Audi A3 Clubsport Quattro concept bringing its 525 horses to Wörthersee

It's almost late May, and you know what that means: the last of the snow has melted, the Stanley Cup playoffs are in full swing, the flowers are blooming, and the performance-car faithful are descending on Wörthersee in Austria for the annual GTI-Treffen.

Not only is the Wörthersee Tour (as the automaker calls it) a chance for enthusiasts to show off their rides, it's also a prime opportunity for the Volkswagen Group to show some of its most dedicated customers what it can do. Past meets have given us such notables as the Audi A1 Clubsport Quattro, Volkswagen GTI W12-650 and Skoda Fabia RS 2000 Roadster, to name just a few. And now Audi has emerged as the first VW Group brand to reveal what it has in store.

It's called the A3 Clubsport Quattro, and seems to offer a pretty clear indication of what we should expect of the next RS3. The concept is based on the S3 sedan, but swaps out its 2.0-liter turbo four for a retuned version of Audi's sweet 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five, retuned to produce a massive 525 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque.

That's enough, according to Audi, to send the A3 Clubsport to 62 miles per hour in a scant 3.6 seconds and on to a top speed in excess of 190 mph. With that kind of performance on tap, it's a good thing Audi has also retuned the suspension and packed carbon-ceramic brakes inside its 21-inch wheels.


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eBay Find of the Day: 1993 Chevy Highlander is a Body Glove-era concept

Oh, the early '90s. Gas was cheap; Seinfeld was at its peak, and apparently neon green and purple paint were appropriate for a concept car. The retina-burning Chevrolet Highlander concept is currently for sale on eBay, and it personifies the look of its era perfectly.

With a combination of bright green, gray plastic and purple trim, the Highlander certainly draws the eye. According to the Chicago Auto Show's history page, the concept was on display there in 1993 as a preview for the 1994 S-10 extended cab pickup. It was meant to show off an off-road ready truck and featured a tool compartment and adjustable roll bar. According to the current seller, the Chevy also has a fabric top that rolls down when the bar is up and a power rear window that can fold flat to access the bed. Power comes from a 4.3-liter V6 with an automatic shuffling those ponies to all four wheels. It carries a Buy It Now price of $17,000.

If you need this in your garage, keep in mind driving it could be tough. The seller does say that it runs and drives, but like most automotive concepts, there is no VIN or title, just a bill of sale. That makes getting it registered very difficult. The next owner is basically buying the Highlander based on its '90s looks, which means they had better feel awfully nostalgic for that particular era.
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Volkswagen wants you to help design its new concept

Volkswagen wants a new concept car for a video game, and some of you are being invited to design one - we say "some of you" because the Volkswagen Design Contest is only open to students enrolled in design-related studies. If you can get over that hurdle, then you'll be glad to know that the contest just started on May 5 and submissions are due on August 15, in case you had nothing else to do with your summer break.

This isn't just about a car, though; if you read the small print at the contest site, entrants need to come up with a new concept video game for their car. Specialists are welcome, with submissions allowed to focus on just one or a few areas: exterior, interior, interface, graphics, color and trim. Teams of up to two are permitted, but VW wants each person's contribution to be clearly identifiable. And, naturally, they want their own brand character to be clearly visible as well.

Why all the minutiae? Because three winners will be selected by VW head designer Klaus Bischoff and his team, and their prize will be a six-month internship at the VW design center in Wolfsburg, Germany. Winners will be notified on September 30, 2014.
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This Is the New Nissan X-Trail - Revealed by Leaked Patent Papers

The Nissan X-Trail is a well-regarded contender in the SUV category, being small enough not to attract the gazes of SUV-haters, yet large enough to give ample amounts of interior and boot space, while also being an imposing presence on the road.

However, Nissan will be ditching the boxy shape of the current X-Trail, in favour of a more curvaceous, more up to date look. Now, courtesy of paultan.org, we have three shots of the car, which appear to be leaked patent renderings.

After seeing the photos, we are happy to report that the new X-Trail has retained may of the design cues which made the Hi-Cross Concept such a standout vehicle, at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, and to us, at least, it looks a bit like the Mazda CX-5, from some angles - the Mazda is not a bad looker, either.

Nevertheless, some will still miss the more classic and boxy shape of the current version of the SUV, and this new generation may be just a bit too modern for the more conservative buyers, whom are slowly running out of choices, as manufacturers are making their SUVs increasingly car-like.

News Source: paultan.org

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Nissan Resonance Chosen as Best Concept in Detroit

It was undoubtedly among the top picks for everybody who came to the 2013 North American International Auto Show, which took place in Detroit, as everybody loved its rakish profile, sharp lines and excessively-styled body.

We are, of course, talking about the Nissan Resonance concept, which has now been officially chosen as being the Best Concept Vehicle at the famed motoring venue - it would have also been our choice for best concept, as well.

However, the award was not given away by just anybody, and the panel of judges was composed of both active and retired automotive designers. They liked the Resonance a lot, and were impressed to hear that it would be inspiring the creation of the next Murano SUV.

We just hope the Resonance does`t lose too much in its transition from concept to production. We do expect it to be toned down a bit, but since Nissan were bold enough to launch the Juke, which is a very oddball vehicle, then we expect them to have no problem in launching an equally strange Murano.

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Chevrolet Could Offer Toyobaru Sportscar Rival

On paper, the collaboration between Toyota and Subaru shouldn’t have been all that impressive. You take a naturally aspirated engine with just 200 horsepower, stick it into a revamped Toyota chassis, work on it for two years and let Subaru build it. But somehow, the Toyotabaru triplets, as we like to call them, became a smash hit.

The Toyota GT 86, especially, transformed the way people looked at the Japanese carmaker. Now, it seems others want a piece of that action.

Speaking to Motoring.com.au, GM North America President Mark Reuss said he wants a competitor for the Toyobaru.

The model clearly hasn’t been give the production go-ahead yet. And there’s also the market overlap with the cheaper Camaros to consider. But Ruess said they could make one from the brand new rear-wheel drive Alpha platform that was developed for the Cadillac ATS.

The car shown above is the strangely named Chevy Code 130R Concept shown last year at the 2012 North American International Auto Show. It’s not exactly a looker, but we know Ruess likes it because he said it “interprets that vision for a new generation. We're seeking out our newest customers' opinions, listening to their advice, and engaging them in new ways."

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Qoros Announces GQ3 Cross Hybrid and Estate Concepts for Geneva

New automaker Qoros, a company created by Chery Automobile Co. and Israeli investment firm Israel Corp., has just announced that it will be showing off two new concepts at the Geneva Motor Show, later this year. Both vehicles will be based on the GQ3 sedan, which has already been unveiled, and they will use its underpinnings, which have been specifically designed to be highly-modular and easy to adapt to new models.

According to the Vice Chairman of the company, Volker Steinwascher, "Intelligent modular vehicle platform technology allows us to create new vehicle concepts quickly and efficiently [ . . . ] The Qoros GQ3 is the first of many models that will be based on this platform, and the technology will allow us to develop a complete model family in a very efficient manner."

The first concept, the GQ3 Cross Hybrid will be an all-wheel drive model, with the petrol engine driving the front wheels, while the rears will be powered by electricity, like the Citroen DS5, or the Lexus RX450h.

The second concept is an estate version of the GQ3, which is pretty much self explanatory and will offer more space and practicality than its sedan counterpart. We will learn more, closer to the car's unveilings and we will keep you updated.

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