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Further impressions of the long awaited successor to the Fiat Croma executive saloon, codenamed "New Large", due for release November next year. |
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 This
unofficial image of the Fiat Punto MPV "Monovolume", due out in 2004, gives
an impression of this new Fiat. The Punto MPV, Fiat's first "mini-MPV",
will compete head to head with the Ford Fusion and forthcoming GM Corsa
"Monovolume" with which it shares technical imput. |
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 To
celebrate his recent record equalling fifth Formula 1 World Drivers Championship
title, Michael Schumacher turned up at the Maranello celebrations, taking
time out to be photographed together with his title winning Ferrari F2002
Formula 1 car and his everyday road cars, a Ferrari 575M and Maserati Spyder. |
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 A
disguised prototype of the forthcoming Alfa 156-based coupe, commonly known
as the "Sprint", which will draw styling cues from the 147, is caught testing
again. Designed by Bertone, it is expected to hit production, initially
offering only the new 2.0-litre JTS engine, at the end of next year. |
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 The
FIA GT Championship moved onto the classic Belgian track of Spa-Francorchamps
for round 7 of the series, the Prominus 24 hours of Spa. For this long
distance round, extra championship points were on offer, being available
for positions after six and twelve hours as well as at the finish.
Immediately from the lights the pole winning BMS Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello of Andrea Piccini and Jean-Denis Deletraz raced into the lead, but it was to be short lived, worries over reliability proving well founded when they and the second BMS 550 both dropped out soon after the first round of pitstops. In N-GT the lead JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena of Andrea Montermini and Christian Pescatori, joined for this long distance event by team mates Andrea Bertolini and Andrea Garbagnati, battled for the class lead all race, rarely ever being outside the top ten positions. Eventually they had to give way to the Porsche 993 of title rival Stephane Ortelli, but were delighted to bring the car home fourth overall and second in N-GT, the first time a 360 Modena has completed 24 hours of racing. |
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 More
images of the Fiat Stilo Stationwagon, due for release later this year,
are caught as final pre-production versions undertake testing. |
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 Although
never regarded as being a production option, Alfa have put out a statement
confirming that the Italdesign Brera does not feature in any future plans
the company has. The Brera, which made its public debut at the Geneva Motor
Show this year, and more recently stunned onlookers with its style and
performance at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed, is a large GT-style
tourer based on the floorpan and drivetrain of the Maserati Coupe and badged
as an Alfa Romeo.
While the designs are now frozen for the US-aimed replacement GTV, expected late in 2004, Alfa Romeo did confirm that Italdesign were currently working on projects for the company, although this is expected to be involvement with the Alfa 156 replacement. |
 This
is the first image of the new "baby" Lamborghini L140, aimed to compete
head to head with the Ferrari 360 Modena. Due for release at next spring's
Geneva Motor Show, the as yet unnamed 4wd L140 will be powered by an all
new mid-mounted 5-litre V10 unit.
At the same time Lamborghini's owners Audi, have revealed the extent of the common compontentry sharing between the L140 and their new RSR sportscar. Both cars will share engine, gearbox and drivetrain, while the Audi-manufactured aluminium spaceframes will have similar floorpans. |
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 The
"Enzo Ferrari" is the long awaited successor to the F40 and F50 line. Ferrari
believe that they have built a pure supercar which pushes the boundary's
onwards, and a car worth of carrying their founder's name. The 6-litre
V12 "Enzo" produces 660bhp and Ferrari claim it is a pure transfer of F1
technology to road use. 349 of these 217+mph cars will be built which Ferrari
claim hit 0-60 mph in 3.55 seconds, after a public debut at the Paris Motor
Show in the autumn.
We bring you a full rundown including technical specification of this supercar. |
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 In
a meeting with financial analysts, Fiat Auto chief Giancarlo Boschetti
announched that Fiat would introduce a cheaper version of the unpopular
and poor selling Stilo later this year. This "no-frills" version, expected
to be launched around October, the same time as the Stationwagon is introduced
will cost around €13,900. Fiat claim that the Stilo, Italy's best
selling saloon, is selling in much higher numbers that the Bravo and Brava
that it replaced. However a raft of retail incentive schemes and employee
purchase plans disguise the true sales figure. Fiat expect this new entry-level
version to have a positive impact on first quarter sales in 2003, a period
that could be make or break for the car division after what is expected
to be a slow final half of this year.
After selling 370,000 cars to the end of June, Boschetti has forecast sales of a further 300,000 to the end of the year ( compared with 825,000 for the whole of last year ), trimming his target to a loss from break even by 31st December. Boschetti also said that pre-production orders for the new Phedra MPV and Thesis luxury saloon were "ahead" of targets, but was reluctant to discuss specific figures. |
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