Have you ever wondered how the aftermarket is always ready with custom-fit parts and accessories as soon as a new model is introduced? You probably assumed tuners get advance copies of the latest and greatest to slice and dice, but that's not quite the case, and our friends from Clunkbucket have lifted the veil off the process.

They were invited into a special gathering arranged by Honda and the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association, or SEMA. As you can see from the photo above, reps from several aftermarket tuning companies were allowed to get their hands on three new Honda CR-Z hybrids at a measuring session.

As Mike Bumbeck of Clunkbucket describes it, "The three 2011 Honda CR-Z hybrids shown here are being measured for everything from seat covers to supercharger systems."

With Honda's marketing focused on the CR-Z as the first sporty hybrid, part of the strategy is to have performance parts available right out of the box. These measuring sessions are how that happens. We've already seen some of the fruits of their labor, with Spoon, Mugen and even Honda showing the possibilities, so we're looking forward to finally getting a chance to see what the U.S. tuning arms have created for the SEMA show later this year.

[Source: Clunkbucket]

According to reports streaming out of Italy, KTM is set to debut new versions of its X-Bow sportscar. Good news indeed, as the last we heard the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer was putting the brakes on its four-wheeled endeavors in the wake of losses due to the economic downturn.

If you thought 0-60 in under four seconds was plenty quick... well, it is, but KTM will still be upping power from the standard car's 237 horses to something over 300 for the new R model, which should put the X-Bow into the 3.0-second-flat range. With acceleration like that, the only things likely to beat you from stoplight to stoplight are on two wheels, and then only maybe.

If you don't need such mind-bending forces on your body and would rather pamper your posterior a wee bit, KTM is also said to be working on a T model. We'd guess that moniker would stand for Touring, as the machine is said to be equipped with such niceties as an actual windshield. Time for a cross-country road-trip, no?



[Source: Autoblog.it via Motor Authority]

Today's vehicles are quieter than ever, and while that's partially thanks to new computer modeling techniques, it also has plenty to do with repeated testing of each and every vehicle seal. For every door, hatch and window, some engineer has slaved tirelessly to make sure everything fits together just as it should. Ford has been kind enough to roll out a couple of videos showing that exact process on its forthcoming 2011 Explorer. The company uses some pretty high-tech equipment to take accurate measurements on panel gaps and detect potential air leak issues before the vehicle even goes through paint.

Watching the engineers play with their toys is entertaining and all, but we were most interested in what engineer Matt Machala had to say about just how much more stringent Ford's standards have grown over the past three years. It may mean boatloads of extra work for the company's employees, but from what we've seen of their product of late, there's no denying the impact those hours have had on the company's finished product. Hit the jump to see the videos for yourself. Hot tip, Sam!



[Source: Ford]

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The 2010 Dodge Viper is many things, awesome among them. So when you're buying something truly awesome, what do you do? Paint it earth tones, of course. Brown cars are the zenith of cool, and the very last Viper (for now) rolled out of the Conner Avenue plant wearing bronzed gold House of Kolor paint with copper-hued stripes. Airbrushed on those stripes by SRT's Bob Soroka are pictograms of race tracks that bear special significance for the Viper.

The last of the current-generation Vipers turned out to be a coupe, factory customized for owner D'Ann Rauh. D'Ann and her husband Wayne Rauh own the largest personal stash of Vipers, totaling more than 40 cars. Not only does Rauh's car wear a stunning color palette, the interior has custom leatherwork by Tony Spampinito, a veteran of the Rauh's past Viper projects. Dark graphite finished forged aluminum wheels tuck under the flashy bodywork, and seeing the Viper wearing the hue makes one wonder why there's never been a shade of umber offered on the Viper's flanks before. Maybe next time, whenever that is. Full details in the press release after the jump.



[Source: Chrysler]

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Our goal here is pretty simple: drive consecutive laps around a varied and technical rally training course without killing 63 year-old world rally competitor and all-around good guy John Haugland. You see, the man has been brave enough to strap himself into the copilot's chair of the same race-prepped Subaru WRX STI that we've been charged with wrangling, and judging from the relaxed look on his face and his calm tone of voice, he doesn't quite get the mortal danger he's placed himself in. He must have excellent life insurance.

Haugland has trained some of the world's best rally drivers, including the guano-crazy-fast Petter Solberg, but today, he's trying his best to impart a minute fraction of his encyclopedic knowledge on the art of going faster to a handful of journos just outside of Oslo, Norway. The idea here is that Subaru wants us all know as much as we can about flinging the beauty of all-wheel drive around a rally course before we get introduced to the 2011 WRX and WRX STI next month. To that end, we spent about 20 minutes in a classroom where the underlying message went something like this:

Forget everything you know about proper driving lines, car control, traction and speed. You're in our sandbox now.

