Automotive

Volkswagen’s GTI has been a part of the hatchback landscape since 1974. For almost forty years the GTI has stretched its talents from sedate 3 or 5-door family runabout to the toasty 250 hp all-wheel-drive WR32. But now Volkswagen is set to tease followers with an excessively warm 503 horsepower concept – the Design Vision GTI.  Read More

With his surname already linked with the overall Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record thanks to son Rhys, Rod Millen is focusing his attention on piloting an electric vehicle up the mountain. During his debut in the electric division, he'll look to break the EV record in an updated version of the vehicle that set it: the EV P002 from Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG).  Read More

As Porsche celebrates 50 years of its iconic 911, it’s only fitting that the fastest and most advanced models of the line-up should get a makeover. The next-gen 911 Turbo and Turbo S have received several technical revisions to enhance handling and make the fast even faster, with the S model leaping from 0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds. This hi-tech generation is similar to its ancestors in name only.  Read More

A sub-brand of China’s First Auto Works (FAW), the Hongqi has been China’s answer to the Rolls Royce since 1958 when it was first manufactured under the direction of Chairman Mao Zedong. The Hongqi (which means Red Flag) is enjoying a newfound resurgence as we discovered recently at the Shanghai Auto Show.  Read More

Toyota introduced the 2014 4Runner this week. While other once-rugged mid-size SUVs have been watered down into car-like crossovers – just look at the station wagon called the Nissan Pathfinder or the thing Jeep wants us to believe is a new Cherokee – the 4Runner stays true to its off-road roots, including body-on-frame construction. In fact, the 4Runner's new styling shows that Toyota is eager to let everyone know that the truck means business.  Read More

It's predicted that by the year 2050 there will be 9.3 billion people on Earth and 6.4 billion of them will be living in cities. There could also be four times as many cars on the roads as today, leading to an incredible degree of urban congestion and gridlock. That’s the impetus behind Ford and technology partner Schaeffler’s eWheelDrive electric research car, that moves the motor to the wheel hubs.  Read More

You don't create one of the utmost masterpieces of the high-performance supercar market without countless hours of testing. Much of that testing is dirty, sweaty and anything but sexy, but a few select aspects are riveting enough to make for edge-of-your-seat video – aspects like the McLaren P1 drifting through snow-powdered ice in northern Sweden. McLaren released just such a video this week.  Read More

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques have come up with a car-mounted laser scanner the size of a shoe box, that can survey the contours of road surfaces at speeds of up to 100 km/h (62 mph). The system detects potholes and other road damage in need of repair. According to the Institute, the Pavement Profile Scanner (or PPS) has surveyed 15,000 km of road since mid-2012, in which time it has proven cheaper, faster and more accurate than existing systems which require hefty attachments to the carrier vehicle.  Read More

One lesser known snippet out this year's Shanghai Auto Show concerns a joint venture between Toyota and China’s FAW (First Auto Works), which resulted in a new sub-brand and a new electric vehicle that was displayed along with an SUV EV resulting from another Toyota-China joint venture.  Read More