New BMW M5 Nighthawk Special Edition with 567HP Limited to 10 Units for Japan

' Continuing a long tradition of special edition models for the Japanese market, BMW announced today the release of the new M5 Nighthawk with bespoke styling features and a power and chassis upgrades. We don't know yet if BMW has plans to offer the very limited production run M5 in other parts of the world, but in Japan, only 10 examples will be made available for order exclusively in August, with first deliveries scheduled for October this year. The exterior of the car is painted in a BMW Individual Frozen Black Matt, with a slightly darker Matt black shade used on the 20-inch alloy wheels, while the front kidney grilles, door handles, exterior mirrors, exhaust finishers, and diffuser are painted in a dark-chrome color. LED...

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Report Says VW Seriously Considering XL1-Based XR1 Lightweight Sports Car

This is not the first time we’re hearing rumors ofan XR1 lightweight sports car from Volkswagen, which will feature a similar architecture as the one used on the ultra-frugal XL1 hybrid, but do away with some of the fuel-saving tech, and slot in a two-liter petrol engine, most likely from thelatest Golf GTI, or some sort of high-powered force-fed three-pot unit. This means that the 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) time stated by CAR Magazine for the XR1 of under 4.6 seconds, is feasible, if the car has good traction and can quickly get its 850kg (1,873 pounds) ofestimated weight going. However, the quest for efficiency won’t be completely neglected, if the car does move from just being an idea, and actual prototypes are built...

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VW Replaces 2.5L Inline-Five with New 170HP 1.8L TSI Turbo in the U.S. for 2014MY

It's the end of the line for Volkswagen's venerable 2.5-liter five-cylinder gasoline engine in the States as the German carmaker announced today that it will gradually replace it with a new 1.8-liter turbocharged and direct-injection four-cylinder TSI on the Jetta, Beetle, and Passat models. Built in a new VW factory in Silao, Mexico, theEA888-codenamed 1.8-liter unit delivers the same output as the 2.5L unit at 170hp, but peak torque is improved by seven lb-ft at 184 lb-ft and is delivered much lower in the rev range, while the Germans say that is also offers significant fuel mileage gains - up to 17 percent on the highway in the Beetle, for example. Initially, the new 1.8-liter TSI will be fitted to the 2014MY Jetta range and...

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New 2014 Suzuki SX4 Compact Crossover

Seen in its final production outfit at this year’s Geneva Motor Show in March, the new generation of the Suzuki SX4 has a couple of months before it begins arriving in showrooms across Europe in late September, so the Japanese company is freshening up our memory with a new collection of photos and the release of output and fuel economy figures. While Suzuki held on to the same name as before, the SX4′s more mature replacementmoves up a category, from the B- (sub-compact) to the C-segment (compact) eyeing to compete against established mainstream rivals such as theNissan Qashqai, which itself, will soon give its place to a new model. More than 160mm longer than the outgoing SX4 at 4,300 mm (169.3 inches) long, as well...

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