car to ride: September 2012

This is the New 2014 Subaru Forester Compact SUV!

It may have escaped from our scoop photographers' radar, but we finally caught up with the next iteration of Subaru's Forester compact SUV, which in its three previous generations, has built a name for itself as a robust and no-nonsense model that rides well both on and off the road.

These pictures are sourced from the new Forester's Japanese market brochure, but most of what you see here sans the engine range can be applied to the global model.

The new Forester, which will go on sale in Japan in mid-November before it reaches both North American (as a 2014 model) and European shores as a 2013 model) next year, is likely based on a revised version of the latest Impreza's platform.

Compared to the current Forester, Subaru's best-seller has grown all around and now measures 4,595mm or 180.9 inches long (+35mm), 1,795mm or 70.7 inches tall (+15mm) and 1,695mm or 66.7 inches wide (+20mm). The wheelbase is also longer at 2,640mm or 103.9 inches (+25mm) to improve space for passengers.

If you lived or grew up in Europe during the late 1980s through the early 2000s, you will no doubt remember the iconic Rallye series from Peugeot, which started out with the 205 supermini and continued with the 306 compact and the smaller 106.

The common denominator of the series was that the Rallye models were usually based on fast versions of their respective hatchback counterparts (i.e. the 106 XSi and 306 GTI) but did away with most luxury amenities such as electric windows and mirrors, the heavy seats and in some cases, even power assisted steering and airbags.

Peugeot's ultimate goal was to lower the cars' weight to improve performance and handling while also offering them at a lower price point – something that made the Rallye models extremely popular with driving enthusiasts on a budget.

Today, Peugeot is looking to re-enter the sports hatch segment with the new 208 GTi that is lighter at 1,160kg (2,557 pounds), smaller, and thanks to its new 197hp (200PS) 1.6-liter turbo engine, more powerful than the disappointing 206 and 207 GTi models.

As expected after last week’s announcement, on Saturday, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti met with Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne and the company's Chairman and heir to the Agnelli family empire, John Elkann, to discuss the automaker’s future in the country.

The meeting was arranged after rumors surfaced that Fiat, which is expected to lose around €700 million (US$904.5 million) this year due to a sales slump in the European market, is considering closing some of its plants and moving production out of Italy.

Russian dashcam videos never cease to amaze us. Just when you think you have seen it all, along comes an incident that defines the word 'strange'. And guess what; the driver is not the one to blame here…

The man seen in the video driving the previous generation Ford Focus hatchback, was going his way when all of a sudden, the car's front end clipped a street trolley wire that had fallen onto the road.

Walter de Silva is a man who knows a thing or two about styling; after all, he is in the business for the last 40 years.

The Italian designer has worked at the I.DE.A institute under award-winning architect Renzo Piano, who designed the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the New York Times Building. In the automotive field, he has some pretty impressive designs in his long resume such as the Alfa Romeo 156, the Seat Tango concept, the Audi A5 and the VW Scirocco.

De Silva, who joined Audi in 2002 to become VW Group’s head of design overseeing all brands from Skoda to Bugatti in 2007, believes that the “overdesign” school, which began with BMW's Chris Bangle and his "flame surfacing" that has since been adopted by many automakers, is becoming obsolete.

General Motors is pretty serious about maintaining its leading role in China, the world's largest auto market.

On Saturday, September 22, GM and its Chinese partners, which include SAIC, Shanghai GM and the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center, opened the largest automotive proving ground in the country.

What we have here is yet another sighting of Porsche's 911 GT3 wearing very little camouflage. To be precise, YouTube user Dani Dominguez Mas, filmed three prototypes of the purest version of the 991 series at a gas station in the town of L'Ametlla del Vallès in Spain. Read more »

2013 Jaguar F-Type Disclosed in New Photos Including the First of the Interior

While Jaguar itself was releasing videos of the new F-Type in camouflage, a member of the Teamspeed forums unloaded a fresh gallery of 14 pictures that show us the open-top sports car from in two different shades from all sorts of angles, including the never before seen interior.

We can happily report that the styling of the roadster model's rear end with its sharp lines, narrow taillights and a protruding pair of twin exhaust pipes has also remained true to the well-received C-X16 Coupe Concept model.

