Autoblog

Click above for hi-res gallery of the Portofino

Fiat took one of its Fiorino vans, chopped off, well, most of it, and dubbed it the Portofino. Supposedly no more than a study for the Caravan Show that starts in Dusseldorf later this week, the golden, buggy-like conveyance is an homage to the 1960s. In a time before Fiat was building $200,000 supercars, coachbuilders were adding open-topped bodies to Fiat chassis like this for fun in the Italian sun.

To stress the beachgoing theme, the Portofino has wood laminate flooring and natural fibers treated with a special waterproofing for the interior surfaces. The car can (optimistically) seat five, and the rear seat folds down for your surfboards and anchors.

Instead of doors, the Portofino has nautical ropes -- which might sound risky, but the 12-foot car only has 75 horsepower, so you shouldn't be getting in too much trouble. Fiat has no plans to make the Portofino, but says it will create a covered version for protection from win and sun. Andiamo, then...


[Source: Carscoop]

Blame gas prices. Blame the housing market. Blame the dollar for being worth much less than it was in 2005. But ultimately, you'll probably need to blame the Chinese for the total lack of MGs being sold in the U.S.

Despite initial plans by MG's new owner, Nanjing Automobile Group Corp., to sell a U.S. version of the TF roadster, the company now says conditions are just wrong here in the States. "The U.S.A. isn't on the short-term radar as an anticipated market for us, but with the right product, it would be good to return there," Gary Hagen, marketing director of NAC MG, says in a story on Austin Rover Online. Of course, with the car also goes any hopes of a U.S. assembly plant in Oklahoma. The final twist of the knife is Hagen killing any hope of the company shipping Chinese-made kits to the U.S. for assembly.

Buck up, MG fans. You've waited 20 years. What's another 20? Right?

[Source: Austin Rover Online via Automotive News]

Click above for high-res gallery of the Ferrari California

Some of the more hard-core tifosi have been whining that Ferrari has gone soft with the new California. It's pretty hard to justify that a car able to hit 60 mph in the three-second range is soft, but so be it. The nay-sayers point to the inclusion of a folding hard-top as a sign that Ferrari has grown more concerned with pleasing its poseur clientele than developing genuine performance vehicles. Never mind that the innovative rapid-deployment roof, according to Ferrari, actually weighs 5kg less than an equivalent soft-top and still only takes 14 seconds to raise or lower.

However, Maranello has not finished development of the California and intends to pacify those malcontents with some new features. For starters, Ferrari says that about 10% of its customers still demand a manual transmission, and so they will have one ready for the California by the time it actually goes on sale about half a year from now. Around the same time, Ferrari will also unveil a new HGTC handling package, like those offered for the 612 Scaglietti and the previous 575 M Maranello, to tighten up the California's suspension. A new set of lightweight wheels is also in the works, anticipated to shave some 10-12kg off of the unsprung weight. A 430 Scuderia it is not – that's why Ferrari makes both – but don't mistake the California for a lazy boulevard cruiser.

[Source: EVO magazine]

Click above for high-res gallery of the Mazda MX-5

Many of you (and some of us) don't think the current MX-5 went far enough in distancing itself from its cutesy predecessor, but design director Lauren Van den Acker wants to change that for 2012 and give the iconic convertible "more balls" in the process. If you're worried that the amazing handling characteristics of the MX-5 could be in danger, Van den Acker insists that the razor-sharp roadster will keep its core character. Stricter CAFE standards and customers demanding more mpg means that the next MX-5 will also be lighter and more efficient than the current model.

With the next MX-5 still a few years out, no design has been given the green light, but Mazda designers think the more dynamic designs that were shot down for the current-gen car would be a good place to start. A newer, ballsier, more radical MX-5 sounds good to us, as long as the changes don't mess with the cut on a dime handling that we've come to love.


[Source: Auto Car]

Click above for high-res gallery of the 2008 Pontiac G8 GT

A quick glance at Pontiac's (rumored) future product plans reveals just how much fuel prices have affected plans for an all rear-wheel drive lineup. Let's see, we've got the Solstice and the G8, and, um... that's it. Sure, we're expecting the G8 ST soon, but the El Camino-come-lively will never sell enough to keep bean counters happily sliding their abaci beads in their cubicles. The Solstice also plays to a relatively small crowd, so its future could be up in the air, as well.

As for the rest of the brand's lineup, the Grand Am G6 will remain on the same front-wheel drive platform for the foreseeable future as there's just not enough funds to switch it to a rear-wheel-drive platform. Meanwhile, the G5 is tied to the Cobalt and the future Cruze from Chevrolet that uses the FWD Delta platform. The Vibe comes from Toyota and is based on the Corolla's underpinnings. Please, don't get us started on a possible Aveo-based subcompact from GM's "Performance Division". As our esteemed editor says, "So sad, G8 rules." Indeed it does, and it may be the best we'll get from Pontiac for a while.


