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Filed under: Sedans/Saloons, Etc., Japan, Humor

Mitsuoka, that tiny Japanese manufacturer who makes the wonderfully wacky Orochi sea monster, has introduced its latest automotive mash-up, just in time to give us a Halloween fright. It is a derivative of the company’s Galue III (the return of the shapeshifter) and is known as the Galue Limousine S50. This shouldn’t be confused with the company’s Galue 204 Toyota Corolla rebody, or the Galue Convertible, which is based on the Ford Mustang. Instead, this limo is based on the Infiniti M, but incorporates styling touches from such classic designs as the ‘94 Cadillac Fleetwood, the Rolls-Royce Phantom and the Apple iPhone. While that might not sound too offensive, trust us, it is.

Remember the classic Beetles with the R-R grilles? Imagine that on a new Infiniti M35. And out back, that gracefully curved rear has been amended with Caddy taillight protrusions. Where once stood a B-pillar, we now have a foot-wide panel that houses an oversized iPhone-like glass panel. Like the retro-classic Excaliburs of the ’70s and ’80s, Mitsuoka apparently feels people will like modern running gear hidden beneath “classic” British looks. Priced between 8,016,750 yen (68,600 euros at the exchange) for the 223-hp 250LX to 9,345,000 (80,000 euros) for the 313-hp 350LX 4WD, we think that’s a lot of coin for a Frankencar like this. Heck, you could probably find a used Continental GT for about the same. You could even rebadge it as a Hyundai if it makes you feel superior.

[Source: Mitsuoka via Autblog Spanish]

Mitsuoka Galue S50 Limousine plops onto the scene originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Coupes, Videos, Ford

The Giugiaro Mustang concept has been around since the 2006 LA Auto Show, and damn if it doesn’t still look great. In fact, spy pics of the next-gen Mustang show plenty of Giugiaro cues, especially at the front end. It makes sense, then, that the Fabrizio Giugiaro-designed pony automobile concept has been out on the street being driven since its debut. Last year, Mr.Giugiaro messed up a rim while (poorly) parking his creation in Bulgaria, and we just found this YouTube video from last February of the Italian Stallion doing donuts in a parking lot. Based on our experience, most concept vehicles don’t even run under their own power, and those that do are usually limited to low speeds. That is to state, concept cars aren’t usually seen doing donuts in a parking lot. Follow the jump to view the rubber-ripping video for yourself, and if you talk the language of the yahoos behind the camera, let the rest of us know what they’re saying. Thanks for the tip, Mike!

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading VIDEO: Giugiaro Mustang Concept doing donuts

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Filed under: Concept Cars, Detroit Auto Show, Sedans/Saloons, Volvo

Volvo sales have been flat-out tanking in the U.S., as Swedish metal moved in September 2008 at a 51% lower rate than it did in the same month of 2007. New product should help Ford’s (for now) Swedish unit reverse that precipitous slide, the first sample of which will be seen as an S60 concept to be revealed at the Detroit Auto Show in January. We’re a couple months away from seeing Volvo’s midsize concept, but the Swedes are showing us a sneak peak at the interior to pique our interest.

Orrefors Crystal is the designer of choice to give Volvo a new take on its trademark waterfall center stack. Designers decided on a real crystal surface that stretches from the navigation screen all the way to the back seats. The look is very high-end and definitely draws the eye, but Volvo says the obvious in saying the heavy and costly crystal is concept-only. One interesting feature of the S60 concept interior is that its uniquely shaped shifter and center stack buttons detach to become a remote control.

We’d guess that the center stack won’t stretch all the way to the back seats in production from, as any back seat in the midsize class needs seating for three in order to survive. Talking of survival, Volvo really needs a terrific S60 to continue in this brutal automotive market, so the concept reveal in Detroit will be highly anticipated.

[Source: Volvo]

Continue reading Volvo teases S60 Concept ahead of Detroit Auto Show

Volvo teases S60 Concept ahead of Detroit Auto Show originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Green, BMW, UK

BMW carried out a survey of 2,068 motorists in Great Britain and found that no matter what motorists claim to want, what they really want is a BMW. While 20% of respondents said they look at CO2 levels when they research new vehicles, 75% stated they’d only purchase a vehicle if they saved money. Which really means they’d only purchase a automobile that slurped less gas than the one in the driveway. Another notable tidbit in the “Driving Change” survey revealed that only 13-percent of people believed that other folks were really buying environmentally friendly cars because of reduced emissions. That means that those Britons know why you really bought that Prius…

Fifty-four percent of the surveyed motorists also stated that diesels are better on highway journeys than hybrids, and an unknown percentage of them “are demanding premium performance as well.” It’s a good thing then that BMW has a line of diesels mated to its EfficientDynamics technology that gets superior gas mileage, emits fewer emissions, costs less in taxes, and has higher residual values. And in case you didn’t know this about BMW, they’re supposed to be a lot more fun to drive. If you’ve a massive amount of time on your hands, you can read the full report here. Otherwise, skip the words and do your duty: buy that BMW you’ve had your eye on, save the Earth and have fun doing it.

[Source: BMW]

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Filed under: Sedans/Saloons, Acura

At the 2008 Detroit Auto Show, Acura showed off a new 2.2-liter four-cylinder diesel engine and announced it would debut a production version in 2009. Informed speculation states that the oilburner would be equipped in the new TSX, a re-badged version of the European Honda Accord that currently offers the engine. Honda engineers have even presented documents outlining the new exhaust developed for the engine in the last two editions of the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress.

Unfortunately, it looks like we might not get a chance to sample a diesel TSX in the U.S. after all. An anonymous poster on the MotorTrend forums is claiming that Honda has not been able to pass emissions certification with the automatic transmission TSX diesel. The manual transmission version is fine, but the poster claims there wouldn’t be enough demand in the U.S. market for the manual-only model and Honda will therefore drop the diesel altogether. We don’t know if this is true, and Acura has not yet responded to our request for a comment. It will most like be a “no comment” anyway.

For what it’s worth, we’re suitably dubious about the source and the information, particularly considering that modern vehicles with electronically controlled automatic transmissions typically perform superior on emissions and fuel economy. This is primarily due to the engineer’s ability to have more control over the interaction between the engine and the transmission, and less to do with the person behind the wheel. Hopefully the story is untrue, because it would be nice to finally get a Honda/Acura with some low end torque.

[Source: Motor Trend Forum]

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