Subaru JDM Impreza STi Series with New S206

The good news for those wanting to burn some cash on a hot set of wheels is that Subaru has unwrapped a new special edition version of itsImpreza STI sports sedan called the S206. The bad news isn't that only 300 will be built, but that all cars will be only available in Japan.

Billed by Subaru as the "crown of STI tuned cars", the new Impreza WRX STI S206 follows on from previous “S” versions, such as the S203, S204 and S205.

So what's special about the new STI model? Well, for starters, the S206 employs exclusive Bilstein dampers, STi coil springs, a flexible front tower bar and draw stiffener, which promise to further improve the car’s precise and quick cornering response.

The S206 rides on a new set of 19-inch BBS aluminum wheels, which have been designed exclusively for this model, and are shod in Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires.

Under the hood, STi’s engineers have further honed the flat-four turbocharged engine by optimizing the weight balance between pistons, connecting rods and crankshaft in order to enhance the rev feel.

And that's not all as the 2.0-liter unit also gains a retuned ECU, an enhanced twin-scroll turbocharger and a reduced-back pressure exhaust system, all of which help increase output to 320HP and 431 Nm ( 318 lb-ft).

Subaru also claims that the S206 has quicker throttle response and delivers more torque in low- and mid-range revs, offering better drivability.

A lower front spoiler and new grille, different side sills and a rear spoiler designed exclusively for the S206 help improve its aerodynamics as well as distinguish it from the regular STIs, while the exclusive leather steering wheel, Recaro bucket seats with red seatbelts and the STI designed push engine start switch round out the changes.

Subaru also developed a special NBR Challenge Package for the S206, commemorating the Japanese firm's class win at the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race.

It features a carbon-fibre roof and rear spoiler, plus Nürburgring Challenge sticker and red door sills, and will be available in 100 units - or rather it would have been available if all 100 cars hadn’t already been spoken for in Japan…

[From Subaru Press Release]
Major equipment of Subaru Impreza S206
-Mechanism-STI tuned Bilstein upside down strut and STI coil springs for front suspension
STI tuned Bilstein damper and STI coil springs for rear suspension
S206 BBS designed 19-inch x 8 1/2J forged aluminum wheels (silver)
Michelin Pilot Super Sports 245/35ZR19(93Y) tires
Brembo 6-pot silver colored brake caliper with STI logo and 18-inch 2piece type drilled disk rotors for front brake
Brembo 4-pot silver colored brake caliper with STI logo and 18-inch drilled disk rotors for rear brake
STI designed flexible front strut tower brace
STI designed flexible draw stiffener, front
STI designed flexible support, rear
STI designed support, front kit
STI designed lateral rink with pillow ball bush (front inside, rear inside)
S206 engine balanced with STI
STI designed S206 ECU (Engine Control Unit)
S206 twin scroll ball bearing turbocharger
STI designed S206 sport muffler with lowered back pressure exhaust
Large intercooler with S206 logo
STI designed strengthened silicon intake duct
STI designed air cleaner element
S206 multi mode VDC (Vehicle Dynamics Control)

-Interior-S206 RECARO designed front bucket seat
S206 seat fabric, ALCANTARA® with black punching / red base, leather seat support (dark gray) with silver stitch
S206 door trim & centered arm rest (black ALCANTARA® with silver stitch)
S206 dark red colored seat belt
S206 silver side sill plate with S206 logo (front)
S206 leather lapped steering wheel with STI logo and silver stitch
STI designed leather shift knob with STI logo and leather shift bootS206 leather side brake boot
STI designed push engine start switch (red with STI logo)
S206 serial number plate (console, engine compartment)

-Exterior-S206 large front under spoiler
S206 front fender outlet grille
Aluminum front hood
STI designed trunk lip spoiler
S206 badges on front grille and rear gate
STI designed side garnish with STI logo (black metallic)-Exclusive for NBR CHALLENGE PACKAGECarbon
roof
S206 dry carbon rear spoiler (2 angle adjustable with S206 logo)
BBS designed 19-inch x 8 1/2J cast aluminum wheels (black)
S206 Nürburgring Challenge sticker (rear)
S206 red side sill plate with S206 logo (front)

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Former BMW Employees Charged with Misdemeanor after taking New 1 M Coupe for a Spin

What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what you upload on the web is there for the entire world to see.
And that's one lesson learned the hard way for Vacheh Margoussian, 21, and Artin Yazidjian, 22, both of which were employed as a valet and a tire technician respectively at the Pacific BMW dealership in Los Angeles when they allegedly took a brand-new 1 M Coupe for a joyride and uploaded a video on Youtube.

