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Filed under: Sports/GTs , Etc. , Euro , Marketing/Advertising , Maserati Head to Maserati's website and you're greeted with a tantalizingly coy poll, asking users to guess what event will take place on October 2nd, the first day of the Paris Motor Show . The overwhelming popular opinion is that a new car will be debuted, possibly the smaller Maser that's supposed to take aim at Porsche. A test mule was spied a while back, though that car didn't have the folding hardtop the new mini-Maserati, based on a hacked-down GranTurismo, is whispered to be carrying. We'll all just have to wait, each day feeling longer than the next. What else could it be, other than a car? The idea of generating such buzz over a new website, logo, or advertising campaign (all three are choices) is ludicrous, but the rest, including a new production facility could seem plausible. Even more intriguing, it could be all of the above. We want a smaller Maserati, and we're going to hold our breath...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Coupes , Sports/GTs , Etc. , Marketing/Advertising , Supercars , Nissan , Toys , Lifestyle First art imitates life and now video games do the same, with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Nissan having joined forces to create the GT Academy . Over the course of eight months, the academy culled a group of wannabe racers from a field of entrants who posted the best lap times in GT5 Prologue. Then, for five days at Silverstone , the finalists competed in the game and on the actual track, watched by ex-F1 racer Johnny Herbert and a panel of five judges. The two winners were just announced, and Top Gun status went to Lars Schlomer and Luis Ordonez. Schlomer is a taxi driver in Bonn, Germany; Ordonez is an MBA student from Spain. Now that they've won, they'll be thrown into boot camp for four months to learn to how to race for real silver: in four months, they'll have to earn their racing licenses and get ready to drive a factory-backed Nissan 350Z in...
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Filed under: Coupes , Sports/GTs , Etc. , Japan , Marketing/Advertising , Supercars , Audi , Lifestyle The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong bought 13 Rolls-Royce Phantoms for shuttling guests around the city. The Peninsula Hotel in Tokyo has purchased just one car, and will leave the guest to drive himself. That car is an R8, finished in the hotel's trademark Brewster Green, with a gold Peninsula logo outside, and cognac leather inside. To avail yourself of it -- once you've gotten to Tokyo -- you'll need to book the Peninsula Suite, which goes for the ho-hum figure of ¥850,000 per night. That $8,000 U.S. every day to burble at single-digit speeds in Tokyo traffic, although you are allowed to take it outside of Tokyo. Come to think of it, the speeds probably don't matter -- if you have that kind of money, there's a good chance you've got an R8 or better in your own garage already... [Source: Asahi via German Car Blog ] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Time Warp , Coupes , Sports/GTs , Marketing/Advertising , Videos , Chevrolet , GM inputstring3907209236 width450 titleoverrideCamaro Commercials Through the Years thumbids3558659364, 1820645673, 2431670562, 2647810900, 1613644370, 2117803458, 3537936226, 3284622571, 4236670134, 504290177, 822885043, 1840886473, 511351749, 2859813393 Well, all the Camaro buildup is finally set to amount to something this Monday, when the real, final car is unveiled. Frankly, it was getting anti-climactic before the official photos leaked onto the web on Friday afternoon, but we'll look forward to hopefully seeing the SS car in the metal. That one's been conspicuously absent from all the photos that crammed the internet as soon as the dam burst. Anyway, whether you go for an RS with that punchy DI V6, or the SS with its LS3 power, chances are you'll be a happy camper. So, to celebrate, we've gone and collected all the Camaro television commercials (and one 1980s promo video) we...
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Filed under: Sports/GTs , Marketing/Advertising , Videos , Ford , Australia , FPV Click above for photo gallery. Follow the jump for the video. Ford Performance Vehicles' new range of Ford FG Falcon-derived super sedans and utes is mind-bendingly appealing. Big turbocharged or NA power, bright colors, and that menacing Alice Cooper eye makeup in front make for an entire farmer's market of forbidden fruit. Sure, on this side of the world, Ford's SVT performance division gives us the Shelby GT500 and the even more monstrous Shelby GT500KR -- but seriously, as hot as the factory super-Stangs are, the lineup of FPV rides you see above is hot enough to turn that desert sand into glass. Only, they can't -- because everything you see there is virtual. Both the backdrop and the cars are CGI. The photo-realistic vehicle models were created using the real cars' CAD data for a brand new FPV TV spot that premieres in Australia this Sunday. If you don't live in Oz, no worries...
