News from around the world

[m_waqas]

all good news @Ducati.. specially Audi TT..

[Ducati]

ASTON CONFIRMS CYGNET PRODUCTION
Aston Martin has confirmed production of its Toyota-based Cygnet city car from 2011.

First shown as a concept in March 2010, the Cygnet is described as a modern city car based on sound Aston Martin principles but able to exploit tight parking spots, be frugal and emit low emissions.

For most Aston Martin owners it has been a design directive of pure heresy.

An unacceptable affront to everything Aston’s winged badge represents.

Environmental solution

Aston Martin CEO Dr Ulrich Bez believes there is a market for the car though. “Our customers need a small car for urban and city use, and they want the right tools for the right job, to downsize creatively without compromising intelligence, artistry and personality.”

“The Cygnet is designed to support our sports cars by providing a greater degree of freedom in the urban context; it is a very special car, a premium but compact package with heart, soul and personality.”

Just like any other Aston Martin, Cygnet comes with an almost limitless palette of materials and colours, too, and every car will be hand-built at the company’s Gaydon facility outside Warwickshire, England.

The Cygnet’s grille is classic Aston Martin, as are those rather pointless bonnet slits and side vents – which remind one distressingly of Aston’s DB9 and Vantage models.

Around the rump the Cygnet sports typical crescent-shaped Aston Martin taillights.

Marek Reichman, Aston Martin’s design director, said: "Cygnet is small but luxurious, an Aston Martin tailor fit for the city. Luxury is not constrained by scale," he added.

It may be small but expect it to carry the full Aston image inflation pricing values of its larger siblings. Initially only available to existing Aston owners.

Industry pundits wonder how Aston could possibly market the car beyond its existing customer network.

The issue is hardly that the donor vehicle platform, Toyota’s iQ, is in any way a terrible little car. Neatly styled and cleverly engineered it’s one the best Toyota’s in recent memory and an awfully compelling city-car transport solution. As an Aston Martin it is terrifically cheap in Cygnet guise. As a Toyota though, the probably asking price is ridiculous.

Slow because it has to be

Although Aston has promised to release further details and specification only later this year, don’t expect a radical departure from the series iQ’s running gear.

Mechanically the iQ is powered by a Toyota 1.3l engine, driving four-cylinders to peak outputs of 72kW and 123Nm.

The engine features dual VVT-i timing technology (on both inlet and exhaust camshafts) and stop-start functionality that ensures environmentally friendly emissions control (only 113g/km of carbon output), which is, as Aston have admitted, the Cygnet’s raison d'être.

Aston is hoping for sales of between 1000 and 2000 units when Cygnet becomes available to existing Aston Martin customers towards the end of next year.

We expect most owners would expect a Cygnet thrown in for free with their trade-in…

Ultimately though, as Aston is a standalone manufacturer, it needs a low emission vehicle to reduce its fleet emission footprint in anticipation of ever tightening EU emissions regulations.

What the Cygnet will do on a fundamental level (besides play havoc with Aston's brand awareness) is afford the company's engineers a window of opportunity to find replacement drivetrains (a combination of forced induction and hybrid for the larger V8 and V12 powered Aston Martin products, without sacrificing power.

[Ducati]

BLUETOOTH BAN PLANNED
The war on cellphone use in cars continues with Ray LaHood, United States Transportation Secretary, leading research that might help to pass a law banning drivers from chatting.

LaHood said: "I don’t want people talking on phones, having them up to an ear, or texting while they’re driving."

Installing programmes

"The bottom line for me is to get where we’re at with seat belts and with drunk driving," LaHood said. "When those programs were started, people were very sceptical that you could get people to buckle-up."

LaHood's campaign against phone use extends beyond drivers keeping hand-held units to their ears - he's targeted text messaging and Bluetooth, both of which he says distract drivers too much.

The study that LaHood is conducting could lead to regulation that would inhibit future growth of some features used by programmes such as Ford's Sync and General Motors' OnStar, depending on the findings.

Notably, OnStar recently announced plans to let drivers update their Facebook accounts while on the go. Ford says it wants to integrate social networking into its fleet soon, too.

