Showing posts with label Sedan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sedan. Show all posts
Infiniti and F1 world champions Red Bull Racing are considering collaborating on a new high-performance road car. The Japanese luxury brand has a two-year sponsorship deal with the championship-leading Red Bull Racing team, and the performance Infiniti is expected to be on sale within the next 18-24 months. Simon Sproule, who leads Infiniti's motorsport involvement, said: 'Our relationship with Red Bull is only five races old, but the trajectory for it is to move on and work more closely together. One way of doing that is on a road car project.' Sproule stressed that any project had to be 'credible' and cited the example of the Renault Clio Williams as a collaboration between a road car manufacturer and race team that had been a sales and marketing success. As a result, Sproule added that whatever car was chosen as the base for the project would be substantially reworked and would have to be re-homologated before it could go on sale.
A limited run of 500 Clio Williams cars were launched in 1992, but it was entirely engineered by Renault and not the Williams F1 team. It was so successful that further special editions were later launched. However Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner said he'd consider getting his F1 engineers in on the project. He said: 'There's no reason not to be involved. We have proved that Red Bull can take on the likes of Mercedes in F1 despite their heritage and a natural evolution of that would be to use our expertise we have in [developing] road cars.' Last year, parent company Nissan has filed for trademark protection for the names Infiniti Performance Line and IPL in America, suggesting Infiniti planned to launch a performance sub-division to rival Mercedes AMG and BMW M cars.
Alfa Romeo has said that the 4C will go into production sometime in the first half of 2012, with European sales to start before summer while Fiat and Chrysler Group CEO, Sergio Marchionne, has revealed that he would also like some examples of the sports car to make their way to North America before the end of 2012. It is expected that the production version of the 4C will keep the study's 1.75-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that sends 200-ponies towards the rear axle via a twin dry clutch automatic transmission.
Acura continues the celebration of its 25th anniversary with the launch of a new version of the 2012 TSX sedan named Special Edition that is available exclusively with a 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine. The Japanese company says the new model was "designed to evoke the fun-to-drive 4-cylinder Acuras of the past" (so does that mean it's current portfolio isn't "fun-to-drive"?), which in reality translates to a subtle aero package, added standard equipment and the availability of a manual gearbox. On the outside, the TSX SE gains a front apron, a new rear bumper fascia, side skirts, a set of Special Edition badges and bespoke 17-inch alloy wheels featuring a polished finish with dark grey background.
Interior upgrades include a variety of cosmetic appointments such as the seating surfaces in perforated black Lux Suede inserts and red backing, red stitching for the seats, steering wheel and the shift knob, plus red lighting for the instrument cluster gauges, overhead lighting and footwell lighting. The aluminum pedal covers and the bright silver plating for the steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters along with black headliner material complete the look. As previously noted, the TSX Special Edition is powered by the firm's K24 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine available with either a close-ratio 6-speed manual gearbox or a Sequential SportShift 5-speed automatic transmission. Sales will begin in late September with the TSX SE to make its first public outing at the Orange County International Auto Show on September 22nd.
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