Now, both men have not only lost their jobs but are also facing misdemeanor charges filed by the LA County district attorney’s office.

The young men, employees of Pacific BMW at the time, took a newly delivered BMW 1 M Coupe out for a high-speed ride at East Windsor Road on August 12. Margoussian was sitting behind the wheel of the turbocharged coupe, which still had its plastic covers and window stickers in place, and Yazidjian videotaped the ride from the passenger’s seat.

Now, taking a brand-new car that’s about to be delivered to someone who has actually paid for it for a joyride is, in itself, not a commendable action.

Uploading the video of your deeds on YouTube -of all places- the next day is an epic fail and proves beyond doubt that you simply don’t realize how the real world works.

The incident became a talking point among BMW fans on the web, the police found out about it a month later, and on September 14, they finally arrested the two wrong-doers.

The owner of the car was informed about the incident, but it is not known whether he has returned or kept the car.

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Mazda Signs MoU With Sollers for a New Joint Venture

China isn’t the only market where carmakers are currently expanding. Mazda, for example, is already producing the Mazda2 in Vietnam and will also produce the Mazda2 and Mazda3 in a new factory it is building in Mexico.

Today, the Japanese company announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with OJSC Sollers for the establishment of a new joint venture plant in Russia.

OJSC Sollers is one of Russia’s biggest companies in the fields of vehicle production, distribution and servicing, while Russia is Mazda’s second biggest market in the European region.

Moreover, the Hiroshima-based automaker is rapidly increasing its sales in the local market. In the first nine months of the year, Mazda delivered 28,000 cars in Russia, an increase of almost 77% compared to the same period in 2010.

The new plant will be located in Vladivostok, in Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District, and will manufacture several (still unspecified) Mazda models that will be sold to the Russian market.

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Alfa Romeo 4C Spider

You know that there's a lot of interest in a model when independent designers begin to imagine different versions and body styles of a car that has not yet entered production.

Case in point the Alfa Romeo 4C mid-engined sports car that remains in show car form for now but is slated to reach dealerships around the world –including North America- as early as 2013.

The artists over at Teamspeedcreated their vision of what an open-top Spider version of 4C would look like. We think that the rendering is pretty much spot on and would make for a very interesting addition to the Alfa 4C's lineup.

As for the question to what kind of top would be suitable for a car like the 4C Spider, the answer could be either a simple cloth top or more interestingly, a rotating roof panel similar to the one used on the Ferrari 575 Superamerica and more recently, on the Renault Wind.

Understandably, the 4C Spider would keep the same hardware as the coupe including the 1.75-liter turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine delivering 200 or more horses to the rear wheels through a twin clutch transmission.

Have a look at the two renderings below and tell us what you think in the comments section.

R

ALFA ROMEO 4C SPIDER RENDERINGS

ALFA ROMEO 4C SHOW CAR

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McLaren Denies Rumors about a Honda Engine Deal in 2014

The image of a white and red McLaren, usually with a yellow-green helmet signaling that the man sitting in the cockpit was none other than Ayrton Senna, is one that remains etched in F1 fans’ minds many years after his demise in 1994. Powering the McLaren of the late three-time world champion was a Honda engine.
Last weekend, German magazine Auto Motor und Sport reported that McLaren was in talks with Honda to rekindle their 1988-1992 collaboration, which yielded four constructor championships, from 2014 onwards, when the rules mandate the change to 1.6-liter turbocharged engines.

However, McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale denied that there was any truth in those rumors: “That’s all wide off the mark”, he told ESPNF1. “We are wedded to, very happy with and enjoying our partnership with Mercedes-Benz. We’ve had a long standing relationship with them, with many wins and championships and long may that continue.”

Perhaps it was the fact that for the past two years, Mercedes has its own F1 team that fuelled the rumors: “I don’t think that’s a concern”, replied Neale. “Of course, Mercedes have their own GP team, but I was talking this morning with Thomas Fuhr at Mercedes-Benz and we want the same things. It’s in our interest to have consistent engines together because that’s how we get the highest quality.”

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China’s Super-Rich Find Veyron SS Expensive and the Pagani Huayra a Steal

With the European economy in a downward spiral and the U.S. having its own financial troubles, where is a supercar maker supposed to go and sell its high-six- or even seven-figure products?
Well, China is probably their best bet right now. Its number of billionaires grew from 189 in 2010 to 271 in 2011, according to data from Hurun Report, and the communist (…) country now has close to 1 million millionaires - 960,000 to be precise or 85,000 more than in 2010. Overall, Asia has some 3.3 million millionaires, more than Europe and edging close to the North America region.

That’s why every supercar builder is participating in the first ever Asian edition of Monaco's annual Top Marques show that takes place in Macau from November 24 to 27.

The show's organizers are expecting around 20,000 visitors from China and other Asian countries who will have a chance to see Ferraris and Lamborghinis, as well as more exclusive and expensive offerings from companies such as Koenigsegg and Pagani.

One of the visitors at the show is Steve Chen who was looking at Horacio Pagani’s latest work of art, the recently launched $1.1 million, 700HP Huayra. Chen currently owns 15-16 high-end cars and is contemplating whether to go for the Huayra or the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport.

“I go to a lot of auto shows in China. I’ve loved cars since I was a kid and I have been collecting many different car brands”, says Chen, who has also visited Bugatti’s factory in France but found the US$6.1 million 1,200HP Veyron SS a bit too expensive…

Amar Gill, the author of a recent CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets report on Asia’s wealthy, notes that “there’s a fair bit of competition and these companies will have to establish their brands and see if they get a following.”

Lamborghini’s head of Beijing-based China operations Wilson Lee says that “China's supercar market is growing rapidly, growing a lot faster than the entire car market" – which, incidentally, is already the biggest in the world.

As of 2011, the U.S. is no longer Sant’ Agata’s number one market: this title belongs to China. That’s why the Italian supercar manufacturing is adding another five dealerships to its 14 existing facilities.

Lee says that most Chinese Lamborghini customers “are worth at least $16 million”; two-thirds of them are aged from 20-32 and nine out of 10 pay in cash. Oh, and while 10-20% drive their supercars mostly on weekends on the track, 10% have never actually drive them at all.

"Some of these cars don't have a single kilometer on them. They basically forklift it and put it down at home because they don't want to put any miles on the car. We call them collectors", says Lee.

We think we’d call someone who never drives his supercar something other than just a collector, but you know what they say: you pays your money…

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Ereader Wars: Which Tablet Earned the Most Online Buzz?

It seems ereaders are going to be a hot holiday tech gift this year — the Tickle Me Elmo for grown-ups, if you will.

The space has certainly heated up of late. A market once dominated by the iPad and a few generations of Kindles is starting to rumble with the introduction of the Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet.

How are these new gadgets being received on the web? Our friends at Tableau Software have been measuring, and compiled this sharp, interactive graphic.

The Kindle Fire seems to have won the race by volume of searches and shares, and that’s not surprising. Amazon has been a leader in the ereader space for years, and the Kindle’s leap to a modern mobile operating system (Android) is big news.

However, note the sentiment analysis around the Nook Color. There’s a stronger margin of positivity around this new product than its competitors — perhaps a sign of what the sales curves may look like after the holiday rush has subsided.

Also please be aware that for the purposes of this graphic, Twitter data on “iPad” combined the terms “iPad” and “iPad 2.”

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