"I’m absolutely opposed to all of that," LaHood said. "That would be the biggest distraction of all. All of that is well beyond the idea that you’re really trying to avoid distracted driving."

Chrysler, meanwhile, has launched a cellphone app called 'TXT U L8r' that automatically responds to text messages with a "user is unavailable" message when the phone is connected to a car's Bluetooth device.

LaHood does plan to meet automakers to discuss how they will co-operate in his mission to limit distracted driving.

Right idea though?

However, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers - an industry lobbying group - says it is concerned that regulators might prohibit wireless links from operating in cars.

Alliance spokesman Wade Newton told Bloomberg news: "Our feeling is it’s a matter of balancing what we know people are going to do anyway with what technology can help them to do safer in a vehicle. We know people are going to have conversations and look at maps and listen to music in a vehicle."

In addition, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety - an independent agency that conducts extensive safety tests - says it is concerned that LaHood is focused too much on reducing phone use. IIHS says its study of cellphone texting showed bans in four American states did not reduce the number of road accidents.

[Ducati]

JAG SHUNS PREMIUM SUV TREND
Jaguar, despite its relatively small size, believes it can maintain its engineering independence and heritage.

The recent 2010 Paris auto show was a watershed event for the Tata-owned sibling brands Land Rover and Jaguar. Many pundits expected Jaguar to debut an XF coupe there but the designers and engineers at HQ in Coventry in the English Midlands stunned showgoers with a C-X75 turbine-hybrid concept.

Small - not stupid.

Does Jaguar have the resources to go it alone with a planned expansion of its road-going cars, though? Shared platforms and engines are an integral reality of the "economies of scale" that now pervade global automaking.

Despite this, Tata motors boss Carl-Peter Forster (formerly head of BMW SA) believes Jaguar can cope.

Image enhanced

Jaguar wants to build a 3 Series rival to afford younger buyers a less price-sensitive purchase entry to the brand. The company’s previous 3 Series rival, the X-type, was not particularly well received and Jaguar’s design team realises its new project must be a credible junior XF.

Ultimately, Jaguar’s recent ability to tweak its own platforms has greatly enhanced the brand’s image as a purveyor of dynamically harmonious cars, nearly faultlessly balancing performance with comfort.

Forster admitted that although Jaguar was investigating the feasibility of a large crossover-type car it would not build an SUV, thereby avoiding a clash with sibling brand Land Rover. The idea of a small hatchback to rival the Mercedes A-Class has also been shelved.

Jaguar boss Mike O'Driscoll will retire in March 2011. As the man who oversaw Jaguar's sale to Tata and the introduction of award-winning products such as the XF and the new XK, O'Driscoll will leave the company in outstanding shape for his successor to execute future plans - which include the vaunted sub-XF 3 Series rival and, it is hoped, a road-going version of the C-X75 supercar.

[Ducati]

@m_waqas

all good news @Ducati.. specially Audi TT..

Yeah mate and its nice to have some good for a change

[Ducati]

GOOGLE TESTS SELF-DRIVING CARS
Google Inc is road-testing cars that steer, stop and start without a human driver, the company says.

The cars have travelled a total of 225 300km on major California roads without much human intervention, according to a posting on Saturday on Google's corporate blog.

The goal is to "help prevent traffic accidents, free-up people's time and reduce carbon emissions," project leader Sebastian Thrun wrote in the blog post.

It's not the first signal that Google wants to change how people get from place to place. In a speech on September 29 before the Techcrunch "Disrupt" conference, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said "your car should drive itself. It just makes sense.

"It's a bug that cars were invented before computers."

The New York Times published a report on the development on Sunday.

The California-based technology giant has sent seven test cars a total of 1600km without a human touching the controls, the New York Times reported. The cars recognise speed limits, traffic patterns and road maps. They use video cameras, radar sensors and lasers to detect other cars, Thrun's posting explains.

Driving between orthern and southern California, the cars have navigated San Francisco's Lombard Street, Los Angeles' Hollywood Boulevard and the Pacific Coast Highway, the blog says.

