MTM Massages the Audi RS5, Top Speed Increased to 303km/h (188mph)

In one of its more 'lighter' tuning proposals, MTM has released details on its new line of performance upgrades for the Audi RS5 coupe. Instead of fiddling around with the RS5's 450HP V8 engine to increase the car's top speed, the German tuning simply reprograms the factory electronic speed limiter of 250km/h or 280 km/h, allowing the coupe to reach a maximum velocity of 303 km/h or 188mph. The cost for the removal of the speed limiter is a hefty €1,499 or a little over US$1,900 at today's exchange rates.

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BREAKING: Toyota Working on Four-Door Coupe Sedan of FT-86!

*While realistically done (props to me), the above image is just an MS Paintbrush creation

[Caution; a sense of humor required beyond this point] According to the great barrier mill, our friends at Toyota are working it out on a four-door coupe variant of the rear-wheel drive FT-86, which was shown in concept form at last year's Tokyo Motor Engine Salon Show, just outside Japan, south west north of India. The four-door sport saloon will most likely be called WTF-86.

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Volvo Launches Limited Edition S60 T6 Design 330HP by Heico Sportiv

Hot on the heels from last week's presentation of Heico Sportiv's tuning program for the new S60, Volvo's European division today announced the launch of a limited edition version of the T6 sedan model, all spruced up by the tuning specialists at Heico Sportiv. Only 100 units of the Black Sapphire metallic special edition will be available in Europe, each priced at €63,968, equivalent to US$82,000. We assume pricing is for the German market, since Volvo did not get into any specific details.

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Paris Preshow: Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback, goes on sale next year

A show car version of the new Cruze hatchback will be Chevrolet's star attraction at this year's edition of the Paris motorshow, which kicks off on September 30. Even though GM uses the term 'show car', the five-door hatchback version of the Cruze is virtually production ready minus some show-floor bling such as the blue hue on the headlamps, big wheels and the LED daytime running lights.

While keeping the front end and taut body lines of the sedan model, the refreshingly stylish hatch comes with a sweeping coupe-like roofline and a unique rear end treatment. GM has not yet issued any photos of the cabin, but don't expect any changes over the four-door saloon.

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Fiat Launches Japan-Only 500 Arancia Special Edition

Even dedicated fans of Fiat's 500 mini will have a hard time tracking down all the special edition models released by the Italian company over the years, but for those that continue to care, here's one more limited production version of the car, this time made exclusively for Japan.

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VIDEO: Badass Rally Driver Overtakes with Avian Style and Grace

If you've never heard of the Courses de Bazous Autoquad in St. Ferdinand, Quebec, then you're like me and definitely wouldn't mind checking it out. Clearly, insanity is the name of the game.

This is a home-made video of a guy committing some airborne overtaking off-road rally style. Check it out and think about some wacky possibilities (see here...) the next time you're crossing some raised train tracks.

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JE Design Redefines the New VW Touareg SUV

Some may like the all-new, second generation VW Touareg the way it leaves the factory, but for those that wouldn't mind sprucing it up a bit, German tuning firm JE Design has released its first line of enhancements for the SUV model.

For the time being, the only available engine kit is for the 4.2-liter TDI V8 diesel unit that increases output from 340HP and 800Nm of torque to 410HP and a monstrous 930Nm or 686 lbs-ft, respectively. As a result, 0-100km/h (62mph) drops from 5.8 seconds to 5.4 seconds while top speed is increased from 242km/h to 269km/h or 167mph.

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Report: Suzuki's US Sales Nosediving into Oblivion

Remember yesterday when we said Suzuki got smacked by an average 68% sales drop compared to last August (and -52% from the beginning of the year) in the US? Well, we decided to take a deeper look at the company's sales figures and discovered some interesting facts.

All in all, Suzuki sold a mere 1,878 cars and SUVs in August, down from 5,751 units the same month a year ago. The Japanese automaker says it has around 300 dealers in the U.S. If you do the math, that comes to a little over 6 vehicles sold per dealer in August... Here are some more details on the company's sales broken down model by model:

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Paris Preshow: 2011 Renault Laguna Facelift, First Official Photos

And the news alerts from the upcoming Paris auto salon keep coming in. This time we have the first images of the refreshed Renault Laguna lift-back and Sports Tourer models that will join the European-spec Latitude flagship sedan and whatever else the French firm has in store for us at this year's Paris show.

