Hummer H2 Cabrio Spotted in Abu Dhabi

Leave it to the United Arab Emirates to remind us that not everyone is affected equally by the economic crisis. This highly-customized Hummer H2 convertible was spotted in front of Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace Hotel.
Mods to this monstrosity include custom paint job with matching red leather interior, which seems to be an odd choice for the gulf coast city surrounded by desert. Hopefully, there is some innovative seat-cooling system installed as well. The truck has seven seats, and chrome wheels set in wider arches. Also pictured is what appears to be an aftermarket fiberglass hood scoop with integrated Hella lights.Good thing it's fiberglass; wouldn't want to add more weight.Just as unnecessarily lavish is the hotel itself, which opened in 2005. Marble floors, a large golden dome, gold touches in many of the rooms, and a vast green lawn brought the construction cost of this building to $3 billion. Stays in the smallest room, a 592 square foot space (55 m2), starts at $400 nightly. The 7,319 square foot (680 m2) Palace Grand Suite costs upwards of $11,500 per night, and comes with a limousine, multiple 61-inch plasma screens, raised jacuzzi, and butler.
Maybe he'll clean the sand off your H2, if you ask.

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An article in the Detroit News about Ford's ongoing electric vehicle program has let a few facts slip out about the upcoming "battery electric vehicle" (BEV) that Ford says it plans to bring to market by 2012. Developed in conjunction with the plug-in Escape Hybrid that's due to debut a year before it, the BEV will be based on the new global Ford Focus platform which debuts in 2010, and will be a fully electric vehicle, with no gasoline engine component. Ford is aiming for the vehicle to have a range of up to 100 miles on a single charge. "Project M," as it has been internally dubbed, is a joint venture between Ford and Magna International, Inc. Critics are already wondering if a 100-mile range will be enough for the average commuter. The upside to Ford's Focus-based BEV is reduced cost; with less complexity than a hybrid and most of the construction sourced from a single supplier - Magna. Ford's BEV will likely cost much less than the Chevrolet Volt, whose starting price has been estimated in the $40,000 range.

Lexus LS May Get V6

Malaysian car journo Paul Tan is reporting that Lexus is planning on introducing a Lexus LS V6. Any new engine option could come when the LS gets a facelift, possibly next year. The current Lexus LS saw an introduction back in 2007. Historically, Lexus has done facelifts on their LS range every three to four years.Now in its fourth generation, the LS 460 and 600h both come with V8 engines. The LS 460 features a 380 horsepower (342 hp in some markets) 4.6-liter unit with an eight-speed automatic. On its own, the 5.0-liter V8 on the 600h produces 389 hp and up to 383 ft-lb of torque. When the hybrid's electric motor is factored in, the car gets use of 438 hp.With car companies introducing lower-powered, less-expensive versions of their vehicles to fit changing consumer tastes, a Lexus LS 350 could get the same engine previously seen on the Lexus GS 350 in the U.S. and Japan. The 3.5-liter V6 generates 311 hp and 278 ft-lb of torque, similar to the BMW 740i.Source

Nissan at Geneva: NV200 Concept Passenger Version to Debut

Nissan will debut a passenger van version of the upcoming Nissan NV200 line-up at next month's show.The three-row MPV has dual sliding-doors, with easy access to the rear bench. Interior configuration can be changed quickly, to utilize more cargo space or to seat seven. Nissan cites the design as being "flexible, comfortable and convenient," making this a realistic option for "large families on the move." Nissan is apparently trying to tap the all-important travelling circus market.You may remember the debut of the Nissan NV200 concept van (pictures attached) during the Tokyo show back in October 2007, when the company showed off a multi-purpose unit that had a police command van feel to it. The rear extended outward, showing its capacity to hold a varied combination of tools in a hidden pocket, while creating a rear "pod" inside. That pod features a seat held in place on a track, a folding tabletop with built in computer, keyboard, video equipment, and flatscreens, all of which moves into and out of position as the rear is expanded and contracted.Nissan will offer both van and combi versions of the new Nissan NV200. A release date has not yet been set.

