Smart/Nissan collaboration sketch

Smart has announced that it, the purveyor of pint-sized conveyances, has partnered up with Nissan to build a new vehicle slated to go on sale here in the States. Details are remarkably scarce at the moment, but Smart has been kind enough to roll out a couple of sketches to give us an idea of what's coming down the pike. From the press release, we're told that the new creation will be a five-door, B-segment competitor powered by a gasoline engine, and that it will go on sale late 2011.

Given the short lead time, we're that the car will likely be based on the Nissan Micra, especially since Nissan's current B-segment car, the Versa, is one of the largest offerings in that class. The sketches don't exactly reveal too much, other than the fact that the vehicle will retain the Smart penchant for unique design.
As of right now, the two companies have merely signed a Memorandum of Understanding. That means that the final decision still has to go through numerous approvals before getting the go ahead. Still, it's good to see Smart making moves to get out of the rut the company has been in for the past year or so. Hit the jump to read the official press release.

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Mercedes-Benz CLS shows off even more skin

Up until last week, Mercedes-Benz had been doing a rather admirable job keeping the 2011 CLS under wraps. But as we saw last Friday, that got blown out of the water as the forthcoming four-door was caught posing for the camera as part of what appeared to be a photo shoot. All that was missing was a nice clean shot from the front.

Problem solved. This morning, a lone image has appeared that shows off the shapely new 2011 CLS' SLS-inspired fascia with LED lighting, dramatically sloping roofline and its newly contoured bodysides. As we saw last week, a bit of comparison work proves that the production car will share the vast majority of its sheetmetal with the CLS Shooting Break (yes, we know... it should be Brake, but we didn't name it) concept that M-B introduced just a few months back.

In fact, the car in the spy shot looks so much like the conceptual CLS hatch that we had to open the two in their own windows the double check what we were looking at. See for yourself. In any case, we're mostly digging this new fastback sedan shape and relishing the idea of a 5.5-liter turbocharged and direct injected AMG-fettled V8 engine underhood.

Ferrari Signed on for Transformers 3, Could Porsche be Far Behind?

Signed for Transformers 3 Ferrari, Porsche Kon away?


Michael will be released Blow It All Up 'Bay has to say the word out there: Italy Ferrari 458 which will be (and the Autobots) in the third Transformers movie, 1 July 2011th Bay from the announcement while attending a fund-raising Ferrari, where the red-blood Italian brand is to build the money into a hospital in Haiti.

Its website says that John Malkovich In The Line Of Fire () and Frances McDormand (Fargo will be) here) with Ken Jeong (Señor Chang community.

Bay said: "We shot in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Florida, Texas, Africa, Russia and China." Get your spy-shot ready, folks.

I think the Ferrari was formerly Chase (a Testa Rossa) and Braver (previously F40). If not, ultimately, a poor, confused version of a different kind I grew up with, as ex-Porsche 935-Jazz, a Thugged-out Pontiac Solstice (see nobody else at his death in the first of a suspect?).

If you have ideas about who else might Ferrari 458 - or should - be, let your ideas in comments below.

The Mulsanne Story - Episode 2 - The Art of Colour

BOTANY, AUSTRALIA – March 9, 2010: Insight into the 86-hour process used to create the ‘unlimited palate’ available for Bentley’s new flagship

Exacting standards of craftsmanship and technology are employed by Bentley’s body assembly team to create the new Mulsanne’s distinctive, hand-crafted ‘hewn form solid’ appearance. But this is just a precursor to the painstaking attention to detail afforded to Bentley’s new 4-door flagship in the paint facility at the company’s headquarters in Crewe, England.

The new Mulsanne will be offered in no fewer than 115 ‘standard colours’ and that is just the start of the story – because, like every grand Bentley – the only real limit on the colour of the car is the customer’s imagination.

Once the bare metal, pre-production Mulsanne bodyshell arrives at the paint shop via the automated overhead gantry, it passes through a series of full-immersion tanks, designed first to de-grease, then in turn to clean, condition, rinse, phosphate and passivate the steel and aluminium structure.

At each tank the shell is immersed before being tipped fore and aft to ensure that every single crevice is reached. Once drained, the bodyshell is lowered into an electro-coating tank, where power is increased to 320 volts, attracting particles-in-solution to deposit on the charged, metal bodywork to form, in conjunction with the phosphate, a hard protective shell of corrosion-proof zinc primer.