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Amen: Ferrari Finally Admits 458 Italia Fire Risks, Recalling 1,148 Cars

It took 11 accidents involving the freshly launched 458 Italia with five of them being ruined by fire, and a whole lot of media attention from the internet, for Ferrari to finally investigate the issue and announce a total recall on their latest supercar.

Being that Ferrari considers itself as something out of this world that is not subject to the same unwritten rules as the rest of the automakers, the company did not publish a broadly available press release to inform the media, and consequently, the public, about a problematic product that puts at a fiery risk the lives of its clients. Instead, the Italian brand simply answered questions to individual media outlets such as CNN through its spokespersons.

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Mazda MX-5 Sales Hit the 100,000 Mark in the UK

The most popular roadster of all time, the Mazda MX-5 (otherwise known as the Miata), has achieved yet another milestone by surpassing the 100,000 sales mark in the UK, some twenty years after its first arrived in the country in 1990.

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BREAKING: 2011 Dodge Durango 7-Seater SUV Fully Revealed

[Updated] There have been no shortage of spy shots, teaser photos and even trademark sketches to be had showing the 2011 Durango SUV, but today Dodge finally came out with full blown pictures and initial specs on its brand-new 7-seater crossover that's scheduled to arrive in U.S. showrooms in the fourth quarter of 2010 competing against the likes of Ford's new Explorer.

Even though it makes use of an older name, the 2011 Durango is all-new inside and out. Under the fresh sheetmetal you'll find the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee's unibody structure and the same engine options including a 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 and a 5.7-liter HEMI engine with the Chrysler Group's Multi-displacement system (MDS) four-cylinder mode.

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Kia Recalling 2010 Soul and 2011 Sorento for Electrical Issues

The first recall of the month comes from Kia, which is recalling approximately 23,973 Soul subcompacts from the 2010MY and around 11,213 Sorento crossovers from the 2011MY, all built from September 7, 2009 through July 30, 2010, due to a potential fault with the vehicles' electrical system.

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Who you gonna call? 1959 Cadillac Ghostbuster Replica heading up for auction at Historics

A 1959 Cadillac that was first turned into an ambulance by coachbuilder S&S for a Church in Maryland, USA, and then underwent a full transformation to become the Ghostbuster movie car replica you see here, is now being auctioned at Historics at Brooklands forthcoming sale on the 25th of September.

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Paris Preshow: Hyundai Teases ix20 Small MPV and Announces i10 Facelift

What you're looking at here is the first teaser sketch of Hyundai's foray into Europe's mini-MPV segment, the ix20, which will make its world premiere along with the facelifted i10 city car at the Mondial de l'Automobile in Paris on September 30th.

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Holden to test Brazilian market with limited edition Chevrolet Omega Fittipaldi

Oh, would you look at that? GM will indeed be making some of its left-hand drive Holden conversion money back after all! Unfortunately, it's not doing anything other than cop cars in the States, just yet. Brazil, on the other hand, will be getting its own Holden Commodore Series II wearing the Omega nameplate. This move marks the return of Holden exports to Brazil, which ran between 1998 with the VT-based Chevrolet Omega and 2008.

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AG's BMW Shark spotted in the wild, makes the Maybach look like a chump

This is the AG Shark, not the Mercedes CL-based AG Excalibur (although both are big, red, and kind of freaky-deaky), and it was snagged in Latvia by a reader of the Autogespot forums. The Shark is based on a BMW 6-Series and features a carbon/Kevlar/fiberglass body over a steel and aluminum frame. The AG website says that the Shark wears 24s out front (like the Excalibur) and 26s out back, while its CL-based buddy has super-sized 30s at the rear; all rims can be chromed, powder coated, or gold plated.

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US Auto Sales Plummet in August: Post-Clunker Drops and Gains

August sales, for the most part, are hurting from a year ago. To be precise, initial data showed sales came in at 997,574, down 21 percent from a year earlier, according to Autonews. After the cash-for-clunkers sales surge of '09, it was to be expected. So, after the economy's cash-injection car sale plan, where do automakers stand compared to August last year?