Toyota Aygo Revised for 2009

Toyota has revised the Aygo for the UK market. The smallest Toyota sells more than 100,000 units a year in Europe alone. Two new models called the Aygo Blue and Aygo Black have been added to the Aygo range. The cars still feature the three-cylinder 1.0-litre VVT-i engine that produces 67bhp (50kW) and 93Nm of torque. Mated to the engine is either a five-speed manual or a MultiMode transmission system.

PORSCHE CAYENNE SALES RISE FOR JANUARY

STUTTGART, Germany – February 4, 2009: January 2009 saw Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, continue to move in a difficult market environment in the USA and Canada. At 1,746 vehicles, the number of deliveries to customers in North America was 36 percent lower than the previous year, with 1,658 vehicles going to the USA and 88 units to Canada.

AUDI A5 AND R8 LEAD JANUARY 2009 SALES

Audi today announced sales for the month of January totaling 4,722 units, a decrease from record January sales in 2008. Audi predicts its share of the U.S. luxury vehicle market will increase when all January 2009 sales reports come in compared to year-earlier results.

Lotus Exige S 240 - First Drive Review

Granted, we often get a bit technical here at Car and Driver, a nuance due in no small part to having an editor-in-chief who has an engineering degree from MIT and expects everyone to keep up with him during luncheon conversations, or at least nod enthusiastically. So the Mercedes, with well more than double the horsepower of the Lotus, is slower. How is this possible? The scales tell the story: The Mercedes weighs a portly 4910 pounds. The light-on-its-feet Lotus weighs a claimed 2100 pounds. The Mercedes has more than twice the horsepower but carries more than twice the weight. This, of course, points up an added benefit for the Lotus: an EPA-rated 23 mpg in the city compared with 11 mpg for the Mercedes. Light weight and utter simplicity have been the birthright of Lotus since the first one was built in 1948 by racing driver Colin Chapman. A very light car with a small engine could outrun a very heavy car with a large engine, Chapman reasoned, a thesis he proved on the racetrack over and over. Lotus became an enormous force in motorsports, entering Formula 1 in 1958 and winning the championship in 1963 and 1965 with Jim Clark, who died in 1968 while piloting, yes, a Lotus. That year, Graham Hill won the F1 championship for Lotus, and Jochen Rindt did the same in 1970, followed by Emerson Fittipaldi in 1972 and Mario Andretti in 1978. Future three-time champion Ayrton Senna won his first Formula 1 race with Lotus in 1985.

2010 Volkswagen GTI Revealed - Car News

VW wants to hype the smallish Polo at the Geneva auto show this March, but we don't really care. The significant news for us is the next-generation GTI, of which production-version pictures have now been leaked courtesy of worldcarfans.com.
The GTI was previewed with a concept car at the 2008 Paris auto show, and we are pleased to report that VW executives were truthful when they told us the concept was 99-percent true to the series production model. The only things that may differ from the Paris concept are minor interior trim details.
The new GTI comes with the current model's 2.0-liter turbocharged, direct-injected four, but it is upgraded to 210 hp from 200. That's not class-leading, but smooth power delivery in a well-tuned package has made the GTI one of our favorites for years. It even made its third consecutive appearance on our 10Best list in 2009, despite the imminent model changeover.

LATEST FORZA CAR

News of the future content comes at the same time that the studio has released a barrage of stats and figures detailing the performance of the game over Xbox Live, including the number of gamers that have logged a Scoreboard time (over 520,000), the number auctions that have taken place (over 2 million), and the number of photos that have been uploaded (over 1.5 million).
The studio also clarified reports surrounding rumours that the game has been responsible for 'bricking' a number Xbox 360s, prompting the dreaded "Red Lights of Death", stating categorically that: "the game itself does not brick Xbox 360 consoles".