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Filed under: Sports/GTs , Marketing/Advertising , Lotus Lotus has apparently hired Charlie X as its new director of marketing, and the unlucky sods who were ballsy enough to laugh at his ideas in team meetings have apparently been punished accordingly (as seen at the 40:23 mark here ), handed black suits and Lotus pendants, and sent to wander amongst the general public and freak people out. It's all part of the Lotus Eagle's "Faceless People" campaign. If you visit the website, you get a timer counting down to the car's London unveiling, when "true character will emerge." Until then, however, it's more faceless nightmare fodder for British tots. Gallery: Lotus Eagle - spy shots [Source: Lotus via Jalopnik ] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Coupes , Sports/GTs , Etc. , Marketing/Advertising , Supercars , Aston Martin , Lifestyle , Celebrities We have to admit, when we heard the next Bond film was going to be called "Quantum of Solace," we kind of scrunched our faces a little bit. Still, Casino Royale was so good that we figured we'd give it the old innocent-until-proven-guilty treatment. Well, now we've seen the trailer, and it looks so bloody good we're all verklempt . We clapped at the end. And then we watched it again. There's so much action in the trailer that we don't know how there's going to be room for story unless it's as long as Ben Hur , but right now we don't much care. There's only a brief glimpse of the DBS in the trailer at the very end, but whatever it's doing it looks suitably Bond-ish. We'll even admit that the 2-minute clip is good enough to forgive wrecking this Aston DBS , this Alfa , and another Aston DBS during filming. Now you'll...
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Filed under: Coupes , Sports/GTs , Marketing/Advertising , Dodge Click above image for the 2009 Dodge Challenger brochure In the gallery below, you'll find the full brochure for the 2009 Dodge Challenger, and yeah, there's some good stuff to be found in there. We're particularly fond of the R/T Classic package (above), which gets a coat of B5 Blue, 20" torq-thrust lookalikes, T/A-style stripes, and the old-school script Challenger badge on the front fender. Unfortunately, while Chrysler was cooking up the retro badging, they neglected to order up some nouveau Fratzogs to really finish off the look, so the Ram-head shield sits on the hood, instead. Too bad. As for the rest of the car? Badass. There are some pretty cool stripe and wheel options to be had regardless of trim level, plus what's sure to be a bevy of aftermarket parts from Mopar and other third parties. Finally, Chrysler's offering a factory R/T Track Pack that, in its most aggressive form, combines the...
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Filed under: Maintenance , Coupes , Sports/GTs , I.C.E. , Marketing/Advertising , Recalls/TSBs , Mazda Click above for high-res gallery of the 2009 Mazda RX-8. You've got to hand it to Mazda for its perseverance with the Wankel rotary engine design. Ever since it's engineers managed to make it semi-reliable, the turbine-like smoothness of the quick-spinning lump has seen duty in numerous Mazda-branded vehicles, and even a few others as well. Still, despite constant engineering work and updates to the basic rotary engine design, there is a lingering question about the reliability of the design. Most owners seem happy with the engines in their RX, that is, until a seal blows or they forget to keep the oil supply topped up and it fails to restart. Or it floods in the winter, needing a tow. Alright... so there may be a few problems. To ease the minds of RX-8 owners and owners-to-be, Mazda has reportedly decided to extend the warranty coverage for the 2004-2008 Renesis rotary engine...
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Filed under: Time Warp , Trends , Coupes , Sports/GTs , Marketing/Advertising , Chevrolet Click above for high-res gallery of the Camaro in many colors The 2010 Chevy Camaro is a foregone conclusion. It's definitely coming on schedule and it will give GM's value division a credible competitor to the current generation Mustang and new Dodge Challenger . But, just because the Camaro of old is best remembered for its fire-breathing V8 engine options doesn't mean that a significant portion of sales won't be comprised of the somewhat less-hot V6 model. Rising gas prices will make sure of that point, and GM's execs know this fact just as well as we do. Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of sales and marketing, is quoted on Inside Line as saying, "Everyone thinks we'll be positioning the Camaro as a burn-ass hot rod. But that's only about 30 percent of the business. The other two-thirds will come from 27-mpg V6 sales, with a significant female share." This...