Engineers consider the cars safer because they react more quickly than humans, the New York Times said. It said Google had not revealed how it hoped to profit from the research.

The cars are never unmanned, Thrun wrote. A live driver is always behind the wheel to monitor the software.

It says the technology is being developed by scientists who were involved in an earlier set of unmanned car races organised by the government's Defence Advance Research Projects Agency - the well-known Darpa drives.

[Ducati]

SURVEY: SILVER SHINES WITH BUYERS
A global study has revealed that, for the 10th year in a row, more than one-third of people drive a silver car.

PPG, a paint company, started keeping track of car sales by colour in 1990 and since then the silver, charcoal and grey trends have kept on climbing at a steady and rapid pace.

In 2008 about 20 percent of cars sold were silver, in 2009 it 25 percent and in 2010 the number was 31 percent, according to the American study.

And it seems drivers prefer to stick to the neutral tones with black and white coming second as the favourite alternatives - tallying 18 percent each.

Green least-popular

Those going for the sports-car dream come in third, with red cars only representing 11 percent of the colour mix, followed closely by blue at 10 percent.

Green was the least-favourite at four percent, showing that times do indeed change - in 1990 green was at the top of the list. And the least favourite colour back in 1990? You guessed it – silver.

Silver's popularity seems to be a worldwide phenomenon; it's top-pick in North America, Europe and Asia.

Jane Harrington, PPG's manager of colour styling and automotive coatings, believes colour is key.

“Colour is an important component of how today’s automakers can define and differentiate a vehicle or brand in the marketplace," she said. "The palette of colours being developed for the automotive market is clearly being influenced by culture, nature, fashion, movies, media, electronics and many consumer products.”

[Ducati]

SOUTH KOREA PASSES FIA TEST
Seoul - F1 race officials have given the go ahead for the inaugural South Korean Grand Prix later this month, organisers said on Tuesday after concerns the circuit was not up to standard.

The track in Yeongam about four hours' drive from Seoul has passed final inspections by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) race director, the Korean organisers Korea Auto Valley Operation (KAVA) said.

The South Korean race is scheduled for Oct. 24, but there had been questions about whether the circuit would be ready in time, with delays pushing back the inspections which had been initially scheduled for last month.

Cancellation would have had a major impact on the world championship outcome, with five drivers vying for the title with just three races to go.

Australian Mark Webber of the Red Bull team increased his lead to 14 points after finishing second in Japan at the weekend to teammate Sebastian Vettel.

FIA race director Charlie Whiting's go ahead came after his inspections of the newly paved circuit on Monday, erasing fears of cancellation of the inaugural Korean race, with the final layer of asphalt laid only last week.

Whiting has notified the organisers that he would be issuing an official license for the track, after the on-site inspections to check whether construction had met engineering requirements, KAVO said in a statement.

No teams are expecting perfect conditions but they will be hoping the track does not throw up too many problems at a time when consistency is crucial.

South Korea's auto makers hope the Grand Prix will help raise the country's image as a high-end maker, having emerged as one of the world's fastest growing car export markets.

Cancellation would have dealt a major blow to South Korea's plan to raise its profile as a tourism destination by investing heavily in global events such as the Grand Prix and next month's G20 summit, as well as a bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.

[Ducati]

JAG C-X75 CONCEPT SET FOR BUILD?
These days, when a concept car is shown, it’s usually a given that the production car is not too far off.

So it came as a little surprise when Jaguar said it was planning production feasibility studies for its mid-engined C-X75 concept shown at the recent Paris auto show.

Automotive News reports that two production levels are under consideration. Each will be independently explored because they each requires different production models. The high-volume model would rely on more automation (with its resultant higher tooling costs), while the low-volume model would require more hand assembly.

A production version of the gas turbine-powered C-X75 has been put on hold for five to seven years while the Bladon Jets microturbines used in the hybrid electric powertrain are subjected to more rigorous tests.

For the production car to be true to its concept, it would require the use of the gas turbines. These take up so little space in the engine bay that concept designers have been able to position the cabin further back than in a typical supercar.

It is estimated that the cost of developing the turbines for production would be significantly lower than the cost of developing an equivalent conventional engine.

