National Electric Vehicle Sweden, which owns the main assets to Saab, is previewing its new 9-3 sedan and 9-3X SUV. The company’s electric vehicles will take part in a car-sharing and ride-sharing pilot program in Tianjin, China.
On its Instagram account, NEVS posted a photo of the 9-3 sedan and SUV concepts. The company is expected to announce more at the CES Asia show in Shanghai next month, but from these renderings we can see some hints of Saab showing through.
Beneath those updated fascias are the bodies of the 9-3 sedan and 9-3X crossover that ceased production in 2012, along with an electric drivetrain in place of the previous gas engines. Production at the Saab plant resumed earlier this year.
The 9-3 series goes on sale next year in China, and the company has already received more than 150,000 orders. NEVS estimates a range of more than 186 miles on a single charge. While borrowing the engineering know-how from Saab, the new vehicles add modern features such as WiFi hotspot, battery management via smartphone, and over-the-air software update capability.
NEVS rescued Saab from bankruptcy in 2012. While it lost the rights to use the Saab name on its vehicles, it acquired the main assets of the brand and its former Trollhattan production plant in Sweden. The company also has a plant in Fujian, China, and a new plant in Tianjin is still under construction but is expected to be operational by the end of the year.
‘The Eight Great Phantoms’ to Descend on London to Welcome Next Generation
Rolls-Royce will give the next generation of Phantom a suitably classy welcome party in London, England this summer. ‘The Eight Great Phantoms” exhibition opens in late July 2017. These are the most famous Phantoms of the model’s 92-year history and all seven generations will be represented at the showcase.
First debuted in 1925, Rolls-Royce’s flagship model has long been the vehicle of choice for both celebrity and royalty. Fred Astaire’s 1927 Phantom I, on loan from the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California will be the crown jewel of the exhibition.
Astaire purchased his right-hand drive Phantom I following his success in the Broadway musical “Funny Face.” Astaire then toured the U.K. when not performing in subsequent years. His car still has a Louis Vuitton motoring trunk affixed to the rear.
There were moments in history where it looked like the Phantom’s time was up. After the Second World War, a successor to the Phantom III seemed dubious, but the fourth iteration was completed in 1950 for Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth before she became the Queen of England. After the successful fifth and sixth generations of Phantom, built from 1959 to 1990, the moniker again took a hiatus.
The seventh generation Phantom entered production in 2003. Phantom VIIs featured unique touches like door-mounted umbrellas, suicide doors, and self-righting wheel-centers.
Rolls-Royce built the last example of the Phantom VII in late 2016. The eighth generation Phantom will be unveiled July 27 at the exhibition in the affluent Mayfair district of London’s West End.
1964 DB5 Sold for $727,995 Highlights Bonhams 2017 Aston Martin Sale
Aston Martin’s Newport Pagnell Works facility — one of the oldest automobile manufacturing sites in the world, according to Aston Martin — played host earlier this month to the 18th annual Bonhams Aston Martin Sale, which features Aston cars and automobilia exclusively.
Although the last car built here rolled off the line in 2007, production will soon commence again with the neo-classic DB4 GT continuation series of cars. Until then, there were plenty of classic Astons available at the Bonhams event.
One of our favorites of the day was Lot 240, a 2004 V-12 Vanquish that was among the last cars to be built at the Newport Pagnell factory. This particular car shows only around 6,000 miles of use and has been given a few of the Vanquish S model’s cosmetic upgrades, including the revised dashboard and some badges, though it does not have the S model’s extra 70 horsepower. The Vanquish sold for $118,112, and we hope the owner might have some room left in the budget to replace the paddle-shift manual transmission with a full manual conversion, a service Aston Martin Works is happy to offer — for a price.
