Concept Cars auto news

Official: Volkswagen interns roll into Worthersee with GTI Black Dynamic show car

Slammed Skodas, Seats, Audis and Polos are all well and nice, but at the end of the day, the annual gathering of Volkswagen performance enthusiasts at Lake Wörthersee in Austria is about the GTI. That much isn't lost on Volkswagen, so in addition to bringing the new GTI Cabrio along with all the aforementioned corporate cousins, the German automaker has rolled into the lakeside expo with the tricked-out concept car you see here.

Called the GTI Black Dynamic, the show car is the work of nine lucky (and apparently talented) student interns at Volkswagen. The team dropped the suspension 35 mm lower than stock, bumped the output up by 150 horsepower to a prodigious 360, upgraded the gearbox and brakes to cope with the extra power and fitted an 1,800-watt sound system.

Of course all that kit couldn't go unnoticed, so the Black Dynamic GTI was also treated to a deep black paint job with matte anthracite trim and red detailing. The team even went so far as to hand-craft the GTI letters on the lift-gate and gave the car a custom interior, too. You can read more about it in the pair of press releases below, or better yet see it from all the angles in the high-res image gallery above.

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Official: Seat bringing boatload of hot hatches to Lake Worthersee

GTI Treffen may have started out as a gathering for owners of Volkswagen pocket rockets, but by now it's blown into a full-on celebration of everything related to hot hatches and more. And though it remains a grassroots event by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, Volkswagen is wise not to ignore it. These days, it comes to the annual lakeside gathering in Austria with a handful of show cars in tow, and brings its sister-brands along for the ride, too.

Audi has already announced the Q3 Red Track concept destined for Wörthersee, and Skoda is coming with a pair of Citigo concepts - one made up as a DJ booth and the other as a rally car. Now their Spanish cousins at Seat have revealed the veritable motorcade of show cars it's bringing to the meet-up.

Seat will be showcasing the Ibiza Cupra Concept it unveiled in Beijing, but that's not all. It'll also display a customized Ibiza FR and Leon Cupra R, a Mii city car (that's the Spanish version of the Volkswagen Up!) imagined in sporty FR trim and, most enticing of all, a pair of racing models that are ready to hit the track.

The Ibiza SC Trophy packs a 180-horsepower turbo four with DSG, locking differential, upgraded brakes, modified oil sump and competition-spec suspension, available to aspiring racers for 31,500 euros (before taxes, or about $40K). The Leon Super Copa, meanwhile, is closely mirrored on the car that Seat ran in the World Touring Car Championship and packs a 300-horse 2.0-liter turbo four with all the trimmings, available for 63,000 euros (about $80K). Both can be fielded in spec-racing series across Europe and arrive at Wörthersee in grey with fluorescent orange accents.

Check out the full spread in the high-res image gallery above and the press release below.

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Official: Skoda racing Up! to Worthersee with Citigo Rally concept

If you thought the Volkswagen Group was about to wind down the endless stream of concept cars based on the new Up! city car, think again. Because not only is the Volkswagen brand itself keeping the train a-moving, so are its sister brands.

Skoda has its own version of the Up called the Citigo. But what racing fans know the Czech subsidiary for best is its rally program that has become a dominant force in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge and the basis for VW's own foray into the World Rally Championship. Now Skoda is bringing the two together with an exciting concept car previewed by the rendering above and confirmed in the press release below.

Following in the footsteps of the tantalizing Fabia roadster unveiled last year, the Citigo Rally concept is to be the centerpiece of the Skoda display at the Volkswagen Group's annual hot-hatch gathering at Lake Wörthersee in Austria. Details are scarce, but the show car will feature rally-inspired bodywork complete with 18-inch white alloys packed into aggressively flared wheel arches, a substantial rear wing and vents aplenty.

It will be joined by a second Citigo converted into a mobile DJ booth with a 100,000-watt sound system that will be scoring the Skoda booth at Wörthersee, but our eyes will be on the rally concept.

Continue reading Skoda racing Up! to Worthersee with Citigo Rally concept

Official: Volkswagen previews 220-hp Polo WRC Street special ahead of W"orthersee debut

The annual GTI festival at Lake Wörthersee in Austria has exploded over the years into a celebration of all things hot-hatch in the Volkswagen Group - including concept cars and new debuts from Audi, Seat and Skoda - but the event has always been about VWs at heart. And the brand central to the empire isn't about to sit it out.

At the heart of VW's motorcade for this year's pocket-rocket fest is the Polo WRC Street, a preview of a special edition modeled on the actual rally car which Volkswagen Motorsport will be fielding in the top-level rally series next year. The street version features a 220-horsepower 2.0-liter TSI four-cylinder - significantly more than the existing 180-hp Polo GTI and a whole lot of muscle for such a little car - with an aggressive aero package and of course the requisite decals. In other words, it is, for all intents and purposes, a Polo R with some stripes.

VW will also be showcasing the competition-spec Polo R-WRC. And Wörthersee being centered around the Golf GTI, is also bringing the GTI Cabriolet that debuted in concept form at the same location last year and in production form at the Geneva Motor Show just a couple of months ago, plus a pair of black and white GTI concepts. Keep reading for the full press release and scope out the trio of images previewing the Polo WRC Street for a closer look at what Wolfsburg is driving eastwards.

Continue reading Volkswagen previews 220-hp Polo WRC Street special ahead of W"orthersee debut

Official: Gazoo Racing drums up twincharged 320-horsepower Toyota GT86

As if turbos weren't enough.

Gazoo Racing (full name: Gazoo Racing Masters of Nürburgring) has unveiled a concept racing version of the famed Toyota GT86 that features both a turbocharger and a supercharger to offer up 320 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque.

