If you can’t get to a Maserati, maybe a Maserati will come to you.
Maserati has always been an aspirational brand, sitting perhaps just beneath Ferrari but above BMW in the hierarchy of automotive royalty. To buy a new Maserati currently takes at least a hundred grand, and you’d have only a couple of choices. Buyers can choose the sexy and powerful GranTurismo sports car or the family-friendly supersedan known as the Quattroporte.
Even top-tier automakers, though, struggle to find a niche to generate profit. For many, the answer is dipping down to lower markets in an attempt to lure more buyers. The sales ploy is easy and often very convincing: Own an exotic car for nearly the price of a mass-market premium car.
The Maserati Ghibli may be next to test the theory of automakers going cheaper to make more money.
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Car Industry News, Car Minded, Domestic Cars, Exotic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat
Maserati Ghibli, mid-size Maserati, new Maserati, spy shots
Any regular old Joe with a hundred thousand dollars or so can buy a Porsche 911. Or a host of other super-capable, fast, fun cars that will provide plenty of thrills and second looks from passers by on the streets.
For some people, though, it’s just not enough to buy a car and keep it in the same form as the day it rolled off the factory assembly line. For them, tuning houses will happily make customizations to improve horsepower, speed and design. Well, maybe I shouldn’t include design in that sentence, as certain body kits and other mods don’t always improve the aesthetics of a car… especially one already as perfect as the 911!
There comes a point, though, where spending ungodly amounts of money on tuning just doesn’t make sense considering the caliber of car that could be purchased with the same money. An article at CNN Money highlights some of the top “supertuner” cars, but I’d like to put in my two cents on a few of them. There are just better ways to spend your money!
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Car Minded, Exotic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat
Carlsson R230SL, Mansory Stallone, Porsche 911, Ruf CTR3, supertuners
Holy hot sauce, this is weird:
America’s supercar might go super-wagon. Maybe it’s an effort to emulate the Ferrari FF, or maybe it’s just a hair-brained idea to milk the Corvette marketing machine for everything it’s worth, but sports car tuner Callaway has released a few renderings of a design study for a shooting brake version of the C7 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.
I admit, the pictures look kind of cool. Alluring, even… but a long-roofed ‘Vette wouldn’t offer the amenities of the FF. So without adding the benefit of all-wheel-drive or a V12 engine, why bother?
Well, maybe Callaway has an answer for that question—an answer that could be more affordable than you think.
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Car Industry News, Car Minded, Domestic Cars, Exotic Cars, General Chat
2014 corvette wagon, C7 Corvette, Callaway Corvette Aerowagon, corvette shooting brake, corvette tuning
There aren’t many places on Earth that a fully loaded 4X4 truck can’t find. Think of the Land Rover Defender and all of its desert adventures or the Toyota Hilux and its journey to the North Pole. A good 4-wheel-drive truck, equipped with the right gear and proper modifications, can go virtually anywhere.
For people who don’t like the words “virtually” or “modifications,” there’s a new player in town:
The Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6X6.
This truck just might be able to go anywhere on the planet, provided it’s covered in less than 40 inches of water and free of things like… oh… molten lava.
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Car Industry News, Car Minded, Exotic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat, Trucks & SUVs
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photo: Dirk de Jager
Amelia Island sits just off the coast of northern Florida. It has a turbulent and violent history, having changed ownership after battles many times over the last few hundred years. Today, it’s a peaceful place known for a shrimp festival, music festivals, tourism, golf… and the annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.
At just 13 miles long, it wouldn’t take long for a 1968 Ford GT40 to blast from one end to the other. Of course, a Concours d’ Elegance isn’t about speed or racing, it’s more like a beauty pageant for elegant and rare vehicles.
The Concours last weekend showed off some beautiful machines, with one of the two Best of Show awards going to a true racer.
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Car Minded, Classic & Vintage Cars, Domestic Cars, Exotic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat
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What do you think: Should the GT come back?
Let’s talk about Ford’s product line and two cars missing from it.
Obviously, Ford offers a full line of vehicles for almost any use. These include small cars, big cars, vans, trucks, heavy-duty commercial vehicles, muscle cars and hybrid cars. Competitors, though, are stepping up offerings in two categories Ford doesn’t currently address.
There are no formal plans to create a vehicle for either of these categories, but a business case could be argued for either one. And there’s one in particular that many car enthusiasts would love to see drive into showrooms.
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Another year, another Geneva Motor Show. Sure, we Americans get to kick back and watch the unveiling of generational updates to familiar friends such as the Volkswagen GTI, but the Geneva Motor Show really serves two main purposes. The first: to show us what awesome European cars will remain off-limits to American car fans. The second: to provide us with endless laughs at the peculiar names car manufacturers give to their newest rides. What’s in a name? Let’s find out.
Lamborghini Veneno
Photo by Valentin Flauraud for Bloomberg News
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Car Lists, Car Minded, Car Shows, Exotic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat, Hybrid Cars
It started out being referred to as the next Enzo. Then the next Ferrari supercar took the moniker F150, which drew obvious questions about originality in the company’s naming choices.
Well, prepare yourself for a new level of Ferrari naming weirdness: the Ferrari LaFerrari.
Like all names, I’m sure soon enough we won’t be able to imagine the hypercar having any other name. For now, though, it just doesn’t seem sinister enough to suit the fastest, most advanced Ferrari ever built.
Then again, as car names gravitate toward the alpha-numeric, it’s kind of nice to see actual words used. Or, in Kia’s case, made-up words, but still words nonetheless.
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Search all you want, but you’re not going to find a Lamborghini Veneno in the CarGurus used listings.
In most cases, those listings are a prime place to look for your next sedan, SUV, minivan or sports car. Heck, even used supercars make an appearance for those of you with the money and time to enjoy one. The Veneno, though, is one car not likely to ever show up in the listings. That’s because only three will be made, and each already has its new owner waiting to write the check.
Keep reading to drool all over the Veneno, then view some suggestions on what you might consider purchasing instead.
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Car Industry News, Car Minded, Car Shopping, Exotic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat
car shopping, cargurus used listings, Lamborghini Veneno, used cars, used supercars
McLaren P1
One of the cars I’m going to mention here is real and could theoretically be purchased and stored in your garage, assuming you had enough cash and knew the right people.
The other car doesn’t even exist. All we have is the promise that it will, along with some seriously unbelievable claims and performance numbers.
These are supercars that reside at opposite ends of real and imagined, yet share the common goal of becoming one of the fastest automobiles in the world.
First, let’s start with the real car: the McLaren P1.
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Car Industry News, Car Minded, Electric Vehicles, Exotic Cars, Foreign Cars, General Chat, Hybrid Cars
Chreos, electric vehicle, McLaren P1, McLaren P1 specs, P1, Silex Power
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