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Volkswagen to introduce new compact SUV this month

Volkswagen is gearing up to unveil a new compact SUV that it calls the T-Roc. Meant to be a smaller vehicle that retains the agility and off-road character of an SUV, the T-Roc is being positioned as a crossover that can offer the best of both world.

Despite being a completely new vehicle, the lines and overall design language of the T-Roc is unmistakably Volkswagen. The front fascia and especially the honey comb grille, look similar to that of the current Tiguan, and to a lesser extent, the Atlas.

It’s integrated dual headlights is a dead giveaway and can be considered an essential trait of all current Volkswagen models including the Passat. This means, that the German automaker has chosen to take an evolutionary approach as opposed to a revolutionary one when it came time to create a a brand compact SUV.

The rear is reminiscent of a Mk7 Golf, which is a welcomed attribute. The simplistic yet elegant lines make for surprisingly neat overall look. This should make it an appealing vehicle to those wanting a crossover that is able to offer car-like looks but with added style.

Judging from the design, the overall footprint of this particular VW shouldn’t be that far off of that used for the Golf platform, which if so, should place the T-Roc beneath the Tiguan and Toureg models. This should help it fill the the void in Volkswagen’s current product portfolio and help boost sales somewhat.

Regarding tech, nothing concrete has been announced yet, but VW has stated that it will bless the vehicle with a wealth of innovations, which should include its slew of safety and advanced driver aids.

Volkswagen will officially launch the T-Roc on August 23rd 2017 and is quite confident that this new addition and its ‘crisp proportions and progressive design’ will invigorate the compact class. That said, we can’t help but wonder how much of these suave looks would actually make it onto the production ready vehicle.

Special edition Ford GT introduced

The Blue Oval has announced that it will be offering a heritage edition of its latest supercar, the Ford GT. Called the Ford GT ’67 Heritage edition, it is an attempt by the company to pay homage to the legendary 1967 GT40 Mark IV that made history by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Mark IV GT40 has a special place in the hearts of many Ford fans, because the car was a dominant force of the famous endurance race, outpacing Ferrari mind you, and taking home the crown four times in succession.

And as such, this new car, will feature the same paint scheme as well as unique interior features that not only set it apart from the regular car, but invoke a sense of heritage that can be traced all the way back to the mid 1960s.

“In creating a worthy successor to the ’66 Heritage edition, we logically looked at our next historic Le Mans victory with the all-American team of Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt,” said Dave Pericak, global director, Ford Performance.

He later added, “The Ford GT ’67 Heritage edition pays homage to that win, with a modern take on one of the most important vehicles in Ford’s storied history of racing.”

Buyers of the Ford GT ’67 Heritage edition will get a car that has a gloss-finish ‘race red’ paint scheme that is accented with contrasting white stripes and exposed carbon-fibre trim pieces. The number 1, will be placed on the hood, and doors of the car, which is a nod to the championship winning ’67 racer.

Apart from that, other aesthetic tweaks include a 20-inch forged aluminium wheels in silver satin clear coat with black wheel nuts as well as red calipers and silver rear view mirror caps.

On the inside, the car features a new leather trim with red accent stitching for the carbon-fibre seats, which is the same colour scheme adopted for the steering wheel. The seatbelt webbing is red in colour and the paddle shifters are anodized grey.

As proof of the car’s authenticity, there will be a unique serialized identification plate denoting the production number of the specific vehicle with respect to the total production number. Other bits include an exposed matte carbon fibre door sills and air register pods.

The new car is the second iteration of Ford’s homage to the 1967 Mark IV GT40 with the first being, its predecessor, the original Ford GT. The Ford GT ’67 Heritage edition can be viewed at FordGT.com using the configuration tool.

Exotic car collection belonging to rockstar heads to auction

Rockstars are well known for two things, over-the-top parties and having an extensive collection of valuable cars. The latter is true today as a number of exotics, belonging to the late J. Geils of the band and his namesake.

The collection of cars and motorcycles will be put up for auction at the upcoming Mecum’s Daytime Auction in Monterey, which we have covered in a previous article. These vehicles will go onto the auction block on 19th August without reserve, mind you, but should still fetch a respectable amount of money.

A number of noteworthy vehicles in J. Geils’ collection include a blue and grey 1961 Ferrari 250 GTE 2, 1967 Lancia Flaminia 2.8 3C and a 1967 Fiat Dino Spyder. As for his motorcycle collection, the two-wheelers that stand out the most are the 1983 Benelli 900 SEI, a 1976 MV Agusta 125 SS and a 1970 Ducati 350 Desmo.

Even if you aren’t a fan of this rocker, there’s no denying that he had an exquisite taste when it came to cherry-picking his vehicles. Besides this, most of them were probably well looked after by the late rockstar or his garage’s custodian and technicians.

This is especially true with his 1961 Ferrari 250 GTE. It still has its original 3.0-litre V12 engine and 5-speed gearbox. Though this isn’t surprising considering its value, but vehicles from that era would usually have had some repair work or replacement parts swapped onto them at some point in time.