[Ducati]

JAGUAR SHOWS 21ST CENTURY E-TYPE
This is how Jaguar celebrates its 75th year – by unveiling a striking electric car concept with a range of up to 900km.

Along with celebrating its history, Jaguar says the C-X75 also provides a glimpse into the future of the marque and its drive to produce beautiful cars without further sullying the environment.

Finished in Jetstream Silver to best show off the car’s simple forms and flowing lines, the car is inspired by Jaguar’s past designs, such as the classic C-Type and D-Type racers from the 1950s.

Shorter and with a lower centre of gravity than conventional supercars, the C-X75’s exterior is honed to efficiency. The four-wheel drive supercar is able to run on electric power only for up to 110km on a six-hour charge from a household plug, Jaguar says. Using lightweight micro gas turbines to quickly recharge the lithium-ion batteries gives the car a “theoretical range of 900km”.

Apart from emitting zero emissions, the C-X75 is also a serious supercar. It has four electric motors (one in each wheel) to produce 145kW and a combined torque output of 1600Nm and is capable of a top speed of 330km/h.

The cabin is cleverly arranged with a fixed seat attached to the bodyshell while the additional elements (think steering wheel, pedals and instruments) all adjust towards the driver.

Naturally, with the motors each weighing 50kg, keeping the concept’s overall weight down is a key consideration and the C-X75 uses a bonded aluminium chassis and body panels to keep the weight down to 1350kg.

[m_waqas]

[U]Porsche to put all new models on hold

[/U]After a slew of news regarding new, up and coming models from the Porsche brand, the prancing pony from Stuttgart is now saying it has ‘iced’ all new models.

According to Porsche chairman Matthias Müller, the established brands are still on track for facelifts and so forth, but all new models, such as the smaller Cajun SUV and ‘affordable’ roadster have had their development cycles paused.

Müller went on to say that Porsche needs to clarify in which direction it will be growing its product line.

Now this might sound like it's the first and almost last nail in the coffin of a series of smaller Porsche sports cars, as most of the newer models that we were expecting were scaled-down versions of the established troupe.

But luckily, the master of all things Porsche also said that the possibility of smaller Porsches is still alive. Yeah, we’re also still skeptical. But we’ll have to wait until the end of the year to find out what's really going on...

[m_waqas]

JAG SHUNS PREMIUM SUV TREND

very interesting.. i wonder what they're really up to :S ...

[m_waqas]

                                                               [U]GOOGLE TESTS SELF-DRIVING CARS[/U]

great thing they 're doing.. but not good for guys like me who like to drive ...

[I]"It's a bug that cars were invented before computers."

[/I]^ Lolz!!.. i like that ..

SURVEY: SILVER SHINES WITH BUYERS

ya.. doesn't sound strange.. like here every next Vti is silver ...

JAGUAR SHOWS 21ST CENTURY E-TYPE

hmm.. JAG is on fire.. 110Km ain't bad for electric car..

[Ducati]

DUCATI TO UNVEIL DEVLISH DIAVEL
After months of speculation and spy images the long wait for Ducati fans is almost over - the Diavel will make its first public appearance at the EICMA International Motorcycle Show in Milan.

Built to have a commanding presence, though lightweight and agile like many of the Italian brand's products, the Diavel promises comfort backed by Ducati’s biking technology.

The new model has anti-lock brakes and traction control and Ducati's "riding modes" provides plenty of customisation options.

Bolognese name

The Diavel will be powered by a superbike-derived Testastretta 11° engine.

Reminiscent of how the “Monster” was named 20 years ago, the Diavel takes its moniker from the Bolognese word for "devil".

During production, one person looking from the rear of the bike saw its silhouette and exclaimed,"Ignurant comm' al diavel!" (Evil, like the Devil!).

[Ducati]

TOYOTA IQ GETS THE PARTY STARTED
Despite being perhaps the most orderly society on earth, Germans love the indecipherable beat of techno music.

Berlin’s industrial warehouses regularly host insane techno music festivals.

No surprise to find Toyota Germany has kitted-out one of its iQ city cars with a very (over) elaborate Disco package to fulfil the role of a promotional vehicle at events.

