BMW Introduces M3 Carbon Fiber Limited Edition

Chinese customers love a good limited edition model and BMW tries its best to keep them happy. Not long ago, BMW had released the China market-only M3 Matte Edition and M3 Tiger Edition. During the BMW M Legendary Experience event held in China last week, the Bavarian automaker lifted the covers off yet another special M3, the Carbon Fiber Limited Edition of which only 111 examples will be built at a price of 1.23 million yuan (approximately US$189,800 at today’s exchange rates) a piece.
As the name suggests, the latest special M3 for China is dressed in carbon fiber inside and out, while keeping the standard model’s mechanical hardware intact. It is offered in a white pearl metallic finish and comes with contrasting black stripes that run the full length of the body and decals with the name of the car on the doors.
On the outside, we find carbon fiber on the roof, and the new BMW Performance aero parts that include the front lip splitters, trunk spoiler and hood inlets. A set of gloss-black 19-inch alloy wheels round off the exterior upgrades.
Moving on to the M3's interior, the dashboard and door panels get carbon fiber trim pieces while the black leather seats feature carbon fiber patterned material along with white stripes and piping.
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what Happens when a Limousine, Convertible and Yacht Meet?!!!

In today's highly competitive auto market, one would think there are no new niches left to explore. Well, it's pretty true, except for imaginative individuals like the crew from Sweden’s Gray Design, which also penned the Saab supercar.
Enter the world of the Strand Craft Limousine Beach Cruiser, a vehicle that looks like a crossover between a limousine, a convertible and a yacht – yes, you read correctly, a yacht. Essentially a beach shuttle, the Stand Craft has been conceived for luxury hotel chains willing to offer their clients premium service. More specifically, to carry six passengers from the hotel to the nearest beach as fast and as comfortable as possible.
Crafted by luxury boat maker Strand Craft, the Limousine Beach Cruiser is designed for the sunny parts of the world. Its looks confirm it: the car (or should we say yacht?) features an opening canvas roof, chromed hubcaps and wooden inlays. It also sports an even more extravagant interior with Alcantara leather, brushed aluminum, chrome, a Breitling-made instrument panel and Swarowski crystals.
To keep the passengers entertained until they arrive at the beach, the Limousine Beach Cruiser is fitted with a 15-speaker Naim sound system that has a 1100 Watt amplifier to ensure the best audio quality even when the canvas roof is opened. Finally, the car is powered by a 6.0-liter Chevrolet V8 engine with 400 horsepower, enough to offer the car a top speed of 220 km/h (137 mph). The eight-cylinder unit is linked to a Haldex-based all-wheel drive system.
There's no info on pricing, though if you don't own a luxury hotel you probably can't afford it.
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2012 BMW 1-Series Hatchback

We knew that the next generation of the BMW 1-Series was coming but we didn’t expect to see the compact hatchback making its appearance so early. These official photos along with the first details showed up on a German website called Motor Traffic, as BMW has not yet made an announcement.
Seen here in a five-door format, the new 1-Series evolves the current model’s styling with sharper and more prominent creases all around along with a much more pronounced front end that sports unusually large headlamps pushed to the far corners of the bumper literally hugging the wheel arches.
Unless you happen to own the current 1-Series, you’ll have a hard time discovering the styling differences. Upon a closer look, you may notice the larger center console with new switchgear and the new steering wheel design.
According to the leaked information, the new 1-Series rides on a 85mm (3.3-in.) longer platform that brings the total length of the car to 4,320mm (170-in.). The cargo area has increased by 30 liters, from 330 to 360 liters, while passengers should also feel more comfortable thanks to the longer platform.
Perhaps the most important news about the 2012 BMW 1-Series is the introduction of a brand new 1.6-liter turbocharged gasoline engine. The German website reported that new powerplant will be available on the 116i with an output of 136-horses and on the 118i with the same displacement but with 170-horses. Diesel options are said to include a 2.0-liter turbo diesel with 116HP, 143HP and 184HP.
The 1-Series is scheduled to premiere at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, but we expect to hear and see more from BMW within the next few days.

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Dacia Duster SUV New Hot Design

Following in the footsteps of Elia, German aftermarket specialists at Eibach and Giacuzzo Design teamed up to create a tuning package for the Dacia Duster SUV. The two companies opted for light modifications in order to stick to the basic character of the Duster and to make sure the price of the tuning package would remain affordable for the car's target group.
An expert in suspensions, Eibach fitted the car with its Pro-Kit Performance Springs, which lower the ride height by 30 mm to improve handling and provide a more aggressive stance. Giacuzzo Design then took over and fitted the Dacia with 20-inch Shark wheels made by Alutec. The rims are painted in black and white and are shod in wide Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires (245/35R20). The tuner takes great pride in the fact that the wheel-tire combination is one of the largest ever seen on the Duster. However, we're not convinced they are the right choice for this type of car, but tastes differ.
Moving on to the front end of the car, there's a bull bar made of polished stainless steel with the company claiming it's "constructed to provide optimum pedestrian protection". We can’t vouch for that, but it surely fits the car's off-road character. Similar bars are fitted to the rocket panels, while the lower part of the rear bumper has been modified to accommodate a double-end rear muffler made of polished stainless steel.

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Skoda’s Hot Fabia RS 2000 Concept

Not that the Skoda Fabia RS 2000 Conceptneeded any help to draw the attention of automotive fans at the Wörthersee show, but the Volkswagen Group was t enough to bring some very pretty faces (and bodies…) to the Czech firm’s stand. You can get a better look at the car and the girls in whichever order you prefer in our high resolution photo gallery right after the jump.

For those of you still with us, we’ll remind you that the Fabia RS 2000 Concept is an open-air version of the widened-up Fabia S2000 rally car sporting the same heavily modified 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine driving all four wheels.

If you managed to keep your eyes of the girls, you may have noticed some of the changes Skoda made to the exterior including the side windows, the bespoke cover behind the rear headrests and the black boot lid spoiler.

The concept’s interior was crafted after the normal Fabia RS (vRS in the UK) and features a set of bucket sports seats up front and more carbon fiber accents than a NASA parts cupboard.

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Ford’s Smallest Production Engine Ever

It took the Ford Motor Company a very long time to jump aboard the turbocharged engine bandwagon for mainstream, non-sport models, but now the Detroit automaker is going full speed ahead with the presentation of a full range of force-fed gasoline powerplants. Ford latest offering is a new 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine, the company’s first three-cylinder unit and its smallest production engine ever.
Designed by the engineering team at Ford’s Dunton Technical Centre in the U.K., the 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine promises to deliver performance of a larger four-cylinder unit with even higher fuel economy. It employs all EcoBoost technologies, such as turbocharging, direct injection and twin independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT).
The Detroit automaker is not yet ready to talk numbers, but Derrick Kuzak, Ford group vice president of Global Product Development, said the new three-cylinder unit “will deliver horsepower and torque outputs equivalent to or better than most normally aspirated 1.6-liter gasoline engines”.
The new engine, which was first seen in the Ford Start concept mini at the Beijing Show in 2010, and more recently in the Ford B-MAX study at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, will be launched globally in Ford’s small cars and will be available in North America.
“Consumers are telling us they want to buy affordable vehicles that get many more miles per gallon,” said Kuzak. “Our new 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine will give consumers looking for hybrid-like fuel economy a new, more affordable choice.”
While Ford did not specify which models will get the tiny EcoBoost engine, it is believed that the Ka and the Fiesta will be among the first Ford models to be equipped with the petrol unit.
The company said full technical and application information for the new 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine will be released in September at the 2011 edition of the Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany.

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