Leaked Lambo? The Prancing Bull Enters SUV Territory

Before you go shouting blasphemy from the hills that an SUV will have a Lamborghini logo on it, there’s a few things to consider:

• Lamborghini had an SUV called the LM002 in the mid-80s. It wasn’t terribly popular or pretty but if you’re bothered to look it up, feel free to do so.
• Porsche has proved that a supercar company can not only build incredible performing SUV’s but can sell a hell of a lot of them. There is clearly demand for these things for some reason.

Anyway, the photo you see above is a photo leaked of Lambo’s newest product in an Italian magazine. It’s unclear if this is just a rendering or indeed the SUV concept to debut at the Beijing auto show this year, but regardless Lamborghini it’s clear Lamborghini is heading the polarizing route.

Power is rumoured to be the same as the V10 found in the Gallardo which makes 575 horsepower. A hybrid version is rumoured as well which could generate as much as 700 horses. Yikes.

Click past the jump to see a rear shot. What do you think of Lamborghini’s new SUV?

[AutoGuide.com]

Read the rest of this entry »

Wagon Comeback: Acura TSX To Get More Junk in the Trunk

Call us crazy, but we are going to predict a swift return of the wagon. That’s not to say the end of the SUV, but CUV’s are definitely becoming all the rage, and let’s face it, they’re just jacked up station wagons. The term ‘station wagon’ is pretty taboo in the car world so you’ll hear car companies come up with new cooler sounding names such as ‘Sportcombi’ or ‘Avant’. Call it whatever you want, they’re wagons.

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes you just need to haul more stuff more often than not and you shouldn’t have to sacrifice performance and fuel consumption (like an SUV) in order to get it. Hence, our prediction of the return of the wagon.

Honda has officially announced that the Acura TSX wagon will make its debut at this year’s  New York Auto Show. You don’t debut a model at a U.S auto show unless you plan on selling it in the U.S, so it’s safe to say it’s on its way and insiders are whispering rumours or a fall debut at dealerships. No word yet on powertrain options, but the RDX’s turbo’d  4-cylinder is a strong possibility along with SH-AWD. If they make a stick available then colour us officially intrigued.

Acura is just the latest to step up to the wagon plate with Cadillac introducing a wagon version of their CTS (with rumours of a CTS-V wagon in the works), Saab continuing on with 9-5 and 9-3 wagons, and Volvo slotting a new wagon in their lineup as well.

Saab-Spyker Deal: The Downside

There’s always a catch to certain deals isn’t there?

We’re thrilled that Spyker stepped up to the plate to save Saab, but as a result of them doing so, product such as the Peking-to-Paris SUV that you see above may now have a chance at seeing production. Due to its ugliness lack of production ability, the concept remained just that. Well, Spyker now has the means, expertise and the manpower to actually make it thanks to the deal.

The Peking-to-Paris was a concept introduced four years ago as the Dutch automaker’s best effort into getting into the luxury ute parking.

Let’s hope they do something about the unfortunate exterior.

Volvo Is Still In The Wagon Business: V60 Spied

After years and years of assuring us that they would never enter into the SUV segment (mostly around the time when most SUV’s Ford Explorers were flipping over right and left) for safety reasons, we now have two SUV’s offered from the Swedish brand. And what SUV’s they are too. The XC90 looks great and the most critical, brutal automotive journalist in the world, Jeremy Clarkson, is even quite fond of it. Of the XC90 he said, “It is by far the best of all the school-run-mobiles because there really is room for seven people, 14 legs and two dogs in the boot as well. No other car maker — and this is strange — has managed to pull off a similar trick without ending up with a bus…we should all have one immediately”.

Praise doesn’t get much higher than that. In fact, Jeremy has practiced what he preached and is currently on his third XC90.

Then you have the smaller XC60, which we can personally atest too, is at the top end of the segment. It can easily go head to head with BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz’s offerings.

So, why even bother with wagons when they can do SUV’s so well?

Read the rest of this entry »