The new BMW M5 is taking a one-week, 3,300-mile U.S. road trip, and not only will it tour the skeevy diners, restless rest areas and truck-stop toilets of this fine land, it’ll eat up its tires on nine of our nation’s finest tracks. If you think that sounds like the Tire Rack One Lap of America, you’d be correct.
In addition to providing the official vehicles for the event, the Munich firm is sending a team of drivers from its BMW Performance Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina to compete in the newly created ‘Showroom Stock’ category. This year’s week-long race begins May 4 in South Bend, Indiana, and as with all the other entries, the M5 will get just one set of tires to test its gumption in various motorsports disciplines and thousands of highway miles. Follow the jump for a press release with more info and be sure to check out One Lap Of America’s website for updates when the event kicks off in May.
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Automotive News reports Bentley is staying the course with the company’s EXP 9 F SUV Concept. The ultra-luxury automaker plans to bring the vehicle to the Beijing Motor Show exactly as it appeared at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month, despite the fact that the concept didn’t exactly debut to resounding acclaim. Critics described the design as awkward and unbecoming of nameplate like Bentley, but the automaker says it wants to vet the design in as many markets as possible before finalizing the exterior. Here’s hoping the crowds in China are as repulsed as those in Switzerland.
The EXP 9 F has already been green-lit for production, and while we have no qualm with the thought of a high-riding luxury brute with a twin-turbo 12-cylinder engine under the hood, we’d like to see something a little less muddled outside. Bentley says an SUV will give the company a leg up in markets like the Middle East and China, where luxury SUVs remain king. Through the first two months of this year, the company’s sales are up 66 percent in China, putting the country ahead of the United States as the largest market for Bentley products.
[Source:Autoblog]
Infiniti’s rival to the BMW 3 Series is known by just one letter – that letter, of course, being G – but the range is expanding beyond the solitary G35 that had been the mainstay of the line for years. The G35 was succeeded by the G37 (pictured above) and recently supplemented by the smaller-displacement G25, but emerging reports indicate that Infiniti has a whole raft of new versions on their way.
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“You need to get in touch with Steven Ewing right away,” said the instant message. It was from Autoblog editor-in-chief John Neff, and since fleet manager Ewing was online, I pinged him. “Hey, are you available to grab an Aston Martin Virage for the weekend?” he asked. “There’s one in New York.”
Before answering, a flurry of thoughts raced through my head. Did I have plans this weekend? How much would I really get to drive the car? I don’t usually go into the city on Fridays. Should I make the exception? Then I looked out my window, saw the Nissan Versa I was scheduled to drive that very same weekend and banged out a brief reply.
“Yeah, Steve. I can do that.”
The Virage, as you know by now, is the newest Aston Martin, resurrecting a moniker last used on a series of the British automaker’s V8 cars from the late ’80s to 2000. Today’s Virage is not part of the current V8 Vantage line, however. It’s a “tweener” V12 model that slots above the DB9 and below the DBS. Like them, it’s built on the automaker’s aluminum-intensive VH architecture and draws power from a 6.0-liter V12. True to its spot in the hierarchy, the engine’s 490 horses stake the middle ground between the DB9′s 470 and up to the DBS’s 510. The Virage’s 420 lb-ft torque rating equals the DBS and trails the DB9′s 442 lb-ft.
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Automotive News reports Porsche is hard at work on a plug-in hybrid version of its Panamera. According to unnamed sources, the vehicle is likely to begin production in 2014 and will be destined for the U.S. market. The move is part of a larger plug-in offensive from Volkswagen. VW owns 49.9 percent of Porsche and plans to debut electrified versions of its Audi Q7 and A3 as well as the European Passat. Those vehicles will reportedly trickle to market between 2014 and 2015. An all-electric Golf is also due in 2013. Read More »
How do you make a 4,300-pound roadster accelerate to 60 miles per hour in under four seconds? Easy, just fit it with a twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter V12 that cranks out 621 horsepower and – wait for it – 738 pound-feet of torque. Sounds bonkers, right? Welcome to the 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG.
We’re all very familiar with the *63 AMG models, the majority of which are now fitted with a brand new twin-turbo 5.5-liter V8, but for those who want the ultimate in high-performance machinery (at an extremely high-dollar price), the *65 AMG cars are simply out of this world. We first feasted our eyes on the new-for-2013 SL63 AMG at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month, but the SL will now be taking the stage at next month’s New York Auto Show to debut off its range-topping spec.
The 6.0-liter V12 is hardly a new engine, though there have been a few updates including new turbochargers, manifolds and wastegate channels. The big change for 2013, however, is the pairing of Merc’s seven-speed AMG Speedshift transmission. (Historically, the 65 AMG cars were mated to a five-speed auto, since it was the only transmission in the automaker’s parts bin capable of handling such massive amounts of torque.)
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After years of lackluster sales, Mercedes-Benz is finally pulling the plug on the company’s R-Class, at least as far as sales in the United States go. The vehicle will continue to be manufactured at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and exported to markets around the globe.
According to Yahoo! Autos, the company has sold just 300 R-Class units nationwide through March of this year despite the fact that the German automaker is having no trouble moving any of its larger SUV models. With R-Class sales bumbling along, Mercedes-Benz says it simply can’t maintain a business case for selling the overgrown wagon in the States.
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