From this point, the judgement and skill of Bentley’s craftsmen come to the fore. A two-coat primer is applied by hand, ready for colour-of-choice to be applied. Each primed body is minutely inspected, sanded – or flatted – using a combination of hand and power tools. Only when the primer coat is flawless will the colour basecoat be applied, again by hand, to achieve the optimum finish. Clear lacquer coats are then applied robotically followed by final polishing for a perfectionist finish and detailed inspection in the specialist bays created for the Mulsanne.

But if the lacquer can be applied by robotics, why not the colour? Dave Walton of the Mulsanne bespoke paint shop explains:

“Different colours have markedly different characteristics and your perception of a colour’s shade changes according to how deep the coat is. Then there’s the fact that no two expert sprayers would apply that colour basecoat in exactly the same way. You learn to trust each craftsman’s eyes and skills, not just the process.

It takes many months of in-depth training for a quality control inspector to learn how to identify defects that an owner might never notice, yet each one will be rectified, even if this means sending it around the entire process again. We always operate way above customer expectations of quality,”

With the introduction of new satin paint finishes and two-tone colour schemes to Bentley’s extensive portfolio, Walton says the skills of the team are always evolving. Satin in particular can’t be locally reworked and polished, so even the most miniscule imperfection means the entire panel is refinished.

However, Bentley’s craftsmen are eagerly awaiting the moment the Mulsanne goes into full production according to Walton:

“We’ve been asked to match a paint finish to a cherished nail polish, a 50-year old classic Bentley and on one occasion a shade of turquoise on a food mixer for our Arnage, Brooklands and Azure customers. But even with over a hundred ‘standard colours’ to choose from we’re still looking forward to that first commission to create a bespoke colour from scratch and execute it perfectly.”

The B7 goes on sale this spring in both standard and long wheelbase formats

2011 Alpina B7 - Click above for high-res image gallery

BMW has stated several times that it has no plans to do an official M version of the current F01 7 Series, but that doesn't mean it won't offer a hotter version of its flagship sedan courtesy of Alpina.

At next month's Chicago Auto Show, BMW will be reviving the Alpina B7, and while the sweet 4.4-liter twin turbocharged V8 remains under the hood, the dial has been turned up from the stock 400 horsepower to a full 500 hp, along with 516 pound-feet of twist. That should be enough to catapult the big sedan to 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds.

By itself, big power is useless unless spend all your time at the drag strip and the 7 Series is capable of so much more. Handling has long been a BMW hallmark and the 21-inch, 20-spoke Alpina wheels wrapped in Michelin PS2 rubber should provide plenty of grip for directional changes and positive and negative acceleration. A deeper front air dam and a rear decklid spoiler help keep the car glued to the pavement at autobahn level velocities, while inside the B7 coddles its occupants in upgraded leather and wood trim.

The B7 goes on sale this spring in both standard and long wheelbase formats, although pricing has yet to be announced. Make the jump for all the details.

2011 Alpina B7

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automotive unfortunates have cars that won't pass without much expensive work

Emissions tests are often part of the registration renewal ritual for many car owners. Some appreciate being able to breathe deeply, others see it as a de facto tax, while still another group of automotive unfortunates have cars that won't pass without much expensive work. Whether for purely financial reasons, or a chafing anti-authoritarianism, some drivers elect to circumvent the system.

Federal indictments have been handed down to 10 Nevada emissions testers for falsifying emissions tests. The ten testers allegedly accepted cash stipends for "clean scanning" a car. Normally during a Nevada emissions test, vehicles are plugged in via their OBD-II port and the Vehicle Identification Number is entered into a computer. The computer then scans the car's on-board system and passes or fails the automobile. "Clean scanning" is a deception whereby a different vehicle, one that will pass, is connected to the computer, and the VIN of a failing car is entered. More than 1,000 vehicles are believed to have been falsely passed this way by the indicted.

Fooling around with the federal Environmental Protection Agency has these 10 individuals facing up to two years of incarceration and maximum fines of $250,000 per person. Is it mere coincidence that this high-stakes game of palm greasing happened in Vegas?