The auction’s top-seller was Lot 209, a 1964 DB5, the only DB5 at the event. Delivered new to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1964, the seller bought the car in 1972 when he was just 21 years old and drove it regularly until the late ’90s. It shows signs of that usage, with a somewhat scruffy looking engine compartment and both wear and light staining to the light-colored interior. Many DB5s are resprayed silver to match the famous example in the James Bond movie series, so it is refreshing to see this one carry fresh medium-blue paintwork commissioned just last year. The best DB5s in the world are now million-dollar-plus cars, but this one in “driver condition” with some mechanical and cosmetic needs sold well at $727,995.
A 1996 V8 Sportsman Estate was one of the more unconventional cars at the sale. Based on a period V8 Coupe, this shooting-brake version is one of only three built and one of two special ordered by a pair of Swiss brothers. This car has an interesting history, with the engine rebuilt by the factory after just 6,000 miles before being sold to its next owner. Today, the Sportsman presents very well and would make a unique addition to a serious Aston Martin collection. It seemed a fair deal at $437,575 considering both its rarity and that it sold in the U.K. with a strong market for estate cars.
If you’re current on your tetanus shot and were looking for a project car, Lot 202, a 1957 DB2/4 Mk II, sold for $70,822, a little more than its low estimate. This once-handsome Aston was parked for engine repairs in the 1970s after passing through a handful of owners. It now appears to need a full restoration, including plenty of rust repair. Ten years ago, this probably would have been a parts car, broken up by a specialist. With the value for a strong DB2/4 in the mid-$200,000 range, it’s unlikely the buyer will be able to restore this example for any amount close to what a ready-to-drive car would bring. The seller won this round.
Last but not least, the car we would most like to get some seat time in was Lot 236, a 2000 Vantage Le Mans. Number 29 of just 40 examples built, the Vantage Le Mans was built to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Aston’s 1959 win at Le Mans with Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori behind the wheel of a DBR1/2. Styling accents, including the ducts in the hood and the vented front fenders, recalled the race-winning car, and the 5.3-liter supercharged V-8 was uprated to 604 hp and 600 lb-ft of torque and was paired to a honest-to-goodness six-speed manual gearbox. The Vantage Le Mans brought a healthy $401,272.
TOP SELLERS
1964 Aston Martin DB5: $727,995
1961 Aston Martin DB4 “Series III” 4.2-liter: $517,440
1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante “X-Pack” 7.0-liter: $502,919
IMOLA, Italy – Lamborghini’s confidence in its 2018 Huracán Performante must be substantial, given the way it introduced the car to a group of automotive journalists who had, to say the least, varying degrees of experience in high-performance driving.
No helmet, no driving suit, no harness, no real coaching, and no instructor in the passenger seat. With just the three-point seat belt holding us in place in a car we’d never even sat in before, on a very fast road course most of us had never driven, we were turned loose.
Yes, it was a lead-follow behind an instructor, but by the end of the first of four on-track sessions, we’d learned one thing very quickly: The Huracán Performante is a very fast and surprisingly forgiving supercar. Case in point: Although there were several minor excursions off pavement of the 3-mile Autodromo di Imola course, at the end of the day, the worst damage appeared to be a scuff or two from pylon assault.
So our expectations for the Huracán Performante were initially tempered by knowing what the Lambo engineers had to work with. Those expectations were raised when Lamborghini publicized its record run of 6 minutes, 52.01 seconds around the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife circuit, making it the fastest lap ever turned by a production car – at least until the electric Nio EP9 went faster, but whether you consider the Nio a true production car is up to you. We don’t, not yet anyway. But lapping the ‘Ring at under 7 minutes is impressive no matter what you are driving, and doing it about 5 seconds quicker that the much more expensive Porsche 918 Spyder earns you a lot of credibility.
The Huracán Performante starts at $274,390, about $30,000 more than the base Huracán. That premium gets you a lot of extra performance and engineering. Its naturally aspirated 5.2-liter V-10 (unlike competitors such as Porsche and Ferrari, Lamborghini is steadfastly sticking with naturally aspirated engines as long as environmental regulations will allow) makes 630 hp and 443 lb-ft of torque, 28 hp and 30 lb-ft more than the regular Huracán.