The car, officially called the Sport FR Concept, oozes high performance out of its fenders and includes Gazoo brakes, spoilers and suspension tuning, according to FT86Club.com. However, few specifics were available.

Toyota teamed up with Gazoo earlier this year to help jump start it's small-displacement engines. Earlier this year, Toyota gave the green light to the iQ Supercharger. Gazoo was expected to build about 100 of those cars.

Report: Lamborghini eyes low weight, Audi-sourced twin-turbo V8 for production Urus

Long before Lamborghini unveiled the Urus concept for its new SUV at the Beijing Motor Show last month, we got two chances to preview the show truck: once at the factory in Italy and once at a private preview in New York. The Italian automaker's development chief Maurizio Reggiani wasn't prepared to talk about powertrain options at the time, but in speaking with Automotive News, he's now given us a hint of what to expect should the Volkswagen Group board give the project the green light.

As expected, the Urus would have to be based on the same platform that is slated to underpin the next Volkswagen Touareg, Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and Bentley EXP 9 F (if similarly approved) in order to make good business sense. Unfortunately, that new PL73 architecture is made principally of steel, a material that Lamborghini has been getting away from in favor of new types of carbon fiber construction. In order to keep weight down - Lambo is targeting 4,400 lbs for the Urus, significantly less than its potential competitors - it would need to make other components out of carbon to compensate.

That covers the mass side of the power-to-weight ratio that is integral to any performance vehicle. As for the power, Reggiani says the company has yet to make a final decision. The last time Lamborghini made an SUV - the legendary LM002 "Rambo Lambo" - it was powered by the same high-revving V12 as the Countach, lending to speculation that the Urus could incorporate the new V12 from the Aventador or the V10 from the Gallardo. Reggiani, however, indicates that the new twin-turbo V8 powering the latest Audi RS models and the Bentley Continental is a more likely choice, given that it would help keep weight down and provide more low-end torque than the naturally-aspired 10 or 12-pots the Raging Bull marque currently produces for its sports cars.

Report: Volkswagen to offer Fender edition Beetle

Volkswagen worked with Fender, its stereo partner, to put together the concept Beetle shown at last year's Frankfurt Motor Show. The concept had an iPod dock set into amp-like mesh, a tube amp, sunburst-patterened wood trim and a trunk-mounted sub you could plug your guitar into.

Car and Driver reports that a production version is coming, perhaps before the end of the year, but it will be missing several of the components that made the concept that much cooler, like the mesh-decorated dock, the tube amp and the port in the sub. Oh, and the sunburst-pattern trim might not be made of wood.

There's plenty that could remain, though. The black concept featured special red and chrome trim, a leather roof, and sat on a lowered suspension with 19-inch wheels. Those could make it through the production transition, as well as the high-end Fender stereo system, naturally.

Official: Audi Q3 Red Track heads to Worthersee Tour

Audi plans to show off a new concept version of the Q3 at the Worthersee Tour in Austria next week. The Q3 Red Track boasts the same 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine found under the hood of the Audi TT RS, and thus, there's a galloping 340 horsepower and 331 pound-feet of torque on hand. A seven-speed S Tronic gearbox handles shifting duties and drops the available grunt to all four tires via the company's Quattro all-wheel-drive system. In addition to the extra power, the Red Track wears unique Energy Red paint flecked with gold, while accents like the fender flares and lower fascia are coated in matte gray.

Likewise, the headlight arrays wear body-color accents, and massive 20-inch five-spoke wheels help set the crossover apart from its production kin. Audi also stretched the track by by 1.5 inches and lifted the machine by 1.2 inches for a beefier stance. The Red Track will be on display at the Worthersee Tour starting on May 16. Scroll down for the full press release.

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Report: More details emerge about new RWD Cadillac flagship

Every single Cadillac XTS post ends up with comments deploring the sedan's FWD - even a post that speaks of nothing more than the iPad buyers will get with the car. For those folks especially, Car and Driver has loaded the hopper with news on the possible treats coming from the Wreath and Crest. Examining uses of the Omega platform, C/D says "a proper rear-drive sedan" will arrive in "a few" years and take the top spot in the lineup. Predictions are that it will have a rakish roofline and the 310-horsepower, 3.6-liter V6.

GM's Omega platform is said to have been engineered to accommodate this new RWD flagship, though the chances of it actually coming to fruition are about as likely as winning the Mega Millions. The only trifles, according to C/D, are that the program hasn't even been approved, and if it is, would Cadillac have an engine good enough to serve in such a car or would it need to develop one. But said flagshp does, we repeat, it does, have a platform. Still, since the Cadillac Sixteen concept is from a time when "Gaga" is what babies said, you should probably stick to the Mega Millions for now.

Official: Volkswagen's People's Car Project in China has produced three concepts [w/video]

In 2011, Volkswagen commenced its People's Car Project in China to create crowdsourced concepts of the VW of the future. More than 33 million people visited the site, and three concepts were created from the inputs: the Music Car, the Hover Car and the Smart Key.

The Music Car is a Beetle wrapped in LEDs that change colors to match the driver's choice of music. The Hover Car is a zero-emissions two-seater that, no surprise, hovers over electromagnetic road networks. The Smart Key is Big Brother for your car, in your pocket: the high-def touchscreen on the nine-millimeter key can track the status of your car and keep an eye on it via "satellite transmission."

The project is continuing, so you can still post your thoughts to VW's future. In the meantime there's a video and a couple of press releases below the fold for more on the story.

Continue reading Volkswagen's People's Car Project in China has produced three concepts [w/video]