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Meet the 2011 Mercedes-Benz CL-Class. The Silver Arrow has been kind enough to dish the goods on next year's version of the company's flagship coupe and even threw in a passel of photos to boot. So what's new? For starters, the CL550 4MATIC now packs an all-new twin-turbo 4.7-liter V8 engine with around 429 horsepower and a beefy 516 lb-ft of torque. The keen-eyed among you will notice that the eight-pot is down in displacement by almost a full liter, but still manages to crank out 47 more horsepower and a massive 125 lb-ft of torque compared to last year's powerplant. Isn't progress great?

All of that extra grunt means the CL550 4MATIC can scoot to 60 mph in a scant 4.9 seconds, but that's nothing compared to the big-boy CL600. The range-topping coupe can click off the dash to 60 mph in a mere 4.5-seconds – that's within spitting distance of a base Chevrolet Corvette. If you're trying to wrap your brain around how a 4,900-pound two-door can manage to bend the laws of nature, look no further than the 510 horsepower, 612 lb-ft of torque 5.5-liter V12 lurking beneath the sheetmetal. Yeah, that'll do. Hit the jump for the full press release, and sit tight for live photos from the car's debut at this weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed.



[Source: Mercedes-Benz]

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If you've got your ear to the ground, you've probably heard a thing or two about the Targa Trophy. Think of it as a more responsible, but no less entertaining version of the Gumball. Instead of encouraging drivers to be the first across the line, the Targa trophy works just like any other TSD (time, speed, distance) road rally: teams are given the location of a checkpoint and are expected to navigate there within a predetermined amount of time. Those closest to the time without being over (or under) are awarded the most points.

This year's running of the SoCal event has wrapped up with 73 drivers tackling a varied course that wound through the Californian countryside. Radoslav Kalla and his Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder took the overall win with 1,048 points. His closest competitor, Thomas Dillman, piloted an Audi S4 to finish with 966 points.

The Targa Trophy will now head to San Francisco. The green flag drops on August 27, and the checkers will fall the following day in Silicon Valley. For now though, you can enjoy a few shots of the participating metal on hand for the SoCal Targa Trophy, or reminisce about last year's event by reading our own Jonny Lieberman's account of his drive in a Hyundai Genesis in the 2009 event.



[Source: Targa Trophy | Images: Mo Satarzadeh | The ID Agency]

According to the scribes at Automobile Magazine, Volkswagen isn't planning to offer its diminutive Up! city car here in the United States. Boo! Interestingly enough, though, the electric version, imaginatively known as the E-Up!, is said to be earmarked for select U.S. markets.

What those U.S. markets may be is unknown, but we'd imagine it would be something like the five markets where Nissan plans to initially offer its Leaf Stateside... and you can bet Southern California (as always) will be on the list.

Last we heard, the E-Up! being developed for America wold likely be a bit larger than the model sold overseas and wouldn't be offered for sale for another few years. Sure, you may want your zero-emissions goodness earlier than that, but we can stand to wait a little while longer for the "Beetle of the 21st Century," right?



[Source: Automobile]

The 2010 Saab 9-5 hasn't even lost its new-car smell yet and already tuners are coming out of the woodwork to churn out power upgrades for the car's three available engines. If you happen to find yourself in Europe and holding the keys to a brand-spanking new 9-5, Hirsch is claiming that it can pull up to 335 horsepower from the Aero's 2.8-liter turbo V6 engine. That's around 35 more ponies than what Saab shells out from the factory – not huge numbers, but still a useful increase.

According to enthusiast website SaabsUnited.com, Hirsch can bump the output from the not-for-North-America 2.0-liter turbo-diesel from 160 horsepower to 190, and the 220 horsepower four-cylinder engine can be massaged to 260 ponies with a little effort. It isn't immediately clear how much the Hirsch upgrades cost, or what goes into pulling the ponies from the existing engines. We're guessing the program is little more than an ECU reflash, possibly with a less restrictive exhaust or air intake to boot, but we could be wrong. Either way, we wouldn't be surprised to see similar efforts pop up in our neck of the woods soon.



Photos by Chris Paukert / Copyright ©2010 Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: SaabsUnited]

BMW has released the first teaser images of its upcoming Megacity electric vehicle and also confirmed that not only will the body panels be formed from carbon fiber, but so will the structure. The Megacity will become the first high volume vehicle with this type of construction. Previously, carbon fiber structures have been limited to race cars and supercars like the McLaren F1 and the new MP4-12c.

BMW is taking advantage of the new flexibility afforded by the electric powertrain and batteries to totally repackage the Megacity and using the carbon fiber structure, it should be able to shed as much weight as possible. The Megacity will be powered by a motor with over 100 kilowatts, but its top speed will be limited to 93 miles-per-hour since the vehicle is designed mainly for urban use. Although the electric drive could push the Megacity to higher speeds, limiting the speed gives the engineers the ability to maximize efficiency and thus range.

When we first drove the Mini E in late 2008, we noted that BMW had programmed in much more regenerative braking when the accelerator is released than other electric cars. BMW is planning to stick with this strategy to effectively turn the Megacity into a one pedal car so that most normal braking is done just with the accelerator and the brake pedal will only be for emergency use. The Megacity vehicle goes on sale in 2013.



[Source: BMW]

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