[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

Click above for hi-res gallery of the '89 BMW M5 cabrio

These days BMW's M division is pretty busy, cranking out all manner of sport-tuned models in every form. You can get an M3 as a coupe, convertible or sedan, the M5 in sedan or wagon form, and the M6 as either a coupe or a convertible, in addition to M versions of the Z4. But back in the late '80s, the selection of M cars was much more limited. Not that the engineers in the sporting division weren't trying, though. Case in point is this M5 cabrio prototype that almost made it into production, but was canceled at the last minute.

Starting with an E34-generation M5 sedan, engineers in Munich chopped off the roof, strengthened the chassis and replaced the four doors with two longer ones. (If you think the idea is entirely absurd, just look at the Audi A4 cabrio and its quattro GmbH-tuned versions.) The resulting M5 convertible prototype was actually scheduled to debut at the 1989 Geneva Motor Show and even priced at £50k for the British market, but fearing that its addition to the BMW line-up would create demand for a conventional 5-series convertible and subsequently harm sales of the existing 3-series cabrio, BMW executives decided to kill the project. Only one prototype of the M5 convertible was made bearing ZS license plates from the BMW Individual program, as you can see in the gallery below.

[Source: BMWBlog.com]

Click above to watch the video after the jump

You can't go lopping the top off of a $1.5 million supercar without replacing it with something. Well, you could, but not if you're going to sell it for more than $2 million apiece. That's why when Bugatti unveiled the new Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport, the automaker made sure to demonstrate not one, but two removable roofs that will be included with the targa hypercar. The first is a transparent polycarbonate hard-top section that can be removed and stowed for open-air driving. But in case the obscenely wealthy driver finds himself caught in an unexpected torrential downpour (or just a drizzle, for that matter), Bugatti has also developed an umbrella-like soft-top that can be deployed in an emergency. Unfortunately, the fabric roof section can't withstand the 252 mph top speed that the polycarbonate solid roof can, limiting speeds to an embarrassing 80 mph.

The deployment of the fabric temporary roof was a little difficult to describe in words and pictures, but fortunately our Latin friends at Autoblog En Espanol have found a video of the roof in action. Follow the jump to check it out.

[Source: Autoblog Spanish]

Never underestimate a car guy on holiday. That's the lesson to be learned by Maserati, which apparently left a Gran Turismo Spyder mule in a lot somewhere in Modena.

An eagle-eyed tourist snapped off a handful of pics showing the two-piece roof and articulating trunk in its earliest stages of development. Expect the Gran Turismo Spyder to make its debut in Paris later this year, with sales beginning in early 2009.

[Source: AutoGespot]

Click the DR-1 above for a high-res gallery of the C4 ZR-1

At the coming out party for the new ZR1 Corvette last week at Milford Proving Grounds, General Motors decided to bring out a handful of ZR-1s (note the dash to distinguish it from the new model) from the first go around in the early '90s to remind us all of how far things have progressed in the past 18 years. The original ZR-1 was built from 1990-95 and, as with the new model, its engine was the heart of the car. In the late '80s when the ZR-1 was conceived, GM owned Lotus. The British sports car specialist designed the LT5 V8 specifically for the ZR-1. Aside from sharing bore spacing with the regular small-block, they had nothing else in common. The LT5 was an all-aluminum, dual overhead cam, 32 valve V8. At the time of its introduction, the motor had an output of 375 hp (eventually bumped to 405 hp in the last couple years of production), which was huge for the day, though tame by today's standards.

Unfortunately, the C4 Corvette wasn't a great car to start with. Even with the beefed up sills that were added to to the convertible, the C4 wasn't particularly rigid. The car rode hard and the huge clam-shell hood quivered constantly on anything but glass smooth pavement. While the expensive ZR-1 never sold in huge numbers, it did spawn some interesting derivatives that GM keeps in its Heritage Collection. Among the ones brought to Milford were one of the active suspension prototypes. These used a fully active hydraulic suspension system with no springs, but the hydraulics reportedly consumed upwards of 40 hp. One unique car from the collection is the DR-1 (above). This was the only ZR-1 convertible ever built and was produced for Don Runkle (hence the DR), who at the time was chief engineer at Chevrolet. The other three cars were stock ZR-1s of various vintages.

Check back here at 12:01 AM EST for our First Drive of the new Corvette ZR1.


Photos Copyright ©2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for a hi-res gallery of the Pininfarina RR Hyperion

Spend enough time roaming the streets of Rome and you're likely to encounter a fair share of people who fancy themselves more Catholic than the Pope. No wonder, then, that the Italians have now tried to out-Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce, presenting a one-off drop-top Drophead that endeavors to embody an even greater presence than the Phantom cabrio itself.

The Pininfarina Hyperion was unveiled just this past weekend at Pebble Beach, and our man Drew was on hand to bring you the best shots of the one-off coachbuilt special from the show stand as it was unveiled and from the fairway where it was displayed in all its glory. But just in case you didn't get enough, Pininfarina has released ten more high-res shots of its one-off Roller for your viewing pleasure. Click on the top gallery to view the new factory shots, and on the two galleries after the jump to see the Hyperion in Monterey.

[Source: Pininfarina]