BMW showed off a new concept version of their former M1 supercar at the Concorso d’Eleganza supercar show at Villa d’Este. The BMW M1 was in production from 1978 to 1981, with a 273 hp 3.5-litre inline-6 engine, created as a road-going version of the M1 racecar. Since then, BMW hasn’t had a true supercar in their line-up, even though they are arguably the most sporting manufacturer of passenger cars ever.
BMW, Hyundai and Hummer all have new GCC-spec cars lined up for the latest model year.
The compact Audi Q5, designed to go against the BMW X3 and the Mercedes-Benz GLK, has been unveiled at the Auto China show in Beijing. While it brings absolutely nothing original to the table, initial unconfirmed reports suggest it will be built in China as well as Germany.
The awesome new Opel Insignia sedan is all set to replace the aging Vectra in Europe by this summer. Opel is sort of an abandoned nameplate in the GCC, as even parent company General Motors Middle East doesn’t bother mentioning Opel in their list of brands any more. Too bad, because this new model has to be the most stunning interpretation of a midsize sedan yet.
Mercedes-Benz is world-debuting the production-version of the compact GLK at the Auto China fair in Beijing on April 20.
Since Bentley gave us our most expensive test car ever, at Dhs 1.3 million, I figured I’d write a bit more on it. Considering Aston Martin wanted proof of age, website demographics, blood group, etc, just to take out their Dhs 800,000 DB9 for 6 hours (which they never did give eventually), it was a leap of faith for Bentley to give us their Arnage R for four whole days on request, no questions asked. But all things considered, the 6.75-litre twin-turbo V8 is one hell of a motor.
This car is seriously crazy. Built like a limousine inside and out, the Bentley Arnage R drives like a muscle car from two decades ago. It is also the most expensive car we’ve ever tested.
Volkswagen is recalling some 410,000 Passat sedans sold in the United States due to possible problems with heat shields and fuel line components. That includes every Passat sold in America from 1999 to 2005 model years. That has to be some kind of new recall record for a single model.
If you follow Japanese car culture, you’ll realise that their car “enthusiasts” have a penchant for massive ground-hugging body-kits and for using random English words on their aftermarket products. Bearing that in mind, a Japanese company called Premier4509 has unveiled a custom widebody kit for the Bentley Continental GT.
German Auto Zeitung magazine snagged some spy photos of the upcoming 2009 BMW 7-Series. The new model seems to be going back to basics in terms of design, and looks production-ready already.