Hot damn!

Check this out: the Ferrari 250 GTO, which is considered by many to be the most beautiful car in history, has just become the world’s most expensive car, ever. I am talking beyond Bugatti Veyron expensive, as cars like this are thought to be worth, I believe, around fourteen million euros. No, this is not a joke: 14 million euros. But it gets crazier. This specific example just became history’s most valuable automobile at a, hell, forget sky scraping, this is a sky-piercing-space-entering-just-shot-down-the-Galileo-satellite price of— waaiiit for it… twenty million euros. That’s euros (about double the dollar’s value). So in dollars this Ferrari just sold for 40 million. Words are inadequate to describe the event (and my stroke + heart attack brought on by pure shock). Unbelievable.

Oh, and the buyer was an anonymous English guy who wipes his ass with 1,000 pound bills (does England even have 1,000 pound bills?). That’s pounds, people, which also holds about double the dollar’s value.

He wipes his ass with multiple 1,000 pound bills.

As a final thought, this car broke the once record of 7 million euros, which was held, interestingly enough, by another Ferrari, this one a 1961 California Spider. And, if I’m not mistaken, I believe that all of the world’s most expensive cars are Ferraris. No Lamborghinis, no Porsches. Tells you a little something about who makes the better cars, don’t it?

Some Ferrari 250 GTO facts after the jump: Continue Reading…

Guess who just turned ten years old?

That’s right Smart - and hey, lookit that, it’s about the size of a ten year old too! I kid I kid - but seriously, these things are tiny.

Yet somehow, they’re still built like a Mercedes. They’re heavier than you’d think, and they’re remarkably safe for their size.

When I think back to when the Smart first came out, I recall that at first, they weren’t even going to be a Mercedes, they were actually conceived and nearly brought to market by Swatch, the people that make the watches. Turns out that never happened due to a number of factors, but Merc believed in the concept enough to continue it to fruition, and now the things are running around urban centers all over the world by the thousands.

Even here, in America, I’m starting to see more and more of them - although I have yet to see one on a freeway. Hey, there’s a story: Long road trip in a Smart.

Anyway, full press release after the jump celebrating Smart’s first decade.

Continue Reading…

Pizza Hut and Rockstar Games are teaming up for the launch of the upcoming video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles for Xbox 360 and PS3. In what has to be one of the better giveaways I’ve seen, they’re handing out a $100K+ Saleen S302 Extreme. Yeah, that car you see above. I guess it’s the new game’s mascot car.

Wouldn’t mind winning this myself, but keep in mind the gift tax you’d have to pay if you win could buy you another pretty good car.

Sweepstakes are open from now until November 10th, 2008. Go to pizzahut.com to enter into the contest.

Also be sure to check out the game, and keep your eyes open here on Automoblog.net for a full review of the game once it’s out on October 21st. Continue Reading…

Wow, so Mercedes Benz is not only making a hybrid, but their hybrid comes in at the top of the line, in the Mercedes Benz S Class - take that Honda & Toyota & GM.

It’s pretty impressive, of course, it seems like everything these guys do has been impressive.

Of course, being MB, they’re not exactly shy about what they’re doing, they’re sub-head on the PR materials is:

The CO2 champion in the luxury class, with an efficient hybrid drive system and lithium-ion technology

Really? It’s the champion? Wow, how so?

Wellllllllllll … for one thing, it’s the world’s lowest CO2 emissions in this class, emitting just 190 grams per kilometer, which is pretty impressive for a car as big as an S Class. Also, the “regular” engine is a 3.5-litre petrol engine combined with the electric motor has a combined output of 299 hp, so it’s not going to be laughably slow, like a German car company would do that in the first place.

Since it’s an S Class, it’s going to have more bells and whistles than the Millennium Falcon, it’ll swaddle you in enough leather and wood to make you think you’re in the reading room of your hunting lodge in The Black Forest, and, with that hybrid drivetrain, it’ll ease your conscious if that whole environmental thing is starting to bug you.

Full (huge) press release and more photos after the jump.

Continue Reading…

Well, there it sits, (almost) all bridled and saddled and ready to go: The New BMW 7 series, the top of the line luxo-barge from Munich.

All the general PR about about climate change and “responsible” corporate responses to same, seem to have left the upcoming 7 completely unaffected, but that doesn’t really bother me all that much.

This is, after all, the top of the range for BMW, what would you expect them to do?

What they DID do was put out a car motivated by a 407 hp V8 in the BMW 750i or a 326 hp straight-six in the BMW 740i, they will also offer a new straight-six diesel with common-rail fuel injection, an aluminum crankcase cranking out 245 hp in the BMW 730d.

What jumps out to me is two things:

1 - They’re still running straight sixes in these things? And,

2 - The diesel has an aluminum crankcase?

Damn, would love to see some shots of just the naked block, the lower end must be built like a frickin’ bridge support

Of course it has all the C & C features Munich could dream up, including the much, a-hem, talked about iDrive, and leather and wood and all that stuff you expect to be swaddled in when going from Frankfurt to Darmstadt faster then a Cessna.

I’ve never been that much of a “big sedan” guy, but there are times, road trips to Vegas to look for the American Dream, say, where a big sedan would make a lot of sense.

Full press release after the jump: Continue Reading…

(click image for detail)

Here’s the third image in a series of teaser photos from Lamborghini. This will be the all-new model from Lambo unveiled at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. See below for the other two images: Continue Reading…