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Filed under: Coupes , Sports/GTs , Marketing/Advertising , Videos , Supercars , Lamborghini , Lifestyle When Jaguar's "Gorgeous" campaign TV ads came out a few years back with the XK, some ad critics questioned the none-too-subtle message they contained: older, distinguished gentleman gets to frolic with beautiful young women when he drives this car. Whether or not that's the case -- concerning the ad or in real life -- a new Lamborghini commercial with Sam Hubinette takes that same riff and, being Lamborghini, pushes it even further. Hubinette and some wet, downtown LA roads show what the car can do, and the spot also shows what the car has. Boasting "features like no other," the first one of which is a Phone Number Collecting Set that appears to specialize in tall brunettes, the car also has an Anti-Boredom Assistant (that engine, a Talk of the Town Guarantee, and a Gets Into All Clubs function0. And that's all before you order it in Giallo Halys (that's...
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Filed under: Sports/GTs , Etc. , Marketing/Advertising , Supercars , Dodge , Lamborghini He usually spends his time behind the wheel of a Dodge Charger, but recently Samuel Hübinette made an exchange for something with a lower roofline. Lamborghini asked him to take a seat in a 2009 Gallardo for the filming of a European-market commercial set on the streets of Los Angeles and Palm Springs. Blowing tire smoke for the camera is nothing new to Sam since his blue Mopar-mobile has been featured in many a BF Goodrich tire commercial. Unlike the Charger though, the Gallardo isn't quite the towering elephant. It is also equipped with all wheel drive, a feature that requires a bit more driving finesse in order to pull off an extended slide. Look for the spot to hit YouTube sometime in the not too distant future. Also follow the link to see a few more of Sam's photos from filming. Thanks for the tip, Eric! [Source: Samuel Hubinette Blog ] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Sedans/Saloons , Sports/GTs , Marketing/Advertising , BMW , Pontiac Click above to view video This is the part where we say, "Oh, snap!" An interesting internet video hosted on the PontiacIsCAR YouTube channel , which makes it at least semi-official, pits the Pontiac G8 GT against the BMW 550i in a 1-minute, 21-second-long homage to the quick cut. Seriously, we've seen MTV promos that keep an image onscreen longer than this video. Obviously, the G8 GT is made to look good in this epileptic seizure-inducing vid, coming in at half the price than the BMW, but being faster, more powerful and offering more interior space. It's a clever vid, though not as good as the Pontiac G8 Spy Hunter commercial , which is awesome on an epic scale. Rather, this little ad goes after the Bavarian brand with a blatant disregard for the premium image that BMW has earned over the years by actually building the Ultimate Driving Machine in every segment that it competes. Sure, BMWs...
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Filed under: Sports/GTs , Green , Marketing/Advertising , Chevrolet , GM The hits just keep on coming for fans of the Chevy Camaro. Just yesterday, we quoted Bob Lutz as suggesting that the Camaro could get a four-cylinder engine option. Now we hear that Mark LaNeve, VP of sales and marketing for GM North America, says that, "We won't position it as a muscle car," speaking again of the 2010 Camaro. Sure, you could spend hours debating the terms "muscle car" and "pony car", but we're pretty sure that very few ever thought of the Camaro as a fuel-efficient option. But, that's exactly how GM will position it. "The mainstream positioning will be fuel economy, design and a V-6," says LaNeve. The truth seems to be that GM just cannot afford to sell a couple hundred thousand Camaros a year with V8 engines rated at around 20 miles per gallon combined. But, before V8-lovers get too upset, remember that it is the fuel efficient engine options which...
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Filed under: Sports/GTs , Marketing/Advertising , Ferrari , India Click above to view more images of Ferrari's continent-jumping Scagliettis You'd be well rewarded for picking a Ferrari GT car for a road-trip, but for an off-road transcontinental rally? Ferrari says "Why not?" once again with the Magic India Discovery Ferrari. The latest of the company's continent-crushing tours, the Indian event follows the China 15,000 Red Miles tour in 2005, the Panamerican 20,000 tour in 2006, and the latest 60th anniversary around-the-world relay last year. The 12-stage event starts and ends in Mumbai, covering 7,000 miles of the subcontinent along the way, kicking off on February 25 and ending on May 8. Like the 612s in China and the 599s in the Americas, the pair of Scagliettis being driven for the event are essentially stock, receiving only a slightly raised suspension and some aluminum plates to protect the undercarriage, plus the special paint job you see in the images in...
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