The same appears to be case for the interior, at least from this point of view with only some minor changes to the design of the body-hugging seats and possibly the trim décor.

A truck driver in southern Brazil was captured on tape trying to escape along with his…luggage after an accident that occurred on the Chavantes bridge, which connects the Brazilian states of Parana and Sao Paulo, this past Saturday.

A local website named Npdiario reported that the driver, Aguinaldo da Silva, lost control of his two-trailer truck when he tried to avoid a passenger car that suddenly stopped in front of him and ended up crashing over the guardrail with the truck cabin dangling over the water.

The Chrysler Group has temporarily pulled the plug on its test fleet of advanced plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs) to fix a battery problem that occurred on a small number of models.

In particular, the Detroit-based carmaker said three of the fleet’s 109 pickups fitted with plug-in hybrid powertrains sustained damage when their prototype 12.9-kWh lithium-ion propulsion batteries overheated, adding that no injuries were reported with all incidents happening when the vehicles were unoccupied.

As the countdown for the grand-premiere of the all-new F-Type at the Paris Motor Show this Thursday officially begins, Jaguar published the final clips of its teaser video series on the development of the rear-wheel drive roadster model.

The first video named "Fierce" takes us to the Nardo Test Facility in Italy, where the British firm's engineers performed numerous high-speed tests on the unique ring shaped track that allowed the F-Type to reach its maximum velocity.

Two months ago, Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk said that his company would deliver 5,000 units of its Model S this year. Yet, when he was interviewed on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop with Betty Liu” on September 21, he was reluctant to confirm that the company’s electric saloon would indeed meet its initial sales target.

“I need to be very hesitant about talking about any near-term metrics for Tesla”, said Musk who, nevertheless, was buoyant about Tesla’s 2013 targets claiming that it will deliver 20,000 units and achieve a gross margin of “more than 20 percent”.

From the magical land of eBay comes our next tale of replicas. This newly found example is pretending to be a Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, though even an untrained eye can see that there something is wrong with car's proportions.

The seller and builder of the replica is "Z and M Customs", which is located in the city of Eagle in Ada County, Idaho.

The company informs us that the Aventador lookalike is built on the chassis and mechanical components of a "GM Holden" with power coming from a "LS1 V8 Corvette with approximately 400HP".

All-electric and hybrid car sales so far account for just 3.5 percent of total vehicle sales in the U.S. this year. Not exactly what their makers expected when they launched these models.

At a first glance, the situation is improving for General Motors, as its Volt extended-range hybrid sold a record 2,800 units last month. Year-to-date Volt sales have so far reached 13,000 units, which certainly compares very well to the 7,700 cars that were sold in 2011.

For example, before the discounts, Bunnin Chevrolet in Culver City, California was selling three to five Volts per month. Last month it shifted 36 cars, mostly leases, and sales manager Chad Kelman told The Detroit News that the dealership is having a hard time keeping enough units in stock.

You have to see this accident to believe it. In the video footage that follows, we see the driver of a long lorry suddenly turning left into the other lane to avoid a crash with another truck that had stopped in the middle of the road – who knows why.

A third truck coming from the other direction has no choice than to make a small maneuver and smash into the lorry's metal container.

What follows next, will leave you speechless as the second truck's driver, who was obviously not wearing a seat belt, is thrown out of his vehicle's window but he manages to land on his feet without suffering any injuries!

About a month after the 2012 SEMA Show in Las Vegas at the end of October, Europe will host its own aftermarket and tuning show in Essen, Germany, and it is at this event that Porsche tuning specialist TechArt will perform the world premiere of a new package for the third generation Boxster roadster (codenamed 981). Read more »

ARK Performance and Hyundai Preparing Genesis Coupe R-Spec Track Edition for 2012 SEMA Show

With all the commotion surrounding this week's Paris Motor Show, it would be easy to overlook the 2012 edition of the SEMA Show, which will take place from October 30 to November 2 in Las Vegas.

Hyundai wants to remind us of the upcoming event by teasing one of the many tuned concept models it plans to unveil at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

While electric vehicles may not yet have substantial range to be as versatile as hybrids or internal-combustion engine models, if the their use is confined in daily commute in cities, theoretically then, their range is more than enough to satisfy most drivers’ needs.