If you like wearing platform shoes, colouring your hair silver and shaking day-glo sticks all weekend long you’ll love the iQ Disco.

Shiny

To ensure the Disco has optimal visual impact, Toyota’s added a glittering silver foil finish to the iQ’s surfacing, binned the standard wheels in favour of 18-inch alloys and unhinged the doors, replacing them with vertically opening scissor doors.

Fundamentally though the iQ Disco is all about sound.

To meet the expectations of its Disco nameplate, Toyota’s added a single 15-inch bass-reflex subwoofer, one dual-channel mixer and two Numan NDX 800 players to mix-up a storm on.

The Disco’s sound system is worth 1000W, accumulating to an acoustic peak of 130dB. Suffice to say this iQ will get any party truly rocking, especially if the DJ you have hired experiences a critical equipment failure and one has to revert to the car audio option with doors wide open...

Toyota Germany first showed (or is that sound matched?) the iQ Disco at last weekend’s Köln Rockt event. Although there are no plans to offer the Disco package as an option to customers, this shiny (scissor-door) iQ can be booked by dealers as a promotional vehicle.

[Ducati]

TOO COOL FOR DRIVING SCHOOL?
Britain’s biggest driving school is being forced to replace its entire Fiat 500 fleet because examiners complained the car’s seats were a little too snug.

The British School of Motoring (BSM) on Monday announced it would replace the 3250 Fiats, which have been in service for just 18 months, with Vauxhall (Opel) Corsas from March 2011.

The cute little Fiat may make the ideal driving tool for a nervous novice driver but Britain’s Driving Standards Agency (DSA) officials who monitor driving instructors and their cars struggled to squeeze into the back of the car for mandatory check tests.

All driving instructors in Britain have to complete a check test every two to four years to prove they can still teach. A DSA official will sit in the back of the car and observe instructors delivering their lessons.

'Physical stature'

However, when the DSA in February issued guidelines for the use of compact or city cars, the Fiat 500 was identified as problematic.
Charles Morton, registrar of Approved Driving Instructors, said: “When presented for a check test, compact cars can occasionally pose difficulties for some of our examiners.

“In these cases their physical stature may prevent them from sitting safely and securely in the rear seat of the car, facing fully forward, with full use of a seat belt.

“Some of our people did complain about leg room and that they had to sit sideways to get their legs in. It's OK at the front but tight in the back.”

The new Corsas, along with larger rear seats, also have a range of modifications including larger dials for better visibility, rear head restraints and lighter power steering.

[Ducati]

WHO IS BETTER THAN THE STIG?
Top Gear may have lost its iconic test driver but there are hundreds of statistically better drivers to choose from on the overall Castrol Driver Rankings.

After all, he’s right down there at... 672.

Following a nasty legal row, the ousted Top Gear tester was revealed as Le Mans Series driver Ben Collins. Though host Jeremy Clarkson revealed that the show would go on without Collins, many speculated as to who might be a suitable replacement for the masked marvel.

It seems, though, that Top Gear has plenty of drivers to choose from since Collins currently ranks so low in the Castrol rankings, a global ranking system based on the performance of every race and rally driver across all disciplines of motorsport.

The list is currently led by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and team mate Mark Webber but includes F1, World Rally championship and the World Touring Cars. The ranking system list more than 2000 drivers across 47 major motorsport series.

The current Top 10 in the rankings:

1 Sebastian Vettel - F1
2 Mark Webber - F1
3 Sébastien Loeb - WRC
4 Fernando Alonso - F1
5 Lewis Hamilton - F1
6 Jimmie Johnson - Sprint Cup, GrandAm
7 Will Power - IndyCar
8 Jenson Button - F1
9 Dario Franchitti - IndyCar, GrandAm
10 Kevin Harvick - Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Nascar Trucks

[Ducati]

FORD RACING'S FIESTA 'RS' AT SEMA
Ford’s huge marketing campaign for its rather small Fiesta is about to gain a performance edge at this year’s SEMA show in the US.