For Performante duty, the engine receives new titanium valves, a new exhaust, and general performance tuning. Dry weight is listed as 3,047 pounds, about 88 pounds lighter than a regular Huracán, accomplished without giving up any luxury or power-operated features. The rear half of the body is carbon fiber and composite, the front fenders and hood, which covers the smallish luggage area, are aluminum.
The engine is certainly formidable, but the star of this show is the precisely tuned chassis, especially when it’s in tandem with the (optional) magnetic suspension. Add to that the superb seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, which could convince even the most diehard manual transmission advocates to trade their left pedal for a pair of paddles. Throw in the massive carbon-ceramic brakes that refuse to fade, mated to the soft-but-streetable (treadwear rating is 80) 20-inch Pirelli P Zero Trofeos (245/30 front, 305/30 rear), and the Huracán Performante is a downright tossable supercar that tolerates all but the most egregious on-track conduct. Unlike the regular Huracán, you never know you are in an all-wheel-drive car. It’s a credit to the Haldex Gen V AWD system that it can be tuned out of your consciousness.
Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali, justifiably proud, said we could easily see 169 mph on Imola’s front straight. Given our lead-follow limitation, the most we saw was 152 mph, which still required some stand-on-it braking before the fast-approaching downhill lefthander.
The Performante moves around a bit under hard braking from high speeds, but this is after al, a car with 43/57 percent front/rear weight distribution, so a little rear-end wiggle is not a crisis. It’s never scary, just attention-getting. Lamborghini claims a 0-62 mph time of 2.9 seconds, and a 0-124 mph time of 8.9 seconds, both credible. Top speed, Lamborghini says, is 202 mph.
Chassis and suspension are stiffer, which becomes especially evident when you select the Corsa electronic chassis mode. This one is for track use only unless you’re one of those few masochists who demand to know the exact depth and width of every pothole on the street. Choose Strada for the city and Sport for spirited rural driving.
Even in Strada, however, the Performante’s ride is pretty rough on all but the smoothest roads, but it’s at least tolerable. Feel free to paddle-shift in the city if you want, but the transmission is more than comfortable taking over shifting duties, performing like any good automatic. Amazing how far dual-clutch transmissions have come.
But what Lamborghini seems proudest of is the Huracán Performante’s sophisticated aerodynamics kit. Called Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva, or ALA for short, it’s a complete front-to-rear system for managing air and maximizing downforce. There are electronically controlled flaps in the front and rear, with the front flaps opening to allow air through the grille and under the car, while the rear flaps send air up to the wing in heavy-downforce situations. And there’s a channel that can shift air from one side to the other on the massive rear wing — we’re talking passenger side to driver’s side and back — as it senses which direction the car is turning. The idea is to adjust the downforce real-time on the inside and outside rear wheels for maximum grip. In all, Lambo claims a 750-percent increase in downforce compared to the regular Huracán. We will take Lamborghini’s word for that. It will take more calibrated asses than ours to test the theory.
Regardless, ALA works. Hell, the whole car works. The Audi touches inside the cockpit are evident, and that’s a compliment. The sport seats are very comfortable and plenty supportive. We suggest you think before ordering the optional racing-inspired seats, because the fixed-back units are awfully hard.
Typical for Lamborghini, the full Skittles-box palette of colors is available, including a matte orange (called Arancia Borealis) that seems The Chosen Color to introduce the car in the media, but it would be well down our list of choices. Outside, you’ll know the Performante mostly by the green, white and red rocker-panel stripes that remind you that yes, you hear a lot of German accents in the Lamborghini plant, but this is still a very Italian car. And one that advances the brand more than any of us expected.
Seven Cool Classics from the 2017 Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este
CERNOBBIO, Italy — The Concorso d’Eleganza on the grounds of the Villa d’Este estate in Cernobbio, Italy is a picturesque classic car event with plenty of history. Launched in 1929, the show enjoyed years of varying success until 1951, when it would take an extended hiatus as many of Europe’s earliest coachbuilding businesses closed shop. In the 1990s, the Concorso was restarted and has grown into the premiere show it is today. Situated on the shores of Italy’s Lake Como, the setting is rivaled in beauty only by Pebble Beach.