The iQ city car (sold under the Scion nameplate in North America) is designed specifically designed to be used in an urban environment. Prototypes were displayed at both the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show in the form of the FT-EV III concept and this year’s Geneva Auto Show. Now Toyota has officially revealed a plug-in all-electric variant – but it will not enter full production.

A Hyundai dealer in Germany is showing off its tuning capabilities with the release of a performance and styling package for the pre-facelift Genesis Coupe V6.

Located near the city of Lübeck in northern Germany, Hyundai dealer "Autohaus am Funkturm" has worked together with Schmidt Revolution, a wheel manufacturer and customizer, to complete the project.

The release of the first photos of the new GranCabrio MC on Friday has been followed up by an official confirmation from Maserati - though, the Italian sports car maker is holding back most of the details until the Paris Motor Show.

What Maserati did reveal is that the GranTurismo MC Stradale inspired the creation of the new GranCabrio MC model with which it completes the open-top model's range.

The European car market may be in trouble because of the financial crisis that’s been dragging on for a long time now, but carmakers are gearing up to display their latest models in the City of Light.

From September 29 until October 14, the Paris Expo at the Porte de Versailles will host some of this year’s most important world premieres.

The French automakers have chosen the 2012 Paris Auto Show to launch models like the all-new Renault Clio, the Peugeot 208 GTi and the Citroen DS3 Cabrio.

Now this is one traffic officer who really takes his job seriously! On September 19 (the date shown on the footage is wrong), a 46-year old policeman stopped a black Skoda Octavia for a traffic violation on the road alongside the Fontanka River in Central Saint Petersburg, Russia.

A driver of an unrelated car or truck, who we come to know as Roman Ilchenko from the name listed on his YouTube channel, was traveling on the street recording everything though his dashboard-mounted camera.

At around 1 minute and 25 seconds into the first video and on the right side of the road, you can see the traffic officer holding on to the side of the Octavia that was trying to make a getaway.

As the Chrysler Group's undisputed "halo" car, one would believe that the Detroit-based carmaker would want most of its U.S. dealers to be able to show and sell the new 2013 SRT Viper, but that's not the case.

An Autonews report back in July, quoted Ralph Gilles, CEO of the SRT brand, saying that around 15 to 20 percent (or roughly 340 to 460 showrooms) of Chrysler's more than 2,300 U.S. dealers will carry the V10-powered sports car, but according to USA Today, Gilles has now lowered that number even more to only about 100 to 150 shops or 4-6%.

Gilles told the newspaper that the No. 1 requirement, "Is first of all, to have the fire, the passion. That's the unofficial requirement -- that you have a love affair with the cars and you just love fast cars."

With the European market in turmoil, Peugeot has every reason to pay more attention to the models it builds and sells in overseas markets like the 408 Sedan, which is an extended-wheelbase, notchback version of the 308 hatch that is offered in China, South America and more recently, in Russia as well.

The spies over at China's Sohu captured some pictures of an undisguised prototype of the facelifted 408 Sedan.

About a month ago, Bentley showed a Mulsanne Convertible Concept to a select few at the 2012 edition of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The automaker did not allow anyone to take pictures and simply told us about the special unveiling sharing a few sketches in the process.

The reason why Bentley is holding back remains a mystery but it may have something to do with all the negative press it received with the EXP 9 F SUV Concept.

For the past 10 years, the city of St. Louis plays host to the annual Streetfighterz Ride of the Century (ROC) festival.

The 2012 edition of the ROC gathering took place last weekend with hundreds if not thousands of riders traveling to Missouri to attend the event.

At some point, the bikers hit the highway in large groups and the Missouri Highway Patrol got involved and started following the bikers, many of whom were recording the ride.

In the first clip, which was said to be shot by multiple people from many angles, we see two cop cars driving alongside a group of motorcyclists. At the 2:10 mark, some of the riders break off and cut through the grass to make a run for it as patrol cars had partially blocked the road in front.

While Kia surely got its act together in terms of designing, engineering and building vehicles over the past decade or so, the South Korean automaker seems a bit confused when it comes to naming its vehicles.