SEMA showcases the best and weirdest that America’s aftermarket auto-tuning industry has to offer and runs during the first week of November.

Why is Ford making an effort to be present with its Fiesta, then?

Well, the company is keen to cash in on a drive for Americans to buy-down and its Fiesta is the perfect product solution in this regards. Getting Americans to accept the idea of a small hatch being a better alternative requires Ford to show off the Fiesta’s full spectrum of appeal.

Sam De La Garza, Fiesta brand manager, said: "SEMA offers the perfect opportunity to showcase all the ways the personalities of the Fiesta can be expressed." To this end, Ford will have an assortment of tuned Fiestas at SEMA - even customised units.

Fiesta RS?

Performance fans of the Blue Oval will take note of an in-house developed Ford Racing version based on the series-production two-litre, forced-induction EcoBoost engine. The Ford Racing Fiesta has seen swept capacity swell to 2.3 litresl, supported by a host of induction and gas-extraction trickery Ford will explain in detail closer to the car's unveiling.

Boosted to 257kW and featuring a short-throw shifter, Brembo brakes and 17" wheels, this is one Ford Racing product just aching for production homologation as a Fiesta RS of sorts.

Beyond Ford's own in-house developed EcoBoost car, a number of tuners have been invited to share the Fiesta display. Steeda Autosports will have a car designed for owners wishing to make the most of the Fiesta’s handling, gaining revised front and rear springs (lowering ride height), new shock-absorbers, thicker anti-roll bars and a front strut-tower brace to stiffen up the fore axle geometry.

Two-piece wheels

Fiesta fans keen on a lurid finish can look forward to the Universal Technical Institute offering. It features a lacquer of custom DuPont surface colouring with dynamics enhanced by a digitally controlled air-lift suspension, a roll cage, bucket seats, Baer brakes and 18" wheels.

FSWerks add a cold-air induction system and race exhaust with a body kit and Aristo Noble two-piece wheels rounding-off the package.

The fifth tuned Fiesta to debut at SEMA will be from 3dCarbon. Window films, a rear hatch spoiler and four-piece body kit (consisting of a front air dam, side skirts and new bumpers) tally the 3dCarbon offering.

Despite its name, H&R Springs will only add a colour-matching body kit to the Fiesta but one with a huge rear wing and bonnet vents. The seventh, and final, custom car will be a digital Fiesta produced by L&G Enterprises. Its cabin gains carbon-fibre accents and, most importantly, an iPad command centre.

So, if you're in Las Vegas during the first week of November, be sure to drop in at the SEMA show and see the seven customised Fiestas, part of Ford’s drive to get Americans to buy into the small hatchback segment. More importantly, perhaps, is the opportunity to see what a potential Fiesta RS could look like...

[Ducati]

BAND'S TRAFFIC JAM SESSION
A rock band called Imperial Stars will have to face the music after blocking a Los Angeles freeway and performing on a trailer.

California Highway Patrol spokesman Rick Quintero said a big van decorated with Imperial Stars' logo stopped on the southbound US 101 near Sunset Boulevard at about 10:30am on Tuesday and blocked four of the five lanes.

The driver took the keys and fled in another car then three musicians climbed on top of the van and began to perform.

Quintero said they were arrested and the truck was finally towed away around noon after causing a two-kilometre traffic jam.

Quintero said the musicians could face a charge of obstructing traffic.

The group, whose credits include "Traffic Jam 101", said on its website it is dedicated to helping homeless children.

[m_waqas]

TOYOTA IQ GETS THE PARTY STARTED
sounds very interesting indeed.. i 'd like to be there..

The current Top 10 in the rankings:

1 Sebastian Vettel - F1
2 Mark Webber - F1
3 Sébastien Loeb - WRC
4 Fernando Alonso - F1
5 Lewis Hamilton - F1
6 Jimmie Johnson - Sprint Cup, GrandAm
7 Will Power - IndyCar
8 Jenson Button - F1
9 Dario Franchitti - IndyCar, GrandAm
10 Kevin Harvick - Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Nascar Trucks
it hurts to see Vettel on top.. there are many great and better drivers in the list :S ... and i doubt anyone from F1 would be interested..