Mecum’s Daytime Auction will be taking place from August 16th to the 19th and will see 600 vehicles rolling on and off the showroom floor within that timeframe. There are several big name cars like the Ferari LaFerrari, Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita and 1958 Lister-Jaguar that will be part of the auction event.

So, stay tuned and we will let you know the outcome of this auction and whether any records were broken. High profile events such as these are bound to attract those from the upper echelon of society with deep pockets.

Surge in demand for BMW electrified vehicles

The BMW Group, which is comprised of the BMW, BMW Motorrad, MINI and Rolls Royce brands, has announced its recent sales figures. And based on these numbers, we can say that the Bavarian automaker has had a decent run so far.

Compared to the same period last year, the company has managed to sell 1,401,551 vehicles in the first seven months of 2017. This is a 4.3% increase compared to the previous year and in July’17 alone, sales increased by 0.4%.

Speaking of the achievement, Dr Ian Robertson, Management Board Member for Sales and Brand BMW, said, “Following a record first half-year, our sales in July remain at a very high level, with profitability our primary focus.”

He added, “Despite continuing headwinds in the USA, as well as the model changeover of the BMW X3 and the BMW 5 Series in China, we were still able to achieve last year’s high sales levels, due to our policy of balanced global sales growth.”

July also happens to be a great month for the sales of BMW’s electrified vehicles. And since the beginning of the year the company was able to deliver more than 50,000 BMW i, BMW iPerformance and electrified MINI vehicles. This is a 74.8% increase compared to the same period last year.

Currently, there are total of nine electrified vehicles that are made by BMW. This product portfolio and the fact that it has sold a record number of such vehicle this year has made the automaker the 3rd biggest BEV/PHEV manufacturer in the world.

Supporting this notion is the fact that the i3 has been the company’s best selling compact battery-electric vehicle in the premium segment since 2014. These figures are expected to improve even further as car buyers around the world begin to embrace electrified vehicles as the future of personal mobility.

That said, we shall have to wait and see if these sales figures are affected in anyway by the introduction of Tesla’s affordable family sedan – the Model 3. Touted as the affordable Model S, Tesla hopes to reach a much larger customer base with this relatively inexpensive yet premium EV.

Ford Mustang with carbon-fibre body showcased on Jay Leno’s Garage

Carbon-fibre plays a major part when it comes to weight savings. Significantly lighter than steel but just as tough, it’s a material that has been used wherever and whenever reduction in weight is an important priority.

Carbon-Fibre Reinforced Polymer or CFRP, has been used extensively in the aerospace industry as well as the world of motor racing. Many exotic supercar makers tend to use CFRP extensively in the construction of their vehicles’ chassis and bodywork.

This brings us to a video that we stumbled upon recently. Jay Leno, the former Tonight Show host, has a popular Youtube channel that showcases special and bizarre vehicles. And this time, a video was published about a fully carbon-fibred Ford Mustang GT350R made by Speedkore.

Though the powertrain and internals were left relatively stock, Speedkore built the entire body and its panels from CFRP using their own propriety construction methods. This offers the car a significant weight savings, which will be especially noticeable when there’s a sudden shift in vehicle’s direction.

Check out the video and let us know what you think of this amazing creation as well as whether future muscle cars should have more carbon-fibre bits added to them.

Lotus’ financial health showing signs of improvement

For the first time in a while, Lotus is showing signs of financial stability. This comes after a statement from Lotus Group International Limited (LGIL), saying that it had finished financial year (FY) 2016/17 on plan with a EBITDA profit of £2.0m. This is a marked improvement over the £16.3m EBITDA loss for the same period for the financial year (FY) 2015/2016.

Apart from that, the company has also seen an improvement in Profit Before Tax. This year, it has made a profit of £11.2m, which is a commendable feat considering its dismal £41.2m loss in FY15/16. That said, the bulk of the profit for the FY16/17 came in the second half of the year with a figure of £10m.

Lotus attributes this ‘key’ turnaround to a more streamlined portfolio of sports cars, which includes the Evora, Exige and Elise model range as well as the availability of the new Lotus 3-Eleven. Unlike most automakers, Lotus has stuck to its roots by producing lightweight sports cars with driver enjoyment as the core necessity.

By focusing on its core strengths, the automaker believes that its cars are the finest they have ever been and should pave the way for future investments and developments of new models. And the demand for Lotus vehicles is evident by the company expanding its global markets to include the US. As a result there is now a total of 215 Lotus dealerships in the world compared to 138 that were recorded in 2014.

Speaking of the automaker’s financial feat, Jean-Marc Gales, CEO, Group Lotus plc said, “This is a proud moment for Lotus and to have achieved so much is testament to the hard work of all our staff. Our vastly improved profitability, together with an increase in revenue means that for the first time in many years Lotus is now a self-sufficient and sustainable business.”

Geely’s recent aquistion of Proton, which is Lotus’s parent company, has not changed the governmance of the small scale sports car manufacturer, yet. Though that might soon change as the Chinese giant automaker looks to increase efficiency and synergy between the brands in the near future.