 2013 Jetta Hybrid is a distinctly different offering in the compact hybrid class,” said Jonathan Browning, CEO and President, VW Group of America. “As well as being expected to achieve combined fuel economy of 45 mpg, the Jetta Turbo Hybrid also retains the fun-to-drive nature you expect from a Volkswagen in a segment dominated by less exciting vehicles.”

The 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid is powered by a 1.4-liter turbocharged gasoline powerplant generating 150 horsepower and 184 lb/ft of torque. The gasoline engine is then combined with a 20kW electric motor with a lithium-ion battery that’s produces an additional 27 HP and weighs less than 80 lbs. The Jetta’s top speed record was achieved by implementing a few changes to the setup. Volkswagen R&D in Wolfsburg, Germany modified the engine to provide a few more ponies, while A-Salt Racing and Advanced Product Engineering, based in Camarillo, California, provided project integration and other modifications. Everything was finalized with an engine calibration and a once-over by the folks at the Volkswagen Test Center California in Oxnard, CA

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Tesla Refuses to "Enter the Graveyard" with other Failed Companies

So many car companies lose sight of the single most important aspect of running a business: keeping cost low and profit high, while maintaining good quality control. This has ultimately landed many start-up companies into early closure and even some juggernauts, like Pontiac and Oldsmobile, into shutting their doors for good.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk really seems to have his finger on the pulse of his business, as they slowly start bringing more mainstream cars – as mainstream as an EV can be – into the market, with its new Model S and upcoming Model X. To help control overhead, each Tesla Model S is built to order, so there aren’t any leftovers on the shelves, but this also poses the risk of not being able to keep up with demand.

At this point, Tesla is manufacturing at its capacity and needs to push out another 5,000 Model S units by December 31st to hit its goal and stay in the black. This is a tall task that will likely not be possible without increasing production, but Tesla’s CEO also knows that increasing production also increases cost, so there needs to be a delicate balance. Musk was quoted saying that “The challenge that Tesla faces over the next few months is scaling production enough to achieve a certain gross margin on our product so we can be cash flow positive. That’s extremely important,” and “If we’re unable to do that, we’ll enter the graveyard with all the other car company startups of the last 90 years.”

Clearly, Musk is willing to take this challenge head-on and he understands what’s at stake. We love the Tesla line and want to see it succeed, and seeing a CEO that is willing to admit the challenges ahead and ready to take them on is a promising start. We’ll keep a close eye on this to make sure Tesla can actually hit its goals for the year and stay afloat.

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2013 BMW 6-Series Gran Coupe by Hamann

In April 2012, German tuner Hamann released their program for the new BMW 6-Series, a car that has been a fixation of ours for quite some time now. But as it turns out, Hamann’s got more up its sleeve with a teaser photo of their latest offering, this time for the 6-Series Gran Coupe.

Nothing much in the way of details have been revealed, but look for some significant modifications from the people who know what it takes to build some serious programs for their cars. Judging from the picture, there appears to be a slew of new components added into the car, including revised bumpers, new side skirts, a boot lid wing, an unmistakable Hamann bonnet, and a new set of Hamann wheels.

Performance modifications - if there are any - are still being kept under wraps so we’ll have to wait for more details on whether Hamann has improvements for the 6-Series Gran Coupe’s 445-horsepower 4.4-liter V8 engine. Looking at what Hamann showed us, though, we have to say that the components look mighty impressive, to say the least.

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Porsche Ads Reveal a new Roadster, but Only in London...

Ewe no, their are thymes when a spellchecker is in order and advertismenting sumthing is Juan of them thymes. Their’s not much worser then misspelling the nayme of the pro-duct you are saling. Welp, it looks like Porsche has decided against spell checking its ads.

Okay, we’ll stop now... but seriously. Every single Porsche Boxster billboard ad in the great city of London has a glaring error in it. It’s missing an “S,” so the sports car is now known as the "Boxter." Granted, the pronunciation is exactly the same, but the spelling is simply horrendous.

Really, how in the world does a professional advertising company, which we only assume Porsche uses, misspell a key word, like the product’s freaking name, on a slew of billboards? To boot, how exactly does Porsche not catch this before having the billboards installed? Yeah, accidents happen, but that’s fine on a single small ad somewhere, not on billboards all across London.

An ad campaign of this magnitude has to cost a load of money and if the ads are up, it means that Porsche apparently approved the final proofs. So the question is how did Porsche approve botched proofs or did the ad company misprint them when they made the billboards?

We tried coming up with a department to call in Porsche’s operation to find out whose error it was, but we came up empty. We are sure that within a matter of days these ads will be fixed up. It’s still worth a good laugh.

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Jeep Wrangler Truck in the Works?

As other manufacturers are eliminating SUV-truck hybrids (See: Chevy Avalanche and Ford Explorer Sport Trac) Chrysler is just now debating officially releasing one in Jeep Wrangler garb. In 2005, Jeep teased us with the idea of this monstrosity with the Gladiator Concept, which we didn’t care for then and really dislike now, as that fad has run its course.

In an interview with CarAdvice, Jeep president, Mike Manley, let them in on the secret that Jeep will be making a decision “pretty soon” on whether the Jeep Wrangler-based pickup will head into production or not.

In the interview, Manley was asked when he thought the Wrangler truck may be an option, Manley responded by saying “Probably the next generation.” This means that the Jeep Wrangler truck could be in Jeep’s lineup as early as 2015. The biggest debate, aside from whether there is a market for it or not, is whether it will come as a 2- or 4-door.

The 2-door model eliminates lots of passenger room, but in return, you get the Wrangler’s impressive break-over angle – the ability to avoid dragging its back end when climbing a steep grade. In a 4-door model, you get the added passenger room, but Jeep would then have to make the bed longer and that would cause a smaller break-over angle, resulting in you dragging the tail when starting up a steep grade. The only other option there would be to lengthen the wheelbase, which can result in your New Wrangler pickup turning into a large teeter-totter when climbing over rocky terrain.

We have a quick solution to this whole problem... Just scrap the plan altogether, Jeep. There is already an aftermarket kit to turn the Wrangler into a truck. If customers want one that bad, they can have it custom fabricated.

We could be wrong and the Wrangler-based truck could be a hit, but we just don’t see that kind of response coming from Wrangler fans.

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