How else can you explain the fact that its new global compact sedan will have three different names, depending on the region?

In its home market of South Korea, where it was officially introduced this week, it will be called K3, while when it arrives in the U.S. and Canada, we will come to know it as the 2014 model year Forte, and in other markets such as Australia and Brazil, as the new Cerato.

Whatever it is called, the new compact model has adopted the brand's latest design DNA both inside and out, while offering a raft of new technologies such as a parking assistance system, LED headlamps and Kia's next generation “telematics” service UVO, which enables drivers to control their cars via a smartphone or other IT devices.

It may look like a Pagani (to the untrained eye, at least), and according to the eBay seller, sound like one too, but what you see in these images is a replica of the famed Italian supercar.

The builder of the Pagani Zonda clone says the car is based on a Porsche chassis (we are not told which one) and just like the original model, it is powered by a Mercedes-Benz V12 engine, which in this case, is said to deliver 600-horses towards the rear axle via a Porsche-sourced 6-speed manual transmission.

You would think BMW would want owners of the latest iterations of the M5 sedan and M6 Coupe and Convertible models to have a blast with their cars – and you're right, it does, just only after it makes a fix to certain 2013MY vehicles sold in the States.

A safety bulletin issued by BMW of North America and released to the world for all to see by the folks over at the F10 M5 Post forums, reveals that the Bavarian automaker came to know of a problem with the S63TU 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine found in the 2013MY M5 and M6 cars.

If you only watch the first few seconds of this dash-cam video, you are probably going to think that this accident did not end at all well for the BMW biker, as it looks like he got caught under the vehicle – which, judging from its height and the absence of a visible hood, appears to be a truck. Read more »

U Spy: New Porsche 991 Turbos Drop By Santa Barbara

CarScoop reader Ben F. has supplied us with a spy picture he shot earlier this summer of a 2013 Porsche 911 Turbo prototype parked at a gas station somewhere in Santa Barbara.

We will let Ben explain the 'hows and whens' of the encounter:

"I spotted the 991 Turbo in Santa Barbara this July. There were three of them: two coupes and one cab. All three were black. They were probably headed to the Mojave for some heat stress-testing. I attached a picture for you. The air inlets on the sides have plastic panels on them that look like those from the 996... I don't think they're part of the car, but the air intakes themselves are DEFINITELY real."

There are people who like to neatly tune and polish up their rides and then there's this owner of the most bizarrely modded Audi A4 Avant we have ever laid eyes on.

We could not find a lot of information on the tune (if you can call it that), but the pictures and video speak much, much more louder than words.

The Fiat 500 is beloved subject for many professional and amateur designers to express their creativity and skills. The 500 concept studies bundled under the Bellavista moniker that you see pictured here are the work of the students from the Polytechnic of Milan and Madeindreams.

The students developed two similar prototypes based on the Abarth 500. The first is a two-seater roadster model with a regular windshield, beefed up wheel arches, a double canopy behind the headrests and re-styled front and rear bumpers.

Pictures of a brand new variant of the Maserati GranCabrio have hit the web ahead of the car's global premiere at next week's 2012 Paris Motor Show.

The new model is the GranCabrio MC Stradale that is modeled after the GranTurismo MC Stradale and which joins the existing base and Sport variants of Maserati's stylish four-seater convertible.

Unfortunately, for now, we only have images of the GranCabrio MC Stradale with no information about its specifications, though chances are it will sport the same mechanical updates as its closed-top sibling.

The wait for one of the crown jewels of the new Porsche 911 series is almost over as it shouldn't be too long before the automaker removes the last remaining pieces of camouflage from the Turbo model in both Coupe and Convertible forms.

CarScoop reader and avid Porsche-hunter Toldi was able to capture a thinly disguised prototype of the new 991 Turbo Coupe on the streets of Porsche's hometown of Stuttgart in Germany with his camera.

The only sane reason we can think of why someone would take a Porsche Boxster and attempt a crude recreation of a Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster is that the owner had a heavily damaged example of the Stuttgart-based carmaker's mid-engine model lying around and decided to get mechanically and cosmetically creative – or so to speak.