First off, American automakers are all over the map: Ford is down 14%, Chrysler is up 7% due to fleet sales, and GM fell off a hefty 25%.

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Saab Bóreas Sports Coupe Design Study by Jorge Martí Vidal

And yes, we have another design proposal for a future Saab model. This one is a compact sports coupe named Bóreas after the god of the north wind and bringer of winter in Greek mythology, and it's the work of Spanish designer, Jorge Martí Vidal. There's no info from the designer's behalf, but we could easily picture it as a modern day replacement to the Saab Sonnet. More pictures and a video after the break.

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2011 Hyundai Sonata being investigated for faulty steering system

We all know Hyundai has pulled a 180-degree turn in brand image over the past few years, but alas, no one (including Ferrari) is immune to the threat of recalls. The NHTSA has recently begun a preliminary investigation of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata for an issue with the steering system. Approximately 16,300 of the Alabama-built units could be affected, although there have been no official complaints, injuries, or accidents yet.

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VIDEO: Aussie Honda Jazz Spots Poke Some Fun at Bodybuilders, Rappers and Others

Here are some amusing TV ads from Honda's creative Australian division. The spots were made to show off how practical, roomy and versatile the Honda Jazz is (known as the Fit in North America and Japan). So if you want to learn the answer to questions such as "How much Massive can you pack in a Honda Jazz?" and "How much Rap can you pack in a Jazz?", and don't mind watching 'iron boy' here in very tight speedos, hit the jump to check out the videos.

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Ferrari teased Ferraristas with a 599 GTO Roadster at Pebble Beach

After Ferrari announced in June that they would be organizing special presentations for people to view a topless 599, is it surprising that the Italian Stallion previewed a 599 roadster (or "Barchetta", perhaps?) at Pebble Beach? Not particularly. What's surprising is that it took this long for A) the car to come out, and B) someone to spill the beans. Who cares about non-disclosure agreements and a "no cell phone" policy, on with what we can expect!

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Paris Preshow: 2011 Citroën Picasso and Grand Picasso

These are the first official photos of Citroën's mildly refreshed Picasso 5-seater and Grand Picasso 7-seater MPVs, which are both due to make their first public appearance at this month's Paris Motor Show. The styling changes on the outside are rather minuscule and include the addition of the latest fad to hit the auto industry, LED daytime running lights up front, along with re-trimmed tail lamps, and for the Grand Picasso, a new rear hatch logo.

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Ford Debuts 2011 Explorer Based Police Interceptor Utility

Welcome to the next-generation Ford Explorer Pursuit, aka the Police Interceptor Utility. This, for lack of a better term, is the "wagon" version of the Taurus Interceptor. Got a 0.50-cal or a K-9? You're gonna be in this thing.

Designed to "complement the sedan", the Explorer Pursuit will be available for order next to the sedan when the Crown Vic finally passes away (so don't be shy about trying something new, 5-0!). It will also be 20% more efficient than the outgoing Panther-based cruiser.

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NHTSA Opens Investigation on 2009 VW Jetta TDI Diesel Models

US government officials have launched an investigation into possible engine problems in the 2009 VW Jetta sedan and Sportwagen TDI diesel models. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Tuesday it had received seven complaints on the aforementioned models alleging that while driving and without any warning, the engine limped and then stalled almost immediately.

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Holden's 2011 Commodore Series II updated; Where's Bob Lutz to reassure us that America is getting this?

The Zeta-based Holden Commodore lineup is getting a "Series II" refresh to keep up with the times. Highlights include a new "iQ" touchscreen interface for the usual suspects (Bluetooth, USB, iPod, backup camera, etc.), improved fuel economy/reduced emissions, and 3.0-liter and 6.0-liter engines that are E85-compatible. This "[allows] them to run on bio-ethanol, E10, Unleaded, Premium or any combination in between."

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Anderson Germany Crafts 670HP Mercedes CL65 AMG Black Edition

If the stock Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG doesn't offer quiet enough power or pizazz for your tastes, Anderson Germany will try to make good use of your money and turn Stuttgart's coupe into something a bit more special. Heck, they'll even pick up your car from your house and return it all zinged up - though we're assuming this offer stands for its Germany-based clients only. And by zinged up, Anderson Germany means it will upgrade both the styling and performance of the CL65 AMG.

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