We were invited to the event by BMW, who’s BMW Classic department has been instrumental in helping to reinvent the show for the modern era and provides sponsorship and support to make the event happen for thousands of spectators year after year. Emphasizing quality over quantity, just over 50 cars plus a selection of motorcycles were on display at this invitation-only concours. Here are seven of our favorites.
1935 Lurani Nibbio
Giovani Lurani Cernuschi was an Italian count with a fondness for speed — he entered the Mille Miglia nine times, winning his class on three occasions. This is a car of his own design and was originally powered by a 46-hp Moto Guzzi V-2 motorcycle engine, with which it broke several records, including the first automobile to reach 100 mph with a capacity of 0.5 liters. Later, the Nibbio was restyled with more aerodynamic bodywork by Carrozzeria Riva and fitted with a supercharged, single-cylinder, 250cc engine on loan from Moto Guzzi and the car won another six records in that configuration. This car won the People’s Choice award and was entered in the Concorso Eleganza by Lurani’s grandson.
1957 Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California Prototipo
The California Spyder, as it is best known to multitudes of enthusiasts, is perhaps one of the best-known classic Ferrari models in existence. In the U.S., at least part of its fame comes from the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” though this car has thankfully been spared the disastrous fate of the replica used in the film. This is the prototype for the California Spyder series of cars that started production in 1958 and was essentially an open-roof version of the 250 GT TdF race car, designed for competition.
1934 Tatra 77
Tatra was a Czech brand, which was one of the most innovative automakers of its day. Take a look at the boxy, upright Mercedes, Rolls-Royce, and Packard sedans of the 1930s, then look at this which looks almost space age in comparison. In fact, these rear-engine and very streamlined cars were credited with providing inspiration to Ferdinand Porsche when designing the Volkswagen Beetle and the influence is obvious. Power came from a 3.0-liter V-8 that produced around 60 hp.
1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Spyder N.A.R.T.
This one-off Ferrari was custom ordered by Luigi Chinetti, Ferrari’s top U.S. importer at the time and the founder of the North American Racing Team (N.A.R.T.), which enjoyed strong success in international competition. The car was styled by Michelotti and was designed to be one of the last truly dual-purpose sports racing cars, in that it could be both raced on the track and driven on the street. Despite plans to race the car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Chinetti never did enter this unconventional Ferrari in competition.
1957 Alfa Romeo Giuletta Sprint Speciale Prototipo
To the uninitiated, this may look like a standard Sprint Speciale, but this car was actually the prototype for the production car and has several small differences. The swoopy, lightweight aluminum bodywork was designed by Franco Scaglione while at Bertone, who drew inspiration from the Bertone Aerodinamica Technica (B.A.T.) series of design concepts. This was this year’s Best in Show winner at Concorso Eleganza Villa d’Este.
1960 Abarth Bialbero 1000 Record
Carlo Abarth was one of the most prolific automotive tuners anywhere in the world in the 1960s. His penchant for taking run-of-the-mill, small-displacement Fiat engines and chassis and turning them into adept racers and hot street cars was well-established. This 1000 Bialbero Record has a 982cc inline-four-cylinder engine and super-streamlined, wind-tunnel-tested bodywork by Pininfarina. It participated in several record-breaking events between September and October 1960, including a 10,000-km drive (6,213 miles) at an average speed of 118.916 mph.
1956 Maserati A6G/2000 Gran Sport
Sold as part of the decrepit Baillon collection in Paris two years ago, this Maserati sat for decades in a neglected collection, bringing it to the worn state it is in today. Southern California-based architect Jonathon Segal bought the car and had a careful mechanical restoration done, leaving the car’s heavy external patina intact. It has done over 1,000 road miles since and the 2.0-liter straight-six engine sounds absolutely wonderful. This is one of four Maserati A6G/2000s with this bodywork by Italian design legend Pietro Frua.