Regardless the reason that gave birth to the idea, the project remains unfinished despite changing several hands (we wonder why….). The person selling the car on eBay states that he was offered the Murcielago-stein as part of a trade deal.

Since 2010, the designers at Mercedes-Benz have been working on a raft of products outside the field of automotive industry in cooperation with select partners. Some of their projects include the Eurocopter EC145 and a collection of house furniture marketed under the Mercedes-Benz Style label.

Now, some 125 years after Mercedes-Benz co-founder Gottlieb Daimler built the first motorized boat, the German automaker's designers are presenting plans for a new luxury motor yacht against the backdrop of the 2012 Monaco Yacht Show.

Renault may have slipped up by placing a naked example of a pre-production 2013 Clio Sports Tourer in an official video (later on removed) for the new generation Clio hatchback, but it's still not willing to admit defeat and continues to keep the prototype models under some seriously twisty camouflage wraps.

The new Clio Sport Tourer, which most likely will follow the example of the outgoing model and be offered under different monikers in Europe including Estate and Grand Tour, is clearly longer than the five-door hatchback with an extended rear overhang to improve the luggage area.

It could be that the driver of this dark-blue VAZ-2104, better known under its Lada nameplate out of Russia, could be thinking why the heck are all these cars going the wrong way or perhaps he or she was too wasted to know what was going on at the time.

All we know is that several drivers on this highway should consider themselves extremely fortunate for not getting into a deadly head-on collision with Russia's version of the "Kamikaze" act and just hope that we don’t discover a related dash-cam video over the next couple of days…

Consult the video just past the break for a closer look at the incident.

While in the United States, the Accord is Honda's bestselling nameplate with 218,665 deliveries this year (from January 1 through August 31), in Europe, things aren't anywhere near as rosy.

Speaking to Just-Auto, a spokesperson for Honda said that Accord sales in the continent have plummeted to the point that the car has become a niche model. As a result, the spokesman said that the Japanese carmaker has "no immediate plans" to launch a new model in Europe.

Daihatsu has been quiet the busy bee at this week's Indonesia International Motor Show having brought along three concepts, including the D-R, D-X and UFC concepts, and the new Ayla, which will launch in the local market.

General Motors is evidently placing a lot of focus on the sportier characteristics of the soon-to-be launched 2013 Chevrolet Malibu Turbo, as for the second time in the past couple of months, it has released a video of the car on the track.

Mark Meyers, GM Global Vehicle Performance Manager, tries out the Malibu Turbo LTZ at the Milford Proving Grounds and shares his thoughts about the most potent version of Chevrolet's new mid-size sedan.

Even though Audi created the limited run A1 Quattro as the ultimate performance model of its premium sub-compact series, ABT Sportsline believes that there's always room for improvement.

In factory trim, the "Little Devil", as the German tuner's founder and CEO Hans-Jürgen Abt names it, comes with a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine that generates 252hp (256PS / 188 kW) at 6,000rpm and 350Nm (258 lb-ft) of peak torque between 2,500 and 4,500rpm for a 0-100km/h sprint time of 5.7 seconds.

There's a whole lot of news - but unfortunately, no pictures, coming out today from Honda's headquarters in Japan where the company's CEO Takanobu Ito outlined the product, technology and business developments through 2015.

We are going to start with the new Honda Civic Type R sports hatchback based on the European market model that is currently undergoing development for an introduction in 2015.

Honda said that this model is designed specifically for the European market, though we could see it being exported to Japan at some point. More importantly, the Japanese carmaker's CEO stated that the Type R is being developed "with the goal of becoming the fastest front-wheel-drive vehicle on the Nürburgring race course".

On a more global note, Ito said that Honda will roll out an all-new replacement for the Fit, also known as the Jazz in Europe, in 2013. Within two years after the initial market presentation, the Japanese automaker will launch a small SUV model based on the underpinnings of the new Fit/Jazz as well as a replacement for the related City small sedan.

Earlier today, we shared a dash-cam video of two truck drivers in Russia ganging up (to some extent) on a passenger car that had attempted to overtake them.

Now, another video of a group of truckers that was recorded on September 9 has been making the internet and even television rounds in Russia – and this one is far more violent.