2010 Mazda3 Renderings Italian Style

From what we gathered by looking around the net, the forthcoming 2010 Mazda3 is one of the most highly anticipated future vehicles. That was more than evident with the supposedly official Mazda3 Concept pictures (see here) that managed to create quite a hype on the internet. Unfortunately for some, these new renderings come from the Italian website “Infomotori”.

The designer of these new chops took a different approach, applying elements from the Nagare, Ryuga, Hakaze, Taiki and Furai concept cars to a an enlarged version of the Mazda2. Not bad but we would have definetely preferred a different styling for the front-end. –More pics after the jump

Via: Infomotori

Tatra 903 Fuel Cell Concept

Tatra, not to be confused with the Indian carmaker Tata, is a Czech vehicle manufacturer founded in 1850 that produced its first motor car in 1897 and the last one, in 1999 (it continues to build trucks today). Though the company has no official plans to create a new car, Czech magazine AutoDesign&Styling summoned designer Mike Jelinek to draw up a concept of a futuristic Tatra model. Jelinek came up with the Tatra 903 Concept, a fuel-cell powered 4door-coupe. -Continued

Here’s what Jelinek had to say about his creation:

“The water drop shaped back refers to one of the most characteristic values of Tatra, the aerodynamics – same as covered rear wheels. It may look retro, but in the term of aerodynamic optimization it has its own purpose,” said Jelinek.

"The A-pillar has moved in the axis of the car – again, not just a quotation of split screen theme pointing back to the original models, but certainly a safety factor designed to offer a better view from the car. I didn’t want to refer to any model from the history of this legendary manufacturer, but I tried to catch something like the spirit of Tatra cars and bring it to aesthetics of the 21st century.” added Jelinek.






Source: AutoDesign&Styling , Via: Carbodydesign

2010 Mazda3 Concept: Nope, It’s Not Official, It’s Photoshop...

Some of you may have wondered why we didn’t post anything on the Mazda3 Concept images that took the web by surprise yesterday. To be frank, we had discovered these images during the weekend but we were 99% sure they weren’t official. The only problem was we didn’t know where they came from. Of course, we could have created a nice story hiding the real-facts, but that’s not our style.

Today our hunt down finally paid off as we managed to discover the “culprit”. Turns out that these, rather convincing, pictures of a Mazda3 Concept are the work of "Grif-1", a member of the Russian design site, "Render". If anything else, we’ll give our kudos to Grif-1 for doing a wonderful and quite detailed work on the Mazda3 Concept. Hopefully we’ll hear from him again in the near future. -Continued

Link: Render

2011 Toyota Rear-Wheel-Drive Coupe Rendering

Earlier this year, Subaru and Toyota officially announced that they will co-develop an all-new rear-wheel drive coupe. While a first batch of scoop images featuring Subaru’s version of the compact sport coupe have already hit the web, we’ve yet to see any spy pictures of Toyota’s variant.

However, one of our readers sent us a scanned image from a Japanese car magazine with an artist’s impression of the forthcoming Toyota RWD coupe. Despite the Lexus-esque styling, we find the rendering quite promising. Hopefully, earlier reports stating that Toyota’s version will only be sold in Japan won’t be confirmed. But even if they prove to be true, here’s a grand idea; how about if Toyota sells its version of the coupe as a Scion in the States?

VW Scirocco R 3.0 TFSI Teaser or… Photoshop?

This allegedly official, teaser image of the VW Scirocco R has appeared on several sites on the web today. We tried to verify the teaser image, but we came out empty handed. However we did find a picture of the Nurburgring 24h endurance race Scirocco GT24 that looks too similar to be ignored. Our take? While a future top-spec version of the Scirocco equipped with Audi’s new 290Hp 3.0 TFSI isn’t out of the question, we believe that the teaser image is nothing more than a product of an imaginative photoshop artist. See the Scirocco GT24 image after the jump. -Continued

Via: Autoblog.nl

Japanese Magazine Builds a 2009 Nissan 370Z Replica!

Those chaps over at Japanese car magazine Best Car must have too much free time in their hands. Instead of publishing a set of spy shots or renderings of the forthcoming 2009 Nissan 370Z, BC went ahead and commissioned a 1:1 scale replica of the model based on the current 350Z! The 370Z replica was built by Mad House in Shizuoka prefecture that employed the leaked teaser shots of the model as a base for the coupe's appearance.

The Japanese tuning house replicated 370Z looks by using fiberglass for the creation the front and rear end of the car. Since the headlights were too hard too create from scratch, Mad House came up with a simple solution using custom-made stickers! -More pics after the jump

Via: JCPN

2011 Mercedes-Benz CLS Will be Available with a Hybrid Powertrain

Development of the second generation Mercedes-Benz CLS is well underway as the production model is set be unveiled during a major car show in late 2010 with sales following in early 2011. According to our sources, a hybrid version of the new CLS will definitely be offered. It will get the same powertrain as the forthcoming S400 Hybrid that will be launched at the end of 2009, which means that the CLS Hybrid will make use of lithium-ion batteries that not only weigh less but also offer more power than the nickel hydride units used in today’s hybrids.

In terms of styling, as the rendering that we found on French car magazine Autoplus reveals, Mercedes-Benz’ 4door-coupe model will retain the basic shape of the current generation model adorned with styling elements from the German automaker’s newest cars. -One more pic after the jump

Pics via: Autoplus

2010 BMW M3 CSL Rendering

It’s been nearly a year since we last heard anything official about the E92 M3 CSL when BMW M Division’s vice president Gerhard Richter confirmed the Bavarian carmaker’s intention to build a successor to the highly acclaimed, lightweight M3 CSL.

However, German magazine Autozeitung is willing to spice things up for Bimmer fans as it features an artist’s rendering of the new M3 CSL in its latest issue. While we can’t make anything from the article, the rendering depicts a more aggressively designed M3 Coupe with a new front bumper, a carbon fiber hood and rear air intakes.

Via: Autozeitung

Aspid: Caterham-esque Sportscar with up to 400Hp Coming to London Show

The never ending saga of small firms popping up from nowhere continues with the Aspid that will make its world debut at the British International Motor Show in late July. The Aspid (Spanish name for the snake that killed Cleopatra) has been developed by the automotive engineering consultancy IFR Automotive that was founded by automotive engineer Ignacio Fernández Rodriquez who has worked in the past for Prodrive and the Mitsubishi World Rally Championship team.

IFR Automotive supports that the Aspid is the only car in the world to meet both FIA safety requirements and European homologation standards. Initial prototypes feature a 2.0-litre engine; either naturally aspirated to deliver 270Hp or supercharged to 400Hp with power delivered in both cases to the rear wheels via a 6-speed manual gearbox and limited-slip differential. -Continued

The lightweight aluminium and carbon structure of the car, which has a mass of just 700kg (1,550lb) and the resulting 570Hp-per-tonne (1.75kg/Hp) power-to-weight ratio give awe-inspiring performance figures with the Aspid accelerating from zero to 62mph (100km/h) in just 2.8 seconds and 100mph (160km/h) in a mouth dropping 5.9 seconds. Maximum speed is restricted to 155mph (250km/

The Aspid braking performance is equally impressive with IFR Automotive supporting that the sportscar can come to a complete halt from 100mph (160km/h) in a mere 3.0 seconds. When cornering, the car has been said to generate an intense 1.6g of lateral acceleration.

IFR Automotive says that journalists will have the opportunity to drive the first production models later this year, with the first cars being delivered to customers in summer 2009. Prices are set to start at £75,000 (€95,000) with fully loaded models expected to cost twice as much. (Pic edited by Carscoop)

2009 Audi S4 Avant 3.0TFSI CGIs

In a couple of months time, we should have the first official pictures of the new Audi S4 Sedan and Avant models in our hands as both versions are slated to make their worldwide premier at the Paris Auto Show in October. Until then, we’ll have to do with spy shots and CGIs like the ones featured on Audiblog.

Shown here is a computer generated image of what the station wagon version of the S4 might look like. As we’ve told you before, the 2009 S4 will be equipped with Audi’s all-new 3.0-liter supercharged V6 engine with direct injection delivering something north of 330 Hp. -One more pic after the jump

Pics via: Audiblog

Infiniti Readying "Baby" Sports Coupe Based on the Nissan 370Z

The Nissan-Infiniti Group seems to be entering a “coupe” phase lately as after the announcement on the 2009 Nissan 370Z and the talk about the revival of the Nissan 200/240SX coupe, word has it that Infiniti is preparing an entry-level RWD coupe based on the new “Z”.

According to a report from InsideLine, the 2-seater compact coupe that will fit right under the G37 in Infiniti’s car line-up will most probably be previewed in concept form either at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show or at the Geneva Show in March with sales of the production model following in 2010. It is said that Infiniti’s “baby” coupe will be powered by a 2.5-liter V6 engine.

Via: InsideLine , Pic: Holiday Auto